“Then Avner conferred with the leaders of Israel. He said, ‘In the past, you wanted David to be king over you. So now, do it. For Adonai has said of David, ‘Through my servant David I will rescue my people Israel from the power of the P’lishtim and from the power of all their enemies.’”-2 Samuel 3:17-18
Now that Avner has made peace with David and shown good faith by arranging for Michal to be returned to him, the hard political work of getting the northern tribes on board has to be taken care of.
How does Avner go about doing this?
First, he says:
“In the past, you wanted David to be king over you…
so now, go ahead and do it.”
Okay, so this translation misses the mark a bit.
The Hebrew for “in the past” is TEMOL SHILSHOM.
This means “yesterday and the day before.”
But the phrase here is GAM TEMOL, GAM SHILSHOM.
This means “time and again, yesterday and the day before.”
In simpler words, it’s like saying, “Over and over again you asked for this.”
The point is, the northern tribes had been urging Avner for some time to make David king—probably even before Saul died and certainly before Avner appointed Ishbosheth.
So Avner is saying…
“The day you homies have been begging for has finally arrived.
So take advantage of it!”
Onward.
Next, Avner goes on to say…
“For Adonai has said of David, ‘Through my servant David I will rescue my people Israel from the power of the P’lishtim and from the power of all their enemies.”
Here Avner appeals to the words of God Himself to make his case.
This is the strongest argument one can make.
It also leads to today’s takeaway.
Notice the prophetic nature of this statement.
Lemme show what I mean by doing some quick word swaps.
“For Adonai has said of Yeshua, ‘Through my son, I will rescue my people Israel from the power of the Palestinians and from the power of all their enemies.”
When I swap the words David with Yeshua and son…
And when I swap the word “Philistines” with “Palestinian”…
This statement makes perfect prophetic sense given Israel’s current struggles, doesn’t it?
And by the way, switching the word “Palestinian” for “Philistine” isn’t really a swap.
Why?
Because “Palestinian” is simply the Greek word for “Philistine.”
Ya feel me?
See ya all next time.
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