2S9-11: Grafted In, NOT Taking Over – When Gentile Believers Forget Their Place

“Tziva said to the king, ‘Your servant will do everything my lord the king commands his servant, although M’fivoshet has been eating at my table as one of the king’s descendants.‘”-2 Samuel 9:11

Back in the day, I used to attend a Christian church here in Tokyo.

After the worship service, we’d break up into small groups for a Bible study.

Invariably, talk about Israel and the Jewish people would arise.

When that happened, a sentiment was usually expressed that ticked me off to no end.

What sentiment am I talking about?

I’m talking about the haughty notion that…

“Them Jews need to accept Christ,
give up their judaizing,
and join us, the church.”

Whenever I heard that, I got so angry I almost popped a blood vessel.

Why?

Because per Scripture, the OPPOSITE is true.

It is the believing gentile who has been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel through their faith in the Jewish Messiah…

Not the other way around as so many falsely believe and preach.

If you are a gentile believer…

It is YOU who have joined Israel and the chosen people…

NOT the other way around, homie.

Got it?

And I say that as a gentile myself.

When the Jew comes to Christ…

He or she comes home.

He or she becomes more Jewish than he or she has ever been.

The Jew’s spiritual and eternal inheritance is restored.

This is an inheritance God has prepared for His People since the foundation of the world.

But, you, an uncircumcised gentile.

You ain’t returning to anything.

Quite the contrary…

You are leaving behind everything you’ve ever known…

Or at least, you’re supposed to.

When a gentile comes to faith…

He or she says goodbye to…

Sexual immorality and temple prostitution…

Drunkenness and orgies…

Eating meat sacrificed to idols…

Sorcery and witchcraft (stop this New Agey trying to manifest money crap!)

Blood rituals and strangled animals…

Worship of emperors and human leaders…

Greed and materialism…

Retarded honor-based violence and revenge…

From birth, a Jew doesn’t have to deal directly with all of the above gentile nonsense.

Why?

Because it’s legislated out of his life via the Law of Moses.

Now why do I bring this up?

Well, in verse 11, the gentile Tziva arrogantly tries to reverse David’s decision to care for and protect Mephibosheth.

Remember, Tziva was a gentile who had been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.

Keep that in mind because it’s a key point reinforcing what I’m trying to express here.

Tziva was showing just how full of himself he was here.

He tells David he’ll obey everything the king says…

But then, goes on to brag about how well he’s been taking care of Mephibosheth.

He even says Mephibosheth has been eating “at my table.”

Hold up.

Whose table?

Remember, “eating at my table” doesn’t mean sitting down for a meal.

It means providing for one’s needs and making sure they’re fed, have shelter, and whatever else they need.

See, the issue is Tziva calling it his table.

Are we talking about a gentile table here?

Or a Hebrew table?

What Tsiva said was pretty freakin’ arrogant!

Tziva didn’t own anything!

Not only was he a servant…

But he was a freakin’ Gentile at that!

The table he was referring to belonged to King Saul…

And now it belonged to King David.

Tziva was acting like he was the hot shot in charge…

But really, he was just a guest.

This all goes back to what I shared about my former Christian cronies…

And their haughty attitude toward the Jewish people and Israel…

And their rants about how the Jews need to be born again…

And accept Christ as their Messiah…

And join the Christian church and give up their Judaizing…

And blah, blah, blah ad infinitum ad nauseam.

Are you seeing this?

The bottom line was that Tziva was a gentile outsider.

Yet, through God’s GRACE…

He got to enjoy the blessings of Israel…

As many non-Hebrews (including Arabs and Palestinians) who live in Israel today do.

Tziva was directly partaking of the inheritance that had been reserved for God’s chosen people.

That was cool and all.

But what wasn’t cool was Tziva’s attitude of entitlement.

Let’s not forget the only reason he was able to enjoy the blessings of Israel was because God’s King allowed him to.

It was the King’s CHESED (kindness) that allowed Tziva to share in Israel’s blessings.

He didn’t earn it.

He didn’t deserve it.

And if he got too full of himself…

Or refused to follow the king’s rules…

That privilege could be taken away as fast as I can utter the word “Jerusalem.”

And I can say that word pretty darn fast…

In both English and Hebrew (Yerushalayim).

Now lest one think I’m preaching some warped theology I just haphazardly pulled out of my back pocket.

Let me close today with a Hebrew authority hailing from the Tribe of Benjamin whose writings comprise a good portion of the New Testament.

Of course, I’m talking about the Apostle Paul.

Check out this excerpt from the Book of Romans…

Read EVERY word…

And let it sink into the deepest recesses of your cranium.

So read away!

 ^“However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this:
since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles,
I make known the importance of my work
in the hope that somehow I may provoke
some of my own people to jealousy
and save some of them!
For if their casting Yeshua aside
means reconciliation for the world,
what will their accepting him mean?
It will be life from the dead!
Now if the hallah offered as firstfruits
is holy, so is the whole loaf.
And if the root is holy,
so are the branches.
But if some of the branches were broken off,
and you — a wild olive — were grafted in among them
and have become equal sharers
in the rich root of the olive tree,
then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches!
However, if you do boast,
remember that you are not supporting the root,
the root is supporting you.
So you will say,
‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’
True, but so what?
They were broken off because of their lack of trust.
However, you keep your place only because of your trust.
So don’t be arrogant;
on the contrary, be terrified!
For if God did not spare the natural branches,
he certainly won’t spare you!
So take a good look at God’s kindness and his severity:
on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off;
but, on the other hand, God’s kindness toward you
— provided you maintain yourself in that kindness!
Otherwise, you too will be cut off!”
-Romans 11:13-22

I couldn’t imagine a more apt description of Tziva’s situation and the haughtiness he expressed to the Son of God at this time.

Let him who have ears to hear, SHEMA.

See ya all next time.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO NEW TESTAMENT

“Therefore, remember your former state:
you Gentiles by birth —
called the Uncircumcised by those who,
merely because of an operation on their flesh,
are called the Circumcised —
at that time had no Messiah.
You were estranged from the national life of Isra’el.
You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise.
You were in this world without hope and without God.
But now, you who were once far off have been brought
near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood.
For he himself is our shalom —
he has made us both one and
has broken down the m’chitzah which divided us
by destroying in his own body t
he enmity occasioned by the Torah,
with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances.
He did this in order to create in union with himself
from the two groups a single new humanity
and thus make shalom, and in order to
reconcile to God both in a single body
by being executed on a stake as a criminal
and thus in himself killing that enmity.
Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom
to you far off and shalom to those nearby,
news that through him we both have
access in one Spirit to the Father.
So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers.
On the contrary,
you are fellow-citizens with God’s people
and members of God’s family.
You have been built on the
foundation of the emissaries and the prophets,
with the cornerstone being Yeshua the Messiah himself.
In union with him the whole building is held together,
and it is growing into a holy temple in union with the Lord.
Yes, in union with him, you yourselves are being
built together into a spiritual dwelling-place for God!”
-Ephesians 2:11-21