The Lesser of Two Lies

Okay, let's pray and we will get started. Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed.

Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith in You.

May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, from the lip to the life, that as You have promised,

Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. With that then, we're gonna return to the story of 1

Samuel. We're gonna be in chapter 21. A little bit of a warning. Today's texts are gonna be gritty.

There's just no way around it. Some of the stuff we're going to be reading, you're gonna notice it's very earthly.

The scriptures do not try to shave off some of the hard, ugly edges, especially as it relates to our sin.

And I think this is comforting in this sense. I don't know if any of you ever noticed that life can be a bit messy.

Now let me get this off my chest so that I don't have to do this as part of the lesson.

But you're gonna note that there's a name in verse 21 and the name is Ahimelech. Ahimelech.

Y 'all just kind of sing along if you know how this works. Ready? Okay. Ahimelech, Ahimelech, Ahimelech.

Come on, come on, come on. Ahimelech, Ahimelech. Mikey's got it.

Yeah. You got it. I just had to get that off my chest. This is the kind of weird stuff that I did when my kids were growing up and I would read the

Bible to them. We'd always take advantage of things like this. And then one of our favorite things to do as a family, I would say, and there was much rejoicing in the land and the kids would go, yay.

First Samuel 21, verse one. David came to Nob. So just by way of reminder,

David at this point is on the run. If you remember, Saul has it out for him.

And the typology in this story is quite fascinating. And I mean it. It really is very interesting, but we're gonna have to kind of work through the text and then pull out the typology that points us to Christ.

So David is on the run. And as we listen to this first part, pay attention to what the real narrative is because we're gonna see something about how slander works, how lies work.

Lies take facts and spin a false narrative around them. But this early part of our story today is gonna give us the correct narrative, which is important.

David came to Nob, Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech came to meet

David, trembling and said to him, why are you alone and no one is with you?

David said to Ahimelech the priest, the king has charged me with a matter. And he said to me, let no one know anything of the matter about which

I send you and with which I have charged you. I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place.

Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever is here. And the priest answered

David, I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves from women.

David answered the priest, well, truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey.

How much more today will their vessels be holy? So the priest gave him the holy bread for there was no bread there, but the bread of the presence, which is removed from before the

Lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

Hmm, bread of the presence. Hmm, that's weird. What an interesting name.

How fascinating that when we have the Lord's Supper, we believe that it is the bread of Christ's real presence.

Just a little bit of a note here. In the setup here, let's make sure we got the facts of the actual narrative correct.

Is Ahimelech aware that David is on the run? No. Has David given him any reason to believe that he's on the run?

No, in fact, you're gonna note this. David is flat out lying. He's saying things that are not true.

They're not true at all. Note, by David not telling the truth to Ahimelech, I would surmise that David here is trying to protect him.

Because if Ahimelech had known that David was on the run and Ahimelech helped

David, what would the result be for Ahimelech? Yeah, that's right.

He would be acting treasonously. So he is unaware of what's really going on.

David has not told him the truth. And this is going to be vital information because we're gonna see how lies work.

Lies take facts and spin a false narrative. That's always how they work. Just keep that in mind.

But in this particular case, Ahimelech totally is acting with integrity, with honesty.

He's not doing anything that's treasonous or anything of the sort. This text, by the way, is referenced by Christ himself.

And let's take a look at the cross reference. And you're gonna note, this is a very fascinating text, Matthew chapter 12.

Now I've noted this before, it bears repeating that the Pharisees were heretics.

They were not true Jews. And I mean this. They had a secondary body of work that they believed was also as equally inspired as the written word of God in their day.

And the name of that body of work was called the oral tradition, or the tradition of the elders.

And it was an oral tradition that they say, they claim, God also gave the oral

Torah, the oral tradition to Moses on Mount Sinai, and that that was passed down from generation to generation and is equally on par with the word of God.

And in the tradition of the elders, there are very specific and extensive rules as it relates to keeping the

Sabbath. And what we're gonna find here is that Jesus' disciples are going to break the

Sabbath. And I have to put that in air quotes. Because the tradition of the elders, which is not biblical, stated that if you were traveling through a grain field and you took standing grain that had matured and was ripe and took the wheat into your hands and did this with it to get at the kernels, that you were harvesting, and harvesting is work, and work is breaking the

Sabbath. This is how they argue. Those of you who grow wheat, or you've maybe done this before, right?

I've never done it. I've never grown wheat. I've only done it with weeds. Yeah. So that's kind of the setup here for the story.

So at that time, Jesus went to the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry. They began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat.

When the Pharisees saw it, they said to Jesus, look, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the

Sabbath. Sorry to interrupt you. The Pharisees came up with, are they actually, any of them actually adopted?

Modern Orthodox Judaism is a direct theological descendant of Pharisaical Judaism.

And the Talmuds and the Mishnah all come from that tradition. Today's Orthodox Judaism is a direct descendant.

So yeah. So did that world, God spoke to me and said that we have to do this?

Well, it kind of shows up in the intertestamental period during the 400 years between Malachi and the

Gospel of Matthew. It comes full blown with its own backstory that is totally false.

Totally false. So that's where it comes from. Now note here, the Pharisees are accusing

Jesus and his disciples, his disciples directly, Jesus indirectly, because he's allowing it, because Jesus is their rabbi, that they are breaking the

Sabbath. Now I gotta make something clear. I have heard this from so many Christians, evangelicals. They actually believe that Jesus broke the laws of the

Sabbath. He never once broke the Sabbath laws, ever. Did he keep the tradition of the elders?

Not at all. He's guilty of breaking the tradition of the elders and the tradition of the elders is not authoritative.

It's not from God. It's not biblical. No one's bound by it. And so this is part of the kind of the subtext of what's going on here.

So look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath. He said to them, have you not read what

David did when he was hungry and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God, ate the bread of the presence.

Hmm, bread of the presence. Hmm, just saying. The bread of the presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests.

And this is absolutely explicitly stated in scripture that the bread of the presence is for the Levites, it's for the priests, period.

But here Christ imputes no fault to Ahimelech, none whatsoever.

And watch what it says. Or have you not read in the law, the Torah, how on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple, they profane the

Sabbath and they are guiltless. So I tell you something or someone greater than the temple is here, and if you had known what this means,

I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.

For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. And so now we can see from Christ's own teaching that in a very real way, because we are put into situations where the only right thing to do is technically the wrong thing, that in that case, we are guiltless because God requires mercy from us rather than sacrifice.

That's the idea. So note, David is not condemned for lying. Ahimelech is not condemned by God or Jesus, in either the

Old or the New Testament, for giving to David what only should be eaten by priests.

Why? Because God requires mercy, not sacrifice.

Sometimes in this world, the only right thing to do is the wrong thing. And I cannot begin to tell you how many disconcerting conversations

I've had with the evangelicals when I've taught at different venues around the country, where talking about this very fact and then invoking

Nazi Germany. You're a Christian in Nazi Germany. You are hiding Jews in your basement in order so that they will not be murdered.

And the Gestapo knocks on your door. Are you hiding Jews in your basement? The answer to the question is no.

But I cannot begin to tell you how many Christians I've spoken to who would say, well, it's a sin to lie, so I'm just gonna tell them the truth and trust

God will get us out of this. Yeah, no. And we actually have godly biblical examples in a situation like that to lie through our teeth for the mercy and sake of our neighbor.

It's scary, but that's actually what these texts are saying because we in this life are not getting out of this sinless.

And sometimes we will be put into a situation where we're gonna have to make a decision between two wrongs.

And that that's the only way out of it. Make the error, make the error, when you have to choose between two wrongs, make the error on the side of saving life rather than killing it, of having mercy.

And then come see your pastor and hear the words of absolution for the other one. That's the idea.

So tough stuff here, tough stuff, but Christ himself makes something very clear here in this teaching, which is the straight up cross -reference to what we just read.

Now our story continues back in 1 Samuel. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there while David was talking to Ahimelech.

And he was there and he was detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite. This little bit of information is going to be really, really interesting when we take a look at the typology.

Doeg the Edomite. Who were the Edomites? They lived in Edom.

Yeah, well, yes, they did live in Edom. Okay, Jacob and Esau, the descendants of Esau.

Esau, his name was also Red. Yeah, because he was red and hairy.

The descendants of Esau become known as the Edomites. And then later in the ancient world, the same area where they are from becomes inhabited by what later become known as the

Idumeans, the Idumeans. Now just, I know, hold on, just, Janet.

Janet's sitting there going, wow, now the lights are coming on. No, I know, just hang on to this bit of information.

It's going to be critical when we get to the typology because this story prefigures something very interesting in the

New Testament, but you're not quite seeing it yet. But this Doeg the Edomite, think of him as an ancient relative of the

Idumeans. Just keep that in mind. Janet, stop rolling your eyes.

Just write it down. Just write it down. I don't know how to spell it.

Idumean, I -D -E -U. All right, so Doeg the Edomite's there.

He's the chief of Saul's herdsmen. So then David said to Ahimelech, Ahimelech. They have you, then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand?

For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste. The priest said, the sword of the

Goliath, the Philistine whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.

If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.

David said, there is none like that. Give it to me. So note, Ahimelech still doesn't know, has no clue

David's on the run. He's not acting treacherously or treasonously. He's acting in good faith, believing that David is on a special secret mission from Saul.

So David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath. The story here is gonna get even more interesting.

Achish, the king of Gath. I want you to think for a second here. David is going to the land of his enemies.

He's left Israel and gone to the big enemy state. Who has

David made a career out of killing? Philistines. If you're not sure about this, remember the bride price for Michal.

It was 100 Philistine foreskins. He gave them two, 200.

David and the Philistines are not exactly chummy, is a good way of putting it.

So David rose and fled. Saul went to Achish, the king of Gath. Gath is in the land of the Philistines. And the servants of Achish said to him, is not this

David, the king of the land? Love it how the Philistines recognize that David's the king. Did not they sing to one another of him in dances?

Saul has struck down his thousands. David, his 10 thousands. And 10 ,000 who's?

Philistines. So David's life is in danger. And so his solution to this problem is quite fascinating.

So David took these words to heart and he was much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let a spittle run down his beard.

Yes, it's lying, not with words, but lying with your actions. I plead insanity.

Let's go fly a kite. You know, anyway. But it saves his life.

It's just rather fascinating. So Achish said to his servants, behold, see this, this man is mad.

Why then have you brought him to me? Do I not know him? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence?

Shall this fellow come into my house? We're just gonna let this sit here for a second because there's a little bit of typology here.

But let this kind of sit here. Let's continue with the story and then we'll come back. Chapter 22.

So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adulam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him and everyone who was in distress and everyone who was in debt and everyone who was bitter in soul gathered to him and he became commander over them.

And there were with him about 400 men. David went from there to Mizpah of Moab and he said to the king of Moab, let, please let my father and my mother stay with you till I know what

God will do for me. And he left them with the king of Moab. They stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

And the prophet Gad said to David, do not remain in the stronghold. Depart, go into the land of Judah. So David departed and went into the forest of Horeb.

Now Saul heard that David was discovered and the men who were with him,

Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with a spear in his hand and all the servants were standing about him, backing up just a smidge.

David departed from there and everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, everyone who was bitter in soul gathered to him.

A little bit of a note here. Does that not sound like Jesus? When Jesus is out in the wilderness or he's teaching, who comes to Jesus?

Who are the multitudes that come to Jesus? The sick, the lame, the lepers, the blind, the mute, the deaf, the demonized.

So you'll notice that David's posse is made up of all of the outcasts of Israel, the down and out.

How does this not prefigure Christ? Jesus, in his ministry, this was his wheelhouse.

These were the people he reached out to who he had mercy on. And it's this exact same kind of motley crew that David now is surrounded by.

It's wonderful how it's prefigured there. Wonderful. So we see now that David is in Judah, but before we talk about that a little bit, and the question is how do we resolve typologically this idea that King David was supposedly insane?

Now granted, Janice already pointed out that he was engaging in, well, an Academy Award -winning performance, and it was quite deceptive, and it saved his bacon.

Now I would note here, since we're always trying to figure out where Christ is in all of this, let's take a look at a cross -reference.

Mark chapter three. I want you to see this, because it's just fascinating. Verse 20.

Then he went home, Jesus went home, the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat, and when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, he is out of his mind.

Isn't that interesting? In Jesus' own ministry, there was a time when they thought

Jesus had lost his cookies, that he was not playing with the full deck, that he was a taco short of a combo plate, all of these things, and yet he wasn't, and isn't it fascinating that King David put on the pretense of being insane?

Again, all of this in weird typology, you can draw connections between David, the anointed but not yet coronated

King of Israel, which makes him a messiah in type and shadow, and the messiah where all of this resolves.

I just think that's kind of fascinating. Yes, sir. Yeah, it's kind of one of the mercy things that many cultures still kind of hold onto today.

I mean, even in our own law, somebody can plead insanity. If they've committed a crime, and it can actually be demonstrated that they're out of their mind, our legal system has mercy on them and doesn't give them the full measure of justice in that case, and they may end up in an institution for the rest of their life and being cared for, but even we recognize that when somebody's mental faculties are not there, that we mercifully do not hold them accountable for stuff.

It's kind of the idea, and that's a practice that goes all the way back into the ancient world. Yeah, it is kind of, it is natural law.

If it's really somebody's out of their mind, they're not in control of what they're doing.

They're not. So we'll note that Jesus was accused of being insane by his family, nonetheless, but we come back now to the story.

So David is in Moab, and he's told by the prophet Gad to not remain in the stronghold where he's at, and you'll notice over and again,

God directly intervenes on behalf of David, and without God's intervention, David would not have made it through this period in his life.

So Saul heard that David was discovered. We got that. Saul was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk tree in the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.

We noted last week that spear, I like to, again, it never hits David, but there's that spear, and you gotta think of Saul at this point as kind of like a stand -in for the devil.

He has these murder thoughts. He wants David killed, and so that spear ultimately does hit the son of David, which is

Jesus. So I always tell him that spear element to a great kind of meditative reminder of Christ being literally speared by a

Roman soldier. Saul said to his servants who stood about him, here now, people of Benjamin, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards?

Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that all of you have conspired against me?

No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, none of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie and wait as at this day.

Now, isn't that backwards? Saul is literally putting this narrative out that David is out to get

Saul, that the reason why he's on the run is so that ultimately he could kill

Saul. In psychological terms, we call this projecting.

Who's the one harboring the murderous thoughts? Saul is. So Saul is taking his murderous intent and projecting it onto David.

David is trying his darndest to not come in contact with Saul, lest he be killed,

God intervening on his behalf, and yet Saul is the one saying, David's out to get me, we better kill him.

Notice how backwards, upside down, inside out his mind is.

This is what sin does, it twists and it distorts. So the narrative is false.

The narrative that Saul is spewing is total nonsense. The truth of the matter is, he's the one who has it out for David.

It's not the other way around. Isn't that interesting? That's the nature of these things.

So then answered Doeg the Edomite. Remember, Doeg the

Edomite and the Idumeans, there's a connection there, but just note here.

Doeg the Edomite now shows up, who stood by the servants of Saul. He said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahutab.

And he inquired of Yahweh for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath, the

Philistine. Now a little bit of a note here. Has Doeg the Edomite said anything that is factually untrue?

No, every one of those facts are straight up the truth. Watch the narrative that Saul spins around these facts.

So then the king sent to summon Ahimelech, the priest, the son of Ahutab, and all his father's house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king.

And Saul said, hear now, son of Ahutab. And he answered, here

I am, my lord. And Saul said to him, why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, and that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him so that he has arisen against me to lie in wait as at this day?

That's what we call a loaded question. A loaded question has an assumption in it that is not true.

History of the ground and the end. So you'll note, he's taken the facts and now here's the narrative.

The new narrative is that Ahimelech has conspired with David and helped

David as David has it out for Saul and wants to kill him. And that giving him provisions, inquiring of the

Lord for him, and giving him a sword were all part of the conspiracy.

Is that how it happened? Nope. He didn't even know who he was. Well, he knew who he was, but he didn't,

David never told him the truth about why he was there. Never once told the truth.

David clearly. He didn't ask, did he? He was asked. Ahimelech asked David, why are you here?

And David said, I'm on a secret mission. So David lied to Ahimelech. And I think in order to save his own life, so that Ahimelech was not part of any conspiracy.

So is Ahimelech truly innocent or is he guilty? He's innocent because he doesn't know us.

Yeah, he's totally innocent. Totally innocent. He's done nothing wrong.

Nothing. He has not been part of a conspiracy, but notice what Saul has done. Why have you conspired against me?

And he spun the facts with a different narrative around it that is totally false. Right, exactly.

Yeah. And I'm gonna just say this. In our postmodern culture, one of the reasons why

I have a hard time watching the news, and it doesn't matter if the news is left or right.

One of the things I have noticed is that, what you'll see is that two different news outlets are reporting on the same facts and each of them have spun different narratives around those facts.

That's a problem. When we think that we can somehow know what somebody is thinking or feeling or what they're motivated by without actual evidence, that somehow we can look into their mind and know what their motive is, and then take facts and spin a false narrative around that, that's just wickedness.

And it happens every day on the news. Every day in the newspapers, in the magazines, on the internet.

And I have seen this happen to friends of mine in the ministry. And I myself have experienced this exact same tactic where facts are spoken and then a false narrative is woven around them.

This is a tactic of the devil. You'll note Saul's the one doing this, not David. Very dangerous stuff.

This is the whole, this is what makes gossip so juicy to listen to.

You get the phone call from her. Have you heard what so -and -so did?

No, what they do. I saw them there. Oh, what does it mean?

Oh, well, we all know what that means. The reason why he was there is because he's a dirty, cheating, lying, filthy scumbag.

Right, because that could be the only reason why he was there. And then what do you do when you get off the phone?

You call the next person. You call the next person. Did you hear that he was there? No. Right, but here's the, okay, here's the idea.

This is a flat -out breaking of the eighth commandment. It's a flat -out breaking of the eighth commandment.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. And when somebody calls you on the phone or posts something on social media and says, have you heard the word about so -and -so?

Your response should be, your response should be this. This is not your story to tell.

This is not yours to tell. And even if your neighbor truly is in sin, the way sin is addressed is not by you and everybody else getting on the phone, getting on Facebook, and letting the whole world know about this person's sin.

The way sin is addressed is you lovingly go to your neighbor and you say, brother, brother, you need to repent.

But see, we live in an age where we get some juicy bit of information, a bunch of facts and a false narrative, and we want to let the whole world know what an evil, rotten scumbag that person is.

You know why? Because in letting the whole world know what an evil, rotten scumbag that person is, we somehow make ourselves look like we're holy and righteous.

Well, at least I'm not like him. So you see this here in action now, kind of deconstructing it.

What Doeg the Edomite said, factually true. The narrative spun by Saul around the facts, totally bogus.

And what's gonna result here? So why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him so that he's risen against me to lie and wait as at this day?

Himalek answered the king. And who among all of your servants is so faithful as David? Who is the king's son -in -law and captain over your bodyguard and honored in your house?

Is today the first time that I've inquired of God for him? No, let not the king impute anything to a servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little.

Is Himalek speaking the truth? Yes, he is. He is.

So the king said, you shall surely die. Guilty or innocent?

Innocent, he has done nothing deserving death. So Himalek, you and all your father's house or you're gonna die.

King said to the guard who stood about him, turn and kill the priests of Yahweh because their hand is also with David and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.

Did they know that he fled and didn't disclose it to them? Nope. So the king has now given the order for the priests to die.

The servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. No way.

We are not killing these men of God. No way. So the king said to Doeg, all right, you turn and strike the priests.

And Doeg the Enamite turned and struck down the priests and he killed on that day 85 persons who wore the linen ephod and nob of the city of the priests.

He put to the sword both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep. He put to the sword.

This is thick. They could have ended up dead as well, but they didn't.

They wouldn't do this because they knew what he was doing was straight up wrong. They went against the king.

They had lived. Now, this story is type in shadow of one y 'all are familiar with.

Turn with me to Matthew chapter two. And Janet, this is where all that trivia comes into play.

I hope you'll like it then. They had normal names.

Sorry, ancient Hebrew names, not really compatible with modern. Yeah. Matthew chapter two.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.

A little bit of a historical note here. Who's king of Israel at this time? Text to set it.

Herod, is he a Jew? Nope, nope, he's Idumean, no joke.

He's an Idumean. Wise men came from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is the one who has been born king of the

Jews? Yeah, Herod not so thrilled with this news that there's one who's been born the king of the

Jews and he's an Idumean, which means he descended of the Edomites. We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

And Herod, the king, when he heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and the assembly of all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the

Christ, the Messiah was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet.

And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people

Israel. So then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go, search diligently for the child and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him.

After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose, went before them until it came to rest over the place where this child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.

Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Now, when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.

Remember, David fled to the land of the Philistines. Christ here is fleeing to Egypt. Fascinating.

He rose, took the child and his mother by night, departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.

This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt, I have called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious.

He sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem, the death of the innocents. And in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men, then what was fulfilled by the prophet

Jeremiah was fulfilled, a voice was heard in Ramah weeping, loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more.

Isn't that interesting? Death of the innocents, the murder of the innocents by a satanic, self -obsessed, power -hungry, power -protecting, murderous king like Herod.

And you'll note, there is like no difference between Saul and Herod at all. And Doeg the

Edomite is your link then to Herod the Egemean in type and shadow.

The details are prophetically amazing to think about. And you have to wonder, you know, because in the

Old Testament we read that the soldiers did not want to carry out the order of the king to kill the men of God, that the soldiers of Herod, upon getting the order to kill innocent children, makes you wonder if there was any protest on their part for the evil work that they were asked to do.

But isn't it interesting? These circumstances, although the details are different, they are so similar that when you compare the life of Christ and the life of David, you sit there and go, this cannot be a coincidence.

This just can't. All of these things sit there and just scream at the miraculous nature, not only of God to prophetically write in a book details regarding the life of Christ centuries and millennia ahead of time, but even write details about the life of Christ in the lives of those who were

His descendants. So that you can't mistake it. You can't just sit there and go, oh my, just, wow.

History repeating itself. Yeah, history repeating itself, but coming to its terminus in Christ.

Possibly another type of shadow that was deceived that resulted in His death.

Uh -huh. Just like Jesus was deceived by Judas. Yeah, you could kind of, yeah.

Deception, over and again, you're gonna note this, that lies and deception are the tools of the devil, always.

And it leads to treachery and betrayal and murder and death. And yet I know people who call themselves

Christians and theologians and apologists who believe that they can somehow use lies for the purpose of furthering the gospel.

And it just cannot be done. Terrible story that we've just read. We're not quite done yet, but we'll continue.

So one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitab, named Abiathar, he escaped.

And he fled after David. Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priest of Yahweh. And David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day when

Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell

Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house. Very sad.

And you think about Jesus. I mean, we celebrate the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.

And yet the very fact that Christ was born in Bethlehem then occasions the death of all of the toddlers, the male toddlers in Bethlehem months later.

Bittersweet. Terrible stuff. When he says I have occasioned, he's saying that that's my fault?

He's not taking responsibility in the sense that he's morally culpable. But the fact that he went and sought help from Ahimelech then gave

Saul the occasion for murdering them. And Saul should never have murdered any of these men.

What he did was sinful beyond all reason. And the lie that he spun around the facts, he would not allow his narrative to be challenged or changed.

And the reality is, is that David needed help. And by seeking help from Ahimelech, although he was careful to not let

Ahimelech know the real reason why he was there, obviously to protect him, still that was not enough.

That was not enough. Earthly stuff. The next story though, wow. Talk about earthy.

Let's finish this up. So stay with me. Saul, David said to Abiathar, do not be afraid for he who seeks my life seeks your life.

With me you shall be in safe keeping. 23. Actually, next one is not so crazy.

We'll work our way through this. But it's the one after this that's really fascinating. Now they told David, behold the

Philistines are fighting against Calah and are robbing the threshing floors. Threshing floors in the old days, this is where they would separate the wheat and the chaff.

They would throw it all up in the air and the wind would blow the chaff away and the kernels which weighed more would fall to the ground on the threshing floor.

Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, shall I go attack these Philistines? And Yahweh said to David, go attack the

Philistines and save Calah. But David's men said to him, behold we are afraid here in Judah. How much more than if we go to Calah against the armies of the

Philistines? So David inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, rise go down to Calah for I will give the

Philistines into your hand. And David and his men went to Calah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow.

So David saved the inhabitants of Calah. Calah is in Judah by the way. So when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, had fled to David to Calah, he had come down with an ephod in his hand.

Ephod is the vestment of a Levitical priest. And as part of the ephod, they didn't wear a cross, they had a big breastplate on it with the different stones included in the stones were two stones called the

Urim and the Thumen. And this was a means that God had established during this time that you could literally ask

God straight up questions, yes or no. And he would either give you a yes or he would give you a no or he would not give you an answer at all.

Because we've got this ephod from Ahimelech, actually Abiathar via Ahimelech, now

David's gonna ask some questions of God. So it was told Saul that David had come to Calah. Saul said,

God has given him into my hand for he has shut himself in by entering a town and that has gates and bars.

Holy smokes, Saul really thinks that God is giving you anything? This wicked, evil, perverse, self -centered, power hungry, murderous scumbag, and that's what he is, really has the audacity to believe that God is on his side.

This is the nature of sin. It makes it so you end up thinking that evil is good and that good is evil.

How completely discombobulated can this fellow be? So Saul summoned all the people to war to go down to Calah to besiege

David and his men. David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him and he said to Abiathar the priest, bring the ephod here.

So David said, oh Yahweh, God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Calah to destroy the city on my account.

Will the men of Calah surrender me into his hand and will Saul come down as your servant has heard?

Oh Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant. And the Lord said, he will come down.

Then David said, will the men of Calah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, they will surrender you.

And then David and his men, who were about 600, rose and departed from Calah and they went wherever they could go.

When Saul was told that David had escaped from Calah, he gave up the expedition and David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph.

And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand. So we know the truth.

Saul is delusional at this point, thinking that God is on his side, but the text is making it clear, yeah,

God's not with you Saul, God's with David. So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life.

David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh and Jonathan, Saul's son, rose, went to David at Horesh and strengthened his hand in God.

And he said to him, do not fear for the hand of Saul, my father, shall not find you.

You shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you. So notice the guy who's supposedly next in line to be the king is saying,

I'm not king, you're king, David. And so Jonathan's faith here is just amazing.

Saul, my father, also knows this. And the two of them made a covenant, yet another covenant before Yahweh. David remained at Horesh, Jonathan went home.

Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh on the hill of Hakala, which is south of Jeshamon?

Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire, to come down and our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand.

And Saul said, may you be blessed by Yahweh for you have had compassion on me. Serious.

I mean, he's speaking pious words, invoking the name of God.

And this man not only does not have any faith, this man is as evil as they come.

He's trying to kill the direct descendant of the Messiah. He wants him murdered for no reason at all, other than the fact that he's totally freaked out by this fellow and is threatened by him.

May the Lord have, bless you. Go make yet more sure, know and see the place where his foot is and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning.

See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides. Come back to me with sure information, then

I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.

And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Ma 'on in the

Arabah to the south of Jeshamon. And Saul and his men went to seek him and David was told.

So he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Ma 'on. And then Saul heard that.

He pursued after David in the wilderness of Ma 'on. Saul went on one side of the mountain, David and his men on the other side of the mountain.

David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul saying, hurry and come.

The Philistines have made a raid against the land. They had to break this over and again.

God directly intervening. So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the

Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. Isn't that interesting?

Rock of Escape. I seem to recall a text talking about Jesus being a rock. Just saying.

All these little typological snippets here. And so David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

So he's on the run. And warning, this next story is interesting, graphic.

When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.

Saul took 3 ,000 chosen men out of all of Israel, went to seek David and his men in front of the wild goats' rocks.

And he came to the sheepfolds by the way where there was a cave.

Saul went in to relieve himself. Yes, Saul's in the cave.

He's brought with him a copy of the Jerusalem Times. And yes, his pants are down and around his ankles.

That's what he's doing. So David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.

You have to sit there going, oh, oh man. And this is the days before Febreeze and things like that.

And the men of David said to him, here is the day of which

Yahweh said to you, behold, I will give your enemy into your hand and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.

David arose, stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And afterward,

David's heart struck him because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And he said to his men, Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my

Lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed.

So David persuaded his men with these words and he did not permit them to attack

Saul. Saul arose up and left the cave and went on his way.

This typology is really easy to connect. So there's

Jesus in the wilderness, 40 days, fasting, praying and the devil comes and tempts him, takes him to a high mountain, shows him all the kingdoms of the earth.

He says, all of these have been given to me and I will give them to you if you will worship me.

The temptation for Jesus to be king that way was turned down by him.

And then you think in John chapter six, in John's account of the feeding of the 5 ,000, the people there connect the dots.

There's a multitude of Israel in the wilderness, miraculously fed. Oh, Jesus is the son of David.

He's the one promised by Moses. And what does the text say? They wanted to make him king by force.

Here's David, there's Saul in a compromised position.

All he has to do is run him through with his sword and he becomes king, take matters into his own hands.

But that's not how God wants David to be king.

So missing or hitting, cutting part of his role line that I could kill you, but I'm gonna spare your life.

Yeah, watch how he uses it now. Watch how he uses it. So typologically, we can see the temptation to become king and the temptation resisted.

Watch what happens now. So, because remember the narrative. The narrative is that Saul is spreading, David is hiding in order to take my life.

We must kill him first. Now, let's see. So afterward, David arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul.

My Lord, the king. And you could see Saul still pulling his pants up with the

Jerusalem times in his right hand, looking around, who is that? My Lord, the king.

Saul looked behind. David bowed with his face to the earth and he paid homage. David said to Saul, why do you listen to the words of men who say, behold,

David seeks your harm? Yeah, see, here's the funny thing. It wasn't men who told that to Saul.

Saul spun that himself. Behold, this day, your eyes have seen how

Yahweh gave you today into my hands in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you.

I said, I will not put out my hand against my Lord, for He is Yahweh's anointed. See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand, for by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, so that you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands.

I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it.

May Yahweh judge between me and you. May Yahweh avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.

As the proverb of the ancients says, out of the wicked comes wickedness, but my hand shall not be against you.

After whom has the King of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog?

After a flea? May Yahweh therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.

Soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, is this your voice, my son

David? He's got no choice. His narrative has just been blown up.

So Saul lifted up his voice and he wept. He said to David, you are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.

You have declared this day how you have dealt with me, in that you did not kill me when

Yahweh put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, he will let him, will he let him go away safe?

So may Yahweh reward you with good for what you have done to me this day.

And now behold, I know that you shall surely be king and that the Kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.

Swear to me therefore by Yahweh that you will not cut off my offspring after me, that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house.

David swore this to Saul, and Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

And we, like David, because of Christ, are instructed to pray for our enemies.

Somebody strikes us on the right, we turn to them the left. And when somebody treats us evilly, we are to treat them with love and kindness.

And Scripture says that when you do that, it's like pouring burning coals on their head. But I gotta tell you, there's nothing about this course of action that my sinful nature likes or even intuitively wants to do.

You mess with me, I come hunt you down like a dog. But that's not the way of Christ.

It's God's kindness that leads us to repentance. We thank God for his mercy as so wonderfully demonstrated in his ancestor,

King David. So David didn't give him justice.

And I think it's amazing that, I think David knew that had he literally raised his hand against Saul to make himself king, that he would have been exactly the same kind of king as Saul was.

But by showing mercy and not having his hand against Saul, he prefigures

Christ so beautifully. And it convicts me of my own shortcomings like you wouldn't believe.