David

And so this was an example of something where I am reading poetry, so I'm reading the Psalms.

And the Psalms is basically, like, David's diary.

There's multiple authors in the Psalms, but we see David so much.

And I was reading Psalm 23:4, and it says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me in the presence of my enemies." And I remember when I was in church camp, we had to memorize this scripture to actually get points, to, like, get candy and chocolate and prizes.

"Ve'Seh Illah Omum Chamish," She'nemar, "Chamish Tzon Asuyos." Whereas Beis Hillel says the minimum for Reishis Hageiz is five sheep.

As the Pasuk says, by Avigail, after her husband, Naval HaKarmeli, turned down and obnoxiously turned down King David's request for provisions, and King David came, was on his way with four hundred men to really cause some serious damage to Naval and his offspring.

Avigail intercepted the group with lots and lots and lots of provisions, including [speaking Hebrew] five prepared sheep.

So there was a reference to five sheep.

... we don't understand the spiritual realm.

When you think about King David, he lived in the old covenant, but he lived as if he was in the new covenant.

He did things that were totally illegal in, in their religious Jewish laws.

What do you mean by that?

They're there so that we can glean from them and learn from them and make sure we avoid the pitfalls that those who came before us fell into.

But 2 Samuel chapter number 13, we'll begin reading in verse number one, the Bible says, and it came to pass after this, that Absalom, the son of David, had a fair sister.

whose name was Tamar.

And Amnon, the son of David, loved her.

And Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick for his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin.

And Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her, but Amnon had a friend.

whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimea, David's brother.

And Jonadab was a very subtle man.

And then Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, admitted... that the sanctions were designed to force Jewish people out of the West Bank because he favors a two-state solution where the West Bank becomes a Palestinian state and Gaza becomes a Palestinian state and whatever's left of Israel is a Jewish state.

But I feel like the this is an example of how you can weaponize language, is the West Bank is a very modern term trying to like neutrally describe the part of Israel that's on the western side of the jordan but historically that area was called judea or samaria the northern part samaria the southern part judea and so when you actually use its historical name about trying to force the jews out of judea you get a much more accurate position of exactly what's happening here this two-state solution is like you're basically trying to force jews out of territory that is has is named Judea and has been named Judea for nearly three thousand years going all the way back to uh King David's time that area that southern part of Israel was called Judea so uh an ironic an ironic turn of phrase there also just showing um The Bible prophecy we quote from Isaiah quite often about Ephraim and Manasseh turning against Judah or America and Britain turning against Israel, where you see that even now the British nation, which was largely responsible for letting the Jews return to Judea in the first place with the Balfour Declaration, is now trying to force them out of it.

Japan's constitution bars them from having a military.

So it might seem a little unusual that one of the main stories this week shows them building one of the world's most impressive warships.

How they viewed mercenaries, including them in that category of the secure.

Can you comment on David's time as a mercenary for the Philistines?

Yeah, I'm happy to.

This is one of the actually one of the topics that got me interested in this topic broadly in the first place.

So 1 Samuel 28 describes how David, in his time of fleeing from Saul, eventually decides to go to the Philistines to get away from Saul and to protect himself.

And he decides to serve the Philistines, at least offers to serve the Philistines as a foreign contingent in the Philistine army.

Most scholars regard this as a mercenary job because David has no obligation to the Philistines.

Obviously, his people are actually at war with the Philistines, and he's just seeking a way to protect his people that are with him, protect himself.

Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah.

Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel.

The man was very rich.

The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved.

He was a Calebite.

David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

So David sent ten young men.

So I want you to clap your hands, pick up your chamber rings.

Do we have any dancers? You know King David danced before the Lord with all the power of his might.

Now, Archbishop King and Mother Marina see the church as a kind of Mecca, where Coltrane disciples from just about anywhere can worship together.

On the day I visit, they've come from New York, Seattle, and closer to home, Redwood City.

Caleb is 85 when he plants his feet and says, give me this mountain.

And Naomi, widowed, bereaved in her later years, becomes the architect of the entire book of Ruth, the grandmother of the royal line of King David.

These people aren't deemed interesting enough for inclusion until they are in their later years.

The biblical scripture, that story, it barely glances at their youth.