This chapter gives us a new spin on the meaning of the term “good news.” The major people in 2nd Samuel 19 — Shemai, Mephiboshet and Barzillai — were involved in key events and had important traits later expressed in the life of Peter, particularly in how he responded to the death of Yeshua the Messiah.
Daniel explores foreshadowing of all seven ‘feasts to the LORD’ in Genesis 2–5. For example, hints of Passover are seen in Adam and Eve’s hiding from God in the garden; Firstfruits, in Eve’s dedicating her firstborn; Atonement, in God’s marking Cain to wander with vengeance taken against him.
Daniel reflects on his hasty building of a sukkah for the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) amid sickness in his family. He learned from the four species symbols of Sukkot and the design of the sukkah about God’s dealing with him via his heart, soul, mind, strength and spirit.
Traditionally, the book of Ruth is studied during Shavu’ot in most Jewish congregations. We have studied the surface story of Ruth in the past, but this study will dig deeper. Ruth had no right to an inheritance from God. She disregarded her birth family and follows her mother-in-law, Naomi, and Naomi’s God for the rest of her life.
Ziba comes to David with some of Mephibosheth’s wealth and brought it to David on the pretext of pledging loyalty to David. Ziba tells David that Mephibosheth has purposefully refused to flee with David and stay behind to possibly gain the throne for himself. This chapter structured to highlight betrayal to show us that a particular individual, David was betrayed and that His descendant, the Messiah would be betrayed in a similar way.
Daniel addresses a question raised during the last study of 2nd Samuel 15 about David’s going the Mount of Olives to pray with a covered head and bare feet in this excursus. In many places in the Bible, covering a man’s head is an act of shame or mourning. Why does God command His priests to wear head coverings? Why did Paul write in 1st Corinthians 11 that a man should pray or prophesy with his head “uncovered”?
Daniel elaborates on the chiastic structure of 2nd Samuel 15–20 by showing a couple of simpler chiastic structures in Numbers 7, which was discussed during the Torah study.
The one in 2nd Samuel is the largest chiastic structure that Daniel has presented so far. However, the focus of this chiastic structure, as in most chiastic structures, is the Messiah. God places these chiastic structures in the Bible to reveal clues about the role of the Messiah or events that will occur in the Messiah’s life on earth.