Author: Daniel
Saul continues to pursue David into En Gedi, a mountainous region on the western shore of what is now called the Dead Sea. Saul thinks he has the upper hand but David is given the opportunity to turn the tables on Saul and deliver himself from Saul’s pursuit, yet David holds back and does not kill Saul. David’s actions fulfilled a prophesy and sent a message to Saul which Saul acknowledged for a time.
The story of Chanukah or Hannukah began before Judas Maccabee killed his first Greek, and the culmination didn’t end with him. The events were no surprise to God either. He told the prophet Haggai something spectacular would happen in His temple during the time we now call Chanukah. Today’s talk starts all the way to the days of Darius the Mede and touches us in the 21st century.
David is fleeing Sha’ul (Saul) and at the same time liberating towns from Philistine occupation but more often than not, he experiences betrayal rather than gratitude. When David would have a right to despair whether he had any friends or allies, Yahunatan/Yonatan (Jonathan) finds David and renews their covenant. David learns a lesson about when to “throw your hat into the ring” and when to “mind your own business.”
Sha’ul (Saul) responds to the loyalty of his servants by accusing them of betrayal and favoring David. Doeg, an Edomite, wants to gain favor with Sha’ul by exaggerating his chance sighting of David at the priestly compound in Nob. Doeg continues to try to gain favor with Sha’ul by willingly obey a grizzly order that none of the men of Israel want to obey.
David flees Saul on Jonathan’s command since Saul had set out to kill him. He first flees to the priestly city of Nob and later flees to the land of the Philistines, his sworn enemy.
During the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (Sukkot in Hebrew), a long-standing ceremony has been the waving of a bundle of plants and a citrus fruit toward the four points of the compass. There is an important message for all times in what those plants symbolize.