Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

In the last 2 chapters we learned that David and his 600 men, looking for a safe place away from Saul, had moved to Gath and befriended Achish the king.

But David had not turned against Israel.

He ended up in a place in Philistine territory not far from settlements in southern Israel.

So, while he was there, he would act like he was raiding on behalf of the Philistines, when in reality he was taking care of the southern settlements of Israel.

He wasn’t raiding the Philistines.

But he was doing a couple of things.

He was taking on some of the nations that Israel had failed to remove from the promised land.

In , it says:

1 Samuel 27:

He was building the kingdom of Israel … something that he would continue to do as king.

building the kingdom of Israel

He was caring for parts of Israel and building relationships that Saul had neglected.

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In chapter 28, we first learned that the Philistines were gathering armies to go to war against Israel.

And Achish had informed David that he expected him and his men to go to battle with them.

AND Achish even made David one of his chief guards.

David’s reply was evasive: “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.”

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The king interpreted this to mean something like, “You have yet to see how well my men and I can fight for you.”

The king interpreted this to mean, “Until now, you have received only verbal reports of the prowess of me and my men, but this battle will give us opportunity to display our skills before your very eyes.”

But is that what David meant?

Certainly he wouldn’t fight against his own people, and he probably had an alternate plan in mind.

But the king was so impressed that he commissioned David to be his bodyguard for life!

David’s reply was evasive: “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do” (28:2, niv).

The king interpreted this to mean, “Until now, you have received only verbal reports of the prowess of me and my men, but this battle will give us opportunity to display our skills before your very eyes.”

But is that what David meant?

Certainly he wouldn’t fight against his own people, and he probably had an alternate plan in mind.

But the king was so impressed that he commissioned David to be his bodyguard for life!

But that is not what David meant.

He wouldn’t fight against his own people, and he had an alternate plan in mind.

But the king was so impressed that he commissioned David to be his bodyguard for life!

David was thinking that this would give him the opportunity to attack the Philistines from the rear, sabotaging them in the battle.

David was thinking that this would give him the opportunity to attack the Philistines from the rear, sabotaging them in the battle.

And that was the last we heard of David in chapter 28.

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The Philistine armies were gathered at Shunem and the armies of Israel were gathered at Gilboa.

From the elevated height of Gilboa, Saul was able to see the vast armies of the Philistines, and chapter 28 says that, “His heart trembled greatly.”

Samuel was dead and the LORD was not answering Saul through the Urim, by the prophets, or in dreams.

And so, the rest of chapter 28 dealt with Saul consulting a medium.

Samuel was dead, but even when he was alive, his ministry was not really appreciated by Saul.

Saul had preferred to do his own thing and had turned his back on the LORD.

God allowed Samuel to speak with Saul and deliver an important message.

That message?

1 Samuel 28:16-

And with that, it says there was no strength left in Saul.

For one thing, he had not eaten … he had been fasting.

Why would he have been fasting before going to battle?

Because he had not listened to the words of Samuel when he had told him:

Like Saul had done previously, he was trying to manipulate God with religion rather than repent and humble himself in obedience to God.

And what Samuel had said next to Saul was almost prophetic of the events of chapter 28.

He said:

And so Saul, fearful and troubled, refused to repent.

Previously, when Saul had been confronted with his sin, he made a pretense of repentance, though he had not really changed his mind about his sin.

This time, he doesn’t even bother with the show.

Instead, he received food from the witch … isn’t it interesting that Saul would receive unleavened bread from a witch?

And then Saul returned to camp.

And this is where we pick up today with chapter 29.

v1-2

As they had in chapter 6, the troops of the Philistines assembled and paraded, they and their 5 lords.

i

David and his men brought up the rear, guarding the king.

Aphek means “fortress.”

Aphek means “fortress.”

There are a number of different sites named Aphek in various parts of Israel.

This one is identified with a spring in the Jezreel Valley.

(The Jezreel Valley is also known as the Valley of Armageddon.)

Most likely this Aphek is in the southern Sharon plain at the source of the Yarkon River.

That would place it between Joppa and what would later be Caesarea Maritima.

If you have maps in your Bible, usually Map 6 is the land in Christ’s time and on the coast, just above Joppa is Antipatris (mentioned in as a stop on the way to Caesarea).

This may have been the place, though it would have been known as Aphek back then.

So, this suggests that the Philistines first mustered their troops at Aphek as they did back in chapter 4 and then moved up 35 or 40 miles into the Valley of Jezreel to confront Saul.

v3-5

You get the sense that the term “Hebrews” here is being used in a negative context.

Back in Genesis, Abram is referred to as “Abram the Hebrew.”

Typically the designation “Hebrew” in early times was used only as a point of reference for foreigners.

It is used to identify Joseph in Egypt.

Besides the use here, it is used to identify Joseph in Egypt (e.g., 39:14–17), the Israelite slaves in reference to the Egyptian masters (), Jonah to the sailors (), the Israelites to the Philistines (), and other such situations.

Some have thought that “Hebrew” is not in these cases an ethnic reference but a designation of a social class of people known as the “Habiru” in many ancient texts, where they are typically dispossessed peoples.

It is used to differentiate Hebrew slaves and Egyptian masters in .

Jonah identified himself to the sailors as a Hebrew.

Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000).

The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., ).

Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

And of course here we have it with the Israelites and the Philistines.

Egyptian and Akkadian texts used a similar term, Habiru to mean a people without a defined political state or lacking leadership.

However, the actual Hebrew word is Ivrie, which means “traverse or pass over.”

Abraham had come from beyond the Euphrates and had crossed over into the land of Canaan.

Later, Joshua and all Israel would cross over into the land.

It is possible that this term just developed to identify the people who had crossed over into Canaan from another place.

So then, it would make sense for the Philistines to adopt this term for the Israelites.

Of course, there are other theories as to the origin of the name.

Some suggest that Ibri denotes the descendants of the biblical patriarch Eber (Hebrew עבר), son of Shelah, a great grandson of Noah and an ancestor of Abraham

that Ibri denotes the descendants of the biblical patriarch Eber (Hebrew עבר), son of Shelah, a great grandson of Noah and an ancestor of Abraham

It’s not really important to our text, but it’s an interesting study.

I guess what I want to bring out is that it’s used here as a term of differentiation.

Whereas the question could have been asked, “What are THEY doing here” it is “What are these HEBREWS doing here?”

As a term of differentiation, it points out that this Philistine army has a Hebrew army within it.

This would obviously be of concern.

When the military commanders of the Philistines (here called Sare (Sar-RYE), meaning princes) saw their king with David and his 600, they protested.

This question must have shocked Achish because he had the utmost confidence in David.