To the Devious, He is Shrewd

Mr. M

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2020
8,129
3,211
Prescott, Az
✟36,927.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Celibate
The Anointed of YHWH, King David, describes the Anointing in Psalm 18:
25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.

Here is one example, more to follow.
Matthew 22:15-22.
15
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.
16 And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.
17 Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me? Hypocrites!"
19 "Show Me the tax money". So they brought Him a coin.
20 And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”
21 They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
22 When they had heard, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.
 

Mr. M

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2020
8,129
3,211
Prescott, Az
✟36,927.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Celibate
The Days of Abiathar Part 1

Mark 2:23-28. Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.
And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”
And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

While presenting themselves as concerned for the sanctity of the Sabbath, the Pharisees are actually showing themselves to be devious in this situation. The disciples of Yeshua were not harvesting a field, they were gleaning for a meal, which was allowed and even encouraged by the Law.

Leviticus 19:9, 10. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

Mr. M

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2020
8,129
3,211
Prescott, Az
✟36,927.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Celibate
The Days of Abiathar, part 2

Mark 2:23-28. Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.
And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry,
he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest,
and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests,
and also gave some to those who were with him?”


While presenting themselves as concerned for the sanctity of the Sabbath, the Pharisees are actually showing themselves to be devious in this situation. The disciples of Yeshua were not harvesting a field, they were gleaning for a meal, which was allowed and even encouraged by the Law.

Yeshua now responds to their deviousness by testing their knowledge and ours, by citing an incident involving David and a priest named Ahimelek. Saul ordered him and his family destroyed for assisting David, in giving him the sword of Goliath. A young son Abiathar is the only survivor, who reports the incident to David.
By what happens in this incident, Yeshua points to a narrative that the Pharisees fail to comprehend, and illustrates how David, the anointed of YHWH deals shrewdly with a devious priest named Ahimelek.

The narrative of this tale is found in 1 Samuel 21.
 
Upvote 0

Mr. M

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2020
8,129
3,211
Prescott, Az
✟36,927.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Celibate
The Days Of Abiathar: David meets Ahimelek
After fleeing Saul, David leads a small band of men on an all night march, and arrives at the village of Nob, where he encounters a priest coming off duty at the Tabernacle.

1 Samuel 21:
1
Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”
2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place.
Notice that Yeshua said:
Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:
how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest.

So we find deliberate discrepancies from the narrative. Yeshua is shrewdly using their lack of knowledge against them to deal with their deviousness, and make a comparison.
Following the narrative, David perceives that Ahimelek is carrying bread under his cloak, and demands loaves for himself and his men:

1 Samuel 21:
3 and now, what is there under your hand? five loaves give into my hand, or that which is found..
4 And the priest answers David, and said, `There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if the youths have been kept only from women..
5 And David answers the priest, and said to him, `Surely, if women have been restrained from us as heretofore in my going out, then the vessels of the young men are holy, and it [is] a common way:and also, surely to-day it is sanctified in the vessel..
6 And the priest gives to him the holy thing, for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence which is turned aside from the presence of Yahweh to put hot bread in the day of its being taken away.
Behold, the utter deviousness of this priest! First he admits that he has taken holy bread from the presence. The Law for the bread was for it to be eaten by sons of Aaron only, within the holy place. Leviticus 24:7-9. Then he says they can eat the bread if they have not been with women. Where does he get this Law? At Mount Sinai, Moses orders the men to not touch women prior to YHWH descending upon the mount. Seemed appropriate to him apparently.
Then David makes this subtle observation, that the bread is in a way common. Consecrated bread, carried under a cloak is defiled and cursed, in this blatant violation of the priests statutes.
Yeshua uses this narrative to make a direct comparison between the Pharisees that are confronting Him, and the behavior of this priest. Abusing statutes to advantage, while ignoring the Truth. Again, dealing with deviousness in a way that is shrewd, and a greater wisdom.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

Mr. M

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2020
8,129
3,211
Prescott, Az
✟36,927.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Celibate
Haggai 2:
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius,
the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
11 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying,
12 If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches
bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?”
Then the priests answered and said, “No.”
13 And Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a dead body
touches any of these, will it be unclean?”
So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.”
14 Then Haggai answered and said, “ ‘So is this people, and so is this nation
before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands;
and what they offer there is unclean.
 
Upvote 0