HF170 - Was David Really a Prophet?
To: Hebraic-Foundations@YahooGroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date: Thursday, March 1, 2007
Subject: Bible Study HF170 - Was David Really a Prophet?
Hebraics,
Most often when we think about David, we think of the shepherd boy who became a great king. That is the good side. But in taking a closer look at David, we see a man who was a deceiver, a murderer, an adulterer, and a multiple Law-breaker. [Speaking of the Law of Moses.]
Yet the Bible says that David was a man after God's heart. What a paradox. How can this kind of man be after God's heart? But the subject of this study goes even a step further. Could David actually be considered one of God's Old Testament prophets? Let's see where the lines converge.
This is Bible Study HF170 - Was David Really a Prophet?
First let's determine what a prophet is. The very first time we find the word 'prophet' used in the Scriptures is where God speaks to Abimelech in a dream concerning his taking Sarah to himself. The Lord said, "Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours." (Gen20:9 nasb.)
What makes this more interesting is that God tells Abimelech that his sin is a personal sin against the Lord. It was as though Abraham and the Lord were one together.
This is true enough. And this is exactly what happens in a blood covenant. In the new covenant the Lord's life becomes our life, and our life becomes the Lord's life. Recall the first words that Paul heard from the Lord? "Saul, Saul. Why are you persecuting Me?"
But let's come back to the issue of David being a prophet. The Hebrew term for prophet is 'nabiy'. It refers to a divine spokesman. Nabiy describes someone raised up by God who would proclaim what the Lord gave him to say. A true prophet would never contradict the Scriptures, nor would he speak from his own mind.
On the other hand a false prophet did and does speak from his own mind and from the mind of spirits who are not of God. The problem of distinction wasn't always easy. Both could say, 'Thus saith the Lord.' (Something comparable.) This is why discerning of spirits is so important to the child of God.
Well then, could David be counted as an Old Testament prophet in the true sense of the word. Absolutely. David was one of the writing prophets. This is a primary reason that the book of Psalms is filled with such an anointing. It comes from the mouth of the Lord and mostly through David.
Peter acknowledged this fact on the day of Pentecost, saying, "And so, because he [David] was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ..." (Acts 2:30,31)
Many times in the book of Psalms you will hear the Lord speaking through David, first person present tense. Aside from the book of Isaiah, you will hear more about God's Christ in the writings of David than you will in any other book.
What makes this doubly wonderful is that the one we call Jesus, was actually David's Lord and Savior. David knew Him before His incarnation.
Hear it from David:
"O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory." (Ps63:1,2)
Who did David say he saw in the sanctuary? He saw God. But the key phrase is "to see Your power and Your glory."
The apostle Paul said the Jesus is the 'power of God.' The apostle John said that Jesus is 'the glory of only begotten of the Father.' (Cf. 1Co1:24; Jn1:14) Paul actually calls Jesus 'The Lord of Glory.'
These expressions were deeply embedded in the belief system of the Jews during the time of Jesus. They knew that the Messiah was to fully express God's power and God's glory.
Was Jesus in His pre-incarnation really David's Lord? Yes indeed. David called Him his Lord. Listen:
"The Lord says to MY Lord: 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." (Ps110:1)
This entire Psalm is about Jesus Christ. Wish I had time in this study to break it down verse by verse. However, the point I wish to make is that David was not only a prophet-spokesman for God, he also had spiritual experiences with the Lord.
I've mention in prior studies that the prophets often spoke in what can be termed 'prophetic perfects.' This means that the Lord allowed them to see New Testament happenings as though they were standing there, and they would record the scene as being present.
This is the reason it is so important to study the prophets of old. Here is an example of a prophetic perfect in David's writings:
David writes, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning." (Ps22:1)
David is recording this visionary experience, yet his recording actually reaches across redemptive history. David continues to record, "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before You." (v27)
Then verse 31: "They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has performed it."
The people yet to be born are the people of the new covenant. David saw clearly into the future and wrote about a people who would turn to Jesus and would be born from heaven.
So, was David really a prophet?
We have only scratched the surface of this writing prophet.
Did you know that during the time of Christ, the three most popular books among the Jews were Deuteronomy, Psalms and Isaiah. Why was this the case? It is because all three books spoke messages of God's Messiah.
Let me take this a step further so that you will see just how Hebraic the New Testament is. In Psalm 18:30, David writes, "As for God, His way is blameless; THE WORD Of THE LORD IS TRIED; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him." (Caps for emphasis only.)
If we were not familiar with the belief system of the Jews during the time of Christ, what David is saying would escape us. To the Jews the term 'word of the Lord' was the person of God in another form. You find this over and over in the Targummim. (Aramaic translations that were read in the synagogues.)
These following expressions were pretty much interchangeable during the time of Christ: the Shekinah, the Glory, the Form, and the Memra. (Sometimes even the term 'bath kol.' -- Daughter's voice.)
For example Exodus 24:9-11 reads, "Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank."
The Targums say they saw, "the Glory of the God of Israel." Other renderings was 'the Memra of God.' To the Jews the term Glory of God and the term Memra [Word] were one of and the same. They saw 'the word of the Lord.' The Word was always God Himself as another person.
This lets us see just how Hebraic John 1:1 really is; "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
When David said, "The word of the Lord is tried", in the synagogue they would have thought of God's other self, the Memra or the Glory or the Form. This brings to mind what Paul said about Jesus existing in the 'form' of God.
If you will trace the term 'word' in David's writings, very often you will see Jesus as the Word of God throughout, and how this transposed over into the apostolic writings.
Here are samplings:
"For the word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness." (Ps33:4)
"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host." (Ps33:6)
"Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word." (Ps103:20)
"He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." (Ps107:20)
"I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word to I hope." (Ps130:5)
So, was David really a prophet?
Actually there are no prophets today of the order of the Old Testament prophets. There is no need. The apostle taught that we were never to exceed what was written by the Old Testament prophets.
Jesus told the apostles that they were building on other men's work. The other men were the prophets.
One final thing -- In the new covenant all of God's people are given the Spirit of Messiah as a permanent indwelling. This is why you don't see a great emphasis on the role of a prophet in the New Testament. And this answers to Moses, when he said, "I wish that all God's people were prophets."
So if you are truly interested in the Hebraics of the early church, this is an excellent area of discussion.
And, yes, David was very much a prophet.
Blessings,
Buddy
---
Lawrence "Buddy" Martin
email: Bro.Buddy <at> ChristianChallenge.Org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hebraic-Foundations/
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"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)