The Insane Story of the MOST Important King in Jewish History

we are going to address and talk about the mo perhaps the most enigmatic most misunderstood probably the the most pivotal and central figure and I don't hope I'm not overstating this but I don't think I am in the entire Continuum of Jewish history probably the most central figure to Judaism as a whole it's a big statement Moses Abraham Isaac Jacob not exactly chopped liver but David hamella King David and I hope that you will agree with agree with me after we finish this class his soul his nashama his significance permeates the entire Torah and has an impact on our lives today perhaps more than any other biblical figure so where do we start boratius borrow in the beginning in the beginning God created Adam harishon Adam and Eve and Adam and Eve were created we are told on Friday the sixth day of creation and they're created in the seventh hour of the day whether excuse me the ninth hour of the day according to the measures and they were created and placed in Ghanaian the Garden of Eden and they were given one mitzvah and we all know what that is the Mitzvah of not eating from the Tree of knowledge from the eight Sada and our sages tell us that had Adam and Eve been able to contain themselves for three hours until Shabbat God would have served them from this tree of knowledge the intent was not to deny them the benefits of this tree the intent was to give them knowledge and insight that would help them serve God that would be given to them by Hashem on God's terms they stuck their hands into the cookie jar three hours too early and so by extending themselves and eating from the Tree of knowledge they brought the world into a state of this repair and to a circumstance where we are still working to try to rectify those three hours or that misdeed and it's interesting if you remember that Torah portion there is an expression that is not used very often havasis and the Torah says that she sees this tree of knowledge it is Pleasant in appearance to her eyes I want you to remember this statement Pleasant to her eyes what do we mean by that exactly when Adam fell from his high state of connection to Hashem he scanned the entire history and looked through all the reservoir of Souls and he found the soul according to The Madras of King David hamelach and he saw that this Saul was only going to live for three hours the amount of time that Adam and Eve were lacking in terms of their completion they were created on the ninth hour they had three hours to go they kind of lost those three hours King David was going to bring the world back to its intended state but he was only given three hours to live so what did he do the Madras tells us he gifted 70 years of his life to David Adam was supposed to live for a thousand years he died at 930. lived exactly 70 years so right away from the get-go King David is a very important part of the cosmos of the universe of life the nashama the soul of David now has to make its way from on high to become engaged in the physical world and I will take you on a journey and together we will trace the seed of King David and we will be astonished to learn that it is not smooth sailing that it is not a process that you would imagine would be the process of such a holy and righteous soul as and so fast forward a couple of generations Abraham he becomes the first Jew he discovers God he teaches the world monotheism and he is a childless he adopts a nephew lot in the Torah tells us about how lot was his literally his son he was went down to Egypt with him he came back from Egypt with a lot of cattle a lot of produce and then there was a little a little squabble between the shepherd of Abraham and The Shepherd of lot and load excuse me went to South to Sado and then uh sadome is destroyed and lot and his dude his his wife had turned around to look and she was turned into a pillar of salt and load with his two daughters run hahara to the mountains and um the Torah tells us what happens with lot and his two daughters in the cave they think that the whole world is destroyed and there's nobody going to perpetuate the species to continue the line and they have incestuous relationships with their father and they give birth to two children one of them was Moab Moab literally means May of from my father and this Moab becomes a nemesis of the Jewish people and later provides us with Ruth who is a moabite woman Ruth is the grant the great grandmother of David Hamill of King David but I'm going to get back to it and I'll kind of take you through it and and and get into a little bit more detail of how Ruth emerges from Moab and as wicked and as evil as Moab was as cruel as Moab was Ruth emerges as this Paradigm of kindness and goodness not a very illustrious pedigree to say the least well that's um David's maternal line let's take a look at his paternal line so a couple of generations forward uh Yehuda Jacob has 12 children Joseph is the favored one Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers yehudah separates himself from his brothers and he goes away from them and he marries this woman he has a couple of children he finds a wife for his oldest son her name was anyone want to venture what was her name that wife he had Tamar excellent Tamar Tamar marries the older one Shayla and he passes away and then his second son uh which he gives Tamar marries the second brother in The Leverage tradition and the Second Son passes away and then the third son he's a little hesitant he's not exactly sure why are these kids dying and he says to her he says go back to your father's house I'll call you when I'm ready you know what that means don't call me I'll call you and and Takia he has no intention of giving her to his his youngest son whose name was Shayla actually so yehuda's wife passes away and Tamar realizes that Yehuda has no intention of giving of allowing her to marry her third son she desperately knew and she saw that she was to have children with yehuda's family so she disguises herself as a harlot and she she places herself at the crossroads and you heard that it is said in the gemara that Yehuda had no interest but this malach put into him this incredible desire that he couldn't overcome and he has relations with Tamar and Tamar becomes pregnant with twins and then they they see that she's pregnant which means that she somehow violated the trust in those days that was punishable by death she was going to be taken out to be stoned or burned and she holds up the Signet ring that Yehuda had gave her as a collateral for the money he was going to send and I'm not going into all the details of the story he sent the money he couldn't find her and then you heard uh confesses and stands up and saves her life and says no she did the right thing she it was I am the father and because I didn't give her to my youngest son uh he accepted what happened she was allowed to live she gives birth to twins parrots and zarach pores becomes the ancestor of Boaz Boaz is that elderly fella who lives in the time of Ruth who marries Ruth and gives birth to David's great-grandfather and that's just fascinating that something so holy is channeled through less than perhaps holy circumstances he would think that the way David hameliff's ancestry would develop would be you know the mukhotani would be the most honored and respected of the community rabbanim uh perhaps uh nagidim and and people who are acknowledged leaders of the of the of the time constantly throughout the ages you'd be able to trace your lineage everybody is so proud when they find that there was a rabbi in their line and a holy Rabbi a famous Rabbi and David Malik looks back and who are his grandparents lot and Yehuda of course is an illustrious grandparent but why why is it that this nashama is is filtered in through uh in a sense less than Stellar circumstances and so just to throw out a couple of thoughts and I'm sure you might have some on your own is that um the whole definition of Holiness and good is when you contrast it against darkness and Evil and struggle and what life is about it's about extracting the kernels of light of goodness from the chaff from the rest of everything that's around it then you really appreciate the power of Holiness and good but when it's always surrounded with Holiness and Light that kernel of goodness is never really tested it's never really worked it never really has has to kick in the afterburners and so it is deliberate that a person like King David whose life mirrors in a sense the process that brought him to life a life of struggle a life of challenge a life of triumph over those challenges should be brought into this world through a process that people could turn their nose up at through a pedigree that is less than perfect because the superficial external aspects of what we would consider today perfect are are really just superficial window dressings it's what you do with your life that really counts not where you come from and this message is loud and clear David became not because life was easy for him but because as we're going to see more difficult than you ever imagined and that's really The Key to Greatness and so it's really important that we talk about this Moab connection this lot Moab and then as we move forward in history take a look at what the Torah has to say about Moab Moab the Torah says that people from the tribe of Moab can never ever be allowed into the people of Israel no converts from the tribe of Moab what does the Torah say about the Egyptians the Egyptians persecuted us for 210 years they killed our babies they devastated and destroyed us and yet after three generations an Egyptian is allowed in to the people of Israel asab Edo hates us with a passion but Ace of is our brother so he's not completely people from the people people from the tribe of Edom are not universally eternally banned from the Jewish people but Moab is the Torah says even the 10th Generation and it doesn't mean after 10 they are allowed it just means even 10 and Beyond ten and Ruth emerges from Moab and we all know the story of Ruth but just to recap was a great personage at that time and he abandoned the Jewish people with his two sons and with Naomi they went to the fields of Moab mahalon and kilion the two sons of Ali malach Mary Ruth and arpa moabite princesses and there's a whole discussion whether they converted whether they didn't convert maklin and kylian die without children before Tamar um Naomi is bereft and devastated and alone and it's time for her to go back to the land of Israel there's nothing for her here and she says to her two daughters-in-law you know leave me alone I'm an old woman go back to your families you'll find other husbands you'll make a life for yourself and know the two they start escorting her on the wag and she turns around to them again and she says you know this is not going to work um you're an embarrassment to me you're not going to find any husbands in this well no one's going to marry you go go I won't hold it against you arpa turns around and leaves in fact it's interesting that the name arpa means shoulder she kind of gives Naomi her back and she leaves Ruth duffcuba Ruth clings tonight to Naomi and as many times as Naomi encourages her to leave she's even more determined to stick with Naomi and in fact some of the aspects of conversion are taken from the story and how she tries to dissuade her once twice and three times and finally she sees that she's sincere and she stops trying to dissuade her and Ruth Cleaves to Naomi and they come back to Bethlehem and Israel and there's the whole story but how she goes to collect some uh some produce for her mother-in-law in the fields of Boaz who's a relative of Ellie Miller Naomi finds out that Boaz was took took an interest in her not because she was a young Maiden but because he saw she was a poor girl and he asks who she is and yes Boaz said I've heard of your kindness now remember Moab is known for their cruelty and here Ruth is she's like a rose amongst thorns she takes whatever Vestige of kindness that is left in Moab and she takes it with her and Ruth sticks with Naomi and Boaz says this is your field don't go anywhere else I will protect you and I will I will take care of you Ruth comes home she tells Naomi what's going on Naomi's ecstatic she says you just keep going down to that field and the time of the Harvest is over Boaz makes no attempt to uh engage her in any way in any relationship and Naomi is devastated she hopes to Boaz maybe would take an interest on a romantic level and she plans with Ruth what they're going to do it's an interesting story and everything has to be understood and the highest level of Purity as both of them were intending at any rate she meets Boaz at the threshing at the threshing floor and she says to Boaz that it is your responsibility to redeem your relative by marrying me and she says it of course in a veiled reference throw your cloak over me whatever the euphemisms were and Boaz says you're right however there is a relative that's closer than I and that relative needs to be given the right to First refuse so don't worry tomorrow we're going to have a best in we're going to call the other relative to the best and we're going to give him his first that right of first refusal if he doesn't marry you then I will Boaz is by the way 80 years old at the time and he's actually something he says that's very significant he says [Music] that this kindness and selflessness is greater than the one that you did with Naomi because I'm an old man and you're a young beautiful woman what are you looking why are you chasing me so to speak so we understood that her intentions were totally pure so the next day this guy named ploney Almani it's like Mr John Doe the Torah doesn't name him polony Almani somebody Mr so-and-so a lot of explanation as to why but he didn't deserve to be named perhaps he comes by and Boaz there's there's 10 people or rabbis um sitting there and he says Ruth excuse me Naomi our relative came back from the fields of my wife she has some fields that she needs that we need to redeem are you prepared and ready to redeem them and he says absolutely it's my duty to do so he says well together with the fields and Ruth is part of the package and and plenty of money says one second you mean the the moabite the moabite woman you want me to marry the mobile woman what are you out of your mind don't you know the Torah forbids us to marry a lullaby moment we all know that the moabites are not allowed into the people of Israel that Macklin and Killian married moabites doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do so no I I uh I can't do that this is Boaz being a leader of the Jewish people knew that when the Torah prohibited the moabite community of entering into the land of Israel it was not including the women only the men it was only a male thing and this oral tradition fell into disuse because there were not a lot of moabites who even wanted to convert to Judaism in those days in plaque in fact hundreds of years can go by without one single more white woman or man attempting to convert so this law or rule fell into disuse and it was forgotten and it was just generally accepted by the populace and by the even by the even by the uh the rabbis that it was an all-inclusive prohibition but Boaz knew differently Boaz knew that this was key and now was the time to bring to revive this and there was a reason for this distinction it wasn't Justina without any reason and it is different and unusual because when it comes to a monser an illegitimate child there is no difference between men and women when it comes to the Egyptian prohibition there is no difference between men and women when it comes to the Edomite prohibition there is no difference between men and women so why in the world the other rabbis were asking boa should there be a difference when it comes to Moab well Boaz says very simple because when you take a look in the Torah as to why the moabites are not allowed to enter into the Jewish people the Torah gives us a reason where it doesn't give us a reason in some of the others it says because they didn't come out to feed you when you were starving and thirsty when you were passing along the way when they you were not threatening them and that cruelty is an anathema to the Jewish people and women were not expected to go out from their tents to the road feed the Wayfarers it was the man's responsibility to do that and therefore the women were never never included in that prohibition so Ruth becomes okay but not everybody agreed with it you know try bringing something new to your synagogue that nobody ever uh heard of before and you say yeah yeah it's in the bylaws from 50 years ago it's gonna take a little while till people get on board right even if you're right Boaz married Ruth and it says all the rabbis rejoiced in this wedding and they gave her so many blessings you're going to be like Sarah Rifka Rahul and Leia that night oved David's great great David's grandfather is uh conceived and the next morning they're attending boaz's funeral but was dies that night and so you can imagine what people were saying Boaz was wrong that it that a moabite woman is not allowed into the community look what happened to him but really this was God's way of making things a little interesting not making it simple Boaz passed away because he was only kept alive for that very purpose of continuing the line of Yehuda to facilitate the birth of David once that purpose was achieved he was taken back to his place in Dunedin but the way the tongues wagged and in Ruth there's no longer any mention about the rabbis congratulating Ruth on the birth of oved because they were out of there they didn't want to have anything to do with this Ruth and in fact even Naomi it says it says the Naomi's friends who gives oved his name not his mother not his Bobby nobody it's the friends that give the name to the baby and so from the very beginning this family is under a cloud of illegitimacy that is going to dog David to the end of his life oh definitely through a very big part of his life as we'll see soon so oved grows and um he is such a righteous person and that people begin to accept him and they say well maybe we're wrong maybe maybe a moabite woman is allowed because if a moabite woman would not be allowed then something so beautiful wouldn't be able to come out of this and then ye shine was the the the role model for the entire generation and yisha's children seven children all of them great and handsome and powerful and righteous and and scholarly slowly but surely the people began to accept the family and not question not question their linears here we come to a part of the of the narrative that I myself almost find it very hard to repeat because it's it's it's way out there but it's in the magician it gives us some some a deeper appreciation for what what David has to go through Jesse getting older you know what happens when you get a little older start getting a little bit more righteous you're thinking about you know your yoi madin and Jesse begins to doubt his own lineage maybe I am illegitimate he says and if I am illegitimate then I'm not allowed to live with my wife who is a legitimate full-fledged U.S and it for some reason it gives him no rest and he's torn and we are told in the matter said he divorces his wife as a result I'm not allowed to live with you maybe I'm not allowed to live with you as heartbreaking as that is but a while later he realizes also that it's not proper to be without a wife well what is he going to do he can't marry a non-jewish woman because maybe he's Jewish he can't marry a Jewish woman because maybe he's illegitimate the statement well this is what he did he had a maidservant and he gave her a conditional emancipation a conditional release an illegitimate person is allowed to marry a maidservant but a Jewish person is not allowed to marry a maidservant unless she's freed so he freed her conditionally he said if I am legitimate then you're freed and if I'm not legitimate then you're not freed we won't go into the viability of this but this is what he did meanwhile the maidservant was very loyal to her mistress and she came to her and she said I know how much you want to be reunited with your husband let's do a rojo Leia deal and so she switched places with her with her mistress and in those days it was very possible not to know who you were with until much later just like with Rahul and Leia so he was with his own wife and that's when King David was conceived it's a crazy story a fantastic story but if I didn't have iron-clad sources for the story I wouldn't even articulate it for you but it gives us some idea of what's going on so he didn't know that it was his own wife she becomes pregnant and he begins to wonder like how is she pregnant did she go and marry somebody else without you know and he's separated but then divorce her and the sons were all angry at this and he he's shy quieted it down and said listen let's just you know hush this thing up let the baby be born and the baby was born into an environment of hostility of illegitimate and illegitimate kind of Aura this is an illegitimate son we are going to separate him from the rest of the family we're not going to allow him to be identified with our family because he's illegitimate and we don't want to uh you know allow him into the rest of the community so to speak so David and Melech from the cradle stranger to his own family is Born Into hostility and we find Psalms that reflect that angst that David amalek expresses he says I was a stranger to my own Brothers he says which we're going to begin to say every every day in the month of Elo my parents have turned from me have have abandoned in me however his mother would constantly tell him David your kosher you're good you're legitimate it's not the time to tell anybody right now but just take it your time will come [Music] is raised as a pariah in his own family that's why they send them out to the Sheep to separate him from the rest of them he hardly ever is at home and when he comes home it's very tense so he doesn't even bother coming home and it is in those years that Hashem provided for him the ability and the opportunity to mold his relationship with God many of the Psalms were composed during those years of his shepherding of his isolation from society and from his family and it was in retrospect one of the foundations of who he became later he wasn't distracted by the distractions that you would have if you would be part of society he was able to maintain his dignity and not to allow himself to be defined by others and by how others saw him but to be defined by who he knew he was and his relationship and connection to Hashem to God and that's when he developed this incredible ability to communicate with on that very beautiful special way so now let's leave David and his family let's go to what is going on in the larger Jewish picture at the time Saul King Saul was the first king he was a righteous person he was a powerful person he was a very dignified person but he was not destined to continue as king and his children were not destined to continue as king because he violated God's command when it came to the amalekites and he found it difficult to acknowledge his sin and Samuel who was the prophet of the day of the era told him that [Music] Hashem that God has has turned from you from you being a king you continuing your line continuing Saul was very distressed by this but he was going to be allowed to finish his tenure his uh his own Reign but his children would not continue so God comes to Samuel and says I want you to go to the family of Jesse and anoint for me the next king in Israel but it has to be very very quiet because Saul is not not to find out that another king is going to be anointed in his lifetime so Samuel knew Jesse is one of the most prominent families in Israel so Samuel comes to Bethlehem and he lets Jesse know that he would like to have dinner with them he has something very special and important to speak to them about and he asks him to gather his entire family and God says that from the sons of Jesse I am going to anoint the next king Samuel comes to the home the the sons are lined up and eliev the first son stands before Samuel tall handsome charismatic righteous yeah yeah this is it this is the king and Samuel says to himself yeah this is the right one God gives him such a rebuke such a chastisement because many years before Samuel had told a group of people that if you need to have anything if you need any help come to me I'll help you and he didn't imply that everything that he has is from Hashem so now Hashem May out forces him to acknowledge that and he says [Music] to Samuel famous he says don't judge a book by its cover that's what he says he says a person sees what his eyes see Hashem but God sees Into the Heart Elio is not fit to be a king One By One The Sons come before him one by one Samuel thinks maybe this is it and no God says no and then all of the sons passed by and he doesn't find the the king the Future King and now Samuel's all flustered all puzzled what's going on here I am all the sons are have come before me and I haven't found the right person so Samuel says to Jesse can it be we have some other youths that have not been audience before me now recognize that he didn't say do you have any other Sons because if he would have said do you have any other Sons Jesse would have said no and think about it for a moment even if David was the black sheep of the family and even if he wasn't someone to be proud of would yishai not include him when God's command was to bring all your children to the table how could he have left David out and how could he have remained silent when his other children didn't didn't meet the criteria and then say perhaps maybe we should bring David because Jesse genuinely did not consider David his son so but when Samuel said do you have any other youths he couldn't ignore that he said yes there's a small one 28 years old with the Sheep well Samuel says bring him David walks in and the Tanakh in a very rare description of physical features says that David was adomi Samuel Samuel looks at King David's shorts diminutive and stature handsome yes ruddy complexion and he says this and God says this is the next king of Israel anoint him and he anoints David and Jesse starts crying and Jesse realizes that it is his son and everything becomes clear in that one instant of what happened all these years the brothers recognize it and David is instantly legitimized in the eyes of his family others in the community still didn't think very much of David now let's take a look for a moment and how the Torah describes admoni who else is described in the Torah as admoni come on guys ASAP great Asaf Esau described as an admoni another description [Music] nice beautiful eyes where do we have that other expression we mentioned it at the beginning of the class khava with the tree of knowledge also very very um rare expression related to eyes and so our sages tell us attraction through her eyes let her astray and David would Rectify that David would use his eyes for God except once and we'll talk about that he was an admoni our sages tell us that David meleth was a violent he had a violent spiritual DNA like asaph we're told and David amalek had the same spiritual root they came from the same you might say um zodiac of of uh spiritual um natures but ASA used his violent nature to rebel against God David curbed his violent nature to serve God he fought the wars to protect and build the people of Israel so he was violent in nature it just gives us some insight into the struggle that David had to bring to the fore every day of his life it wasn't a simple easy deal for David and so he was able to sublimate that nature we're told that in the gemara that if somebody feels some type of inexplicable gravitation to blood he should become a mile or a sheikhet Channel it my friends Channel it don't deny it don't repress it because then it will come out inappropriately somewhere else but Channel it so wmlf channeled this so King David now he's anointed and he goes back to his uh his shape everything is gonna move along as normal no perceptible change in on any level but the the instant that David is Anointed Saul's Melancholy begins because there are you don't have you can't have two kings at once so maybe saw was like the you know uh de facto King but David was a dijour king he was just in hiding still but real sovereignty and in in the Torah sovereignty is a reflection of God's special spirit it's not a matter of election so to speak the one who God infuses with this special Spirit of sovereignty is the king regardless of who's in the palace so Saul becomes a shell of a king and that's why the Philistines begin to harass the Jewish people and all of a sudden saw the great warrior doesn't know what to do he's he's overcome with fear and in decisiveness and Goliath starts golias starts harassing and um insulting the Jewish people and the Jewish god every day Goliath is coming to this Mountaintop and they're saying why should we destroy each other's lands let's just have a dual you send your strongest person if you win we will be your servants and if we win you will be our servants why have all this collateral damage that you have to build rebuild after the war practical and meanwhile Goliath is is assaulting the Jewish people daily and mocking God and the armies of Israel every single day and no one has the courage to stay to come forward David meanwhile David was sent by his father to bring Provisions to his brothers he comes into the camp he hears the Goliath blaspheming Hashem he can't take it his blood is boiling the spirit of Hashem is is is pounding in him but he's humble he doesn't want it to be noticed so to speak that he is a person of Valor so what does he do he goes around asking people what is this reward that the king put out for anybody who stands against Goliath and the King had said the person who is Victorious against Goliath will marry my daughter I will give him my daughter so David made it look like his only interest was Saul's daughter that is a bounty hunter basically and he comes to Saul and he says please let me go and Saul says you're just a lad how can I let you go and say responsibly says don't worry I know that I can do this I ripped apart a bear and a and a lion once and and uh Saul decides to let him go he tries on the armor famous Madras saw was a big tall man David was a small short guy and the armor fit miraculously David saw the arm of 50 said I don't want the summer Saul saw the armor faith and he had a fit and he understood something is not so good for him here David goes out to face golias and we all know the story there are those that say that dovet's confidence came from the fact that the spirit of Hashem was now with him others say no it had nothing to do with the spirit of Hashem he had confidence in his physical strength that he would be able to overcome Goliath whatever the explanation is he did it and now the people are just enamored by him and Saul the Tanakh records Saul turns to his people and says who is that who just killed Goliath ah who is that he's the the the one who played the harp for you for all these years to keep you from your Melancholy he's your beloved David what do you mean who is that so I say just explain is that he wasn't asking who he knew who he was he was asking which line of Yehuda does he come from if he comes from zarach he's not going to be the next king if he comes from parrots then I'm a little concerned [Music] very unscrupulous character gets up and says why are you so concerned whether he comes from parents or from Zara he's not even legitimate and doing begins this whole thing about he's a moabite she's a his grandmother was a moabitus and she's not allowed to marry into the people of Israel and he's illegitimate child so don't even worry about him and a whole big war ensues in the Sanhedrin finally it's established that a moabite woman is allowed but it's already being brought to the search and we all know what happens and I have to kind of go a little bit fast forward here that David is pursued by Saul for many many years he refuses to kill Saul on a number of instances when he could he always responded in kindness but he was pursued by Saul who hated him hated him and knew that this was going to be the one who would not allow his son Jonathan who ironically was one of the dearest friends of King David in his the pure kevot holds up the relationship of Jonathan and David as the Paradigm of altruistic friendship and David was the one who was not going to allow him Jonathan to become the king his father was consumed by hatred Jonathan was consumed by love for daughter but dovet was on the Run for a great part of his life and you would think after having such a difficult upbringing and now he's already anointed as the king he would say to God what do you want from me haven't I been through enough you've anointed me as the king and now I have to run for my life is this what a king looks like and yet David whenever he had an opportunity he would write a song expressing his Soul's connection to God in the context of the difficulties that he was living through so you open the book of Psalms and you find a prayer for every circumstance for every human condition when dovet is saved he Praises God for his salvation when he's in the depths of Despair he reaches out to God for help when his family is with him he Praises Hashem when this conflict in his family he is in distress he reaches out for Hashem love fear glorifying idolizing pleading beseeching you see a person who feels so close to God in one Psalm and so far from God and another but the message is far as you are connected still you're still in the playing field you're still in the theater of operation you're still there and that thread of connection David shares with us and that's why the Psalms have become such an incredible part of Our Lives as Jews throughout the ages I don't know exactly the percentage but it's 60 to 70 percent of all our prayers are taken from Psalms it is the single most used resource of the rabbis in the times of the Temple for the creation and the development of our tilot of our prayers because more than anyone else expresses the range of emotion the range of human circumstance that all of us throughout the ages can relate to Keeps Us humble when we're doing well and keeps us heartened when we're not doing so well so if you look into the Psalms you'll find a psalm for every occasion so to speak and you'll find a human heart pouring itself out to Hashem and if King David when everything was going against him found it within himself to reach out to God then that's an inspiration for us we have images of royalty that royalty is a life of comfort a life of power a life of unmitigated unlimited ability to do whatever we want and King David's life was the exact opposite of that yes he had power yes he had status but he had Soros he had family taught us we should not have the family had two children rebelling against him trying to drive him out and David throughout his sorrows throughout his suffering was a shining example of bringing the best out of any circumstance that confronts us so David Amela finally becomes the king and he's having some good years and then in one of the Psalms we find an interesting request David Miller says according to The Madras is having a conversation with God and he says why is it God that when we say in the shemanasre um why avraham so Hashem says because he was tested with 10 tests and he passed them all right said well test me he was feeling that after everything he had been through what could be what test would be more uh difficult than what he's been through you know to be to be raised as an outcast and to have so much love in your heart David said I can handle it Sasha says okay I'll test you and he failed some say how much he failed did he sin did he not sin technically not technically but what did he fail in what realm and the realm of carnal desire he that night said he goes up on the roof he sees bathsheva and he's taken by her beauty and he has Uriah killed and the story that many are familiar with he marries bacheva Solomon is born from that Union another child that is born later passes away actually from from the initial meeting with bacheva but he sins or he loses or he he fails the test through the aniam it's the eyes that you say he lay in I am where David is so careful to keep focused on God that instant that he saw about Chevron for that instant he lost his Focus and that's when he failed the test not later what he did later was just that was just the effect but the real failure was that for a Split Second he lost his relation his connection to God and Nathan the prophet comes to him remember that story Nathan the prophets comes to the king and as the courage to say to the king if you remember the famous interchange he tells them a story about a poor farmer who had one calf and this rich farmer didn't want to use his own calves so he came to the poor Farmer's camp and he stole the poor Farmer's calf for a dinner that he wanted to make and David becomes all indignant he said this man should die and Nelson said this man is you you have sinned against God yet all the women at your beck and call you had to take somebody else's so to speak what dovet says next is probably the most important contribution of David's life to us today what does he say s I have sinned he didn't try to justify himself he didn't try to see say that he saw in the cosmos that bachelor's Soul was destined to be United with his he said khatasi if God sees it as a sin it's a sin there is no other way to see it what did what did King Saul say when shmuel gave him an opportunity to come clean he said well such wonderful angus bulls we're going to slaughter them we took them to sacrifice them to God but God had said destroy everything what was Samuel's response [Music] better to listen than bring me fat and great offerings just listen so many people ask why was Saul punished so severely he made a little mistake David did something a lot more serious a lot more terrible so in today's day and age you would make the distinction well Saul he aired in matters of State David was personal that's what people say about the latest political uh presidential blunders right makes a difference it wasn't the difference though the difference was that David acknowledged and said and and Saul did not and that acknowledgment brought about the acceptance of his atonement so David was allowed to continue his King and he gives us yet another message of Hope and encouragement that Hashem will forgive if you acknowledge Hashem is not looking for Retribution Hashem is looking for Purity for holiness and Hashem understands that human beings are human beings but it didn't come it didn't come without pain Hashem told him that from his own house there will be a movement against him so the suffering of his own children of shalom and his rebellion was a punishment for David so what does King David say he said Khan any well after this experience what did he say in a further psalm altivieri sayon please God don't test me anymore I'm not that confident as I used to be you've taught me a wonderful lesson my friends it's one thing when you're confronted with an adversarial condition with a tragedy but we don't pray for them we don't ask God for tests to be tested for those experiences yes of course a test gives one an opportunity for incredible growth but we don't ask Hashem for those kinds of tests we'll try to reach that level of growth without the tests give us give us revealed good not good that you have to go and look for it with a magnifying glass so David I recognize that Alta viennial and what did he say s David said that this sin is always before me I always keep this sin before me even though he repented and even though Hashem forgave him he never forgot and this kept him on that high spiritual level during his entire life [Music] is the ancestor of mashiach so our sages tell us that when the Messiah will come the world will revert back to will be elevated to a state of being in existence that existed before Adam and Eve age from the Tree of knowledge evil will no longer be this tempting um this tempting option for us will no longer be tempted by evil and it's another whole class to explain to you what happened exactly with Eve eating from the Tree of knowledge she brought evil into the world in a way that we are now intimate with evil we understand evil we relate to evil whereas before it was outside and therefore the challenges become all that much greater but when the Messiah will come evil will be lifted from the world and so Adam in bequeathing 70 years of his life in the beginning of time to David was facilitating ultimately with the coming of mashiach which is a descendant of David MLF was facilitating the rectification of his failure which will come when mashiach will come prepare and so you might ask what will we be doing when mashiach comes if the whole world is now engaged in a a a struggle with evil and that's the purpose what are we going to do when mashiach comes it's going to be quite boring so just briefly again this is a subject for another whole class but what we will be doing is we will be going from strength to strength in the realm of good and Holiness there is no end it's it's Unlimited the realm of goodness and the challenge will be will be to motivate us we're almost done we're almost done this is it this is it the challenge will be to motivate ourselves to increase in the realm of good without the motivation of evil and that will be an incredible challenge but may we Merit to confront that challenge with the coming of Mercy offices if you like that video hit the Subscribe button and notification Bell below for hours of the best Jewish content online [Music]

Channel: Jewish Learning Institute

Views: 8,706

Keywords: jli, Jewish Learning Institute

Id: UqusbD7tGNs

Length: 70min 59sec (4259 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 23 2022