Shalom, Shalom; peace, peace in the name of YESHUA. This is Crystal Sharpe and welcome to the Ancient Scrolls program.
For several days it has been floating in my spirit to speak concerning Baal’perazim, Lord of my breakthrough. This year, well, actually it began last May 2019, this outpouring of His Spirit. And it has progressively become more pronounced. Anyway, this year is a year of breakthroughs. We are experiencing Joel 2, Acts2, the latter day outpouring and this is the indicator for us being in the last days. My husband and I have already begun experiencing breakthroughs this year. Ok, so today we are going to look at 2 Samuel 5.
The Shema:
Hear O Israel, the LORD GOD the LORD is one.
Psalm 24
The earth is the Lord’s and fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein.
Father YHVH
We thank You for being God. You are the King of the Universe, King over heaven and earth. You are King over every circumstance and every situation. Your name is above every illness, every discouragement, and every loss. The blood of Yeshua, cleanse us from our sins, from our transgressions, from our iniquities, our provoking You to anger, our absolute rebellion against You and Your Word. Father, tear down every strong hold that is against the Word of God, every imagination, every tradition of man that is against the knowledge of God. Instead, help us to be conformed to Your Word, to Your righteousness and justice. We pray these things in the name of Yeshua. Amen.
Alright. Let’s start with 2 Samuel 5.
The back ground on this is Saul is now dead. He died along with his three sons in battle against the Philistines. Upon his death the Israelites were defeated before the Philistines and they fled. After Saul’s death, David resides at Hebron and the men of Judah anoint him king over the house of Judah. Abner, who is commander over the military in Israel, positions Ish-bosheth, son of Saul, to be king over the northern tribes and Benjamin.
The Word tells us the house of David prospers and the house of Saul grows weaker. At some point Saul’s son offends Abner, his commander, by accusing him of being intimate with his father’s concubine. Infuriated, Abner makes the proposal to unify all of Israel under David. Abner makes contact with the elders of Israel and Benjamin and they all agree to support David.
The son of King Saul, Ish-bosheth, is assassinated by his own people. After this, the Word tells us that David enters into a covenant with Israel before the LORD, and they (these elders of Israel) anoint him to be king over Israel. This is the third time David is anointed King.
At some point after his being anointed king, he makes the decision to conquer Jerusalem
Let’s start with verse 6. And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying: “Unless you take away the blind and the lame, you will not come in here, thinking David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion Fortress, which is [called] the City of David.
8. And David said on that day, “Whoever goes up to the water channel and strikes the Jebusites and the lame and the blind,” hated by David’s soul, “he will be chief and captain.” Therefore they said, “The blind and the lame will not come into the house.”
9. So David lived in the fort and called it the city of David. And David built around Milo and inward. 10. And David went on and grew great, and the LORD God of Hosts was with him.
I found this interesting that these Jebusites taunted David with the lame and blind. From our western Greek way of thinking, this must mean that David attacked the city full of blind and lame folks. That would not sound like much of a victory killing the disabled. There are some who would teach King David found blind and lame folks detestable and killed them all.
However, there is some history to this story. It began some generations back with Abraham in Genesis 20 and chapter 21. A certain king, Abimelech (name is father is king), was over the Philistines. All kings over the Philistines were called Abimelech. He took Sarah into his harem after being told that she was Abraham’s sister. God addressed the situation with Abimelech in a dream and told him he was a dead man for taking a woman that was a man’s wife.
Abimelech was naturally frightened and promptly returned Sarah to Abraham. In Genesis 21, it is said that Abimelech attended the feast of the weaning of Isaac and while there spoke to Abraham. Abimelech was somewhat fearful of Abraham. He makes a comment that God was with Abraham and all that he did. I am sure Abimelech had not forgotten the dream he had concerning Sarah. Also, Abraham’s defeat of the kings in Genesis 14, Sarah’s deliverance from Pharaoh and himself, plus the birth of Isaac in his old age.
Listen to the conversation he has with Abraham in Genesis 21:23,
Now swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me nor my son nor with my grandson.
Abimelech is fearful and desires Abraham to take an oath that Abraham would not deal falsely with Abimelech, with his son or grandson. Abraham agrees to an alliance, and it was only effective to the third generation. In verse 27, Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech; and the two of them entered into a covenant. Seven sheep were also given to Abimelech as a testimony that Abraham dug the well at Beersheva.
In 2 Samuel 5, these Jebusites in Jerusalem were the Philistine descendants of the subjects of this Abimelech. They were called Jebusites after their town’s fortress, the Jebus.
It is interesting these Philistines kept the written text of Abraham’s oath to Abimelech on parchments and inserted them into the mouths of two idols—referred to here as the “blind and lame things” and attached these idols above the gate of the fortress. Now the Jebusite Philistines informed David that he could not enter the city as long as the idols were there, because they represented Abraham’s oath, guaranteeing the safety of the Jebusites. But the oath was no longer binding in David’s time. The grandson of Abimelech was long since dead, and the continued existence of the statues gave the impression that the oath was still in force. Also, these two idols resembled a blind person—symbolizing the blind Isaac (Genesis 27:1)—and the other to represent the lame Jacob (Genesis 32:32). Remember that Jacob’s hip was put out of joint by the entity he wrestled with at the brook on his way to meet Esau.
David loathed and detested idols and he said whoever would go and strike the Jebusites and the blind and the lame would be promoted to chief and captain. His men responded the blind and the lame would not come into the house. These idols were destroyed. Had they remained, passersby would have remembered the oath, but not realized the oath was no longer in effect. They would have accused David of violating it and it would have been a desecration of God’s Name.
We are still in 2 Samuel 5 verse 17
Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David, and David heard and went down to the stronghold. 18. The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
The Philistines may have thought that King David picked a fight with them when he attacked the town of the Philistine Jebusites at Jerusalem. So they fortified themselves in the valley of Rephaim which was just southwest of Jerusalem.
19. And David inquired of the LORD saying, Will I go up to the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? The LORD said to David: Go up for I shall doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.
20. And David came to Baal-Perazim(bah-al p’raw-tseem), and David struck them there and said: the LORD has broken forth upon my enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim. 21. And there they left their images, and David and his men carried them away. It states in I Chronicles 14:12 they burned the images.
22. And the Philistines came up yet again and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23. And when David inquired of the LORD, He said: You will not go up; go around to their rear, and come upon them opposite the mulberry trees. 24. And let it be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then you will shout, for then the LORD, will go out before you, to strike the army of the Philistines. 25. And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him, and struck the Philistines from Geva until you come to Gezer (Gezer means to “cut off”).
The Philistines, the enemies of Israel are tenacious and persistent. It is battle after battle, war after war, conflict after conflict. And some of you have experienced this over a great period of time.
I am going to read this account from 2 Samuel 23:9 where David’s mighty men are mentioned.
8. These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb the Basshebeth, a Tachchemonite, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Ezrite: he lifted up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.
9. And after him was Elazar (Elazar means God helped) the son of Dodo, the son of Ahohi, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel had gone away. 10. He (Elazar) got up and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clung to the sword, and the LORD wrought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to plunder.
Like I said, the battle for some of you has been severe. If it wasn’t health issues, it was finances, and if it wasn’t finances, it was conflict in the family; the kids acting crazy, the spouse, the in-laws, the neighbors; and you dragged yourself to church and put yourself on your face, and you fasted and cried and wondered if God was hearing your travail, your concerns, your broken heart. There were days you went to work feeling numb, you had been seeking and praying to God, you were battling in your closet, in your car, outside the house, inside the house, in the shower, in bed, you were making your petitions known to Him.
You experienced anguish and at times despair, but you continued to make your requests known and still praising the LORD.
You were fighting so hard with so many enemies that your hand was weary and it clung to the sword; you had muscle lock. Your hand would not let go of the Word of God.
But I am saying this is the year of your release, it is the year of your deliverance, it is the year that many will receive healing, it is the year when your enemy will run all the way to Gezer where they will be cut off. It is Ba’al Perazim, the year the Lord will break out against your enemies. Ba’al –perazim, the year of your breakthrough.
Ask the Lord: “Shall I go up against the Philistines?” Yes, will be the reply. He will give the enemy into your hands and strategies to overcome them.
This is your year of favor, it is the year of your refreshing and renewal. I had a sister in the LORD that called me and she gave a word that this year would be better than the year of jubilee! Jubilee was implemented so the land would rest and people would rest. It was greater than the seven-year cycle of rest called the Shimita. The Shimita was analogous to the seventh day of rest called the Sabbath: But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove. Exodus 20, Leviticus 25
I am getting a little pressed for time here, but I will point out some of the highlights of Jubilee in Leviticus 25 and then end the program.
Jubilee was to be proclaimed in the land at the Lord’s feast of Yom Kippur/day of atonement. Verse 9. In Verse 10. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants.Incidentally, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is inscribed with this passage from Leviticus.
1. Each one would return to his own possession (because of debt, a person may lease a portion of his tribal land to pay off a debt. It was to never be sold permanently because the Lord stated in Leviticus 25:23 that the land of Israel belonged to Him. At Jubilee the land was to be restored to the original owner.
2. Each one would be returned to his own family (sometimes a Hebrew would fall into debt, and he would then sell himself in order to pay that debt off). Verse 10
3. No planting and no collecting of the harvest. Everyone was to enjoy what was in the field. Verse 11-12
The Father told me some three years ago that He was going to move in a mighty way in West Virginia, it would be so powerful that it would spill over into Ohio.
For a number of years, I had endured some real stomach issues, but it was a couple of months ago that I was healed. My stomach issues then created eczema from my neck to my ankles, and 99.9% of it is gone now. I bless God for healing. His mercies are new each morning. Be encouraged.
I am at the end of the program. Remember to walk by faith, not by sight. Ask the Father to cleanse you from all unrighteousness every day. Keep your spiritual garments clean from spot, wrinkle and blemish. Do two things this week: love and forgive. Love God and love your neighbor.
Rico Cortes will sing the Aaronic blessing.
Artscroll Library 2 Samuel
