“Nitzevet, Mother of David -
The Bold Voice of Silence”
Psalms 69
Save me, O G-d, for the waters threaten to engulf me...
I am wearied by my calling out and my throat is dry. I've lost hope in waiting...
More numerous than the hairs on my head are those who hate me without reason...
Must I then repay what I have not stolen?
Mighty are those who would cut me down, who are my enemies without cause...
O G-d, You know my folly, and my unintended wrongs are not hidden from You...
It is for Your sake that I have borne disgrace, that humiliation covers my face.
I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.
Out of envy for Your House, they ravaged me; the disgraces of those who revile You have fallen upon me...
Those who sit by the gate talk about me. I am the taunt of drunkards...
Disgrace breaks my heart and I am left deathly sick.
I hope for solace but there is none, and for someone to comfort me but I find no one.
They put gall into my meal and give me vinegar to quench my thirst...1
This Psalm describes the life of a poor, despised and lowly individual who lacks even a single friend to comfort him. It is the voice of a tormented soul who has experienced untold humiliation and disgrace. Through no apparent cause of his own, he is surrounded by enemies who wish to cut him down; even his own brothers are strangers to him, ravaging and reviling him.
Amazingly, this is the voice of the mighty King David, righteous and beloved servant of G-d, feared and awed by all. King David had many challenges throughout his life. But at what point did this great individual feel so alone, so disgraced, and so undeserving of love and friendship?
What caused King David to face such an intense ignominy, to be shunned by his own brothers in his home ("I have become a stranger to my brothers"), by the Torah sages who sat in judgment at the gates ("those who sit by the gate talk about me"), and by the drunkards on the street corners ("I am the taunt of drunkards")? What had King David done to arouse such ire and contempt? And was there no one, at this time in his life, who would provide him with love, comfort and friendship? This Psalm, in which King David passionately gives voice to the heaviest burdens of his soul, refers to a period of twenty-eight years, from his earliest childhood until his being coronated as king of the people of Israel by the prophet Samuel.
David was born into the illustrious family of Yishai (Jesse), who served as the head of the Sanhedrin (Supreme Court of Torah law) and was one of the most distinguished leaders of his generation. Yishai was a man of such greatness that the Talmud (Shabbat 55b) observes that, "Yishai was one of only four righteous individuals who died solely due to the instigation of the serpent"--i.e. only because death was decreed upon the human race when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge at the serpent's instigation, not due to any sin or flaw of his own. David was the youngest in his family, which included seven other illustrious and charismatic brothers.
Yet, when David was born, this prominent family greeted his birth with utter derision and contempt… (Click to Open this Article titled, “Nitzevet, Mother of David - The Bold Voice of Silence”
BibleSearchers Reflections – Have you ever heard this story of King David when he was a young child? Have you wondered why? It is a rare Christian pastor, scholar or writer who brings such dramatic insight into the biblical personalities that we love and respect, especially insights into the life of King David during his youth. The reason that they do not know these sublime histories, such as what happened in the youth of King David, is that they do not respect the writings of the Jewish sages and histories as found in the Jewish Talmud and the Mishnah. Yet, this is the history of the Jewish people, and if anyone should know their history, it should be them. Not only that, King David was a proto-type of the future Messiah and his life was a dramatic rehearsal of the Messiah who would later come and bring the “Drama of the Ages” to its fullest realization.
The Israelite people arrived on the scene of history out of one of the greatest planetary apocalyptic eras of catastrophes of bolides of fire, great plagues, and global catastrophes. They became a “nation of twelve tribal peoples” at the mount called Sinai and there the Children of Israel were called by G-d; “The Nation of Israel”. Today, we recognize them only by the visible portion as the Jewish people. Three thousand and five hundred years later, the Jews erupted out of the ashes of a holocaust that almost eliminated them from the face of the earth, and created also in one day, a “Nation of Israel”.
There are no peoples who have arrived in the modern age from the mists of history with their history, language, cultural identity, streams of prophecies that were given hundreds and thousands of years before they arrived, except the Jewish people. They also gave us their G-d who claimed He birthed them, nurtured them, and will preserve them for Eternity. Yet, we believe that the rest of the Ten Tribes of Israel are still “lost”?
And yet, the origins of Christianity came from the loins of a Jewish rabbi, who lived His life above and beyond the letter of the Torah law, and who proclaimed to his disciples, “Follow Me”. He admitted that His only mission on Planet Earth was to find the “Lost Sheep of the House of Israel”. This was the “Mission to the Gentiles” of the Jewish sage, and Nasi of the Great Sanhedrin, Hillel the Great, and this mission was completed by “The Nazarene”.
So Christians today want to ignore, slander, and demean the writings of the Jewish sages, while at the same time they want to replace the Jewish people with their own identity; “Spiritual Israelites”. The strangest thing on earth is that most of them fail to recognize who they are; unrepentant Lost Tribes of the House of Israel who still “profane G-d’s holy Name, and refuse to be “hallowed” by the G-d of Israel in their lives before the nations in which they dwell, and refuse to accept their own blood cousins, the Jews, as one of their own. Yet, G-d has promised upon the “honor of His Holy Name” that he will redeem them, restore them, clean up their filthiness, take away their “idols”, and restore them back into the lands of their forefathers, and there they shall be His people and He will be their G-d.
This prophecy in Ezekiel 36 has no “conditions” and is irrevocable. It does not affect the Jews, for they have remained in “covenant” and it has nothing to do how they treated Yahshua HaNotzri (Jesus the Nazarene). What is even more amazing, most of the redeemed and restored Israelites are American and European Christians. They will be restored back into brotherhood with the Jewish people, whether they like it or not, because G-d says that is the way it will be. Like two sticks united into one stick, or two tablets united into one book, they will be restored as the Whole House of Israel. This also has no pre-conditions, except that G-d’s Holy Name is bound by the fact that He will do what He says that He will do.
Maybe we should start taking more respect about our cousins the Jewish people. We should pay attention to their histories, and their writings by their sages. It is they, who preserved their history and also preserved the “Scripture” which “The Nazarene” and his disciples called sacred. Did He not say?
Matthew 5:18 – “Till Heaven and earth pass away, one jot nor tittle will by no means pass from Torah law till all is fulfilled."
If you want to be “safe to save”, and participate in the “world to come” then maybe you should reconcile that you do have a destiny. The G-d of Israel will ask you to open your hearts in love to your cousins the Jews. The G-d of Israel will bring to your heart the reality that you are not “Spiritual Israelites”.
This concept, "Spiritual Israelites" originated with the apostate Roman Christian Church, and they are today still trying to do away or replace the Jews. Rather, we are “Literal Israelites” who are lost, filthy, idol worshippers, and in need of a spiritual heart transplant. That's ok for we have G-d's promises bound by His Holy Name that it will be done.
We do have a destiny; reclamation, restoration, and redemption in the literal way in which the prophets of Israel and Judah have spoken. It will come by the Messiah of All Israel. It’s time we accept our new reality and seek return to unite with our whole family. With a little humility and a lot of thanks, our destiny is there if we are willing to accept it.
In the meantime, we give thanks to Chana Weisberg and the Chabad-Lubavitchers for their willingness to share with us this moving personal story of King David, for it reveals a person so much like us, who needed to be restored back to our family, the House of All Israel.
Credit Chana Weisberg – “Nitzevet, Mother of David - The Bold Voice of Silence” – The Chabad Organization by the Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center
Chana Weisberg is the editor of Chabad org’s Society & Living section and of Think Jewish, Chabad org’s print publication. She is the author of Tending the Garden: The Unique Gifts of the Jewish Woman and four other books, and lectures worldwide on issues relation to women, faith , relationships and the Jewish soul. About the artist: Sarah Kranz, has been illustrating magazines, webzines, and books (including five children’s books) since graduating from the Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, in 1996. Her clients have included The New York Time and Money Marketing Magazine of London.
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