The Death of David

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the chosen people. 00:00:03 Speaker 2: Now rise, fill your horn with oil, and go to Jesse of Bethlehem. Among his sons, you will find the king I have chosen. 00:00:17 Speaker 1: He was younger than Samuel had expected, no older than sixteen. There was nothing outwardly remarkable about him, and yet he played his instrument as if the sky itself was listening. 00:00:33 Speaker 3: Said come to me, giant, do your worst, and I shall do mine. But today the Lord has called you to stand for those who would never stand for you. 00:00:47 Speaker 4: That is who we are. 00:00:49 Speaker 3: We are the ones who answer Christ for mercy, even when no mercy was given to us. We are chosen by God to tread the path of righteousness. 00:01:00 Speaker 5: The giant slayer, the harpist of Bethlehem, the warrior who would not lift his hand against the king, the out law who guarded our borders when our king would not. You have been chosen by God and confirmed by the voice of the people. David, son of Jesse, rise now as King of Judah, not by birthright, but by divine anointing. 00:01:32 Speaker 2: Man sees the strength of the arms and the bearing of the shoulders, But I see the heart. 00:01:47 Speaker 6: Not every goodbye sounds like a song. Sometimes some sounds like a verdict as well. Shell Oh my friends, from here in the holy land of Israel, I'm you l extein with international Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and welcome to the Chosen People. There's a kind of silence you only find in hospital rooms and on deathbeds, a silent that settles as someone is about to speak their last words. It's not always peaceful. Sometimes it's very tense. Sometimes the past walks in before the soul walks out. In this week's episode, drawn from First King's Chapter two, we meet David at the end. What we hear is both blessing and reckoning, and we ask, when we face our own final moments, what will rise to the surface, praise or payback. 00:02:43 Speaker 1: The King's Great hole was empty but for one. Pillars loomed, casting long shadows over Solomon's face. On the walls, woven tapestries whispered the tales of King David, the warrior, King, the singer of songs, the slayer of giants, the man after God's own heart. His victories were stitched in crimson and gold. Solomon stood over the fire in the center of the hall alone. In his hands, he held his father's crown. The firelight played across its surface, catching on the intricate etchings of lions and olive branches. His fingers moved over them, like a blind man reading a sacred text. His lips did not move, but a question haunted the hollow of his throat. 00:03:40 Speaker 4: Am I believe this? 00:03:43 Speaker 1: A voice cut the silence behind him like a drawn blade. My King Solomon turned. Beniah stood in the doorway, his armor brushed with soot and shadow, his expression unreadable. He bowed low. 00:04:00 Speaker 7: Your brother has sent word. 00:04:03 Speaker 4: Where is he now? 00:04:04 Speaker 7: Sh still clinging to the altar, refusing to move an inch until he has assurance you'll spare him. 00:04:12 Speaker 1: Solomon looked down at the crown in his hands, then up again at the throne. 00:04:18 Speaker 4: King David was showing mercy he would, But what of King Solomon? Will he be a king of mercy? Solomon raised the king's crown. He wasn't David, and he didn't want to be. Solomon was not his father, but he worshiped the same god. Mercy and judgment must both be yielded to wisdom. I'll not dole out a pardon without proof of contrition. Ivada and Ija proves himself a man of honor. Not one hair on his head shall fall. But if wickedness is found in him, then he dies. No deliberation, no margin. This is his only chance. 00:05:03 Speaker 1: Beniah bowed again his hand to his heart and turned to go, But before he reached the door. 00:05:10 Speaker 7: He paused, there is another matter. David summons you to his chamber. 00:05:16 Speaker 1: Solomon nodded, his face grave beneath the. 00:05:19 Speaker 4: Crown, Thank you, Binia and God. 00:05:23 Speaker 1: Once and the fire behind him burned on its flames, casting the shadow of a crowned man across the stones. The doors groaned open as Solomon stepped through. Slowly, A breath of warmth greeted him, thick with the perfume of spikenard and cedar wood. Firelight flickered from the hearth, its glow brushing the chamber in shifting amber hues. Beside the bed stood arbishag, lovely as spring rain and silent as snowfall. She looked upon the young king with kindness and sorrow mingled in her gaze. She kissed David's with a cheek, then passed Solomon with a soft hand on his arm. She said nothing. David lay still beneath his woven blankets, his body shriveled and pale, his breath drawn in slow, stuttering poles. The warrior king of Israel. He had felled giants and written psalms, taken crowns and broken them. David wasn't an extraordinarily old man. He was no older than seventy, but the life he had lived, the battles he had fought, and the weight he had carried had aged him rapidly. Solomon approached and knelt at his side, taking the old man's hand into his own. Hello, Father, David opened his eyes and smiled. His lips moved like wind through dry grass. 00:07:07 Speaker 4: Solomon, I am about to go the way of all the earth. 00:07:13 Speaker 1: Solomon felt his throat tighten. The tears threatened, but he held them back. David's fingers closed around his sons with surprising strength. 00:07:25 Speaker 4: You're wise, Solomon, but you must also be strong, strong enough to overcome the tongue of power. Show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God. Walk in his ways, keep his laws and commandments. Guard your heart with his testimonies. As Moses wrote them, if you hold fast to the word of God, you will prosper in all you do. 00:08:02 Speaker 1: The fire cracked. David turned his face toward the open window, the wind teasing the silver strands of his hair. 00:08:12 Speaker 4: For all my triumphs, there were many failures. I took what I should not have taken. I killed where I should have shown mercy. I stained the sword God placed in my hand in it. He never left me. 00:08:36 Speaker 1: He turned back, eyes glistening with memory and regret. 00:08:42 Speaker 4: He promised me, if my son walks at his ways, Israel will never lack a man on the throne. 00:08:52 Speaker 1: David gripped Solomon's arm and tugged him closer. Solomon bent low beside the bed, placed a trembling hand on his head, and spoke a prayer. Then he pressed his lips to Solomon's brow. 00:09:09 Speaker 4: The Lord does not see his man sees Solomon. He does not see the outward appearance, but the heart. 00:09:19 Speaker 1: From beneath the blankets. David drew a scroll and pressed it into Solomon's hand. His eyes fluttered, How tired, I think I shall rest now? And with that the King closed his eyes. Solomon kissed his father's forehead and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to memorize his father's face before time erased it. He knew David would not wake again. Solomon descended the steps like a man in a dream, the scroll clutched to his chest. He entered the library in silence, save for the whisper of his robes. He sat at the desk, the scroll unfurled beneath his fingers. The handwriting was David's. These were the last words of David's son of Jesse, the oracle of the Shepherd, maid King, the man raised on high, anointed by the God of Jacob, the sweetest Psalmist of Israel. Solomon read the. 00:10:41 Speaker 4: Final inspired words of David, son of Jesse. The spirit of the Lord spoke through me. His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke. The Rock of Israel sent to me. When one rules over people and righteousness, when he roars in the fear of God, he's like the light of morning, that sunrise in a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth. If my house were not right with God, surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part. Surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation and grasped me my my every desire, but evil men not to be cast aside back the thorns, which are not gathered with a hand. Whoever touches thorn's uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear. They are burned up where they lie. 00:11:52 Speaker 1: Solomon ran his hand over the words. He smiled. He rolled the scroll and placed it within him cloak, close to his heart. Then he leaned over the desk and blew out the candle. Darkness swallowed the room. That evening the king slept. David, son of Jesse, went to rest with his forefathers. He was buried in Jerusalem, the city of his triumphs, the duel of his crown. He did not live to see the temple rise from stone, but from the grave he would witness a glory far greater. The man after God's own heart would at last rest near the heart of God. His throne would yield to a greater throne, His songs would be joined by choir's eternal, and his hope a kingdom everlasting, ruled by a perfect king, would be fulfilled. 00:13:03 Speaker 6: There's something powerful about watching a man who sing to God also speak like a soldier. Once again, about seeing the man who danced before the ark now listing names like debts, joab she Ma, Barzillai, some to punish, one to reward. David's death was like his life. It wasn't always gentle, but his words were always profound and they were always beautiful. Now on his deathbed, David found himself instructing his son Solomon how to rule the nation of Israel, a nation steeped in the Bible and it's laws, the Torah, and the chosen people who deserved a godly king. First, I want to read you those beautiful verses. I'm using the King James version because it comes the closest to the original Hebrew. This is what it says, I go the way of all the earth. Be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes and his commandments, and his judgments and his testimony as it is written in the Law of Moses. And I actually want to go through these words and share each one of them means in Jewish tradition. First, he says the charge of God. This is a warning to Solomon that as wise as he might be, he shouldn't rely on his own wisdom, but only on the commandments of God. Then it says to walk in his ways. Well, this means to be compassionate and show grace to people, not just as man would act, but as God acts towards us. Next, it says to keep his statutes. Here David is referring to the laws of the Torah. Sometimes we don't know God's reasons, but we observe them simply because He commands us too. And his commandments. Well, it refers to the laws and practice, says that are just between us and God, things like prayer, things like Bible study. We need to keep those sacred. And as I said, with these words, David isn't passing on a harp and a flock. He's handing Solomon a kingdom and a sword. As in life. There's something holy amid David's humanness and death. David, like Jacob before, and blesses and exposes in the same breath, And in doing so he teaches us something that we rarely hear in sermons. Not everything gets resolved, not every wound closes clean. David dies in prayer, but also in memory and gratitude and grief. He hands Solomon, the kingdom. Yes, and the wisdom, but also the wounds. And here's the grace, David, lets go. That's rare, and my friends, that's holy. In our modern world, getting older is frowned upon or worse. The booming cosmetics and plastic surgery industries tell us that. But the Bible values older people and teaches us that old age is actually something to aspire to, that we should all look at them and want to be like them. All the way back in Genesis twenty four, the first time we read about old age in the Bible, it says Abraham was very old. Now our sages note that this was the very first time that old age was introduced to the world, and according to Jewish tradition, Abraham came before God with the request. As the sage is say, Abraham asked Master of the universe, a venushebasha maim A man and his son walk together, and no one knows until who to give honor. I beg of you make a distinction between us. God fulfilled Abraham's request with the gift of old age as a sort of crown to honor those who have earned it. Later, Leviticus commands us to rise in the presence of the aged to show respect for the elderly. If we don't honor the elderly, we're going directly against the word of God, and we're also robbing ourselves of one of the most precious natural resources. The elderly or a rich source of wisdom, of knowledge and guidance that we shouldn't take for granted. I know, as I bring aid and food to elderly in Israel who the Fellowship helps, I always receive more from my visits than I give, and that is true with today's story. David was a man after God's own heart, and he left us with many things, some holy, some heavy, and some unresolved. Jewish tradition holds that David was not allowed to build the Temple because his hands had shed too much blood. But instead of resenting that, he used his last years to prepare plans, resources, legacy, and I think that that is what's most profound. He didn't get to build it, but he made sure that Salomon could. And maybe that's the deepest kind of faith. Doing the work that you will never see finished. 00:18:07 Speaker 1: You can listen to the chosen people with y Isle Eckstein ad free by downloading and subscribing to the Prey dot Com app today. This Prey dog comproduction is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of The Chosen People with Yile Eckstein. Edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland, Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paul Lanier, Robin van Ettin, Caleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear more Prey dot Com productions on the Prey dot Com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yile Egstein, please rate and leave a review,