Today’s Bible readings from 1Samuel 26 and Psalms 4;5;17;55;61;64. (These Psalms were the prayers of David for God to help him in facing difficult people or enemies) I’am returning back to my 2014 Bible chronological readings. I had some set back due to the big move of our family to a new city and a “new but old” Church! But praise God, he gave me this big space of grace.
Read: 1Samuel 26:1-3
Here we read that Saul and the Ziphites were the “difficult” people in David’s life. Saul was very angry and jealous toward David. He was running after David to kill him! Do you have difficult people or situation in your life lately? Do you have any “Saul” in life? I have a few in my life, I can think of, and I believe that we all have this or them in our lives, they may not come now but soon at some point in life we will have to deal with “difficult” or difficulties!
Now, let’s be ready to read a long topic on the key word in this chapter study, “enemy”; these are very helpful to me as I search on this topic.
Reference Bible | Bible Dictionary | Today’s Bible Commentary
What the scriptures say about
ENEMY, ENEMIES
Foe, adversay
Also see Evil Doers, Satan
References:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary | Smith’s Bible Dictionary | International Standard Bible Encyclopedia | Thompson Chain Reference
ENEMY, ENEMIES in scriptures [BibleGateway Search]
Cross Reference Bible links
Why did Israel go into exile? And what happened when God brought them back?
2 Chronicles 6:34-39 | Nehemiah 9:27-28 | Ezekiel 39:23 and 39:27
ENEMY, ENEMIES [Holman Bible Dictionary]
An adversary, foe, or hater. An enemy is one who dislikes or hates another and seeks to harm the person. It can refer to an individual opponent or to a hostile force, either a nation or an army.
Several Hebrew words are rendered “enemy” in the Old Testament.
Tsar
means an “adversary, foe, oppressor, or enemy.” It comes from the verb tsarar, which means “to show hostility toward.”
An ‘ohev
is “one who is hostile, an enemy or foe.”
The term sane’ means,
“one who hates.”
Zur
is a “stranger, foreigner, or alien.”
One Greek term, echthros,
is used for each of the Hebrew words in the New Testament. Its basic definition is simply “enemy.”
In the Old Testament enemy generally referred to the national enemies of Israel. These included most of their neighboring nations at one time or the other. The enemies of Israel often were considered the enemies of God, for Israel was God’s nation (Exodus 23:22). This view is also espoused by many of the prophets. Though the word “enemy” is not used there, the first chapter of Amos is a classic example of this.
Enemy is also used to speak of one’s personal foes. This is especially true in the Psalms. David asked for help against his enemies on a number of occasions (Psalms 25:2,Psalms 25:19). Other poets in the Psalter often sought this same protection (Psalms 119:84,Psalms 119:86).
In the New Testament enemy most often refers to one’s personal enemies, for the nation of Israel was no longer a force on the political scene. But it also was used of strangers and foreigners in general.
The natural inclination of all people is to hate their enemies. Some have even misconstrued God’s law to teach hatred. Jesus taught rather to love one’s enemies and to seek their good (Matthew 5:43-47). This is also the teaching of the Old Testament (Proverbs 24:17; Proverbs 25:21).
In the Bible, a person who disobeys divine commands is declared to be God’s enemy. Paul referred to sinners as the enemies of God (Romans 5:10). Job felt that God had become his enemy, too (Job 13:24). Because of this severed relationship, God has made provision for our forgiveness in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Satan is also called “the enemy” (1 Timothy 5:14-15). He has revealed himself as such throughout history by seeking to hurt men and women, leading them away from God.
The greatest and final enemy is death itself (1 Corinthians 15:24). It is feared by all because of its finality and unknown nature. But the Bible teaches that Jesus has “abolished” death once for all (2 Timothy 1:10). Death need not be feared by those who have trusted Christ for the salvation He freely gives.
Bradley S. Butler
ENEMY, ENEMIES [ISBE]
en’-e-mi (‘oyebh, tsar, tsar; echthros):
“Enemy,” “enemies,” are frequent words in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word most often so translated is ‘oyebh, meaning perhaps literally, “one who hates”; very frequent in the Psalms, eg. 3:7; 6:10; 7:5; 8:2; 9:3,1; 13:2, where the cry is often for deliverance from enemies. Another word for “enemy,” found chiefly in the poetical books, is tsar, or tsar, “distresser,” “straitener” (Numbers 10:9; Job 16:9; Psalms 27:2,12, the Revised Version (British and American) “adversary,” etc.); also tsarar (Esther 3:10; Psalms 8:2; 10:5 the King James Version, etc.). Other words are `ar, “one awake” (1 Samuel 28:16 the King James Version; Daniel 4:19 the King James Version); sane’, perhaps, “to be sharp or bite” (Exodus 1:10; Proverbs 25:21; 27:6); sharar, “to watch” (Psalms 5:8; 27:11), and qum, “to stand up,” or “withstand” (Exodus 32:25).
In the New Testament echthros, “enemy,” “opponent,” is the only word translated “enemy” (Matthew 5:43,14; Mark 12:36; Luke 1:71,74, etc.; Romans 5:10; 11:28, etc.), once with anthropos (“a man”), joined to echthros (Matthew 13:28).
In the Revised Version (British and American) “adversary” is frequently substituted for “enemy” (Numbers 24:8; Deuteronomy 32:41; Psalms 6:7; 7:6; 44:10, etc.); for “O thou enemy,” etc. (Psalms 9:6) we have “The enemy are come to an end”; instead of “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19) we have “For he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yahweh driveth” (with the text of the King James Version in margins); for “The fire of thine enemies shall devour them” (Isaiah 26:11), “Fire shall devour thine adversaries” (text of the King James Version in the margin).
The frequent reference to enemies in the Old Testament is what we should expect to see in these early times on the part of a people settling in a land that had been occupied by other tribes, worshipping other gods. The spirit of their law was that expressed by our Lord in His Sermon on the Mount, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.” This He changed: “but I say unto you, Love your enemies.” An approach toward this spirit had been made in the later prophets by their inclusion of the whole world under one God, who had a gracious purpose toward all, but the near statement of it we only find in Proverbs 25:21 (quoted by Paul, Romans 12:20). See also Exodus 23:4, and compare 2 Kings 6:22; 2 Chronicles 28:15.
W. L. Walker
Back to 1Samuel 26; Read: verses (13-16) *David reproves Abner.
REPROOF; REPROVE. (Vines topical)
A. Noun. (+ , 1650), “a reproof” (akin to B), is found in the best texts in 2 Tim. 3:16 (some mss. have , which denotes “a proof, proving, test,” as in Heb. 11:1, “proving,” RV marg., “test”).¶ Cf. @ , “rebuke,” 2 Pet. 2:16 (lit., “had rebuke”).¶ B. Verb. (# !, 1651), “to convict, rebuke, reprove,” is translated “to reprove” in Luke 3:19; John 3:20, RV marg., “convicted”; the real meaning here is “exposed” (KJV marg., “discovered”); Eph. 5:11, 13, where “to expose” is again the significance; in John 16:8, KJV, “will reprove” (RV, “will convict”); in 1 Cor. 14:24, RV, “reproved” (KJV, “convinced”); in the following the RV has “to reprove,” for KJV, “to rebuke,” 1 Tim. 5:20; Titus 2:15; Heb. 12:5; Rev. 3:19; for synonymous words see CONVICT and REBUKE.
Here, I learn about David, his conviction to “reprove” Abner, because Abner was not doing his job in protecting King Saul. Instead of protecting Saul, he was asleep! David spoke to Abner as a “soldier” himself who knew the responsibility of being one. David had righteous indignation over one man’s lack of taking the responsibility and he knew what to do, how to handle it, is to “reprove or convict” the sin and the person.
Read: verses (17-20) *David exhorts Saul.
EXHORT, EXHORTATION A. Verbs. 1. (3870), primarily, “to call to a person” (, “to the side,” , “to call”), denotes (a) “to call on, entreat”; see BESEECH; (b) to admonish, exhort,
to urge one to pursue some course of conduct (always prospective, looking to the future, in contrast to the meaning to comfort, which is retrospective, having to do with trial experienced), translated “exhort” in the RV of Phil. 4:2; 1 Thess. 4:10; Heb. 13:19, 22, for KJV, “beseech”; in 1 Tim. 5:1, for KJV, “intreat”; in 1 Thess. 5:11, for KJV, “comfort”; “exhorted” in 2 Cor. 8:6 and 12:18, for KJV, “desired”; in 1 Tim. 1:3, for KJV, “besought. See BESEECH. 2. (3867), primarily, “to speak of near” (, “near,” and , “to tell of, speak of,” then, “to recommend”), hence, “to advise, exhort, warn,” is used in Acts 27:9, “admonished,” and v. 22, “I exhort.” See ADMONISH.¶ 3. (4389), lit., “to turn forward, propel” (, “before,” , “to turn”); hence, “to impel morally, to urge forward, encourage,” is used in Acts 18:27, RV, “encouraged him” (Apollos), with reference to his going into Achaia; KJV, “exhorting the disciples”; while the encouragement was given to Apollos, a letter was written to the disciples in Achaia to receive him.¶ B. Noun. (3874), akin to A, No. 1, primarily “a calling to one’s side,” and so “to one’s aid,” hence denotes (a) an appeal, “entreaty,” 2 Cor. 8:4; (b) encouragement, “exhortation,” e.g., Rom. 12:8; in Acts 4:36, RV, “exhortation,” for KJV, “consolation”; (c) “consolation and comfort,” e.g., Rom. 15:4. See COMFORT. Cf. , “an advocate, comforter.”
Here, David was acting like the Holy Spirit in our christian life, he pointed out to Saul his sin, how he was merciful that he spared Saul’s life, giving him the chance to live; similarly in our lives, the Holy Spirit “exhort” us in order to help us see our sins and hopefully repent! Again, David showed how he handled a Saul, by exhorting him. David was righteous in dealing with difficult people in his life. He remained steady and full of godly conviction. He did not people pleased! What about us, how do we treat, respond or handle an Abner or a Saul in our lives? How about when the Holy Spirit convicts, rebukes, exhort us, do we respond with humility?
Look how David has affected Saul. Read: verses (21-25); *Saul acknowledges his sin.
This is the power of a timely “reproof” and or an “exhortation”! And this is the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in our lives!
Prayer wall:
Dearest Jesus, today my spiritual well is growing full because your holy word is a spring fountain! Thank you for letting me pick from the field of Boaz, the field of my Lord Jesus. I love you. In your name, amen.
