Although Abraham had been a tribal lord, a military commander, and one who built altars and offered sacrifices akin to the priests of his day, scripture and history remember him even as his name indicates: Abram/Abraham was a patriarch, one who had been promoted by God to be known as the father of many nations. 

In this role, Abraham was a kind of Yoda, a master mentor who not only directed or instructed people, but formed and activated them, reproducing himself in the lives of those who were privileged enough to walk closely with him. 

Nowhere is this perhaps clearer than in the longest chapter in Genesis, chapter 24. Though the headline of the story is the search for a wife for Isaac, the one who is actually front and center is an unnamed man called “the oldest servant of his house” (v.2). Most scholars concur that this was likely Eliezer, a man from Damascus whom Abraham had once designated as his heir (Gen 15:2). As such, the story also gives us a model and a standard of how we should disciple or train people whom God has put in our lives. It sure has inspired me!

The first question to slap me is: Do I have people in my life and ministry with whom I have this level of trust? Consider the standard. Verse 10 says “for all his master’s goods were in his hand.” As he loads up ten of Abraham’s camels with gifts for the 500 mile (800 km) journey, the wealth here is astronomical. Just the nose ring and two bracelets Eliezer presents to Rebekah at first were worth at least USD$15,000. The rest of the load was silver and gold jewelry and clothing for Rebekah, and expensive presents prepared for all the rest of her family as well. This was a fortune! Yet Abraham trusted him with it, implicitly. 

A second qualifier is: Have I passed along information, or have I deposited faith in my followers? Although Eliezer is a servant, and on the surface his mission is to find a wife for Isaac, in truth his actions are of one who himself has tremendous trust and confidence in the Lord. Upon arriving on the outskirts of Nahor, his prayer that the first person he meets will be God’s choice is unrehearsed, spontaneous, personal, and full of faith. And God honors it too. Verse 15 says “before he had finished praying” (NIV), of all people, Rebekah appears. He further prays for God to put it on her heart to give him and all his camels water to drink from the well. Sure enough, it happens just as he asked. It sure would be nice to know the people I train are so effectual in prayer. 

A final reflection for me is: Do my spiritual sons and daughters really love the Lord with everything in them? Eliezer’s passion for the Lord really shines through in this story. Upon discovering Rebekah is in fact a virgin daughter from Abraham’s distant family, he bows and worships the Lord right there in the field. And again, as soon as the marriage proposal is accepted, Eliezer, unconcerned by how his hosts might respond, falls on his face to worship the Lord in Laban’s home (v.52). He had refused to eat after such a long and arduous journey until he had told of his reason for coming. Neither was he tempted to party and celebrate for a few days before returning, revealing his motivation was not tainted by any benefits or blessings he might obtain for himself. Perhaps the real reason his name is never mentioned throughout the whole story is that he cared not for the glory and recognition. 

Eliezer’s motto could easily have been: everything always and ever for “the Lord God of my master Abraham“, an expression he uses four times (v.12,27,42,48). Abraham had done an amazing job raising up a man as loyal and responsible as Padawan Eliezer. Theirs was so much more than the kind of formal or superficial relationship that too often defines the church connections of our day. Jesus said we’ll know the rightness, the wisdom, of our ways when they are justified and manifest in our “children” (Matt 11:19). Abraham had been like a father to his servant Eliezer. He had also been his Yoda.

“The one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David and the house of David shall be like God.” Zech 12:8 

The deepest longing in our hearts, the “Abba!” cry of our spirits and our constant prayer, should be to be transformed—or to be more precise, to be conformed into God’s likeness. That is why Zechariah’s prophetic prescription is so stirring: the weakest among us will be like David. He speaks of a day when we will display the dignified qualities of royal heirs of the King of heaven. Its the culmination of the promise that Jesus our Captain is leading us, His sons and daughters, to greater and greater degrees of glory (Heb 2:10).

So what should we expect? What does it mean for us to look “like David”? Several things come to mind. Being courageous, for instance is certainly high on the list of attributes David exemplified that the Holy Spirit will anoint us to walk in as this prophecy is fulfilled. But there is another trait about to be unlocked that was especially prodigious in David’s story:  Loyalty. 

Loyalty is not a trendy subject these days. It strikes us as being out of touch, passé, boring! In our choice-filled world, if you don’t like something or someone, just walk away. Heaven forbid we should have to put up with being challenged or uncomfortable! Our generation lacks the backbone, the nose-to-the-grindstone, face-like-a-flint kind of attitude that keeps commitments, and presses matters through to the end. 

Not David. He was loyal to the core. He considered loyalty to man as a direct reflection of his faithfulness to God. He boasted in it as a badge of honor, declaring in Ps 15:4 that he who truly fears the Lord “keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change [his] mind.” 

Consider his loyalty to King Saul, the very man who tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, and obsessively chased him around the Judean countryside with his army for years. Even when Saul relieved himself in the cave where David was hiding, David refused to retaliate, but instead famously said: “The Lord is my witness, I would never do such a thing…I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed” 1 Sam 24:6 (CSB). Few people seem to understand as David did that leaders earn the right to have loyal followers when they show fidelity and devotion to their own leaders as they mature. 

David’s loyalty was not limited to those who were “over him”. The covenant of friendship David had with Jonathan is an unparalleled example of the power of brotherhood in history. To our microwave culture that has given birth to snapchat and instagram, such a depth of commitment seems naive. Who dares to form the kind of bond that says, “whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you” (1 Sam 20:4)? These were not just words. Jonathan’s resolve was weighty, threatening his relationship with his own father, the King of Israel, and even his very own life when Saul cast his spear at Jonathan to kill him. Their bond of friendship was tested in the extreme, but through it all their fidelity to one another never wavered. 

David’s relationship to King Achish, ruler of the antagonistic Philistines, is yet another example that David had adopted loyalty as a life principle. It is shocking to consider David had earned the trust of this rival sovereign to the point of being invited to fight at his side against David’s own people. In the end, David did not need to go to battle; but who could fail to be inspired by the affect his standard of loyalty had on the people around him—even his natural enemies. 

One final instance of David’s loyal heart is found in 2 Samuel 9. David’s fealty to Jonathan extended even beyond the grave when he feels compelled to search high and low for “anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake” (v.1). This highlights a depth and quality of loyalty in two astounding ways. First, that David was motivated to fulfill promises made to Jonathan long after he had died, i.e. when no one was watching, when no one cared. In this sense, David was being loyal to himself! And second, David was not only loyal to his leaders or to his peers; he was even loyal to those who were under his command (eg. his motley band in the cave) as well as those who were far beneath him in society. Mephibosheth was crippled, a castaway, yet because he was in a covenantal relationship, David made sure that Jonathan’s heir had a seat of honor at David’s table for the rest of his life. 

When we read Zechariah’s prophecy, an image of David the warrior, the giant slayer, is the first thing that comes to mind. I get it. There is something invigorating about the picture of young David standing before Saul with the head of Goliath in his hand. We love our heroes. Courage naturally inspires us. And while this is something God is undoubtedly stirring up in us, there is another characteristic in David’s life that the Father is about to make available to His church as we approach the Day of His return. Join me in crying out to become a truly loyal people, like David.