Psalms 71:4 “Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.”

Most commentators believe that this wicked person is David’s son Absalom who plotted against his father and forced him from the throne causing David to run for his life as his own son put a price on his head. Names and descriptive words in Hebrew tend to get a little clouded.  In ancient times a name was quite unlike a name today.  Today a name is a legal identification given to us at birth, put on a certificate and it is that which identifies us throughout our life.  We can only change it if we go through a legal process.  In ancient times someone could have a number of different names depending upon his reputation or position.  We still follow that practice in a limited sense.  For instance my legal name is not Chaim Bentorah, but that is the name used to identify myself as the author of my books.  It is a pen name as Mark Twain was not the legal name of the writer but his name was Samuel Clemmons.   Actors will often take a stage name which would be more marketable and easily remembered than their legal name.  For instance Jack Benny’s legal name was Benjamin Kubelsky, people could more easily identify with Benny than Kubelsky.  When Cardinal Jorge Bercoglio became pope he changed his name to Francis to identify his ministry with St. Francis of Assisi.  We accept these changes without much thought in our modern day but dogged cling to names in the Old Testament as if they were their legal names.  In reality the Biblical writers, writing under the inspiration of God would often, although not in every case, assign names to Biblical characters based upon their personality, actions and the role that they played in Biblical history.  Not only that but it was common for Semitic story telling to not use a person’s real name but give them a name to identify their character as the honest one, the faithful one or the evil one.

The name of Absalom is curious as it means Father (ab) of Peace (salom).  Absalom was anything but a man of peace, but the Ab or Father might have represented David as the father and expressing his desire for his beloved son, to be a man of peace or to be at peace with him as he proved to be quite a rebellious son.

I find it rather interesting that commentators apply just one word, wicked, to Absalom but suggest that there are two words, unrighteous and cruel, applied to just one person, Ahithophel.  Ahithophel was the chief advisor to David and one of his closest friends who ended up stabbing David in the back and throwing his support to Absalom to set him up as king. I tend to agree and disagree with the commentators on the name Ahithophel. The name basically means unrighteous and cruel and commentators apply both to just one man.  I say it is a reference to two different beings, Ahithophel as unrighteous and the demonic spirit influencing Ahithophel as cruel.  Here is my reasoning, but I will leave it to you to decide for yourself what you choose to believe.  Ahithophel in its Semitic root means brother of impiety or extreme dullness.  Yet, he was an extremely shrew man and a political genius. He passed himself off as a trusted advisor to David, but was the brains behind the revolution led by Absalom.  The name Ahithophel suggest one who works behind the scenes.  He is the one who finds a very charismatic and charming person and through cunning and cleverness elevates this person to a position of power and then turns that person into a sort of puppet to accomplish his own agenda.  By his name we would know that this man gave the appearance of a mild, meek advisor outwardly but underneath he was plotting to seize power for himself.  This man may have not been known by his contemporaries as Ahithophel, he may have had another name, but the writer could very well have chosen this name to help the reader better understand the story.

Now here is where I go down the bunny trail.  I firmly believe the words Unrighteous and Cruel are just as much names as Ahithophel. There was Ahithophel Unrighteous and Ahithophel Cruel.   The word unrighteous in Hebrew is me’aul which comes from the root word ‘ul which means one who acts wickedly but it also has the double meaning of a sucking child.  So what is this Ahithophel child feeding on?  It is Cruelty.  The word cruel in Hebrew is hamas.  Hamas means to be sour and unleavened.  It is used to describe a violent man, an oppressor, one who is embittered and angry.   Does that sound familiar?  It should because since 1986 one of Israel’s bitterest enemies is a terrorist organization known as Hamas.  Today Hamas controls the Gaza strip, they are responsible for launching rocket attacks against Israel and terrorist attacks against civilians and children as well as against the United States, Canada, Britain and other members of the free world.  Of course members of the Hamas organization will quickly point out that it is an Arabic word meaning enthusiasm.  In Hebrew there is another word that is also pronounced as Hamas but it ends in a Samek rather than a Sade and this word means to be hot which is very likely related to the Arabic word Hamas which is to be hot with enthusiasm.   But I would also suggest that the Hamas in Psalms 71:4 is also related to the Arabic word as it means to be hot with anger and bitterness.

Hamas would also be quick to point out that their Arabic word Hamas is merely an acronym for Hakakat Al-Muqawamah Al-Islamiyyah which means the Islamic Resistance Movement.  Is it any coincidence that the Hebrew word Hamas is not an acronym but simply a word to describe a violent and embittered person. In modern 21^st. Century colloquial English I would render the word as A Real Jerk.

But I will take it one step further.  Ahithophel Unrighteous was feeding on Ahithophel Hamas and I believe Ahithophel Hamas is a demonic spirit that still exist today.  Demons also have names to identify themselves.  In Luke 8:30 Jesus even asked a demon what his name was and he said it was Legion.  Is it a coincidence that the acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement is pronounced the same as the Hebrew word for an violent embittered person. Coincidence or demonic,  I will let you be the judge.

Am I suggesting that the modern terrorist organization Hamas is really controlled by a demonic spirit who is boldly, in your face telling you its name?  Like I said, I am just taking a stroll down the bunny trail.