David 12/17/79

DOCTRINE OF THE IBEX

A. The ibex is a wild mountain goat. It has 60 inch horns. Ps 104:18, “The high mountains are for the ibex.” It is very agile in mountain climbing.

B. David encounters the ibex at En-gedi, 1 Sam 24:2. David used the ibex cliffs as a place to hide from Saul.

C. Job 39:1-2 teaches the lesson of the ibex that David should have learned when he saw Bathsheba taking a bath. “Do you know when the ibexes give birth? [No.] Can you count the months till the ibex gives birth? [No].” Why? Because the ibex is a very private animal.

D. David should have learned that the ibex is an animal of freedom and privacy. The ibex teaches by analogy the relationship between freedom and privacy. David as a king should respect the privacy of all his subjects in order for the people to have true freedom. The freedom of the people had been compromised by David.

E. The ibex is very private about copulation and giving birth. David should have learned from Job’s message and from his experience living in the ibex cliffs. But arrogance has no regard for freedom or privacy.

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R. B. Thieme, Jr. Bible Ministries

5139 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056

(713) 621-3740

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