Who Was Ittai?

Tweet

Who Was Ittai? Most Bible readers are familiar with Abraham, Moses and many other Bible characters who were prominent in the Scriptures. There are, however, many others who are not so well known. Ittai was one of these lesser known Bible characters. It is thought that he was a native of the Philistine city of Gath, which city was famous for being the home of the giant, Goliath. Ittai enters into the Bible record at the time of Absalom’s rebellion against his father, David. Ittai and 600 other Philistine men were living in exile somewhere near Jerusalem at that time. As David was fleeing Jerusalem he noticed that among those fleeing with him were Ittai and his 600 warriors, so he asks Ittai, “Why should you go with us? Go back and dwell with (Absalom, who had made himself king) for you are a foreigner and besides, you are an exile from your place.” But, Ittai’s declaration of loyalty prevails and he answers: “As Jehovah is living and as my lord and king is living (meaning David) in the place where my lord the king may come to be, whether for death or for life, there is where your servant will come to be!” So, David’s heart was touched and he invites Ittai and all his men, to go with him. What lessons can we learn from this example? Romans 15:4 says: “All things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction.” So, even though Ittai was a foreigner and an exile from Philistia, he recognized Jehovah as the living God. He also knew that David had slain the Philistine champion, Goliath, but he saw David as a man having remarkable qualities. So then, we too should look beyond cultural, racial, or ethnic differences and look for the good qualities in others. Though the story of Ittai was short, it was not insignificant, because of the lessons we can learn, and so this story was included in the holy writings for our benefit.