Chapter 2 - The First Rejection of the King (Part 3 of 6)

Israel’s Continued Roller-Coaster Ride of Righteousness

Last week, we looked at the how God saved the nation Israel from the bondage and oppression of the Egyptians in the book of Exodus, and how that episode was a “type” of how Jesus saves people in New Testament times from the bondage and oppression of sin.

However, after the Passover and the Red Sea incidents, it didn’t take long for the nation Israel to bellyache about their new situation, wandering in the desert on the way to a “supposed” Promised Land. And unfortunately, it didn’t stop there.

The whining and complaining about being “set apart,” “different,” and God’s “holy” people ebbed and flowed through the Old Testament from the Exodus event forward, all the way through the books of Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and the Judges. Sometimes, it was so severe, God punished His people and vowed to wipe them out and start over, using Moses as the new Abraham (see Exodus 32 and Numbers 14). However, Moses didn’t wish to have the responsibility of Abraham and prayed for the wayward nation. God relented as a result, which speaks to the heart of Moses and how much sin angers God.

Other times, even though Moses prayed on their behalf, God was not happy with Israel’s sin and wiped out all who chose to stand up and oppose Him and His chosen leaders. In Numbers 16, for example, over fifteen thousand people lost their lives because of sin in that one instance. Some got swallowed up by the hole in the ground God created. The majority died of a plague. Afterward, in Numbers 26, Deuteronomy 11, and Psalm 106, God kept reminding the survivors of this catastrophe by recounting the folly of four people: Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On, in an attempt to wake Israel up to the notion that they were to set themselves apart as His sacred people, be consecrated unto Him alone, live differently, be holy as God is holy.

In all this history, the overarching issue Israel always had with God, leading up to the first book of Samuel, revolved around His laws, i.e., His instructions and teachings (torah) on how to be holy (qadosh), how to be different, and how to be sacred and consecrated. To the Israelites, living the way God wanted them to live was intrusive, exhausting, and even embarrassing at times.

Yet, God loved His people. He gave them Moses. He gave them Joshua. Then He gave them judges. All of whom were men and women He chose to serve as His mouthpieces, to instruct the nation on how to obey His instructions and teachings for the grand purpose of being the instruments through which He could bring salvation to a world fraught with sin.

God also sent prophets, like Samuel, who became God’s bullhorns, urging the Israelites to repent, to be holy, set apart, and get back to their torah roots.

Regrettably, we know how some of those prophets’ stories ended (cf. Matthew 23:37).

For you see, every individual—and that includes us—is directed by one of two people: God or himself/herself. It is really as simple as that. A person is either living for God, wholeheartedly, following His instructions and teachings, or that person is rejecting God’s torah and living by his or her own desires and wishes. For those who totally reject the ways of God, the Bible calls them “lovers of themselves” (2 Timothy 3:2ff). And when an individual is following his or her “own instructions and teachings,” then the Bible says they are actually following another god as they live their lives in “the ways of the world and of the prince of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:1-2). In this passage in Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is referring to Satan, the one who influences mankind to steer away from God, question God, question His instructions and teachings, and never accept them fully.

Loving the God of the Bible

There is one more important point to make before we move forward, looking specifically at First Samuel, chapter eight. To obey God’s instructions and teachings properly, we must love the God of the Bible.

We cannot just love the Bible and believe it alone will save us. This was the ultimate sin of the Pharisees and Sadducees. This kind of misaligned love and devotion causes us to reinterpret the Bible, based on what we believe we can obey and not obey. We want to obey it, so we stress the parts we can obey and finagle the parts we cannot obey into things we can. Then, we pat ourselves on the back for being such “good little followers,” just like the scribes and the Pharisees. We end up rethinking scripture, reimagining scripture, rewriting scripture, and even adding to it or subtracting from it. Thus, we ultimately make it say things it never intended to say.

Some church leaders and publishers feel the need to “modernize” the Bible for today’s culture. This practice forces them to take out the parts that make certain people feel uncomfortable or even offended (as if God was concerned about such things when He gave His Word to the original authors). As a result, meaning gets lost as it is made to bow to a post-modernistic ideology. These subtle changes cause pastors and ministers to alter what they preach because they do not wish to offend and alienate people supposedly “seeking” God. Therefore, they preach the parts with which they agree or feel strongly about, while they change or completely ignore other parts. All the while, their actions are discrediting Hebrews 13:8, because apparently, Jesus isn’t the same anymore. The “Jesus” He was yesterday, when He physically walked the highways and byways of Israel, is somehow different from the “Jesus” He is today, according to them. Therefore, under this post-modern philosophy, we must assume Jesus will change His teachings for future generations too.

I hope you see how utterly and biblically insane this is. Not to mention blasphemous.

“But,” you say, “those are the people who do not love God, for nobody who loves God would do such a thing.”

My response to this kind of comment would be this: It is true. The Bible is clear about altering God’s Word. In Revelation 22:18-20, John is very specific. And even though he is referring to the Book of Revelation, we can also deduce that if the Book of Revelation was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as 2 Timothy 3:16 says, then all of Scripture is off limits when it comes to rewriting it.

However, it must also be understood that the people who follow this post-modernistic worldview often believe they do love God and are serving Him, which indicates that Satan has done a masterful job deceiving them with his half-truths and misleading promises.

But it doesn’t stop there.

There are many pastors and preachers, famous ones, even, who distort God’s Word because they love the Word of God more than the God of the Word. We see it all the time, unfortunately. Today and throughout history. Men and women preaching, saying, and doing unthinkable things to the Words of God—often in the name of God, because they like what God’s Word says so much, they love its words and what they offer (usually a pathway to fame and fortune) more than the Author of those words. Here are some examples:

·       An Example of Adding to God’s Word: People saying they have a “prophetic word” or a “word of knowledge” from God, yet the “word” doesn’t agree with the rest of the Bible or come true (Deuteronomy 18:20-22; Ezekiel 13:9; Jeremiah 23:16; Matthew 7:16-20; Matthew 24:24; Acts 20:28-30; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; Titus 1:6-16; 2 Peter 1:21; 2 Peter 2; 2 Peter 3:17; 1 John 4:1-6). They also say at times that they have received a “new revelation,” as if God’s Word is somehow incomplete and needs additional information, clarification, or finishing touches. These “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15) proclaim that the New Testament teachings of Jesus were a “new revelation” from God long after the Old Testament was given to the Israelites. Therefore, for God to reveal new truths today to his “super apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:5) is just another step in the process.¹ Unfortunately, they are deceived, because even Jesus Himself said He did not come to abolish the law (i.e., consider it void and thus in need of revision or replacement), but He came to fulfill it, meaning He was going to show us how it was supposed to be lived from the beginning (Matthew 5:17-20). In these cases, these false teachers love the “power” of the Word of God more than the God of the Word and attempt to use it for their own glory and power and honor, often resulting in disgrace and scandal, leading people astray in the process. 

·       Examples of Censoring God’s Word or Simply Omitting Sections of It: Another idea preached by wolves in sheep’s clothing is that “God is a God of love; He would never sentence a person to Hell under the New Covenant,”² thus they never preach on the topic of sin and hell, even though Jesus preached on it more than He did the topic of heaven.³

·       An Example of Using the Bible to Teach Something It Doesn’t: The Bible sometimes is taken and placed alongside human documents to help promote certain ideals, like the “God Bless the USA” Bible, for example.⁴ This sounds good on its face (for who doesn’t want God to bless their nation), but it twists the Bible into saying things it doesn’t say, because the human documents are placed on par with God’s Word.

You cannot have a loving, moral, righteous God without there being a line in the sand, differentiating the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, righteous living and sinful living (cf. Romans 3:20). God’s Word drew that line in the sand centuries ago with the Torah, and then He reestablished it as a fulfillment in the person of Jesus, the Messiah (Matthew 5:17-18).

It’s either God or us. We follow one or the other. We obey one or the other. We reap blessings or judgment based on which one we choose to believe and follow.

The Israelites knew this too. Even after the Exodus. Even after wandering in the desert. Even after entering the Promised Land. Joshua still urged them, in Joshua 24:14-15 (KJV), to follow God and throw away their false idols: 

“Now, therefore, fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (emphasis added). 

The Israelites answered Joshua in verse 16, “God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods!” Then, they recounted all that God had done for them. He brought them out of Egypt, out of slavery, and “did those great signs in our sight” (v. 17). He drove out the nations before them, including the Amorites (v. 18). As a result, they vowed again, “We will also serve the LORD; for he is our God.”

Joshua then had some sobering words for the people of Israel, reminding them of God’s standards: 

“Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good” (vv. 19-20). 

In other words, Joshua doesn’t believe them. They have a history. A precedent has been set. And he knows God and how God feels about sin. But, in verse 21, the people of Israel assure Joshua that they mean business this time. They will be obedient and serve God.

So, in verse 22-23, Joshua says that they have now become witnesses against themselves by saying in the presence of Joshua and God that they had chosen to serve God. In verse 23, Joshua orders them to throw away their foreign gods and “yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

The people of Israel agreed, and Joshua made a covenant with Israel, which is a binding agreement, and set up a stone, saying it would be “a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke unto us: it shall be, therefore, a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God” (verse 27, emphasis added).

How can a stone be a witness?

Joshua, whose name means “The Lord saves,” set up a stone as a witness against Israel. In other words, the Israelites could no longer claim they didn’t promise to obey God wholeheartedly. Otherwise, the “stone” would bear witness before God, and God would have to act accordingly.

Interestingly, Jesus (which is the Greek equivalent of Joshua) is referred to as a what? A living Stone (1 Peter 2:4). One that is not only the cornerstone upon which the church is built (the foundation stone; Psalm 118:22; Matthew 21:42; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20), He is also the capstone, the finishing stone, the one that completes the structure and holds the building together (Greek scholars state that the word for “capstone” can be used to describe both the foundation stone and the capstone; both are critical in the strength of a structure, hence the ambiguity of the word’s ultimate meaning, i.e., you cannot limit the word to mean one or the other because it means both). Therefore, He is at the beginning of the building process and the ending of the building process. He is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 21:6). And this “Living Stone” was not only present at the moment Joshua performed this task in Joshua 24, He was present for the beginning of the building process of Israel (Genesis 12:1ff; 18:1ff), and He will be present when the end of the building process is complete (Revelation 21). He was even present at the beginning of the building process of the Creation (John 1:1-3)!

In addition, Jesus did witness against Israel time and time again during His earthly ministry. He became the “stumbling block” that causes men to fall (1 Peter 2:8; cf. Isaiah 8:14). Not because He is mischievous or devious, but because the men referenced in 1 Peter cannot bring themselves to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, Emmanuel, God in the flesh. The Living Stone was then and is now separating the wheat from the chaff (Matthew 3:12), the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:33), and the righteous from the wicked (Matthew 13:49), acting as a witness against the Israelites, especially the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and teachers of the law, as well as all who say they will follow God and then disobey repeatedly.

Therefore, it boils down to a choice? For you and your house, who do you serve (i.e., worship)? 

Thought For The Week:

We have to be so careful today. Satan has done a masterful job convoluting God’s Word. He has attacked it every which way he can, and as the world becomes more and more “post-modern,” those attacks grow exponentially because certain things that used to be “taboo” because of what was generally believed in society to be “true” and “just” simply are not anymore. It seems everything is “on the table” for negotiations these days, including God’s Word.

Be on the lookout for false teachings. They’re much more subtle today than ever before, being hid under the guise of “love” and “forgiveness,” which sounds very biblical. However, we must understand what “love” and ‘forgiveness” and ‘redemption” mean by understanding how God views them, defines them, and expects us to exemplify them, preach them, and teach them. The Word must dictate to culture, not the other way around. That only happens when you understand how God views things through His eyes and live by His Word accordingly. Otherwise, the world is doomed because it will have exchanged the truth for a lie (Romans 1:18-32).

NEXT WEEK:

We’re establishing the historical precedent of the nation Israel which lead to the monumental moment in 1 Samuel 8. Without this understanding, grasping the truth contained in 1 Samuel, as well as what comes after, might very well be missed.

Endnotes

 

1. Hagin, Kenneth E. The Glory of God (Tulsa, Okla.: Faith Library, 1987) 14-15. Hagin writes:

“The Bible truly has become a fellow witness to God’s present activity. . . If someone today perhaps has a vision of God, of Christ, it is good to know that it has happened before; if one has a revelation from God, to know that for the early Christians revelation also occurred in the community; if one speaks a ‘Thus says the Lord,’ and dares to address the fellowship in the first person—even going beyond the words of Scripture—that this was happening long ago. How strange and remarkable it is! If one speaks in the fellowship of the Spirit the Word of truth, it is neither his own thoughts and reflections (e.g., on some topic of the day) nor simply some exposition of Scripture, for the Spirit transcends personal observations, however interesting or profound they may be. The Spirit as the living God moves through and beyond the records of past witness, however valuable such records are as a model for what happens today.”

What Hagin says is a common belief amongst many within the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements, but is not just limited to them alone. To believe that the Bible is only a “fellow witness,” and thus has, by logical progression, “other witnesses” that need to be written down today is definitely blasphemy. To believe that “revelations” given to men like Hagin are just as inspired as Paul said the Word of God was (2 Timothy 3:16), is blasphemy. Paul said “All Scripture is God-breathed.” It is useful for teaching, rebuking and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be completely equipped for every good work God places in His path. How can the man of God be “completely equipped” if God’s Word is somehow incomplete? How could Jesus, and the disciples after Him teach, rebuke, correct and train believers how to live godly lives, if further teachings and instructions were needed? To go one step farther, how do the preachers who espouse such doctrine know they are teaching gospel truth since God’s Word—according to their own theology—is still not complete? Surely, if Jesus’s teachings were not the final word, and His disciples writings—to whom He gave the keys to the kingdom—were not the final word, then preachers who believe in this doctrine are not the final, end-all word from God, either, which raises the question: When will God’s Word finally be finished? Does that not happen until Jesus’s second coming? Will any words be preached after the rapture? Will more words be preached in the millennial kingdom? Even after the events in the Book of Revelation occur?

Dear reader, do you see the danger in this doctrine? Preachers of today were not given the keys to the kingdom like Peter and the other apostles were. Jude urges his followers to contend for the faith—the New Covenant, “that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (verse 3). If something is “once and for all,” then it needs not be redone or have anything added to it. It is complete. This was the sentiment of John at the end of the book of Revelation as well (Rev. 22:18-19). It seems, according to God’s own words at the end of the Book of Revelation, adding or subtracting anything from God’s Word doesn’t end well for that person, for if this commandment applies to Revelation, and it is part of God’s Holy Word, then it is safe to conclude the same for the rest of His Living Word, wouldn’t you say?

And just so we are clear, the same was said of Jesus’s death on the cross, that it was the “once and for all sacrifice for sin” (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; 9:11-14; 10:10). If “once and for all” doesn’t mean “once and for all of time,” then Jesus’s death was for nothing, because according to this erroneous theology, His death on the cross would also need something added to it or something subtracted from it. That’s blasphemy of the highest order!

 

2.  Tenney, Merrill C., General Editor. “Marcion, Gospel of.” The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible: Volume 4, M-P. (Regency Reference Library; Grand Rapids, MI, p. 72). Marcion lived in the second century A.D. He believed the God of the OT was an evil tyrant and only cared about judgment. The God of the NT, on the other hand, was one of love. Hmmm… Where have we heard that before? Marcion also believed the Jews were evil, thus bringing anti-Semitism into the early church. This belief was a natural outflow of his theology, which eliminated all Jewish remnants from his Bible. He chose the gospel account of Luke as his primary gospel account because it was written predominantly toward a Gentile audience (as opposed to Matthew, which was written predominantly to Jewish audience), thus making his “bible” even more anti-Semitic. Marcion was branded a heretic in 144 A.D. and was in large part the reason why the early church canonized the sixty-six books of the Bible we have now. His “bible” removed the OT completely, all supernatural occurrences in the NT, like Jesus’s baptism, His confrontation with Satan in the desert, His transfiguration, etc. Only eleven of the NT books made the cut, ten of those being Paul’s epistles (Marcion was a big fan of Paul and believed he was the only disciple who truly understood the God of love).

 

3.  Kintz, Carrie. “Joel Osteen Just Explained Why He Never Preaches on Hell.” ChurchLeaders.com. 6 April 2016. Web. 23 June 2020. <https://churchleaders.com/daily-buzz/276763-joel-osteen-wont-preach-about-hell-but-he-should.html>; To be fair, there are many who believed this way and were forerunners of Osteen, such as Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller, just to name a few bigger names people may recognize.

 

4. “God Bless the USA” Bible. GodBlesstheUSABible.com. No date. 30 May 2021. https://godblesstheusabible.com/. This “Bible” not only contains the handwritten chorus of the song by the same name, but it also contains the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance. As you can see, this is not scriptural. To place these human documents alongside Scripture is dangerous, if not blasphemous. There is only one nation listed in the Bible that God chose: Israel. All other nations throughout history have been used by God or ignored by Him, but they were never chosen by Him. Therefore, ironically, we would find it “offensive” as Americans, if someone placed the Code of Hammurabi with the covers of the Bible, or the writings of Joseph Smith, or the prophecies of Muhammed, or the teachings of the Amish. So, why do we think it’s okay to place the political writings of certain men called Americans within the Bible’s covers?

However, just so we are clear, there are plenty of other “bibles” out there as well, promoting just about anything you want to promote, such as philosophical, sociological, political, even erroneous theological stances, all of which are contrary to what the Bible teaches.  The Bible sells, especially when we preach it and rewrite it to fit our sinfulness.

Pictures courtesy of  Pixabay and the following photographers/artists:

"Scroll/Torah" by falco

"PC Bible" by Robert M Price

"Wolf in Sheep Clothing" by Hannah Richter

Chapter 2 - The First Rejection of the King (Part 2 of 6)

God Wants His People to be Different

God wants a holy people. A people set apart unto Himself. A people who live differently from those around them. Distinctly different. The Apostle Paul understood this, when he so eloquently stated in Romans 12:1-2 (ASV): 

I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. And be not fashioned according to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Paul understood sacrifice. He knew that in this New Testament era, with Jesus being the “once and for all sacrifice for sin” (cf. Hebrews 10:1-18) and using this imagery of sacrifice, his readers would understand too. They were to be “living sacrifices.” This change of heart and mind would be seen as an act of “service.” That word (latreian in the Greek) can also be translated “worship.” For in God’s Kingdom, service and worship flow from the same heart and look very similar. It is sometimes referred to as “sacred service,” and is illustrated in the service a priest renders in the Temple before God. The imagery is clear. We, as a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), are to present our bodies as “living sacrifices” unto Holy God. That is our act of worship. That is our service unto Him.

Set apart unto God. Different from those around us. Holy.

These “living sacrifices” of the New Covenant are to be like the sacrifices of the Old Covenant in concept. They are not to conform to the patterns of this world. They are not to look like their pagan counterparts. They are not to act like them, smell like them, nor have any blemishes. The “living sacrifice”—i.e., our very lives—are to be wholly unlike the pagan ritual sacrifices of their pagan neighbors. Hence, Paul’s admonition to no longer conform to how the world operates.

Instead, his readers in—of all places, Rome—were to have their minds renewed. In other words, they had to unlearn how they had been taught to live as “good little Roman citizens,” and instead, they had to relearn or renew their minds with God’s Kingdom way of living. Why? So they could begin to understand what God’s will for mankind has always been throughout the Old and New Covenants.

Know Thy Enemy

The Accuser, on the other hand, has been working feverishly to muddy these waters since the Garden in Genesis 3. Every chance he gets, he lures and tempts us to be like our pagan counterparts. He entices us to act and behave contrary to the teaching and instructions of God, the torah. And to complete his masterful plan, Satan encourages our pagan counterparts to be a little “Christ-like,” a little “godly,” to be “good people” in the process. Satan knows it’s hard to believe you need a savior when you think you aren’t spiritually sick, like the rich, young ruler and the teachers of the law believed (Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32). So, he works incessantly to corrupt the Christian, getting him or her away from a life of holiness (qadosh¹) while convincing the pagan he or she can be qadosh without a deep, rich, sacrificial relationship with God.

So now, the theological stage has been set.

We know what God wants of us. A life of qadosh, set apart and consecrated for Him.

We also know what Satan has been planning and implementing since Genesis 3. Attack God by any means necessary. Cause confusion, invite disruption, and discredit the people of God in the eyes of our pagan counterparts.

It’s been a back and forth, spiritual battle since Genesis 3 and within the life of the nation of Israel for centuries. However, in one monumental scene, the tide changed, and it was not for the better 

Rejection #1

Setting the Historical Stage for 1 Samuel 8

The year is circa 1020 B.C., and the Israelites are the only “theocracy” (literally means “ruled by God”) in existence. God has given them The Law of Moses (The Torah).  They know how He wants them to live. They know how He wants them to live. They’ve known it since Moses came down from Mount Sinai, which would have been almost three hundred years by this time in their history. Yet, they aren’t satisfied with the arrangement. Having God as their “king” and being required to follow all of His “instructions and teachings,” the torah, quickly became tiresome.

This is hard for us to understand today. For it was the Israelites who cried out to God because of their cruel Egyptian masters. They begged Him to rescue them (Exodus 2:23). God heard them and sent a deliverer named Moses. Moses eventually led the entire nation from Egypt, and through divine intervention on their behalf, God answered their prayers. He rescued them and wiped out their pursuers in the Red Sea (Exodus 13:17-14:31).

Even a casual observer, watching all of this unfold, would have concluded that because of these miraculous events, the Israelites should have easily obeyed God forever. God displayed His power right in front of them, exposing all the gods of Egypt, including Pharaoh himself (for the pharaohs were believed to be divine too) for what they truly were—powerless frauds. Thus, God fulfilled His own words in Exodus 12:12: “I’ll pass through land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. I’ll execute judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD” (emphasis added).²

Refreshingly, the text in Exodus 12 says the Israelites were given explicit instructions on how to prepare for this catastrophic event and avoid being lumped in with their Egyptian oppressors. However, they could not deviate one iota, or the plague of the firstborn would fall upon their homes as well. And in verse 27, it says they obeyed God precisely and worshiped Him.

This entire scene was a “glimpse” of how it was supposed to be—for then, for all the time in-between then and now, and even for the future. It was exactly what God wanted from His people in those days and what He wants from us now. Obey His commands, every day, even in the midst of something as horrible as persecution, and He will take care of His children, sometimes in miraculous ways of His own choosing. And as a result of His actions, they should worship Him and Him alone, regardless of their situation.³

This entire Exodus concept is so important to understand as we inch closer to the context of 1 Samuel 8. For as we will see, it was this longing to revert back to a life similar to their pagan neighbors that became the defining issue. This “heart of betrayal” started in the desert while receiving the gracious gift of manna each morning. And as Paul admonished the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, he doesn’t want us to be ignorant and make the same mistakes.

Thought of the Week:

With this understanding, you can see how and why God grows angry and wearisome with humans all throughout Scripture. He moves mountains, manipulates kingly despots, even stops the natural order of things, like the sun from moving in the heat of the day (Joshua 10:12-14), all in an effort to make His love manifest among His chosen people. Yet, despite His efforts, like Hosea’s wife Gomer, His chosen people run away from Him and into the arms of idols, sin, and self.

All God wants is for His people to reciprocate His love, by living solely for Him. To recognize how much He has done for us and live accordingly.  

In our own power, this reciprocation process is not possible (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 3:12-14). That’s why there are so many “religions of men” out there. Each one tries to accomplish this feat of reciprocation but realizes it cannot. Therefore, it creates a god that looks and acts more like human beings. Once that step is completed, then creating the “religion” that takes its cues from the nature and attributes of that god becomes easy. Why? Because the “god” likes what the worshippers like—sin. Thus, the “religions of men” can focus on anything deemed important by that group of “men,” which could be anything from abiding by harsh religious rules to make one seem holy (the Pharisees and teachers of the Law are examples of this) to downright diabolical perversions (the orgies and use of temple prostitutes in so many pagan religions are examples of this). 

In contrast, worshipping Holy God is completely the opposite. The worshipper cannot worship the God of the Bible in sinful ways. The worshipper’s ways must acquiesce to God’s ways (Ezekiel 18:25-32; Isaiah 55:8). And when worshippers try to change God’s ways to fit their sinful ways, that’s when things go awry. That’s when the world points fingers at the followers of God, noting all the contradictions they see (and rightfully so). However, when the worshippers of God follow His commands, Jesus said that’s when those in the world, who see our good deeds, will praise God, even though they aren’t followers (Matthew 5:14-16).  

In other words, they will see how different we are, how set apart we are, how holy we are. That, my friend, will then get them to wondering if what Jesus said was true. Instead of stumbling blocks to salvation, our lives may very well become stepping stones to eternity for some.

What kind of stones have you and I been today? Over the last week? The last month?

NEXT WEEK:

We’ll continue to follow the nation Israel and her relationship to God leading up to a monumental moment in 1 Samuel 8.

Endnotes

1. 1. Benner, Jeff A. “Holy.” Ancient Hebrew Research Center. No Date. Web. 20 April 2019. https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/definition/holy.htm; See also Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. “6918.” Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon. (Hendrickson Publishers; Peabody, Mass., 1979), p. 872.

2. Ramm, Bernard L. His Way Out. (Regal Books Division, G/L Publications; Glendale, CA., 1974, pp. 60-71).

3. Theologians call this event of the Exodus a “type.” “Typology” is a theological construct which describes how an Old Testament person, place, thing, or event, which was considered significant in the Old Testament, is referenced in the New Testament as a “picture” of something spiritually deeper and more meaningful in reference to the work of the Messiah and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. It must be further understood that “types” are only types when the New Testament makes reference to it, basing the statement on something from Old Testament times. In other words, if the New Testament doesn’t reference a person, place, thing, or event as a “type,” then it was not intended to be one. Otherwise, people looking for such things make every word in the Bible fanciful, and everything becomes a “type,” and that is when irrational, erroneous teachings and downright heresies are spawned.

Other examples that illustrate types used in the New Testament are:

·       Melchizedek is referred in the book of Hebrews as a type for Jesus as the perfect high priest (7:1-28).

·       In chapter 9 of Hebrews, the tabernacle and the functions of the priests were a type and precursor to the redeeming work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

·       The Apostle Paul references the Israelites’ wandering in the desert as a type (1 Corinthians 10:1-6).

·       Paul also uses the situation between Hagar and Sarah as a type for salvation, even referencing a passage in Isaiah 54:1 to help bolster his argument (Galatians 4:21-31).

In Exodus 12, we have people—folks who claimed to be God’s chosen people, I might add—crying out because of their oppression at the hands of sinful men. They were saved from their bondage by the blood of a lamb or goat that was without defect (Exodus 12:3-5). This “salvation by the blood of a lamb” happened again in the person of Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God (cf. Isaiah 52:13-53:12; John 1:29; Hebrews 9:11-28). In this case, instead of just an earthly, physical rescue of the people of Israel from the hands of their Egyptian taskmasters, this Old Testament event was a “type” or, we could say, a “foreshadowing” of a saving event that has eternal ramifications, too, as Jesus became the “once and for all” sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:1-10; Jude 3).

In these passages and others like them, the Exodus event resonates into a new “picture” of how a person or a people can be held captive and forced to do the will of the captors until someone saves them from their bondage. In a spiritual sense, all of us are held captive by sin and its enticing ways before we are saved. Some of us even want to go back to sin at times after we became saved, like the people of Israel when they looked back toward Egypt and desired again the “leeks and onions by the Nile” (Numbers 11:4-7). Some of us miss the allure and excitement of sin. Some of us miss the “comfort” sin promises to provide. We, instead, desire to return to our own “Egypt,” the place where we lived spiritually before we were saved from sin’s oppression, and thus despise God’s salvation and the freedom it brings all at the same time. This is what Jesus was talking about when He said those “who put their hands to the plow and then look back” are not fit for God’s Kingdom (Luke 9:62). We must be careful. Looking back and desiring the very thing from which we were saved is grounds for non-admittance into God’s Kingdom.

Pictures courtesy of  Pixabay and the following photographers/artists:

"Adam, Eve and Serpent" by Jeffjacobs1990

"Scroll/Torah" by falco

"Moses and red sea" by Jeffjacobs1990

"Praise in field" by 4653867

Chapter 2 - The First Rejection of the King (Part 1 of 6)

Every revolution needs a cause.

In every uprising throughout all of human history, it boiled down to one overarching question:

Who's running the show?                                           

Was it a king? A queen? An emperor? A Caesar? A tribal chief? A czar? A prime minister? A president? A body of officials, elected or otherwise, like a Sanhedrin, a Roman Senate, a tribal council, an English Parliament, or an American Congress? No matter who the people group, no matter where the line was drawn on a map to mark their borders, no matter what the color of their skin happened to be, no matter how rich or poor the constituents were, it always flared into that one, singular question.

Who’s running the show?   

It’s a matter of power. It’s a matter of autonomy. Ultimately, even though many people groups don’t see it as such because of what they believe, it’s a matter of sovereignty.

Whoever runs the show rules.   

We see it all the time in modern political debate. One group thinks their system of belief should reign supreme over all opposing systems of belief. Therefore, they take action.

Sometimes, it’s through peaceful means, like town hall meetings, debates, peaceful demonstrations, or thoughtful expositions on the subject, posted online or written in newspapers or books. All of this discourse typically results in a vote on those issues, with the majority vote coming out on top, if it’s a democratic society of which we speak.

In other instances, this transitional process occurs through means that are not so peaceful, like boisterous demonstrations and riots that typically become destructive to both property and life. It becomes a bullying tactic, really. A form of intimidation designed to get others to agree…or else further destruction and harm is promised.   

In the more blunt-force cases, the changes come by sheer military force in the form of a coup, a revolution, or an invasion.  

If those not in power don’t like who is running the show at that moment in history, then they cast their votes, organize their riots, start their wars or invade other countries for the purpose of changing the who. All of this chaos and turmoil rises to the surface like an erupting volcano in an effort to establish a new individual or group who ultimately promises to be a better alternative in the minds of those perpetuating the revolutionary ideals. 

Despite God’s efforts to establish a group of people who would be above all this strife by being holy, set apart, and different from the other groups around them, unfortunately, the same can be said of the nation Israel.

And it all started in 1 Samuel 8, which we will cover in this “chapter.”

Being Different as God is Different

The Law of Moses, also known as the Torah (later to be also called the Septuagint by Gentile believers who translated it into Greek), spelled out how God’s chosen people were to live their lives in the midst of the sin, chaos, and turmoil, which not only swirled around them in the form of rivaling beliefs and marauding nations, but also infiltrated (infected?) their very own people time and time again.

When we hear the word “law” today, we automatically think of rules, procedures, and protocols; all things that tell us what we can and cannot do without suffering some kind of penalty for breaking said “law.” These “laws” are put in place for many reasons. Some are for the safety of the people they are designed to protect, for example. Others are for the prosperity of persons within that group. Still others are simply designed to keep the group civil and prevent anarchy from tearing it apart.

However, the meaning of the word translated “law” in the Old Testament has a different meaning and emphasis from what we understand the word to mean. Yes, there is the punitive aspect to it, if said “laws” are broken, but as God’s Word always does, it takes a positive approach to the task at hand (cf. Matthew 7:12). The emphasis is on the willingness of the worshiper to cultivate a heart of obedience out of an attitude of love towards God as opposed to walking on egg shells, waiting for the “Man Upstairs” to reign lightning bolts from the heavens.

Another way to think about it can be borrowed from the world of science. There are “laws” in science which have nothing to do with punishment. For example, the “Law of Gravity” dictates that a certain force is at work within a celestial body, like Earth and its moon. These “forces” or “powers” work within the planet and moon, acting upon everything on them, including humans.

These “laws” bring understanding to forces that act around us, upon us, and sometimes even in us, like the Law of Entropy, which says that energy is always reducing and deteriorating. Our human bodies are prime examples of this law. They are created and begin to deteriorate from the moment of birth. Yes, we “grow” in size, but we “age” as we do until the newborn is old and frail. Everything else follows this pattern, from the tiniest plant to the universe itself. As Christians, we believe this is the result of sin, and God will one day recreate the heavens and the Earth, setting things back into the picture of what He intended from the beginning (see Revelation 21-22), where moth and rust cannot destroy, and thieves cannot break in and steal (Matthew 6:19-21), and where the Law of Entropy will finally be abolished.

The “Law” of God works in this way as well. And can I say, it works more powerfully this way than simply “a line in the sand” to bring punishment, if crossed.

The word torah actually means “direction, instruction, law.”² Interestingly, this word finds its root in a Hebrew verb that means “to flow or through something.” It is likened to the “flowing” of an arrow as it sails through the air to hit its target, or to the “flowing” of one’s finger as a person points the way to a lost traveler, or to a teacher whose finger points to the necessary knowledge needed for the pupil to be successful. For example, in Proverbs 1:8, the word “torah” is translated in several versions as a “father’s instruction” and a “mother’s teaching.” In other versions, it is translated as a “father’s instruction” and the “law of your mother.”³

Therefore, we could say the Torah “directed” or “instructed” the Israelites as to what being “set apart” was supposed to look like in a daily, monthly, and yearly existence. It was to flow through them and from them. This understanding helps us to better appreciate the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 6, when he told the Israelites to take the torah of God and “Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and your gates” (vv. 7-9; NRSV). These instructions and teachings were to point the way, no matter what the Israelite was doing at the time. These instructions and teachings were to be handled this way because the Israelite was to do what verses 5-6 said to do also (which is a prerequisite, by the way), “You shall love the LORD your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart” (NRSV).

The torah was designed to help the sojourner—while “shooting his arrows”—hit the mark, hit the target, every time. If a Jew did not obey the torah, then it was said that “he spiritually missed the mark,” which always had physical and spiritual consequences (and sometimes eternal ones as well!).

Ironically (or maybe not), a common Greek word used to describe the act of committing sin is ἁμαρτάνω (hámártanō), and it means “to fail to attain or maintain a set standard; to miss the mark.”⁴ This failure can be viewed legally and spiritually. It means the act of doing actual, moral wrong to others, to oneself, or among others. It is considered to be violating God’s Will in the process. Hence, missing the mark. It is the process of shooting the arrow, “flowing” it through the air, and having it miss the bullseye altogether.⁵

Some of the laws listed within the pages of the Torah make perfect sense. Countries and nations throughout history, even today, have adopted those laws as their own, such as “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13), and “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). Other instructions, such as how to handle items covered with mold and mildew (Leviticus 13:47-59; 14:33-57) made perfect sense when it came to health and sanitation issues, and you see similar guidelines and laws in force today for the sake of public health.⁶

However, there are some laws within the Torah that, when read by twenty-first century eyes, cause us to wrinkle our brow and wonder, “That’s an odd law to just toss in there.” For example, take the one found in Exodus 23:19: “You shall not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” Why would God have Moses jot this one down in the middle of the section about the three annual feasts and how they are to be celebrated (the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering)? This culinary prohibition is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 14:21 and comes on the heels of a conversation about what it considered to be clean and unclean food.

So, what’s God got against this practice?

It was a pagan practice, and not just a gastric one, mind you, but more importantly, it was a practice of worship in pagan, religious culture. Some cultures viewed it as a way to satisfy their gods and bring blessing upon the growth of upcoming crops and livestock, using a young animal that has potential to be so much more. A symbol of sacrifice.

When you view this practice through the eyes of God, which is the lens of the Torah in this Old Testament case, the reason becomes crystal clear. If you performed this specific practice in an act of worship toward the God of Israel, as an Israelite, it would look, act, and smell like a pagan act of worship. Thus, the Israelites would closely resemble their pagan counterparts. Why is this bad? Because they would no longer be “holy as God is holy.” They would no longer be “set apart.” They would no longer be “consecrated, “sacred,” or “different.”

They would be like the others around them.

The enemy—known as Satan, the accuser, the serpent, the dragon—has perpetrated these revolutionary architypes since the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. No matter how Satan implemented them during the days of the Old Testament, no matter how he does it now during the Church age, their purposes was always the same:

·       Attack the Sovereignty of God – Can God really tell us what to do? (v. 1)

·       Attack the Character of God – God’s didn’t tell you the entire truth! (v. 4)

·       Attack the Word of God – Because of the two above, can you really believe all of God’s Word? (v. 5)

·       Attack the Concept of Holiness and being Set Apart – If God can’t tell us what to do all the time, and if He’s holding some things back from us so He can ‘run the show,’ and if His Word is just a bunch of rules to help keep Him in His position of power, then why bother following these rules, making ourselves miserable in the process? There is so much more to life than God’s rules. There is fun and enjoyment and pleasure to be had, but God wants to keep much of it to Himself. (v. 6)

In a very effectual manner, using the same lies he perpetrated in Genesis 3, Satan made the acts of sin, the idolatrous habits of neighboring cultures, and the cursed ideals of other people groups the apple of Israel’s eye. He corrupted their thinking with half-truths that attacked the sovereignty of God, the character of God, the Word of God, and God’s desire for His creationary pièce de résistance—mankind—to be holy as He is holy.

And by the way, this attack strategy has worked pretty well against the Church of Jesus Christ in the days of the New Testament too.

Satan’s battle has always been with God and to destroy anything associated with God. That includes us.

Ultimately, it’s about who runs the show. And who rules while running it. And Satan wants it more than anybody else.

Thought for the Week:

Believers often speak of how they “walk the walk and talk the talk.” Churches love using bumper sticker slogans like this to convey biblical truths. Some other examples of these bumper sticker theologies are: “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven,” “God is my Co-pilot,” and “Honk, if you love Jesus.” Do these slogans make us different from our “pagan” counterparts? Do they convey a “set apart” lifestyle? Have you ever really examined the theology behind trite sayings like these? Especially in light of God and how He views His Word?

In contrast, Daniel and his three companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were among seventy or so Hebrew teenagers captured and taken to Babylon from the noble families of Judah. They were taught how live like a Babylonian and how to think like a Babylonian as part of Nebuchadnezzar’s overall plan of forever changing the Israelites (which was a common practice by conquering kings).

Later in their lives, as grown men, they endured the transition of Babylon and its overthrow by the Medes and the Persians. Yet, in each instance, when the chips were down, only four of those seventy Hebrews stood on the solid rock of God and His Word (which completely jives with what Jesus teaches about how many travel the narrow road and the broad road, doesn’t it? Four young men versus sixty-six or so others?).

In chapter 1 of Daniel, all four were confronted with the issue of eating the king’s food which had been sacrificed to idols. In chapter 3, the three companions of Daniel were faced with a monumental decision. “Do we bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol like all the others? Or do we refuse to do so?” In chapter 6, Daniel chose to continue to pray to God after a decree had been given by King Darius, making it illegal. These four men, teenagers in chapter 1 who eventually become men by chapters 3-6, were different from the other Hebrew captives. They were different from the Babylonians around them as well. They were “set apart” unto God and God alone, and their stories are miraculous, to say the least.

Bumper sticker theology wasn’t enough for Daniel and the others. For them, to be counted as one of God’s chosen people, His laws had to be followed above all else. Just being forgiven wasn’t enough. Having God as their co-pilot would have been a ludicrous thought. However, they did walk the walk…right into the fiery furnace and the lion’s den. They talked the talk, too, by sharing God’s Word with the King of Babylon and all of his advisors. So much so, that centuries later, some wise men from that region of the world showed up in Jerusalem, asking where they could find the King of the Jews (See Matthew 2).

May we find the King of the Jews as well. May we follow Him. And may we bow down and worship as they did, with our lives presented as our gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Romans 12:1-2). In doing this, we will set ourselves apart from all the others around us. For He rules. He runs the show. And He does it so we can experience life everlasting in His presence.

NEXT WEEK:

We will continue to inch closer to the first recorded rejection of God by His people Israel.

Endnotes 

¹ We are seeing all of this unfold before our very eyes, by the way. Just turn on the news. Checkout the latest, trending feed on social media. We’ve been witnessing this struggle for power for years, via terrorist activity, wars in various paces, etc., but it’s really been at the top of the headlines since the year 2020. And ironically, since the year that literally speaks of a clear kind of vision, 20/20, nothing has become more woven in the fabric of this current generation than this struggle for power all over the world.

 

² Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. “8451.” Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon. (Hendrickson Publishers; Peabody, Mass., 1979), p. 435.

 

³ Benner, Jeff A. “What is Torah?” Ancient Hebrew Research Center. No Date. Web. 16 June 2020. < https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/studies-words/what-is-torah.htm>

 

⁴ Green, Jay P., Sr. “264.” The New Englishman’s Greek Concordance and Lexicon. (Hendrickson Publishers; Peabody, Mass., 1982), p. 37.

 

⁵ “264. Hamartanó” Bible Hub.com. No Date. Web. 16 June 2020. <https://biblehub.com/greek/264.htm>

 

⁶ If you wish to read a captivating book on this subject and more, see McMillen, S. I. None of These Diseases: A physician testifies that health, happiness, and longer life can be yours if you follow the teachings of the Bible. (Fleming H. Revell; Old Tappan, NJ., 1984, Revised).

 Pictures courtesy of  Pixabay and the following photographers/artists:

"Soldiers" by Defence - Imagery

"Hebrew Scripture" by RobertC

"Archer" by Paul Barlow