Oct. 3, 2025

Priests Before the Law

Have a question or comment for Pastor Plek or one of his guests. Send it here. 369: A simple question about “priests before the Law” opens a door into one of Scripture’s most fascinating arcs. We trace the roles of prophet, priest, and king before Sinai, explore Jethro’s surprising faithfulness, and sit with the mystery of Melchizedek—king of Salem, priest of God Most High—who foreshadows Jesus as our eternal priest‑king. Along the way, we show why tithing, sacrifice, prayer, and Sabbath rhyt...

Have a question or comment for Pastor Plek or one of his guests. Send it here.

369: A simple question about “priests before the Law” opens a door into one of Scripture’s most fascinating arcs. We trace the roles of prophet, priest, and king before Sinai, explore Jethro’s surprising faithfulness, and sit with the mystery of Melchizedek—king of Salem, priest of God Most High—who foreshadows Jesus as our eternal priest‑king. Along the way, we show why tithing, sacrifice, prayer, and Sabbath rhythms didn’t start with Moses; they were clarified by the Law and fulfilled in Christ.

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00:00 - Welcome & Listener Questions

00:50 - What is a priest before the Law?

02:50 - Jethro, Midian, and spiritual leadership

05:17 - Melchizedek and the priest-king pattern

09:00 - Psalm 110, Messiah, and Hebrews

12:20 - Tithing and sacrifices before Sinai

13:45 - Shifting to anti‑Semitism misuse online

16:20 - Context of 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16

20:10 - Ethnicity vs. religion vs. nation

24:10 - Enemies of the gospel and our response

28:30 - When to engage on social media

WEBVTT

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And welcome back to Pastor Plex podcast.

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I'm your host, Pastor Plik, along with none other than Pastor Holland.

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Greg, how are we doing, Holland?

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Doing great.

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Thanks, Chris.

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All right, we got a couple questions from uh the fan base, and we want to jump right into those.

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Uh, first one comes from a listener.

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What were the roles of priests mentioned in the Bible prior to the law?

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Like Melchizedek and Jethro, and even Balaam.

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Yeah.

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Nice.

00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:33.119
Good question.

00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:44.799
Yeah, this is an intense question because clearly there also you could say like uh Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in a sense, were uh had a priestly type role even in their families, yeah, right before the law.

00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:50.479
Yeah, I I think, in fact, all the way down to Moses, honestly, is so so what do we have to say?

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Let's just take a look at Melchizedek for a second and Jethro.

00:00:53.840 --> 00:01:06.159
Like uh when I think Jethro, remember, he's the priest of Midian, uh, who clearly worshipped uh Yahweh, he sacrifices to him.

00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:14.000
Uh, I think in one point, Exodus 18, after you know, they all the Israelites, two million of them show up.

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Jethro shows up with a fam.

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And I mean, imagine being Jethro.

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You've you've given your daughter to Moses, who is now 80.

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And he goes, he goes back to pick up a couple people from Egypt, and he prom brings back two million of them, and he's about to leave them into the promised land.

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I mean, and that's a wild thought.

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I mean, just uh just as a man, a human being, that's crazy, but he's also a priest.

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Right.

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What and what do you think his role was back then?

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So it's a role of spiritual leadership, prophet, priest, and king are the three main offices, the three main official leadership um positions that mediated between God and people.

00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:08.800
And so prophets spoke to people on behalf of God, primarily.

00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:13.840
Um, priests uh spoke to God on behalf of people, right?

00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:17.599
Um, and then kings ruled over the people under God.

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And so you have um really governance as a focus of kings, um, communicating a message from God for prophets and communicating the prayers of the people and the needs of the people and the sins of the people to God from a priest.

00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:40.000
And so that was that's even before the law, um, you have the importance of a spiritual leader who goes to God on behalf of his people.

00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:41.280
That's what I would say a priest is.

00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:44.960
Yeah, so so what about these specific priests?

00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:52.080
Uh here's what's sort of wild when I think about um uh specifically Jethro.

00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:52.560
Okay.

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He is the descendant of Abraham through Keturah.

00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.159
Remember his like I don't know, you may not know this.

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Like, after Sarah dies, he gets remarried, and this woman gives him a bunch of kids.

00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:04.639
Right.

00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:16.800
Like she was not barren, and he was an old man, and you know, Midian is in that that mix, and he's a priest of Midian, so must be in that the bloodline of uh Abraham.

00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:45.360
So it's kind of an interesting reality that remember, all nations will be blessed through Abraham, and so this is kind of convening back together Moses and and and you know the thing about Moses is he was although he was an Israelite, he spent most or well, he spent this first 40 years as an Egyptian, his next 40 years as a Midianite, and then his final 40 years as an Israelite, really is the best way to see that.

00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:56.719
Yeah, and so when I when I look at this, I look at Jethro, who is a priest, kind of uh like saying, Yes, your God is the one true God.

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We worship this same God who has you know spoken to him through obviously Mount Sinai.

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Remember they they call it the mountain of God, yeah, and that's where Jethro was.

00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:12.000
So he had some sort of interaction with God on Mount Sinai.

00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:25.519
Again, this is where we don't know enough, there is enough historical evidence, but he is what I really see what Moses does is he unites three different types of people: Egyptian, Midian, and Israelite, all under one God.

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And then he brings about the Mosaic covenant of like this is how you're to live under God's law for relationship with him.

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Yeah.

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And maybe that's a little bit too much to kind of put in that from a Jethro standpoint only, because we don't know enough about him.

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What we do know is that he ministered to the people as an intermediary intermediary on behalf of the medium people before Almighty God.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Priest taking going to God on behalf of the people.

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You see, you have sacrifices before the law.

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Yep.

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Remember uh Cain and Abel?

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Yeah, you have a sacrifice right here in Exodus 18.

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Yeah, you have sacrifices before the law, you have prayer before the law, you have even Sabbath observance.

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Remember um gathering the food in the wilderness, the manna?

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You didn't, you know, you rest on the seventh day.

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Right.

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So you have a lot of these things that actually were spiritual principles and practices before they were codified in the law.

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And the same is true of, you know, the role of the priest, a spiritual leader who goes to God on behalf of his people.

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That's what God's saying.

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I love that.

00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:21.519
Okay, so what about Melchizedek?

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Because I think Melchizedek is one of he there's only two Melchizedek comes up twice in the Old Testament.

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He comes up in Genesis, is it 22?

00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:34.639
No, Genesis.

00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:36.720
No, it's more like 14 or 15.

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Okay, Genesis 14.

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Genesis 14, comes up, Genesis 14, then he comes up in Psalm 110, and then he shows up in Hebrews.

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He's got this Old Testament random story where uh he is just a priest, he bring um he's a high priest of God, and then he's also the king of Salem, and Abraham of all things offers tithes to him of all things.

00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:05.199
Yes, you have tithing before the law, also.

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You have tithing before the law.

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It's it's a it's a wild thing.

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And so with Melchizedek, he remains mysterious, I think on purpose for God's purposes.

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He has no beginning, no end, is what Hebrews says.

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And then Psalm 110 gives us this wild I Psalm 110 is so crazy.

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And the reason why I say it's so crazy is because you would never think this was written before Jesus, like hundreds of years, maybe even a thousand years uh before Jesus shows up.

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Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

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The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter, rule in the midst of your enemies.

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Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments, from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.

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The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:13.839
Which like he's only mentioned one time in Genesis 14.

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How in the world are you supposed to understand that in Psalm 110?

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This is David, by the power of the spirit, is prophesying a song, which there was no way he could understand what he was saying.

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Like, I just don't think there was any way.

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All right, here's here's the thing the Lord says to my Lord.

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So the Lord, Yahweh, says to my Lord, some ruler over David.

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Okay.

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But who was the ruler over David?

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God.

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Yeah, so there was no human ruler over David at that time.

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Right.

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But David did know that God promised a future king from the line of David who would reign forever.

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And so if you're David, I I think you could logically reason that this king is going to somehow be a divine king, a king who's going to reign forever.

00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:09.199
And if he's a divine king, then, you know, I, you know, who knows how much David knew.

00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:12.160
But you go, maybe he knew that he, you know, existed.

00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:16.160
Maybe David understood a little bit more about the Trinity than we realize.

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Don't know.

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Right.

00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:26.480
But he he has this understanding that um this uh future descendant of his will be an eternal king somehow.

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And he's saying here he's also going to be a priest.

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And so who is the only other priest king that we know of in the Old Testament, Melchizedek?

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He was a priest of the most high God, and he was the king of Salem.

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And so the idea of the Messiah coming from David, who would be a priest king, who would not only govern the people, but uh mediate between the people and God.

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And the only other person you have like that in the Bible is Melchizedek.

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And so it's a it's it's a cool connection.

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Yeah, and Jesus actually uh quotes Psalm 110.

00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:04.879
Uh where was it, Matthew 22?

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Uh he's like after the Pharisees ask him question after question after question, he then's like, I got a question for you.

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What do you think about the Messiah?

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Whose son, like, whose son is he?

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And they replied, Son of David.

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Then he quotes Psalm 110.

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So, how is it that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him Lord?

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Yeah, which like you don't call your son Lord unless kind of what you said.

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Yeah.

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It's it's it that Psalm 110 to me is if there's any psalm to investigate and just pour over.

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Yeah, it's so cool.

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It is like the coolest psalm.

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There's so much in there.

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And but yeah, Melchizedek becomes the way of understanding the idea of a priest king that would come from David and rule forever.

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And that's Jesus.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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Let's that's that's awesome.

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Uh, but we're gonna shift gears to the next question.

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Okay.

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All right, uh, it says this from one of our uh fearless listeners.

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Thank you so much for this question, by the way.

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I saw a Facebook post where someone cherry-picked Thessalonians 2, 14 and 15.

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If you can look that up.

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Yeah, let's look it up to justify anti-Semitism.

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I looked up the full passage and saw that they were twisting it to spread hate.

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My first thought was to unfriend them, or maybe post the full context to expose their manipulation, but I doubt it would change their hearts.

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I was curious to hear your thoughts on this one.

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All right, here it is.

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1 Thessalonians 2, 14 and 15.

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For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God and Christ Jesus that are in Judea.

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For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displeased God, and oppose all mankind.

00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:47.120
Yeah.

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Keep going.

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Yeah, keep going because the verse 16 is good, yeah.

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By hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins, but wrath has come upon them at last.

00:10:58.960 --> 00:10:59.200
Okay.

00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:09.120
So this is the I think what they're saying, or the person that took this verse, I think I would say out of context, is that that therefore all Jews are the enemy.

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Like they are the ones forever and ever and ever, their kids kind of take up this mantle of preventing, you know, driving Jesus out, drove us out, and displeased God and oppose all mankind.

00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:25.279
I think there that's problematic because of course we know there are Jews that have been saved.

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There are Jews that didn't hinder Paul.

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What's that?

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Yeah, like Paul.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Saul who became Paul, the guy that wrote the letter was a Jew.

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So clearly that can't justify a cultural hatred of um of someone an anti-Semite, for, for example.

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But um, and I think also remember, you this gets back into an anthropological statement that we find that shifts in the book of Ezekiel.

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You are only to die for your own sins.

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You don't, it isn't like your sins aren't put upon you to the fourth generation that in Ezekiel each one dies for his own sins.

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We sort of see that for his writing.

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Whereas I still think there's gonna be blessing for a thousand generations for God's people, but it is everyone must come before God and take on uh and either receive Jesus' forgiveness or um experience the wrath of God by rejecting him.

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And that ultimately is um is is those I don't not not that you're against our battle, isn't against flesh and blood, right?

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This is uh Ephesians 6, but against the spiritual forces of darkness.

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And these particular Jews at this particular time were um effectively against Jesus and against his message and were enemies of God.

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And the answer wasn't to kill them, the answer was to pray for them and to try to win them over.

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Well, and and maybe that's the part where even if they are your enemy, like whoever is your enemy, your answer isn't, oh, let's go blow them away.

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The answer is to pray for them and and pursue them in joy and peace.

00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:06.639
Yeah, there's a lot there.

00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:16.799
I I think even so what complicates it is when you say Jew, right, you could that could refer to someone's ethnicity, right?

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It could refer to someone's religion, right?

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It could refer to someone's nationality or culture.

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So if they live in Judea, then you're a Jew, right?

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Because that's you know, you're from Judea.

00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:30.240
Right.

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Um, but a lot of the times those things are combined together.

00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:43.600
Um, but so Paul would be an example of someone who, you know, ethnically is a Jew, but religiously is not a Jew.

00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:43.919
Right.

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He's a Christian.

00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:55.919
Um and what it seems like what he's talking about here is those who were not just ethnically Jewish, but those who were religiously Jewish.

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And the Jewish religion on the whole rejects Jesus Christ.

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It 100% rejects Jesus Christ.

00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:02.879
Yeah.

00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:03.759
Obviously.

00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:10.960
Um and so, and the Jewish people in that time that rejected Jesus Christ were also persecuting the Christians.

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Right.

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And so that's what he's talking about.

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Um, he's saying, You in Thessalonica, you're suffering from Thessalonians, you know, who are persecuting you, but you're following the example of um, you know, the church is in Judea, right?

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Who they were being persecuted by the Jews, just like they were being persecuted by the Jews, you're being persecuted by the Thessalonians, and you're remaining faithful, just like the church in Judea remained faithful.

00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:37.279
So he's making a connection there.

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What that doesn't mean is everyone who's ethnically Jewish um is needs to be purged.

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Yeah, is is an enemy.

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Right.

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But those who are religiously Jewish, Paul even Paul says Romans 11, 28, as regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake.

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Right.

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So they're enemies of the gospel.

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And he says, for your sake, because because it was because of the Jews rejecting the gospel that it goes out to the Gentiles.

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Right.

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If all the Jews were like, We're on board, Jesus, you're the king.

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But they rejected it, and the gospel goes out to the Gentiles, and so the Gentiles are benefiting from the Jews rejecting it.

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So they're enemies of the faith.

00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:20.799
So from a um religious standpoint, how do you treat enemies of the faith?

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And relationally, you pray for them, you share the gospel with them, you bless them.

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You bless them.

00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:35.759
Um that doesn't mean that you uh affirm like uh lies or affirm that, you know, oh, their religion.

00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:41.679
Like I read something the the other day, it was like the ligonier state of theology survey.

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Have you seen those?

00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:42.720
No.

00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:47.519
Ask a bunch of questions to Americans, and then you can filter it for evangelicals.

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Right.

00:15:48.080 --> 00:16:01.120
And it was like 40, I think the number was 47% of evangelicals in America think that God accepts the worship of uh Jews and Muslims along with Christians.

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God accepts all worship.

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And so there is this mindset of like, oh, the Jews are um religiously, the Jewish religion is like, oh, they're they're good people who are, you know, they're gonna go to heaven.

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They don't understand.

00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:21.519
And same with Muslims, it's like you have to understand these are religions that explicitly reject Jesus Christ and desperately need the gospel.

00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:27.840
And, you know, there's yeah, it's it's not just like, oh, they have a faith in God, so they're saved.

00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:30.240
No, they reject Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:32.480
And nobody gets to the Father except through him.

00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:32.720
Yeah.

00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:45.279
And I think that like you can still have a respect for Israel, but understand that they are not God's people because they've rejected God's son.

00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:55.759
You mean um now, see, even when you say Israel, do you mean uh those who are ethnically connected to or are you talking about the modern nation?

00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:57.679
I was saying modern day Israel.

00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:01.759
I think sometimes we want to like you can live in the nation of Israel, I can go move to Israel, you know.

00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:04.000
And you could actually become or can't I?

00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:04.319
I don't even know.

00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:08.640
Well, let's say if you have a Jewish background, you can go live there and become a city, they'll pay you.

00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:09.920
Um it's a pretty good deal.

00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:12.559
But do you have to have a Jewish background to move there?

00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:17.359
No, but like you get there, they have a thing like it's uh, you know, they're calling the deal home or something.

00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:17.759
Yeah.

00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.079
Uh anyway, uh So it's important.

00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:25.440
I guess the point of all that is to distinguish what do you mean by Israel, what do you mean by Jew?

00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:35.039
Um, and uh should you hate you know, Jewish people of the Jewish religion or the Jewish ethnicity?

00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:35.519
No.

00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:43.839
You there's a valid category of enemy of the gospel and that they reject Jesus, but the response to that should be to pray that they might be saved.

00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:44.559
That's what Paul said.

00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:44.799
Right.

00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:46.880
He said, They're my kinsmen according to the flesh.

00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:51.759
I will think they might be saved and I be accursed, which it can't be happen, can't happen.

00:17:52.079 --> 00:18:00.319
So he had this desire that they would be saved and uh would say they are enemies of the gospel, but I I still want them to be saved.

00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:00.640
Yeah.

00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:03.279
Um and Paul was a Jew who got saved.

00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:13.279
So but then he he no longer identifies as a Jew in terms of uh, you know, when he explains who he is, he says, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, a servant of Jesus Christ, right?

00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:14.000
Yeah.

00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:15.759
So Okay.

00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:19.279
Um, but are they wanting to know like what should they do?

00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:20.160
Should they comment back?

00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:21.039
Yeah, yeah.

00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:23.599
I think they're saying, like, I feel like they're this.

00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:28.319
And there's what do you think about that?

00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:34.319
I'm like, there's a time to engage online, and what they're saying, there's a time where you and I have both engaged online.

00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:37.599
We have in a lot in sort of some Facebook battles.

00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:57.519
And sometimes I think, honestly, I think it's good uh to be a person that puts truth out there, especially in a world that when people live in echo chambers and they only hear their own perspective echoed back to them, and you go, actually, that's not okay.

00:18:57.839 --> 00:18:58.240
Yeah.

00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:05.440
And I I've engaged quite a bit on things online, but there's also like I've passed over way more things than I've engaged on.

00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:06.000
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:09.039
You gotta, you gotta choose what's gonna be fruitful and if it's very important.

00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:25.920
Sometimes I look at it and I'm like, do I want if I just throw like a one shot out there and I don't have time to back it up with like more things, sometimes I feel like and I don't, or if I don't, I can only don't have time to have right an appropriate response that's yeah, compassionate yet at the same time truthful, and all the things I go, I don't have time for that.

00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:26.400
Yeah.

00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:27.359
Um pray about it.

00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:28.160
Yeah, pray about it.

00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:29.519
Maybe it's the right thing, maybe it's not.

00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:30.240
Pray about it.

00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:36.160
Uh now, Paul does call himself a Jew uh whenever he was uh witnessing.

00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:41.359
Remember, he said uh he was addressing uh in Acts 22.

00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:42.400
Is this Agrippa?

00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:46.880
Where he goes, uh, I'm a Jew from Tarsus and Silesia, citizen of no obscure city.

00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:48.400
I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.

00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:50.559
Again, yeah, look look what he's saying, though.

00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:52.799
He's not saying uh his religion.

00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:54.640
He's saying, This is where I'm from.

00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:55.440
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:57.440
This is where I I lived.

00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:05.839
Um so he's not saying I'm one like he wouldn't include himself in the category of the Jews in terms of religion.

00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:09.359
Obviously, he's a Christian, but in terms of his nationality, yeah.

00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:13.279
He was a Roman citizen, he was a Roman and he was a Jew in terms of where he lived.

00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:16.960
Yeah, and that was actually back in Jerusalem, where he goes, Hey, I'm a Jew.

00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:17.359
Yeah.

00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:21.359
Uh and he's like, he was like, I will use whatever defense I can, uh-huh.

00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:25.440
Uh, but I'm gonna go, and then he starts sharing the gospel.

00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:39.119
And then we the thing that was wild to me in that story, it's when Paul turns it from, hey, this the salvation is offered to the Jews to salvation is now offered to the Gentiles that everyone wanted to kill him.

00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:40.960
Like, that's the part I don't understand.

00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:47.759
Like, I don't, and maybe it's like yeah, it's wild to me that that would be the thing that broke everything.

00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:53.680
Not that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, he's the Messiah, the one you've been waiting for, but that now Gentiles everywhere are worshiping him like that.

00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:55.279
They all picked up rocks to stone him.

00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:55.920
Yeah.

00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:57.839
And that might be it, that's an aside.

00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:02.799
Okay, uh, let's go on to uh last question before we jet out of here.

00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:05.680
Uh it says, I'm reading 2 Samuel now.

00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:12.160
In 1 Samuel 15, God rejects Saul as king because Saul did not kill all of the Amalekites and all of their livestock.

00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:14.880
Saul was to leave none alive.

00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:16.559
Saul didn't do as the Lord commanded.

00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:19.519
Why didn't God remove Saul from the throne at that time?

00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:25.440
God allowed Saul to remain king and even allowed Saul to try to kill God's newly anointed David.

00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:27.039
Was it to teach David something?

00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:30.799
Was it to let Israel suffer because they rejected God as their king?

00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:35.039
David had two opportunities to take Saul's life, but David wouldn't do it.

00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:38.000
He wouldn't raise against the Lord, raise his hand against the Lord's anointing.

00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:38.480
Yeah.

00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:42.799
Was this God's way of letting God grow up and teaching David humility?

00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:45.119
Great question.

00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:47.039
Way to go reading the Bible, first of all.

00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:47.440
Yeah.

00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:47.920
Love that.

00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:50.000
You are reading the Bible intensely.

00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:50.400
Yeah.

00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:51.440
I really appreciate that.

00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.319
And yeah, the two questions of what uh what was it?

00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:59.279
Is this uh why did he let why did why didn't God remove Saul right away?

00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:02.400
No, but the last at the end, was it to teach David something?

00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:02.720
Yeah.

00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:05.920
Was it to let Israel suffer because they had rejected God as their king?

00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:07.200
I think it's yes to both of those.

00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:11.839
I think God is always doing a lot of things with one thing, you know?

00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:15.680
And so, yeah, they reject, they're like, no, we want a king like the other nations.

00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:19.119
And so I think part of it is God going, all right, here's the problem with kings.

00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:28.960
Um and then the other part is, okay, well, we know that um the furnace of affliction is where men are made.

00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:36.880
And so uh, if David's gonna be the king that God wanted him to be, he's got to go through the affliction for him to be ready.

00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.440
And so it's like a double, double whammy.

00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:46.400
He gets to kind of let Israel see the foolishness that they had kind of given into in wanting Saul in the first place, right?

00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:51.440
And and then also use that to prepare David for his reign as king.

00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:51.680
Yeah.

00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:52.480
So I think it's both.

00:22:52.640 --> 00:23:00.559
I mean, and you really see, I mean, he's always called a man after God's own heart, uh, all throughout um his time of running away from Saul.

00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:01.039
Yeah.

00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:24.319
Even when he goes to the Philistines and tries to hang out in Gath, uh, and even when he murders Uriah because he wanted his wife, got his repentance, his heart toward God, even though he does dumb things a lot, uh, he is a man that God loved and he wanted the best ultimately for Israel, even though he made poor decisions.

00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:30.880
Um, which is comforting in many ways, because you're like, oh, I guess I'm not that lost of a hope.

00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:31.359
Yeah.

00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:34.880
Um, yeah, I that that makes sense to me.

00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:46.000
I think I think definitely God was doing both of those things, and you see what you know, what it required of David, like the example when he um could have taken his life but didn't.

00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:46.559
Yeah.

00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:54.480
You know, those are testing moments, testing a man's heart um to see if he's the the kind of man you want to be a king, you know.

00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:54.720
Right.

00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:59.279
And God already knows, obviously, but even though God knows, he tests us, right?

00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:09.759
So those are tests for David that only came about because of the kind of the the poor kind of king that Saul was, you know?

00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:10.240
Yes.

00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:12.640
Okay, here's another question that just came in.

00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:17.759
We in our we as you know, we also do another path podcast called A Chapter Day.

00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:18.240
That's right.

00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:19.440
Uh keeps the devil away.

00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:20.000
It does.

00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:27.440
And I got this uh this one question says, okay, judge or sorry, Matthew 7.

00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:36.079
This passage is saying that I'm technically allowed to judge as long as I've as I've confessed, addressed, repented for my own sin.

00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:40.400
Then I can judge others, deciding whether I should feel convicted or not.

00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:41.119
Yeah.

00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:41.680
Yes.

00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:44.559
You should judge others uh with right judgment.

00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:47.200
And how what's the best way to do that, you think?

00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:49.759
I think that's the part where well, yeah, that's what the passage says.

00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:54.720
Take the log out of your own eye, yep, so that you can see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

00:24:54.960 --> 00:25:04.400
So yeah, kind of make sure you're in a place of um uh you're not looking, you're not coming with uh haughty eyes.

00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:12.319
We read in Proverbs this morning in the men's group about having haughty eyes, um, a proud or arrogant spirit, that you're not coming into it like that way.

00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:23.279
The um judgment, we often think of judgment very negatively as in like, oh, you're you're just saying something mean about someone or you're picking on them or you're looking down on them.

00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:29.599
But judgment, just what the word means is like you're discerning something, you're making a moral evaluation.

00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:36.799
So that's obviously an important part of the Christian life in community, is that you make moral evaluations about your own self and about the community that you're a part of.

00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:37.119
Yeah.

00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:41.279
And to do that with haughty eyes and arrogance is very unhealthy.

00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:44.960
But to do it with humility and grace and love is a good thing.

00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:45.359
Yeah.

00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:53.200
Remember, and the the reason why people I think take this verse, I don't want to say out of context, but say, judge not that you be not judged.

00:25:53.359 --> 00:26:02.000
In other words, and then he explains it, for with a judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:02.480
Yeah.

00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:13.440
So if you're going around uh judging people for their conduct, are you doing the same thing, perhaps in a different way, and you're blind to it.

00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:22.319
So if you usually, and this is why I always say to people, like if you notice arrogance in someone, you're probably not liking the very thing that's in you that you see in them.

00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:26.160
And so you're like, man, that guy's so arrogant.

00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:30.240
And then you don't realize your arrogance may not be external, right?

00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:37.440
You're you're sharing it with everyone how how great you are, but it's internal, where you're just kind of walking around going, like, suckers, I'm way better than you.

00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:44.559
And I think that's where Jesus says, like, the one who can judge the heart is ultimately going to be the one that that sees that.

00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:50.880
And then what's cool is like, hey, take the log out of your own eye, see your own darkness, and start there.

00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:52.720
Like, hey, I've got this issue too.

00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:57.519
I just wanted you to know that I love you enough to help you take the log out of your own eye or the speck out of your eye.

00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:05.440
But then, verse six, do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:20.319
In other words, sometimes you might have the right truth and it's the wrong time because that person isn't ready for it, and they turn on you and attack you, and that could be um a negative consequence of you genuinely trying to help somebody with wisdom.

00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:21.200
Yeah.

00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:21.839
Yeah.

00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:27.200
Uh 1 Corinthians 5, you know, the guy who's sleeping with his mother-in-law.

00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:29.039
Yeah, or dad's wife, yeah.

00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:30.000
Yeah.

00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:33.920
So, like, so his original mom is no longer the picture.

00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:35.920
His dad remarried and he's sleeping with her.

00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:37.759
Yes.

00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:38.480
Okay.

00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:40.559
I always thought it was mother-in-law.

00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:44.000
No, so yeah, father's wife is what is is Yeah, father's wife.

00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:46.720
But but it, you know, it could be his is now his mother-in-law.

00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:47.599
Yeah.

00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:48.160
Okay.

00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:55.279
Well, on that passage, when Paul's saying, um, hey, you need to kick him out of the church if you won't repent.

00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:55.759
Right.

00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:59.279
You know, um, because a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:03.759
And um don't even associate with, don't even eat with such a one, he says.

00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:08.799
And then he's he clarifies, he says, I don't mean to not associate with the sexually immoral in the world.

00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:10.319
You'd have to go out of the world.

00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:18.480
So, like, of course, you should be, you know, doing evangelism and building friendships and relationships with people who are sexually immoral that are not Christians.

00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:27.599
But if someone claims to be a Christian and lives that way, then you need to um uh kick them out of the church, you know, if they're not gonna repent.

00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:32.559
And what he says at the end of that is for what have I to do with judging outsiders, right?

00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:35.440
This I'm not talking about people outside the church, I'm talking about inside of the church.

00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:40.000