Law of Moses — 1 Kings 3

Posted on October 10, 2020 by ehurst

So Solomon takes the throne of Israel and marries the daughter of Pharaoh. He had early set men to work on his capital, building a palace, a city wall, and of course, the Temple. In the meantime, the royal quarters was still in the ancient citadel. So was the Ark of the Covenant. Without an appointed sacred place to worship, it was hard to demand that the people worship only at the altar of Jehovah.

There was a temporary altar in the citadel, but this Tent of Meeting was not properly laid out with all the officially sanctioned furnishings, and was not publicly accessible. It was very risky to come anywhere near the Ark in the first place. So it’s no surprise that the people sought out alternative sites to meet with their God. And because the rituals for Baal worship were so very similar, we should not be surprised things were a little mixed up. The narrative is not particularly condemnatory about this state of affairs.

Solomon, in his zeal for the Lord, chose the site at the top of Gibeon’s mountain, an ancient place of worship. Since pagan idolatry was flatly forbidden, any previous temples and shrines were gone. But such a commanding view evoked a spiritual awareness, and it was far better suited to the mass of burnt offerings Solomon wanted to execute in celebrating his coronation. The Lord wasn’t insulted by this choice. Instead, He met with Solomon in a dream to ask what kind of blessing the new king would seek.

Solomon’s answer was wisdom in itself. Let’s remind ourselves of the meaning of shalom. It is typically outlined as reasonable prosperity, safety from enemies, safety from plagues and natural disasters, and social stability. However, that last item is the key. Social stability arising from faithful adherence to the Law is the primary symptom of peace with God. Pursuing that is the best way to get the other blessings. So it was that Solomon essentially asked for that first, in that he begged for the wisdom to make it happen with such a great nation. By asking for the welfare of the Covenant, Solomon gained all the other goodies that humans typically sought.

God promised that Solomon’s moral wisdom would exceed that of any previous or succeeding king on this earth. Most Westerners misread the meaning of wisdom, as if it were something very nearly the same as intelligence and factual knowledge. But Solomon had requested to discern the difference between good and evil. This is the only proper understanding of what God gave him here. However, it would naturally offer a wealth of practical understanding of things.

Upon awaking, Solomon realized it was a dream. Obviously he put a lot of stock in that, because he came back to the citadel and offered more offerings on the makeshift altar in the courtyard before the Tent of Meeting. There was no doubt in his mind Who had spoken to him.

The text goes on to give an example of what Solomon’s wisdom could do. In the case of two harlots in a dispute over whose son had survived a bad night, Solomon knew what such women were like. He proposed a grisly solution: slicing the living son in half, dividing him between the two. The real mother was just barely mother enough to prefer the infant live at the cost of losing him. The other woman had nothing to lose, and so was clearly not his mother.

The case was celebrated as word got around the whole kingdom. Nobody doubted the wisdom of Solomon nor his fitness to be King.

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A Glimpse of Mortal Frailty

Posted on October 5, 2020 by ehurst

Let me clarify something: A prophetic gift doesn’t exclude you from getting stuff wrong.

It does make you very careful. This is not a cry for help. I’m explaining what it’s like for me. Different prophets in the Old Testament experienced their gifts and calling in different ways. Samuel started an academy to teach prophets how to use their gift. It’s not automatic for everyone, and it’s not for me.

I’m still learning how to make my brain interpret things coming from my heart. I’ve noted in the past that I have plenty to learn and unlearn. Sometimes I get a strong impression about something and it turns out that, while I did get the message, my mind bungled the meaning. Often enough, I have doubts about something and don’t publish it until I’m more sure what to make of it. There are some things I’m still not sure about, now even more than a year later, so it would do no good to tell you.

It’s not that I am so hot to protect my reputation. I’ll tell you straight up that I’m not right in the head. There’s something about my sense of calling and mission that makes me doubt my sanity quite often. I’ve warned my readers often enough that you all bear some risk in taking my word for anything.

I suppose things have turned out well enough so far, because my reading audience is still quite large. Still, I’ll never stop offering the caveat that what I write is merely me talking to myself, and you get to read over my shoulder. If some of what I write seems to answer questions or help you draw nearer to the Lord, by all means, use what you can. Feel free to reject anything you can’t use. Don’t worry about my feelings. I still carry a lot of self-doubt in the flesh, so that I don’t take myself too seriously.

So I’ll tell you this week I’m struggling with an impression that makes no sense to me at all. It persists through prayer and periods when I put in on the back burner. I’ll tell you this much: I sense a great upheaval coming very soon. I give it the rest of this week. I sincerely hope I’m wrong, that this is just a delusion of the flesh getting in the way of a genuine spiritual gift. I’d rather be wrong about this, because if it’s real, then we are in for a very rough time in ways I had never anticipated. Not something worse, just an unexpected turn in the path.

This has a lot to do with my warnings that we should expect plenty of surprises. I’m sure that if God were to tell us everything, we’d get in the way trying to change the outcomes. Some things we are far better off not knowing. The most important thing is that you not take yourself and your expectations too seriously, either. That way you won’t have to struggle with feeling betrayed. False expectations are always the fault of the flesh, and we have all suffered a significant level of deception and manipulation on a lot of things.

More than one OT prophet tried to keep his mouth shut. It’s not just the audience’s resistance to the message, but the torment you go through trying to make sense of things so you’ll know what to say. And these guys were far better equipped than I am. So maybe it makes a little sense why they were so often cryptic.

I think one important task I have is to make them seem more human.

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Law of Moses — 2 Kings 2:1-35

Posted on October 3, 2020 by ehurst

David knew his time was gone. He held one last audience with his heir, Solomon. The first word of advice was that Solomon should be a better man. David was subtly confessing that he had allowed too many things to slip, failing to take vigorous action to preserve shalom in his kingdom. We will see no lack of men in authority too eager to shed blood for some pretense of justice, but good men will always hesitate. David had hesitated too long and too often.

And the best way to be strong was to faithfully execute the the Covenant of Moses. The resulting blessings would ensure that God’s promise to David would stand, and that his dynasty would remain on the throne. That promise rested on the faithfulness of his successors, so David did all he could to fire Solomon’s own passion for obedience to the Word.

The first bequest was an order to execute David’s cousin Joab. David’s war minister had murdered two men who sought to serve in David’s court. It is rightly described as fighting an unjustified war against allies. There was blood guilt that must be paid to assure peace with God.

David asked Solomon to show special favor to the clan of Barzillai of Gilead, for being a faithful supporter during Absalom’s revolt, when no one else seemed to care. He also declared a warrant against Shimei, but left it to Solomon’s own wisdom how to handle it. Then David died and Solomon was confirmed as king. Further, Solomon took steps to ensure his position was never in doubt.

But Adonijah wasn’t ready to give up on his ambition to usurp the throne. It seems he thought it would be easier to engage in court intrigue by currying the Queen Mother’s favor. While the text says nothing about Bathsheba’s attitude, it certainly seems she already knew how this would turn out. However, she played along because she wanted her son to know what was happening behind the scenes.

So when she came to see him, Solomon set a new precedent. This custom was kept for a long time after: The Queen Mother was placed on a second throne in the royal court. This formally recognized her authority as ruler over the palace and all its internal affairs. Solomon was signaling that she had unquestioned authority in the royal household and domestic matters.

Recall that Abishag was the nurse brought in to serve David until his death. While she remained a virgin, she was properly part of David’s harem. Solomon inherited that harem. His mother was now the manager over that, as well, but she was pretending to play along with Adonijah’s folly in asking Solomon for Abishag’s hand on his behalf.

Solomon’s response is rightfully sarcastic. “Why don’t you save time and request my throne on his behalf?” This was precisely what Adonijah was aiming at, and marrying any woman regarded as a royal concubine to the preceding king was symbolic of claiming the throne. To Solomon it showed that Adonijah was preparing yet more intrigue and politicking, trying to finagle his way onto the throne. And while she was at it, maybe she could request mercy for Joab and Abiathar? Her authority didn’t reach that far.

So Solomon responded with an oath, that he should suffer severely at God’s hand if he didn’t execute divine justice on these men. First, he sent Benaiah, chief of the Royal Bodyguard with a decree to execute Adonijah immediately. For Abiathar, out of respect for his service to God, he was allowed to live, but forcibly retired from the priesthood. The text notes this was the final fulfillment of the curse on Eli, who was High Priest when Samuel entered the Lord’s service, and had embarrassed the Lord by failing to rein in his two sons’ corrupt behavior. A prophet warned Eli that his heirs would die early and be replaced by another priestly dynasty. Deposing Abiathar removed him from the curse.

Side note: There is some dispute about whether Abiathar was High Priest. Since there was no Temple, only a tabernacle pitched over the Ark in the courtyard of David’s citadel, it’s doubtful anyone actually claimed that office during the interim between the Tabernacle in Shiloh and Solomon’s Temple. He’s not mentioned as such in the text. However, Abiathar would have been the High Priest if there was one. Upon his forced retirement, with no male heirs, the role passed to Zadok, whose family never failed to produce a valid heir to the High Priesthood until the Temple was destroyed by Rome.

The case of Joab was not so simple. As soon as Joab heard what happened to his other co-conspirators, he ran to the tabernacle at the citadel and held onto the horns on the altar. After some back and forth, Solomon declared that he could die there at the altar, since his blood was demanded by God Himself.

Benaiah was promoted to commander of the army and Zadok was promoted to the senior priesthood position.

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It’s Called Acedia

Posted on October 3, 2020 by ehurst

The most important thing I can do is set you free to hear and obey the Lord.

I was really surprised that a technology security guy addressed a topic so close to my heart. In historical church theology is the word “acedia.” It describes a kind of overwhelming sense of futility that once afflicted monks who spent too much time in isolation from the real world. Everything they once valued came into question, and they had insufficient guidance in facing that. The linked article goes on to discuss a thought experiment: What would be important to you if you were quite certain the world would not continue long after your death? How would such knowledge change your values and objectives in life?

It’s no different from the basic question students of Dispensationalism would ask themselves: What should you do, knowing the Lord could come back any day now? I can tell you I never liked the answers most of them came up with, because it still carried way too much baggage they never bothered to consider. It was always discussed in terms of effects, not process, the standard bias of Western minds.

The heart-led path of process over product answers that sense of futility better than anything else. It’s like the parable of the Lord of the household returning in the middle of the night: Let us be found faithfully doing what the Lord called us to do. It rests on the assurance that, while that mission is altogether likely to change as time goes by, we can always know what it is He requires of us. And it’s always in terms of obedience in the choice of path, not the destination. The destination will always be unseen.

The world around us is in massive flux. It’s not just the end of the USA, but this political collapse is just a small part of the death of Western Civilization. It’s being replaced by something only partly visible for now, as betokened by my term “the Networked Civilization.” We can see that part rising; we cannot see the actual soul of what the networked infrastructure is gestating. But we can turn back and see the soul of the West, and there is oddly one good thing that the succeeding civilization seems intent on destroying: human independent thinking.

Now, I realize that independent thinking in the population has always been a threat to the elite ruling class since we got kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Every civilization has also contained at least one thread of seeking to empower the individual in some way. I sense that the Networked Civilization is founded on faking that, at best. On the one hand, we’ve never had better access to information; on the other hand, it’s never been harder to make use of it. The kind of research and technology that squelches or misdirects genuine human curiosity has never been stronger. The Networked Civilization will have perfected this one thing tyrants have always sought.

Granted, a truly heart-led orientation can overcome this evil, but it makes a huge difference if the mind has been prepared well beforehand. For all my promotion of the heart-led way, I still would like to see genuine independent thinking in as many people as possible. In Western folks, I could expect at least some mythology of individualism to make room for understanding how God calls each of us uniquely into His Kingdom. With the rising of the Networked generations, that’s missing entirely. It has been replaced by something not just mythical, but totally empty of meaning. Thus, we should expect more and more that it will require the birth of a heart-led orientation first, and then independent thinking has to be learned entirely from scratch.

In other words, that path back to Eden is now far, far longer than it was before. In Christ, the one most significant change was that an awakened spiritual awareness comes as a gift in preparation for learning to understand His revelation, whereas before His advent, one pretty much had to learn revelation before the spiritual awakening. It still rested on whether or not you sensed a divine calling either way, but giving the Holy Spirit up front instead of later does open the door far wider. It’s a much more inviting prospect than it was in the Old Testament.

The task of setting people free is getting larger and more difficulty by the day.

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Dig Up the Clues

Posted on September 30, 2020 by ehurst

The purpose of a church is to create the atmosphere in which faith grows. Notice I say “the” atmosphere. It’s the same thing as saying we pursue shalom. Peace with God has distinct boundaries, referred to as a covenant. The purpose of a church is to build up those boundaries around a community covenant identity that separates them from the world around them.

That community must become a moral and spiritual extended family household. It must be feudal in the ANE sense, where the treasure is the people. The whole point is to obey the Lord together. There is nothing to accomplish as humans measure such things. There is no requirement for professional training in the leadership, but moral conditioning so that the Spirit rules. There is no particular need for special purpose facilities or even real estate.

There is no particular expectation of growing beyond a certain size. Once it gets too many for a single head of household to manage, it’s time to divide and make it two bodies. It’s not that those bodies cannot cooperate and come under the broader leadership of someone higher up the chain in capability, but the task for that sort of leadership is quite different from being the head of household.

We aren’t digging into the details of all that, just outlining what a genuine biblical church looks like. It’s not a corporation; there’s no contract and no membership. It’s a family, a feudal household. All they have to do is strive after peace with God. It’s not about programs; those things will arise naturally from the necessities of the context. It’s not about “outreach” as is commonly defined in Western churches. Evangelism is living the Word so that folks outside the covenant community can see the power of the Word. There’s no sales pitch. Your shalom is the whole testimony. Talking about it comes as a mere side effect of getting people’s attention.

We are not in a First Century Mediterranean society where preaching in the marketplace is the only way to publish the message. Most people these days can read; the average Joe in the Mediterranean Basin was illiterate in the First Century. Their primary source of information was hearing things in a language they understood. First Century churches were places where reading aloud the Scriptures was the only way some folks would ever know what it said. The context has changed, but the underlying mission has not.

Nowadays teaching is far more important than preaching. There’s nothing holy about preaching; it was a contextual adaptation. It was the only way to introduce the call to faith to people who had never heard, or had heard too little. The primary mission of a church is to teach. There is a place for sharing prophetic concerns, but preaching is no longer the primary means of learning faith. We need more explanation so that people can move the thousands of miles and years to be nearer to divine revelation.

The First Century churches were modeled on synagogues for a good reason: The synagogue was an education center first and foremost. That model arose long before the Hellenized Talmudism of Jesus’ day. There was worship, as well, but organized worship was nothing like what we commonly see today. Most of the synagogue service was taken up in explaining the Scriptures, often from several different teachers. The common Protestant notion of hogging the schedule with elaborate music and oratory had no place in the New Testament.

It’s long past time to reexamine what actually happened in the New Testament and to figure out why it was like that. We need better clues than mere tradition. We should build a set of practices that fit our context from those clues.

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One-Thinger

Posted on September 27, 2020 by ehurst

Ref: Philippians 3:12-14

The time has come. I’m going all in on this. You will get the watch. Whether I go bust or it actually happens, I will report here as honestly as I know how.

Over the past few weeks I’ve renewed my sincere prayer about finding a community of faith in my real world associations. The vision has been glowing in my dreams of standing before a group and teaching the Word in the flesh. It’s the only reason I live; I’m quite willing to die for that.

In response to that request, the Lord has told me I must go all in. I have to dismiss all the other interests I’ve ever pursued. This driving purpose must order all things in my life. Everything I do must flow from that purpose, and contribute back to it.

When I ride my bike, it’s always with a primary interest in preparing for serving the flock. Whatever computer technology I mess with, it has to serve that one mission. All the things I can claim about myself mean nothing outside of the call to lead the sheep. I’m required to be watchful that I set aside all the other interests and activities that have pulled at me since birth.

It’s not that there is nothing else to talk about, but that those things matter only insofar as they support that one, all-consuming mission calling. And I have to ensure that I always operate under the assumption that God will make it happen.

At the same time, I have to dismiss all the academic ministerial training I’ve received over the years of my life. Those methods and means have brought forth a religious system that does not answer the call to follow Christ. Everything has to be reevaluated in light of what I’ve learned from God outside of that system. I’m not going to build a congregation using those models of influence. It has to be a total divine miracle.

I’m going all in on this. Let’s see how it works out.

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Law of Moses — 1 Kings 1

Posted on September 26, 2020 by ehurst

This is a long read, but there are important elements of feudalism in how this all happened. And Eastern feudalism is a prerequisite for the Covenant.

David had 20 sons; 11 were considered in line for the throne. Amnon was the eldest, killed by his half-brother Absalom for raping Tamar, and then rejecting her. Kileab was second, and is hardly mentioned, indicting he probably died young. Third was Absalom, who died in battle against his own father. Fourth, and surviving eldest son, was Adonijah.

David was suffering from hypothermia, a common ailment in elderly people — he could no longer generate enough heat on his own. The customs of the day called for a young woman who was technically part of the harem, but would remain eligible for marriage later, since her only service to the King was sharing her body heat.

Adonijah declared himself regent, meaning he ruled on behalf of his father. His father wasn’t dead, but was inactive, and David had never formally announced the nomination of Solomon as his successor. So Adonijah played it up with aping Absalom’s habit of having a boisterous company of soldiers running down the road to clear the way for his chariots. He enlisted key figures in the royal court to support his pretense of being regent.

However, other more significant figures didn’t join this party. Adonijah decided to host a feast to celebrate the announcement of taking up the regency. He chose a collection of buildings standing on or near the En-rogel Spring as the site for this feast. It stands down just below where the Kidron and Hinnom Valleys run together south of David’s capital. The image you see here was taken in 1857 before the area became so built up. It shows a view up the Kidron Valley from En-rogel (buildings in the lower right foreground) and the scale of the ridgeline on which the City of David stood (left), against the Mount of Olives on the other side. If you can pick out the road wandering down from the Temple Mount on the right shoulder, just about where it disappears at its bottom is roughly where the Gihon Spring was.

Adonijah excluded the court prophet, Nathan, along with Benaiah, David’s chief of security, and Solomon, his youngest royal brother. From what we can tell, Solomon was not yet regarded as an adult (roughly 30 years old), so that would have been his excuse. This is probably why David had delayed the official vestment. However, the whole picture is one of Adonijah knowing his position wasn’t all that secure.

Nathan as Court Prophet was more aware of the political maneuvering than anyone else. His exclusion from the party didn’t keep him from overhearing all the planning and plotting. On top of that, he had the prophetic gift of insight into the meanings of these things. He warned Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, of the threat this activity meant to her. Adonijah was no better than Abasalom when it came to plotting to murder his rivals, along with anyone else who got in his way, once David actually died.

Nathan also knew how to get David’s attention. He advised Bathsheba to have an audience with the King about this matter. Nathan would then come in the door behind her and also discuss it with David in his own official capacity. David got the point; freezing or not, he had to rise far enough physically to conduct some official business. So he called Bathsheba back in and confirmed his promise to her about Solomon. He was going to publicly vest Solomon as regent that very day.

David ordered the proper rituals so that this was done right. It included his own marked mule and all the pomp. The ritual would take place at the Gihon Spring, the actual water source of the city. At a minimum, this is where public proclamations took place, but it was also just below the terrace where the Ark of Covenant stood. Thus, once the solemn ritual took place, Solomon would ride into the eastern gate of the citadel with music and shouting. Every element was symbolic of royalty coming to claim his throne. Then the ritual would end with Solomon literally taking possession on David’s throne.

Try to imagine the scene with Adonijah’s party, hearing the shofar wailing down the valley at him. Then he looks up to see this coronation with all the most ancient rituals, and the population of the city celebrating with priests in attendance, along with the King’s own official bodyguard (Cherethites and Pelethites) in their unique uniforms.

Add to that the announcement from the son of the Priest, and the festivities at En-rogel simply died. Everyone quietly parted from there in different directions. By this time there was a small stone altar in front of the Ark of Covenant, and Adonijah made his way there to grasp two of the horns poking up at the corners. This was to symbolize his capitulation; no one was going to execute him at the altar for his act of rebellion at the risk of God’s wrath. He announced his petition to spare his life.

When Solomon learned of this, he agreed on certain terms. If Adonijah would walk by the Covenant and humbly embrace his lot at the decision of his own father, then he was safe. If he continued to show arrogance, he would not live long. So on those terms, Adonijah was escorted from the altar to Solomon’s throne, where he fell on his face according to proper protocol. Solomon dismissed him in peace; “Go home.”

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What God Puts in Your Hands

Posted on September 25, 2020 by ehurst

This is strictly prophecy, not technical advice.

I have a very strong sense that Big Tech will survive the implosion of the USA. Google will continue to expand their vertical integration of Internet services, and thus their control. Amazon will continue invading every corner of consumer commerce. While Windows will continue to be something of a boondoggle, Microsoft online services will remain quite reliable. Apple will take some major hits, but the elite won’t let it die.

There’s nothing you can do about surveillance and tracking in the long run. If your mission and calling requires anonymity online, then you’ll need to learn how to run Linux or BSD, and learn how to navigate the Net with a measure of anonymity. It’s no small task to do that, but it remains possible for now. The same goes with non-contract cellphone service (“burner phones”). We are approaching the point were hiding in the catacombs, as it were, will not be possible without major changes in lifestyle and probably geographical location.

Our mission is to manifest shalom to the world around us. You are the only one who can know where your mission field is. If that field includes online communications, our biggest problem is not tracking and surveillance, but keeping our message clear. Even censorship is quite limited in its reach, especially online. People who want to get their message out will always have an outlet, and those drawn to that message will always know how to find it. This is the promise of our Lord.

There is one particular flaw that we should avoid in our conversations with those around us: Never accept the premise that human rights or constitutional rights mean anything. A great many comments I encounter online assume that there is some virtue in citing how this or that is illegal in one sense or another. That has nothing to do with whether it is moral, but more to the point, it has nothing to do with how governments act. It’s just propaganda noise. It rarely makes any real difference in what is coming at us.

Get used to analyzing things from your heart. Keep hold of what’s eternally true, and you’ll be less likely to get entangled in something that God will not put in your hands.

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Right on the Threshold

Posted on September 20, 2020 by ehurst

For the last 25 years or so, I’ve been preparing. The only reason it took that long is because I had such a very long way to go. I’ve passed through an awful lot of ideological campsites along the way. I always knew I was in training for something, though I never understood for what it was I trained.

Okay, I always had one useful inkling. I can look back and see a thread of truth that fattened as things progressed. Still, in terms of what I was expecting to actually do in real time, things have changed dramatically over the years. And to be honest, I’m not entirely sure what remains yet in front of me on that level. However, my heart tells me over the last few days that it’s done. I have no idea what I’ve accomplished in that sense, but my spirit rejoices that I’ve graduated from the academy.

I’ve been willing to do a lot of things that provided a path of joy. For example, my time in uniform serving in the Netherlands was a wonderful period of spiritual activity. It wasn’t the location so much as the atmosphere. Frankly, my Military Police mission did tend to interfere a good bit with the real mission I had there ministering in the AFCENT Chapel. I suppose I left a mark in the lives of the people who shared that time with me, but I can assure you it changed me.

But the goal has always been shepherding the flock. I came home to Oklahoma fired up and drove all over the state, and surrounding areas over the borders of neighboring states, trying to make some kind of physical contact with churches. Nothing came of it, and that was a bitter lesson. While the bitter memory remains, I got over it a long time ago, because it was necessary to move me to yet another place on the long trail.

And then I spent a long time chasing the dream of an online church, but that simply isn’t possible. A community of shared faith, yes, but not a church. If anything, we are a religious ideology movement, if I can say it that way. There is a certain amount of organized thinking necessary to move closer to an ideal, but not in the sense of starting a new organization of people. The ideology is not the thing; it’s only a path. So I call it a covenant and give it an odd name (Radix Fidem) so that it gives folks a place to hang things they must do in order to respond to the less concrete and much deeper calling of faith.

For the longest time, I’ve been telling folks that I am an arrow in the quiver, because the battle has not begun. In a sense, I still have no idea what I’m being saved for, but I’m being held in reserve for something that has not yet come.

Well, that thing is about to come. I have some vague notions about what it looks like, but I know that the Lord is shaking his Body. He’s doing a work that will make them doubt everything that they thought they knew, dissolving their comfort zone. I have no idea what kind of numbers will be shaken loose, and I seriously doubt we are the only refuge that will be available, but I am utterly certain our numbers will grow. It’s not about the numbers, but for whatever reason, the Lord has driven me hard to prepare a conceptual place for some number of folks to escape the current churchian prisons.

I’ve tried to avoid forming a concrete identity, frankly in part to disable the numbers mentality. I am utterly convinced the boundaries need to be fuzzy, and we must guard against making them precise. The whole point of this movement is to change how folks approach the question of forming a church, not give them any particular answers. So it’s a fundamental element in our teaching that we avoid setting useful boundaries.

Please, please, please — forget my name and let’s call this a movement of faith.

Meanwhile, one of my major prayer requests currently is that somewhere in the foggy near future I can become associated with a congregation of some kind. The times in my life when I truly felt alive were those moments when I stood before a group and delivered the Word. I’d sacrifice a lot for that, though by no means would I compromise on the message I’ve shared here already. So it would have to be a congregation that knows in advance what they are getting into when they invite me to teach.

I’m confident that will happen; that’s what a prayer of faith means. You have the faith to pray for something because you know it’s consistent with what your convictions demand of you. And my convictions tell me we are very close to that moment in time and space.

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Law of Moses — 2 Samuel 24

Posted on September 19, 2020 by ehurst

We need a couple of background reminders before this narrative makes any sense. Exodus 30:11-16 is where God gives instructions about taking a census. This was during the march from Egypt to the Promised Land, when technically God Himself was the King of Israel, and Moses was merely His viceroy, in terms of governing authority. When God orders a census, there will be a census, because it is His nation. The census always came with a Temple tax that could be hard for some to bear. Modern notions of fairness and equality do not reflect God’s mind about divine justice.

It was David’s nature to be humble about God anointing him king. He was always a shepherd at heart. He genuinely loved the nation of Israel and suffered the pangs of sorrow any literal father would over the people. This was why he was such a fierce warrior on their behalf, and kept saying what a mighty and wonderful nation they were.

God used Satan to provoke David to call a census without God’s actual command. David slipped into a kind of pride that was quite uncharacteristic of him. It caused him to move away from his typical passionate concern for their welfare. He wanted a body count of able men who could be conscripted. The text does not say specifically, but apparently this time David did not collect the Temple tax. There’s no other explanation possible for why it kindled God’s wrath. For all his moral weaknesses, Joab for once understood what a mistake this was. It wasn’t like David to demand something that could only reflect pride, and it was certainly contrary to Covenant Law.

You can find any number of commentaries that speculate about other moral flaws that counted against David in this command, but most of them are unwarranted. They tend toward attempting to justify it all from a Western standard of justice. But from a genuine Hebrew point of view, it’s enough to note the obvious facts from Scripture here: David was the king and his sins could bring God’s wrath on the people, much to his chagrin.

The journey described gives us a hint to the method: The command staff would set up camp in several convenient central locations based on the terrain and hold musters of the able-bodied adult men in that area. The census is recorded in the text in round numbers, typical of Hebrew writing for something like this.

Then the blinders were off and David realized what a massive mistake he had made. He had exposed the people to God’s wrath by not taking the Temple tax. Keep in mind, there was no reason at all for a Temple tax, as there was neither Temple nor Tabernacle at this time. The Ark of Covenant was sitting in a Tent of Meeting in his palace courtyard. David’s cry of repentance is not as self-oriented as it sounds to us in English. With his normal moral sensitivity restored to him, David felt the full load of a shepherd’s guilt who had set his own flock on fire. He wanted to take the blame on himself alone.

Upon Gad’s message, David could net decide between a long famine or a quick and deadly plague, but didn’t want to run the risk of another flight in the wilderness from human enemies, not at his now advanced age. So the Lord chose the plague and it cost a significant element of that mighty army he mustered over the previous month or so.

In very dramatic imagery we are told that the death angel approached David’s capital and stopped just outside the city on a threshing floor that was once the place where Abraham prepared to offer Isaac. The Lord didn’t recall the angel, but had him stop in place. David was permitted to see this angel, and his heartfelt cry on behalf of the people is altogether typical of him.

Gad told David his duty now was to erect an altar of sacrifice on that same spot Abraham had used. At this time, it was the threshing floor of a loyal Jebusite noble still living in the area, here called Araunah. It happened he was there on his threshing floor that day. As he spotted the king’s entourage approaching, he paid his lawful respects. Notice the very thoughtful answer the man gave to his king upon hearing the reason for this visit. The text notifies us that Araunah was not a convert, but a resident alien who ruled over some of his own Jebusite people.

It would hardly be any kind of sacrifice for David to accept the generous offer, even though it would have been part of Araunah’s feudal obligations. The ritual would have to come at some personal cost to David to have any meaning. David’s offering had to be under Moses’ Law, not the Noahic Law binding on the Jebusties. So far as anyone can say, David paid a premium price for parcel of land with the oxen and materials. This offering was accepted and the Lord recalled the death angel.

If nothing else, this serves as the moral model of biblical manhood. Men will always fail, and those who really do take on a heavy load of care will be even more tempted than others. But the sense of personal loss felt over the souls of others is what distinguishes a shepherd from ordinary guys.

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