WEBVTT 00:00:07.209 --> 00:00:09.810 Before I read the chapter, does somebody want 00:00:09.810 --> 00:00:14.250 to give us a synopsis, a summary of what we're 00:00:14.250 --> 00:00:31.269 reading? Of chapter 8. Samuel's getting old and 00:00:31.269 --> 00:00:36.450 his sons are not that good and people... Want 00:00:36.450 --> 00:00:39.750 to have a king? And Samuel's like, well, if you're 00:00:39.750 --> 00:00:40.909 going to get a king, then here's what you're 00:00:40.909 --> 00:00:42.909 going to do. And they said, we don't care. We 00:00:42.909 --> 00:00:47.810 want a king. Okay. All right, so let's read it. 00:00:47.869 --> 00:00:50.450 And it came to pass when Samuel was old that 00:00:50.450 --> 00:00:54.289 he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the 00:00:54.289 --> 00:00:56.850 name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name 00:00:56.850 --> 00:01:00.689 of his second, Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba. 00:01:01.229 --> 00:01:04.409 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned 00:01:04.409 --> 00:01:07.810 aside after Lucre, and took bribes and perverted 00:01:07.810 --> 00:01:11.930 judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered 00:01:11.930 --> 00:01:15.189 themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 00:01:15.269 --> 00:01:18.670 and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and 00:01:18.670 --> 00:01:22.209 thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a 00:01:22.209 --> 00:01:26.109 king to judge us like all the nations. But the 00:01:26.109 --> 00:01:29.049 thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give 00:01:29.049 --> 00:01:32.370 us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto 00:01:32.370 --> 00:01:35.939 the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:38.200 unto the voice of the people, and all that they 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:41.260 say unto thee. For they have not rejected thee, 00:01:41.459 --> 00:01:44.280 but they have rejected me, that I should not 00:01:44.280 --> 00:01:47.599 reign over them. According to all the works which 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:51.180 they have done since the day that I brought them 00:01:51.180 --> 00:01:54.659 up out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith 00:01:54.659 --> 00:01:57.180 they have forsaken me, and served other gods, 00:01:57.459 --> 00:02:02.219 so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken 00:02:02.219 --> 00:02:06.019 unto their voice, howbeit yet protest solemnly 00:02:06.019 --> 00:02:08.840 unto them, and show them the manner of the king 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:12.580 that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all 00:02:12.580 --> 00:02:15.159 the words of the Lord unto the people, and asked 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:18.800 of him a king. And he said, This will be the 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:20.979 manner of the king that shall reign over you. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.580 He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:27.039 for his chariots and to be his horsemen, and 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.030 some shall run before his chariots. And he will 00:02:30.030 --> 00:02:33.069 appoint him captains over thousands and captains 00:02:33.069 --> 00:02:36.150 over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground 00:02:36.150 --> 00:02:38.729 and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments 00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:42.610 of war and instruments of his chariots. And he 00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:44.830 will take your daughters to be confectionaries 00:02:44.830 --> 00:02:47.770 and to be cooks and to be bakers. And he will 00:02:47.770 --> 00:02:50.150 take your fields and your vineyards and your 00:02:50.150 --> 00:02:53.189 olive yards, even the best of them, and give 00:02:53.189 --> 00:02:56.180 them to his servants. And he will take the tenth 00:02:56.180 --> 00:02:58.840 of your seed and of your vineyards and give them 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:02.479 to his officers and to his servants. And he will 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:05.120 take your menservants and your maidservants and 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:08.020 your goodliest young men and your asses and put 00:03:08.020 --> 00:03:10.939 them to his work. And he will take the tenth 00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:14.300 of your sheep and ye shall be his servants. And 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:16.800 ye shall cry out in that day because of your 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:20.460 king which he shall have chosen you. And the 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:23.439 Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless, 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:26.879 the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.139 and they said, Nay, but we will have a king over 00:03:30.139 --> 00:03:33.439 us, that we also may be like all the nations, 00:03:33.659 --> 00:03:36.819 and that our king may judge us and go out before 00:03:36.819 --> 00:03:40.500 us and fight our battles. And Samuel heard all 00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:42.699 the words of the people, and he rehearsed them 00:03:42.699 --> 00:03:45.560 in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to 00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:48.800 Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.080 a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, 00:03:52.750 --> 00:03:58.949 Go ye every man unto his city. So it's just as 00:03:58.949 --> 00:04:04.090 Jake prepared us. We have what a king is. We 00:04:04.090 --> 00:04:06.270 have the people asking for a king. We have the 00:04:06.270 --> 00:04:08.969 Lord instructing Samuel to give the people a 00:04:08.969 --> 00:04:12.270 king. And at the beginning of it all, we have 00:04:12.270 --> 00:04:16.290 Samuel, who has appointed his two sons to be 00:04:16.290 --> 00:04:20.860 judges, and they are wicked judges. So before 00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:24.860 we get into whether or not or how we should understand 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:28.459 their request and what a king is, what do you 00:04:28.459 --> 00:04:31.279 guys think about Samuel appointing his sons to 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:34.199 be judges? And why is that part of the story? 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:38.060 Was that a good thing? Was it a bad thing? Was 00:04:38.060 --> 00:04:54.029 it a right thing? Or was it a wrong thing? And 00:04:54.029 --> 00:04:56.269 people said, what about a kingship where it's 00:04:56.269 --> 00:04:58.730 passed down to their sons? That's a good idea. 00:04:59.529 --> 00:05:05.589 It seems crazy. And I don't know. I mean, I guess 00:05:05.589 --> 00:05:09.269 it seems like it's a bad thing. Because Eli did 00:05:09.269 --> 00:05:12.290 the same thing, kind of. Were his sons considered 00:05:12.290 --> 00:05:14.750 judges? I thought they were. No. No, they were 00:05:14.750 --> 00:05:18.110 priests, though. Oh, they were priests. But I 00:05:18.110 --> 00:05:21.300 don't know. Yeah, if he knew his own kids, then 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:22.819 he would have known that they weren't that good 00:05:22.819 --> 00:05:31.519 of guys. That seems like poor judgment. Well, 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.720 was there any history in Israel of a judge appointing 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:41.279 his sons to be judges after him? They wanted 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:46.180 Gideon to be a king and to appoint his sons, 00:05:46.339 --> 00:05:52.259 right? And what did Gideon say? He said no. So 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:55.100 the tradition in Israel, I guess if we want to 00:05:55.100 --> 00:05:58.199 call it that, would be the people say, we like 00:05:58.199 --> 00:05:59.959 you, why don't you become a king and appoint 00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:03.560 your sons after you? And the judge says no. Why 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:11.040 Samuel did it? Why did he? We don't know, do 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:16.839 we? Did Moses appoint some judges to help him 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:19.850 out? Well, they went to the elders, and they 00:06:19.850 --> 00:06:22.149 heard the cases, and he took the hardest ones. 00:06:23.069 --> 00:06:27.670 I thought he had planted some relatives of his. 00:06:29.709 --> 00:06:33.550 Well, Jethro was his father -in -law. And he 00:06:33.550 --> 00:06:38.990 helped him judge. No, he told Moses to. You've 00:06:38.990 --> 00:06:46.060 got to have some help. Well. Why is it in the 00:06:46.060 --> 00:06:48.180 story? Anybody give any thought to that? Why 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:52.180 is Samuel appointing his sons part of this story 00:06:52.180 --> 00:07:18.139 of how kingship comes to Israel? So you think 00:07:18.139 --> 00:07:21.199 Samuel appointing his sons should have caused 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:31.100 the people to reasonably do what? So let's get 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:42.519 rid of these two judges. Okay. is the succession. 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:46.259 That's the thing that I was wondering about when 00:07:46.259 --> 00:07:48.819 I was reading this. What's really the difference 00:07:48.819 --> 00:07:51.699 between what they were asking? They wanted a 00:07:51.699 --> 00:07:56.000 king instead of these judges. They want a king 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.939 so he can fight their battles for them and so 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:03.199 he can judge them. That's what the judges were 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:05.899 doing. They were leading them into battle and 00:08:05.899 --> 00:08:08.939 they were judging them. What was special about 00:08:08.939 --> 00:08:11.360 a king? They didn't want to have to wait for 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:15.720 a judge to kind of rise up and be recognized 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:22.060 as a judge? Well, I think one thing, there's 00:08:22.060 --> 00:08:25.040 a distinction between earthly kings and the judges 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:31.100 in Israel. What is that distinction? And who 00:08:31.100 --> 00:08:34.919 really was leading them into battle? God. Okay. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:39.299 So that's really the distinction. It may look 00:08:39.299 --> 00:08:41.700 like the judge is leading them in battle, but 00:08:41.700 --> 00:08:44.120 what the judge is doing is he's following the 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:46.320 one who's going before them, which is the Lord. 00:08:47.019 --> 00:08:52.820 And so when they rejected, when they asked for 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:55.820 a king like other nations, what they were asking 00:08:55.820 --> 00:08:59.379 for was a king to be their God, essentially. 00:08:59.580 --> 00:09:02.120 They were tired of God going out before them. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:05.649 They wanted to have a physical, earthly... King 00:09:05.649 --> 00:09:07.830 who would go out before him as far as the judging 00:09:07.830 --> 00:09:11.090 goes I think yeah, I think in Canaan there was 00:09:11.090 --> 00:09:16.370 a lot of judging that I mean There's only one 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:21.169 authority in a kingdom I Don't know if you guys 00:09:21.169 --> 00:09:24.389 are aware of that, but if you have a king he's 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:27.909 the only person in the entire Kingdom who has 00:09:27.909 --> 00:09:30.490 any authority everybody else's authority is derived 00:09:30.490 --> 00:09:34.970 from him So whatever he says goes. So, I mean, 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:38.750 even if he appoints judges or whatever else, 00:09:38.830 --> 00:09:41.690 it's his authority that rules in those cases. 00:09:42.750 --> 00:09:47.309 Now, in the case of Israel, all of the judging 00:09:47.309 --> 00:09:51.070 that the judges did or that the priests did or 00:09:51.070 --> 00:09:54.210 that the Levites did was derivative from what? 00:09:56.190 --> 00:10:00.710 God's authority as written down in their covenant. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:07.120 scriptures right so i think that's yeah i mean 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.919 i think when we were in judges we and maybe it 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.120 was way back when we were looking at kingship 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:15.440 uh in the in the uh when we were going through 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.960 the covenants what there's all kinds of overlap 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:24.879 between you know the role like a prophet a priest 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:27.059 and a king they all do something what do they 00:10:27.059 --> 00:10:41.159 all do They all teach. So they all are supposed 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:44.059 to, and the king is supposed to what? Do you 00:10:44.059 --> 00:10:48.100 guys remember? Does he just store up the memory 00:10:48.100 --> 00:10:54.500 of the covenant in his head? Well, before he 00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:56.919 can read it, what's he supposed to do? Write 00:10:56.919 --> 00:10:59.700 the whole thing down and have it right there 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:04.860 by his side and then teach the people. So that's... 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:11.720 Totally different than the tradition around them 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.860 in Canaan. How did they view their earthly king? 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:19.500 The Canaanites, the Philistines. How did they 00:11:19.500 --> 00:11:28.899 view their king? Well, was he just a man who 00:11:28.899 --> 00:11:35.559 was born into the right family? Okay, he was 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:39.980 a deity. So, I don't know if you guys do any 00:11:39.980 --> 00:11:43.340 kind of history reading or whatever, but you'll 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:45.659 see it everywhere. I mean, well, just think of 00:11:45.659 --> 00:11:48.440 Nebuchadnezzar. I mean, he's in the Bible. Think 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:54.100 of Pharaoh. Those weren't just men. That wasn't 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:58.980 King George living in Egypt. That was God to 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:02.879 the Egyptians. And he reflected... Everything 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:06.899 about his God was embodied in him. He's kind 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:10.320 of like the Pope. So if you're a Catholic, what? 00:12:10.379 --> 00:12:13.200 Whatever the Pope says is the word of God, right? 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:17.100 He can't speak nothing wrong. And whatever he 00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:22.039 says must be done. That's kind of how it is for 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:25.320 an earthly king in Canaan. So now you know where 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:27.200 the tradition comes from in the Catholic Church. 00:12:27.700 --> 00:12:36.389 Straight from the land of Canaan. So when they 00:12:36.389 --> 00:12:43.110 were rejecting then the kingship of God, or when 00:12:43.110 --> 00:12:45.750 they requested a king to go out before them and 00:12:45.750 --> 00:12:48.789 win their battles, that's why God says they're 00:12:48.789 --> 00:12:50.769 not rejecting you, Samuel, they're rejecting 00:12:50.769 --> 00:12:56.230 me. Why did God allow Samuel to appoint his sons? 00:12:57.990 --> 00:13:05.799 Everybody think about that. Was that part of 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:12.159 God's plan? Or maybe Samuel kind of snuck around 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:15.179 and God was busy somewhere else. He didn't notice. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:21.840 To me, that's the providence of God. That's God 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:26.580 working. He's sowing, or he's not sowing, but 00:13:26.580 --> 00:13:30.740 he's allowing discord in the whole nation because 00:13:30.740 --> 00:13:35.450 of Samuel's irresponsible and probably I mean, 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:38.090 we're not told that God told him to. So, if God 00:13:38.090 --> 00:13:41.169 didn't tell him to and he did it, what's the 00:13:41.169 --> 00:13:44.970 only reasonable conclusion to come to? It was 00:13:44.970 --> 00:13:48.929 sinful. And God allowed that to happen in Israel 00:13:48.929 --> 00:13:59.769 so that what? Okay. So, who gave any thought 00:13:59.769 --> 00:14:02.370 to that? Was it God's plan to have a king in 00:14:02.370 --> 00:14:08.860 Israel? An earthly king? Jake says no. Jake says 00:14:08.860 --> 00:14:17.240 yes. Who else? Nobody else? I say it was part 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:19.940 of the plan. Okay, it was going for part of the 00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:23.779 plan. You're going for part of the plan. We're 00:14:23.779 --> 00:14:27.360 talking prescriptive or descriptive. Because 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:32.559 I say it's stupid. Okay, well, you can expound 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:35.389 on that. Well, I say that... You know, we talk 00:14:35.389 --> 00:14:38.909 about God, the will of God, like what God says 00:14:38.909 --> 00:14:44.669 for us to do. And in no way was it what God was 00:14:44.669 --> 00:14:49.190 telling them to do and was his command to them 00:14:49.190 --> 00:14:52.330 what they ought to do. They were doing the wrong 00:14:52.330 --> 00:14:55.629 thing by picking a king. But was it all part 00:14:55.629 --> 00:15:01.429 of God's eternal sovereign plan, working out 00:15:01.429 --> 00:15:06.240 his eternal purpose? I mean, everything is. But 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:11.000 this, you know, you see it. We have a king. We 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:14.879 have King David. And we have a picture of Christ. 00:15:16.379 --> 00:15:19.320 Christ being this king that we rule forever. 00:15:20.100 --> 00:15:22.840 And all those things are worked out through this 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:26.860 providence, through things working in this way. 00:15:27.059 --> 00:15:29.620 So in that case, I would say, yeah, it was part 00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:34.820 of that. So it's part of God's plan in the sense 00:15:34.820 --> 00:15:38.019 of everything that happens is part of God's plan. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:40.559 Well, yeah, but even in a greater sense than 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:43.139 that. Part of his plan of redemption, I think, 00:15:43.139 --> 00:15:49.419 is tied in with having a king that would point 00:15:49.419 --> 00:15:53.980 forward to another king that would come after 00:15:53.980 --> 00:16:00.789 David. Christ. So you're saying that it is, well, 00:16:00.830 --> 00:16:03.309 what's your position? Are you saying it's descriptive 00:16:03.309 --> 00:16:05.730 or prescriptive? Because I thought you were saying 00:16:05.730 --> 00:16:07.710 it's descriptive first, but now it sounds like 00:16:07.710 --> 00:16:10.029 you're saying it's prescriptive. Well, I'm just 00:16:10.029 --> 00:16:15.409 right in the middle. Walking the fence. Who wants 00:16:15.409 --> 00:16:19.149 to jump on one side or the other? It can't be 00:16:19.149 --> 00:16:23.409 both. Descriptive and prescriptive? Well, that's 00:16:23.409 --> 00:16:25.320 the wrong term for it, right? Because we talk 00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:27.299 about the different wills of God or whatever. 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:33.059 This is what we're told to do and also what God 00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:36.580 works out, as he works out his purposes. I don't 00:16:36.580 --> 00:16:39.139 think that's, I think descriptive and prescriptive 00:16:39.139 --> 00:16:43.519 is the wrong. Well, you're saying like when God 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:46.559 gave the promise to Abram and to Sarah, that 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:50.299 kings would come from them. Is that, you're saying 00:16:50.299 --> 00:16:55.019 that... That that was just God telling them what 00:16:55.019 --> 00:16:56.539 was going to happen in the future. It didn't 00:16:56.539 --> 00:16:58.340 have anything to do with whether or not he wanted 00:16:58.340 --> 00:17:15.420 to have a king in Israel. Are you saying that 00:17:15.420 --> 00:17:17.539 that's not God's prescriptive will then? Is that 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:25.670 what you're saying? because I think that when 00:17:25.670 --> 00:17:30.029 we have here, God is telling them, or through 00:17:30.029 --> 00:17:33.970 Samuel, he's telling them, you don't want to 00:17:33.970 --> 00:17:38.089 have a king. They're rejecting him by going to 00:17:38.089 --> 00:17:43.509 the king. Did God want them to reject him? I 00:17:43.509 --> 00:17:48.130 can't go that far. Well, no, God isn't the author 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:51.170 of sin, and he never would cause somebody to 00:17:51.170 --> 00:18:06.069 sin. Okay. Well, first of all, yeah, I think 00:18:06.069 --> 00:18:07.890 one of the reasons we read through the whole 00:18:07.890 --> 00:18:11.009 chapter was to see 19 and 20. Or to see 20... 00:18:11.009 --> 00:18:17.970 Yeah, to see 19 and 20. It wasn't only that they 00:18:17.970 --> 00:18:19.930 wanted a king so that they would be like the 00:18:19.930 --> 00:18:22.069 other nations. They wanted to be like all the 00:18:22.069 --> 00:18:27.190 other nations. So that's where Chris is coming 00:18:27.190 --> 00:18:29.450 up with his, their heart had already left God. 00:18:29.630 --> 00:18:33.430 Their heart wasn't with God. Did anybody read, 00:18:33.609 --> 00:18:35.990 and we're not going to come up with an answer 00:18:35.990 --> 00:18:38.869 yet to Brian's question, but I haven't forgotten 00:18:38.869 --> 00:18:52.859 it. Did anyone read Deuteronomy chapter 17? Deuteronomy 00:18:52.859 --> 00:18:56.220 17 is an interesting chapter, not only for the 00:18:56.220 --> 00:18:58.779 verses there, but just for the whole, everything 00:18:58.779 --> 00:19:01.259 that goes before it, before we get to the part. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:07.460 In what, verse 14? Yes. Deuteronomy 17, 14. When 00:19:07.460 --> 00:19:09.420 thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy 00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:12.339 God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt 00:19:12.339 --> 00:19:15.099 dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king 00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:18.019 over me, like all... like as all the nations 00:19:18.019 --> 00:19:21.640 that are about me. Thou shalt in any wise set 00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:25.160 him a king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:31.200 choose. At the beginning, I think, here's the 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.420 way that if we want to talk about how God intended 00:19:34.420 --> 00:19:38.700 or how God instructed Israel to bring about kingship. 00:19:38.700 --> 00:19:40.579 At the beginning of the chapter, you have this. 00:19:42.939 --> 00:19:45.420 Anybody whose heart wasn't with the Lord, they 00:19:45.420 --> 00:19:47.680 were cast out of the camp and they were killed. 00:19:47.900 --> 00:19:52.519 So the people were then, within Israel, were 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:58.019 all keeping God's covenant. We'll just use that 00:19:58.019 --> 00:20:02.380 term. Their heart was with the Lord. And they're 00:20:02.380 --> 00:20:04.500 listening to the Lord. If a judge, you know, 00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:07.440 that's why the next section comes up, where you're 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:09.140 going to take your case to the judge, or whatever 00:20:09.140 --> 00:20:11.609 the judge says. That's what you're going to do. 00:20:11.670 --> 00:20:13.990 Why? Because you're submitted unto the Lord. 00:20:14.609 --> 00:20:17.849 And so in that context then, when it comes time 00:20:17.849 --> 00:20:20.910 for a king and you say, we want to have a king 00:20:20.910 --> 00:20:23.410 like all the other nations, you do it in this 00:20:23.410 --> 00:20:28.890 context of our heart is with you. And we want 00:20:28.890 --> 00:20:32.250 you, talking to the Lord, to choose the king 00:20:32.250 --> 00:20:34.650 that's going to rule over us. And he's going 00:20:34.650 --> 00:20:37.170 to rule over us in the sense that he's going 00:20:37.170 --> 00:20:40.160 to teach. He's going to judge according to God's 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:44.779 word. Now that's how I understand Deuteronomy 00:20:44.779 --> 00:20:48.200 chapter 17. Amanda, what did you think when you 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:52.319 read it? Did you think that it was just prophesying 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:53.980 something that they were going to do that was 00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:57.859 sinful? Or did you understand it as God saying 00:20:57.859 --> 00:20:59.940 this is okay as long as you do it the right way? 00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:14.319 something that would be sinful like the Lord 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.720 allowing it because it was part of his biblical 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:22.859 plan but I also was I always thought that there 00:21:22.859 --> 00:21:25.740 was a command or something where he told them 00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:29.319 not to want a king he was their king but I couldn't 00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:31.460 find that I was just doing like some google searches 00:21:31.460 --> 00:21:34.440 and I was like is it just this like first Samuel 00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:38.099 8 where we get that idea where he says like you're 00:21:38.099 --> 00:21:42.859 rejecting me and so I I was a little bit, you 00:21:42.859 --> 00:21:47.680 know, whatever, thinking that maybe I hadn't 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.420 been thinking of it right to think that he, under 00:21:51.420 --> 00:21:54.319 no circumstances, really wanted them to have 00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:56.640 a king, even though he was going to allow it 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:02.079 as part of his plan. Okay. I had read this before 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:04.960 I tried Google searching all that, so it was 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:11.660 with that in mind. Okay, good. Is there a verse 00:22:11.660 --> 00:22:14.099 where he tells them, like I've been reading through 00:22:14.099 --> 00:22:17.079 the law just in my daily reading, and I haven't 00:22:17.079 --> 00:22:20.160 come across it there that I remember, but is 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.880 there a place that he says, like, you shall not 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:26.599 have a king, I'll be your king, that you know 00:22:26.599 --> 00:22:32.089 of? I could just find things like in Psalms where 00:22:32.089 --> 00:22:35.670 it might declare him our king or like one verse 00:22:35.670 --> 00:22:38.730 in Isaiah, one in maybe like Zephaniah, but it 00:22:38.730 --> 00:22:41.730 wasn't him saying like, I'm your king, do not 00:22:41.730 --> 00:22:46.230 take another king. But it was... Well, God always 00:22:46.230 --> 00:22:49.829 presents himself as the king. Okay. And that's 00:22:49.829 --> 00:22:52.049 where we get the concept of theocracy. Right. 00:22:53.829 --> 00:22:57.109 So it's not, I mean... So that brings up the 00:22:57.109 --> 00:22:59.390 question then, is it an either or proposition? 00:22:59.930 --> 00:23:04.609 Do we either have a theocracy with prophets, 00:23:05.130 --> 00:23:11.849 priests, and judges? Or do we have a theocracy 00:23:11.849 --> 00:23:15.930 with king, prophets, and judges? Or kings, prophets, 00:23:16.210 --> 00:23:20.509 and priests? Do we have to choose one or the 00:23:20.509 --> 00:23:23.599 other? Or do we have, if we... Because even in 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:28.619 God's way, there were always priests. And, I 00:23:28.619 --> 00:23:30.980 mean, Moses was a prophet, so we can include 00:23:30.980 --> 00:23:34.759 prophets in that, in God's original design for 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:39.640 the nation. So is it an either or? Once a judge 00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:42.480 comes on the scene, that was God's doing. We 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:46.059 know that, right? God raised up a judge. So it 00:23:46.059 --> 00:23:49.400 was still a theocracy. The judge, what? Ruled 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:53.710 and judged according to God's word. So the judge 00:23:53.710 --> 00:23:57.789 didn't displace God as king. So is it possible 00:23:57.789 --> 00:24:00.769 that there could be a king who would not displace 00:24:00.769 --> 00:24:08.369 God as king? Seems like it. Why? Because there 00:24:08.369 --> 00:24:11.390 are a lot of ungodly kings. Well, they would 00:24:11.390 --> 00:24:14.490 displace God as king. Right. So we would have 00:24:14.490 --> 00:24:19.170 to find a godly king who would not displace God 00:24:19.170 --> 00:24:22.650 as the king. Is there such an example as that? 00:24:29.369 --> 00:24:32.549 Is it possible for God to be king and there to 00:24:32.549 --> 00:24:36.670 be a human king over Israel at the same time? 00:24:36.930 --> 00:24:43.750 And we know that because there were godly kings 00:24:43.750 --> 00:24:47.269 whose heart was after the Lord, who spoke forth, 00:24:47.450 --> 00:24:52.359 taught, The Lord's word. And rule according to 00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:56.039 the Lord's word. Give me somebody. Give me an 00:24:56.039 --> 00:25:06.359 example. David. Okay. Let's go all the way back 00:25:06.359 --> 00:25:12.220 now to Genesis. We're going back in time. What 00:25:12.220 --> 00:25:15.500 was Adam? How was he going to exercise dominion? 00:25:16.059 --> 00:25:19.269 Remember God told him to go have dominion. How 00:25:19.269 --> 00:25:22.970 was he going to do that? So how was he going 00:25:22.970 --> 00:25:29.170 to do that? And how were his descendants going 00:25:29.170 --> 00:25:34.789 to either carry on that tradition under Adam 00:25:34.789 --> 00:25:36.809 or how were they going to come to know what the 00:25:36.809 --> 00:25:58.390 Lord's will was? Now you guys do remember when 00:25:58.390 --> 00:26:00.549 we talked about dominion, when we were going 00:26:00.549 --> 00:26:06.450 through the coverage, right? I'm assuming everyone's 00:26:06.450 --> 00:26:08.089 hands are shaking. I'm not going to look up. 00:26:39.089 --> 00:26:44.190 Well, how did God equip Adam to be, to exercise 00:26:44.190 --> 00:26:53.950 his dominion? Well, what does Genesis tell us 00:26:53.950 --> 00:26:58.710 that he gave him? How was he made? How about 00:26:58.710 --> 00:27:05.269 that question? He was made from the dust in God's 00:27:05.269 --> 00:27:10.220 image. Now, what did we say that meant? It allowed 00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:14.180 communication between him and the Lord. I want 00:27:14.180 --> 00:27:17.259 to call it the communicable attributes of God 00:27:17.259 --> 00:27:25.079 he gave to Adam. The big picture is what? He 00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:28.259 knew what the Lord wanted him to do. So the Lord 00:27:28.259 --> 00:27:31.380 didn't just say, here's a man, go do whatever 00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:37.539 you want. Go by instinct or go by feeling. See 00:27:37.539 --> 00:27:41.539 what your gut tells you. flip a coin. He didn't 00:27:41.539 --> 00:27:44.839 give him any of those resources, did he? He gave 00:27:44.839 --> 00:27:48.539 the sure resource of a revelation to Adam, and 00:27:48.539 --> 00:27:51.640 he said, now, go forth into all the world and 00:27:51.640 --> 00:27:56.619 exercise this dominion. So, Adam, that was the 00:27:56.619 --> 00:28:01.480 first king, right? Remember that? The first king. 00:28:02.339 --> 00:28:06.480 The king in all the world. And he did, he exercised 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:09.970 that kingship and that dominion, Under the authority 00:28:09.970 --> 00:28:13.269 of his God. And he exercised it perfectly. Because 00:28:13.269 --> 00:28:15.309 he understood perfectly. Everything that the 00:28:15.309 --> 00:28:18.230 Lord had instructed him to do. And he didn't 00:28:18.230 --> 00:28:21.309 have any sin. That would get in the way. Of him. 00:28:23.049 --> 00:28:25.609 Performing or doing. What the Lord had told him 00:28:25.609 --> 00:28:33.529 to do. That's God as king. With his. Earthly 00:28:33.529 --> 00:28:36.670 king. Vice regent. If we want to call it that. 00:28:37.710 --> 00:28:39.390 You read theological books, that's what they'll 00:28:39.390 --> 00:28:41.690 call it. You come across it. God is king, and 00:28:41.690 --> 00:28:44.509 then you have this sub -king, who is Adam. And 00:28:44.509 --> 00:28:48.750 he rules according to God's word. So when we 00:28:48.750 --> 00:28:53.490 come, then we get to Abraham, or we get to Noah, 00:28:54.809 --> 00:28:57.130 and Noah has the same thing. Then we come to 00:28:57.130 --> 00:29:00.410 Abraham, and then we come to Israel. And you 00:29:00.410 --> 00:29:04.690 get this... If you just think of the big picture 00:29:04.690 --> 00:29:08.809 of Israel going forth out of Egypt into the land 00:29:08.809 --> 00:29:13.069 of Canaan. If you think of Israel as one person, 00:29:13.109 --> 00:29:17.869 what was that one person doing? That's a biblical 00:29:17.869 --> 00:29:20.549 concept, just so we're clear. God says that Israel 00:29:20.549 --> 00:29:26.309 is my son. So there it is. So Israel, as a nation, 00:29:26.470 --> 00:29:32.180 is what? They're going forth and they're conquering, 00:29:32.180 --> 00:29:36.759 they're subduing the earth, right? So as a whole, 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:40.900 under God's leadership, and as his people, they 00:29:40.900 --> 00:29:44.859 look just like a king. They look just, they're 00:29:44.859 --> 00:29:46.819 doing just what Adam was supposed to be doing. 00:29:47.420 --> 00:29:50.839 When they go into Canaan and they wipe out all 00:29:50.839 --> 00:29:53.400 the chaos, they wipe out everything that is not 00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:58.299 conformed to the will of God, is gone. And now 00:29:58.299 --> 00:30:01.440 Israel, his son, and his people, they dwell in 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:03.799 the land that God has conquered or that they 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:09.819 have conquered under the power of God. So my 00:30:09.819 --> 00:30:17.880 answer to Brian's original question is that I 00:30:17.880 --> 00:30:23.240 think it is, I think God never commanded them 00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:25.140 to have a king. They didn't have to have a king. 00:30:28.020 --> 00:30:33.880 But God put everything in place and he intended 00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:36.839 for there to be a king in Israel because that 00:30:36.839 --> 00:30:40.279 king in Israel was going to foreshadow or prophesy 00:30:40.279 --> 00:30:46.200 of Messiah King, Jesus. So we know that it was 00:30:46.200 --> 00:30:50.500 part of God's plan. My own personal opinion about 00:30:50.500 --> 00:30:53.059 the way that they went about it here in Kings 00:30:53.059 --> 00:30:56.059 is what Chris said, that their heart was far 00:30:56.059 --> 00:30:59.730 from the Lord. They had rejected the Lord. They 00:30:59.730 --> 00:31:02.609 didn't want him to rule over them. The Philistines 00:31:02.609 --> 00:31:05.630 were a thorn in their side. They'd been going 00:31:05.630 --> 00:31:08.309 through judge after judge after judge, and there 00:31:08.309 --> 00:31:12.809 was no discernible difference between the time 00:31:12.809 --> 00:31:15.069 they first came in and the first judge was raised 00:31:15.069 --> 00:31:17.869 up by the Lord and the time of Samuel when the 00:31:17.869 --> 00:31:21.150 last judge was raised up by the Lord. Israel 00:31:21.150 --> 00:31:25.289 was in the same state of affairs. Even Eli has 00:31:25.289 --> 00:31:29.890 been, you know, priesthood is gone and his judgeship 00:31:29.890 --> 00:31:34.089 was left in a shambles. And yet still Samuel 00:31:34.089 --> 00:31:40.150 appoints his sons in that context. So the Lord 00:31:40.150 --> 00:31:43.569 was bringing about kingship, but what did the 00:31:43.569 --> 00:31:48.269 people want? What kind of king did they want? 00:31:50.630 --> 00:31:55.930 We all know who Saul was, right? Which meant 00:31:55.930 --> 00:31:59.170 what? What was unique about Saul? Does anybody 00:31:59.170 --> 00:32:13.769 remember? How much taller was he? From his shoulders 00:32:13.769 --> 00:32:15.950 up, he was taller than anyone else in Israel. 00:32:16.349 --> 00:32:21.809 Now, did anybody go back and read part of Hannah's 00:32:21.809 --> 00:32:42.240 song? In the beginning of 1 Samuel. Now, one 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:44.339 of the things I may not have mentioned when we 00:32:44.339 --> 00:32:47.319 look at this is when you read it, you get this 00:32:47.319 --> 00:32:50.180 expanding picture of what's going on. So we start 00:32:50.180 --> 00:32:53.220 with a whole bunch of eyes as Hannah thanks the 00:32:53.220 --> 00:32:55.720 Lord and praises Him. And then it gets a little 00:32:55.720 --> 00:32:59.390 bit bigger. In the sense of Israel. And then 00:32:59.390 --> 00:33:01.509 it gets really big. In the sense of the ends 00:33:01.509 --> 00:33:09.269 of the earth. I guess. We'll just read the whole 00:33:09.269 --> 00:33:12.109 thing. It's too good not to. Hannah prayed and 00:33:12.109 --> 00:33:15.029 said. My heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn 00:33:15.029 --> 00:33:18.309 is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged 00:33:18.309 --> 00:33:21.470 over my enemies. Because I have rejoiced in thy 00:33:21.470 --> 00:33:25.269 salvation. There is none holy as the Lord. There 00:33:25.269 --> 00:33:28.190 is none beside thee. neither is there any rock 00:33:28.190 --> 00:33:31.170 like our God. Talk no more exceeding proudly, 00:33:31.490 --> 00:33:34.509 let not arrogancy come out of your mouth. For 00:33:34.509 --> 00:33:37.410 the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions 00:33:37.410 --> 00:33:41.589 are weighed. Okay, so remember, if the nation 00:33:41.589 --> 00:33:44.789 of Israel had had just that part in their mind, 00:33:44.910 --> 00:33:48.569 the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions 00:33:48.569 --> 00:33:51.450 are weighed, then they would have been able to 00:33:51.450 --> 00:33:54.210 say, just give us the king that you want us to 00:33:54.210 --> 00:33:58.420 have. The bows of the mighty men are broken, 00:33:58.559 --> 00:34:00.799 and they that stumble are girded with strength. 00:34:01.579 --> 00:34:04.259 They that were full have hired out themselves 00:34:04.259 --> 00:34:07.420 for bread, and they that were hungry have stopped 00:34:07.420 --> 00:34:10.340 being hungry, so that the barren hath born seven, 00:34:10.579 --> 00:34:13.480 and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. 00:34:13.900 --> 00:34:17.360 It's the Lord that kills and makes alive. He 00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:19.920 bringeth down to the grave, and he bringeth up. 00:34:20.039 --> 00:34:23.780 The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth 00:34:23.780 --> 00:34:28.659 low and lifteth high. He raises up the poor out 00:34:28.659 --> 00:34:31.800 of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the 00:34:31.800 --> 00:34:35.119 dunghill to set them among princes and to make 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:38.179 them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars 00:34:38.179 --> 00:34:40.659 of the earth are the Lord's and he has set the 00:34:40.659 --> 00:34:43.800 world upon them. He will keep the feet of his 00:34:43.800 --> 00:34:46.219 saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness. 00:34:46.739 --> 00:34:51.039 For by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries 00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:53.849 of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Out of 00:34:53.849 --> 00:34:56.489 heaven shall he thunder upon them. The Lord shall 00:34:56.489 --> 00:34:58.909 judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give 00:34:58.909 --> 00:35:01.949 strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of 00:35:01.949 --> 00:35:07.449 his anointed. So, we've already read this, we've 00:35:07.449 --> 00:35:09.869 already thought about it together on a Wednesday. 00:35:10.469 --> 00:35:17.409 Who here would think then that the tallest, strongest, 00:35:18.199 --> 00:35:21.000 Most handsome person is probably the one that 00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:23.320 the Lord is going to choose to rule over his 00:35:23.320 --> 00:35:29.039 people. Is that the impression you get from reading 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:33.940 that? What do you get the impression? It's probably 00:35:33.940 --> 00:35:37.579 going to be somebody on the dunghill. Some poor, 00:35:37.719 --> 00:35:42.059 weak, hungry guy who's just got nothing. And 00:35:42.059 --> 00:35:44.019 that's the one that the Lord's probably going 00:35:44.019 --> 00:35:45.960 to raise up, and he's probably the one that's 00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:50.139 going to rule over Israel. What did the people 00:35:50.139 --> 00:35:54.119 want? They didn't want the guy from the dunghill, 00:35:54.179 --> 00:35:57.519 did they? They wanted the good -looking, tall, 00:35:57.780 --> 00:36:00.940 strong, strapping young man who could go out 00:36:00.940 --> 00:36:05.420 in front of them and battle. Does anybody think 00:36:05.420 --> 00:36:09.820 it's ironic that who were they fighting? Who 00:36:09.820 --> 00:36:15.760 was the representative of the Philistines? Goliath. 00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:19.400 What was unique about Goliath? He was really 00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:22.440 big. He was really strong, wasn't he? So Israel, 00:36:22.539 --> 00:36:28.239 what did they say? That's what we want. We want 00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:33.000 our own Goliath. We want that guy to go out and 00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:35.340 fight in front of us. Somebody that we can see. 00:36:35.500 --> 00:36:38.480 Somebody that we can appreciate. Somebody that 00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:40.619 will rally the troops and make us feel good. 00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:43.420 We don't care about anything else. That's what 00:36:43.420 --> 00:36:46.400 we need is a hero. We need our own Achilles. 00:36:46.969 --> 00:36:49.769 We need our own Goliath. We need somebody that's 00:36:49.769 --> 00:36:56.210 like us, only bigger and stronger. It goes completely 00:36:56.210 --> 00:37:01.110 contrary to exactly what Hannah's prayer teaches 00:37:01.110 --> 00:37:06.050 us. So that's why I would say that this was a 00:37:06.050 --> 00:37:08.110 wrong, they didn't have, they didn't inquire 00:37:08.110 --> 00:37:10.150 of the Lord anything. They never submitted to 00:37:10.150 --> 00:37:12.849 the Lord and said, just give us the man of your 00:37:12.849 --> 00:37:15.030 choosing. Whoever you choose will be good enough 00:37:15.030 --> 00:37:18.039 for us. If that had been in their heart, probably 00:37:18.039 --> 00:37:20.300 Jake is right. I think that's what he said. They 00:37:20.300 --> 00:37:22.260 would have just said, let's get rid of these 00:37:22.260 --> 00:37:24.900 two scoundrels just because they happen to descend 00:37:24.900 --> 00:37:28.800 from Samuel. And let's ask the Lord to raise 00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:33.980 up a godly judge. Let's ask the Lord to raise 00:37:33.980 --> 00:37:37.760 up a godly priesthood that's not like Eli. That's 00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:39.159 probably what would have happened. Does that 00:37:39.159 --> 00:37:44.360 seem reasonable? Just not. They wanted to be 00:37:44.360 --> 00:37:47.139 like all the other nations. They wanted to have 00:37:47.139 --> 00:37:49.579 a king that would go before them instead of the 00:37:49.579 --> 00:37:53.539 Lord that would go before them. Alright, well, 00:37:53.659 --> 00:37:56.960 we can finish the discussion next week unless 00:37:56.960 --> 00:37:59.420 somebody, we can finish tonight with anything 00:37:59.420 --> 00:38:01.480 that anybody else wants to say. If you did some 00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:03.480 prep work and you want to say something, now's 00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:11.179 your chance. It's more of an inquiry. Is this 00:38:11.179 --> 00:38:17.659 the same, this idea of God raising up a man in 00:38:17.659 --> 00:38:20.579 the will of nature, is that the same idea that 00:38:20.579 --> 00:38:24.300 we have about God raising men up in a church 00:38:24.300 --> 00:38:30.059 to lead a church? You know what I mean? Instead 00:38:30.059 --> 00:38:32.719 of having someone, and this may be a distraction, 00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:36.260 it probably is, but I was just thinking of God 00:38:36.260 --> 00:38:38.900 raising up men inside the church to lead the 00:38:38.900 --> 00:38:41.219 church rather than having someone come from outside. 00:38:42.059 --> 00:38:47.690 Is that... Well... Do you understand what I'm 00:38:47.690 --> 00:38:55.530 saying? Yeah, but they... I mean, I haven't been 00:38:55.530 --> 00:38:58.210 to seminaries, so I'm not defending seminaries. 00:38:58.389 --> 00:39:00.730 I'm certainly not defending seminaries as an 00:39:00.730 --> 00:39:05.809 institution. But that doesn't mean that God's 00:39:05.809 --> 00:39:07.909 man couldn't have gone to a seminary somewhere, 00:39:08.050 --> 00:39:11.360 right? It doesn't mean that... God's man couldn't 00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:12.699 have gone to a seminary and been part of the 00:39:12.699 --> 00:39:14.420 congregation and God raised him up. Right. I'm 00:39:14.420 --> 00:39:19.300 not specifically singling out people coming from 00:39:19.300 --> 00:39:22.760 seminary. Right. Well, that's usually where they 00:39:22.760 --> 00:39:29.780 come in. Nobody says, hey, I was picking up garbage 00:39:29.780 --> 00:39:33.159 in Tucson. I'm in St. Louis now. You want me 00:39:33.159 --> 00:39:39.260 to pastor your church? Yeah. The key would be 00:39:39.869 --> 00:39:43.590 What do you want? What does the congregation 00:39:43.590 --> 00:39:49.809 want? Do they want a lettered man, or do they 00:39:49.809 --> 00:39:53.030 just want the Lord's man? That's where the stories 00:39:53.030 --> 00:39:55.829 would, and that's where we can make personal 00:39:55.829 --> 00:39:59.670 application to that. Do I want what the Lord 00:39:59.670 --> 00:40:02.909 wants for me, or do I want the Lord to change 00:40:02.909 --> 00:40:06.070 to get so that I can get what I want? That's 00:40:06.070 --> 00:40:08.190 what the people were saying. If you're going 00:40:08.190 --> 00:40:10.710 to be that kind of a God who's going to go before 00:40:10.710 --> 00:40:13.210 us and do all these things, we don't want that. 00:40:14.429 --> 00:40:16.909 We want you to change and give us the man that 00:40:16.909 --> 00:40:22.269 we want and guarantee our success. So that's 00:40:22.269 --> 00:40:26.170 for us if we want to apply it very personally, 00:40:26.289 --> 00:40:28.170 that's how we do it. If we want to apply it in 00:40:28.170 --> 00:40:29.690 the church, that's how we would do it there. 00:40:30.130 --> 00:40:34.380 We don't care if a man has letters. Great if 00:40:34.380 --> 00:40:36.380 he has letters. The brightest, most intelligent 00:40:36.380 --> 00:40:39.639 person that's ever lived. He can be a great pastor 00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:54.239 if he's the Lord's man. Amen. We'll be back in 00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:56.960 chapter 8. Then we'll finish chapter 8 next week. 00:40:57.019 --> 00:40:58.960 And maybe we'll bleed into chapter 9. We'll see 00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:00.699 what goes on with questions.