we have been dealing with in the last two nights, the matter of Christ as seen in the Pentateuch, and in particular in the Mosaic period. Last night, of course, dealing with the tabernacle itself, and then the Day of Atonement, and then the night before with some of the other incidents that you have in the Exodus event and the wilderness wandering, where you have definite pointers to the Messiah. Are there questions that any of you have on it up to this point? If not, what I want to do tonight is to end up and finish the Mosaic material. There is one more section I want to look at with you, and then move on into a little bit of the biblical history that takes place. And rather than taking it in the order that you find it listed in the New Testament, the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, I'm going to move from having, we will touch on David in the history, and then move right on into the Psalms, and then take up the Prophets last. So that's what we'll be dealing with on Sunday, will be the Prophets, and perhaps get started with them tomorrow evening as well, if we finish the Psalms this evening. But one passage I have not dealt with yet for you is found in the 17th and 18th chapters of Deuteronomy. You remember I made the point the first night that Adam was originally created in the image of God, and he was the first Adam, and Christ comes as the second Adam, the last Adam, and that Christ performed the three offices of prophet, priest, and king, and we found as we examined the account of Adam and Eve in the garden prior to the fall that they were created, Adam was created to be a prophet, priest, and king. And you have in the Mosaic period, you have Moses himself serving all three of those functions. He was the spokesman for God. He gave the law, you remember, and expounded on that. He was the one who gave God's interpretation of what they were supposed to be doing and so forth. And then he led them in worship on various occasions and prayed for them on various occasions. So he performed the priestly function. And then also he was the ruler of them under God. He was the lawgiver, and he performed that function of king. Interesting to see in these two chapters, the 17th chapter and the 18th chapters of Deuteronomy, that you have these offices dealt with. 17th chapter, beginning with verse 14. When thou art come into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me. Thou shalt surely set him king over thee, whom Jehovah thy God hath chosen, or shall choose, excuse me, shall choose. One from among thy brethren shalt thou set over thee. Thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee who is not thy brother." Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses. For as much as Jehovah hath said unto you, ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away. Neither shall he be greatly multiplied to himself silver and gold. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priest, the Levite. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law, and these statutes to do them, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand, nor to the left to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel. Let's use that as our scripture reading and ask again the Lord's blessing upon the ministry of the Word. Our Heavenly Father, as we open the Word now, again we look to Thee and to Thy Spirit to guide us, and we thank Thee for the promise of that guidance. We again pray that what is said here tonight may be true to Thy Word. and that it may be plain and clear, and that thy people may be enhanced and built up with thy word and with its teaching, and that all blessings that we receive we would acknowledge come from thee and not from man. And so we pray that our Lord and Savior may be magnified here, and that he alone may be magnified in all that we do here. We ask it in his name. Amen. Now as you read this passage, one of the things that you should realize is that the fact of a king, the idea of a king in Israel was not itself sinful. God here gives the prescription of the kind of king. Now you remember when the people asked when Samuel had ruled over them as a judge, and they were not satisfied with Samuel's sons because They were not the same high caliber that Samuel was. Then they wanted a king like the other nations, and their motivation is wrong, and Samuel is very much grieved over it. But the fact is, the idea of having a king was in itself not sinful. But here was the prescription of the kind of king, a king who will not lord it over his people. a king who will be the leader of the people under God. A servant king is the way that this sometimes is described. A servant king under God with his own law that he must abide by. And the prescription here is that with each new king, then this law should be written out for that king at his coronation. Then there should be presented to him this document of the rule for how he should guide his life and be guided in his principles. Now, as you think about the Lord Jesus, it's quite clear, of course, that he came and is seen as king. You have that very opening account in Matthew, as the wise men come And they come asking, where is he that is born King of the Jews? And the reason for that, you remember they had that passage that we read the other night that Balaam had given in his prophecy about the star of this one who shall come out of Jacob, who shall be the possessor of the scepter, and who shall be ruler and conqueror. And so his very birth out of the line of David indicates that he's going to be in the kingly line, and he's recognized from the very beginning as being a king. But as you look at the accounts with regard to his trial and his crucifixion, you remember that that's what they put on the cross, the king of the Jews. And the Jews said, not the king of the Jews, but say that he said he was the king of the Jews. But Pilate raises a question about him. Are you a king? And Jesus says, My kingdom is the kingdom of truth. And Pilate then says, You are a king then. And at that point Jesus says, Thou hast said. He acknowledges it, that he was a king of a different sort than Pilate was thinking, not a rival to Caesar in the sense of a political king upon this earth. but a king with a kingdom of truth. And it's in that section of the 18th chapter of John where you have the references to that, beginning with verse 33. Pilate therefore entered again unto the Praetorium, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it concerning thee? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from him. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? And Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." And so he's a king in the kingdom of the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. And Pilate shows his disdain for him at this point, and he asks, What is truth? As though there is no such thing as truth. very modern when you think about it, very much like the modern man who sees all truth as relative, nothing that you can be absolutely certain about. What is truth? There is no such thing as an absolute truth. The Roman Empire had come to that, and the American culture had come to that now, where we are skeptical of everything, and it means people have no standards, and they don't Don't listen to anybody that holds standards, as you are well aware. We as Christians are going to come increasingly under persecution and ridicule of the world, because we do hold a standard, and we have a standard that we live by. But Jesus then does affirm his fact that he is king, and it is this very charge that is laid before Pilate as a means of getting Pilate to crucify him. because, as you remember what the Jews said when Pilate says, Behold your king, then they say, We have no king but Caesar. Crucify. And this becomes the charge. But one of the things that I think we ought to recognize is the fact that he is king as the Messiah in a particular way. In the end of the Gospel of Matthew, that last chapter with the Great Commission, the basis of the Great Commission is the fact that he now has all authority in heaven and in earth. In Matthew 28 verses 18 and following, Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Now, notice it doesn't say all authority will be given. It's something that has already taken place. It's taken place in particular, I believe, in connection with his resurrection and his impending ascension back to the throne. But one of the concepts that we need to have and to see is that Christ is presently king. You see, you're dispensationalists with their concept of a future kingdom of Christ. A future millennium sees a kingdom, kingship as postponed until that coming of that millennium. That's not the way the Bible represents the kingship of Christ. And it's one of the best answers to a dispensationalism to say, no, the Bible teaches he's present king right now. One of the strongest passages for that is found in Ephesians chapter 1, where the apostle indicating his prayers in behalf of the people, or as part of his prayer, really, in behalf of the people of God, beginning with verse 19 of Ephesians 1. And what the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places. Before starting to talk about the kingship, notice what he's saying, that God has used the same power to bring us to faith that he used to raise Jesus from the dead. Because, you see, that was our state. Our state was spiritual death, and it took a power to bring us to life. that the same sort of power, what the exceeding greatness of his power to us were, who believe according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and then having talked about the resurrection, and where is he now, and hath made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places. Then notice the way Pius phrase after phrase after phrase to show the absolute totality of his kingship. He leaves no stone unturned, really. At his right hand in heavenly places, far above all, rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him. that filleth all in all." So the idea of Christ being king, the idea of kingship is taught by Moses, and we see it beginning to be worked out with Saul and then more particularly with David and the Davidic line established on the throne. And once David comes onto the scene, from that time on the seed has been narrowed now from the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of Judah, to the seed of David. And so many of the prophecies, as we'll see in the latter studies now, in the prophecies, so many of the prophecies have to do with his being the seed of David, being the royal king. And the Messiah is seen particularly under that figure of the king. But thinking about this in a practical way for ourselves, he's presently king. And he's king over all things to the church. Put that together with Romans 8.28, then we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and who are of the call according to his purposes. Who is it that's working all things together for good? King Jesus. That everything that happens to us, and this is one of the hard things for us to understand. Why does the Lord let me go through this trouble? Why am I in this trial at this time? Why am I being persecuted by people who used to be my friends, and now they are mocking me and laughing at me and making fun of me, or openly persecuting? Were we to get into a communist sort of regime, I think we'd find many of those people that were alleged friends of Christians to be open enemies, betraying us, putting us under arrest, and so forth. Why is this thing happening? Why is my daughter or my son involved in drugs? Why are they disobedient and acting the way they are, running away, becoming pregnant before being married, and so forth? These things you have to recognize, every one of them, happening under the sovereignty of Christ, and every one of them for our good. That's not easy. It's not easy to say that. It's not easy to recognize it at the time. But it is one of those things that is of tremendous comfort to us. When we recognize that bitter as life may be at times, and it is often that way, that it's all under the hand of King Jesus. He's king over everything to the good of the church. And he's working something good for you and for me. if we truly love him and are among the called according to his purposes. So the concept of Christ as King is one of the most glorious and blessed concepts about the Messiah, and you have it clearly rooted here then back in Deuteronomy as he deals with that office. Now he alludes to, in the next section, the first verses of chapter 18 of Deuteronomy, to the Levites, to the priesthood And we have much more fully the treatment of the priesthood in the dedication of Aaron and so forth in the 8th and 9th chapters of the books of Leviticus. And there that office is dealt with much more fully there. But we do see that Christ is to be a priest. And this is quite clear as set forth by the writer to the Hebrews. in chapter 5 of that book. I think I read some of this maybe the first night when we were talking about the three offices, but it's well to go back over. Chapter 5 of Hebrews describes what a priest is. For every high priest being taken from among men, he's a representative of the people, is afforded for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. So there's your basic function of the priest. to be a representative of mankind, taken from the human race, to represent them unto God through what? Through sacrifices and gifts. Offering sacrifices. As our catechism describes the office of Christ as a priest, as Christ executes the office of a priest, he executes the office of a priest by his one offering up of himself as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice. And you see that fits exactly with this. And then in addition, and offering continual intercession for us. And he continues to do that at the right hand of God, offering prayers and intercessions for us. He's still acting as our priest. And this passage goes on to speak about the fact that it is Christ who is a priest, who can bear gently with the ignorant and erring, for that he himself also is encompassed with infirmity. And by reason thereof is bound as for the people, so also for himself to offer for sins. Now that would be true of the ordinary human priest, not of Christ. And no man taketh the honor unto himself, but when he is called of God, even as was Aaron. And Aaron is designated by God in the Pentateuch to be the priest, and to be ordained and set aside as the priest. And you have that whole family in the line of the high priesthood, then going all the way down from that time on. Some of them became disqualified under, and you remember, under Eli. That particular side of the family dies out. Eli dies, and when he hears of the battle, that guy's gone against Israel, and his two sons have been killed in the battle. And so the priesthood jumps over then to one of the parallel lines, which had been predicted back in the Pentateuch itself, that that would happen. So Christ also glorified not himself to be made a high priest. but he that spake unto him, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee." And we'll be seeing that, that's in Psalm 2. And he says also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and that's from Psalm 110. And so we'll talk about that order of Melchizedek more fully as we get on into it. But then we see also the priesthood, then it's clearly one of the things that the Messiah is to be, one who is going to offer sacrifices And as we know, as we've studied the Day of Atonement, not only is he the priest, he's also the Lamb, and he is the one who bears the sins of many. Now, in verse 9 and following in chapter 18 of Deuteronomy, you have the introduction of the office of prophet. First of all, the errors that men can fall into, and I think it's worth our reading this, because it's remarkable how many Americans have fallen back into some of these practices that are openly and clearly condemned in Scripture. Even Christians will play the game of horoscopes and so forth, and I think we ought to avoid it and not have anything to do with it. When thou art come into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. That's the way God views this kind of thing, of seeking to know the future in any other than by God's revelation. It's Deuteronomy 18, verse 9. There shall not be found with thee anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that uses divination, one that practices augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. Our young people ought to avoid getting involved in playing with Ouija boards, table-tapping, that type of thing, where they're calling up the evil spirit. My younger brother, who's now a minister in the PCUSA still, but a true believer, said when he was at Hampton Sydney College. It was one of the favorite games around the college. The young people would get out and put their fingers and touch each other around a card table and call up voodoo or whoever they'd be calling up. I don't know what names they used. And he said at one time they asked this apparent spirit, this thing that seemed to be giving some movement of the table, did he like every one of them? They didn't like him because he was a Christian. did not like him, and he figured that was the reason they didn't like him. Because this was from the devil, and he shouldn't have been playing with it. But the fact is, I think he saw that that kind of thing was something that ought to be avoided. And you ought not to play with those sorts of things. God says, don't do it. They are abominations. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto Jehovah. And because of these abominations, Jehovah thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God, for these nations that thou shalt dispossess hearken unto them that practice augury and unto diviners. But as for thee, Jehovah thy God hath not suffered thee so to do." And that would still be applicable to us in Christian terms as well. The Lord does not allow us to seek for the future through such a thing. I can remember there was a professor, a Christian reform professor of history at the University of Michigan that had to be disciplined by the church because he was beginning to go to a palm reader or somebody like that to try to find out how he should invest money in the market. And apparently he had success the first time he went. And so he started, got into the practice of it. And it was discovered, and the church put him under discipline for this. And here was a man, intelligent, had a doctor's degree, teaching at a major university, drawn off into this foolishness. It's the devil, you see, that can draw off and apparently give you success, and you think it works. And then he's caught up and called to task for it. The Lord does not suffer us to do that, does not permit us. to do it. Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me. Unto him ye shall hearken according to all that thou desirest of Jehovah thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this great fire any more that I die not. And Jehovah said unto me, They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among the brethren like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." Now if you turn over to Acts 3.23, you'll find that Peter quotes this passage and says that It has been fulfilled in Jesus. Let's pick up with 22, Acts 3, 22. Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord raise up unto you from among your brethren like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. And it shall be that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet shall be utterly destroyed. from among you, yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they are also told of these days. Ye," talking to the Jews, "'You are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your father, saying unto Abraham, And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his servant, sent him to bless you. in turning every one of you from your iniquities. And so, you see, Peter sees the fulfillment, ultimate fulfillment of this passage in this prophecy as being taking place in the Lord Jesus. He's the one that's been raised up like a Moses, only more so, better than Moses is here, and he is one who has the true word he's spoken of as the very word of God. And you remember in his lifetime they said, never a man spoke like this man. And he preached the Bible to them with authority and told them what God meant from his law and from his word. So we see him manifesting the function of prophet there in his life. Now it's interesting as you read on the rest of that chapter, but the prophet that shall speak a word presumptuously in my name." So he is prophesying not only the prophet down in the end of the age, the Lord Jesus, but the office of prophet that shall be there between now and then, and that there will be those who may presume or act like their prophet. So the prophet that speaks the word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that will speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is, the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken, the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, and thou shalt not be afraid of him." So we have then that clear testing of the prophet and the prophets that if their word doesn't come true, what they have prophesied does not come true. then you don't have to pay any attention to them. You should not pay any attention to them. Now if you turn back in the 13th chapter of Deuteronomy, you have another test as well. If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known. and let us serve them. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or unto the dreamer of dreams, for Jehovah your God proveth you to know whether ye love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul." In other words, what he's saying is we have already, even from Moses' time on, an objective standard of testing the word of God. And if a prophet comes and presumes to teach, and even if he can perform a miracle with it, and presumes to teach something that is contrary to the word of God, do not follow him. Test the prophet by this word. Now again, I have made an allusion to the modern charismatic movement. I fear that there are many things said in some of their meetings and so forth that may well not be true to the word. And they need to be far more concerned with what the Word says than with some presumed new revelation that they're getting. One of the things that bothers me particularly with the neo-Pentecostal movement is that that's their interest. Their interest is, we want to hear a new Word. We're not interested in the Word of God that tells us about Jesus, the Word of God that gives us the Gospel, the Word of God that is a sure Word of God. We want to hear new revelation. That's exciting to us. No, what we should be interested in is this book, and this book becomes the means of testing all prophecy. And so in the days of the Old Testament, when there were prophets still in existence, true prophets, if a false prophet came and could imitate the true prophet, perhaps even with a sign that seemed to work, don't pay any attention to him if he's saying, go after another god. Go worship somebody else. go against what God's word says. Now again, as you think about the Lord Jesus, he is the prophet, the word of God to us, the revelation of God to us. And you remember in the 14th chapter of John, after he's given that statement that I've quoted several times, being the word, the truth, and the life, he says that in verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father." You see, he's saying, I am the revelation of God to you. I am the truth. I am the revealer. I am the word of God to you. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. And Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long with you? And dost thou not know me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. How sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I say unto you I speak not from myself, but the Father abiding in me doeth his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work's sake," because he's demonstrated with miracles and so forth. Believe on the grounds of that. Believe me for the very work's sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me The works that I shall do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto the Father." And there he again is affirming clearly his revelatory work. And again our catechism suggests he continues in that work. We've seen the fact that in his kingship he's now particularly upon the throne of God as king. He is, as a priest, he's still interceding for us. He will not make a new sacrifice, but he's still interceding for us, making continual intercessions. As prophet, our catechism says, how does he execute the office of a prophet? By revealing to us by his word and spirit the will of God for our salvation. And so he is the one who's speaking to you through the preacher. He's the one who's speaking to you through the Bible as you read it or hear it proclaimed. He's the one, if it's true to his word, he's the one that you really are hearing. He's the one who's speaking to you. And you are recipients then of the work of Christ as prophet through the ministry of the word and through the reading of the word with the Holy Spirit accompanying that word. Paul in Thessalonians, by the way, speaks so firmly about how his preaching was accompanied by the work of the Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 5, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake. And so he's affirming that the gospel that he had preached had its power because the Holy Spirit accompanied it, the Holy Spirit sent by the Lord Jesus. And Christ is continuing to exercise the office of a prophet to us even now as he reveals to us through his word and spirit his will for our lives and for our salvation. All right, with that I basically conclude the material out of the Pentateuch. There are other things that could well be mentioned, and probably should be mentioned, but at least we've covered some of the basic themes out of the Pentateuch. Are there questions again out of this section that you want to ask? All right, you know the basic history following that. After Moses' death Joshua becomes his replacement, and that first chapter is quite striking, the way in which God reaffirms to Joshua. Moses affirmed it to him, and then God reaffirmed it to him, and he put him on the basic standard in verse 6, be strong and of good courage. Chapter 1, verse 6, be strong and of good courage, for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. only be strong and very courageous to do it, to observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success, whithersoever thou goest." Somebody has pointed out that this is the only place where the word success occurs in our English Bibles, at least in the older versions, King James and the American Standard. And you want a measure of how you can be successful? In this life, there it is, keep the word. Observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success with it soever thou goest. Whatever you do, if you're in God's will, it may be the world wouldn't measure what you're doing as being good success, but if you're true to the word and in God's will in what you're doing, That's the real measure of success, because in the final day he's the one that you will have to reckon with and come to meet, and he's the one who will judge whether you've been faithful to his word. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous Then shalt thou have good success, have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage, be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed. For Jehovah thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest." And so that's his affirmation to Joshua, the replacement for Moses. They'd been 40 years now with Moses at their head, and now he's dead. And you can imagine the consternation among the people. We've lost our leader. Who's the leader? And God is coming in and affirming so firmly and so clearly to Joshua that he is God's replacement for Moses. And so Joshua leads them into the land of Canaan and is able to conquer the whole land. He fails at some points in driving out all the Canaanites, and that becomes, in a sense, a thorn in the side of Israel from that time on and down until the time of David. But he gains in general the conquest of the land. The land is divided up among the twelve tribes during Joshua's period. And then at the end, Joshua calls the people and recommits them, saying, As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. And he calls upon the Israelites to follow him in that. Then you have a period of about 300 years, or 350 years, of the Book of Judges. That's a long time. That's longer than the United States has existed as a separate country. That period when every man did as he thought best in his own mind, in his own eyes. And it's a period of up and down. Those who knew, at the times when they remembered the Lord, they would be in success. And then if they began to forget the Lord, he would allow them to go into a decline and fall under the oppression of one of the tribes, one of the nations around them. Then God would have to raise up a judge who would deliver them. And then they would rise back up under faith again, and then back down. It was an up-and-down sort of roller coaster situation all the way through, and general decadence. And then God raises up Samuel, and Samuel is a very remarkable figure. Don't think anything specifically spoken against Samuel at all, except that reference about his son. And that does suggest that perhaps he, like so many of us who are in the ministry, fall into this trap of not paying enough attention to our own families. That there are times when ministers, and I can remember hearing a minister who has a very good-sized church and has done very well, and he says, but I sacrificed my family in order to have the success I've had in the church. And that's not right. But Samuel apparently fell into something of that sort of an error, got so busy judging the people and going about the whole country and ruling and guiding and directing that he didn't have time to train his sons in the same standards that he himself held to. But Samuel held all three of those offices. He was a priest, you remember, dedicated by his mother to the temple. He was sent to the temple. He worked under Eli. And he worked there and was of that priestly family. He was also a prophet. You remember the occasion when he heard the voice of God when he was still a boy. And he gets this terrible indictment against Eli, and he doesn't want to tell him what he's heard. And Eli demands it from him. And then it says that the Word of God was scarce in the land during that time. But Samuel was already beginning to perform the function of a prophet at that point, as God gave him the word to tell Eli. And then, of course, he becomes the judge. He judged them for some forty years, and so you have him performing all three of those offices. But with the call for a king under Samuel, then Samuel anoints first Saul, who turns out to be unsuccessful. And by the way, there's an interesting thing you can put together here. Judah had, back in the book of Genesis, had fallen into a sin with his son's wife. His son had been killed, and no one was raising up a seed to that son. And this woman disguised herself as a prostitute, and Judah went into her, and the result was that the line of Judah is carried on through her, really. but it's through an adulterous relationship. And the law says it has to be ten generations before anybody that's born of an adulterous line can actively serve in the house of God. And David's the first possible generation. That generation is the first possible generation. And you see what the devil was doing. He knew what the law was. He knew that line was coming down to ten generations. And so he gets the people stirred up to call a generation earlier for a king. Thinks he can short-circuit, you see, the promise of God that the line is going to come through Judah. The devil doesn't know who it's going to be through, but he did know it's coming through Judah because he'd heard that prophecy. And so he stirs the people up and they choose a man of their liking, namely Saul, a man tall and stood above everybody else, the all-Israelite boy, that type of thing, just as we would tend to want to choose a football player or something like that. We'd look at that, and he's a great hunk of a man and that type of thing. And that's the kind of man they chose in Saul. At first he starts out so well, but he's weak morally, and he ultimately defaults with regard to his obedience to Samuel's commands, and Samuel has sent them to anoint David. And with the anointing of David, you have the separation of these three lines for the rest of the Old Testament history. You have the line of the king, that's the line of Judah. The line of the priest, that's the line of the Levites, the Levi. And then the prophets could be called from among any people, but generally you would not have a king, although David did act as a prophet on occasion. But generally you don't have anyone performing all three offices again. after Samuel's period. But you have then in the beginning or development of the history, then, the three lines developing as somewhat separate lines throughout the rest of the history. We will stop at this point and then pick up with 2 Samuel chapter 7, where David wants to build God a house, and God announces he'll build him a house instead. uh... let's let's go ahead and take a break and then we'll come on back and and move on into the phone from this point