The Temple is not just a symbol of the nation, not just the hopeful dwelling place of the presence of God, not just a place for worship and ritual and ceremony and sacrifice, it is also a target for the Lord's enemies. It is almost as an extra burden and responsibility for it's devout. If this place is going to be called by the name of God it's attendants better well represent the God for which it represents. The poor overall historical context of Israel's attempt to do this is a warning and ensample for us today with our "Temple of the Holy Spirit" kjv@1Corinthians:3:16-17.
No doubt that prophets are held to a higher standard for having been a representative of the name of God. This prophet did as he was told in the first instance but, was tricked into disobeying in the second. He could withstand the request of a king but not the request of another lying prophet. Familiarity and similarity can breed disobedience.
There is a vast difference between believing "in" God and believing "God". They are two different objects. The devils believe "in" God. The hard part is to actually believe that God said this thing or did this act or commanded that we obey that; that this is His certain Will regarding salvation. It is the difference between believing in a quaint notion and believing what proceeds forth and is emanated from the real person. Here we are told that God intends for the name of His Son to be the dividing line between the saved and the unsaved, that He has set His entire course of motion from eternity past to establish just that. He doesn't have to condemn be cause the soul remaining unborn to the Spirit chooses not to be born again thus condemning itself.
The question then becomes, if they believed on the name of Jesus enough to even consider selling all that they had to give it, were they saved by their belief in their lying end? I would think it quiet possible, even though they were made an example of to the others in one regard to have been saved in the most important regard. If however, this lie is tantamount to the unpardonable sin - blasphemy against the Holy Spirit we are all in trouble. What have you held back or lied about to the brethren?
This world is filled with the truly poor and needy. There are countries we can think of that are in a constant oppressive state, countries where it's own refugees are congregated in camps just across it's borders, some for years and decades. We pray for them of course but, what to pray? There are people in the name of the Lord that are standing up for these people but they are lied against, falsely detained, immobilized. We pray for them but, what? There are those that are at the root of this. What shall we pray for them? David must have been square in the middle of some of these skirmishes. Is it wrong for him to pray this? Wrong to sing about this in the congregation? Will the wicked man ever change his ways once he has tasted blood in the waters?
The choice is not only to do whatever we will do but is whether to pollute the name of our Lord in the midst of the godless or not. Israel never really chose not to pollute, from the start there was always momentum. It was only by the merciful longsuffering of God that they were not given completely over. Notice how easy it was to pass down the rebellion of the fathers from generation to generation and how much near impossible to pass down the righteousness. The lure and pressures and ease were far too enticing.
Did you notice that Abel and Cain were offering sacrifices, but, men did not call on the name of the Lord until Enos? What men? Were there others? Remember that incest at this time was not forbidden, logically it was the only way for these people to reproduce. Notice that sisters of Cain and Abel and Seth are not recorded, there may have been many (perhaps in modern terms 7 to 1 or more). Seeing how quickly Cain's numbers grew, Abel's could have been just as quick, along with Seth's. Given the either of these brothers could have had any number of other unrecorded brothers the human race could have grown quite quickly. Only later when incest was not needed and began producing genetic flaws was it legalized against.
2012 - pBiblx2 Field Wise Bible System Version 2.0.9d - GPL3
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