Featured Can you sort this out?

Do you understand Righteousness and Obedience well enough to sort this out?

I am going to ask a Trick Question:

1 Samuel 22:6-23
My summary: David had taken refuge with the priests at Nob. Doeg the Edomite tells King Saul. The King goes to Nob and orders the execution of the priests there. None of King Saul's men would obey him and kill the priests. Except for Doeg, who kills all of the priests except Abiathar (who escapes).

Who did God's will, Saul's men who refused to kill the priests or Doeg, who did kill them?

1 Samuel 3:11-14
11 Then the Lord said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. 14 And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

And finally,

1 Kings 2:26-27:
26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for [a]you are deserving of death; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and because you were afflicted every time my father was afflicted.” 27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, that he might fulfill the word of the Lord which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.

So, did Doeg the Edomite commit a righteous act when he obeyed the King, who was in rebellion against God?

I have been thinking about this for a while and thought it might be a good subject for my first thread.

BTW...I'm still working on that blog about Good and Evil. I submitted it to a friend with a seminary degree and was given some advice and pointers.

I have posted it.

 

I fell into this because St. Peter and St. Paul both tell us to obey the government. And at that time they were under Roman government. I accidentally found the Scripture about Solomon and Abiathar. That reminded me about the Priests at Nob and the refusal of King Saul's men to kill them. And...Jesus uses the incident (Luke 6:1-6) to explain the Sabbath. Sometimes Bible study makes my brain hurt.

 

Yeah. He judged Babylon alright. Daniel was an eyewitness to that judgment. But I think it was because the Babylonians did not respect God in any way. And when that fool of a king sent for the Holy Vessels to use for his sinful acts, God took action.

As for God's will that Israel be taken captive: we have God warning Israel and Judah over and over that it was not His Will that they be disobedient. He did that which He saw fit to bring the nation back to Him.

It was God's will that Eli's family be removed from the priesthood. He told this to Eli through the boy Samuel.

 

Nebuchadnesser was not concious of being obedient to God in his siege of Judah. He did it because he thought it would make him even greater. Yet he did do the will of God.

The Priests at Nob were already condemned: not for what they had done, but for what Eli allowed his sons to do. And, if Jesus uses David's eating of the showbread to illustrate how the Sabbath works, then that must have been in God's will.

Doeg the Edomite did not disobey King Saul. The rest of the army did. But that's not my question. However, I was unaware of Calvin's doctrine. Good thing to know.

My question really is a trick question: King Saul was in rebellion against God. Yet God uses him to implement the curse God had placed on Eli's family. So the question really is, "Are you doing God's will if you obey an earthly king who is in rebellion and in obeying that earthly king you actually end up doing God's will?"

It is a question of Obedience. And it is a question of what is in your heart. What do you suspect was in Doeg the Edomite's heart when he decided to obey King Saul?

 

This is not about establishing moral doctrine. This is about how a person interprets moral doctrine in order to do that which is right. The question is about what is in your heart.

The historical accounts are there for many reasons. One of them is to illustrate the moral doctrine. But you are most certainly right in that one should not try to determine moral doctrine from the historical accounts, alone. The rest of the Bible is also there for a reason.

 

I remember something about Cyprian of Carthage...
He first went into hiding...
Wasn't he the one who said that those Christians who had bowed to the emperor should be forgiven? That caused a huge problem for many. Their bishop, their spiritual advisor, who had authority over them, was asking that those who had bowed to the emperor be accepted back into the Church...with penance, of course.
That was someone in spiritual authority saying what many did not want to hear. Many had died as you say, suffering the consequences. Their relatives had a difficult time with his "request" that the cowards be forgiven.
I think it was Cyprian. It was a bishop during the Roman persecution.

 

That's IT!
The context of a verse includes not only the verses around it, but also the moral, ethical context.
I had forgotten about "God's left hand".
But it is what I was thinking about.
What was in Doeg's heart? We don't know. But note that Solomon did not kill Abiathar. Yet God's curse was fulfilled.
Thanks. This was a good exercise.