Do Not Rejoice When Your Enemy Falls

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Do Not Rejoice When Your Enemy Falls

Proverbs 24–25

September 1, 2024 • Proverbs 24, Proverbs 25

HUMILITY WHEN an adversary falters is one of the lessons in this week’s study of Proverbs.

We continue with “sayings of the wise” before returning to more proverbs of Solomon. Themes to take away from this week’s study: Do not envy evildoers or rejoice when they’re punished; do not be lazy, because that path leads to poverty; do not curse your enemies, but bless them instead; and wisdom is to be valued above material wealth.

The Lord Appears to Solomon a Second Time

November 3, 2024 • 1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 8

YOU’D THINK an appearance by God Himself would be enough to keep even a king on the straight and narrow for the rest of his life. After completing the Temple, God revealed to Solomon the blessings and consequences for obeying His Law or turning aside to worship other gods—which, sadly, we will learn is exactly what Solomon did as an older man. We also discuss the significance of 1 Kings 9:3, where God tells Solomon, “I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever.” We’ve discussed “Name theology” in previous episodes, and we encourage you to read Dr. Michael Heiser’s article at the Faithlife Study Bible, “The Name Theology in the Old Testament”: http://www.bit.ly/name-ot

And They Were, All of Them, Two Hundred

October 27, 2024

THE SINS of the “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6:1–4 are listed in detail in chapters 6 through 8 of the Book of 1 Enoch. Specifically, the rebellious Watchers “defile[d] themselves” by commingling with women and taught humanity things we weren’t supposed to know—the making of weapons, sorcery, beguilement, enticement, and venerating the sun, moon, and the host of heaven. The monstrous offspring produced by these unholy unions became an existential threat to humankind, eating the produce of human labor and, when that was gone, eating humans. Not content to contaminate the human genome, “they began to sin against the birds and beasts and creeping things and the fish, and to devour one another’s flesh. And they drank the blood.” (1 Enoch 7:3–5) In short, the Nephilim were consummate evil. Next month, we’ll discuss the intercession of the archangels Michael, Sariel (or Uriel), Raphael, and Gabriel on behalf of humanity.

Put Not Your Trust in Princes

October 20, 2024 • Psalm 148, Psalm 149, Psalm 134, Psalm 146, Psalm 147

TRUSTING IN other people will usually disappoint. This week’s reading in Psalms is timely, giving that we’re less than three weeks away from electing a new president in the United States. Americans, remember this verse: Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. Ps. 146:3 (ESV) “A son of man” in this context refers to a human, not to the New Testament “Son of Man,” a messianic title Jesus applied to himself nearly 80 times. The point is that we need to remember, amidst all the distractions of life, that there is only One who “keeps faith forever,” and that is God. Our questions of the week: How do we apply scripture to our lives, given the way scripture has been “desupernaturalized” since the time of Augustine 1,600 years ago, and do our ancestors become angels when they die, watching over us in our day-to-day lives? Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to http://gilberthouse.org/hopeforsarah.