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The Princes the Priests and the Prophets
buildontherock
2023-10-172024-11-29

I N THIS SERIES I PLAN TO LOOK AT HOW THE SYSTEM THAT WE HAVE ORIGINATED AND TO TRACE ITS DEVELOPMENT UP TO CURRENT TIMES. IN SO DOING I EXPECT THAT YOU WILL SEE THAT IT IS ESSENTIALLY THE SAME AND THAT IT IS DESIGNED TO OPPRESS AND KEEP MAN SEPARATED FROM GOD.

The Princes, the Priests and the Prophets

I propose that the Bible shows that apart from the obvious instigator Satan, at the root of the problems of this world are the princes, the priests and the prophets. In order that we keep the flow in mind I wand to propose three definitions.

Princes

those who control the resources and set and enforce the rules. Princes of God are His stewards and adopt His rules and acknowledge that He owns the earth and loves the people. God's princes centre on His will. False princes centre on the will of the chief prince to enslave the people. The chief prince of this earth is Satan

Matthew 4:8-9 [KJV] Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Priests

Priests are those who directly interact with the holy things with the objective of our salvation. Priests of God adopt His Feasts, Holy Days and the rest of His framework for religion as revealed in His word, to focus on the living God, who is the only true saviour. A false priesthood centres on the will of the chief prince, obscures God's word and diverts the peoples attention from the living God to trust in a false saviour, a false perfection and a false future. By this means they support the princes and share the wealth which is exploited from the people.

Prophets

Prophets are those who point the way to the future, drawing closer to perfection. They are spokesmen and hence are expected to be wise men. Spokesman of God instil faith and confidence in God and His system as perfection. They teach God's people the untainted truth of God and spread the Gospel of His Kingdom. False prophets instil faith and confidence in this world's systems by any means necessary. They function as ungodly diplomats and power-brokers to effect political and economic power. As false teachers they indoctrinate the people into false confidence in the system, as corrupt media they spread propaganda to discredit God and encourage support for the world's system, and as evil l awyers/advocates they propagate a system of legal ungodliness. As evil activists the employ subversive measures to preserve their hegemony against God's way. False prophets centre on the will of the chief prince and share in the wealth accordingly. It is interesting that the Bible says that false prophets often profess God (He is used as a tool in their exploitation) but their lives reflect that they do not fear Him, believe that He has no power and that true power is with their evil ways which come from the evil one.

The chief prince is an alternative to God and acts in place of Him. Using these definitions I will try to weave through history to trace the thread of the princes the priests and the prophets and reveal their legacy. As I complete the related articles in this series I will add them as links to the list below:

God's basic foundation

So if God's foundational people of leadership are the princes, the priests and the prophets then what is their foundational principle of operation? The answer is the same as it has always been, love. God's Love has always been implemented in the same way. The root of it is love people equal to how you love yourself and the level that supersedes that is love God. People seem to get the love people equal to yourself part but they drift off when it comes to loving God. Loving God principally means obedience.

I Samuel 15:22-23 [KJV] And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice , and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Adam and Eve

The earliest example of this is when God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit. Satan told them otherwise and who did they obey? Satan. The story unfolds in Genesis 2 and 3. That told God who they loved greatest and hence who was their master, Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness (Romans 6:16 [KJV]). The sacrifice that became linked to that was His life. If they had just obeyed then none of that would have been necessary.

Cain and Abel

The second situation where this comes out is with Cain and Abel.

Genesis 4:6-8 [KJV] And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Just to be clear sin, as in sin lieth at the door is talking about disobedience. Sin assumes that there is a law that has been transgressed since sin is defined as the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).

Israel

Israel did their best to frustrate Gd in the wilderness and then on the cusp of entering into the promised land we have this situation. They went and spied out the land and came back with an evil report but then they wanted to kill the people who showed love to God.

Numbers 14:10-12 [KJV] But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. 11 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? 12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.

Of course we know that Moses then begged for their lives again because he had to do it at the incident with the Golden Calf before. God decided to spare their lives but condemned them to wander in the wilderness. So what did they do.

Numbers 14:40-42 [KJV] And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. 41 And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. 42 Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.

They went anyways so whom did they obey? In spite of them,  under Joshua God established their children in the Promised Land and He had said, but then came the time of the judges when In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25 [KJV]). Of course they always had a King but they did not want that King, they rejected Him because they wanted one like those the rest of the nations.  Anyhow they got their king and situations went from bad to worse until God divided them into two and eventually kicked out the northern part around the time of Hezekiah, never to return. The southern part that we know as Judea hung on for a while, but eventually God sent into Babylonian captivity. After they got out they deteriorated into the Herodian kingdom where their king was not even a biological Jew. Herod the Great was its first king but he died soon after the time of Christ's birth. After that the Romans divided his kingdom among three of his sons and his sister: Herod Archelaus controlled Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; Herod Antipas was over Galilee and Peraea; Philip was in charge of the territories north and east of the Jordan River; while Salome I was given a district that included the cities of Jabneh, Ashdod, and Phasaelis. This brings us to Christ's statements:

Matthew 23:37-39 [KJV] O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Matthew 24:1-2 [KJV] And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

God had left Judea desolate just as He did with the Northern tribes, until it accepts Christ i.e. till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. So the question then becomes, do these contemporary princes, priests and prophets truly accept Christ? Do they obey Him? It is the same standard for all.

The Exodus

God first instituted His system in the Garden of Eden. It was soon subverted when He was removed as King/Prince (Romans 6:16-18) and the one who acted as priest and prophet for Him was allowed to be murdered. That is found in the story of Cain and Abel. That eventually led to a system that has the following legacy or better yet epitaph, And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5 [KJV]). God wiped the slate clean and began anew with Noah. Evil soon overtook that society and it climaxed with the Tower of Babel. God expressed His intention to build a nation from Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). They were to be in the world but not of it. They would have to be incubated at the seat (the strongest point) of the Evil one, and the strongest power at the time appeared to be Egypt, it was not personal. They had the strongest princes (pharaohs), and the mightiest prophets and priests that the evil one could produce in his world e.g And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaohs heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said (Exodus 7:22 [KJV]), showing that for a time they matched God punch for punch.

This time God did not chose to take over the world or convert the world but to establish a righteous nation in an evil world . For God to establish His chosen nation, and demonstrate His supremacy, He had to bring Israel out of that system.

Exodus 1:7-14 [KJV] And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. 8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. 11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. 13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

The chief prince feared that nation because he knew that his dominance was not legitimate and his system would be exposed for the fraud that it was. He had done nothing to justify his position of superiority but he was being rewarded handsomely by it. He had set the rules and was in a position to set more and have them enforced. The only way to successfully resist was to fear God and this nation would reveal that. He intended to stamp it out.

Exodus 1:15-20 [KJV] And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? 19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. 20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

Eventually Israel was given a spokesman in Moses and they had a true God that the midwives feared. God sent Moses to demand the freedom of His people.

Exodus 3:19-20 [KJV] And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. 20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

Moses was God's spokesman (prophet) and Aaron was his.

Exodus 4:15-16 [KJV] And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

Knowing that their only means of escape was God, the chief prince was determined to keep the true God out of the picture and out of the lives of Israels children. He drove them to work harder building his system in order to deny them time to worship God and hence sever the link that they had with their saviour.

Exodus 5:1-10 [KJV] And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. 2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. 3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. 4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. 5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. 6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, 7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. 9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words. 10 And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.

The prophets (wise men) and priests (sorcerers and magicians) of the chief prince supported the princes and resisted God.

Exodus 7:10-14 [KJV] And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aarons rod swallowed up their rods. 13 And he hardened Pharaohs heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. 14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaohs heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.

This is in a nutshell the system that was established since Cain and re-established by Nimrod and in which the called out ones (the ecclesia, Israel, the Church) were to be a beacon. As we go on I hope to make that clearer and have attempted to address it in my article called From Cain to Capitalism. As the Abels or Israels of this world we cannot fix it but we can expose it by how we live.

By Divine Right

The princes and the priests both use this doctrine to claim legitimacy and primacy but it can be used against both. From the Church's perspective, the secular authority of the king is conferred and can therefore be removed by the Church, while from the kings perspective, he has a direct relationship to God and as such can dictate the authority of ecclesiastical rulers. They play cat and mouse with this and polarise the population. They claim that God has awarded temporal power to the political ruler and spiritual power to the church.

On the subject of the divine right of kings, Wikipedia @ 2018-09-04 said this, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings

. . .it asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving the right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm. It implies that only God can judge an unjust king and that any attempt to depose, dethrone or restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute a sacrilegious act. . .

This is really an age old approach to supporting the abuse of power. In the pagan world, kings were often seen as either ruling or conquering with the backing of heavenly powers or even as divine beings themselves. According to Wikipedia @ 2018-09-04 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shulgi

Shulgi was the son of Ur-Nammu king of Ur – according to one later text (CM 48), by a daughter of the former king Utu-hengal of Uruk – and was a member of the Third dynasty of Ur. Year-names are known for all 48 years of his reign, providing a fairly complete contemporary view of the highlights of his career.

Shortly after his father's death, Shulgi engaged in a series of punitive wars against the Gutians to avenge his father.[citation needed] The only activity recorded in the year-names for his first few years involved temple construction.

Shulgi is best known for his extensive revision of the scribal school's curriculum. Although it is unclear how much he actually wrote, there are numerous praise poems written by and directed towards this ruler. He proclaimed himself a god in his 23rd regnal year.

So we see the contribution of the priests and prophets. In the Bible the doctrine draws authority from the dynasty of Saul, the first king of Israel. David refused to touch the Lords anointed. Therein lies the issue. Very few of the rulers of this world are or have ever been the Lord's anointed. Both Saul and David were messiahs.

The messiah in Judaism is a savoir and liberator of the Jewish people. In the Hebrew Bible, the Messiah is a king and High Priest but lesser messiahs can be kings alone. Messiahs do not even have to be Jewish as in the case of Cyrus the Great, who gave the order to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple.

Interestingly the princes, priests and prophets in Judaism are a major part of the current problem. According to Maimonides, Jesus was the most influential, and consequently, the most damaging of all false messiahs. Judaism rejects Jesus and forbids the worship of him as idolatry since he is a person.

On the other hand God is the same God as in the time of Saul and David, He still sends messiahs. In a short while we will get to Aiden and Iona, but before him there is another important person who lived there, Adamnan, https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/a/adomnan.html

Adomnn of Iona lived from 627/628 to 704. Adomnn is best known for his Life of Columba. Columba lived a century earlier as Abbot of Iona and was apparently one of his predecessors. I must be emphatic in asserting that although both of these men were defied by Catholicism it does not mean that they were catholic as can be seen relating to the Synod of Whitby. It is claimed that Adomnn was influential in partially bringing the Celtic Church into line with the Roman Church when he adopted the Roman dating of Easter. This had been agreed in 664 at the Synod of Whitby ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synod_of_Whitby ) and was at the heart of the huge rift between the Roman and Celtic Churches. The fact that he was Celtic and there was a rift and a Synod shows that he was not Catholic. At that time a monastery was not a catholic place of celibacy as is common today, but a self sufficient institution of learning especially about the Bible. Life of Columba is perhaps the most important surviving record from the areas (which later became Scotland) at this time. He wrote of the Irish King Diarmait mac Cerbaill's assassination and claimed that divine punishment fell on his assassin. Adomnn also recorded a story about Columba where he was visited by an angel carrying a glass book and telling him that he needed to ordain Aedan mac Gabrain as King of Dal Riata, but Columba initially refused. The angel responded by whipping him and demanding that he perform the ordination because God had commanded it. This was repeated on three successive nights until Columba agreed. At the ordination Columba told Aedan that so long as he obeyed God's laws, then none of his enemies would prevail against him. That situation is very different from that of Richard I of England.

In the Middle Ages, Richard I of England declared at his trial during the diet at Speyer in 1193: I am born in a rank which recognizes no superior but God, to whom alone I am responsible for my actions , and it was Richard who first used the motto Dieu et mon droit ( God and my right ) which is still the motto of the Monarch of the United Kingdom.

This belief is one of those most hotly opposed by the Reformation. During that time it was developed by James VI of Scotland 1567-1625), who reigned in England as James I of England (1603-1625). Louis XIV of France (1643-1715) also strongly promoted the theory. This is the same approach of all the Germanic colonialists even today.

We see modern versions of this by capitalists in their resistance to social policies on the basis that God gave us all talents, and they are entitled by God to the fruits of their efforts, wile the poor need to work for what they want. We see an ancient twist to this played out in 1 kings 20 during the reign of Ahab, which prompted God to send this message by His prophet

I Kings 20:22-23 [KJV] And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. 23 And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

Kings and religious rulers have continued to use this claim to send deluded men to their death is support of some glorious venture that primarily benefits the king or church. Our God is stronger than theirs. Throughout the years the priests and the princes have gotten together to embrace it in order to achieve their own ends. In spite of this, as Christians we abide by Romans 13 in so far as it is accurately translated:

Romans 13:1-8 [KJV] Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are Gods ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

The first clue to something fishy about the popular interpretation should begin with For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Was Nebuchadnezzar doing good works when he created the image and condemned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to the furnace? Was Nimrod doing good works when he brought the people together to build the Tower of Babel? I suggest that Romans is talking about being an activist and striving against political power by secular means. Paul is also talking about leadership/rulership in principle; he did not say For no ruler is ever a terror to good works, but to the evil. Paul proposes that there is a better way to deal with abuse of power since it is all subject to God and his will. Strive for godly love in a godly way and God will deal with abusive secular powers.

Acts 5:27-29 [KJV] And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, 28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this mans blood upon us. 29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

That is the real issue. The establishment is not always right but God does use it to maintain order, hence we do not deliberately look for conflict. When it is unavoidable we obey God rather than men. The Hebrew word for ordained is tasso and it literally means to arrange in an orderly manner. Verse 1 is telling us that the powers are each given their time by God just as Solomon said. You cannot stop it when God has ordained that there will be a time or season for a type of political condition like the tyranny that He allowed in ancient Egypt. Generally speaking the establishment is set up to discourage anti-social behaviour. If we stay out of their way we can live in peace but delinquent behaviour has a reward.

These are the fundamental issues, the who and the how. The who are the Princes, the Priests and the Prophets while the how is by claiming some divine right. By divine I mean of, from, or like God or a god. Whoever you serve is your God and that includes evolution: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? [17] But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. [18] Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness (Romans 6:16-18 [KJV]).