Let us hear God's word. 1 Samuel 14 and verse 24, And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had placed the people under oath, saying, Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies. So none of the people tasted food. All the people of the land came to a forest, and there was honey on the ground. And when the people had come into the woods, there was the honey dripping. But no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath. Therefore, he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his countenance brightened. Then one of the people said, Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed is the man who eats food this day, and the people were faint. But Jonathan said, My father has troubled the land. Look now how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found. For now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines? Now they had driven back the Philistines that day from Michmash to Eilan, so the people were very faint. And the people rushed on the spoil, and took sheep, oxen, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground. And the people ate them with the blood. Then they told Saul, saying, Look, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood. So he said, You have dealt treacherously. Roll a large stone to me this day. And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, bring me here every man's ox and every man's sheep. Slaughter them here and eat and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood. So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and slaughtered it there. And Saul built an altar to the Lord. This was the first altar that he built to the Lord. Now Saul said, let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatever seems good to you. And the priest said, Let us draw near to God here. So Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel? And he did not answer him that day. And Saul said, Come over here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see what this sin was today. For as the Lord lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. Not a man among all the people answered him. Then he said to all Israel, you be on one side, and my son Jonathan and I will be on the other side. The people said to Saul, do what seems good to you. Therefore Saul said to the Lord God of Israel, give a perfect lot. So Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped. And Saul said, Cast lots between my son Jonathan and me. So Jonathan was taken. And Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. And Jonathan told him and said, I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand, so now I must die. Saul answered, God do so and more also, for you shall surely die, Jonathan. But the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not. As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die. Then Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Well, tonight we come to a conclusion here of this account, beginning in chapter 13, verse 1, and down through verse 46 here in this chapter. We began with Jonathan riling up the Philistines by attacking the garrison in Geba, and then the full army of the Philistines came out against Israel, which scared everybody. Jonathan then again attacked another garrison, or at least in a different place, this one nearer to Michmash, and this time it led to fear, but for the Philistines. Because of his faith in God and in the promises that God had made to Samuel initially and then to Saul. We see that Jonathan acts on this promise. He routes the Philistines and they then flee toward home. But Saul, we have seen, of course, on the other hand, does not live by faith, but takes matters into his own hands in chapter 13 by sacrificing before Samuel comes. And here in chapter 14, we see him sitting around in fear, is the assumption. And then, even when Jonathan strikes fear in the Philistines, Saul foolishly binds his soldiers to this vow of fasting. And for a day of traveling up to about 25 miles, running and chasing and fighting with the Philistines, they were not allowed to eat. And so understandably, the Israelites are famished. But Jonathan, being elsewhere, had not heard this vow and ate some of the honey. Once he learned of it, he rebukes his father, but indirectly when he is with the other soldiers. Clearly, Israel could have been more successful if their king had ruled wisely. So, we ended with verse 30 last time, and we pick up now here in verse 31, and again it reads this, "'Now they had driven back the Philistines that day from Michmash to Eilan, so the people were very faint So here's where I want you to look at the map here a moment, and maybe you have one in your Bibles, and at least on the one side of my map here, you'll see that Gibeah is just a few miles north of Jerusalem, okay, three, four miles. And this, of course, is where they started the day, at least Saul and the 600 men. And on the other side, on the other map, remember that Gibeah then is right below the E in Benjamin. Michmash is right above the E in Benjamin, just a few miles north of Gibeah. And so now the Israelites are chasing the Philistines from that point toward Philistia. So on your maps, you may see Ekron and Gath and Ashdod and so forth. They're heading in that direction. Ayalon is anywhere from 15 to 20 miles in that direction. There's some difference of opinion because we're not totally sure where Ayalon was. But again, imagine doing this. This is rugged terrain. This isn't, you know, the flat plains of the Midwest or something like that. This is up and down, mountainous, and It probably was hot. Honey does not drip in the middle of the winter. And so are we in the 80s, in the 90s? Certainly Israel can get up to 100 degrees in the middle of the summer. We don't know for sure, but this was a very taxing event here for Israel. And so quite obviously, they were very faint, or you could say exceedingly faint. Now last week, you might remember, I asked you to think about a time where you've been very weak with hunger. And for many of us, maybe it's because we have been sick and we haven't eaten for a few days. For some of us, maybe there have been other reasons why we haven't eaten. For myself, because of my low blood sugar, I have to eat on a fairly regular basis or I can get very weak and shaky and even pass out and so forth. So there have been times where I've been out and I haven't eaten since lunch and it's, you know, especially if I'm trying to get a job done, it's 8 p.m. and we're working till dark, you know. At least I think we can understand this hunger to some degree. But imagine what the soldiers were facing. Now notice this important point. The Philistines were being driven by fear. If they knew and had stopped and turned around, the Israelites would have been completely wiped out. They could not have fought against a standing Philistine army. They could help drive them away, but that's about it. And so the Israelites would have been slaughtered if it weren't for God protecting Israel. Saul was a terrible leader, yet he's a king like the nations. As the saying goes, that the military is just cannon fodder for those in power. And so what we see here is Rex Lex. the king is law, and you've just got to do whatever the king says, whether it makes sense or not. So note Saul is acting like the nations. Now, verse 32, and the people rushed on the spoil and took sheep, oxen, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground, and the people ate them with the blood. Now the first consequence of Saul's action is actually in regard to Jonathan and how he had broken the vow unknowingly, but we'll come back to that point. The second main consequence now is the hunger of these men and how they were so hungry that they basically ate these animals raw. They killed them, but that was about it. Maybe they sliced them open a little bit, and maybe we should imagine them like carrion, just pulling the meat from the bones, or like a lion, sticking their face right in the meat and eating and drinking the blood. The point is they didn't drain the blood, and certainly they didn't roast it over a fire. These men surely were faint, as it says. Maybe they're shaking. Maybe they're hangry, as we might say, but they're acting like animals. Now, the verse begins, and the New King James says, the people rushed on the spoil. That's fair. The Hebrew says, the people swooped down with shrieks. So imagine carrion flying down and grabbing the roadkill or something that we might see. This is how these soldiers are acting. They are so hungry. Now, maybe you're wondering, why are they even eating now? Because Saul had made this vow back in verse 24, and it says, curse the man who eats any food until evening before I have taken vengeance on my enemies. Well, he hasn't fully taken vengeance yet. So why are they eating? Is this because Jonathan was eating? Or is it just simply because it's evening and they forgot the rest of the oath and they just started eating? I don't know. Maybe they just thought it was dark now, it's time to eat. But notice how Saul's vow led to men breaking one of God's most basic laws. Now the men are responsible for their sin. But Saul has the greater culpability because of his foolish vow and being king. Let's turn a moment to Genesis chapter 9 at the recreation after the flood. Prior to the flood, they were not allowed to eat meat. But after the flood, in verse 3 of Genesis 9, he does give them permission to have meat. but then in verse 4 he qualifies it and says, but you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And so here are these soldiers ignoring this command. Can you say it's a global command? This applies to every human being being given here in Genesis 9. If you turn to Leviticus chapter 7, you'll see that this word then is given specifically to Israel, in fact, on multiple occasions. And so this isn't just a command for every human, but for God's people, we see this as well. Leviticus 7, verse 26, it says, moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people. I didn't read this, but in Genesis 9, it talks about capital punishment after verse 4. But here, it's specific in regard to Israel. They should be cut off for what these soldiers were doing. This is serious. This isn't just, oh, they're hungry, you know, don't worry about it, you know. They deserve judgment. But again, ultimately, it's because Saul put them in a very bad position. So verse 33 now, back here in 1 Samuel. And then they told Saul, saying, Look, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood. So he said, You have dealt treacherously. Roll a large stone to me this day. All right, two parts here, this verse and the first one. Presumably there were some who were not eating these animals raw and not eating the blood, and they were the ones who told Saul. But notice how Saul responds. The king does not acknowledge wrongdoing. Kings never blame themselves. No one will admit wrongdoing who is in power, or very, very, very few. You have a David who will do it every now and again, but very few. So just one example that we are facing today. No one is going to admit that the vaccine is spreading the virus, even though all the studies are showing that. It is a leaky virus, is what they call it. Fauci even warned of it in April of 2020. Remember, this is when Trump was still in the presidency. And he said, we can't just put out a virus or excuse me, a vaccine, unless we know it's going to work, because it might make the virus worse. Well, that's exactly what's happening. The vaccine may look good and help in some ways, but it's actually making it worse. More people have died since the vaccine than before. And certainly there are far more cases now that the vaccine is out and about. The point is this, again, if you think I'm being political, you're not listening. The point is that when somebody passes a law and the law creates problems, you fix it with more laws. You don't get rid of the first law. That's what the world does. That's what Saul is doing. You go to the doctor and the same thing happens. Take this pill, it'll help you. Well, then there's all these side effects. You need another pill, and then you need another pill. Maybe we should approach the problem differently, but that's for another conversation. But do you see the point here? Rex Lex, the king is law. And so Saul, instead of acknowledging that his vow was a bad vow and repenting of that vow, he's giving more commands. There are several in these next verses. And the first thing he says was, You have dealt treacherously. You sinned. It's your fault. What are you doing?" Even though he put them in this position. And then Saul's solution is this. Bring a stone. Now remember, these men can hardly even walk. They are so weak. And now Saul wants a stone and not a little one. So verse 34, then Saul said, more commands here, disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, bring me here every man's ox and every man's sheep, slaughter them here and eat and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood. So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and slaughtered it there. What these men were doing was wrong. They should not be doing it. And Saul, um, at least does something good here. He tells them to spread the word, to bring animals, to be slaughtered, and to drain out the blood like they're supposed to do. And so Saul is helping them to stop their sin. That's a good thing. This is a reasonable solution. But note again, he is shouting commands. He is taking no responsibility for his bad bow. So, verse 35, then Saul built an altar to the Lord. This is the first altar that he built to the Lord. Now, building an altar is not necessarily wrong. We see this many times in the scriptures, so this isn't inherently wrong on Saul's part. Presumably, though, they are going to offer sacrifices on this altar, right? Not just roast the meat. but presumably a sacrifice to atone for sin. And we know from last chapter that Saul is not averse to offering sacrifices, and he should not. So the question for us then is, did Saul do it again? There is nothing clear here in the text that says that he did. Maybe he did. In the next verse, the priest is mentioned, presumably that's referring to Ahijah, so presumably Ahijah was part of the process of the sacrifice. But then we have this statement, this is in his first altar, which suggests to us maybe this wasn't a good thing. Now the Hebrew is a bit difficult here on how to translate that part of the verse, but presumably this is a fair way of translating it. and maybe it's suggesting Saul is getting off base here with this. But whatever the case, note the overall point that the army deserved to die for what they were doing. But, here's a sacrifice to atone for their sin. Saul should have repented of his vow, but he doesn't. And so again, our overall point is very clear. Man, as law, leads to all kinds of problems and sin. About 50 years ago, nine judges did the same thing, and millions of babies have been slaughtered in the meantime. Nine more people are going to make another judgment here soon. We'll see if they are any wiser. but the whole point is Rex Lex, not Lex Rex. The king is law. So whether you're talking about that, whether you're talking about the president and his executive orders, whether you're talking about a church where the pastor makes the final decision, sessions and boards help with this, but even this can lead to tyranny. And so I believe we live in an oligarchy, not a constitutional republic anymore. But even in Presbyterian circles with Sessions, we can still have tyrannical rule and have a rex lex practical rule, even if our polity says differently. So you see what is communicated to us here in the text. These men presumably are forgiven, but is Saul going to learn his lesson? Well, verse 36, now Saul said, let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, do whatever seems good to you. And the priest said, let us draw near to God here. All right. So Saul here is again, trying to be king and you know, all these commands and such, and he now wants to try to make up for lost time that he caused. If the men had eaten along the way, they would not need to go all night now. They surely would have slaughtered more of the Philistines and defeated them more thoroughly by evening time. They had to wait for the men to renew their strength, and Saul now wants to continue. The leaders of the army say, yep, okay, whatever you want to do. But here then, remember, from the rejected line of Eli, is Ahijah saying, oh wait, king, let's ask God about this first. That's a good thing. Ahijah actually stood up to the king. So, verse 37, Saul asked counsel of God, shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he, note the capital H here in the New King James, he did not answer him, Saul, that day. Alright, now, you remember last time we looked at verse 18 and we saw about the Ark of the Covenant being in Gibeah and that Saul had inquired of the Lord there. It is possible that they ran with the Ark for these 25 miles, but not very likely. You remember back in verse 3 that we were told that Ahijah had the ephod. And that makes a lot more sense because of what we go on to see in the next verses. We see the language of the lot, the verb to cast and the verb to take or to capture. The Septuagint actually adds the words the Urim and Thummim here. And so obviously they saw it as a reference to the ephod. So you remember the Ifad High Priest War, he had the breastpiece, the Urim and Thummim were in the breastpiece, and when they cast lots, we're not totally sure how they did it, but most likely what they did is they had three stones in the breastpiece, and they were either light or dark. Okay, well, so six stones, I should say. or they had an aleph on them or a tau on them. That's like A and Z, the first and last letters of the alphabet. And so they would pull them out and the usual approach is that when they asked their question and they got the same answer three in a row, then that was the answer from the gods or in this case from the true God. But if you did not get three light stones or three dark stones, then if you got two and one or one and two, then that meant no answer. It was a mixed answer. So again, presuming that we're using the ephod with the Urim and Thummim here, basically they ask the question and the answer is no answer. It's this mixed answer. So Saul is like, okay, what do I do now? So verse 38 then, Saul said, come over here all you chiefs of the people and know and see what this sin was today. Saul presumes that somebody has sinned. Not his own sin in part of this, of course, but he assumes somebody has sinned. Now you might remember back in chapter 10, for those of you who are here, when the lot was used to choose Saul as king. I made some comments about the lot, and one of the comments was that the lot is often used in the context of sin. Now this isn't necessarily every time, nor does this mean that the lot was sinful. However, they are frequently used in the context of sin. The choosing of the king was obviously in the context of sin. Chapters 8, 10, and 12 make that abundantly plain. When they used the lot for Jesus' garments, obviously that was in the context of sin, our sin that He died for, plus the sin of the religious leaders and so forth against Jesus. In Acts 1, when they chose Matthias to replace Judas, that was because of his sin. Even when they came into the promised land and had the tribal allotments, that is also in the context of sin, the sin of the Canaanites that's being judged. But maybe the one that is closest here in similarity is the sin of Achan in Joshua chapter 7. There, God said, do not take the spoil from Jericho, and Achan, of course, didn't listen, and the lot found him out, and he was judged. His family was killed. Here in this case, the king passes a law about eating, and it seems like he's treating it in the same way as Achan sinned, which seems to be in a very different category. So then, verse 39. For as the Lord lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But not a man among the people answered him." Notice Saul keeps putting out commands and now another vow. And in this case, he even specifically says, if my son is guilty, he will die. Now this language here of surely die should remind us of Genesis 2 verse 17. It's the exact same language. There God said, if you eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die, die, right? You will surely die. Well, here Saul is using the same language. It reminds me of Genesis 4 when Lamech uses God's language to boast about killing a man who just harmed him. I think we should see a haughtiness here on Saul's part. I think that's the point. Not just for emphasis, though that is there, but also to highlight Saul's pride. Now, you might also be thinking of what we saw in Judges with Jephthah. When he made a vow, first thing out of his house, he would give to the Lord. Of course, it turned out to be his daughter, and he ended up killing his own daughter. Here now, Saul is willing to sacrifice his own son for a foolish vow that Saul made. Now, notice that nobody speaks. Nobody responds to Saul, not even Jonathan. Now maybe you wonder, why did he not do this? Should Jonathan have responded here? Well, maybe we should say yes, but he doesn't. Some have tried to speculate as to all the, can you say, emotional turmoil in these few verses. Some have suggested that Saul suspected Jonathan, that's why he said it. Some have said that this was a message to his son because he saw Jonathan as a threat. Think, of course, what happens later with David. Is this a nice way to kill off this threat? Some people go down this path in interpreting this, but I don't think Saul's there yet. That evil spirit is not upon him yet. At that point, we will definitely see Saul doing those things. But I don't know if we can say that at this point. So anyway, let's look at verse 40. And then he said to all Israel, you be on one side and my son Jonathan and I will be on the other side. People said to Saul, do what seems good to you. So the first lot here is established. This is the question, okay, this yes or no kind of question. And the people say, that's fine. And yet Saul, again, is being very emphatic, very kingly, and that pronoun is repeated. You do this. Verse 41, therefore Saul said to the Lord God of Israel, give a perfect lot. So Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped. And so Saul here is petitioning Yahweh, and this time the answer is given, unlike we saw before. And so Saul and Jonathan, literally the word is captured. It's the word that we see associated with Lot, the casting of Lot. And then the people, literally it says they were freed. Escaped is a fair way of translating that word. But note the capturing language versus the setting free language. So then verse 42, and Saul said, cast lots between my son Jonathan and me. So Jonathan was taken. Again, note the language of the lot being used here. You'll notice in the New King James, the word lot is in italics, which it's not actually in the Hebrew. But the verb cast and the verb take is obviously assuming that. Note more commands for the king. Note here that Jonathan is taken. So, verse 43, then Saul said to Jonathan, tell me what you have done. And Jonathan told him and said, I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hands, so now I must die. I think we should understand this as filled with emotion. First you have Saul basically saying, tell me what you did. And then Jonathan responding. And he responds, and the verb is repeated here too. So in this case, it's tasted, tasted. The New King James says only tasted to try to, excuse me, communicate the emphasis. And then his final response, is behold, I, I shall die. And so note the emotion here. So verse 44, Saul answered, God do so and more also, for you shall surely die, Jonathan. So note the die die here, this emphasis here again. Saul here now is calling on God and note that Saul is making another vow. Now, I think we should see Jonathan submitting to the king at this point. He does finally admit, maybe he should have done it earlier, but at this point, he does do it. There's no indication he's really defending himself or giving excuses. But Saul, like Jephthah, is willing to kill his own child. Now, let's ask this very simple question. Does the punishment fit the crime? Even if we could justify Saul's vow, does the punishment fit the crime? I don't think we can justify the vow. I think it was a sinful vow. He should have repented of it, and here the punishment makes no sense. Rex Lex, the king is law, whatever he says goes. But remember, he is just a man. And so verse 45, But the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not. As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan and he did not die. Now they were silent back in verse 39, but no more. The people step up and redeem Jonathan, rescue him. Not with sacrifice, not with money, but notice they restrain the king. They rescue Jonathan with their words. They utter their own vow. in contrast to Saul. Now remember what we have seen since chapter 8. The king is permitted by God, but the king must be restrained. He cannot do whatever he wants. Remember Samuel warned Israel, the king's going to take. That's what kings do. They take from us. And so be ready for that. But then Samuel gives us the example that we must restrain the king. Samuel's job was to do that, but he's not here. So Ahijah did some restraining. We saw that. Saul's ready to go. And Ahijah said, well, wait, let's talk to the Lord first. And that led to this particular situation. So Ahijah did some restraining, but maybe he should have restrained Saul with the vow from the first place. But notice now the people are restraining the king. The king must be restrained. Remember our constitutional monarchy we saw in chapter 10. Remember we saw the covenant in chapter 11, or sorry, chapter 12, where it talks about the law of Moses, now with the king. The king is bound to the law. Lex Rex. And if he's not going to do that, he must be held accountable. That's what Paul is telling us in Romans 13. He's not just saying submit no matter what. The government has a job. They must punish the evildoer and praise those who do good. And if they don't do that and start serving Satan, it is our responsibility to tell them that they're doing wrong. This is what David teaches us in Psalm 2. And so, here it is. Ahijah did some restraining, and now the people restrain the king, because the king has forgotten to restrain himself. The king is about to take the life of his own son just to keep his foolish vow and maybe keep up appearances, you could say. Saul should have repented, but now, the people step in. Saul blames the people. Possibly he sins at the altar. He's about to kill his son. But there is a guard for the guard. God established it in 1 Samuel 8. We see it in Psalm 2. And whenever there is no guard to guard the guard, tyranny runs rampant. the people, we the people, you could say, are restraining Saul, just like they're supposed to do. Now, Samuel should have been there, but that was part of the judgment. He wasn't. Ahijah should have done more, and the king should have done it himself. But the people step in. And so prophets must restrain the magistrate. And when they don't, when the church fails, as they are clearly doing in our country today, then the people can't just simply submit. They should submit while restraining the king. And so, here's this theme yet again. Yet again. Now, I'm not sure we have enough information here in the text to say much more about Jonathan. He does resist his father in verses 29 and 30, but he does not resist him here. I think he had every right to do so, being submissive yet still restraining the king, but there's no indication of that here. Maybe we should say that's sinful on Jonathan's part, but whatever the case, as we submit We must tell leaders how they are ruling unjustly. If we don't do it, then we become the false prophet. We are failing at our job. And so when the proper authorities fail to restrain those in power, then the people have every right to do this. to ensure justice. Now, not because, you know, you want more tax money or something, you know, ridiculous. We're talking about to ensure justice, which Saul is not doing here. And so when people like Saul serve Satan instead of Yahweh, it's our responsibility to tell them to stop. Notice how the people essentially have chosen Jonathan over Saul. You might say that the people gave Saul a vote of no confidence here, and the people saw Jonathan as their king to some degree, their savior to some degree. So anyway, lots to say, of course, but let's now look at verse 46. Then Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place. Do you see how the Philistines have escaped? Jonathan was defeating the Philistines and leading Israel against them. Saul, because of his foolish vow, let them escape. And notice, even when Saul goes to ask God, God does not give an answer, which I think is an answer. I'm not happy with you, Saul, and we're going to let the rest of the Philistines escape. More could have been defeated. So Israel's enemies are still out there. It's the Philistines, of course, who kill Saul in the end, even though he falls on his own sword. Let me end here tonight with reading from Dr. Robert Bergen as he summarizes this section. He says this, taken as a whole, verses 24 to 45, is a stunningly effective critique of all monarchies. This passage showcases a spectrum of frailties and follies that preset monarchies. Using Saul, Israel's first monarch, as an example, The narrative demonstrates that kings could lead Israel into battle, but they could also diminish a nation's capacity to achieve victory. Kings could build altars for the subjects to sacrifice to God, but they could not guarantee an encounter with the divine. They could utter powerful words like curses and oaths, but lacked the power to bring about their fulfillment. After Saul was rebuffed by his soldiers, He ended the battle and let the remaining Philistines get away. Though Israel had won a victory on that day, Saul and consequently kingship had suffered a humbling defeat." So as I've been saying since chapter 8 and even before, this I think should be our understanding. And thankfully our founding fathers had a similar view or we'd be in much worse shape than we are today. So anyway, here then, we come to a kind of stopping point. We'll have no service next Sunday because of Christmas Sunday, and we'll pick up then with some of these summary things at the end of chapter 14. So, let's pray together. Our Father and our God, we again thank You for Your Word and how You, how You've been teach us so many things here, especially about governance. And it seems like you have an interest in politics, and there is much for us to learn, and so many of us have forgotten these truths here in our land, and even in the church. Lord, we pray that you would give us the right understanding of how you want governance to work. yes in a society but even as we apply these things in a church or even our families. Lord we pray that you would give us wise leaders that will want to serve you and not to be kings and magistrates that do their own thing. But Lord when They do that, we pray that you would give us the strength, the boldness, the wisdom to know how to submit and also to know how to restrain them and to call them back to do what you have called them to do, to serve you and not themselves and the dragon. Lest we become a false prophet. Lord we pray for your mercies in this way and we pray Lord you would give us opportunities and surely they seem to be coming sooner and faster. So Lord we pray that you would be gracious in these ways and that your name would be magnified that we would always remember that you ultimately are our King. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.