ACCEPTING CORRECTION and wise counsel can be difficult, but it can save us from a world of trouble. 

The value of wisdom as opposed to following one’s unrestrained appetites is again a theme in this week’s proverbs. And, as always, we find verses that are especially timely right now:

Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days. (Proverbs 28:15–16, ESV)

THE CONTRAST between God and kings, and between wisdom and folly, are a central theme of these proverbs of Solomon.

While God’s glory is manifest through the mysteries of His creation, it is the duty of a ruler to know and understand to rightly govern. Likewise, wisdom is exhibited through prudent behavior, hard work, and self-restraint, while fools are “like a dog that returns to his vomit.”

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”: www.bit.ly/name-ot

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.

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 GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.

SOLOMON’S prayer of dedication for the Temple includes a phrase we read often in the Psalms, “steadfast love,” which is sometimes translated “mercy,” “favor,” “loyalty,” or “lovingkindness.” 

The Hebrew word chesed doesn’t have an exact English equivalent, but it appears 245 times in the Old Testament which means it’s important. 26 of those uses occur in our reading of Psalm 136, which reminded the Israelites—and us—that God’s live is for eternity. 

Our question of the week: What is the difference between Israel and Judah?

SOLOMON’S PRAYER of dedication is a wonderful petition to God, asking Him to listen to the prayers of His people. 

Solomon notes that repentance, turning from sin, is important, and that “there is no one who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46), a concept we see again in the New Testament (1 John 1:8). 

Our question of the week: What is Behemoth? 

THE SIN OF THE WATCHERS is framed by the Book of 1 Enoch as a violation of the natural order. 

Chapter 2 through chapter 5 verse 3 (3:7 in the SEV) detail all of the ways creation follows a pattern established by God. Then the author turns to the rebellious angels, charging them with faithlessness, rebellion, and speaking “proud and hard words” (or “slanderously grave and harsh words”) against God. Their sin, in other words, is not just disobedience; it’s unnatural! 

It’s clear in chapter 6 that the rebellious Watchers knew that commingling with human women was wrong; their leader, Shemihazah, admitted it in so many words, afraid that he alone would be held accountable for “this great sin.” His colleagues agreed to swear by a mutual oath to proceed. 

This event was remembered for millennia. Sometime around the beginning of the Christian era, a 6,000-pound limestone stela was left inside a temple on the summit of Mount Hermon, where this oath was sworn (1 Enoch 6:6 [3:5, SEV]), commemorating the event. Dr. Doug Hamp published the first new information derived from the Watcher Stone in more than a century in his book Corrupting the Image II. Here’s the link to the excerpt from Derek’s book The Second Coming of Saturn that cites Doug’s new translation. 

The question is whether the Watchers came to Earth specifically to commit this sin or, as Justin Martyr wrote in his Second Apology (c. 161 AD), they were appointed to watch over humanity by God and decided to transgress after they got here. And, as L. A. Marzulli suggested in a 2022 episode of our program The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries, were they talked into this sin by Satan, who wanted Shemihazah—a powerful rival—out of the way? 

Next time (October 27, 2024), we’ll discuss the consequences of the transgression of the Watchers. 

Here is a link to the three-part interview from 2006 with the late Dr. Michael Heiser about Gnosticism and The Da Vinci Code.

Here’s the link to the episode of The Bible’s Greatest Mysteries with L. A. Marzulli about Satan, Shemihazah, and “the angelic suicide mission” to overthrow God (link opens YouTube video).

SOLOMON SPENT more time building his palace than he did constructing the Temple of Yahweh.

This week, we read the details of the home Solomon built for himself, the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its size suggests it was used for multiple things, but the fact remains that it was under construction for thirteen years while the Temple was finished in seven.  For further reading, here’s a good article on Solomon’s house: https://bit.ly/solomons-house

We also discuss the craftsman, Hiram of Tyre, who is not to be confused with King Hiram, who supplied building material and workers for the Temple. Conflating the two is behind the story of Hiram Abiff, a key character in the rituals of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

Derek wrote a paper on how Hiram Abiff is a blind, or a symbol, for the true object of veneration in the highest degrees of the Scottish Rite, Nimrod. Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/nimrod-freemasons

BECAUSE DAVID had been a man of war, the task of building the Temple in Jerusalem fell to his son, Solomon.

This week, we read the accounts of the Temple’s construction, and how Hiram, king of Tyre, provided the timber and craftsmen for the work. We also note that account in 1 Kings records that Solomon built the Temple “for the Name of Yahweh.” We briefly discuss the meaning of “the Name,” which does not refer to God’s reputation, but an embodied person—an important part of the Godhead in ancient Israel.

For more, we recommend Dr. Michael Heiser’s article at the Faithlife Study Bible, “The Name Theology in the Old Testament”: www.bit.ly/name-ot