Sons of Zadok
His mother was not the same mother. I went back and looked it up.
Absalom had a different mother, but this one was younger than Absalom. Joab had been the general. Abiathar, now remember, was one of the two priests who had been loyal to David during the Absalom rebellion. Cut my head off if you want, but I love you, I love the kingdom of God and I am not going to allow it to be corrupted the way you are going. I am doing the job of a prophet the way a prophet is supposed to do it. Stop what you are doing David and turn back.
By the way, if you go back and look up this Benaiah, he was one of the mighty men of David. He was a powerful, mighty fighter, warrior, a tremendous man of faith, courage and natural strength as well. We are going to make a change right here. A mighty shout went up in the city and they blew the trumpet. And the other camp that was outside the city trying to make Adonijah king heard the shouting and the trumpet.
What is going on? Are you bringing good news or what? And I am thinking that he had to have been in the right place that day. So he had made the right decision that day. In due course Solomon had Adonijah put to death. He would have left him alone, but no. He Adonijah had to send Bathsheba in to Solomon, as ask if he could marry Abishag the young Shunammite girl that they had brought in to minister to David in his last days.
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So Solomon had him executed. He saw that he was a dangerous and ambitious man who would have taken any opportunity he could to do just what Absalom had done to David; he would have done the same thing to Solomon. In the course of time he is going to have to take care of Joab too, but let us first look concerning Abiathar, the priest who betrayed loyalty to David:.
Yes, you bore the same afflictions [If you go to I Samuel But what you did now is inexcusable; you may no longer be priest. Now what is this prophecy concerning the house of Eli? Now if you go back again to 1 st Samuel we can see what the Word of the Lord was that He spoke concerning the house of Eli. First this tells you that Abiathar was from the house of Eli. You are the one being retired. Apparently they could do so until the time of Ezekiel.
But somewhere between this time of Solomon and the time of Ezekiel there was a falling away that took place. It was Abiathar that turned away from the Lord. But I am going to show you that there is a line of Eli that is still in the priesthood up until the time of Jesus Christ, evidence from the courses that David had set in order. You see, there have been hundreds of years between Abiathar and Ezekiel. We have all this period of Ezra and Nehemiah were many priests fell away and were corrupted by marriage to unbelievers. And because of this they were put out of the priesthood.
They had corrupted themselves by nothing more than by marrying strange women and polluting the holy seed. So there were a lot of things that happened. I think there was more than just this. I believe that a great number of the priesthood genealogy line had corrupted itself to some extent and compromised itself to the point where when David actually set up the line of priests, you find that only one-third of them were from Ithmar and two-thirds were from Eleazor. Whether or not we can follow all of the details here, try to follow the big picture. Samuel is a child now and is in the temple in Shiloh.
It is not really a temple, it is more or less a tabernacle, but this tabernacle was located in Shiloh. This is a different Phinehas than the son of Eleazor in the days of Moses. Keep that in mind. The man had no name. The man never got his name in the book and yet he obeyed God and he gave a monumental prophetic Word to the priest that was recorded in the book. You are kicking at it in an obscene manner. Like an unruly heifer kicks at her master when he comes by, she gives him a kick with her hoof.
You put your sons above Me? Not only is this a picture of the fallen church, but a picture of her backslidden people. You put your own family above God. I said your family; your house was going to walk before me for ever: Did you know that? It is a very complicated name. It is also called familial hypercholesterolemia. There is a family line that has this genetic trait and they can do nothing about it. They all have cardiovascular disease and heart attacks in their thirties and forties, and if they live to be sixty it is a miracle. They have tested these families and found that every one of their children have this genetic trait.
There was one family of eleven or twelve children; I saw their pictures, beautiful people. They were nice looking handsome men and women. The girls, the boys, every one of them were found to have that genetic trait. And there are other diseases that I could also list that do the same thing.
What did some great-great-grandparent do? Go over in the same book, 1 st Samuel Chapter 14, verse 3. I am going to show you that this Abiathar is the great-grandson of Phinehas, the son of Eli. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. I just read that verse so that you would have proof of the line that he comes from. This is very difficult. It is very hard to just preach this without doing it as a study. Chapter 22, verse 9. Here is Ahimelech now, the son of Ahitub. What happened to Ahimelech and 85 members of his family, how they were slaughtered by Saul you can see in verse This man Ahimelech again was good to David; he was a good man.
He had a bad family line, but nevertheless he was a good man. David came into the tabernacle here when he was on the run from Saul, who was chasing him and trying to kill him. Remember, you used it to cut his head off. I remember once that Brother Campbell brought a great word on this subject, the mighty sword of Goliath. David was not mature enough to have that sword as a seventeen year old.
He could not possess that mighty weapon. But he is now mature and he can handle this mighty weapon to use against the enemies of God. He had no respect for the priesthood or anything consecrated or holy. Saul was likewise a vicious and wicked man When Saul found out that Ahimelech had helped David, he ordered his men to kill Ahimelech. He is the priest! He is the man that wears the ephod. He tends to the ark of the covenant. He fell on him and he killed Ahimelech and all of the defenseless priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.
Oh that prophecy to Eli, eighty-five family members! He probably took women, children and everything and everybody in that household. I did that to show you the family line that brings us up to this man that finally betrayed David. The son of one of these faithful men finally turned and betrayed David at the very last. Now what about these family lines even before Eli?
For this we need to go back into the book of Numbers.
You know that Aaron the first high priest and the brother of Moses had four sons. Now Nadab and Abihu were slain by the fire of the Lord and they had no sons. They were young men. They had played with unholy fire in bringing it into the holy place to the golden alter. There are some spiritual lessons here again, pictures of the church where they are bringing unholy fire before the Lord. What is unholy fire? What would unholy fire before the Lord be today? Could it include bringing unholy music into the house of God? We will put some Christian lyrics in here, but it will have the same beat and it will have the same spirit.
We have got to be modern. We have got to keep things on a fast, user friendly pace, you know. Bring in the drums and bring in all of the beat of the world. It is all unholy fire before the Lord. Do you want to find a picture of true worship before the Lord? Great and mighty is the Lord. Brethren, it is the same thing that Nadab and Abihu brought before the golden alter in the holy place. It is the same throne. You know the first time they do something like that, God always makes an example.
You know the first time a man gathered sticks on the Sabbath day, he was stoned. The first time Aaron and Miriam complained against Moses —she was smitten with leprosy. But this kind of thing has been going on for years and years — and they are not all getting leprosy today. If He did it every time He would wipe us all out. So they brought unclean fire. They brought fire from perhaps their own home to come into the holy place.
It is going to work. They brought flesh, man thinking, man opinion, Adamic flesh. You see flesh was not to come in there. That is part of the reason for the garments that they wear. Even wool is flesh, it comes from the sheep and it makes you sweat. But when they got to the golden altar!
The Sons of Zadok | End-Time Kingdom of God
Do you see what happened? Do you understand what the golden altar means? The golden altar is the last stop before they cross through the veil and from there they go into the holy of holies. The golden altar is where the incense is offered. If God accepts the incense offering at the golden altar, then the priest can breathe a sigh of relief.
He would see the cloud in there. Then he knew he could go in. So what does this sacrifice at the golden altar represent? You see there is a series of steps taking place in order to bring us into the holy of holies. There is the sacrifice of flesh that is taken care of out in the outer court, our flesh. Jesus was the substitute sacrifice for us. Nevertheless, our flesh should have been mortified out there. But God is after something more than just our flesh. He is after our soul. So where does the soul get its final dealing? At the golden altar.
It is still fleshly. You see the soul is either going to respond to the flesh, or it is going to respond to the spirit. The soul lies between these two. The flesh wants to drag the soul down into the carnal realm. The spirit is trying to draw the soul into the heavenly places, the spirit of man I mean. The only influence upon the spirit of man is the Spirit of God. So therefore we can say that it is God drawing the soul higher, but it is the flesh drawing the soul down. Now who has the influence over flesh? Flesh is fallen; therefore flesh can be ruled by none other than Satan, who has a claim on our flesh.
He has a legitimate claim. The final point of demarcation is at the veil. It is at the veil, the finality of flesh vs. Jesus flesh was rent on the cross and the veil in the temple was also rent at that time. The problem with our coming into the holy of holies is resolved; God has no more physical barriers there. The barriers are all within us. You can go in if you want, but you are going to do it on His terms. I suppose you could say that those are barriers, His terms. But the genetic barrier is gone. So let us go back to Numbers Chapter The two sons of Aaron that are now left alive are Ithmar and Eleazor.
So Ithmar apparently did not distinguish himself. But nevertheless, there apparently was not found in Ithmar shall we say an excellent spirit like there was in Eleazor. You read a lot more about Eleazor. When you look at this world, do you see that kind of a strong man becoming a priest or a minister? Zadok, a mighty man of valor, ruled over captains and hundreds of men who were themselves men of valor. Absalom launched a conspiracy to usurp the throne that gained a lot of momentum. He actually got to the point where he was ready to kill Israelites—and even his own father if he needed to—in order to satisfy his lust to be king!
There were two priests with David at this time: They were both very obedient to David, but I think for very different reasons. Zadok and the Levites were carrying the ark of the covenant, and after they had gone out of Jerusalem, David instructed Zadok to bring it back verses The ark really did belong in Jerusalem—but by this time, the city had grown quite hostile and rebellious toward God.
David was saying, The ark belongs in Jerusalem. If God is with me, He will bring me back to Jerusalem. It took a lot of courage to fulfill this command—but this was also a tremendous lesson for Zadok. David just trusted God, and that had to be very impressive to Zadok. David then sent Zadok and Abiathar on a mission with their sons, Ahimaaz and Jonathan, to spy for him. That was a big and a dangerous job for those sons—two young men who were likely teenagers, maybe 17 or 18 years old verses This made a good impression on the king. Later we see Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, receiving quite a commendation from David.
A battle ensued as Absalom and most of the Israelites fought against David and his servants. David took special precautions to ensure Absalom would be spared: David was weak in this situation, and he really needed Joab. But Joab decided to take matters into his own hands. As it turned out, Joab found Absalom, whose long hair had become tangled in the branches of an oak tree.
God takes vengeance on that kind of rebellion—and, when the time was right, Joab was going to be punished. Joab sent Cushi instead. Finally, when Joab relented and let him run, he outran Cushi to tell David the news. He ran because he loved David, just like his father did. This was a dark hour for David, at a time when he was a very weak king. But perhaps the messenger would bring good tidings. Notice what David said about Ahimaaz. David knew this son of Zadok, and he called him a good man. From having experience with Zadok close by, David knew this was a loyal young man, running with news of the battle.
After the battle was won, David was most of all concerned about Absalom. Absalom was a violent man, and he died violently. But David was devastated to lose him. Even with the victory, it was a dark time for David. At this time, David was old and getting weak. His son Adonijah seized the opportunity and crowned himself king, and he had a lot of power. David had not trained and challenged his son like he should have. That is the kind of training that Zadok gave his son. It was in the midst of this betrayal that the character of Abiathar, the other priest who had been loyal to David for so long, was revealed.
This is what happened to Abiathar. Abiathar had been with David for a long time. He stayed with David before he became king. He stayed with him while Saul was chasing them and forcing them to hide in caves and making their lives miserable. But in the end, he lost it all and went with Adonijah. He looked at David as a man only, and decided David was too old to lead them. Abiathar must have been giving David his support on a carnal level only. Abiathar appears to have looked only to David the man and not to the God behind him. These men remained faithful! Zadok is listed first.
Zadok’s Son: ‘A Good Man’
This indicates that Zadok had a lot to do with spiritually instructing and directing Benaiah. David taught Zadok, and then Zadok taught Benaiah—this mighty man of David. Nathan came and announced that Adonijah had called a great celebration to confirm his kingship verses Adonijah knew who was loyal to David! He knew exactly where those men stood. David quickly planned a coronation for Solomon: Because of this history!
After David gave these instructions, Benaiah responded in a most inspiring way: This response shows a wonderful perspective: Benaiah, like Zadok, was focused not on a man, but on where God was! God really blessed those men for that spiritually oriented attitude. They had the honor of anointing Solomon king. At that point, the whole situation turned around very rapidly.
Later, Benaiah was given an important job. Adonijah was given a chance to live, but he rebelled again and deserved to die. Joab, too, needed to be executed for some of the things he had done. Once Solomon became king, he directed Benaiah to kill both of these men. Do you see gutsy men like this in Israel today?
Before Zadok Became a Priest
When David was a teenager, he slew a lion and a bear, and then Goliath. Benaiah followed that example and fought against great odds. This is the kind of warrior you would want on your side! That may seem incongruous. But the fact is that it took great faith to do such mighty deeds. God has called us to be spiritual soldiers. We are here to take on the worst Goliath of all time: Jubilee Bible But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, said the Lord GOD.
King James Bible But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, says the Lord GOD: American King James Version But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, said the Lord GOD: American Standard Version But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me; and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah: Brenton Septuagint Translation The priests the Levites, the sons of Sadduc, who kept the charges of my sanctuary when the house of Israel went astray from me, these shall draw night to me to minister to me, and shall stand before my face, to offer sacrifice to me, the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God.
Douay-Rheims Bible But the priests, and Levites, the sons of Sadoc, who kept the ceremonies or my sanctuary, when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me, to minister to me: Darby Bible Translation But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall approach unto me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to present unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah.
English Revised Version But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me; and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: Webster's Bible Translation But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: World English Bible But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me; and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord Yahweh: Young's Literal Translation 'And the priests, the Levites, sons of Zadok, who have kept the charge of My sanctuary in the wandering of the sons of Israel from off Me, they draw near unto Me to serve Me, and have stood before Me, to bring near to Me fat and blood -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah:.
All the fat is the LORD's.