I mentioned in Sunday’s sermon that Moses prophesied about the desire for a king and warnings for that king. In Deuteronomy 17 the king is warned not to acquire many horses, not to go back to Egypt to get horses, not to accumulate excessive silver and gold, and not to take many wives, because they will turn his heart away from the LORD. As we flip a head 400 years to Solomon in 1 Kings 10-11 we see a summary of his administration. Lots of horses. Check. Back to Egypt. Check. Tons of silver and gold. Check, check. And a ridiculous number of wives. Check-mate. The two passages are bookends of prophesy and fulfillment. What I didn’t mention was that Moses also prescribed the antidote in advance: “And when [the king] sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law…and it shall be with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the lord his God by keeping all the words of this law…” You can’t obey what you don’t know. You can’t know what you don’t study.

-Pastor Stu