It took only three years for the people to realize the
mistake they had made in making Abimelech their ruler. He had already proven his lack of character
and his murderous bent to them and they were willingly complicit in his actions
in hopes of receiving reward but they found that this was a man whose only
desire was his own enrichment and aggrandizement. Why do we make these kind of mistakes? I know that I am guilty of overlooking things
I know about people for some reason or another, they have the potential to help
me or hurt me, they don't like the same people I don't like, they express their
purpose as higher, whatever, but every time we overlook what we know, what the Lord
has shown us, it is a mistake that will end up biting us.
The moneychangers and sellers of sacrificial animals had
taken over the outer courts of the temple.
They were in the area where the Gentiles could come and hear what was
being taught while not, simultaneously, defiling the temple by coming inside
its courts without having offered sacrifice or accepted the Law. Their encroachment was surely a gradual thing
and the keepers of the temple had allowed it, similar to Lot's movement from
outside Sodom to a respected elder sitting in the gate of the city. The temple was to be a house of prayer for
all peoples and this system had cut out those not in the club, they had no
chance to learn more if they had wanted to.
Jesus drove them out in order to restore the temple to its intended
purpose, no one could argue with what he had done because it was plainly true. They no longer cared about those outsiders,
they had tolerated the profiteers because of their antipathy to the outsiders
like the Romans who ruled over them.
Ananias and Sapphira wanted to be well thought of but weren't
willing to pay the price others had paid.
There were those who truly held all things in common and when they sold
property were willing to give all the proceeds for the needs of others in the
church but these two held back but represented that they had given all. There was no requirement that they give all,
the problem was a character issue, they lied.
Peter was apparently given a word of wisdom on the matter and rebuked
both of the couple separately. Their deaths
became a sign concerning the importance of character to all the people. In the end, they made a name for themselves
as a by-word, not as virtuous.
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