TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Date: September 2, 2026. Lesson 173-2026. Title: When a Ruler Becomes a Predator

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine Proverbs 28:15–17 and Scripture’s sobering warning about the abuse of power. God intends authority to protect the vulnerable, yet Solomon compares a wicked ruler to a roaring lion and a ranging bear hunting the defenseless. This lesson explores how greed and lack of understanding transform leadership into oppression, why those entrusted with authority must hate unjust gain, and why Scripture treats the shedding of innocent blood with such severity. Whether the authority is political, spiritual, professional, or within the home, every leader faces the same question: Am I protecting the people God placed under my care, or am I using my position to prey upon them? Lesson 173-2026 Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart You can partner with us by visiting MannaNation.com, calling 1-888-519-4935, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961 MEGA FIRE reveals the ancient recurring cycles of war and economic collapse that have shaped history for 600 years. These patterns predict America is now entering its most dangerous period since World War II. Get your copy today! www.megafire.world Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves! www.AmericanReserves.com It’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today! www.Amazon.com/Final-Day Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! www.books.apple.com/final-day Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Welcome to Morning Manor. Welcome to Morning Manor. Your teachers, Reckwiles and Dr. Burkla. Get your Bible and notebook and get ready to here before. Well, welcome to Morning Manor. Open your Bible, get a cup of coffee or tea, get into your favorite chair, and let's study the word of God together. I promise you will learn something.

today about the Bible that you've never heard before. That's because Dr. Burckhardt and I labor to go back in time and to study what the great preachers hundreds of years ago were teaching about the word of God. We've lost sight so much biblical wisdom and understanding. We're trying to revive it and bring it back. Hello, my name is Rick Wals, and my teaching partner is Dr. Raymond Burckhardt,

And our website is manna nation.com. Our lesson number today is 173-2026, 173-2026. And all of our lessons are archived at manna nation.com. And that's also the place that you can show your appreciation for this international Bible teaching ministry by sending a generous gift. We would deeply appreciate it. and it would be needed and welcome.

So, Dr. Burkhard and I are ready. We're eager to get started in studying the Word of God today from the book of Proverbs chapter 28. We're looking at verses 15, 16, and 17. Let's pray. Invite the Holy Spirit, and Dr. Burckhardt will introduce today's lesson. Our Father in heaven, we give you glory and honor. Father, your sons and daughters are here.

gathered together by the means of modern technology in a virtual Bible study class, and we are hungry for your words. So Holy Spirit, come and lead this class and feed us for the glory of Jesus and for the edification of His worldwide church. In his name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Amen.

And welcome the morning, man, everyone. No matter where you are in the world, and I say that because normally we had people tuning in. from at least a couple dozen countries around the world every time we have a morning manna session. And so we welcome you no matter where you are. No matter what time a day or night it is, we have some people that are up late at night to hear morning manna. And so either way, you're here to learn the word of God. And we're continuing our journey in Proverbs chapter 28. Today we're picking back up on verse 15, verse 15, 16, and 17. Proverbs 20.

verses 15, 16, 17. So open your Bibles, as Rick was saying. Get comfortable here, and let's read together. Some of this is going to sound familiar, but we're going to do a deep dive on some of those passage here today. And as Rick said, we always learn something new, and you will today as well. So the King James reads,

As a roaring lion and a raging bear, so is a wicked ruling on the poor people. The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor, but he that hateeth covetousness shall prolong his days. A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person

shall flee to the pit. Let no man stay him. And now we read from the Septuagint, A hungry lion and a thirsty wolf is he who, being poor, rules over a poor nation. A king in need of revenues is a great oppressor, but he that hates injustice shall live a long time.

And then verse 17, he that becomes surrety for a man charged with murder shall be in exile and not in safety. So quite a bit of difference between the King James and Septuagint. But I think you'll find that they actually fit together pretty well there. So our passage today forms the chapter's most prophetically forceful unit. three verses on the abuse of power and the seriousness with which God regards violence against human life. So a great lesson to be derived from our study today. Verse 15 supplies the governing image.

You start off with a wicked ruler over the poor is a roaring lion and a raging bear. So the comparison places him in the category of a predator rather than a protector. Then as we move into verse 16, it examines the connection between a ruler's understanding and his oppression. The prince who lacks understanding is a great oppressor, while the one who hates covetousness prolongs his days. And then verse 17 addresses bloodshed with unusual severity. The man who has done violence to another's blood flees to the pit, and the instruction given is startling. let no man stay yet. So this unit belongs in the chapter already concerned with law and with nations,

justice, and as we said, the national condition. Versus one and two connected the moral condition of a nation to its political stability. Versus 12 and verse 28 describe what happens to ordinary people when the wicked rise. and then verses 15 to 17, our passage today, examines the rulers themselves. So we're going to be diving into political rulers today. So the lesson's aim is to give the Morning Manna audience scripture's own assessment of what it calls corrupt authority,

an assessment neither flattering to power nor cynical about it either, but grounded in the conviction that rulers are accountable to a higher throne and that human life carries a weight God does not permit to be treated lightly. Rick starts us off today with an examination of verse 15. Rick? Yes, sir. Verse 15, as a roaring lion and a ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.

You have two animals, a roaring line, a ranging bear. and Solomon chose with care these two animals. He had a purpose, a reason for using a lion and a bear. Think of the lion's roar, a deep row that is associated with a predator seeking its prey. If you've ever heard a lion's roar, it is. is both majestic and hair raising. I mean, it is a sound that is unique of any other animal.

And then the bear is described as ranging. And what I think here, Doc, is what I see, I envision a mother bear robbed of her cubs. And she's ranging, she's roaming about. She's prowling. She's looking for her cubs. And she's looking for the person who took her cops. She's ranging.

She's in unrestrained fury. She's not just walking around. She is angry. So the proverb does not describe a sleeping lion, a hibernating bear. It describes two predators, dangerous predators. engaged in hunting, pursuing their prey. If you look at Romans chapter 13, verse 4, Paul describes civil government authority as the minister of God to thee for good, a protector, bearing the sword for the restraint of evil.

verse 15 in Proverbs 28 describes a ruler who has inverted that function entirely and instead of restraining predators he has become one let's read it again as a roaring lion and a ranging bear

so is a wicked ruler over the poor people so Solomon chose the images of a roaring line and a roaring line and a roaming enraged bear to describe a wicked ruler who is oppressing poor people over the poor people, people who are weak, helpless. And the specification matters. The proverb does not describe a tyrant menacing his own equals, his peers,

but a predator among those who have no defense against his power. He's persecuting a vulnerable population, people without wealth to buy protection, people without status to command a hearing, people without the means to even flee. The lion has been placed among the sheep, and the sheep had nowhere to go. Now, the proverb does not assign blame to the poor for their condition for being poor.

And the proverb does not offer them any counsel. It simply names what has happened to them because being accurately seen is the first relief available to those who cannot change their circumstances. King Solomon was a king. But he wasn't a tyrant. But Doc, he knew tyrants. He knew about the kingdom down, you know, and the next country over. It was ruled by a tyrant. He heard the stories.

He's describing these other leaders. Matthew Henry, he observed that the compassion to beast, or excuse me, that the comparison to beast is deliberate that Solomon deliberately chose two very strong, powerful animals. But a ruler who prays upon those he was appointed to protect has abandoned the office of man as well as the office of magistrate. And so this is a person who is not even treating his fellow human beings as equal but he's also, he's abandoned the position of leadership that he was given.

And now he's a tyrant over poor people. The theological framework here beneath verse 15 is what we call Scripture's doctrine of delegated authority. Now, delegated authority is the concept and the conviction that all human rule, kings, presidents, prime ministers, or whatever have you, is derived, accountable, and subject to evaluation by the standard of the one who delegated it, and we're speaking about God, the Father, and Heaven. Romans chapter 13, verse 1, establishes this derivation. There is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.

Doesn't mean that they're endorsed by God, but they're ordained by God. But that same passage establishes the accountability as well, describing the authority's purpose as the praise of good and the terror of evil. That's the purpose of authority. A ruler who inverts that purpose has not escaped his commission. What he's done is he's actually violated his primary purpose and function and ordination by God. Now, in Ezekiel chapter 34, we read of an indictment of failed leadership. It says, in verse 3 and 4, ye eat the fat and you clothe you with the wool. You kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock.

With force and with cruelty have you ruled them. And then God then declares in verse 10 of that same chapter that he is against those shepherds, and in verse 23 promises one shepherd, even my servant David. And so this is an inference to Christ sitting on the throne of David. Now over in the Gospels in John chapter 10, starting at verse 11, this draws that contrast explicitly. Jesus himself, the good shepherd, he says, I am the good shepherd. referring back to that verse 23 of Ezeko 34, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep,

but he that is a hireling, seeth the wolf coming, if you recall the Septuagint translated the bearers a wolf, seeeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth. Now Charles Spurgeon observed that the Ezeko-34 passage and its indictment of the shepherds who fed themselves rather than the floe, Fines its answers not in better shepherds, but in the good shepherd who lays down his life

with sheep, and that every, if you will, every under shepherd is measured against that standard rather than against his predecessor. So you can't say, well, I'm a better guy or a better king, a better president and prime minister than this guy. Are you as good as the good shepherd? Christ establishes the standard by which every under shepherd is measured. So wherever person holds power over those with less, and that is the essence of power, isn't it? Verse 15's question applies. So am I functioning as a protector or as a predator among those who cannot defend themselves against me?

That is the question that every person in authority, it doesn't matter if you're a king, if you're a CEO of a company, if you're the pastor of a church, anyone in leadership position, if you have any degree of power at all, how is that being used? Is it being used in a predatory way or in a protected way? So, Rick, what does the Septuagin have to say about this? Well, once the Septuagin makes some changes in the animals. Let's review the King James as a roaring lion and a ranging bear, so is the wicked ruler over the poor people. But the Septuagin says it this way, a hungry lion and a thirsty wolf is he who being poor rules over a poor nation.

So the satuagint makes two significant changes. First, it substitutes a wolf for the bear, and it specifies the appetites of both animals. The lion is hungry, and the wolf is thirsty. These predators are not merely dangerous by nature. This is what, this is the insight. they are driven by unsatisfied need. So the oppression of a wicked ruler proceeds from his appetite

rather than just his cruelty. Second, the Septuagint describes the ruler himself as poor. He who, being poor, rules over a poor nation. Doc, don't we see this in the modern world? We see nations that are very poor, and a poor person rises up. Maybe there's a coup. There's an overthrow of the government. And you've got a poor person who leads a revolution and now is the ruler of the nation.

And he's worse than the person they overthrew. Right. So the Septuagint identifies a specific and recognizable danger. The ruler who comes to power without the resources and whose own need drives him to extract from those he governs. His poverty is not a shared solidarity with the people, but it's the engine of his exploitation of them. Let's go on now to verse 16. The King James says,

The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor, but he that hateth covet covetedness shall prolong his days. A leader lacking understanding. It says the Prince of one of understanding. So he's lacking. He's lacking understanding. And he's abundant in oppression. So he lacks understanding, but he's overflowing in oppression.

Oppression of other people. Lacking understanding, deficient, and discernment. That identifies the root of the oppression as a cognitive and more. failure rather than just a character fall. What Solomon is saying, Doc, and I found this fascinating coming from this great king, he said oppression flows from not understanding. It's an observation to Solomon made that the oppressive ruler does not comprehend what his office is for and what the people actually need or what his conduct

is producing. Therefore, his cruelty is downstream of his blindness. I just found it fascinating that King Salman made that observation by looking and observing the rulers of nations around him over his 40 years as king. Now, this does not excuse the ruler. No one is, uh, The Bible does not hold, holds no one blameless for a blindness that he or she is cultivated. What it does is it explains a pattern. Many oppressive rulers are not calculating villains. They are men who genuinely cannot see what they're doing. They've got a blindness to their actions.

And here's why they can't see. because wisdom and understanding was never the purpose of their pursuit. Right. But he that hateth covetness shall prolong his days. Another way of saying it is, one hating unjust gain shall lengthen his days. There's a Hebrew word here, Vetsa, and it describes gain acquired by by,

or dishonesty. Profit taken rather than profit earned. And the verb is hate. The good ruler does not reluctantly decline unjust gain. He finds it repugnant. The good rule. So the promise of prolonged days, you're going to live a long time. This operates on two levels.

Personally, the ruler who does not experience, avoids the consequences that exportation eventually produces. Usually they have a violent ending. Right. Politically, his rule endures because governance that does not consume its own people can be sustained.

The dumbest thing a ruler can do is drain his people of their resources. because eventually his little kingdom will implode. So we go back to verse 2 in this chapter by a man of understanding and knowledge, the state thereof shall be prolonged. The same understanding that stabilizes a nation also lengthens the days of the man who possesses it. Adam Clark, a Methodist theologian, close associate of John Wesley.

He observed that covishness in a ruler is destructive because his appetite is supplied by an entire nation, an entire population, rather than through his own labor. And that the man who has learned to hate that appetite has removed the single most reliable engine of tyranny. Amen.

So, Rick, the theological framework that exists beneath verse 16 connects understanding, righteousness, and longevity, in a pattern running throughout the book of Prockel. We see this repeated over and over again. If you recall, back in Proverbs chapter 3, first two verses, it established the general promise length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. True wisdom, that is. So the specific vice that is named is treated as uniquely dangerous for those in authority.

First Tennessee, chapter three, verse three, requires that, and this is talking about the church, so it's not limited to just politics. We're talking about leadership in the church. It requires that an overseer be not gritty, greedy of filthy lucre. And 1st Peter 5 too instructs elders to serve not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Okay. So a leader's covetousness is not a private vice. It is wide open.

Everybody knows it. Everybody can see it. It's supplied by those under his authority, which means, his personal appetite becomes their burden. The greedy private citizen harms mostly himself. The greedy ruler, though, harms everybody. So Exodus chapter 18, verse 21, records Jethro's counsel to Moses on selecting judges.

Judges were an issue back then, too, Rick. And the criteria are instructive here. What did Jethro say to Moses? able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness. Wow, man, that went all the way back to Exodus, Rick. The exact phrase appears as a qualification for office. Not just merely a desirable trait, but a functional requirement. Really makes you stop and think about our selection of leaders nowadays, doesn't it?

So the application for anyone in authority is direct. Examine what your position affords you and ask whether your appetite for it has begun to shape decisions that ought to be made on other grounds. Not everyone is qualified to be a leader, Rick, because of their covetous heart. Some powerful things in which you just said, Doc, especially going back to Exodus. Moses clearly told us the qualifications, and they had to hate covetousness. Now, let's take a look. Let's compare the Greek Septuagint against the English King James. The King James says, the prince that woneth understanding is also a great oppressor.

He that hateth covetousness shall prolong these days. Septuagint puts it this way. a king in need of revenues is a great oppressor. But he that hates injustice shall live a long time. A lot of politicians need to listen to this lesson right now. King in need of revenues is a great oppressor. Friends, when governments are broke, when governments spend too much money, they are in need of revenue. And when they are in need of revenue, they become great oppressors. Doesn't have to be a king. They can be a prime minister, a president, a Congress, a parliament, but they need money because they're spending too much money and therefore they become oppressive.

So the Septuagint replaces the King James is lacking understanding. and the Septuagin says in need of revenues. They're deficient in income. They're overspending. They require more money, more tax revenue, more tariffs, more duties. Where the King James locates the cause of oppression in the ruler's deficient understanding, the Septuagint locates it in his deficient treasure. Yes. Once again, King Solomon, which way was he, which one of these interpretations, dog? The Greek or the Hebrew King James English, all right? Which one? Because Solomon, he either said these people become tyrants because they lack understanding or he said they become tyrants because they lack understanding or he said they become tyrants because.

because they don't have enough money. I deal with the King J. I mean, with the Greek Septuagint. I think that's what drives politicians to become oppressive. They need more money. And they tax the people more. So the Septuagint identifies what of history's most reliable mechanisms of oppression. the ruler whose expenses exceed

as national resources must extract the difference from someone and those with the least capacity to resist become the source. Excessive taxation, confiscation, predatory enforcement, increased regulatory fees,

licenses, there's all kinds of ways. that politicians extract more money from the people. But they all are needed for a treasury that cannot meet its commitments.

They've over-promised. They've over-spent. And now they must over-tax. Yeah. And if you're unwilling to pay the tax, they will become perennical. So now we see a connection between verse 16

and the verse 15, according to the Greek Septuagint, verse 15 described a poor ruler over a poor nation as a hungry lion. So now we see a coherent economic account of tyranny. Financial need in a country produces predatory taxation. And predatory taxation falls hardest on those least able. to bear it. Right. Look at doctors.

Look at the nations right now that are deep in debt. There's no way to pay off the debt. What are they going to do? And that's why they're becoming more oppressive. That's right.

They extort the people and then they'll eventually enslave the people. And so it's amazing how we can look at Proverbs written Tuesday.

You know, 2,500, 2,800 years ago. And it reads like something we could look at today in our world. And so the Septuagint also replaces that hateeth covetousness with hates injustice. So the Septuagint broadens the virtue from a specific financial restraint to a general orientation against Ronald Reagan. To me, they go hand in hand. And the two traditions really supply. like a more comprehensive diagnosis than either one alone. So if we consider the King James and the Hebrew tradition,

it identifies the moral and the cognitive failure. It's a question of character, lack of understanding, lack of wisdom, a ruler who does not understand, but I believe it's because he chooses not to understand. The Septuagint identifies the more practical mechanism. a ruler whose needs exceed his means. And so this isn't limited in just the political arena. Any leadership role out there,

now you start examining people in different leadership positions. It could be a pastor of a church, the head of an HOA, the CEO of a company. The idea here is both of these. traditions produce the same oppression. Both are worth watching for in any position of authority. Lacking wisdom, lacking character, lacking morality, covetous. So these are things, you know, people don't think about when they go to the polls or when they're thinking about who is in charge.

But if we really start examining the character morality based on wisdom and on. covetousness, boy, Rick, it really is an eye-opener, isn't it? It is. And the coveting goes both ways because politicians promise the people more benefits than the government can afford. And then they tax the people more than the people can afford to pay for the benefits that they promise the people. The people say, yes, we'll take those benefits.

And then the government says, okay. Now we have to tax you to pay for these benefits. And it's an endless cycle until the society breaks. All right, let's take a look at verse 17. A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit. Let no man stay him. A man oppressed by burden with the blood of a soul. The King James uses the Hebrew text for its translation.

And Bible scholars will say that this verse is very difficult to translate. The way you see it is that the King James reads the man as having done violence to another person's blood. The world English Bible reads him as four-minute by it. The Aramaic Pashita reads him as burdened with it, but all converge on the same figure, a man carrying the weight bloodshed. And this person shall flee to the pit. He shall flee until the pit,

the cistern, the grave, the abyss has taken him. This is a picture of a fugitive whose flight ends only at death. We go back to verse 1 of chapter 28, The wicked flee when no man pursueth. Now in verse 17, the man flees with a cause. And it ends up, I mean, he's killed somebody. and the end of his flight is the grave.

He does not outrun what he is carrying. And then it says, let no man stay him. It means let no one support this person. Do not uphold him. Do not sustain him. Now, this is not permission to carry out vengeance. This is not for Vento, vigilati justice, and is not a denial that God forgives murders. Moses murdered.

David murdered. So God does forgive murders. The instruction addresses society's obligation to not shield a murderer from the consequences of bloodshed. Once again, modern society in total rebellion against the Word of God, because we have judges and courts today that are shielding murderers, protecting them. If you go back to the Mosaic law in the Old Covenant, cities of refuge protect it an accidental killer. But the book of Numbers, Chapter 35, verse 31, made it illegal to accept ransom for a murderer's life.

And in Deuteronomy 19, it required that a murderer be delivered up, not protected. Why? Book of Numbers 3533 says, Blood it defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Charles Bridges, he noted that the severity of this proverb is mercy to the vulnerable, since a society willing to shield the powerful from the consequences of bloodshed has effectively forfeited some lives, and those lives are never powerful ones.

Well, looking at the theological framework of verse 17 here, there's the doctrine of the image of God as the ground of human life's in volatility. The conviction that violence against a person is an assault on God's own likeness. So if you recall back in Genesis chapter 9 verse 6, it states the principle and its reasoning. Whoso shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. That's where we get the foundation of this idea, this doctrine. So the severity of the sanction is grounded explicitly in the image of God, not in just social utility out there.

And this establishes why bloodshed occupies a category on its own. Other sins damage relationships, they'll damage property, they might damage somebody's reputation, but bloodshed destroys an image bearer. a reflection of God. So the blood of Abel is a great illustration of this.

The voice of thy brother's blood cryeth unto me from the ground. Genesis 4.10. I like what Rick always says. Blood has a voice. Blood has a voice. Innocent blood possessing a voice that reaches God independently

of any human investigation. Now, to clarify, are essential here. First, this verse does not foreclose forgiveness. Hebrews 1224 draws that governing contrast there. Believers have come to the blood of sprinkling that speak its better things than that of Abel. So Abel's blood cried out for justice. It had a voice. Christ's blood also speaks, but it speaks a better word, Rick. It speaks over-murderers among others. David, Moses, the Apostle Paul, they all found mercy in the voice of the blood of Christ. Second, forgiveness and consequences are not alternatives.

David was forgiven for shedding Uriah's blood and his death and told plainly, the sword shall never depart from thine house. You read that in second Samuel, 12, 10. So there's consequences. to the shedding of blood, and there should be. Both operated in the same case. And so the application concerns the community's obligation, the society's obligation, rather than the individual's revenge.

A society that treats human life as negotiable, whether through shielding the powerful, discounting the vulnerable, or normalizing violence against the defenseless, has departed from that Genesis 9-6 standard, Greg. And Scripture's severity exists precisely to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Well, Doc, let's wrap up today's lesson

by comparing King James with the Septuagint verse 17. The King James says, A man that do with violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit, let no man stay him. The Greek Septuagin says, He that becomes surety, for a man charged with murder, shall be in exile and not in safety.

The Septuagint reads the verse entirely differently, addressing not the killer, but the person who guarantees him, who posts surety. In other words, puts up a bond, pays for a bond to get this guy released, provides a guarantee, vouches for the man who has been charged with bloodshed.

And the consequence is severe. The person who guarantees a murderer inherits the fugitive condition that the Bible assigns to the killer himself. Doc, you know what? I never saw this before in the light that I am seeing it now as well. we teach proverbs this go-around. We've called proverbs a number of times. But when somebody puts a bond for a person charged with murder, with murder, that person in the eyes of the Bible

says that this person has himself has become a fugitive. So let me ask you this, Doc. Do you think this proverb, according to the Septuagint Translation, forbids posting bond for somebody accused of murder? Well, I mean, if you're going to stick with what the word says, it seems to be exactly what it reads there, Rick. I mean, for someone to put up a bond for somebody accused of murder anyway, you have to have such a high degree of confidence that the accused is innocent,

that you're willing to put up your own wealth to prove it, that's a big deal. So, you know, and for me, this is a difficult verse, because who would put up a bond for a known murder? That's the thing. Would anyone be willing to do that? I guess there would be. Solomon certainly seemed to think that that was the case.

What are your thoughts, Rick? Well, what we see here, Doc, is the King James commands that no man or woman support a murder, someone accused of shedding innocent blood. The Greek Septuagint describes what happens to that man or woman who ignores this command. Right. That seems pretty straightforward there. So one version states the prohibition, the other translation states the penalty. The King James tells you that this is prohibited.

The Septuagin says, not only is it prohibited, but this is what's going to happen to you. If you put up bond for a person accused of murder. So there's also, I think, DACA connection to verse. 17 to the warnings we studied a couple months ago, a month or two ago in Proverbs 27, when we talked about, you know, not guaranteeing anybody else's obligations, not to become surety. Sureity means you become collateral for somebody else's debt. Well, this is referring to you becoming surety for somebody else's crime.

I'm a murder. Murder. Right. So maybe the idea here, Rick, is that these two traditions together frame society's obligation from both directions here. So whereas the King James and the Masoretic text, the Hebrew, addresses society, it's saying, don't shield it. Don't protect a known murderer. Okay. Don't shielding.

That happens quite a bit, actually. in the modern world when you start to think about it. So the Septuagin addresses the individual tempted to do so. If you shield him, if you do it as an individual, you're going to share his fate. You're going to share his condition. And so perhaps the underlying conviction is identical in both. And it's the conviction that Genesis 9-6 establishes.

Bloodshed is certainly not a private, matter to be settled between families or absorbed by a willing guarantor, right? It's an offense against the image of God himself, and the society, the community, treating it as negotiable, has misunderstood what a human being is. That's at the basic root of it. You know, we observe corruption in government and society, Rick, and we know that there are, crimes that are that are covered up some very severe crimes perhaps even more severe than we realize and we really have to stop and think every person that you know is involved in that process of shielding either the perpetrator or the crime itself god looks at that and says i'm holding you

responsible i'm holding you responsible for covering up that that crime for what happened to that victim or for getting that person off the hook when you knew, when you knew that he was guilty. I think about these defense lawyers who defend accused murderers. And deep down, the lawyer knows that his client is guilty of murder. And yet they make a strong case that the jury believes the argument and releases, the accused murder? And I think, how does that lawyer go to sleep at night

knowing that he helped a murderer escape justice? Or how does a jury that finds a murderer not guilty because they want to make a political statement? You know, we're not going to find this man or woman guilty and murder because this is a political case and we're going to make a political statement. How do those people sleep at night knowing that they protected to murder. The Bible is very harsh against the taking of blood. And I think every politician should think about that who starts wars. I think everybody that cheers the assassination of political

leaders, you should think about this. Amen. The next time some politician stands up and brides, I killed that guy over there in that country. You need to think about, do you really want to take ownership of that man's sin? Because the Bible, and God does not, take murder lightly. You're killing people made in his image, and you do not have a right to take anyone's life.

All right, that's my opinion. Or to defend the known guilty. Now, you know, you're presumed innocent until proven guilty, but then there are some people, Rick, you just know they're guilty. You know it. That's right. But they got all on some

technicality. or because they were protected or, you know, or they were traded for somebody else or something like that. There's a lot of that that goes on in the world. That's the reality of the world. But as believers, we need to be aware of that. Be aware that we live in a world like that. But that doesn't mean we participate in them.

That's right. And they won't walk free on Judgment Day. That's right. And really only, and only God knows. what happens to those people in this life. Because it might be 10, 15 years from now until the Lord lets the consequences be felt in that person's life.

You know, but then most of the public has forgotten about the case. Right. And we don't realize that that person had an unhappy ending 10, 15 years later. So it's a very serious offense in the eyes of God. again, I hope you learned something from today's

lesson I did in preparing for it and studying for it. And I encourage you to share this lesson with your friends in that way. God bless you. We'll see you tomorrow. God bless you. Thank you for watching Morning Manor. We hope your soul has been nourished today. We welcome and appreciate your prayers

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