History records examples of double-minded support for Israel and where it takes three different leaders in the lives of a king, a judge, and a prophet.
A King falls from power.
Saul, the king of Israel, found that a double minded support to Israel and to God led to the loss of his throne and life. When the prophet Samuel anointed Saul to be king over Israel, he gave a condition for him to be the king, “Now therefore, heed the voice and words of the Lord.” He went on to tell Saul what the Lord wanted him to do, “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: ‘Go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all they have, including ox, and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (I Samuel 15:1-3). The king attacked and destroyed most of the people but took king Agag captive and kept the best of the sheep and oxen. He was unwilling to destroy them all. God spoke to the prophet Samuel and said that He regretted making Saul king over Israel because the king refused to obey what the Lord commanded him to carry out in the fight against the Amalekites. When Samuel saw King Saul, he said to him, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen?” And King Saul said, “The people have brought the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest have been destroyed. The Prophet said to the king, “When you were little in your own eyes, the Lord anointed you king over Israel. Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord’? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?” (I Sam. 15:19). Saul then blames the people saying, “The people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best to sacrifice to the Lord your God.” (verse 20). Judgement is now pronounced over the king, “You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” (verse 26). The king and his son Jonathan would die on the battlefield and come to a tragic end.
What happened to this king to cause him to fall? He blamed the people for his actions and said, “I transgressed the commandment of the Lord, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” (verse 24). He wanted to be popular among the people and have evidence of his success with what they brought back. He gave the excuse that the sheep and oxen would be used as sacrifices to the Lord, but the truth was that he rebelled against what the Lord told him to do in destroying the Amalekites. As the prophet turned to leave his visit with king Saul, he seized the edge of the king’s robe and tore it saying, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. The strength of Israel will not lie nor relent.” (verses 27-29). The enemies would do well to remember this declaration, “The strength of Israel will not lie nor relent.” Following this pronouncement of the prophet, the king no longer heard the voice of the Lord, and the Lord did not answer when the king called out to Him. He would go on to try and inquire of a witch. The double minded obedience of Saul was his downfall. He only obeyed the Lord when it served his interests.
He compromised the work of the Lord because he valued the praise of men more than He valued the fear the Lord.
Saul would make a good politician by today’s standards who make promises only to break them when they think it will benefit the support they get from the people. The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 by the U.S. Congress is a good example of how leaders will turn from what has been mandated to please the people. The act stipulated that America would move its embassy to Jerusalem. It came with a stipulation that, should the president find it in the best interest of security, he could sign and report to congress a request to delay the move of the embassy for up to six months. Because of pressures from other nations, and the desire to please them to keep unrestricted access to oil, every president since 1995 signed a wavier every six months to keep the American embassy from being moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This means over the course of 23 years this waiver was signed 46-times to prevent the will of the U.S. Congress from being carried out until President Trump had the embassy moved to Jerusalem in 2018. America discovered the reality of the promise of God, “Those who bless Israel will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3). Following this act of obedience by President Trump, America experienced an economic renewal with record stock markets, a record real estate boom, and low unemployment. They prospered as a nation. A leader can be a good politician, but failure as a leader when he is double minded, not keeping his word or do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
The Lord makes it clear what He is saying to the world’s leaders and the leaders of nations today. He declares this for leaders in our day, “I will gather (the Leaders) of all nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.” Joel 3:2.
This is a rebuke to the two-state solution which seeks to divide up the lands given to Israel and displace the Jews living in the Judea and Samara regions.
These lands were given by covenant to the Jewish people. When men push to have the Jewish people removed and break the covenant promises given to them, they are standing in line for judgment. Judgment did not fall on king Saul the day it was spoken by the prophet Samuel, but the day of judgment did fall upon the king. The promise God (Hashem) spoke to Abraham is still true today, “Those who bless you will be blessed. Those who curse you will be cursed.” (Genesis 12:3).
A Judge falls from power.
Samson was born to a woman who was barren when Israel needed deliverance from the Philistines who had oppressed them for forty years. (Judges 13:1-3). She was told by an angel of the Lord that Samson would be a “Nazarite” to God from birth and he would deliver Israel from the Philistines. As a Nazarite, he would take a Nazarite vow not to drink wine, nor eat anything unclean, and he would not allow his hair to be cut. He was raised up to be a judge in Israel. This meant he would keep the commandments of the Lord. He departed from following his vows first by going after Philistine women to seek a wife. Only to find that she was being used to trying and discover his strength to destroy him. In the process, he violated his vows and eventually told the secret of his strength which was that his hair was never to be cut. His fall took place near Gaza where he met a woman named “Delilah.” She kept trying to trick him to reveal to her his secret, but he was blinded by lust and finally told her the secret of his strength. His compromise with sin resulted in his being blinded by his enemy, having his eyes put out, and then mocked by his captors. At the end of his life, he repented and asked God to restore his strength to avenge his himself to his enemies. A great multitude had gathered at the Philistine temple. Samson put his hands on the pillars of the temple and brought it down killing more at his death than he had killed during his life.
Samson’s double minded behavior was the result of lust of the eyes. He was not able to control his passions, which eventually led to the loss of his eyes and the loss of his life. As a judge, he was sworn to uphold the laws of God and morality. He is an example of a judge who fell from a high calling because he compromised with sin. His great strength made him feel invincible, but he discovered that the flesh would fail any man who does not honor God. Solomon who struggled with some of the same sins concluded this, “Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Following the Word of God keeps a man from being double minded. David raised this question, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (Psalms 119:9-11). Hiding God’s word in our heart keeps a man from being double minded. Those who serve in high places have a greater responsibility to be an example of morality.
Samson had a calling to protect Israel from her enemies. The seeking of self-interest caused him to put his own interest above standing with Israel making him a double minded supporter of Israel. God reminds us that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. (Genesis 12:3). God is looking for those who will stand with Israel and seek to bless the Jewish nation in these last days. The Jews are still God’s chosen people. As we align with Israel, we are either standing in line for a blessing or a curse depending on where we stand with God’s people.
A Prophet dies while in disobedience.
There is the story of the prophet Iddo who disobeyed God by listening to an older prophet who deceived him into disobeying the Lord God Hashem. The story is found in I Kings 13. The young prophet was told “he was not to eat bread or take water offered to him, nor return back the same way he came.” In Bethel, he had confronted king Jeroboam who stood at the altar and gave a word from the Lord. The king invited him to come dine with him, but the prophet declined and departed as the Lord had warned him against this. An old prophet, who dwelt in Bethel, heard about what had taken place and set out after this young prophet. He found him and told him to come home with him and eat bread. The young prophet told him of God’s warning not to return to where he had traveled nor eat bread. The old prophet deceived him by saying, “I too am a prophet as you are, and the angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat’,” so he went back with the old prophet and ate bread and drank water. While eating with the old prophet, the word of the Lord came upon the old prophet who declared, “Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and came back to eat bread and drink water, your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.” (I Kings 13:11-22). When the young prophet had departed, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road. The donkey was seen standing near the corpse with the lion standing by the corpse. The old prophet heard what happened and found the corpse. He put it on his own donkey and brought the young prophet and placed him in his own tomb.
The story illustrates the need to follow the instructions and words of the Lord, even though others may have what seems like good counsel. A leader’s life must be ordered by what the Word of God says or teaches. A double mind set happens when we depart from the scriptures and teachings of God (Hashem). We hide His word in our hearts that we might not depart from them, “There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12-16). Our morality is not determined by what man thinks, but by what God says. Even when man says he knows what God wants for us, we must base our choices on the clear word of what God has said to us. There are many leaders who have opinions and enormous influence who may council you to go this way or that way. But you must have a character based on following what the Lord has told you and not to go after what man thinks. This type of morality is difficult for those in government, or in high places, because everyone has an opinion or a political motive. The best way to avoid being left on the road to be food for the lion is to follow what God has told us to do. A person who routinely follows a “Thus saith the Lord” in his life, will faithfully choose what God wants. This is why we are told, “We can make our plans, but the Lord Hashem determines our steps.” (Proverbs 16:9).
These biblical stories, remind us that we are to honor God by obeying His Word and to seek his ways above those of our society or the world’s idea of morality. The youth of today are pulled in many different directions by social media and platforms like Tik Tok to follow what seems the popular ways of this generation. The young prophet in the last story was not to “return the way he came.” When we decide to follow God’s appointed course for our lives, we are not to go back to the ways of the world or back to our past lives. When we turn back, we become double minded.
Finally, there is a need for God’s people to stand with Israel and bless what God blesses by not agreeing with the antisemitic opinions in the media, or with judgments against Israel. We need to speak up for and support God’s chosen people even when it is not popular. To speak against the Jewish people, or agree with judgments against them such as dividing their lands in Judea and Sameria, is equal to cursing them. The declaration of those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed, is still true. (Genesis 12:3). God has not changed his mind about this declaration. Currently, in this world with Israel at war, we may find ourselves being pressured to take a stand for or against what Israel is doing. We must be careful to find ourselves on the right side of defending God’s people. God has said what He meant, and “He has meant what He said,” when He gave us Genesis 12:3. To agree with what the world may say against Israel is being double minded for the person who claims to follow the God of Israel. There are politicians today who pretend support to Israel while opposing what Israel is doing to defend herself. God is not fooled by these double minded leaders. They are either fully for Israel or they are against Israel. It is double minded to say one thing and do another to serve their self-interest. In so doing, they join King Saul in pleasing the people. They will reap the results of their betrayal of Israel as did King Saul, “Those who bless Israel will be blessed, but those who curse (betray) Israel will be cursed.” (Genesis 12:3). Regardless of what men do to stand against Israel, “The strength of Israel will not lie nor relent.”
