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The Exodus Book of Psalms--Part 4

We saw how David wrote Psalm 53 on the occasion of his betrayal by Doeg the Edomite. That betrayal caused the death of the high priest, Ahimelech, along with many priests. Because this same psalm is also connected to Exodus 32 and the story of the golden calf, where Aaron the high priest figured prominently, we may conclude that Ahimelech paid the price for Aaron's sin.

In other words, Aaron violated his trust as the high priest by building the golden calf. He was not judged at the time, because God yet had purpose for him. But one of his descendants took the judgment in his stead.

In checking this out today, it occurred to me that Aaron's priesthood might have been placed on Cursed Time (414) for his sin in making the golden calf, and that perhaps Ahimelech paid the penalty about 414 years later. So I did some calculation. The golden calf incident took place at Sinai in the year that the people left Egypt (2448 years from Adam). The 18th year of Saul is when God rejected him and called David in the year 2862, as I wrote in Secrets of Time.

2862 minus 2448 = 414 years.

But David was only 8 years old when he was first anointed by Samuel (in Saul's 18th year). He came to Saul's house 10 years later when David was 18, and then soon ran into problems and had to flee. He was an outlaw until he was 30. My guess is that he was 28 when Doeg the Edomite told Saul that Ahimelech had helped David, resulting in the death of the high priest.

I cannot prove this positively by the historical evidence in Scripture, but I suspect that Ahimelech was killed 20 years after Samuel first anointed David. This was 434 years after Aaron built the golden calf. As I showed in Secrets of Time, 434 years is the factor of "Judged Time" for late obedience.

Aaron did obey God, but only after Moses intervened and forced the issue.

Because I seldom mention the factor of "Judged Time," perhaps I should take a little time and explain this further.

We are given a very good example of how Judged Time works. Our prime example is how Saul himself died on Judged Time. The story really begins in Exodus 17 when the Amalekites attacked Israel as they came out of Egypt, hoping to acquire the wealth that they had gotten from Egypt. God put the Amalekites on Cursed Time by His judgment in Exodus 17:14-16. This gave the Amalekites 414 years in which to repent. It was their Grace period, and if they had repented, they could have averted judgment.

After 414 years had passed, the Amalekites had still continued in their sin and had refused to repent for their love of money. This happened to be the 18th year of Saul, and so King Saul was the man in the position to carry out the divine judgment upon the Amalekites.

The story is told in 1 Samuel 15,

(1) Then Samuel said to Saul, "The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. (2) Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Isarel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. (3) Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him' . . ."

But Saul spared Agag, king of Amalek. God's judges are not allowed to deviate from the judgment of God. The only way they may do so is if they are willing to take the judgment upon themselves. They are always free to pay the penalty themselves, but they cannot simply set aside the law. (This principle is stated clearly in 1 Kings 20:42.)

By sparing King Agag, Saul thus took upon himself the penalty (curse of the law) that had been placed upon the Amalekites. This put Saul on Cursed Time. I believe that Saul would have died shortly afterward, had not Samuel executed Agag. Some criticize Samuel for his actions, not realizing that his actions gave Saul another 22 years of life.

Saul finally died in his 40th year, which was 434 years after the 12 spies had given their report and the people had refused to enter the Promised Land. (2450 + 434 = 2884)

Notice how multiple events are intertwined in the divine plan. Israel's refusal to return to their inheritance on their Jubilee (2450 years from Adam) meant that they would enter Canaan 38 years late. This put Israel itself on Judged Time for "late obedience." It ensured that someone was going to have to pay the penalty 434 years later in what turned out to be the 40th year of King Saul.

Well, guess what? Saul too was guilty of late obedience, and so he was the one who paid the penalty for Israel's lack of faith in their refusal to obey God in Numbers 13 and 14.

When we understand how the law works, and particularly how the laws of time affect us, we are then able to understand WHY events occurred WHEN they did. Understanding time cycles gives us better understanding of the judgments of God, along with His mercy and grace. These cycles of time are often various judgment cycles, but they function as Grace Periods by giving men the opportunity to repent. If they repent, the judgment is cancelled. If not, the judgment strikes at the appointed time.

I know that this packs a lot of information into a short space, but you can get the rest of the story by reading Secrets of Time, chapter 6. Our focus today is on the death of Ahimelech as a long-term consequence of Aaron's sin in building the golden calf.

Aaron was late in obeying God, and he was obedient only after Moses returned and essentially enforced his compliance. In subsequent years, the priesthood became corrupt, particularly in the time of Ahimelech's grandfather, Eli (1 Sam. 2:22). Because of that corruption, God rejected that high priestly dynasty and decreed that it would be replaced by a "faithful priest" (1 Sam. 2:35). The full effect of this judgment did not take place until three generations later in the early days of Solomon (1 Kings 2:27). But once that judgment had been decreed in the Divine Court (against Eli), the events leading to their replacement were set into motion and could not be reversed.

It was during those intervening years that Ahimelech died on Judged Time from the sin of Aaron in building the golden calf. Though I cannot prove this positively, it seems to me that it is too coincidental that David would be anointed by Samuel precisely 414 years after Aaron's golden calf was built, and that the 434-year cycle would reach its conclusion during the time that David was running from Saul. Ahimelech was killed during that time.

Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on a tangent.

Yes I did.