Law and Life

Sacrilege Against the Person

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Law

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 10 of 39

Track: 121

Dictation Name: RR156E10

Date: 1960s-1970s

[Rushdoony] Let us worship God. Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord which by night and day stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord; the Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion. Let us pray. Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we give thanks that Thou hast blessed us, that Thou hast set Thine hand upon us and delivered us out of many waters. We thank Thee that Thy hand is upon us for good all the days of our life, that Thou hast delivered us from the hands of the evildoers, from our own follies and from all things that beset us. And so, our Father, we come into Thy presence to cast our every care upon Thee, knowing Thou carest for us, to rejoice in Thy Word, and by Thy Spirit have the things that are of Thee made plain unto us. Bless us now by Thy Word and by Thy Spirit and bless and prosper us in Thy service. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our Scripture is Psalm 105, Psalm one-hundred and five, our subject sacrilege against the person. Psalm one-hundred and five. “O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.

Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth.

He hath remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: saying, unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: when they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; saying, touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:

to bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom. Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies. He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants. He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen. They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings. He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts. He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land. He smote their vines also and their fig trees; and brake the trees of their coasts.

He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars, and that without number, and did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them fell upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night. The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant. And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: and gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; that they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the Lord.”

Our subject is the sacrilege against the person. As we have seen, sacrilege was once considered the most serious of all offenses and has in the last couple of centuries become entirely a forgotten offence. Yet it was once an offence that even pagans regarded as the most serious of all crimes. We have been analyzing the various forms of sacrilege in the recent months and we shall continue a few more weeks in the analysis of the forms of sacrilege, and then see the implications of all this for the fact of community. What are the laws of God with respect to community? We do not consider sacrilege a serious offence now because people do not take God seriously. And because people do not take God seriously and feel that they can neglect Him, they end up also neglecting community. And so it is that there is an increasing isolation of man from man. It has been said that in the average big metropolitan center of approximately eight million on up, the average person of any intelligence has only about twenty people who he can feel at all close to. Men have been so far divided from one another; our life, our culture has become so atomistic, so anarchistic that we have been made strangers to God and to our fellow man. The roots of this are in sacrilege. We will begin to see something of these roots in our study of sacrilege against the person.

Now historically, with more than a little good ground, sacrilege has been any offense against those who serve the Lord and hold authority in His name, and are held to be separated by God to Himself. Thus, sacrilege historically has been any offense against the clergy, against those in authority in the state, and in any position commanding authority in the name of God and exercising it in terms of His Word. In the Old Testament, we find the tribe of Levi separated unto God and called to bless in His name, according to Deuteronomy 10, verse 8. Accordingly, to help Levi and to help the Levites was to be blessed of God. And to curse the godly Levite meant to invoke the curse of God upon oneself. But there is a still broader meaning to sacrilege, as we shall see in Psalm one-hundred and five. The classic texts most often used throughout the centuries are indeed verse 14 and 15 of Psalm 105, “He suffered no man to do them (that is the patriarchs) wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; saying, touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” The prophets, or, the patriarchs are called prophets. They are declared to be anointed of God, although there was no formal service of anointing, bcause they had been inducted into a theocratic office; set apart, to establish the kingdom of God and to be kings of God and prophets in Him; men who spoke for God, as God Himself declares in Genesis 20, verse 7. They thus had a privileged status before God. Offences against them were held to be sacrilege. Now as we have indicated previously, even the pagans recognized the seriousness of sacrilege, because the pagans recognized causality to a degree that today we do not. We shall return to that subject of the erosion of causality in our time, and why there has been an erosion. But Spelman, in his great work on sacrilege, written 1600’s, declared, and I quote, “I must here note as it cometh in my way, the remarkable justice and piety of Pharoah (This was during the time of Moses) towards his idol priests. That when by reason of the famine he had got (In Joseph’s time, excuse me) that when by reason of the famine he had got and bought unto himself all the money, cattle, lands, wealth, and persons of the Egyptians, yet stretched he not forth his thoughts to the lands or persons of his priests; but, commiserating their necessity, allowed them a [portion] at his own charge, that they might both live and keep their lands. Musculus hereupon infers, ‘How great a sacrilege is it in our princes, that the good and lawful ministers of holy things are thus neglected?’” Unquote.

To understand the sacrilege of persons, it is important to survey the Biblical doctrine of man. The Biblical doctrine of man is basic to the idea of sacrilege and to the idea of community. A classic text that does speak of respect for authority, and is closely tied to the subject of sacrilege, is Jude verses 8 through 12. In Jude verses 8 through twelve we read, “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” Here we have, in the last verse, several instances of sacrilege cited, and a supreme example of it. What did Michael do in his dispute with the devil? Two things are clear: first of all, Michael did rebuke the devil, but second, equally clear, Michael did not rebuke the devil on his own authority but rather in terms of the Word of God. “The Lord rebuke thee.” Now our Lord gives us the same kind of principle in His own teachings. This is implicit in all of Scripture and explicit in a number of points. Our Lord, in Matthew 7, verses 1 through 5, said “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” And our Lord made it clear, we could not judge in terms of our own standards, our own ideas, our own words, but He made it equally clear that we must judge in terms of His Word, His standards. This is very, very clear, not only in His declaration, “Judge righteous judgement.” In other words, we are called upon to judge in terms of God’s righteousness, God’s law. We are commanded to judge righteous judgment, but to judge not lest we be judged, if we do it in terms of our own tastes and ideas, our own principles, rather than God’s law. It’s also plain in the question of the woman taken in adultery, because there our Lord makes it emphatically that those who sought to condemn the woman did so not in terms of the law of God, but in terms of their own desire to put Jesus on the spot, nor could they judge in terms of unclean hands being guilty of the sin. Righteous judgment means in terms of the Word of God and with clean hands. This is why Watergate is such a farce. We can believe, as I do, that the administration is almost certainly guilty of the offences involved, although thus far there has been no legal proof thereof. But we can also say that everything points to the fact that those who are condemning him have done the same thing and it’s just that there is a Democratic majority. Can anyone believe that Johnson was not guilty of the same things, or Kennedy, or Eisenhower, or Truman, or Roosevelt? Certainly Elliott Roosevelt’s biography of his father, just published lately, is a sickening account of the depravity of his father, who was dandling his mistress on his knee in front of his children when they were little children. And that was the least of his offences.

Now, Scripture says there cannot be judgment unless there is clean hands. This is why our Lord in the Old Testament makes it abundantly clear through the prophets that He will not condemn the adultery of men’s wives and daughters when they themselves are guilty of adultery. There must be righteous judgment in terms of God’s law, and with clean hands. Apart from that we invoke the judgment of God. Judge not, lest ye be then judged, if you do not in terms of God’s Word and with clean hands, with what measure he mete out, it shall be measured to you again. Judgment must be in terms of God’s Word, because the world and men are the creations of God and cannot be understood or assessed or judged apart from Him. Now if neighbor were my creature, if I made him and gave him life, then I could judge him in terms of my standards and say off with their heads when they didn’t suit me. But since my neighbor and no one living and no thing living is my creature, I cannot judge in terms of my standards, but I must judge righteous judgment and with clean hands. I can only use God’s declared Word. Man created in the image of God can neither be understood or judged apart from God and must be treated with respect. The fact of the fall does not eliminate the fact that man is created in the image of God. The fall deface the image, it does not efface it. It is marred but not obliterated. The law of God, therefore, governs the relationship of man to man because man is always God’s creature. Therefore, the foundations of all true community are in Scripture. All men must be held in respect, our relationship must be governed, man to man, even when we are dealing with the worst of offenders, by the law of God. All men, thus, must be given that respect which is due to them, they must be at all times treated as creatures of God and judged only in terms of the law of God. They then require the punishment and the reward that God’s law entitles them to. Those who represent the authority of God must especially be treated therefore with respect. To offend against any man is sin, to offend against those who hold authority in the name of God and exercise it rightly is sacrilege as well as sin. In 1 Peter 2:17, we read “Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.” The word honor is used both for all men and for the king. They are equally the creatures of God. But one, because of a higher authority, also commands something in the name of God in the way of respect for that authority.

Now Psalm 105 is important for us to understand why God summons us to touch not His anointed and do His prophets no harm. Why we are summoned to be fearful of sacrilege, to obey His Word in this as in every other respect. The psalm is a summons for us to praise God, to glory in His holy name, and to seek the Lord and His strength. Verse 1 through 5 constitute such a summonings, and we told to seek the Lord and His strength, to seek His face evermore. Our memory is frauded; remember His marvelous works that He hath done, His wonders and the judgments of His mouth. Then in verses 6 through 15, the goodness of God to the patriarchs is recounted; to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob God kept faith with His covenant. His judgments, moreover we are told, are in all the earth. There is no area of the world where His law does not prevail and His judgment apply. And God, mindful of His person, when His people; His covenant people, were no more than one family; very few and strangers in the land of promise, yet when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, He suffered no man to do them wrong. Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; saying touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. We thus have a principle of God’s operation here set forth. God declares that which He will do for His covenant people in every age if they are faithful to Him, if they observe His Word, if they honor those who are His anointed ones and His prophets; who speak for Him.

Then in verses 16 through 22, the point is developed further in the providential care of Joseph. Joseph was sent into Egypt as a slave. He wound up soon in bondage, in prison. But even in prison he set forth the Word of God concerning the future. He was taken from prison and exalted, but his exaltation was not only in authority before Pharaoh, but in vindication of his word. In verse 19, “until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him” This is a literal translation which does not too well communicate the meaning. A paraphrase of it would be, until Joseph’s word came true and the Word of the Lord proved him right. What God here declares is that indeed, Joseph suffered many things. Indeed, everything he said witnessing to the Word of God and to the truth of God was despised. But the time came when he was proven right; when the course of events vindicated him so that he stood out as the man who had indeed spoken the truth of God. And therefore, very clearly God vindicated him and made him a teacher of Pharaoh and of his princes and of his senators.

Then in verses 23 through 25 the providential stay of Israel in Egypt is recounted. Verse 24 is very significant; “and He increased His people greatly and made them stronger than their enemies.” The tremendous increase in the population of Israel during their stay in Egypt and their tremendous prosperity; this was the root of the problem and of the hatred of the Egyptians and the reason for the enslavement of Israel. Their strength was such that the Egyptians had come to fear them and thought we must either make them slaves now or they will soon rule all of Egypt. When they moved against Israel, God, in verses 26 through 36, moved against them with the plagues and with dramatic judgments; among the most drastic in all of history. We must remember, moreover, that Egypt at that time was in the prime of its strength, never before or after was Egyptian power equal to what it was in Moses’ day. In verses 37 through 45 the Psalmist recounts the period from the Exodus to the conquest of the Promised Land, and how God defended and prospered His covenant people with mighty acts. Verse 37 says “He brought them forth also with gold and silver, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” God vindicated them, He made them wealthy as well as healthy before He took them out of Egypt.

The culmination of the entire Psalm is in the last verse. Why were all these things done? What was the meaning of sacrilege? God had called the patriarchs and Joseph and Moses, given them great authority that the Word of God might be made known, that God’s rule might be established wherever they were and ultimately, through their descendants by faith, in every corner of the earth. And those who are the Lord’s people must be mindful of this. That the deliverance then, as well as the deliverance we now hope for because the Psalm is addressed to people who long for trouble, and all of this that is recounted is to remind them of what God has done and can again do. And so when He gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people (The Gentiles); it was that they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the Lord.

So, the Psalm says, praise the Lord by avoiding sacrilege. Honor the Word of God, honor those who have authority in the name of the Word; fathers, rulers, ministers, all who exercise that authority faithfully, honor the Word by obeying it, and then it will be true of you also what I spoke to the patriarchs of old, and made my principle of operation, in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when God says that He suffered no man to do them wrong, yea He reproved kings for their sake, saying touch not mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm. The purpose of creation was to create honor, God’s realm. A realm in which the creatures made in His image were to establish God’s kingdom and develop the implications of His righteousness. The purpose of redemption is our restoration to that calling and purpose. The sacrilege for Egypt was that they laid hands upon the people of God, all of them, and the demand of God through Moses was let my people go that they may serve Me. And when we serve God, and when we move forward in terms of His calling, whatever we establish that it may further the kingdom of God, for anyone to impede it or interfere with that work is sacrilege. Lay godless hands on any man, as we saw, is sin. To lay godless hands on God’s service, God’s servants as they fulfill His Word, is sacrilege. Sacrilege is both deliberate or inadvertent. It makes no difference, you see, to objective reality, if I touch a high voltage wire accidently or deliberately. I’m dead in either case. And it makes no difference in God’s sight whether the world commits sacrilege unintentionally and out of ignorance because it doesn’t think God’s Word is worth knowing, or whether it commits it deliberately. In either case, it involves a contempt for God, His Word is not worth knowing, or if it is known, it can be despised. In the case of Korah, mentioned in Jude, it was a willful arrogation of authority that belonged to Moses. In our generation, it is by and large a contempt of the knowledge of God, and so it is ignorant. But in either case, God’s warning is touch not mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm.

And so when we walk in terms of God’s calling, when we exercise authority in our calling, in our home as parents, in church and state, as God’s chosen people, God says though we be few in number, and though we wander among people who will not recognize you, He suffered then and now no man to do them wrong, yea, He reproved kings for their sakes. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee for Thy Word, for the certainty of Thy government, and the greatness of Thy grace and mercy. We thank Thee, our God, that through the atoning work of Jesus Christ Thou hast made us Thy people. We thank Thee that Thou hast set forth Thy righteousness in Thy law word, and hast given us a way of conquest, and hast given us the certainty of Thy Word, that we shall be protected and defended in Thy service and in Thy calling. Bless and prosper us, O Lord, and make us ever faithful to Thy Word and Thy calling. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Are there any questions now? Yes?

[Audience member] Would you say that a person is solely depraved both before and after conversion, and secondly, is it true that nothing a person ever does is strictly good?

[Rushdoony] First question, is a person totally depraved before and after conversion, no that’s impossible.

[Audience member] I mean are they still depraved after conversion?

[Rushdoony] After conversion? No. Then he isn’t converted. This does not mean he is sinless, this does not mean that there are not sinful desires and urges, because we are far from perfectly sanctified. But when we are redeemed, we move from being totally depraved to being a new creature. Now just as a new creature, a babe, cannot walk at the beginning, and then stumbles, and only gradually learns the responsibilities of manhood, so we too as Christians begin very falteringly, very clumsily, very inadequately, but we grow into maturity and to the full measure of manhood, and this is not in terms of depravity but in terms of grace, so that emphatically, the redeemed person, while having sin still in him, is not totally depraved. Now what was the second part of the question?

[Audience member] Can you ever do anything that is strictly good?

[Rushdoony] In this life, we can never do anything that is perfectly and totally good, but what we do as Christians, for the most part, is essentially good. When we are faithful to the Word of God, what we do is essentially good. And even what we do that is not good, God makes to work together for good unto us and to Himself. Are there any other questions?

One brief announcement; we have on the lectern in the back copies of the talk I gave at the Chalcedon Guild Dinner a little more than a year ago; “A Blocked or Open Future”. And you’re welcome to pick up copies as you leave. Let us bow our heads now for the benediction. And now go in peace; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.

[End of tape]