Pride: A Path to Destruction
Pride: A Path to Destruction
Part 2 (Click here to Read Part 1)
Stephen D. Edwards
In the first part of this article on pride, I discuss how the pride of Haman in the Book of Esther and Jezebel in 1 & 2 Kings led them into unhappy lives and ultimate destruction.
Now I will continue with the pride of two more discussions of pride in King Saul and the collective character of the religious leaders of the Gospels.
As I covered in the first part, God looks to our hearts all the time.
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7 ESV)
Here are the main definitions of pride that I focus on:
1) A high, especially an excessively high, opinion of one’s own worth or importance which gives rise to a feeling or attitude of superiority over others; inordinate self-esteem
2) Arrogant, haughty, or overbearing behavior, demeanor, or treatment of others, esp. as exhibiting an inordinately high opinion of oneself.
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18 ESV)
Pride leads us away from God’s ways and into evil paths of destruction. We can be blinded by pride, but to others our pride is obvious.
We need to choose humility which allows us the wisdom to accept the truth of Jesus and enter His narrow gate.
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. (Matthew 7:13 ESV)
So I continue with these two character testimonies.
Saul
King Saul’s story is one I am intimately in touch with due to some research I did for my first novel (as yet unpublished) David the Prophet King. I have a confession to make. I don’t learn a lot from reading. When I research a subject for a writing project, I learn immense amounts of stuff that I wouldn’t even learn in church.
We can read Saul’s story in 1 Samuel 9-22 and 1 Chronicles 9:35 to 10-14.
Read Also: God’s and Devil’s patience
After he is anointed as the first king of Israel, his first act is to raise an army to defend Jabesh-Gilead after hearing that the Ammonite king threatened the city. Saul cut up two oxen into pieces and sent them throughout Israel. 330 thousand men of Israel and Judah answer this call to duty and defeat Nahash. That action had no pride in it, but it may have thought it was reason to boast in his power as king.
Saul’s next action a year later confuses me to some extent, but perhaps the actions of his son Jonathan might not be known otherwise. As he prepared to battle the Philistines, he reduced the army he’d gathered for a single battle to defeat the Ammonites to 3000 men. It’s confusing because Israel was not in constant war with any other nation than the Philistines.
Jonathan’s acts in battle were miraculous and show great faith on his part, defeating an entire garrison with just his armour bearer at his side.
In 1 Samuel 13 we read that Saul kept 3000 men with him and assigned 1000 to his son Jonathan. Jonathan had defeated the Philistines Saul blew the horn of victory over all of Israel, calling men to join him at Gilgal, but they cowered in fear instead because they knew of the chariots and horsemen that the Philistines had gathered in Michmash.
We see that the prophet Samuel arrived to witness Saul sacrificing peace offerings instead of waiting for him as God had commanded. Samuel informed him that if he’d done as God commanded, his kingdom would have been established forever. His reign over Israel was at its beginning, yet this was the beginning of the end. (vs. 8-13)
In 1 Samuel 14:6-15, Jonathan shows his great faith by taking on a Philistine garrison with just his armor bearer at his side and starting a great confusion in the enemy camp.
Saul declares that none of his men should eat food until sundown (v. 24), which seems to border on insanity. Jonathan is the one who unknowingly breaks this vow dipping his staff in honey for a mere taste. Nonetheless, they defeat the Philistines, but wind up the day very weak (v. 31).
I haven’t figured out a theological reason for this but why would a king keep his men from eating although Jonathan’s actions shine in the battle again.
In 1 Samuel 15, God commands through Samuel that Saul take on the Amalekites and devote them to destruction. He defeats them but fails to obey the command to destroy, allowing men to keep spoil and capturing King Agag instead of slaying him. His disobedience costs him the kingdom, yet he remains on the throne for another 30 or so years, before he dies in battle on Mount Gilboa.
So Saul has spiritually lost the kingdom to David whom Samuel anoints as king in 1 Samuel 16:13. It on that occasion when God reveals that his treasure is our hearts when He tells Samuel that God does not see as man sees; man looks to the outward appearance, but God looks into the heart (verse 7).
In the meantime, Saul invites David to serve as musician to sooth his troubled soul. (1 Samuel 16:14-23)
However, it would appear that would not work, because Saul’s soul is not soothed or made better, and I don’t think David’s playing of the lyre is at fault.
David later slays Goliath in the Valley of Elah and marries Saul’s daughter Michal. David’s quick rise from shepherd to warrior leads Saul to harass him out of fear and envy. For the rest of Saul’s days he would throw his spear at David inside his own home, chase after him in caves and through the wilderness of Judah, while the young captain of his army turned down opportunities to take down his master in retaliation. David ultimately had defect to Philistia and take up residence in Ziklag to stop the madness.
The last thing we see him do before dying in battle is to seek the help of a medium so that he could ask the Samuel for help, but the prophet rebuked him from the dead.
In this story Saul’s pride represents those people who are oppressed and tempted by the vilest and most evil spirits of the world and have great difficulty humbling themselves. For those people, becoming humble takes great faith and prayer as Jesus recommended for the child oppressed by a demon which the disciples could not cast out.
15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. – Matthew 17:15-18 ESV
It takes faith. At the time when I was possessed by the spirit of suicide, because I had made plans to kill myself at a later date, because in my pride. I’d decided that it would be better to leave, but when the time was right. I prayed only once for the spirit to leave. I immediately had peace, but it took faith. Sometimes God’s timing is “later” and sometimes it’s “right now.”
The Religious Leaders
It’s a wonder why Jesus doesn’t rebuke the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes, don’t you think? I believe the reason he didn’t is that His nature is to love before judging. Before I’m seen making generalizations here, there are exceptions. Nicodemus in John 3; he’s plain curious, and Joseph of Arimathea seems quite humble to me.
But who were these Pharisees? And why don’t we see them in the Old Testament? There’s a single answer to both of these questions. There are lots of histories written about them, and most of those say that they followed an oral tradition of maintaining Scripture. In their defense, we need to know that their calling was to help the people of Judea and Israel keep the Law. Josephus describes the Pharisees quite differently from the way they are depicted in the Gospels in Antiquities. So my thought is that the Pharisees and scribes we see in the Gospels are a minority among the religious leaders rather than the whole. So I’m not highlighting them here as a prideful group; rather I am saying that the few that show up in the Gospels are prideful in the contexts where I highlight them.
It is my theory and belief that Nicodemus and Joseph were not the only Pharisees who believed Jesus was the Messiah. I simply believe there must have been more. In Acts 5, we meet Gamaliel who reminds the Pharisees of past false messiahs whose followers scattered into obscurity. He added that if this movement initiated by Jesus of Nazareth is from God they won’t be able to stop them, and they might find themselves opposing God. Could anyone have said anything that wise then? I think not.
Of course Saul of Tarsus would have been one of the prideful ones before his conversion on the road to Damascus.
Let’s look at how they interact with the Son of God.
The first thing we need to realize is that the Pharisees didn’t know that Jesus was the Son of God even though He said as much. But if you could hear what goes on in my mind while I read these passages you’d laugh! Why? Because the Pharisees and Scribes are so spiritually lost they can’t see that Jesus is God. If the demons cry out to Jesus for mercy as He casts them out knowing and identifying the Son of God, why can’t the Pharisees see Him too? Pride. Pride blinds the Pharisees and scribes spiritually. I’ve limited the analysis to a few examples, because there’s a vast amount of material to cover in all four Gospels on this subject. There are two main areas: testing and blasphemy.
Testing
When the Pharisees approach Jesus to test him, asking if it is legal for a man to divorce his wife for any cause, (Matthew 19:3) it’s laughable because you would think a Pharisee knows the Law. But perhaps this was an opportunity for some apologetics from God? Funny, but not possible here, because the Pharisees didn’t think Jesus was God or the Messiah. But they were testing Him. If they had approached things with an open mind to consider that the one who performs the signs and miracles that He does could be the Son of God, maybe that apologetics session would be in order here, but Jesus does sort things out by making reference to Genesis 2:24, mentioning that husband and wife become one flesh and that those God has joined into one let no one separate.
I find this quite similar to the test of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:3-11. If you’re not familiar with this one, the scribes and Pharisees bring a woman to Jesus to ask what should be done with her as she was caught in adultery. In this case, it’s quite arrogant to bring only the woman, because where is the man with whom she was committing this sin? Shouldn’t he also be brought for judgment?
As if Jesus had not done many signs already, the Pharisees seek a sign from heaven from Him. He answered that no sign would be given except the sign of Jonah and left. (Matthew 16:1-4) He basically said, wait until I’m executed and then I’ll resurrect as Jonah who should have died in the belly of the fish, he was thrown on the beach.
Perhaps the Pharisees were quite accustomed to testing those who presented themselves as the coming Messiah. The way I look at this though, they don’t give much credit to anyone. Why not let those false messiahs try to show themselves to be who they claim they are and when judge only when they truly fail? Jesus didn’t fail any of the Pharisees tests, but had to convict Himself so that He could complete His work on the cross.
There’s the time when the Pharisees ask the disciples why Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners and He answers that it is the ill who need a doctor (Matthew 9:11).
My understanding of the Pharisees is that they are intelligent, but they seem awestruck here because they would think sinners don’t need help. Of course, in verse 13 Jesus reminds them that they’ve forgotten God’s desire for justice by saying, “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice.” The Pharisees were so stuck in the pride of their position as leaders that they forgot why God needed them. In a way, this incident is about the Pharisees need to identify Jesus, which is a kind of test.
Regardless, God commanded in Deuteronomy 6:16 not to put God to the test as the Israelites did at Massah. No wonder Jesus warned the disciples about the Pharisees’ hypocrisy.
Read Also: Align Yourself
Blasphemy
Jesus casts a demon from a man and the Pharisees claim that he casts them out by Beelzebul. Jesus responds by saying a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand then he lays out all the options for how He casts out demons, but if He casts them out by the Holy Spirit, the kingdom is upon them. He follows that up by saying that all sin will be forgiven, but blaspheming the Holy Spirit will not. (Matthew 12:22-30)
As soon as the Pharisees tell everyone present that Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebul instead of by the Holy Spirit, they commit the unforgivable sin.
There’s another time when the Pharisees did a similar thing. The house was so full there was no way to enter so four friends of a paralytic removed the roof of the house to lower him before Jesus. Jesus told the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The scribes questioned in their hearts (remember God looks to the heart?) “Why does this man speak like this? He’s blaspheming! No one but God can forgive sins. (Mark 2:1-7)
If they’d waited to see the result of the forgiving of this man’s sins, they would have known that God healed him through that forgiving. Jesus doesn’t exactly address the sin of these scribes. Instead He simply responds by asking why they are questioning in their hearts and asks which is better: to say the man’s sins are forgiven or to tell him to pick up his bed and walk. (vs. 8-11)
But the scribes essentially blasphemed in their hearts by questioning that Jesus forgave speaking as the Son of God. Just about every time we see the Pharisees and scribes question the signs and miracles that Jesus performs in the Gospels, we see them blaspheming, because they don’t give credit to the Holy Spirit, but to sin.
How do we even get trapped into pride? It’s a choice presented by the enemy who reminds us that there is injustice, and that we must avenge somehow. We cannot obtain justice on our own; we need God for that. This is one reason why Jesus says to turn the other cheek.
But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. (Matthew 5:39 ESV)
I’ve found that it is easier to remain humble by remembering that Jesus called His followers to love their neighbour.
27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” (Luke 10:27-28 ESV)
I’ve also learned from the rest of Luke 10 through the parable of the good Samaritan that as everyone I meet is created in the image of God, it is sometimes those people whom we least expect to be capable of loving others the way God teaches us to do that are the most capable. As I grow in this area, I become less surprised by this idea and continue to love everyone with whom I interact in my life.
BIO:
Stephen D. Edwards began writing in his teens. His memoir titled The Branch and the Vine: How Jesus Gave Me Freedom from Depression, available at Kobo and Amazon. He also writes Christian themed fiction to encourage and inspire. Edwards’ most recent work has been published in Agape Review, Faith on Every Corner, Calla Press and OpenDoor Poetry.