What could the parallel be for us to the court of a king? This is a concept that we are not familiar with. Royalty would hold court. It was one of their time consuming duties. It probably started when kingdoms were small enough for the king to handle much of the work done by judges and juries in our culture. Eventually it became a stylized activity. Picture a huge room with the king sitting on the fanciest of thrones. He is dressed up in all his formal attire. The entire room is full of ladies and gentlement who were courtiers. Their main function was to stand around and look good. Hidden under that was a seeking for favors from the king or trying to influence what he did.
Imagine if the president would spend half of his day sitting on a throne at one end of a huge room with all the cabinet, senators, lobbyists, foreign ambassadors and relatives mingling in front of him. They would do little but gossip and try to get the president's attention during this time. Some business would be done but most of it would be political maneuvering.
How does this relate to our everyday lives? We don’t have masses of people standing around trying to get our attention. At least I don’t.
But we all have areas in which we exert some influence. We have family, friends, co-workers. Some of these people would be classified as “wicked” (7563). We cannot always control that. We have family members that leave much to be desired. We attend churches that are full of the carnal and the pagan. Our choices in work environment are sometimes very limited.
How are we to “take away” (1898) the “wicked” (7563)?
If we want our “throne” (3678), which could be our family or church, to be “established” (3559), we need to take action.
At home this would start with how we raise our children. You can home school your children or at least be very involved in what happens in school. When they get older do we allow them to develop into sluggards or expect them to get out and get a job? Adult children should not be allowed to stay and home and live off their parents. You can avoid family gatherings that are not to the glory of God.
At church we tend to fall under the world's view of what a church should be like. The world quotes “Judge not...” and we go along. After all, it is in the Bible. Consider these words of Paul:
I Cornithians 5:9-11 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler-- not even to eat with such a one. (NASB)These words are also in the Bible. This could be interpreted as cleaning the church roles, purging the church board, removing Sunday School teachers, and the list could go on. It gives a whole new meaning to “seeker friendly.”
At work it might mean changing jobs or asking for a transfer. If you are younger it might mean changing your career goals.
The list is only limited by our refusal to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and our desire to be established in “righteousness” (6664).
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