Did Dennis Prager Misrepresent Jewish Teaching?

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. So, Dennis Prager said that in Judaism, only the actions are considered evil, not thoughts.

Is that right? It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to The Line of Fire. This is Michael Brown. I'm coming your way live from Cordelia Lane, Idaho.

Yeah, I don't know. I've been here before. I had to fly into Spokane, Washington last night. So, Charlotte to Dallas, Dallas to Spokane. Gotten here late last night. Talked to about 150 pastors and leaders this morning. And now it's time for radio. So, I am set up with my studio connection, but in a different room. So, it sounds a little different.

That's the reason. But here we are, and here's a number to call. Taking live calls today, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884.

A little later in the broadcast, we'll talk to you about anything under the sun you want to talk about. Yeah, we're going to do that on today's broadcast, 866-34-TRUTH. Yesterday, laid out issues with a defective gospel message and talked about getting back to a biblically based gospel. I've been shouting that out, one of many shouting that out for decades now.

And the fact of the matter is we're reaping what we've sown through that. Okay, that was yesterday. Today, we're switching topics. I have been in touch via text with Dennis Prager about this, so he knows I wrote about it.

If you were to read my article, Dennis Prager was wrong about the connection between thought and behavior in Judaism, you go to my website, AskDrBrown.org or on your app, search down in the articles and you can read it, just post it. So Dennis Prager has made some comments over the years that I've differed with and we've interacted as we've gotten to know each other. He's happy with me, referring to him as my esteemed colleague and friend.

So we've talked by phone several times, we've texted, we've interacted, e-mail exchanges, social exchanges, never met face to face. And so much of what he says is tremendous and acutely clear thinker and really dismantling a lot of the dangerous ideology on the left. He's been one of the great voices for a generation doing that and my hat's off to him for that very thing. At the same time, he said things that I've deeply differed with. Most recently, a clip where he's with Jordan Peterson and a number of other thinkers and biblical scholars talking about various issues and talking about the book of Exodus. He's written his rational commentary on the Torah, written some of the books there. And I remember we were in touch when the Exodus one came out, became a national bestseller, just we were shocked.

I mean, he was shocked that there was that much interest and very pleased to see that there was that much interest. But he's a conservative Jew. That does not mean conservative moral ideologically. It means conservative Judaism. So Ben Shapiro, for example, he would be modern orthodox. So modern orthodox is orthodox, but a little to the left, ultra-orthodox Judaism. So if you see a man with a long beard and black coat and so on, that's normally a mark of ultra-orthodox. That's far to the right. Conservative Judaism is actually more to the left in many ways.

It's close to what's called Reform Judaism, very liberal in many ways. So Dennis would not have the same view of the inspiration of Scripture that we would, but he would revere what's in Scripture and in Jewish thinking. So the discussion comes up and Dennis Prager says, look, I'm part of a behavior law-based faith. And there is nothing in Judaism that parallels Jesus saying that you can't commit adultery in your heart. He said in Judaism, it is only the act.

You commit adultery by the physical act and you cannot commit it in your heart. So Jordan Peterson then asks him about pornography. And he said, you know, people call in, he has a male-female hour in his show each week, and people call in. And he said, if a woman calls in and says, my husband is watching porn I found on my computer, he'll ask them, how is your relationship?

How is your intimacy with your husband? And if the husband, this is what Dennis Prager said in the clip, if the husband is watching porn as a substitute for his wife, so it's taking him away from her intimately, et cetera, then it's awful. But if it's in addition to his wife, it's not awful. Now his wives, how do you feel hearing that? Or if it was the wife watching porn, husbands, how would you feel about that?

So of course Christians, and some Jews as well, would be shocked by hearing that. What? What are you talking about?

Well then I was sent a clip, I was flying, I was en route to Dallas, and one of the editors at the stream, so I work with Wrigley, sent me a couple of clips. So it was that one that I had seen, and then another one where he's being interviewed, and you've got little ones around, you may just want to distract them for a moment here. And the host asks him, okay, what about someone watching animated child porn? Is that evil? And Dennis Prager said, thoughts themselves are not evil, it's the act that's evil. And the fellow asked, tried to say this a little differently in case the little ones around, what if he pleasures himself while watching? And Prager said no.

Now of course there's an act involved with that, yes? But Prager said no, it's the action, meaning if he actually did something perverse with little ones, that would be evil, but thoughts themselves are not. So with all respect to Dennis, again I highly esteem him in many ways, and have learned much from him, and see him as a very clear, articulate thinker, that is in so many ways in our camp, and he has great respect for evangelical Christians in particular, and Christian thought, and he's not a Jesus basher. In fact, he's even said, although we have our deep differences obviously, as I'm a Jew who believes in Jesus, and it's a stake of my life on that, but he's even said, okay, to his Jewish community, you're all concerned about Jews for Jesus, what about Jews for Marx?

So yeah, I appreciate all that. But he's flatly wrong on this. He's flatly wrong in terms of what the Torah says, what the Bible says, just the Tanakh, the Old Testament, so the Hebrew Bible, the part we have in common. He's flatly wrong about that, and he's flatly wrong about Judaism on this score as well. Now of course Judaism puts more weight on the deed than the thought, but we all do, right?

Christians do, people of all backgrounds, it's common sense. In other words, it's one thing if I think, I'm so mad at that guy, I want to punch him in the face. It's another thing if I do it. It's another thing if a guy's checking out a girl and said, I want to be with her, and then goes and rapes her. Of course the deed is far more consequential than the thought, but thoughts themselves can be evil, and there are direct parallels, direct parallels to the teachings of Jesus that you can commit adultery in your heart.

If you look lustfully, then you've committed adultery in your heart. It still doesn't say it's the physical act. It recognizes it's in the heart, but there are parallels in Judaism to that as well, and I get into that in my article.

Again, you can read it at AskDrBrown.org. So let's go through scripture first. So the last of the Ten Commandments forbids coveting, shall not cover your neighbor's wife, house, anything of your neighbor's, shall not covet. That's a sin of the heart, is it not? That is a sin entirely of the heart and prohibited in the Ten Commandments.

So again, I'm on the road. I didn't have access to Dennis' Exodus commentary, which he had sent me when it came out. I had sent him some of my books. He sent me that, and I did have in e-book form his little book on the great moral code, the Ten Commandments. So I looked to see what he said about this, and he said here the Torah legislates thought. Okay, correct, and this is because, quote, it is coveting that so often leads to evil.

This is what Dennis wrote. But in his view, it's only the strong desire to have the specific thing that belongs to your neighbor. In other words, not to say, boy, he's got a nice car. I'd like a car like that, so I'm going to work harder to get it.

Okay, that's one thing. Rather to say, I want his car. I want his wife.

I want his house. That's the sin. But either way, he does say in his book that lust or envy in themselves are not prohibited.

Well, they're not prohibited by the Ten Commandments in that sense, but are they sinful, right? And certainly, I would say that envy is included on a certain level in the command not to covet. All right, here's some more scriptures then. Proverbs 4, 23.

I'll read it first in the NIV. Above all else – Proverbs 4, 23 – guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Above all else, guard it. And then the New Jewish version translates like this.

More than all that you guard, guard your mind, for it is the source of life. So, if Judaism, as Dennis Prager alleges, only calls actions evil, why put such emphasis? What about Genesis 6, 5? This is Torah, is it not? The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. Genesis 6, 5.

And this is repeated in Genesis 8, similar wording. So, the Torah says the very thoughts of the people's hearts before the flood were evil all the time. The thoughts were evil. So, this alone says, again, friend and colleague, Dennis Prager, that he is wrong in saying that Judaism doesn't say thoughts themselves can be evil. No, the Torah says the thoughts of the people's hearts were evil all the time. It's a Jewish text.

How about Isaiah 55, 7, which calls for the wicked to forsake their ways and the unrighteous to forsake their thoughts? Their thoughts. So, if you think of, quote, animated child porn, what a sick, oh, gosh.

All right, let's think about that. Dennis Prager is saying that watching that itself is not evil. It's acting out in an abusive way toward someone else that would be evil. What about the evil and perverse thoughts of the people involved in creating the content? And what about the evil thoughts of the person being stimulated by it, coupled with the evil act of giving into the stimulation, let alone what might come out of it in that person's life because of feeding on this junk and feeding on this trash?

Who's more likely to do something abusive, the person that never feeds on that and tries to say no to those perverse desires or the person who gets pleasure and stimulation from it? And I'm not even addressing what Judaism says about that subject of receiving pleasure from oneself against trying to use certain generic terminology for the young ones listening. What about rabbinic parallels? What about rabbinic parallels to the teaching of Jesus?

Right where he says, I say to you, Matthew 5, 28, you've heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Does Judaism seem to like that? Any parallels? Dennis Prager says yes. Dennis Prager says no, they don't. I say yes, they do.

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I am psyched about seeing people make lifestyle changes and live well, I mean I am stoked about seeing us healthy and thriving so we do what God's called us to do, come on. Alright, so back to Dennis Prager and then your calls. Dennis Prager said that there are no parallels in Judaism to the idea of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, that you can commit adultery in your heart. So I've got lots of different compilations, there's a famous German work, five volumes, Strach Billerbeck, in German Kommentarts of the 9th Testament, and it brings together in a way that's been criticized, it doesn't bring dates and things enough and background enough, but it brings together tons of early rabbinic sources that parallel things in the New Testament. So it's just a compilation, then you have to sift to use it properly. So immediately, I just went there, it's been translated into English recently, I've got it in my Logos software, so I went there immediately and of course I knew some of the parallels but here they are.

I'll just read, go through them quickly. Leviticus Rabbah, the eye of the adulterer lies in wait for dawn, that's Job 24.15. Rachel Akish said, an early third century rabbinic leader, you should not say that only he who commits adultery with his body is called an adulterer, also he who commits adultery with his eyes is called an adulterer. Pesiktor Abbati, 24, this is 7th, 8th century. We find that he who commits adultery with his eyes is also called an adulterer, see Job 24.15.

Befilte d'Rabbi Shim'on, this is on the book of Exodus and it's pretty early, second century. You shall not commit adultery so that you shall not commit adultery not even with the eye and not in the heart. And whence do we learn that the eye and the heart fornicate? See Numbers 15.39 that you do not go after your heart and your eyes after which you are lusting. Tractate Kala, minor tractate in Babylonian Talmud, whoever looks at a woman with lustful intent is considered like one who has intercourse with her. Brachot 24a in the Babylonian Talmud. Rob Sheshet said, why does Scripture, comparing Numbers 31.50, list the adornments that are on visible parts of the body, literally outside, next to the adornments that are on parts of the body that are not visible, to tell you whoever looks at the little finger of a woman as if he looked at the place of shame.

In other words, looked lustfully. So these are, quote, canonical rabbinic texts and they all say that the thoughts can be evil. You can commit adultery in your heart. So with all respect to Dennis, he's wrong on that. That's why New Testament scholar Hans Dieter Betz commenting, this is a 700 page commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, commenting on Matthew 5, 27, 28 said, as scholars have noted, the psychology of sin presented in these verses was well known in first century Judaism.

And he said, scholars have undeniably been correct in maintaining that Matthew 5, 28, that you can commit adultery in your heart, remains essentially within the framework of Jewish theology. So why do I get into all this? Well, it's been a subject of discussion.

You know, a lot of the folks who follow Jordan Peterson would have seen this and he's got massive following and, you know, others that know Dennis Prager with his massive following, they found this. So I think it's important to talk about, but more importantly, what about us? What about us?

Do we realize the importance of our thought life before God? All right, let's go over to Rick in Clearwater Beach, Florida. You get to weigh in. Thanks for calling, Rick. Thank you, Michael Brown, I really love you, I love your program and the balanced approach you take to sharing different things, really appreciate you. So I'm listening and I'm going, oh my gosh, I wish I could have heard this when I was a young kid growing up about this, about guarding your heart and what you look at. And, you know, Jesus said, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Well, if I'm looking at things that I should be looking at and lusting, I'm not going to see God too well through that filter, am I?

No. And by the way, Dennis would agree on a lot of these principles, and he's a learned man, he would certainly know that there are famous works and ethical works in Judaism like Duties of the Heart, which I didn't even get into in my article. It's just this separation between behavior and thought that is a separation that goes beyond reality. And they're not recognizing thoughts or evil, but your point is well taken that the evil in our heart, the impure in our heart obscures the way we see God, not just the way we see other people. Rather, a guy that grows up watching porn may have a hard time having a relationship with a woman because everything is so fantasized and glorified and stuff like that, and this happens.

They're young men that can't function in a relationship physically because they've been watching porn all their lives. But great point, it affects our view of God, our understanding of God as well. So we can't overemphasize it, can we?

No, I really don't think so. If you want to see God, and I do, I love to see Him at work in my life and the lives of others, I see Him at work in your life and the lives of people around me, and that, when I'm seeing these things happening and I realize that's God at work, it's because my heart has been purified, and so I go to Him every day and say, oh Lord, cleanse me, wash me, cleanse me from all unrighteousness, and then I have to guard that, I have to guard my eyes. I live right on the beach, it's so beautiful here, Michael, you would love it, the view is spectacular. But I live on the beach, so the girls walk around with strings on, and it's like, well, I have to guard my heart, I have to guard my thoughts, and as I do that, I stay free from the lust of my youth, but it's still a challenge. I mean, I'm 64, I'm still a healthy guy, I'm happily married, but it's like, hey, you know, I have to guard that. Yeah, well here's the deal, if I lived in that environment, right, and I'm right by the beach, either I have to go out when there aren't other people there, or if I go out, I just walk looking at my feet, right?

Because these are realities, this is, we're wired certain ways, we're made certain ways, and if it's just fine for us to walk around that stripped down, why don't we just do it in church service, everyone's stripped down to your underwear, ah, because we know something's wrong there. Hey, Rick, thanks for the call, God bless. Terry, Aaron, we're coming your way on the other side of the break.

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Thanks so much for joining us on the Line of Fire. If you don't have my app, what are you waiting for? Do you realize that when you scroll down on the app and it says search and articles and videos, you can search, it could be five or six thousand items that we have up with massive amounts of practical information on all kinds of relevant issues waiting for you for free.

Yeah, so grab it. It's Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, A-S-K-D-R Brown Ministries. All right, we have a caller with no location, which we always honor. Terry, welcome to the Line of Fire from wherever you are.

Thanks for calling. Hey, Michael Brown. Before I ask my question, I wanted to know if it was okay if I can say a brief moment, because I know you don't have a lot of time, but I also had a question.

What did you want to do first? I wanted to say a very brief thing before I ask my question. I know we don't have a lot of time, but I thought this was important to say on air, because it's really a message for Jews. And I think one of the things I wanted to say on air is that I think when you watch things, as far as like spitting from Jews, and I'm not here, I don't want people attacking Jews because they have things and we should still love them and try to reach out to them, but I think one of my dreams is to actually, even if I can't, still be a light to people that's in my area. But I think one of the things is, I've seen Jews where they can't stand Christians when they come in or evangelize and things like that, and they sometimes may be attacked or anything like that. And I've heard people, like I've listened to Tovia Singer, where he seems to attack Christians a lot when I'm listening to his podcast, whatever. And it kind of bothers me, because I always say, if we're wrong, then I don't understand, like, why don't you just sit down and talk to them, explain why you feel that that God is real. Well, of course, let me just say this very, very quickly, and then we'll get to your question.

And if for some reason there's a ton of background noise, I'm not sure what's happening there, but whatever you do, just talk right in the phone. Regarding Tovia, of course, he's very active on the internet, and we have a series of videos rebutting his misinformation. If you have your app, just scroll down to Real Messiah on the app, or go to realmessiah.com, and you'll find there videos countering the countermissionary.

So we have a series specifically devoted to just demolishing his misinformation, because he's very active on the internet. But he'd gladly sit and talk. He'd just talk with Christians, and would gladly sit and talk and explain why he believes you're wrong. You just have to understand, though, that in the eyes of many Jews, especially religious Jews, there's a straight line from the New Testament to the Holocaust. And the Jesus they know is not the Jesus of the New Testament, it's someone else. And in their mind, he's been responsible for terrible Jewish suffering through the centuries, and they would see someone like me as guilty of, you know, they've said, you're worse than Hitler, Hitler won on our bodies, you won on our souls. And in their mind, the very thing that God is calling to do, more than anything, is to be faithful to the one God of Israel and observe the Torah, and they see us as fighting against that, I mean, in their misconception of who we are.

So that's why some of the sentiments are what they are. But listen, that's why you pray, that's why we're compassionate in our outreach, and ultimately we get to the truth of our need for the Messiah, and that's where things have to focus. Okay, anyway, to your question, Terry, go ahead.

Oh, yes. So my question is, I'm reading, I believe, the book of John, and apparently, John, how can I put it? John is supposed to be Elijah, according to Jesus, so there are two different things, where on one side, and I know you've answered this before, but on one side, Elijah, according to Jesus, John is supposed to be Elijah, and on the other flip side of it, the Pharisees come out in the absence, and he says, are you Elijah? He says, no. Are you a prophet?

He says, no. So I said, okay, let's go to Malachi and see exactly what the text says, according to the prophecy. According to Malachi, it's that Elijah is supposed to come, supposed to turn the hearts of the fathers, the children, and the hearts of the children back to their father. Right, before the great day of the Lord, yeah. Yes. So when he...

I'm just going to jump in and answer, only because we're getting all kinds of weird noise, so it's real hard on our dear folks listening. So he's asked directly, are you Elijah? In other words, there is Jewish expectation to this moment that there will be a literal Elijah, that the Elijah of the Old Testament will reappear as one of the final things before the Messiah is revealed. Are you Elijah?

No, no. What Jesus speaks of, and what's elsewhere described in the New Testament, is he comes in the spirit and power of Elijah. He's Elijah in that sense. He's not literally Elijah, but he comes and functions in that role of the forerunner of the Messiah who prepares the way.

Now, will there be a literal Elijah at the end of the age? Could be. Could be. Will there be someone or company of people like John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah to speak of a corporate calling? Could be.

There's speculation on that. But when Jesus said he was Elijah, meaning if he could have understood his role, you would have seen what it was. So in the spirit and power of Elijah, which is New Testament language, as opposed to being Elijah physically himself, not reincarnated, excuse me, that would be how other people try to read it in, but sent back to the earth, because he never died, sent back to the earth. So no, he was not Elijah. And Elijah may literally physically come in the future, as Judaism expects, and as may well happen.

But for sure, he came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and that's the distinction that the New Testament accurately makes. Hey, thank you for the call. I appreciate it. Let us go over to Aaron in Auburn, is it Auburn, California, or Auburn, Georgia? Auburn, California. Auburn, California.

Okay, one of many places in California with which I'm not familiar. Welcome to the broadcast. Hey, thank you. How are you doing, sir? I'm doing wonderfully well, thanks. That's awesome.

Yeah, I really appreciate you so much. I appreciate your favor of truth, and also your knowledge of the word. And so, okay, so I, this is a loaded question. It's on, you know, I'm in a Bible study, we're talking about Ephesians 1, so predestination, sovereignty of God, and so I try to phrase it, I'll phrase it this way, sounds like it helps, but basically, here's my question. Do I believe God because God chose me, or did God choose me because He foreknew that I would believe in Him? If it's the former, how does God say, I desire all men that they be saved, yet only choose some? And if it's the latter, how, if He knew I would believe in Him, how do I not get even the least amount of credit for believing or even recognizing that I needed Him? So I know that Scripture is clear about, you know, we can't believe in God without His drawing, without His initiation. So let me ask you one question. If you were drowning in water, shark-infested water, right, going down for the last time, and somebody comes by in a rescue boat, right, and they say, grab my hand, grab my hand, and they pull you out, would it ever dawn on you to take credit for that?

I grabbed their hand, I took their hand. Just to be totally candid before I give you Scripture to answer your question, but to be totally candid, when I was first saved, and then in all the years leading up to me being a Calvinist, which was 77 to 84, so from 71 to 77, I was not a Calvinist, and thought negatively of Calvinism, and then became a staunch Calvinist, 77 to 82, it never dawned on me once in all those years, and then in all my years since becoming a Calvinist, that I had anything to boast in, that had anything to take credit for, and I never met, to this day, I have not met a single believer around the world who has ever taken credit for believing or coming to the Lord. It's never dawned on any of us to do it. We know it's totally grace, we know it's all mercy, we know we deserve death, and we know somehow by God's grace we said yes, but it never dawned on us at all. Even as a Calvinist, I never raised that argument in a strong way, because I knew it wasn't real, I didn't know anybody that ever took credit, so honestly, aside from the theoretical question, and please be honest with me, Aaron, aside from the theoretical question that you asked, did it dawn on you to think, hey, I deserve some credit, I believed, I chose Jesus, I get some credit here. Did that thought really go through your mind?

For me, no, like, not at all. And I fully agree with you. I think for the sake of argument, I was talking with Calvinist friends, I feel like he'd be saying, well, if there were two people in the water, and one guy didn't think he was in danger, what makes you different from that person? And that's where I kind of get caught up, okay, what is the distinction then? Well, the distinction is that God set it up. Look, what has the book of Revelation end?

Whoever is willing, let him come and drink the water of life freely, right? So it's, I don't need to respond to that, it's to empower it. You know, to even give it credence.

Of course, of course not. Taking credit or boasting. And Paul makes explicit, if it's by faith, it's not by works. If it's by faith, it's grace.

So it's not works. There's nothing to boast of because it's by faith. So that's just a straw man, to be dismissed. As to your specific question, God chose a people in Messiah, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. He chose that there would be a people in Christ. As to the specific foreknowing of us or choosing of us, was it say in 1 Peter 1.1, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to God's elect, exile scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. So who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Calvinists would often say Romans 8 29, whom he foreknew he called. Well that means forechose, that doesn't say what he knew about them but that he knew them. But here it says chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. So the specific choosing is he will have a people in Jesus and then based on his foreknowledge he works in our lives and he destines us for his purpose.

I think it's pretty clear. We'll be right back. Are you stressed and searching for a natural way to restore balance in your life? Look no further introducing Trivita's Ashwagandha KSM 66, nature's science-supported secret to inner harmony and well-being.

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This is how we rise up. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire, 866-34-TRUTH. Let us go over to Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Nicholas, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Brown. How you doing today? Great. Thank you. Good. I just wanted to thank you real quick for the book that you came out with, The Stronghold Over Food.

Breaking the Stronghold Over Food. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. That was an awesome book. I listened to it on audio and it was very, very helpful and inspiring. Just real quick, how did it help you in your own life? So just thinking about addictions and whatnot like that, I never really considered it as a food addiction. Although, once I actually read into it in your book, it actually helped me to view it that way. And then to even think, just being able to take a hold of that, letting God take a hold of that and change my heart on that instance, also helps with the addictions of other things, like the sexual addictions and any type of addiction that's not really glorifying or edifying to the body and to God. I'm so pleased to hear it.

And look, you're right. If, by God's grace, our stomach is no longer our God and we have discipline there, it does translate out into discipline in other areas. And if we feed one area of the flesh, it makes it easier to fall into feeding other areas of the flesh. Hey, everybody, just a reminder, with any order that you place now with Triveda, we get the Ashwagandha, the KSM 66, but you get a free digital copy of a mini book that I just wrote freshly, then took some material from the book that Nicholas is mentioning, Taking the Stronghold of Food, and then Nancy added new content. And so it's timely, it'll help you, and you get that free.

So make sure you just say, hey, how do I get the digital download with any of your orders? Because we want to get it out. That's where we wrote it. Triveda said, please write something we can give away to our people so that you can get the health benefits. All right, so anyway, sorry, I'm just, I have been so psyched and blessed by being healthy and thriving.

It's like, oh, I could see others of 68 feeling younger every year. Come on. All right, now to your other question, sir. Okay, so I've been frequenting her because I try to be an apologist, of course. And so I've been talking to a few people, let's say a Hebrew Israelite polygyny page, right? And within that conversation, you usually hear, like, people asking, like, how many wives you want and things like that. And they base their, it seems like they base their ideologies off of a few proof texts. One of them end up, it ends up being Second Samuel 12, eight, that, you know, David was given Saul's, you know, his wives and his kingdom and everything like that. But with that, it seems as though they grab onto the thought of if they would have just asked for more wives, then they would be blessed to have more wives, as opposed to thinking that it means that God knows everything that we're, you know, that we need, but we still go outside of our needs and just go for our fleshly wants a lot of times. And so it's like it doesn't satisfy. But my question is, from a Jewish context, I've read also in, like, gotquestions.org where it says that polygamy is not really considered, it was not condemned in Scripture, and I see that, but are there, is it just implications that we take that it was sinful? No, it's more than implications.

It's a great question. Number one, Jesus says in Matthew 19 that Moses, in the Sinai Covenant, Deuteronomy 24, set forth divorce as a law, right? There was a provision for divorce.

That was because of the hardness of people's hearts. Jesus says that. So it was never God's desire that a husband and wife would come together and then separate, but because of the hardness of heart, it was given. So that's telling me that there are things, even within the law, Deuteronomy 17, that the king can have several wives, but he's destined to have a lot of wives, that it was something that was given. And the whole context of 2 Samuel 12 is not to say having many wives is a good thing. It's to say, how could you possibly take this man's one and only wife? If you needed more wives, I would have given them to you.

That's the only point there. But we know that the many wives, they were destructive in David's life. They ended up being massively destructive in Solomon's life. It was in direct violation of Scripture. You say, well, no one's talking about having 700 wives or 300 wives or 700 concubines.

No one's talking about that. But polygamy is fine. Okay, so number one, at creation, God did not create Adam, Eve, Yvette, and Yvonne. He created Adam and Eve. And Jesus reinforcing this in the New Testament says, God's design from the beginning was male family created them, and the two become one. He emphasizes that. Not the three or the four, but the two become one. So that's God's ideal from creation. That's number one.

Number two, the implications are clear. God does teach much through Scripture in that way. 2 Timothy 3.16, about all Scripture given by inspiration of God, primarily talking about the Hebrew Bible then. And through that, the man of God's thoroughly equips.

So you learn from it. And every example of a polygamous relationship that's spelled out in the Old Testament, any time there's an additional wife, it's trouble. From Abraham with Sarah and Hagar, to Jacob with Rachel and Leah, to David's multiple wives and then the conflicts after that, and the bloodshed within his own family because of the multiple wives and disputes between the children and rape and so on.

And then Solomon, of course, totally destructive. So every example, there's not one single positive example of polygamy in the Hebrew Bible. And then the last thing is the requirements for leaders. So 1 Timothy 3, that leaders could be the husband of only one wife. And then Hebrews 13.8 says, follow the example of your leaders. So without question, the example, if you're going to be a leader, you can only have one wife. And then you're just supposed to follow the example of your leaders, which is why, ultimately, in country after country where Christianity went, that polygamy was outlawed. Now here and there it still exists, like a country like Uganda with a lot of Christians, they still have polygamy. But that's the exception to the rule.

Right, right. And I was, yeah, because my other thought or the question was, if, what was it, what was he saying, that the sin that was committed by Solomon was, you know, the fact that he ended up marrying pagan women as opposed to marrying Jewish women, like that wouldn't have turned his head in some way. That's what turned his heart away from God. But Deuteronomy 17 says, don't multiply wives.

I mean, it's explicit. Right. So he absolutely sinned in that way. But again, your average person, who in the world has 300 wives, you know what I'm saying?

It's like, who has enough money to maintain that big family and all the kids? But a guy having two wives, or three, or four, or five, that wouldn't necessarily be in violation of what the king was commanded. But it's certainly in sin for a leader who can only have one wife, in violation of God's order of creation, the two becoming one and male and female he creates, and in violation of all the examples of the Old Testament. So for someone to do it and claim to be a follower of Jesus, it is completely unjustifiable.

Right. And I'm sorry, the last thing, could you clear up the Matthew 19.28, I think it is, where it says that, you know, for those who leave father and mother, I think it is for those who leave father and mother for the received hundredfold, that going, someone trying to use that for the polygamy argument, I've heard that before, which is crazy. Ah, so let's look at the language specifically, okay? Let's look at that language. It's also in Mark 10, right? Okay, so let's look at what he says, very specifically, because Jesus is very clear in what he says. Here are the words, truly I tell you, to renew of all things, when the seven minutes go, you'll also sit and, okay, everyone who is less, houses or brothers or sister or father or mother or wife or children or children of fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much will inherit and turn to life.

Okay, so that's the language there. Let's look at the language in Mark 10, where, where he specifically says this, just pull that up, Mark 10, and here we go. No one who's left home or brothers or sister or mother or father or children or fields for me in the gospel fail to receive a hundred times as much in the present age, brother, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields. It doesn't mention wife. It doesn't say you get a hundred wives.

And, right, so it's very specific. He does not say wife there. The first thing he's just talking about, in general, you leave everything one way or another, you know, you get extended family and all that. But the idea that Jesus is saying, if you leave your wife, you get a hundred more is so abominable. And then, contrary to everything about multiplying wives and the, you know, even for the king. So, look, this is the classic example, a perfect example of people who are misusing the Bible to justify their own sinful behavior.

It is nothing less than that, as clear as could be. Of course, that's the least of the problems with the Black Hebrews. May the Lord open their heart and reveal the transforming power of His Son. Thanks for the call, Nicholas. Robert, traveling in North Carolina, hopefully we can get your question in, so go for it real quick, sir. Hello? Yeah, are you there? Hey, I got you.

Yes, I'm here. All right, if you can ask your question real quick, I'll try to answer before we're out of time. Okay, my question is, could God say, I knew you before you were born.

Yeah. Does that mean that we had a relationship with God? We existed before we were born in some form.

No, thank you. No, no, what it means is, before we were ever born, God set His sight on us. Jeremiah 1. God saw us before we were ever born, before we were ever in the womb. He saw us, and He had a plan. Hey, thank you for the call. We're out of time.