Provoking Jews to Jealousy — Richard Owen Roberts

By the grace of God, here we are again, and may that same grace make this a wonderfully profitable evening for you. Now, some of you folk know that I have been, for many, many years, talking on the subject of revival, and there is a measure of concern that comes to me, that as I face the reality that we are needing more and more revival, the church is less and less interested.

And for some time that puzzled me, how can that be? And then gradually, I began to understand, and I believe, by the grace of God, I have a word for this congregation tonight. Now, if one were to consult a common dictionary, they would find that the subject of revival is referring, really, to the restoration to vigor or activity.

Not a very good definition, but what you're likely to find in a typical dictionary. Now, most of us are alert to the fact that when you're talking about the churches in America, you really have to distinguish between those churches that are calling themselves liberal and those that think that they are evangelical.

And obviously, a church like this is considered evangelical, but the vast majority of churches are not. But what I'd like to begin with this evening is this question. Do you personally desire revival?

Now, let me ask it again. Do you personally desire revival? And let me put in front of you a series of questions that need to be addressed. Do you think this nation would be benefited by the revival of the notion that God himself gave us two books?

One Book: The Unity of the Old and New Testaments

Now, think of that. Will we be benefited by a revival of the notion that God gave us two books? Well, you say, I can't answer that. I don't even know what you mean. Well, the majority of the church is insisting that God gave us two books.

Now, let me try to bring that right down to where we are. I hold in my hands a single book. But one of the greatest accusations that I receive over time is this, Mr. Roberts, you preach too much from the Old Testament.

Is there validity in that complaint? But sometimes I take a little moment to get it just right, and then I hold it up sort of like this in front of congregations, and I ask sometimes people who aren't very smart, what do you see?

Well, it's obvious, isn't it? It looks like it to me, more than two-thirds. Our Old Testament, I've just turned to that portion in between. So, when you think about it, if God wrote two books and one meant the death of the other, then why bother at all with the Old Testament?

But if he wrote one book that he gave to us, and we're focusing on one-third and leaving two-thirds, something is grievously wrong. And we're not going to correctly interpret the one-third that we hold to if the two-thirds have meaning and significance, and we've dismissed that.

Now, it may not be apparent to you, but it is very clear to me, the bulk of the people that I encounter think God gave us two books, and they make it very plain when they say, I'm a New Testament Christian.

Maybe you've been guilty of some absurdity like that. I hope not, but how would I dare to assume that none of you is played with that nonsense? But let's begin with that thought. If there are those, and there are, I assure you, and they are in the vast majority in the Church, those who insist that Christianity is New Testament, not Old Testament, would we pray to God for a revival of that kind of nonsense?

Well, I hope you can see how utterly stupid it would be to ask for a revival of error. And that is error, because God did write and give to us one book. And you cannot say Old Testament is now out of date, New Testament is where it's all at.

Now, you'll pardon a personal reference I trust, but like a lot of preachers, even old men like myself, I went to theological seminary. I wouldn't recommend it to you, wasn't necessarily advantageous to anybody, but I went.

And let me tell you what happened. I became more and more doubtful about the Old Testament. And I was in the midst of a personal struggle in which I was thinking to myself, well, I want to believe that the New Testament is the Word of God, but I got a lot of suspicions about the Old.

So I'll just chuck the Old and focus on the New. I wasn't very happy with that, but I had come to that conclusion. And I decided that before I acted too greatly on that, I would talk to one of the faculty members.

And so I made an appointment with the dean of students and went to his office at the appointed time. And I told him the struggle that I was engaged in. And he said to me, I want you to promise to do what I'm going to do at the end of the quarter.

I said, what is that? Now wait a minute, he said, you trusted me enough to tell me your story. Now I want you to trust me enough to do what I'm going to do. Well, not without knowing what you're going to do.

Well, he said, I'm going to leave here at the end of the quarter. Oh, I said, I can do that. And I left. And you know how it is, some of you are students. I don't hardly need to mention this to you. You don't have any money.

You're going to school at somebody else's expense. Oftentimes parents, and you know, by and large, parents who sacrifice to put their kids in school aren't all that excited when the kids tell them they quit.

And so I was thinking, boy, if I tell my folks that I quit, they're not going to like it. But then even worse in one sense, my pastor, who had one time himself been dean of this seminary, I was sure if he found out I quit, he wouldn't like it.

And then even if I could dismiss what my parents thought and my pastor thought, I still was faced with that problem that some of you, as I've said already, no, I don't have any money. So what was I supposed to do?

Well, I had gone and graduated from college in Spokane, Washington. And during the time I was in college, I had been preaching all over what they called the Inland Empire, the whole great district surrounding Spokane, Washington.

And I had had an experience, and I'm sure I hope you don't share this experience yourself with me, but I had been preaching in the rescue mission, and I saw a commotion in the back of the room, and I saw a number of men jump up and wrestle another person to the floor.

And I wondered naturally what that was all about. But what I found out later was this man had a gun, and he was going to eliminate me from the world with a gun. And these men had jumped up, wrestled him down, took the gun away, and so I'm able to be with you tonight.

I doubt that you would have taken time to visit my casket and cemetery burial site in Spokane, Washington. But that's where I would have been. So when I'm ready to leave the seminary, and I have no money, and I remember well I've preached dozens of times in the rescue mission, what if I go there, tell the superintendent about my circumstance?

Maybe that's where the answer lies. So I went and told him my story, and he said, now listen, we've got a room here for you. You can stay as long as you like at no cost. You can come to the dining hall for your meals, or I can send the men up to your room with the food you need.

Take your choice. But we want you here, and you stay until this issue is resolved. So for three months, I stayed in a rescue mission. I began, you know, you can imagine what my thinking was. I liked the New Testament, I thought I would try to live by it, make that the subject of preaching.

I was having trouble, as I've explained, with the Old Testament, and so I thought, well, I'll just rid myself of the old and focus on the new. And I decided the way to do that was to really get even more familiar with the new than I was.

But it didn't take any time at all to discover I had a huge problem, because the new is loaded with quotations from the old, and that posed a huge problem. And eventually I faced the reality, if I'm going to throw out the old, I'm going to have to throw out the new.

And I don't want to do that, but good sense demands that I do that. And then, as the weeks slipped by, and I kept on, day after day, it dawned on me, I believe the whole book, and, well, you can see that was a long time ago.

But I'm here tonight to express to you the conviction of an old-timer, God gave us one book. And what we need is not a revival of the nonsense that's thinking of two books, but a revival of the one-book understanding.

And I would like to pause and ask you, is that a settled issue for you personally? Do you see the relationship to the two, that there is an old covenant and a new covenant, and they're interwoven, and you can't understand rightly the new without the old?

Is that, I'm asking, a settled issue with you? Now that's such a horrendous question that it would be grievously foolish of me to rush ahead until you'd had an opportunity to be certain you got that straight.

So I'm really asking the question, when we're talking about revival, does it make sense that there comes a whole fresh new wave of certainty and earnestness to renew this notion, to spread this notion, to widen the spread of this notion that there are two books?

Or do we desperately need a revival of the understanding of one book, completely interwoven? Now let me take that issue just a step further. If we've got two books, then we've got to ask, how many gods are there?

One God: Rejecting a Divided View of God

Because it's very common for someone to talk to me. And now, this may shock some of you stupid children. Oh, that's not a nice word, is it? Some of you uneducated children. It might shock you to realize that there are multitudes of people who say, I believe in the God of the New Testament.

The God of the Old Testament, as one Methodist bishop said, is nothing other than a dirty, bloody bully. The God I believe in is nice. Well, now, look, we don't have a lot of choices here. We either have two gods, or else we've got a god who's gotten control of his disposition.

He used to be mean and nasty, but now he's nice. And he wouldn't think of punishing anybody for anything, because he's like Santa Claus. He's got something in his bag of goodies for everybody. And again, would it be out of the way for me to ask you, if this is really a settled issue in your mind, how many gods are there?

Is God nothing but sweet and nice? Now, let me take that a step farther. There's often in the Bible mention of the fear of God. How do you respond to a person who says, I don't believe in a god you have to fear?

Maybe when everything is said and done, that's really where you're at. You don't believe in a god you have to fear. Well, now, in reality, that's not limited to the Old Covenant. At the end of Hebrews 12, in that sixth warning passage, it says, our God is a consuming fire.

So no matter how nice you try to make God, it is God himself who told us about hell. And there's nothing nice about hell. But again, you see, I put to you the question, is it sensible to pray for a revival of that notion that there are two gods or else one God who's grown up and who's gotten control of his disposition?

So you see, my great concern tonight is not to ask you how the other person thinks about these things, but because I know I'm old and I'm not likely to ever get here again. Anthony's been kind and invited me a few times in the past, and then circumstances worked out so that I'm here this evening.

But I won't have many chances to ask you this question. Do we need a revival of the ridiculous notion that God has gotten control of his disposition and is nice now, whereas he used to be nasty? Well, you may be in a hurry tonight, and you're thinking, boy, I hope we can get this over with quickly.

Well, you can leave, but I'm not in any hurry. I don't have a plane until tomorrow morning to catch, so I don't need to be in any rush. My age may work against me and knock me down before I'm finished, but at the same time, this is a pretty critical issue, and I want to face it squarely myself, but I want to ask you to face it as well.

And let me carry this another step further. If I'm not careful, if you're not careful, you may be thinking about a God who serves us, whereas the God of the Bible is looking for a people who serve him.

There are plenty of people who believe in a God who serves them. I wouldn't dare to ask God for a revival of that absurdity. But I'm asking you plainly, is that an issue that is crystal clear in your mind?

Do you want a contradictory God who is so stupid that he creates a hell in which to incarcerate forever unrepentant people, then he taps his son on the shoulder and says, you go down there and live with them and suffer and die and save them from hell?

Did you ever stop to think of the absurdity of that? How could any God be so dumb as to do a ridiculous thing like that? Well another way of putting what I've just asked you, did Jesus come to save us from hell?

Maybe that's what you think, but at least I can say to you, don't be dumb. Why would God create a hell as a place to incarcerate forever unrepentant persons and then save them from the penalty and leave them with the problem?

Does it make sense to you? Now I look at you, obviously most of you, I don't know, but sir if you'll pardon me picking you out, you don't look stupid to me. Now your wife may think differently, no she doesn't, all right, so we're on the right track here.

You're not going to embrace that nonsense, but the bulk of the American church has embraced that nonsense. That's what most people believe, that Christ came to save us from hell. So you see what I'm asking you is to think with me about this question.

Do we want a revival of nonsense? Well my sense is that the curse is great enough as it stands without multiplying that curse. Well I don't need to keep going indefinitely on this subject, you're wise enough to see what I'm speaking of.

We don't want a revival of the current view that says repentance has nothing to do with Christianity. That's something for covenant Israel. And then I bring it into a reality again in another dimension.

The Kingdom of God and the Cost of Serious Faith

Most of the places where I'm invited to preach want to let me know that the service must not be more than an hour long. And here I've got an hour and 45 minute sermon. So I'm supposed to take the scissors or a butcher knife and slash the sermon into little bite-sized pieces?

Do I want a revival of that kind of nonsense? I would suppose that at least seven or eight churches out of ten embrace that nonsense. That a thing can't be gotten over with in an hour or less there's something wrong.

I don't know how you think, and maybe even though it doesn't show up on the surface, maybe you're one of these people who like short sermons, but here you are tonight and I assure you that I have already, and some of you know this anyway, this isn't going to be short.

But I don't honestly believe that it makes sense for the average person to watch television say for 15 hours a week and then come and listen to a 22 minute sermon. I don't think it makes sense. Now people tell me how busy they are and they don't have time, and yet those same people have plenty of time to attend the football game, and if it doesn't last at least three hours they're angry.

They feel they've been cheated. Obviously when you get this far in the matter, you're faced with the question, how many kingdoms are there? In this world, at this time, you see most of us are in danger of supposing that the kingdom of God is future, and it has nothing to do with the present, but of course the Bible teaches that the kingdom of God both is and is to come.

That indeed, although we were born as citizens of the kingdom of this world, by the second birth we become citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And as we read the instructions and the help about faith as they appear in Hebrews chapter 11, we read, faith gives substance to things that are hoped for.

It provides the evidence of things not seen. So in literal fact, we're dealing with some people who actually believe the kingdom of God is of infinitely greater importance than the kingdom of this world.

And therefore they do things like old men like me do. We shuck as ridiculous the notion of one hour service, and we don't hesitate to preach for two or three hours if we think there's a hope of retaining the audience.

Now honestly, if you all got up and left, well I'd have to rethink, but I've never been anywhere where everybody got up and left. And I was told concerning a meeting where I was speaking yesterday that the meeting lasted four hours.

I didn't know that. But I noticed that there were people who stayed. And I understood that the reason they stayed was because they believed that the kingdom of God was a vastly greater consequence than the kingdom of this world.

So again, if you don't mind, and I'm going to do it even if you do mind, I'm going to pause and ask you, is the kingdom of God vastly more important to you than the kingdom of this world? Now let me recite again that portion of Hebrews 11 I already made reference to.

Faith gives substance to things that are hoped for. It provides the evidence of things that are not seen. Now look, we don't expect that a person without faith is going to treat the kingdom of God as if it were wonderfully more important than the kingdom of this life.

But it's very perplexing to understand how a person can think themselves a Christian and yet think that the kingdom of this world is more important than the kingdom of God. So again I ask, where are you on this issue?

Is it clear to you that the kingdom of God is of infinitely greater consequence than the kingdom of this world? And you prove that day in, day out, week after week, month after month, by paying far more attention to that which is invisible and yet is coming than to what you can put your hand on or taste or touch.

Now that's a mighty serious question and a question that there is no wisdom at all in paying no attention to. So as you follow, you see, I'm asking, does it make sense to pray for the revival of something that's loaded with error?

Or does it make sense to pray for the reality of a glorious renewal of that which really counts? Now a lot of people who talk to me say, well Mr. Roberts, it's not that I disagree with what you said, but you don't understand.

It's too late. The next event on God's calendar is the end of the world. Get with it! And I would like to ask thinking people tonight, sir, may I include you, I would like to ask the question, what if in every past generation they said it's too late?

What if men like Jonathan Edwards looked the situation over and said it's too late? What if men like George Whitfield? What if men like John Knox? What if persons like John Calvin? What if Melanchthon?

What if hundreds and thousands in our past history said it's too late? Have you learned to distinguish between late and too late? I'm asking you a question! Have you learned to distinguish between late and too late?

And not when. The question the thinking person comes to is, when do we know it's too late? Because somebody else tells me too late, does that mean it's too late? I would think it's not until the one in control says it, that it matters.

And if you don't mind, fellows, I didn't read anywhere in my Bible that it was too late. I never heard the Lord say it was too late. I heard others say that, but I don't care what others say. I'm interested in what the Lord says.

Revival as the Manifest Presence and Power of God

So you see, what I'm asking you is, does it make sense to pray for something loaded with nonsense? Or does it make sense to pray for something that is truly of God? Some of you have given a little consideration to the subject of revival, and you're aware of the fact, when you speak about revival, you're really speaking about two incredibly wonderful things.

Number one, in revival, God draws near. Now let that sink in. In revival, true revival, God draws near. Do you think it would hurt our president for God to draw near to him? Do you think it would hurt ridiculous idiots like Hillary Clinton for God to draw near to her?

Think of anybody that you know something about and ask, would it hurt them for God to draw near? Or think of the society in which you live. What if not only senators and legislators of every sort, but storekeepers and schoolteachers and people like ourselves were to experience the nearness of God?

Did you ever stop to think what might happen to yourself personally if God drew near? Now, when we try to describe God accurately, some of us do believe in sovereignty, but never in my life have I heard anybody say, sovereign, sovereign, sovereign.

It's true, you could repeat it endlessly and it would be factual, but I do hear people say and sing, holy, holy, holy. And when you understand that when God draws near, the great impact is there in that vital realm, a person who has excused themselves over and over for conduct contrary to Scripture comes under tremendous conviction when God is near.

Isn't that something we need as a nation? Isn't that something we need as individuals? So the nearness of God invariably produces a sense of holiness, of the importance of being right with God. Now, we have people who pretend that God is near them and they live as ridiculously as the devil himself.

I don't pay any attention to whatever they say. I know it's sheer nonsense. Because God always brings that sense of the holy. Now, does it add up rightly to pray that there might be a renewal of that?

Well, most certainly. Not as I've tried to suggest to you of stupid things like thinking God gave us two books or that there are two gods or I could name dozens of other things that would be perfectly absurd to be looking for or hoping for or praying for.

But as I said, there are two incredibly important things that happen in revival. I've already said number one. What we designate as the manifest presence of God. Now, for some of you, maybe the word manifest isn't a very good word.

But there's a little space right here. What if I choose to sit down in it? Now, this lady may not have been paying any, and maybe this fellow wasn't paying any attention to the fact that an old man was here.

But it's kind of hard for them now to deny my presence and existence. And maybe you haven't gotten the picture that when God draws near, it is profound and meaningful and much more so than me sitting down next to somebody.

Indeed, I've thought and thought and thought. And I can't think of anything more wonderful than God drawing near and manifesting himself, not just to me or to you, but to the nation. And when somebody's trying too late, too late, if you understand what happens when God draws near, it's not hard to contradict them and say, take your idiotic notion somewhere else.

How long does it take God to turn everything around when he draws near? Well, now, I don't wish to shame or embarrass these folks that I just sat between, but it's going to be hard for them to deny my existence.

And when God draws near, it's very hard for everyone to deny his reality. But as I said, there are two great things that happen in revival. The manifest presence of Christ, and then the word of God itself taking on a power that it doesn't seem to possess.

Now, you'll understand when I tell you this. Often when I preach, there'll be several people who'll come up, and obviously they're bored and they wish I hadn't been so long-winded, but they'll say, oh, that was nice, Mr. Roberts.

I'll think about what you said. But then, when God draws near and the word takes on fresh power and meaning, you don't find people making stupid statements like, I'll think about it. You find it irresistible.

And isn't that what we need? For the word of God to take hold of people, that they can no longer act as if it wasn't there. So, dear friends, do you understand what I'm suggesting? We don't need a revival of nonsense.

We've got far too much of that already. What we need is a revival of the real thing. So, if I were here to speak carefully to you, I would not hesitate to say, what we really need is a Reformation revival.

All these ridiculous notions of which I've tried to give you a sampling hide under a dirty rock somewhere, because truth has gone. Now, maybe you're not thinking as seriously as I am on this subject. Maybe you haven't got the notion straight.

“Too Late” and the Warnings of Scripture

So, let me see if I can help you in that regard. I want to ask you to consider a different series of questions. When Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God, as the record of Genesis shows, did that mean it was too late for Israel?

Or when God gave us chapter 28 in Deuteronomy, and he took 14 verses to describe the blessings, and 64 verses to describe the curses. Was it too late for Israel? Well, if you paid any attention to Scripture, you know that the warnings were there.

And maybe you're the kind of a person that isn't yet convinced that God can destroy. Remember, if you can, what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, those cities of the plain, that thought they could get away with anything they chose, that they could believe what they wanted.

And suddenly, fire and brimstone falling from heaven and desecrating and bringing into ruination not only the cities themselves, but the people who were the inhabitants and the only ones escaping a little family.

And then the wife of that family, not much interested in God, turns around to have a look and turns into a pillar of salt. Now, you may not think that's fact, but it is. Whether you like it or not, when God decides to destroy, it doesn't take him months or years.

None of us pretends to know fully the mind and heart of God. He may have it in mind to destroy America tonight. And he can, if he chooses. But I'm asking you now to weigh this question. I've asked, is it too late in Sodom and Gomorrah?

Is it too late in Deuteronomy 28? Have you studied Isaiah recently? When Isaiah spoke, chapter 1, an incredible portion. Chapter 53, when Isaiah spoke about the coming Messiah, was it too late? Or move along to Jeremiah.

When Jeremiah was starting out, God told him, nobody will pay any attention to anything you say. And don't bother to pray for these people, because I'm not going to listen. Was it too late then? You see what I'm asking?

Have you faced the reality that the time when it's too late may come? But now, you've brought the Bible, and I'd like you to turn, if you will please, to that small little book of Hosea. And I'd like to ask you to look at something in particular.

Hosea 4:6 and the Need for Sagacity

The book of Hosea. And I'm inviting your attention to chapter 4. And I'm going to be quiet for a minute. I know that you might think that difficult for me. But despite the difficulty, I won't do it. So I'm going to ask you to look at chapter 4 and verse 6.

And because I really hope you'll have a good look, I'm going to be quiet and give you a chance to actually do this. So let me repeat it again for those of you who live in the fog regularly. I want you to look at Hosea 4, verse 6.

And I'm about to begin that moment of quiet when I'm expecting you to look at the text and to see what it says. Well, I suppose not all of you brought the Bible, but a good number did. And I've given you a brief moment to look.

Well, what do you read in your text, Hosea 4, verse 6? Well, I know some of you are timid and won't respond, so I'll read what I've got. And you can see if it differs from what you've got. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you. And it goes on to speak of a given priesthood. Since you've forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. Now, I think this is a tender issue.

There are some parents here. Can you imagine a day when there's no hope for your children? Can you imagine a time when God speaks to you as a parent and says, don't waste your breath praying for your children?

Their end is already determined. Well, now, in this passage, it says God has determined to destroy them and to hold out no hope for their children. I asked you to look at it because I know perfectly well we have a variety of translations, and I wonder how many of you have got it right.

Now, I hope I'm not speaking over your head, but there are those who endeavor to sort things out by making a distinction between knowledge and wisdom. So I'm going to ask a friend here of longstanding.

We've never been close, but nonetheless, I know he's seeking the Father of Christ. What's the difference between wisdom and knowledge? Now, I'm not asking to embarrass you, but just to give you a chance to participate in the service.

Wasn't that kind of me? You know the difference? Do you? Well, how about the rest of you? Do you know the difference? Why is it that the Church is trying to help people to get a hold of things by distinguishing between wisdom and knowledge?

Well, surely you understand that there is external knowledge and internal knowledge. There is knowledge that affects thoughts and that which affects conduct. Now, let me report to you an incident that happened not long ago.

Going way back, years ago, a missionary to Russia was talking to me one day, and he asked if I could recommend something of great importance for him to read. And I said, yes, get a set of Kyle and Delitzsch commentaries on the Old Testament and do everything in your power to master what is said.

Well, this was some time back, but fairly recently he telephoned me. He said, I've been doing what you suggested. I've been studying the book of Hosea. I've come to a really hard place, and I want to ask your help.

He said, there's a word that Kyle and Delitzsch say should appear in the text of Hosea, and it doesn't in most translations. He said, I can't pronounce the word. I'm not sure I ever even heard the word, so let me spell it out for you, and you tell me what it means.

So reading from Kyle and Delitzsch, he gives me something of the background as they describe it. Then he comes to the difficult word, and he says, Kyle and Delitzsch insist that Israel was destroyed for their lack of S-A-G-I-C-I-T-Y.

He said, I can't pronounce that word. I certainly don't know what it means. But I have a notion that you can and do. But I submit it to you. May I ask you, have you understood that Israel was destroyed for their lack of sagacity?

Most of us have never faced that reality. And naturally, if you don't know the word, you don't know what to do with it. But I ask you to think first about an effort at least to distinguish between knowledge and wisdom.

And I ask you to face the reality that there is external knowledge that affects your thinking, and there is internal knowledge that affects your conduct. Now, sagacity is an ancient word. It's an English word, but most people have never heard it, and most certainly have never used it.

But now, tonight, you can face this reality. Israel was destroyed by God because of their lack of sagacity. And even if it's a brand new word for you, and even if you're stumbling over its real meaning, it is the word of God.

And is it such a strange concept after all? Did I not begin this evening by asking you whether it was sensible to pray for a revival of the two-book theory, or the two-God theory, or the other nonsense that's represented by today's church?

Do you think it would be stretching anything to say that the church in America lacks sagacity? Even if you don't know the word, is it impossible to conceive of what happens to a people who treat things externally but it never enters internally to alter their conduct?

Because, you see, there is both knowledge and discernment. And I'd like to ask you now the most important question of any that I've put in front of you this evening. Would you describe yourself as a sagacious person?

You say, Mr. Roberts, I don't know those words. I know. Don't struggle over that. I've tried to help you to understand. A sagacious person is not a person who has an external knowledge, but a person who has discernment.

A person who understands inwardly what it's all about. Now let's look at this in a very practical sense. Would you dare to suppose that at some juncture, Israel was going around saying, we don't believe there's a God.

Have you any biblical reference to that? Do you know any place in scripture where Israel declared that the whole concept of a God was ridiculous nonsense? No, in actual fact, it's very possible to believe externally without ever believing internally.

Very easy to have an outward knowledge that doesn't include discernment. And so here we have the record of not an individual. There was an Israel as an individual, but we have the record of an entire race of people destroyed because of their lack of understanding of inward knowledge.