In the Jewish sanctuary system, the priest was the appointed intercessor between God and man. One of the clearest ways God manifested His guidance for Israel through the high priest was by light or cloud appearing over one of two stones on the priest's breastplate, sometimes generally called the ephod. These stones were named urim and thummim. Abiathar, son of Adonijah, was a priest during most of David's lifetime, both before and after he became king. He was the priest on duty when David and his men entered the tabernacle and ate the showbread. Jesus mentions him in the New Testament when He used this event as an example of a seemingly unlawful act allowed because of extreme circumstances (Mark 2:26).
When Saul was anointed king, God provided guidance to him through the prophet Samuel and the temple priests. Saul's personality deteriorated during his kingship. Insane with jealousy, he felt sorry for himself imagining David was his enemy and everyone was in on the conspiracy. When Ahimelech rendered aid to defend David, Saul ordered the slaughter of him and 85 priests (1 Sam. 22:13-19). Abiathar demonstrated his loyalty to David by risking his life to tell him of the killing. Later, Abiathar (1 Sam. 23:6-12) brought the ephod to David who used it to seek God's guidance after Saul learned David's location and planned to attack and kill him.
By Saul's malicious act of killing the priests and their families, he deprived himself and his nation of God's guidance through this oracle and the priests who administered it. God used Abiathar to save the ephod and become a priest who could sympathize with David during most of his reign.
The intrigue and treachery of David's exploits make for interesting reading but remain just ancient stories unless we apply them to our lives today. God no longer uses priests and the urim and thummim to communicate with His church because He has given us His written word. In the late 1800s God selected two young men, A. T. Jones, and E. J. Waggoner, whom Ellen White described as having "heavenly credentials."* Over 350 times, this modern day prophet endorsed the message God gave them, yet she and they faced opposition wherever they went. While their battles were not physical as were David's, the intrigue and distortion of truth finds some parallel with David's story.
God chose Jones and Waggoner to present the actual message, but, like Abiathar, He used Ellen White to provide support. Frequently, her support came in the form of actual revelation settling various issues. A case in point would be her statement on the question of whether the law described as the schoolmaster in Galatians is the ceremonial or the moral law (Gal. 3:24). "I am asked concerning the law in Galatians. What law is the school-master to bring us to Christ? I answer: Both the ceremonial and the moral code of ten commandments" (The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1725). Significantly, that letter was written in 1900 after the brethren struggled together to study the issue.
Another example of her clarification of the 1888 message: "Several have written to me inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel's message, and I have answered, 'It is the third angel's message in verity'" (Review and Herald, April 1, 1890). The third angel's message is the sanctuary truth. Hence, the 1888 message is an understanding of justification by faith, which is parallel to and consistent with the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary.
If we fail to use the advantage afforded us by the teaching of the prophet, are we in danger of repeating Saul's mistake? By keeping her endorsements of the message of righteousness by faith, are we in effect "killing" the prophet's message?
In David's declining years, because of political expediency, Abiathar changed his loyalty from his king to support Adonijah's bid for his father's throne. Abiathar knew that God had made his wishes clear that Solomon was to be king, but somehow he joined the conspiracy against Solomon. What kind of distortion did Abiathar invent to assuage his conscience and the consciences of his co-conspirators that God had made a mistake in selecting Solomon? When we distort both the actual message and the endorsements, do we join those who originally opposed the divinely credentialed messengers and the prophet? Do we not perpetuate the "conspiracy?"
An example of distorting the 1888 message is to say that the church accepted righteousness by faith and is teaching it, when in fact, it is teaching the evangelical Arminian concept of righteousness by faith. Ellen White maintains that the message was not accepted (Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235). To insist that the church accepted righteousness by faith, contrary to her eyewitness account, is to participate in a falsification of our history.
Truth never suffers from study and scrutiny by honest and humble investigators. Our duty of loyalty to the church should be equal to Christ's (John 12:20-25), but even Christ spoke of the church's indifference to her Bridegroom in the Song of Solomon (5:1-3). Because He rebukes and chastens those He loves, He warned Laodicea of her apathy in Revelation.
We can with confidence, examine not only the message, but our history of its reception. If we are to learn from the mistakes of ancient Israel, does it not make sense that God also wants us to learn from choices made by our more contemporary brothers and sisters in the church's relatively recent past? In doing this, we must never be directed by a spirit of criticism or debate, but our motivation must always be the Spirit of Truth.
By failing even to investigate the past, we risk perpetuating the errors of the past. God has preserved enough of the record to make a thorough examination possible. No explanatory "filter" is needed as the original sources speak to us from the pens of those who wrote them. When we study to understand and submit to the Holy Spirit's guidance, there is nothing to fear.
--Arlene Hill
* Review and Herald, March 18, 1890 and Sept. 3, 1889; Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers
, pp. 412, 413.Resources for Further Investigation:
1888 Re-examined, Robert J. Wieland
Let History Speak, Donald K. Short
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