Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 16 - The Faithless, Final Days of Asa's Reign
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio. Good morning, friends and faithor listeners, and welcome
- 0:05Speaker 1: to the Bible Explain on this lovely Monday morning. I
- 0:08Speaker 1: hope you all had a fantastic Christmas weekend and that
- 0:12Speaker 1: you are ready to start your week nice and strong
- 0:14Speaker 1: by reading the Bible with me and sharing a cup
- 0:16Speaker 1: of coffee with me. Today, we're going to be in
- 0:18Speaker 1: Second Chronicles chapter sixteen, talking about Asa during the end
- 0:24Speaker 1: of his life and how his heart strayed away from
- 0:27Speaker 1: Yahweh and some of the problems that happened right after that.
- 0:30Speaker 1: We'll get into it in just a second. Now, Faival listeners,
- 0:39Speaker 1: before we begin this episode, do me a solid by
- 0:41Speaker 1: listening to a quick word from one of our sponsors.
- 0:46Speaker 1: All righty, now, let's get into this episode. We're going
- 0:48Speaker 1: to be reading Second Chronicles sixteen, the entire chapter and
- 0:52Speaker 1: finishing up ASA's rain and the end of ASA's life
- 0:56Speaker 1: and some of the problems that end up happening because
- 0:58Speaker 1: Asa just did not trust in God at the end
- 1:01Speaker 1: of his life. So I'll be reading this as I
- 1:03Speaker 1: always do from the web version, but grab your favorite
- 1:05Speaker 1: version of the Bible. And also you're a cup of
- 1:07Speaker 1: coffee or a cup of tea this morning. I've got
- 1:09Speaker 1: my tea right here with me. I am drinking blueberry
- 1:13Speaker 1: tea today, which is my favorite tea and the one
- 1:15Speaker 1: that I normally drink if I do, in fact, to
- 1:17Speaker 1: choose to drink tea, because tea is just so much
- 1:21Speaker 1: less enjoyable than coffee. But if I'm going to drink tea,
- 1:26Speaker 1: I might as well drink one that I enjoy So yes,
- 1:28Speaker 1: this blueberry one does the trick for me. So grab
- 1:30Speaker 1: your favorite beverage and let's go ahead and read Second
- 1:32Speaker 1: Chronicles sixteen the entire thing. Let's give reverence to God's
- 1:36Speaker 1: word together. In the thirty sixth year of Ace's rain, Basha,
- 1:42Speaker 1: king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Rama
- 1:45Speaker 1: that he might not allow anyone to go out or
- 1:47Speaker 1: come into Asa King of Judah. Then Asa brought out
- 1:50Speaker 1: silver and gold out of the treasuries of Yahway's house
- 1:52Speaker 1: and of the King's house, and sent to ben Hadad,
- 1:55Speaker 1: king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying, let there
- 1:57Speaker 1: be a treaty between you and me, as there was
- 2:00Speaker 1: between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent
- 2:02Speaker 1: you silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with
- 2:05Speaker 1: Basha King of Israel that he made apart from me.
- 2:08Speaker 1: Ben Hadad listened to King Aesa and sent the captains
- 2:10Speaker 1: of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they
- 2:13Speaker 1: struck Eigen, dan Abelemame and all the storage cities of Naftali.
- 2:17Speaker 1: When Basha heard of it, he stopped building Rama and
- 2:20Speaker 1: let his work cease. Then Aesa the king took all Judah,
- 2:24Speaker 1: and they carried away the stones and timber of Rama
- 2:27Speaker 1: with which Basha had built, and he built Gaba and
- 2:29Speaker 1: Mizpah with them. At that time, Hanani the Seer came
- 2:33Speaker 1: to Asa, King of Judah, and said to him, because
- 2:36Speaker 1: you have relied on the King of Syria and have
- 2:38Speaker 1: not relied on Yahweh or God, Therefore the army of
- 2:41Speaker 1: the King of Syria has escaped out of your hand.
- 2:44Speaker 1: Weren't the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge army with
- 2:48Speaker 1: chariots and exceedingly many horsemen. Yet because you relied on Yahweh,
- 2:52Speaker 1: he delivered them into your hand. For Yahwai's eyes run
- 2:56Speaker 1: back and forth throughout the whole earth to show himself
- 2:59Speaker 1: strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect
- 3:02Speaker 1: toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from
- 3:05Speaker 1: now on you will have wars. Then Aesa was angry
- 3:09Speaker 1: with the Seer and put him in the prison, for
- 3:11Speaker 1: he was in a rage with him. Because of this thing.
- 3:14Speaker 1: Asa pressed some of the people at the same time.
- 3:17Speaker 1: Behold the acts of Asa first and last, Behold they
- 3:20Speaker 1: are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah
- 3:22Speaker 1: and of Israel. In the thirty ninth year of his reign,
- 3:25Speaker 1: Asa was diseased in his feet. His disease was exceedingly great.
- 3:29Speaker 1: Yet in his disease he didn't seek Yahweh, but just
- 3:32Speaker 1: the physicians. Aesa slept with his fathers and died in
- 3:35Speaker 1: the forty first year of his reign. They buried him
- 3:38Speaker 1: in his own tomb, which he had dug out for
- 3:40Speaker 1: himself in David's city, and laid him in the bed,
- 3:42Speaker 1: which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of
- 3:45Speaker 1: spices prepared by the perfumer's art. And they made a
- 3:48Speaker 1: very great fire for him. So we've been learning a
- 3:52Speaker 1: lot about King Aesa so far. And Aesa was a
- 3:55Speaker 1: really good king, especially to start out. He was a
- 3:58Speaker 1: king that is said, his heart was perfect before Yahweh.
- 4:03Speaker 1: In fact, if you turn to First Kings, chapter fifteen.
- 4:06Speaker 1: That's what it says in verse fourteen. The high places
- 4:09Speaker 1: were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Aso is
- 4:11Speaker 1: perfect with Yahweh all his days. So Asa had a
- 4:15Speaker 1: perfect heart with Yahweh. And that doesn't mean that Asa
- 4:17Speaker 1: never sinned, because clearly in this chapter he definitely sinned.
- 4:20Speaker 1: But that means that Asa never worshiped anything other than
- 4:25Speaker 1: Yahweh his entire life, and that's something actually pretty uncommon
- 4:29Speaker 1: for the kings in Israel and Juda's history. Generally, all
- 4:34Speaker 1: the kings would start worshiping the idols of the other nations.
- 4:39Speaker 1: But Asa was one of the few kings of Judah
- 4:42Speaker 1: that did not worship any other God other than Yahweh himself.
- 4:46Speaker 1: And so that's why ASA's heart was perfect before Yahweh.
- 4:51Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean he wasn't going to sin, and
- 4:52Speaker 1: so we actually read about some of his sins in
- 4:55Speaker 1: today's portion. It says in verse one, in the thirty
- 4:59Speaker 1: six year of Ace, this reign, Basha, the king of Israel,
- 5:02Speaker 1: went up against Judah and built rama that he might
- 5:05Speaker 1: not allow anyone to go out or to come in
- 5:07Speaker 1: to Asa, King of Judah. So don't forget Israel and Judah.
- 5:12Speaker 1: Though they were originally one nation, they ended up splitting
- 5:16Speaker 1: after Solomon died. It was right after Solomon's son took
- 5:20Speaker 1: the throne. He caused an immediate civil war between the
- 5:24Speaker 1: two nations, and so Israel split into two, and so
- 5:28Speaker 1: Israel became the northern parts of Israel and Judah became
- 5:32Speaker 1: the southern part of Israel. So Asa was the king
- 5:35Speaker 1: of Judah the southern part, and Basha at this time
- 5:38Speaker 1: was the king of Israel. And Basha was not a
- 5:41Speaker 1: good king. You can read about the tumultuous history of
- 5:45Speaker 1: Basha in First Kings fifteen and sixteen if you would
- 5:49Speaker 1: like to. I'm not going to go back over it today.
- 5:51Speaker 1: But Basha was not a good king. And so it
- 5:53Speaker 1: says right here that Basha built up rama that he
- 5:57Speaker 1: might not allow anyone to come in or go out
- 6:00Speaker 1: to King Asa of Judah. Now, this was actually pretty
- 6:03Speaker 1: problematic for a few reasons. The first reason was that
- 6:07Speaker 1: this was kind of a declaration of war that Basha
- 6:11Speaker 1: was doing to Asa. That was the first problem. But
- 6:14Speaker 1: the second problem was that this was cutting people off
- 6:18Speaker 1: from being able to worship at the temple in Jerusalem
- 6:23Speaker 1: because the location of Rama was only a few miles
- 6:27Speaker 1: north of Jerusalem, and that was the only road that
- 6:32Speaker 1: people could take to get from Jerusalem into Israel. So Basha,
- 6:38Speaker 1: who was in control of Rama at this time, ended
- 6:41Speaker 1: up fortifying that city and basically cutting it off so
- 6:46Speaker 1: that no pilgrims could travel from Israel down to Jerusalem
- 6:52Speaker 1: to worship Yahweh. And part of the reason Basha may
- 6:54Speaker 1: have done this was because he didn't want any more
- 6:57Speaker 1: of his people leaving to go to Judah, because that
- 7:00Speaker 1: was a big problem in times past for Israel. Since
- 7:04Speaker 1: Israel had introduced a state run religion, a lot of
- 7:08Speaker 1: the devout people in Israel actually left, and a lot
- 7:11Speaker 1: of the Levites left as well to go down to Judah,
- 7:14Speaker 1: and that actually made Judah a lot stronger because these
- 7:18Speaker 1: devout people and Levites are leaving Israel and making their
- 7:23Speaker 1: home in Judah. So Basha doesn't want that happening again,
- 7:26Speaker 1: so he is cutting off every pathway into Jerusalem so
- 7:30Speaker 1: that his people no longer can move to Judah if
- 7:34Speaker 1: they don't like what's going on in Israel any longer.
- 7:37Speaker 1: But this was also a declaration of war, and Asa,
- 7:40Speaker 1: the King of Judah certainly understood this. So it says
- 7:42Speaker 1: that Basha, the King of Israel, went up against Judah
- 7:46Speaker 1: and built Rama that he might not allow anyone to
- 7:49Speaker 1: go out or come in to Asa, King of Judah.
- 7:52Speaker 1: So Asa, in retaliation, it says, brings out the silver
- 7:56Speaker 1: and the gold out of the treasuries of Yahweh's house
- 7:59Speaker 1: and the king's house, and sent them to ben Hadad,
- 8:02Speaker 1: King of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, let there
- 8:06Speaker 1: be a treaty between you and me, as there was
- 8:08Speaker 1: a treaty between my father and your father. Behold, I
- 8:11Speaker 1: have sent you silver and gold. Go and break your
- 8:14Speaker 1: treaty with Basha, King of Israel, that he made a
- 8:16Speaker 1: part from me. So that was ASA's idea as to
- 8:21Speaker 1: how he could get rid of Basha, the King of Israel,
- 8:25Speaker 1: was to make a treaty with the King of Damascus
- 8:29Speaker 1: or the Syrian king. Apparently this same Syrian king had
- 8:33Speaker 1: a treaty going on with Basha at this time. But
- 8:37Speaker 1: Asa sends over all of this money like tons of money,
- 8:41Speaker 1: and ends up convincing this king of Syria to break
- 8:44Speaker 1: his treaty with Basha. And this king is more than
- 8:47Speaker 1: happy to do so. He's like, yeah, I'll take your
- 8:48Speaker 1: money and stab Basha in the back. That's totally fine,
- 8:52Speaker 1: And so that's what ends up happening. It says that
- 8:54Speaker 1: ben Hadad, the King of Syria, listened to King Aesa
- 8:58Speaker 1: and sent the captains of his armies against the cities
- 9:01Speaker 1: of Israel, and they struck Eigen and Dan and abel
- 9:04Speaker 1: Main and all the storage cities of Neftali. Now, don't forget. Basha,
- 9:10Speaker 1: the King of Israel is now in Rama right now,
- 9:12Speaker 1: like trying to build that city up. But he hears
- 9:15Speaker 1: that the Syrian king is terrorizing the northern tribes of Israel.
- 9:20Speaker 1: So he immediately leaves Rama to go and live somewhere
- 9:24Speaker 1: closer to this conflict, so that if this ever happens again,
- 9:29Speaker 1: he will be there to protect his people. Because Rama
- 9:33Speaker 1: was way too far away from all of this. You know,
- 9:35Speaker 1: Rama was right on the border of Judah, way too
- 9:38Speaker 1: far away from the northern tribes of Israel. So he leaves,
- 9:42Speaker 1: and this looks like a big success for Asa, and
- 9:45Speaker 1: Asa immediately goes into Rama and steals all of the
- 9:49Speaker 1: materials that Basha was using to build the city up.
- 9:53Speaker 1: That's what it says in verse six. Then Asa the
- 9:56Speaker 1: King took all Judah and they carried away the stones
- 9:59Speaker 1: and timber of Rama with which Basha had built, and
- 10:02Speaker 1: he built Gaba and Mizpah with them. So he stole
- 10:06Speaker 1: all of the materials that Basha is using, which is
- 10:09Speaker 1: kind of funny. So this looks like a big success,
- 10:12Speaker 1: you know. I'm sure Asa was very proud of himself
- 10:15Speaker 1: for thinking this through. But there's a few problems going
- 10:19Speaker 1: on here, as we're about to discover. In verse seven,
- 10:23Speaker 1: it says at that time Hanani the Seir came to Asa,
- 10:27Speaker 1: the King of Judah. And we don't really know who
- 10:29Speaker 1: Hanani the Siri is, other than the fact that he's
- 10:32Speaker 1: mentioned as the father of another prophet later on down
- 10:36Speaker 1: the line. And this other prophet actually went to kings
- 10:40Speaker 1: of Israel to tell them what they were doing wrong.
- 10:43Speaker 1: But this particular prophet or seer as they're sometimes called,
- 10:47Speaker 1: went to Asa with a message from God. And here's
- 10:51Speaker 1: the message, Asa, because you have relied on the King
- 10:54Speaker 1: of Syria and have not relied on Yahweh, your God.
- 10:58Speaker 1: Therefore the army of the King of Syria has escaped
- 11:00Speaker 1: out of your hand. Weren't the Ethiopians and the lou
- 11:04Speaker 1: beam a huge army with the chariots and exceedingly many horsemen.
- 11:09Speaker 1: Yet because you relied on Yahweh, he delivered them into
- 11:12Speaker 1: your hand. For Yahwe's eyes run back and forth throughout
- 11:15Speaker 1: the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf
- 11:18Speaker 1: of them whose heart is perfect toward him. You have
- 11:21Speaker 1: done foolishly in this, for from now on you will
- 11:25Speaker 1: have wars. And Asa here's this message, and does not
- 11:30Speaker 1: respond positively at all. He flies into a rage, is
- 11:34Speaker 1: what it says. And he actually puts this man Hanani
- 11:38Speaker 1: into prison. He puts him in the stocks because of
- 11:41Speaker 1: how angry he is at this message from God. But
- 11:45Speaker 1: why would he be so angry over this, I would
- 11:49Speaker 1: say because Asa probably thought he was doing the right
- 11:52Speaker 1: thing when he sent all of that money to the
- 11:56Speaker 1: King of Syria. He probably thought, I am protecting all
- 12:00Speaker 1: of these people who want to come down to Jerusalem
- 12:03Speaker 1: and worship God at the Temple. I am opening up
- 12:05Speaker 1: the routes for these pilgrims to come down and worship
- 12:09Speaker 1: at the Temple the way they should be worshiping, instead
- 12:12Speaker 1: of that crappy state run religion that Israel has going
- 12:15Speaker 1: on up there. I'm not going to trap them up
- 12:17Speaker 1: in Israel when they could be down here worshiping, and Asa,
- 12:21Speaker 1: instead of asking God, is this the right thing to do,
- 12:25Speaker 1: just went ahead and did it, and when it was successful,
- 12:29Speaker 1: Asa probably thought he was truly doing the right thing.
- 12:34Speaker 1: And don't forget this was later on in ASA's Rain.
- 12:36Speaker 1: It actually says this was the thirty sixth year of
- 12:39Speaker 1: Ace's Rain, and Asa reigned for forty one years before
- 12:43Speaker 1: he died. So Asa was growing quite old and very
- 12:47Speaker 1: set in his ways at this point in time, and
- 12:49Speaker 1: I think this was causing him possibly to either have
- 12:53Speaker 1: some pride or it was causing him to have some fear,
- 12:58Speaker 1: because it could also be that Asa was truly fearful
- 13:01Speaker 1: of Basha. It could be that Asa wasn't thinking at
- 13:04Speaker 1: all about the pilgrims who wanted to come to Jerusalem
- 13:07Speaker 1: to worship God, but he was scared that Basha was
- 13:10Speaker 1: right on his doorstep, you know, only a few miles
- 13:14Speaker 1: away from him, and that terrified him. Maybe, so it
- 13:17Speaker 1: could be that he was either feeling very prideful or
- 13:20Speaker 1: very fearful as he was getting older and coming to
- 13:24Speaker 1: the end of his life. So he responds so negatively
- 13:29Speaker 1: to this poor prophet, who's only coming to him to
- 13:32Speaker 1: tell him, hey, God is not happy with you because
- 13:35Speaker 1: you actually allowed Syria to get away. They're a way
- 13:39Speaker 1: bigger problem for you then Israel will ever be. Syria
- 13:44Speaker 1: is the problem you should be dealing with, not Israel,
- 13:48Speaker 1: and you allowed them to escape from your hands. And
- 13:50Speaker 1: not only that, don't forget what it says Asa actually
- 13:54Speaker 1: took the money from Yahweh's house, like from the treasuries,
- 13:58Speaker 1: and gave it to a pagan king. That money was
- 14:02Speaker 1: supposed to be for the Temple of God. That was
- 14:04Speaker 1: money that people had donated to the temple, and it
- 14:09Speaker 1: should never have gone to a pagan king just wanting
- 14:13Speaker 1: to destroy people, wanting to stab people in the back.
- 14:15Speaker 1: And who's to say he wouldn't do that to Asa
- 14:18Speaker 1: very shortly down the line, and we know that Syria
- 14:21Speaker 1: became a huge, huge problem for Israel and Judah not
- 14:26Speaker 1: too long after this. Syria is always a problem for
- 14:29Speaker 1: Israel and Judah. But there's one last thing I want
- 14:32Speaker 1: to focus on here real quick, that this prophet says
- 14:34Speaker 1: in his prophecy. He says in verse nine, for Yahwa's
- 14:38Speaker 1: eyes run back and forth throughout the whole Earth to
- 14:42Speaker 1: show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart
- 14:45Speaker 1: is perfect toward him. And I think that is really
- 14:48Speaker 1: beautiful because that verse means that God is looking for
- 14:51Speaker 1: people who are worshiping him truly, who genuinely have faith,
- 14:57Speaker 1: so that he can show himself. And actually, this prophet
- 15:01Speaker 1: gives an example to Asa of how God did this
- 15:05Speaker 1: for Asa in the past. He's like, don't you remember
- 15:08Speaker 1: the Ethiopian army that came up against you, And that's
- 15:11Speaker 1: talked about in the previous chapter where a million Ethiopian
- 15:15Speaker 1: soldiers came up against little old Judah And Asa was like,
- 15:21Speaker 1: this is a death sentence for me and my men.
- 15:23Speaker 1: We on our own cannot do this. And so Asa
- 15:27Speaker 1: actually cried out to God and was like, God, please
- 15:30Speaker 1: help Judah get through this. And God actually did it.
- 15:32Speaker 1: God completely destroyed that Ethiopian army on behalf of Judah
- 15:37Speaker 1: because Judah had faith in God. And so this prophet
- 15:41Speaker 1: is like, Asa, why aren't you having faith in God
- 15:44Speaker 1: in this situation. You know, Israel is small compared to
- 15:50Speaker 1: that Ethiopian army you faced, and yet you didn't have
- 15:53Speaker 1: faith in God to take care of this situation for you.
- 15:57Speaker 1: You thought you could do it on your own. God
- 16:00Speaker 1: is looking to bless you Asa, if you will just
- 16:03Speaker 1: have faith in him, but Asa doesn't want to hear it.
- 16:08Speaker 1: So after this, it says Asa was angry with the
- 16:11Speaker 1: seer and put him in prison for he was in
- 16:13Speaker 1: a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa
- 16:16Speaker 1: pressed some of the people at the same time. So
- 16:19Speaker 1: it could be that there were other people speaking up
- 16:21Speaker 1: about what Asa had done also, just perhaps these people
- 16:24Speaker 1: were angry and upset that Asa had actually taken the
- 16:29Speaker 1: monies from the treasuries of God's house to give it
- 16:32Speaker 1: to the King of Syria. Perhaps other people were on
- 16:35Speaker 1: the side of this seer as well, and that was
- 16:37Speaker 1: who Asa ended up oppressing. Anybody who disagreed with him
- 16:42Speaker 1: or didn't say, yes, King, we are totally fine with
- 16:46Speaker 1: everything you do, that is who Asa ended up oppressing.
- 16:49Speaker 1: So Asa, right after this, it says, ends up getting
- 16:53Speaker 1: a disease in his feet, which is kind of interesting. Now.
- 16:56Speaker 1: It does not say anywhere in scripture that this disease
- 16:59Speaker 1: was because Yahweh was angry at Asa. It does not
- 17:04Speaker 1: say that, but that's what a lot of people imply
- 17:07Speaker 1: is because Asa refused to seek after Yahweh. During the
- 17:13Speaker 1: later times of his life, God allowed Asa to get
- 17:15Speaker 1: this disease in his feet, and a lot of scholars
- 17:19Speaker 1: think that the disease Asa god was either gout or
- 17:22Speaker 1: some form of gangren, which ended up being really bad
- 17:25Speaker 1: and possibly even taking his life. It says in verse
- 17:29Speaker 1: twelve here that in the thirty ninth year of his reign,
- 17:32Speaker 1: Asa was diseased in his feet. His disease was exceedingly great.
- 17:37Speaker 1: Yet in his disease, he didn't seek Yahweh, but just
- 17:41Speaker 1: the physicians. So that's how far Asa kind of fell
- 17:45Speaker 1: away from God. You know, even though Asa never worshiped
- 17:48Speaker 1: any other God in his entire lifetime, even in his
- 17:52Speaker 1: old age, he stopped seeking God for matters he thought
- 17:57Speaker 1: he could handle. Whether it was the matter of Basha
- 18:01Speaker 1: being right on his doorstep or this disease in his feet.
- 18:04Speaker 1: He thought, you know, I can handle this. I can
- 18:07Speaker 1: do this. I don't need to ask God for help
- 18:10Speaker 1: in this situation. And so it says that Asa relied
- 18:14Speaker 1: on the physicians instead of on God. And that's really
- 18:19Speaker 1: sad because God is the great physician. God is the
- 18:23Speaker 1: ultimate healer. He is the one who gives power to
- 18:27Speaker 1: the doctors to heal us. God is the one who
- 18:31Speaker 1: gives us the medicines and herbs and anything else that
- 18:35Speaker 1: can cure us of these diseases. God does it. And
- 18:40Speaker 1: unfortunately Asa was not asking God for his wisdom. He
- 18:45Speaker 1: was relying on his own wisdom and the wisdom of
- 18:48Speaker 1: these physicians. So Asa never heals of this disease in
- 18:53Speaker 1: his feet. In fact, most people believe that it actually
- 18:56Speaker 1: took his life. In verse thirteen, Asa slept with him
- 19:00Speaker 1: father's and he died in the forty first year of
- 19:03Speaker 1: his reign. They buried him in his own tomb, which
- 19:06Speaker 1: he had dug out for himself in David's city, and
- 19:08Speaker 1: they laid him in a bed which was filled with
- 19:10Speaker 1: sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by Perfumer's art,
- 19:15Speaker 1: and they made a very great fire for him. So
- 19:17Speaker 1: this fire that's being talked about here would not be
- 19:20Speaker 1: like a cremation type of fire. This was something that
- 19:24Speaker 1: the ancient people would do to honor the dead, especially
- 19:28Speaker 1: a king. They would essentially have a big bonfire to
- 19:32Speaker 1: honor the king's life when he had died. So that's
- 19:35Speaker 1: what Second Chronicles is talking about here. So Asa died
- 19:38Speaker 1: with honor. You know, his people overall liked him. He
- 19:42Speaker 1: died a good king, and the majority of his life
- 19:46Speaker 1: he was great for Judah. It wasn't until the last
- 19:50Speaker 1: few years of his reign that he started to fall
- 19:53Speaker 1: away from Yahweh, and not fully because his heart was
- 19:57Speaker 1: always perfect with Yahweh, is what Scripture says that multiple times.
- 20:01Speaker 1: So he never fully fell away from Yahweh, but he
- 20:05Speaker 1: just didn't seek Yahweh at the end of his life,
- 20:08Speaker 1: either because of pride or because of fear, and ultimately
- 20:12Speaker 1: this solid his good reputation. You know, I think a
- 20:15Speaker 1: lot of people think of the Old Testament as just
- 20:17Speaker 1: stories that don't really apply to us nowadays, but that
- 20:20Speaker 1: couldn't be further from the truth. There's absolutely a message
- 20:24Speaker 1: in there for us as well. So I'm going to
- 20:26Speaker 1: end with Proverbs nine, verse ten, which says, the fear
- 20:30Speaker 1: of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge
- 20:34Speaker 1: of the Holy One is understanding all right, favor listeners,
- 20:42Speaker 1: Before I end out this episode, please take a listen
- 20:45Speaker 1: to this word from one of our sponsors. So if
- 20:49Speaker 1: you're interested in learning more about the topic we covered today,
- 20:53Speaker 1: which is trusting God throughout your entire life. I actually
- 20:56Speaker 1: highly recommend that you read the Book of Ecclesiastes because
- 21:00Speaker 1: that book is just filled with knowledge and wisdom about
- 21:05Speaker 1: what happens when you choose to not follow God for
- 21:09Speaker 1: your entire life, or even during parts of your life.
- 21:12Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes such a great book, and I think Ecclesiastes eleven
- 21:16Speaker 1: specifically is one of my favorite chapters, though I like
- 21:19Speaker 1: eleven and twelve together. So check out the Book of
- 21:22Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes in your personal reading if that's something that interests you,
- 21:26Speaker 1: all right, Fay for listeners. I hope to see all
- 21:28Speaker 1: of you guys tomorrow for an episode from First Timothy
- 21:31Speaker 1: where we're going to be finishing up the book First
- 21:33Speaker 1: Timothy very soon. Here, I think we only have one
- 21:35Speaker 1: more chapter to go, so we're going to be finishing
- 21:38Speaker 1: it up and moving into the Book of tewod Timothy
- 21:40Speaker 1: very soon. So I hope to see you guys over
- 21:42Speaker 1: there tomorrow morning six am or whenever you choose to
- 21:45Speaker 1: wake up and listen. Until then, happy listening, and God bless.
- 21:52Speaker 1: I just want to take a second to thank the
- 21:53Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on
- 21:56Speaker 1: the Bible explain podcast. In fact, if you go to
- 21:58Speaker 1: lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of other faith
- 22:01Speaker 1: centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
- 22:04Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.