Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 18:18-34 - God Always Gives Us a Choice

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2 Chronicles 18:18-34 - God Always Gives Us a Choice · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, good morning, friends and faithful listeners. Hi.
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  Speaker 1: My name is Jen I am the host of the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Explained podcast. We're going to be finishing up another
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  Speaker 1: chapter of the Bible today, second Chronicles eighteen, and talking
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  Speaker 1: about the death of King Ahab and also why King
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  Speaker 1: Jehosha Fat decided it was a good idea to go
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  Speaker 1: into battle with King Ahab even though there was a
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  Speaker 1: prophecy telling Ahab not to go into battle. We'll get
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  Speaker 1: into this episode in just one second. So I have
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  Speaker 1: an interesting new development that happened with me and my
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  Speaker 1: husband just recently. My husband is now the interim worship
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  Speaker 1: leader at my church and I am the vocal worship
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  Speaker 1: leader at my church now, so I'm still doing youth group.
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  Speaker 1: I'm still doing worship with the youth. But last month
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  Speaker 1: the worship leader put in her resignation at our church,
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  Speaker 1: and the pastor called my husband and was like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: can you do this until we find a worship leader
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  Speaker 1: to take over full time? And so my husband agreed.
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  Speaker 1: We just on Sunday had our first worship together, my
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  Speaker 1: husband and I up on the stage, and I think
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  Speaker 1: it went really well. So I've been enjoying the process
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  Speaker 1: of doing worship up at the front of the stage
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  Speaker 1: once again. So that's been something really really exciting going
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  Speaker 1: on in my life recently. But faithful listeners, if you
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  Speaker 1: ever have a prayer request or something that you'd like
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  Speaker 1: to share with me, please feel free to contact me
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  Speaker 1: via my email address, which is listed in the description
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  Speaker 1: of every single episode. But let's go ahead and jump
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  Speaker 1: into this episode four today, right after a quick word
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  Speaker 1: from a sponsor. All right, so let's go ahead and
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  Speaker 1: finish up Second Chronicles eighteen versus eighteen through thirty four.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading as I always do from the web,
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  Speaker 1: but make sure to read out of the version that
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  Speaker 1: you prefer this morning, and also grab your cup of
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  Speaker 1: coffee or your cup of teeth this morning to enjoy
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  Speaker 1: with me as we read Second Chronicles eighteen eighteen through
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  Speaker 1: thirty four together. Makaiah said, therefore hear Yahweh's word. I
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  Speaker 1: saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army
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  Speaker 1: of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh said, who will entice Ahab king of Israel, that
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  Speaker 1: he may go up and fall at Ramoth? Gilead one spoke,
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  Speaker 1: saying in this way, and another saying in that way.
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  Speaker 1: A spirit came out stood before Yahweh and said, I
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  Speaker 1: will entice him. Yahweh said to him, how he said,
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  Speaker 1: I will go, and I will be a lying spirit
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  Speaker 1: in the mouth of all of his prophets. He said,
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  Speaker 1: you will entice him, and you will prevail also, Go
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  Speaker 1: and do so now. Therefore, behold, Yahweh has put a
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  Speaker 1: lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets, and
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh has spoken evil concerning you. Then said Akaiah, the
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  Speaker 1: son of Chinnana. Came near and struck Makaiah on the
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  Speaker 1: cheek and said, which way did Yahwe's spirit go for
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  Speaker 1: me to speak to you. Makiah said, behold, you shall
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  Speaker 1: see on that day when you go into the inner
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  Speaker 1: room to hide yourself. The King of Israel said, take
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  Speaker 1: Makaiah and carry him back to amm And, the governor
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  Speaker 1: of the city, and to joe Ash, the King's son,
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  Speaker 1: and say, the King says, put this fellow in prison
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  Speaker 1: and feed him with the bread of affliction and the
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  Speaker 1: water of affliction until I return in peace. Makiah said,
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  Speaker 1: if you return at all in peace, Yahweh has not
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  Speaker 1: spoken by me. He said, listen all you people, all
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  Speaker 1: of you. So the King of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the
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  Speaker 1: King of Judah, went up to Ramit Gilead. The King
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  Speaker 1: of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and
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  Speaker 1: go into battle, but you put on your robes. So
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  Speaker 1: the King of Israel disguised himself and they went into
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  Speaker 1: the battle. Now, the King of Syria had commanded the
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  Speaker 1: captains of his chariots, saying, don't fight with small nor
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  Speaker 1: great except only with the King of Israel. When the
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  Speaker 1: captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, it's the
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  Speaker 1: King of Israel. Therefore they turned around to fight against him.
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  Speaker 1: But Jehoshaphat cried out, and Yahweh helped him, and God
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  Speaker 1: moved them to depart from him. When the captains of
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  Speaker 1: the chariots saw that it was not the King of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: they turned back from pursuing him. A certain man drew
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  Speaker 1: his bow at random and struck the King of Israel
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  Speaker 1: between the joints of the armor. Therefore, he said to
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  Speaker 1: the driver of the chariot, turn around and carry me
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  Speaker 1: out of battle, for I am severely wounded. The battle
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  Speaker 1: increased that day, however, the King of Israel propped himself
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  Speaker 1: up in his chariot against the Syrians until the evening,
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  Speaker 1: and at about sunset he died. So on Monday we
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  Speaker 1: talked about the first half of this chapter and to
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  Speaker 1: do a quick recap, Ahab and Jehoshaphat became allies with
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  Speaker 1: each other, Jehoshaphat being the good King of Judah, Ahab
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  Speaker 1: being the bad King of Israel. So he goes and
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  Speaker 1: visits King Ahab, and Ahab's like, hey, you know, I'm
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  Speaker 1: really sick of these Syrians. Can we go to war
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  Speaker 1: with each other? You know, I'll help you, you help me.
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  Speaker 1: We'll just get rid of these Syrians across the board.
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  Speaker 1: And Jehoshaphat is like, yeah, this is a great idea,
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  Speaker 1: but first let's ask Yahweh what he thinks. So King Ahab,
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  Speaker 1: who was a worshiper of pretty much everything except Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: really he brings together all of the prophets that he had,
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  Speaker 1: which was about four hundred men, and all of these
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  Speaker 1: men are prophesying. They're like, yes, this is a great idea.
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  Speaker 1: You should go and defeat the Syrians. God is with you.
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  Speaker 1: He is going to protect you and we don't know
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  Speaker 1: what these prophets were. We know at least some of
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  Speaker 1: them claim to be prophets of Yahweh, but it very
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  Speaker 1: well could be that many of these other prophets were
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  Speaker 1: prophets of Bail, prophets of Ashermolik, Chemish, whoever else Ahab worshiped,
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  Speaker 1: So they were all illegitimate prophets. And Jehoshaphat can kind
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  Speaker 1: of smell the crap that's going on with these prophets,
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  Speaker 1: and he turns to Ahab and he's like, hey, do
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  Speaker 1: you have like a real prophet of Yahweh, like somebody
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  Speaker 1: that you know actually is a prophet. And so Ahab
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  Speaker 1: is like, well, there's this one guy, but I hate him,
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  Speaker 1: and that's verbatim. I hate him because he never prophesies
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  Speaker 1: anything good about me. And Jehosha Fat's like, well, you
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't hate one of God's prophets. Can we hear what
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  Speaker 1: this guy has to say? So Ahab goes and gets him.
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  Speaker 1: And this guy's name was Macaiah, the son of Imla.
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  Speaker 1: And this is really the only time we see Makaiah
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  Speaker 1: mentioned in scripture by name. There is a possibility that
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  Speaker 1: he shows up in one Kings twenty as a nameless prophet.
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  Speaker 1: But there's really no way to tell if that nameless
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  Speaker 1: prophet was Makaiah or not, but some people guess that
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  Speaker 1: it was. And if that is the case, if the
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  Speaker 1: nameless prophet in One Kings twenty is Makaiah, then the
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  Speaker 1: two times that we see Makaiah, he gets punched in
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  Speaker 1: the face. So poor Macaiah, he's always getting punched in
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  Speaker 1: the face every single time we see him, if in fact,
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  Speaker 1: he was the nameless prophet in First Kings twenty. But anyway,
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  Speaker 1: Makaiah comes to the courtyard and he starts out by
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  Speaker 1: being really snarky to the King of Israel. He's like, oh, yes, King,
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  Speaker 1: you're definitely going to prosper in this battle. That's what
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  Speaker 1: you want to hear, isn't it. And the king gets
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  Speaker 1: really angry. He's like, Makaiah, how many times have I
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  Speaker 1: told you to speak nothing but the truth in Yahweh's name.
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  Speaker 1: So the king knew he was being snarky. There was
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  Speaker 1: clearly something going on with Macaiah's tone, and so Makaiah
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  Speaker 1: says in verse sixteen, I saw all Israel scattered on
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  Speaker 1: the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. You always said,
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  Speaker 1: these have no master, let them return to his house
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  Speaker 1: in peace. So that's a really heavy prophecy. That's a
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  Speaker 1: prophecy that Israel is going to go out to battle
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  Speaker 1: and all of the people are going to be scattered
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  Speaker 1: because they have no shepherd. In other words, their king
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  Speaker 1: is gone. So this was a prophecy of Ahab's death.
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  Speaker 1: And Ahab turns to Jehoshaphat and he's like, see, this
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  Speaker 1: is why I hate this guy. Didn't I tell you
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  Speaker 1: he would not prophesy anything good concerning me, but evil.
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  Speaker 1: So then Makaiah continues, and that's where we left off
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  Speaker 1: today verse eighteen. I said, therefore hear Yahwei's word, I
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  Speaker 1: saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army
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  Speaker 1: of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.
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  Speaker 1: So Makaiah was one of the lucky few prophets that
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  Speaker 1: got to see a vision of heaven. He said he
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  Speaker 1: saw Yahweh sitting on his throne and all the army
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  Speaker 1: of Heaven standing on the right hand and on the left.
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  Speaker 1: And Yahweh says, to all of these angels and very
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  Speaker 1: likely demons, who will entice Ahab, king of Israel that
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  Speaker 1: he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead. And
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  Speaker 1: it says one spoke in this way and another spoke
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  Speaker 1: in that way. So a bunch of the angels were
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  Speaker 1: talking all at the same time, but nobody really wanted
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  Speaker 1: to take the job until a spirit came out, stood
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  Speaker 1: before Yahweh and said I will entice him. So very
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  Speaker 1: likely this was an evil spirit that came up and
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  Speaker 1: volunteered for the job. He's like, yeah, i'll do it.
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  Speaker 1: That sounds great, And Yahweh says to him, how are
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  Speaker 1: you going to do it? And he says, I will
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  Speaker 1: go and I will be a lying spirit in the
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  Speaker 1: mouth of all of his prophets. Now you might be
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  Speaker 1: wondering at this point, how can God have evil spirits
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  Speaker 1: in his presence? Well, God can have anybody in his
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  Speaker 1: presence because he's God. You know, there's nobody greater than him,
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  Speaker 1: so he can have anybody in his presence. The problem
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  Speaker 1: is is that we can't handle God's presence. Now, obviously
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  Speaker 1: angels and fallen angels are on a different level than
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  Speaker 1: we are. It kind of seems like they're able to
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  Speaker 1: tolerate God's glory a little bit differently than we are.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we just read yesterday in One Timothy that
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  Speaker 1: no one has seen God. We cannot handle his presence,
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  Speaker 1: So we can't handle being in the presence of God.
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  Speaker 1: But angels and fallen angels, it kind of sounds like,
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  Speaker 1: can handle being in his presence a little bit better
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  Speaker 1: than us, even though there's some verses that actually say
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  Speaker 1: that the angels have to cover their eyes when they're
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  Speaker 1: in God's presence because even and though they can handle
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  Speaker 1: it better than us, they still can't bear to look
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  Speaker 1: at God because of how pure and holy God actually is.
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  Speaker 1: So yes, angels and fallen angels together can be in
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  Speaker 1: God's presence. Now that being said, I don't know if
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  Speaker 1: fallen angels are still allowed in the presence of God.
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  Speaker 1: It very well could be that they're not allowed. We're
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  Speaker 1: not really sure, but there are verses that do say
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  Speaker 1: that fallen angels were allowed to be in God's presence
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  Speaker 1: even though they were fallen. The most famous example is
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  Speaker 1: in the Book of Job, where God is holding an
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  Speaker 1: audience with all of his angels and Satan actually shows
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  Speaker 1: up and it's talking to God and tells God like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: you know you favor Job, so maybe I should go
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  Speaker 1: and you know, tempt a job to do all these things.
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  Speaker 1: And eventually, you know, if I tempt job enough, He's
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  Speaker 1: going to curse you. And God said, all right, go
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  Speaker 1: try and tempt a job. See what happens. And then
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  Speaker 1: we find out that Job did not end up cursing God.
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  Speaker 1: You read through the Book of Job. But my point
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  Speaker 1: is is that, yes, angels and fallen angels together biblically
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  Speaker 1: have been in God's presence. So God says to all
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  Speaker 1: of these angels in verse nineteen, who's going to entice Ahab,
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  Speaker 1: the king of Israel, that he may go up and
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  Speaker 1: fall at Ramoth Gilead. And this fallen angel says, I
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  Speaker 1: will go, and I will be a lying spirit in
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  Speaker 1: the mouth of all of his prophets. God said, you
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  Speaker 1: will entice him and you will prevail. Also, go and
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  Speaker 1: do so. And you might be like, why is God
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  Speaker 1: being so mean to King Ahab? Well, you have to
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  Speaker 1: read first kings in order to really get the full
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  Speaker 1: understanding of what is going on here. Ahab was a terrible,
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  Speaker 1: terrible king. He just had no mercy. He would kill prophets,
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  Speaker 1: he would kill people for pieces of land. He was
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  Speaker 1: an awful king and Finally God had enough. He was like, Ahab,
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  Speaker 1: as you murdered a man for a piece of land,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to do the same thing to you someday.
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  Speaker 1: So God now allows this spirit, this lying spirit, to
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  Speaker 1: go entice Ahab's prophets. And you might be like, well, jen,
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  Speaker 1: isn't that God causing somebody to sin? Well, no, of
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  Speaker 1: course not. God doesn't cause people to sin. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: he was telling Ahab through Machiah, exactly what he was doing.
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  Speaker 1: There was no secret here. Ahab had a choice. Did
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  Speaker 1: he want to listen to these liars or was he
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  Speaker 1: going to listen to the truth that Machiah was bringing.
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  Speaker 1: It's funny God was telling Ahab exactly what he was doing.
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  Speaker 1: He's like, Ahab, this is what I'm doing. So you
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  Speaker 1: can choose to believe the liars or you can choose
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  Speaker 1: to believe me. God literally told Ahab the entire plan
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  Speaker 1: through Machiah. So no, God was not being mean and
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  Speaker 1: he was not causing Ahab to sin. He was telling Ahab,
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  Speaker 1: this is what I did, this is the plan, this
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  Speaker 1: is what's going to happen if you listen to all
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  Speaker 1: of those lying prophets. So listen to Makiah. So verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty three says Zedekiah, the son of Channaa came over
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  Speaker 1: and struck Makiah on the cheek and said, which way
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  Speaker 1: did ye always spirit go from me to speak to you? So, Zedekiah,
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  Speaker 1: he was one of the false prophets that we talked
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  Speaker 1: about on Monday. He was the guy that made horns
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  Speaker 1: of iron and was like pretending that those horns of
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  Speaker 1: iron were something special and being like, with these, you're
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  Speaker 1: gonna push back the Syrians until they are consumed. And
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  Speaker 1: so he was making like a big show out of
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  Speaker 1: all of this stuff. But of course he was just
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  Speaker 1: a false prophet. So he goes up to Makiah, smacks
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  Speaker 1: him on the face and says, Makiah, since when did
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  Speaker 1: God's spirit leave me to go to you? That's what
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  Speaker 1: he says, And Makiah says, well, you'll find out that
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  Speaker 1: God's spirit is not with you when you go into
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  Speaker 1: an inner room to hide yourself. And we don't have
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  Speaker 1: any story about that in scripture. We don't have a
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  Speaker 1: story of Zedekiah hiding himself in an inner room. But
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  Speaker 1: of course this took place because Michaiah was a true prophet.
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  Speaker 1: So what Machiah was saying was going to happen, and
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  Speaker 1: very likely after the fall of Ahab that we see
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  Speaker 1: here at the end of the chapter, Zedekiah and the
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  Speaker 1: other prophets were fleeing for their lives because a new
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  Speaker 1: king was in town. My guess is that this happened
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  Speaker 1: during the reign of Jehu. Actually Jayhu was a few
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  Speaker 1: kings later, and he was a really crazy king, like
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  Speaker 1: all he wanted was like blood. But I'm gonna guess
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  Speaker 1: maybe that's when Zedekiah was hiding himself. Was during the
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  Speaker 1: reign of King Jehu. But after Machiah is done with
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  Speaker 1: this prophecy and he gets smacked in the face, the
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  Speaker 1: King of Israel said, take Makaiah and carry him back
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  Speaker 1: to amm and the governor of the city, and to
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  Speaker 1: joe Ash the king son and say. The King says,
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  Speaker 1: put this fellow in prison and feed him with the
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  Speaker 1: bread of affliction in the water of affliction until I
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  Speaker 1: return in peace. So, in other words, feed this guy
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  Speaker 1: very very little, take him back to prison, because it's
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  Speaker 1: possible that Makaiah was already in prison at this point.
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  Speaker 1: Take him to prison and feed him almost nothing until
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  Speaker 1: I get back in peace. And so Makaiah is getting
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  Speaker 1: dragged away and he says, if you return it all
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  Speaker 1: in peace, Yahweh has not spoken by me, and he yells,
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  Speaker 1: listen you people, all of you. But of course the
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  Speaker 1: people weren't going to listen. And it's really unfortunate because
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  Speaker 1: Jehoshaphat didn't listen either. Even though jehosh Fat was the
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  Speaker 1: one who wanted Makayah to come out and talk about
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  Speaker 1: this in the beginning, jehoshah Fat just kind of ignored it.
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  Speaker 1: It says the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the King
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  Speaker 1: of Judah, went up to ramitth Gilead. So obviously Ahab
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  Speaker 1: was going to make that decision all along because he
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  Speaker 1: was always anti God, he was always in it for himself.
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  Speaker 1: He was a very very spoil and selfish king, so
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  Speaker 1: of course he was going to just do whatever he
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  Speaker 1: wanted to do. But the interesting thing is we don't
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  Speaker 1: see Jehosha Fat being that type of king. We see
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  Speaker 1: jehosh Fat up until this point generally choosing what Yahweh wants,
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  Speaker 1: generally trying to listen to Yahweh. So I don't really
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  Speaker 1: know what happened here with Jehoshaphat. It could be that
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  Speaker 1: jehosh Fat did believe this prophecy but was like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I'm probably gonna be fine because this is a prophecy
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  Speaker 1: against Ahab, not me. Could also be that Jehosha Fat
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  Speaker 1: didn't want to go back on his initial word because
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  Speaker 1: he did tell Ahab at the beginning, hey, I will
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  Speaker 1: go out to battle with you, but let's hear what
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh has to say about it. So maybe Jehosha Fat
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  Speaker 1: was feeling guilty and was like, yeah, I kind of
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  Speaker 1: told him I'd go with him, so I might as well.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, this prophecy wasn't about me, so it
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  Speaker 1: should be okay. Or maybe Jehosha Fat was easily manipulated,
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  Speaker 1: you know, hearing stories about Makaiah being a bad prophet
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  Speaker 1: or something from Ahab or or other people. Or maybe
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  Speaker 1: Jehosha Fat was a yes man. Maybe he was just
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  Speaker 1: the kind of guy that's had a hard time saying
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  Speaker 1: no to people. I don't know what was going on
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  Speaker 1: with Jehosha Fat, but he goes out to Ramuth Gilead
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  Speaker 1: with King Ahab and it says right here, the King
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  Speaker 1: of Israel said to jehosh Fat, I will disguise myself
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  Speaker 1: and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.
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  Speaker 1: So that right there kind of tells me that Makiah's
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: prophecy did get to Ahab a little bit because he
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: doesn't want to make himself look like the king in
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: the battle. He's gonna disguise himself as one of the
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: common soldiers and just go among the soldiers. And he thinks, well,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: if Makaiah's prophecy is true, it's not gonna matter because
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna die. Since I'm not gonna look like
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: the king, i won't be targeted. So he's like, jehoshah Fat,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you put on your kingly robes and go out to battle,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: and I will dress as a commoner and nobody's gonna
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: attack or target me. And jehoshah Fat does it. He's like, yeah,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: great idea. I don't know what Jehoshapat was thinking during
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: all this. Maybe he was drunk. Maybe all that feast
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: food that Ahab gave him at the beginning messed with
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: his brain. I don't know what was happening here. So
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Jehoshaphat does it, and it says right here in verse
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: thirty though, that God was protecting Jehoshaphat from the very beginning,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: because the King of Syria had commanded the captains of
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: his chariots saying, don't fight with small nor great, except
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: only with the King of Israel. So the Syrian king
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: told his men, He's like, don't target anybody, a single
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: person except the King of Israel. That's the only person
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I really want dead in this battle. So now the
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: war wages, and it says the captains of the chariots
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: saw Jehosha Fat, they said, it is the King of Israel.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Therefore they turned around to fight against him. So the
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: men in this battle they see a guy, probably from
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: a distance, dressed in these nice robes, and they're like,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: that has to be the King of Israel. That guy
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: is certainly the King of Israel. And so they go
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: to try to kill him. But Jehoshaphat, it said, cried out,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: and Yahweh helped him, and God moved them to depart
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: from him. So God helped Jehoshaphat at the same time
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: as bringing destruction on King Ahab. This reminds me of
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: a verse it's either in first or second Peter that
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: talks about how God can absolutely rescue while at the
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: same time bringing destruction. And I believe the examples that
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Peter gave was Noah in the Ark and also Lot
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: and his daughters fleeing from Sodom and Gomorrah. So God
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: can rescue at the same time as bringing destruction to
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: other people. And that's why we shouldn't fear God's wrath.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: It's because we're not meant for that wrath. His children
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: are not meant for that wrath. And Jehoshaphat cries out
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: to God and maybe he cried out in fear, and
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: God listened and moved those men to depart from him.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: So here's how God did it. When the captains of
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: the chariots saw that it was not the King of Israel,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: they turned back from pursuing him, because don't forget, they
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: were given the order not to fight against anybody, whether
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: they were small or great, it didn't matter who they were.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: The Syrian king only wanted the King of Israel, not
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: any other king, not any rich person, but the King
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: of Israel. So the men driving these chariots, they're like, oh,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: that's not the right guy. We've got the wrong guy,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and they turn away and Meanwhile, verse thirty three, a
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: certain man drew his bow at random and struck the
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: King of Israel between the joints of the armor. The
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: King of Israel thought he was going to be protected,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: disguised and also heavily armored, and yet somebody drawing their
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: bow at random, you know, just hoping to hit somebody,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: it strikes the King of Israel between the joints of
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the armor. What are the odds of that? What are
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: the odds of that happening? And I'm wondering at that
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: point in time, did Ahab know that this prophecy was
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: coming true against him? He says to his men, turn
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: around and carry me out of the battle, for I
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: am severely wounded. And they tried to, but they couldn't.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: The battle increased that day, however, the King of Israel
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: propped himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: the evening, and at about sunset he died. So he
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: was trying to get away, it sounds like, but the
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: battle just kept getting worse and worse and worse, and
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: he was unable to get away. So he props himself
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: up in his chariot the best he can, maybe fighting
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: against the Syrians. I don't know, but he did this
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: until evening, and presumably this was a very very long
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: time that Ahab was dying, like hours and hours that
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Ahab was slowly dying because of this arrow wound. He
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: died at sunset, is what it says, So he did
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: not have an easy death. He should have listened to Macaiah.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: He should have listened to the one prophet that was
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: telling him the truth exactly what was going on. That's
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the man he should have listened to. But he chose incorrectly.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: He chose what he wanted to hear, not the truth.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: And we discussed that a little bit on Monday. We
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: talked about how prophecy is not always something we want
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: to hear. In fact, generally prophecy is something we don't
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: want to hear, because prophecy comes to us in order
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: to warn us about something that's going to happen, or
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: get us to change from our wayward ways so that
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: we can get back on the right path. That's not
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: to say all prophecy will be negative, but the majority
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: of prophecy in the Old Testament has a negative connotation
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: to it. That's what Ahab didn't understand or realize because
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: he didn't care. He didn't care about Yahweh. Now, I
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: don't know what Jehosha Fat's problem was. I don't know
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: why he went into this battle. But we're gonna find
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: out how God handles Jehosha Fat in the next chapter,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: because God does have some words for Jehosha Fat, like
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: why did you do that? So we're gonna get into
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that topic on Monday, and I hope that you tune
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: in then. But faithful listeners, before I end the episode,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: here is a quick word from one or two of
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: our sponsors in conclusion of this episode. It is good
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: to listen to Yahweh. It is good to hear the
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: truth and to believe the truth. The truth is really
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: what sets us free. And unfortunately Ahab did not listen
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: to the truth, but listened to the lying spirit of
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: all of these false prophets. Well, faithful listeners, I hope
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: you enjoyed it today's episode. If you did, share it
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: on their social media platforms and tell people that the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Bible Explained to Podcasts exists. Word of mouth is the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: best way to get this podcast out to more people. Now,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: don't forget the tomorrow. We're going to be in the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: New Testament, because on Tuesdays and Thursdays I do a
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: New Testament episode, and then on Mondays and Wednesdays, I
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: do an Old Testament episode, and of course Fridays are
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: for the members, and we are going through the Book
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: of Psalms right now on the Friday podcast, So faithful listeners,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I hope to see all of you guys tomorrow morning
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: six am to talk about a brand new book of
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: the Bible. That's right, We're going to be starting Tewod
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Timothy tomorrow and I'm very, very excited to get into
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: a brand new book of the New Testament with you.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: So faithful listeners, have a wonderful rest of your day,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: happy listening, and God bless. I just want to take
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com, you will find
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 24:50
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