Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 758. Bible Study: Zephaniah 2 (Gaza, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Egypt Prophecy)

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758. Bible Study: Zephaniah 2 (Gaza, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Egypt Prophecy) · Faith by annm2705

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Zephaniah chapter 2 First let's pray.
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Dear God, please give us wisdom and insight as we read through
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this chapter in Jesus name. It starts out chapter 2.
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Gather together, gather yourselves together, you
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shameful nation, before the decree takes effect and that day
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passes like windblown chaff. Before the Lord's fierce anger
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comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's wrath comes upon
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you. Seek the Lord, all you humble of
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the land, you who do what he commands.
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Seek righteousness. Seek humility.
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Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger.
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So I think you know, this is something that all of us, you
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know, this is written to Judah, but I think this is something
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all of us should think about because God will treat everyone
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the same. And if we are not right with the
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Lord, these are warnings like the prophets back then were
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saying that before the Lord's anger comes, before the day of
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the Lord's wrath, seek the Lord, seek righteousness, seek
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humility. And then here's what the reward
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is for that. Perhaps you will be sheltered on
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the day of the Lord's anger. So there is a reward for that.
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And anyone who puts this off is really being foolish because
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we're just going to make ourselves subject to God's wrath
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if we don't get right with God. So then it goes on to talk, it
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says Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon will left in ruins.
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Now this is really interesting. I had a note because I had read
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this before in the Bible and I thought about I wrote down 10723
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after this question mark because it's talking about the day of
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the Lord. The day of the Lord has not come
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yet. So this is a future prophecy.
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And then it says Gaza will be abandoned.
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Does anybody pay attention to what's going on right now in
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Gaza? If you've seen any footage of
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it, Little by little, it's being destroyed because of Hamas,
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because of what Hamas did on October 7th, 2023.
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And it's just very interesting that these things are occurring
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and Hamas is not willing to give up the hostages.
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Therefore, more war is coming at them because they won't give up
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the hostages. If they would give up the
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hostages, then all this would stop.
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But apparently, it isn't going to stop because at some point in
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the future, and could this be now?
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I mean, if you look at the pictures of what's happening
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there, I mean, high rise buildings are getting flattened.
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And, and I just don't, you know, especially when you see this
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prophecy here talking about the future, talking about before the
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day of the Lord and it's talking about Gaza being will be
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abandoned and Ashkelon and Ashkelon is not left in ruins
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today, but Ashkelon exists, it's in Israel and it says it's left
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in ruins. So again, these are things that
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have not happened yet. But is this prophecy alluding to
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sometime? You could see it play out this
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way today in 2025. And it's just I, I think it's
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just a word of warning to all of us that it's, it's really
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important for us to get right with God.
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Then it says at midday, Ashdod will be emptied again.
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Ashdod is in Israel and everything's fine there right
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now. At midday, Ashdod will be
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emptied and Akron uprooted. Woe to you who live by the sea,
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you Karathite people. Now I looked up Karathite in the
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blue letter Bible and it talked about if there was AI guess a
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definition or a word, it was in quotation marks of who they were
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and they were the executioners. I really find that, you know,
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woe to you who live by the sea. That's where Gaza is by the sea
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and they are called executioners.
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Don't you think that's really interesting?
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Now knowing everything that's happened over the last couple
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years, the word of the Lord is against you.
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Canaan, land of the Philistines. So the land of the Philistines
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is where Gaza is. He says I will destroy you and
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none will be left. So right now I mean nobody.
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I haven't seen anybody referencing Zephaniah 2, but
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this really sounds interesting. Based on current events, literal
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events happening today, the land by the sea will become pastures,
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having wells for shepherds and pens for flocks.
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So I thought, you know, well, maybe this happened before
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because obviously there were other entity, other nations that
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came against these areas and took them over and so forth.
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And maybe that could have been, you know, fulfilled at one time
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in the past. But the only thing that's
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throwing me off about saying, yes, that's what it is, is that
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it's talking about the coming day of the Lord.
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And the day of the Lord is usually referencing the final
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judgement day when Jesus returns and there is a judgement of all
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people. The land will belong to the
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remnant of the people of Judah. Now this is interesting too,
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because at one point I was looking at some old maps of, you
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know, where who owned what. Now at the time of Solomon,
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David and Solomon, the IT looked like that land of Gaza was under
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Judah, under the tribe of Judah. And that was the designated
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that's the tribe that would have that land.
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And and then it the Philistines kind of that sliver of land,
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right there was no longer a part of Judy Judah when the the
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nation split in half. So Judah and Benjamin were
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together and then the 10 tribes of Israel were in the northern
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portion. Now from a map, you could look
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it up yourself to check this out.
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There was still that sliver of land that's now called Gaza that
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was there and that was called the Philistines area.
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And so that land wasn't occupied by Judah at at that point.
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So it was then it wasn't. But then I looked at a map from
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the time of when Jesus was in his ministry, and it looked like
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that was part of Judah during Jesus's time.
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So I don't know when again, it, you know, went away from Israel.
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So I'm not really sure, but it's again, these sometimes these
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prophecies are really hard to completely understand.
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But when you're talking about the end times and you're talking
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about things that are happening in the, you know, that countries
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or nations or areas that are in the news all the time today, it
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certainly makes my, it takes my mind there.
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I'll just say that, OK, that land will belong to the remnant
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of the people of Judah. So who are the remnant of the
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people of Judah? It seems to me if we're talking
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about if this is end times, there's the 144,000.
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Well, actually, I guess there would probably be 12,000 people
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from the tribe of Judah. So there's 12,000 from each
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tribe. But the interesting thing is the
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tribe of Dan and the tribe of Ephraim is not mentioned.
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So there are two. Other than that there are 12,000
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from each tribe, and those are the remnant.
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There they will find pasture. In the evening they will lie
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down in the houses of Ashkelon. The Lord their God will care for
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them. He will restore their fortunes.
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So that makes sense. You know, there's this
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destruction and then there's a restoration.
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And that's very much like a pattern that we see in in Bible
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prophecy about what God does. Now listen to this.
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I have heard the insults of Moab.
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Well, Moab is a portion of Jordan.
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It's kind of the like on a map, if N is up, it's kind of on the
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left hand side, like towards the bottom.
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So I guess that's like the southwestern portion of Joda of
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Jordan. I have heard the insults of Moab
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and the taunts of the Ammonites who insulted my people and made
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threats against their land. Again, that's interesting.
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When we're talking about right now in a few days, this two
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state solution is being talked about with splitting the land or
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you know, dividing up the land, I don't know.
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But it's land that God gave to Israel.
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And the UN is having this meeting on the 23rd.
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Interesting that it happens to be Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish
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holiday that this is happening and they are talking about this
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this land. And the other thing that's
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interesting is they did some sort of preliminary vote, I
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guess a week ago and they had 100 and 42 countries that were
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for it and either 10 or 12 that were against it and either
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either 10 or 12 of them abstained from voting.
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So the majority of the countries are for this two state solution,
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which they want it because they talk about peace and security
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and that's another thing that prophecy says when they say
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peace and security or peace and safety, then comes sudden
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destruction. So it's again, I think we're
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just like setting ourselves up for the abomination of
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desolation is what to me that sounds like we're getting close
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to. Therefore, as surely as I live
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declares the Lord Almighty the God of Israel, surely Moab will
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become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a place
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of weeds and salt pits. So those Moab is not, I don't
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think Moab is like that. I really didn't look that up on
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the map to see what it is today, like what towns are current
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Moab, but you could do that and just look on Google and see like
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what's there today. So I don't know if it's a place
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of weeds and salt pits right now, but it says a wasteland
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forever. The remnant of my people will
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plunder them. The survivors of my nation will
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inherit their land. So now it sounds like Israel at
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some point is going to have a portion of southwestern Jordan.
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So again, that's something else to look for because Bible
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prophecy will happen. This is what they will get in
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return for their pride. It's talking about Moab and
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Ammon for insulting and mocking the people of the Lord Almighty.
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The Lord will be awesome to them when he destroys all the gods of
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the earth. This is like final judgement and
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it says all the gods of the earth.
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It's like all these things that people worship.
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God's going to make everybody know that you are worshipping
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things that are completely useless.
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Distant nations will bow down to Him, all of them in their own
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lands. Then it talks about Egypt.
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Kush, you Kushites too will be slain by my sword.
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Then it talks about Assyria, which Assyria is really hard to
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figure out because it's kind of like Turkey, but it's also like
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part of Iraq. So, and especially when it talks
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about Nineveh, cause Nineveh is in Iraq.
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It's a little bit like, I guess southwestern of Mosul and Mosul,
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I think is modern day Babylon or that's where Babylon was.
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So it's really interesting that these ancient cities, that's
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where Babylon was when the tower of Babylon, I mean, that's where
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it was built and that was what made God angry.
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So it's it's kind of you're seeing the same area being
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talked about. So this is called like Assyria,
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but whether it's like Turkey is involved with it, but it's
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really about Iraq. I would say Iraq because it's
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brings up Nineveh. So he will stretch out.
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This is talking about the Lord. He will stretch out his hand
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against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly
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desolate and dry as the desert flocks and herds will lie down
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there, creatures of every kind. The desert owl and the screech
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owl will roost on her columns. Their hooting will echo through
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the windows. Rubble will fill the doorways.
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The beams of cedar will be exposed.
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This is the city of revelry that lived in safety, she said to
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herself. I am the one and there is none
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besides me. What a rune she has become a
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lair for wild beast. All who pass by her scoff and
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shake their fist. Now that's the end of chapter 2.
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But what I thought when I read this, the this quote of I am the
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one and there is none besides me.
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That's what God says often throughout Scripture.
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There is none besides me. Like he keeps saying that
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throughout Scripture. And then she said to herself,
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and it's interesting that it's a female.
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I am the one and there is none besides me.
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So then I thought about Mystery Babylon because there are there
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are numerous references to this and and then also to Nineveh.
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So Nineveh is referred to as the great city and Nineveh gets
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compared to Jerusalem, which is also called the great city at
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one point. So there's multiple pieces of
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Scripture, but like in Jonah, in the book of Jonah in chapter 1,
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chapter 3, chapter 4, many times Nineveh is referred to as the
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great city. And then it does talk about
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Jerusalem as the great city also.
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And remember, it was also talking about Jerusalem being,
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you know, it the compared to like Sodom and well, actually,
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no, that wasn't that was like Moab would become like Sodom and
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Gomorrah. But there is a there is
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scripture where it does say that to say that about Jerusalem as
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well. So I'm going to just search
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great city because like I said, it's interesting when you see
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it. So back in the book of Genesis,
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chapter 10, verse 12, and it says and resin, which is between
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Nineveh and Kala, which is the great city.
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So it's somewhere in that area of Iraq.
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And it actually occurs in the Bible like 74 times in 34
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verses. So I won't really read all of
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these, but in Jonah it says go to the great city of Nineveh in
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chapter 1, chapter 2, the great city of Nineveh.
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And then in Revelation 8 it says the bodies this is talking about
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the two witnesses will lie in the public square of the great
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city which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt where
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their Lord was crucified. So this is talking about
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Jerusalem because that's where Jesus was crucified and it's
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figuratively called Sodom. And Egypt, well, Egypt is known
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for a lot of things that are, oh gosh, you know, a lot of things
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that are against God. Maybe let's just say idolatry.
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And then Sodom is we all know about Sodom.
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So both of those areas that you know, like a very sinful place
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and and idolatrous. And so it it's doing these
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comparisons. And then in Revelation 1619, it
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says the great city split into three parts and the cities of
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the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the great
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and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his
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wrath. Then in Revelation 17, verse 18,
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it says the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the
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kings of the earth. Now, when I read this, this is
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what makes me think this is spiritual because it's symbolic
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and it's this great city that rules over the earth.
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Is it something that's been around for a long time that no,
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you know, like it's spiritual, like it actually affects the
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world today, but we don't see it.
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But that's the entity. That's the entity that wants to,
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you know, be God. And is that, I mean, I'm
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probably going to stretch it a little bit here, but is that,
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you know, Satan or related to Satan?
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I've mentioned this before. If you go back into the beliefs
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of ancient Mesopotamia and if you look up Inanna, she was like
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a goddess and she was this androgynous being.
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And then I think about what's happening in the world today,
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androgynous, you know, not being male or female, and about the
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things that people are doing through their bodies today.
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And I just think there seems like there is spiritual
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significance in this. And the Bible talks about the
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woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the
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earth. So that's just, but you know,
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there's coming destruction to that city.
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Now whether that literally means it's going to be in Iraq or this
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to something that is spiritual, I don't know and we won't know
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until it actually happens. But it, you know, it talks about
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terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry.
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Woe, woe to you great city, you mighty city of Babylon.
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In one hour your doom has come. Now we know Babylon was
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destroyed. But this is a future event.
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And This is why it's called Mystery Babylon.
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And so it's like it's like an imitation.
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And in Revelation 1816 it says and cry out woe, woe to you
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great city dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet and
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glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.
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It's like a copy of if you look up linen, purple and scarlet.
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A lot of the the Tabernacle was designed like that and and so
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could this be a false religion that is being referred to
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because God instructed Moses when he was on Mount Sinai, he
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gave him details of how he was going to build the Tabernacle
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and everything. So then some of these details,
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if you look up fine linen, purple and scarlet, you will see
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that reference so many times in the, the design of the
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Tabernacle where God was going to, you know, be how the ark of
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the covenant and all of that. Like in the very beginning of of
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a place of worship that moved with the Israelites as they were
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wandering around. I mean, this Tabernacle moved
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with them. So again, it's just like a
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copycat of God. And that's a lot what we see.
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His enemy wants to be God. He wants, he wants that
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recognition. When they see the smoke of her
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burning, they will exclaim, Was there ever a city like this?
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Great city, they will throw dust on their head, and that yet they
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will throw dust on their heads, And with weeping and mourning
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cry out woe. Woe to you.
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Great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich
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through her wealth. In one hour she has been brought
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to ruin. And then there's Revelation 18,
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verse 21. It says, then a mighty Angel
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picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it
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into the sea and said with such great with such violence, the
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great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found
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again. So all of those things seem to
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make me question about Mystery Babylon.
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I mean, it kind of it, it ties into there is what my conclusion
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is. Now I'm going to read the
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questions and answers from the study Bible and then we'll wrap
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it up. So on chapter 2 it says, how can
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one feel safe in a world that's being destroyed?
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In the midst of horrible destruction?
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There's no shelter apart from God.
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That is why prophets were brutally honest about dark
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times. They remind us that so many of
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the things in which we put our trust, nations, armies, material
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things, idols, crumble before the wrath of God.
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There is only one thing that lasts, the steadfast love of
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God. Why was God against the
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Philistines? God regarded the Philistines as
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enemies because like many other nations, they had oppressed and
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opposed His people for hundreds of years.
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Like other nations of the earth, they had abandoned the faith of
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their forefather Noah. They had rejected God's self
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revelation, made obvious through creation, and had worshipped
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false gods and idols. Why reward Judah?
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Judah had broken his covenant with God and deserved nothing
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but punishment. But after the judgment, God
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would fulfill His promise to redeem and restore His people.
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How had Judah been insulted and taunted?
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The Moabites and the Ammonites were perennial thorns in the
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side of Israel. As neighbors of Israel, they had
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consistently threatened the people of God.
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The particular issue at hand here was the verbal threats from
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the two people groups. Shame was often associated with
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such threats, but the prophet assured the people that God had
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not turned a deaf, deaf ear to those thought those insults.
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And then it's it refers to Sodom and Gomorrah.
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Both cities were destroyed when burning sulfur rained down on
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them. That was in Genesis chapter 19.
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Did Moab and Ammon eventually worship the Lord?
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Moab and Ammon are not necessarily the only nations in
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view here, though this verse appears in the section directed
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to them. The nations mentioned mentioned
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in this chapter may symbolize the four points of the compass,
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Moab and Ammon to the east of Judah, Philistia to the West,
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Cush to the South, and Assyria to the north.
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This speaks of a time when, because of God's judgment, Moab,
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Ammon, and all the people of the earth will recognize God's power
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and will worship Him as the one true God.
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Why would Assyria say I am? The phrase could also be
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translated. Who says?
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Who says in their heart I Assyria's claim was that she was
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the center of the world, with no others vying for the position.
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This national egocentricism came under the scrutiny of God, the
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only true I Why would others shake their fists at Assyria?
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This gesture of contempt expresses the satisfaction
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others would feel that vengeance had been accomplished against
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the Assyrians, who were hated by many for their brutal treatment
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of conquered nations. And that is the end of chapter
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2. We will get to chapter 3 next
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time.