Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Nehemiah 8:1-12 - The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength!

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Nehemiah 8:1-12 - The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength! · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello and good morning, friends and faithful listeners.
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  Speaker 1: My name is Jen and I am the host of
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  Speaker 1: this podcast, and I am so thankful that you all
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  Speaker 1: are here to share a delicious cup of coffee with
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  Speaker 1: me as we read through the Book of Nehemiah. But
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  Speaker 1: before we do that, how have you all been. I
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  Speaker 1: love hearing from all of you faithful listeners, and I
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  Speaker 1: like hearing about what you did over the weekends. You
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  Speaker 1: can tell me what you did. You can find my
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  Speaker 1: contact information listed in the description this episode. But I
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  Speaker 1: had an incident happened to me this weekend and now
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  Speaker 1: my thumb is completely mangled. So we had some friends
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  Speaker 1: over on Friday night to do dinner with and also
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  Speaker 1: to shoot some guns. And I hadn't shot a gun
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  Speaker 1: in like five years, but I was confident enough with
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  Speaker 1: guns in the past that I was like, ah, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'm totally fine. And my friend brought a gun over
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  Speaker 1: to shoot and I can't remember what it was, but
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  Speaker 1: I had a slide at the top of it, right,
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  Speaker 1: so I'm taking aim. And what ended up happening was
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  Speaker 1: my left hand my thumb was up a little bit
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  Speaker 1: too high, so when I shot the gun, the slide
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  Speaker 1: came back and punched my thumb so hard and like
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  Speaker 1: took like ripped skin off of it. And thank God,
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  Speaker 1: I'm actually very thankful that the gun ended up stovepiping
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  Speaker 1: at the same time, because I think that it would
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  Speaker 1: have like took my thumb like back in with it
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  Speaker 1: had it not stovepiped it. Like God protected me through
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  Speaker 1: and through, but lesson learned. I'm never gonna do that
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  Speaker 1: again next time I go to shoot a gun because
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  Speaker 1: that was no fun. And so now my thumb is
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  Speaker 1: still messed up. I can can't really bend it, like
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  Speaker 1: it's not broken or anything, but it's so badly bruised
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  Speaker 1: and there's a really nasty gash in it that if
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  Speaker 1: I really bend it at all, it just reopens the gash.
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  Speaker 1: And so yeah, one of the worst cuts I've ever gotten,
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  Speaker 1: for sure. But uh yeah, lesson learned for that. But
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  Speaker 1: other than that, I had a pretty good weekend. I
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  Speaker 1: just wasn't able to use my left hand very much.
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  Speaker 1: Hope you guys had a better weekend than I did,
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  Speaker 1: so you can contact me and tell me all about
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  Speaker 1: your weekend, and if you ever any prayer requests, always
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  Speaker 1: don't hesitate to reach out to me, and I will
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  Speaker 1: write you down in my little prayer journal, and I
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  Speaker 1: will pray for you for the week. Now before we
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  Speaker 1: read Niamiah eight and the response that these people have
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  Speaker 1: to listening to God's law, please take a moment to
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  Speaker 1: listen to this message from a sponsor. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: if you've been hearing that there's no ads playing, I
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  Speaker 1: reached out to figure out what the problem was with that,
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  Speaker 1: and apparently that will happen if the local ads requirement
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  Speaker 1: has been fulfilled. So for some people, ads are still
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  Speaker 1: playing even if you're not necessarily hearing them yourself. So
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  Speaker 1: just keep that in mind if you ever wonder why
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  Speaker 1: there's a blank space there where there's supposed to be
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  Speaker 1: an AD. Let's go ahead and read Niamiah chapter eight
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  Speaker 1: versus one through twelve. I'll be reading this as I
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  Speaker 1: usually do, from the web, but reading everything else today
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  Speaker 1: from the NIV because for whatever reason, the web was
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  Speaker 1: broken on Bible Gateway today and I was unable to
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  Speaker 1: use that version. So some sort of bug happening with
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  Speaker 1: Bible Gateway where I had to switch everything to the
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  Speaker 1: NIV today except for my main reading. But anyway, grab
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  Speaker 1: your cup of coffee, to share with me this morning
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  Speaker 1: as we read Neamiah eight one through twelve. Together, let's
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  Speaker 1: give reverence to God's word. All the people gathered themselves
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  Speaker 1: together as one man, into the wide place that was
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  Speaker 1: in front of the watergate, and they spoke to Ezra
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  Speaker 1: the Scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses,
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  Speaker 1: which Yahweh had commanded to Israel. As were the priest,
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  Speaker 1: brought the law before the assembly, both men and women
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  Speaker 1: and all who could hear with understanding. On the first
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  Speaker 1: day of the seventh month. He read from it before
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  Speaker 1: the wide place that was in front of the watergate
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  Speaker 1: from early morning until midday, in the presence of the
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  Speaker 1: men and the women, and of those who could understand.
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  Speaker 1: The ears of all the people were attentive to the
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  Speaker 1: book of the Law. Ezra the Scribe stood on a
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  Speaker 1: pulpit of wood, which they had made for this purpose.
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  Speaker 1: Beside him stood Mattithia, Shima, Anaiah, Uriyah, Hilkia, and Messiah
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  Speaker 1: on his right hand, and on his left hand Paediah, Michael, Malhijah, Hashum, Hashbadonna, Zechariah,
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  Speaker 1: and Mashulam. Ezra opened the book in the sight of
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  Speaker 1: all the people, for he was above all the people,
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  Speaker 1: and when he opened it, all the people stood up.
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  Speaker 1: Then Ezra blessed Yahweh, the Great God, and all the
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  Speaker 1: people answered Amen, Amen, with the lifting up of their hands.
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  Speaker 1: They bowed their heads and worshiped Yahweh with their faces
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  Speaker 1: to the ground. Also, Jeshua Bonni Sherebayah, Jamin A, kub Shabathai, Hodiah, Messiah, Kalita, Azariah,
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  Speaker 1: jozabad Hanan Peleia and the Levites caused the people to
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  Speaker 1: understand the law, and the people stayed in their place.
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  Speaker 1: They read in the book in the Law of God distinctly,
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  Speaker 1: and they gave the sense so that they understood the reading. Nehemiah,
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  Speaker 1: who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and
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  Speaker 1: the Levites who taught the people, said to all the
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  Speaker 1: people today's holy to Yahweh or God. Don't mourn nor weep.
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  Speaker 1: For all the people wept when they heard the words
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  Speaker 1: of the law. Then he said to them, go your way,
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  Speaker 1: eat the fat, to drink the sweet, and send portions
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  Speaker 1: to him for whom nothing is prepared for today is
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  Speaker 1: holy to our Lord. Don't be grieved, for the joy
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  Speaker 1: of Yahweh is your strength. So the Levites calmed all
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  Speaker 1: the people, saying, hold your peace, for the day is holy.
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  Speaker 1: Don't be grieved. All the people went their way to eat,
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  Speaker 1: to drink, and to send portions and to celebrate because
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  Speaker 1: they had understood the words that were declared to them.
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  Speaker 1: In order to really grasp what the people are doing
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  Speaker 1: in this chapter, you got to go to the previous
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  Speaker 1: chapter actually and read the last verse, which says when
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  Speaker 1: the seventh month had come, the children of Israel were
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  Speaker 1: in their cities. So the seventh month has always been
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  Speaker 1: an important Jewish month because the first two days is
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  Speaker 1: the feast of Trumpets, also known as the Jewish New Year.
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  Speaker 1: So here is what Leviticus twenty three, twenty three through
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  Speaker 1: twenty five says. The Lord said to Moses, say to
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites, on the first day of the seventh month,
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  Speaker 1: you are to have a day of sabbath, rest, a
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  Speaker 1: sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work,
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  Speaker 1: but present a food offering to the Lord. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it was supposed to be a day where you come
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  Speaker 1: together in the morning and you have like a sacred assembly,
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  Speaker 1: so essentially like a church service where the priests would
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  Speaker 1: read the law and you would gather together with your family,
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  Speaker 1: and then afterward it wouldn't be a day of work.
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  Speaker 1: You would take the day off. It would be a
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  Speaker 1: day of rest, and then you would have a delicious
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  Speaker 1: feast in the evening. So that is what the people
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  Speaker 1: are doing in Nehemiah chapter eight. They are starting out
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish New year by assembling. It says as one
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  Speaker 1: man into the wide place that was in front of
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  Speaker 1: the watergate. Now we've talked about the gates before, but
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  Speaker 1: the watergate was near the south of Jerusalem, and it
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  Speaker 1: was where the water was carried into the city. And
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  Speaker 1: apparently in front of the watergate there was this really
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  Speaker 1: big plaza that people could just like stand in and
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  Speaker 1: there was a lot of room for everybody. So the
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  Speaker 1: watergate was probably the best place to have this assembly
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  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem because there was enough space for everybody to gather.
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  Speaker 1: And it says that all the people actually asked Ezra
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  Speaker 1: to bring the law to read to them, and it
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  Speaker 1: says in verse two that Ezra the priest brought the
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  Speaker 1: law before the assembly, both men and women and all
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  Speaker 1: who could hear with understanding, on the first day of
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  Speaker 1: the seventh month. So we've heard about Ezra before. We
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  Speaker 1: just covered the entire book of Ezra not too long ago.
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  Speaker 1: And Ezra, as you guys remember, was a very well
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  Speaker 1: educated scribe. He was able to really interpret God's law
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  Speaker 1: and probably had a solid grasp of Hebrew, had a
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  Speaker 1: solid grasp of probably many languages actually, so that he
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  Speaker 1: could interpret the law like that was his job, was
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  Speaker 1: being able to interpret God's law. So Ezra is in
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem now, and this begs the question did he stay
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  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem the entire time for all of these years?
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  Speaker 1: Because he went to Jerusalem initially twelve years prior to Namiyah.
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  Speaker 1: So did he stay the entire time or did he
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  Speaker 1: come back with Namiyah. If I were to make an
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  Speaker 1: educated guest, I would say he went back to Persia
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  Speaker 1: and did not stay in Jerusalem the entire time. And
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  Speaker 1: I'll explain why. I believe that. In just a moment,
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  Speaker 1: so Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly,
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  Speaker 1: both men and women and all who could hear with understanding,
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  Speaker 1: on the first day of the seventh month. It says
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  Speaker 1: in verse three that he read from it before the
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  Speaker 1: wide place that was in front of the watergate from
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  Speaker 1: early morning until midday, in the presence of the men
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  Speaker 1: and the women, and of those who could understand, the
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  Speaker 1: ears of all the people were attentive to the book
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  Speaker 1: of the law. So to me, it kind of sounds
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  Speaker 1: like this was a place not necessarily for children, but
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  Speaker 1: just for adults, because it says that the people that
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  Speaker 1: were there could understand, and I'm not saying that children
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  Speaker 1: can't understand. Children understand quite a lot, but children also
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  Speaker 1: take attention away from the parents because the parents have
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  Speaker 1: to watch the kid. So my guess is that the
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  Speaker 1: children stayed home. Maybe some of the older children were there,
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  Speaker 1: like the ones that could sit still and understand for
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  Speaker 1: that long period of time, because this was probably going
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  Speaker 1: on for about six hours is what it said. It
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  Speaker 1: basically was from us daybreak to midday, so that's what
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  Speaker 1: six in the morning to noon. That's like six hours
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  Speaker 1: that children have to sit there and understand. So my
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  Speaker 1: best guess is that children were not a part of
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  Speaker 1: this assembly, but this was mostly adults that could really
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  Speaker 1: understand and focus on what Ezra was saying here. So
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  Speaker 1: it says in verse four that Ezra the scribe stood
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  Speaker 1: on a pulpit of wood, which they had made for
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  Speaker 1: the purpose, and beside him stood Mattithia Shima, and Naya Uriah,
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  Speaker 1: Hilkia and Messia on his right hand, and on his
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  Speaker 1: left hand Padaiah Michel and a bunch of other men.
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  Speaker 1: So Ezra is up on this elevated platform that the
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  Speaker 1: people had made specifically for this purpose, so that the
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  Speaker 1: voice of the scribe could carry to all of the people,
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  Speaker 1: everybody could hear them. Remember this was a day and
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  Speaker 1: age before microphones, before speakers, and so an elevated place
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  Speaker 1: would have been helpful for the acoustics carrying across the crowd.
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  Speaker 1: And apparently it was big enough that all of these
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  Speaker 1: men could comfortably stand beside him, which I believe there's
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  Speaker 1: fourteen men here. I did not count specifically, one, two, three, four, five, six, thirteen. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I was close. Thirteen men were standing on this platform
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  Speaker 1: with Ezra. Now why were these men there were Probably
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  Speaker 1: because they were priests and they were agreeing with everything
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  Speaker 1: Ezra was saying. And you can imagine that there'd be
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  Speaker 1: a lot more weight behind what Ezra is saying if
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  Speaker 1: all of the priests, like all of the holy men
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  Speaker 1: that you know, are standing up on that pulpit, agreeing
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  Speaker 1: with everything that is being said. That would give a
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  Speaker 1: lot more weight to everything, and probably they all so
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  Speaker 1: we're helping the people understand. It could be that they
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  Speaker 1: were taking turns reading from the Book of the Law,
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  Speaker 1: because you know, Ezra to read for six hours straight.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I talked for like thirty minutes on this podcast,
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  Speaker 1: and sometimes afterwards, like my throat hurts just from talking
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  Speaker 1: for thirty minutes straight. So I can't even imagine Ezra
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  Speaker 1: reading from the Book of the Law for six hours straight.
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  Speaker 1: It could be that some of these men were taking
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  Speaker 1: turns and helping him out a little bit so that
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  Speaker 1: he didn't have to do it the entire time. But
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  Speaker 1: they were probably all there to just help Ezra, to
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  Speaker 1: give him water if he needed it, to read from
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  Speaker 1: the law, to agree with everything that was being said,
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  Speaker 1: maybe to answer questions that the people had as well.
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  Speaker 1: So in verse five it says Ezra opened the book
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  Speaker 1: in the sight of all the people, for he was
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  Speaker 1: above all the people, remember on that platform, and when
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  Speaker 1: he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra
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  Speaker 1: blessed Yahweh, the Great God. So the people it sounds
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  Speaker 1: like we're sitting down until Ezra first began to open
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  Speaker 1: the Book of the Law. Then the people stood for
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  Speaker 1: the reading of God's word, and all the people answered Amen, Amen,
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  Speaker 1: with the lifting up of their hands, and they bowed
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  Speaker 1: their heads and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground.
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  Speaker 1: So they started by standing in reverence to God's word.
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  Speaker 1: And then as Ezra said this prayer, that was when
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  Speaker 1: they bowed down their heads and worshiped God with their
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  Speaker 1: faces to the ground. So now in verses seven and eight,
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  Speaker 1: it mentions all of these men, Jeshua, Banni, Sheabayah, Jamin
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  Speaker 1: a Kub, a handful of others, as well as the Levites,
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  Speaker 1: who it says, caused the people to understand the law.
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  Speaker 1: And the people stayed in their place. They read in
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  Speaker 1: the book in the Law of God distinctly, and they
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  Speaker 1: gave the sense, so they understood the reading. So apparently
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  Speaker 1: the Book of the Law had not been read to
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  Speaker 1: these people very often, and you can tell because they
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  Speaker 1: were having trouble understanding it, which is why all of
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  Speaker 1: these priests and Levites were out in the crowd answering
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  Speaker 1: people's questions and helping them understand what was going on. Now,
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  Speaker 1: some people wonder if Ezra was speaking in Hebrew, and
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  Speaker 1: a lot of these people because they were exiled from
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  Speaker 1: Babylon would have spoken Chidee, which is a dialect of
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  Speaker 1: Persia at the time, So it could be that they
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  Speaker 1: didn't even understand what was being spoken to them, and
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  Speaker 1: that's why they needed the priest to be out in
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  Speaker 1: the crowd, almost translating what was being said into childee.
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  Speaker 1: And there could have been some of that going on,
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  Speaker 1: but there could have also been people that understood the
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  Speaker 1: Hebrew that genuinely had questions because they were not raised
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  Speaker 1: on the Law of God. You can see how these
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  Speaker 1: people truly never read it or never had it read
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  Speaker 1: to them, because they are interested in it. They are
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  Speaker 1: going with minds wide open in understanding. And that's, by
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  Speaker 1: the way, the reason why I think Ezra left Israel
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  Speaker 1: and went back to Persia and possibly traveled back to
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem with Nehemiah is because I think if Ezra had
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  Speaker 1: stayed in Jerusalem that the people probably would have known
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  Speaker 1: the law a little bit better than this. And the
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  Speaker 1: reason I say that is because you guys, remember what
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  Speaker 1: we talked about in Ezra and how Ezra was. He
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  Speaker 1: was a very strict lawkeeper, and rightfully so in a
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  Speaker 1: lot of ways. Now, Ezra certainly had his problems, and
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  Speaker 1: we talked about that and how he kind of overcompensated
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  Speaker 1: in a lot of ways because of the sin of
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  Speaker 1: the people. And he overcompensated so much that I believe
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  Speaker 1: he fell into sin himself and caused Jerusalem to fall
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  Speaker 1: into a great sin of divorcing their foreign wives. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: in the New Testament he even says, if you did
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  Speaker 1: get married to somebody who are not Yahweh followers, you're
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  Speaker 1: supposed to stay married to them and shine the light
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  Speaker 1: of Yahweh in their lives. And yet Ezra told all
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  Speaker 1: of these men that they were supposed to divorce their
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  Speaker 1: foreign wives who worshiped other gods, rather than these men
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  Speaker 1: shining the light of Yahweh to these women and to
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  Speaker 1: the children as well, and just telling his wife, We're
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  Speaker 1: not going to worship these gods anymore. That was not
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  Speaker 1: what happened. They took the easy way out by divorcing them.
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  Speaker 1: And Ezra was right behind all of that. So Ezra
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  Speaker 1: certainly had his flaws, but you can see that he
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  Speaker 1: was a god fearing man and he believed what the
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  Speaker 1: scriptures said. So I think that if Ezra had stayed
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  Speaker 1: around in Jerusalem, that these people probably would have known
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  Speaker 1: the law a lot better than they actually did, but
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  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, that didn't happen. And so I personally
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  Speaker 1: think those scripture does not say this that Ezra had
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  Speaker 1: returned to Persia at some point, possibly because he was
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  Speaker 1: commanded to by the king. He was another man, by
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  Speaker 1: the way, who was favored by the king for whatever reason.
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  Speaker 1: So just as Nehemiah ends up going back home after
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  Speaker 1: several years, it's possible that Ezra did the exact same
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  Speaker 1: thing and then returned with Nehemiah. But now the people
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  Speaker 1: are finally hearing the law, and all of the priests
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  Speaker 1: and levites are helping the people understand it, either translating
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  Speaker 1: it into the language that they understand, or just answering
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  Speaker 1: their questions as many as they have. So now in
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  Speaker 1: verse nine it says Nehemiah, who is the governor, Ezra
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  Speaker 1: the priest and scribe, and the levites who taught the people,
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  Speaker 1: said to all the people today is holy to Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: or God, don't mourn nor weep. For all the people
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  Speaker 1: wept when they heard the words of the law. So
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  Speaker 1: why would they be weeping, Why would they be upset
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  Speaker 1: hearing all of the laws. Well, because they probably realized
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  Speaker 1: that they were doing none of them. They probably realized that, wow,
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  Speaker 1: we are not following God. We are doing everything God
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  Speaker 1: tells us not to do, and that is what caused
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  Speaker 1: Israel's downfall at the beginning. And we are repeating the
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  Speaker 1: exact same things. So I bet you the people actually
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  Speaker 1: had a little bit of the fear of God put
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  Speaker 1: into them as they were being taught these laws. And
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  Speaker 1: you know, if the people were following the laws of God,
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  Speaker 1: they wouldn't be weeping, they would be excited, they would
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  Speaker 1: be blessed. And this makes some sense now why it
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  Speaker 1: took the exiles about a century to rebuild these walls
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  Speaker 1: and really get their footing in Jerusalem. They're only beginning
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  Speaker 1: to get their footing in Jerusalem, by the way, it
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: took them decades to build the Temple. And you can
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: see now why God was not fully blessing their efforts. Yes,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: they were in God's will and the fact that they
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: were coming back home, that they were building these projects,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: but they were doing like everything they could to get
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: in the way of God blessing them because they were
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: constantly disobeying the laws of God. And so now I
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: think they realize this and they start to weep. But
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Nehemiah and Ezra on all the other Levites, they tell
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: the people, no, no, no, don't weep today. Today is
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: a happy occasion. So if we go back to Leviticus
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: twenty three, twenty three through twenty five, again it says
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: the Lord said to Moses, say to the Israelites, on
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: the first day of the seventh month, you are to
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: have a day of sabbath, rest, a sacred assembly commemorated
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present a
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: food offering to the Lord. So they're supposed to be
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: a feast, a joyous occasion at time time of celebration,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: which is why Niamiah tells the people don't mourn today.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: This is a celebratory kind of day. So go home.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Here's what he says in verse ten, Eat the fat,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: drink the sweet, and send portions to him, for whom
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: nothing is prepared for today is holy to our Lord.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Don't be grieved, for the joy of Yahweh is your strength.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I love that verse. The joy of the Lord is
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: your strength. I just love that. But Niamiah's point here
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: is go home and celebrate everything the way it's supposed
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: to be. Celebrated. God told us not to mourn on
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: this day, so stop disobeying by morning and go home
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: and enjoy your family, and enjoy the food, and send
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: gifts to people who don't have anything, the people who
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: are poor in the land. Give them some food that
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: they can also celebrate and have a joyous occasion today.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: And isn't it funny how the Israelites it just seems
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: like they never can quite obey, because again in verse eleven,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the Leevites had to calm the people down. Here's what
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: it says, calmed all the people, saying, hold your peace,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: for the day is holy. Don't be grieved. So the
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: people are like, no, we don't want to be happy today.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: God told us to be happy. We're gonna mourn. It's
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: like the people can never quite obey. It's really funny,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: but anyway, they do finally obey. It says in verse
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: twelve that the people went their way to eat, to drink,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: to send portions, to celebrate because they had understood the
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: words that were declared to them. So they found an
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: occasion for joy that now, even though they had never
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: been doing the laws of God, now they finally understood them.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Now they were going to at least try to begin
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: to do the laws of God. So they found a
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: reason to celebrate. And on this day, the joy of
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the Lord was their strength. And you know, going back
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: to that verse, on days when I am very depressed,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: sometimes the only thing that seems to help me is
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: just sitting down with God's Word, and then afterward things
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: just don't seem as miserable as they once were twenty
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: minutes prior to that. That's all it takes, is just
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: sitting down with God's Word for twenty or thirty minutes
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: and just praying and you know, reading through and it's
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: just amazing how your entire outlook on life changes just
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: with those twenty minutes in God's word. The joy of
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the Lord truly is your strength. He gives you joy
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: during the times when you feel like you have no strength.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: And that's why I recommend, even though I don't always
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: do it myself so hypocritically, I recommend that everybody start
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: their day off by reading the Bible, by listening to God,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: because it's going to start your day out so much
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: better than if you don't. And I know that personally,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: if I start my day out with a delicious cup
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: of hot coffee and my Bible outside. Those are the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: times when I just feel the best, the times when
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: my day just goes a lot smoother. I mean, even
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: the times when my husband and I were doing the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: worship at our church. We started doing these devotionals for
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: a while there before we did the practice, and it
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: seemed like on the days that we did those devotionals
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: with everybody beforehand, even though they took like twenty minutes
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: to do, like twenty minutes out of our time of practicing,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: practice went way smoother on those days than the days
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: that we didn't do those devotionals. It's really amazing. The
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: joy of the Lord truly is your strength. So yes,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: these people were convicted over their own sin, and that's
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: a great thing. You know. Sometimes when you sit down
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: with the Bible and you are convicted, you know, maybe
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: you start to tear up a little bit, But after
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: you confess those sins to God man, that is such
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: a refreshing thing. It's almost like your slate is just
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: wiped clean. Even if you are reading the Bible tearfully.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: The joy of the Lord is even your strength in
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: those moments, because God forgives you and then gives you
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: this amount of joy afterward. God's word really is refreshing
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: and amazing. So I hope that you guys take that
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: with you today. Before I end today's episode with happy
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: listening and God bless please listen to this last sponsored
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: ad for today. So I haven't read a review on
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the podcast in a while, and I recently got a
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: beautiful one from Jackie on Facebook, so I'd like to
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: thank it. Jackie. It says I've been listening to the
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Bible Explained podcast and it has truly been life changing
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: for me. I'll be honest, I never really opened the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Old Testament before because it felt so hard to understand.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: But the way Jen explains it makes everything come alive
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: in such a clear and meaningful way. I've gotten so
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: much out of it, and I'm incredibly grateful. If you've
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: ever felt the same way about the Bible, I highly
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: recommend giving it a listen on her podcast. It's been
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: such a blessing in my life. Thank you, Jackie. That
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: is such a beautiful review. I'm very touched. I really
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: do appreciate that review. It is a great encouragement to me,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: So thank you Jackie so much. So faithful listeners, thank
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: you for your reviews, and if you'd like to leave
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: a review on the Bible Explain Podcast, you can go
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: over to Apple Podcasts or Facebook or any other number
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: of platforms that you can rate to the podcast and
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: make sure to give it five stars if you like it,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: and if you don't like it, then just don't review it.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: happy listening, and God bless I just want to take
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain Podcast. In fact,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.