Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Nehemiah 4 - Hammer in One Hand, Sword in the Other

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Nehemiah 4 - Hammer in One Hand, Sword in the Other · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hi, faith listeners, Welcome to the Bible explained
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Speaker 1: on this lovely Monday morning. I'm just so thankful that
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Speaker 1: all of you guys are here to share a delicious
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Speaker 1: cup of coffee with me on this wonderful Monday morning.
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Speaker 1: You know, starting your week out right by reading some
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Speaker 1: Bible with me. There's no better way to start out
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Speaker 1: your week, or your day for that matter, than sitting
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Speaker 1: down with some scripture. So we're going to be reading
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Speaker 1: Niamiah four today and talking about this problem that arises
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Speaker 1: as Niamayah is facilitating the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Wall.
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Speaker 1: It seems like there's always a problem, isn't there. We'll
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Speaker 1: get into this in just a second, right after this
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Speaker 1: first advertisement break from a sponsor. Okay, faithful listeners, now
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Speaker 1: you've listened it to that sponsored ad, let's go ahead
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Speaker 1: and read it Niamiah four the entire thing, as I
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Speaker 1: always do. I'll be reading from the World English Bible,
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Speaker 1: but I always encourage you guys to read out of
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Speaker 1: the version that you prefer this morning, and also to
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Speaker 1: grab your delicious cup of seven weeks coffee or your
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Speaker 1: cup of tea for you crazy tea drinkers to share
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Speaker 1: with me as we read Niamiah four together, I'll be
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Speaker 1: reading the entire thing. Let's give reverence to God's word
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Speaker 1: with Niamiah four. But when sand Balot heard that we
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Speaker 1: were building the wall, he was angry and was very
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Speaker 1: indignant and mocked the Jews. He spoke before his brothers
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Speaker 1: and the army of Samaria and said, what are these
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Speaker 1: feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice?
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Speaker 1: Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the
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Speaker 1: stones out of the heaps of rubble? Since they are burned? Now?
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Speaker 1: Tobia the Ammonite was by him, and he said, what
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Speaker 1: they are building? If a fox climbed up it, he
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Speaker 1: would break down their stone wall. Here are God, for
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Speaker 1: we are despised. Turn back their reproach on their own head.
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Speaker 1: Give them up for a plunder in the land of captivity.
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Speaker 1: Don't cover their iniquity. Don't let their sin be blotted
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Speaker 1: out from before you, for they have insalted the builders.
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Speaker 1: So we built the wall, and all the wall was
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Speaker 1: joined together to half its height, For the people had
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Speaker 1: a mind to work. But when sand Ballot, Tobia, the Arabians,
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Speaker 1: the Ammonites, and the Ashtodites heard the repairing of the
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Speaker 1: walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breeches began
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Speaker 1: to be filled. They were very angry, and they all
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Speaker 1: conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to
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Speaker 1: cause confusion among us. But we made our prayer to
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Speaker 1: our God and set a watch against them day and night.
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Speaker 1: Because of them. Judah said, the strength of the bearers
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Speaker 1: of the burdens is fading, and there is much rubble,
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Speaker 1: so that we are not able to build the wall.
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Speaker 1: Our adversary said, they will not know or see until
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Speaker 1: we come in among them and kill them and cause
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Speaker 1: the work to cease. When the Jews who lived by
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Speaker 1: them came, they said to us ten times, from all places,
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Speaker 1: wherever you turn, they will attack us. Therefore I set
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Speaker 1: guards in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall.
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Speaker 1: In the open places, I set the people by family groups,
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Speaker 1: with their swords, their spears and their bows. I looked
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Speaker 1: and rose up and said the nobles, to the rulers
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Speaker 1: and to the rest of the people, don't be afraid
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Speaker 1: of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome,
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Speaker 1: and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives,
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Speaker 1: and your houses. When our enemies heard that it was
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Speaker 1: known to us, and that God had brought their counsel
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Speaker 1: to nothing, all of us returned to the wall, everyone
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Speaker 1: to his work. From that time forth, half of my
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Speaker 1: servants did the work, and half of them held the spears,
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Speaker 1: the shields, the bows, and the coats of male. And
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Speaker 1: the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. Those
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Speaker 1: who built the wall, and those who bore burdens loaded themselves.
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Speaker 1: Everyone with one of his hands did the work, and
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Speaker 1: the other held his weapon. Among the builders, everyone wore
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Speaker 1: his sword at his side, and so built. He who
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Speaker 1: sounded the trumpet was by me. I said to the nobles,
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Speaker 1: and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people.
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Speaker 1: The work is great and widely spread out, and we
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Speaker 1: are separated on the wall, far from one another. Wherever
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Speaker 1: you heard the sound of the trumpet, rally there to us.
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Speaker 1: Our God will fight for us. So we did the work.
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Speaker 1: Half of the people held the spears from the rising
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Speaker 1: of the morning until the stars appeared. Likewise, at the
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Speaker 1: same time I said to the people, led everyone with
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Speaker 1: his servant to lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night
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Speaker 1: they may be a guard to us, and may labor
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Speaker 1: in the day, so neither I, nor my brothers, nor
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Speaker 1: my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed
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Speaker 1: me took off our clothes. Everyone took his weapon to
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Speaker 1: the water. So Niamiah four is likely taking place during
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Speaker 1: Niamiyah three. We didn't really go into the individual people
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Speaker 1: building the wall because we talked about the different gates
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Speaker 1: last week. That is discussed in Niamiah three. But if
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Speaker 1: you go back to Niamia three, you'll see that there's
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Speaker 1: a whole bunch of people basically building the wall directly
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Speaker 1: in front of their houses. So they'd go outside and
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Speaker 1: they'd work on a portion of the wall that was
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Speaker 1: directly in front of them, and that is how this
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Speaker 1: wall was being built. But while all that was taking place,
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Speaker 1: there was a lot of problems happening, specifically this guy
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Speaker 1: san Ballot, who we've already heard about a handful of times,
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Speaker 1: and also this other guy named Tobiah the Ammonite. Both
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Speaker 1: of these men were leaders in their own right and
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Speaker 1: were both associated with Judaism. For example, this guy san
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Speaker 1: Ballot mentioned in verse one right here is mentioned as
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Speaker 1: being related to the high priest in Nehemiah thirteen through marriage,
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Speaker 1: so he was associated with Judaism and Yaoism. And then
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Speaker 1: Tobia the Ammonite, who is sometimes called Tobia the Ammonite Ruler,
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Speaker 1: was possibly a Jewish Man because his name is actually Jewish.
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Speaker 1: Tobia is a Jewish name, so it's very possible that
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Speaker 1: Tobia was either born of a Jewish mother, or he
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Speaker 1: was a convert to Judaism and he was an Ammonite man,
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Speaker 1: or he could have been a Jewish man that just
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Speaker 1: gained a lot of prominence in Amin, because he is
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Speaker 1: mentioned as being the Ammonite servant, which generally means he
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Speaker 1: was a politician or a leader of some sort over
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Speaker 1: the Ammonites. So these two men were very associated with
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Speaker 1: Judaism and very close to it, and yet they were
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Speaker 1: going against Yahweh's will so blatantly in this chapter. Here's
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Speaker 1: what it says in verse one, when san Ballet heard
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Speaker 1: that we were building the wall, he was angry and
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Speaker 1: was very indignant, and he mocked the Jews. Now the
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Speaker 1: Hebrew word for angry here is like the most strong
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Speaker 1: form of that word that you can get, So this
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Speaker 1: means that he was extremely furious. Basically, san Ballet was
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Speaker 1: so furious that he became indignant and started mocking the Jews.
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Speaker 1: And he might wonder why was san Ballet and Tobia
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Speaker 1: so against the building of this wall, like, what did
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Speaker 1: it affect them? Well, it affected them politically because both
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Speaker 1: of them were politicians, both of them likely were leaders.
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Speaker 1: San Ballet was probably the governor of Samaria, and like
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Speaker 1: I said earlier, Tobia was probably the governor of Ammen.
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Speaker 1: So these two men did not want the city of
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Speaker 1: Jerusale to be built because this would affect them politically,
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Speaker 1: especially san Balot, who probably had control of the entire region,
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Speaker 1: including Jerusalem. And if Jerusalem became its own entity once again,
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Speaker 1: that means san Ballot would lose all political power in Jerusalem,
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Speaker 1: so he didn't want that to happen. Same goes with Tobia.
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Speaker 1: The Ammonites, he was another governor, did not want to
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Speaker 1: see Jerusalem become its own entity, did not want to
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Speaker 1: lose that power that he had. And then it says
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Speaker 1: in verse seven that the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the
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Speaker 1: Ashdidites were also very furious when they heard about the
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Speaker 1: wall being built. So these were all of Israel's enemies,
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Speaker 1: and by the way, it was pretty much every single
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Speaker 1: direction as well. San Ballot was to the north, Tobia
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Speaker 1: and the Ammonites would have been I think to the east.
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Speaker 1: The Arabians were to the south, and the Ashdidites were
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Speaker 1: to the west, which, by the way, the Ashdidites were
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Speaker 1: basically the newer form of the Philistines. They lived in Philista.
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Speaker 1: So Israel at this point in time has enemies on
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Speaker 1: every single side. People just do not want them to
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Speaker 1: succeed at rebuilding the wall. They want to take that
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Speaker 1: land for themselves. And they also just hate the Jewish
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Speaker 1: people and they hate Yahweh. They don't want to see
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Speaker 1: these people become independent at all. So there's a lot
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Speaker 1: of things going on right here as to why all
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Speaker 1: of these enemies do not want Nehemiah to rebuild this wall.
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Speaker 1: But sam Balat is particularly furious. He is so angry,
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Speaker 1: it says, he began to mock the Jews. And here's
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Speaker 1: what he says. In verse two. He spoke before his
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Speaker 1: brothers and the army of Samaria and said, what are
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Speaker 1: these feeble Jews doing? So he brings the army into
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Speaker 1: all of this. Notice that that he could control the
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Speaker 1: Samaritan army, And he also brought all of his brothers
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Speaker 1: into it as well. This is probably not talking about siblings,
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Speaker 1: but more so his allies, like all of the Samaritan
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Speaker 1: people that were not part of the army. And he
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Speaker 1: starts to debrief them as to what the Israelites are
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Speaker 1: doing and forming this plan, because you can see later
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Speaker 1: on this chapter that san Balat was willing to commit
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Speaker 1: murder so that this wall would not keep being built.
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Speaker 1: So he starts downtalking the Jews and making his people
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Speaker 1: super angry. It was like the opposite of the pep talk.
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Speaker 1: He wasn't encouraging his people for good or for courage.
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Speaker 1: He was encouraging them to anger. I guess. So here's
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Speaker 1: what he says to his people. He says, what are
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Speaker 1: these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice?
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Speaker 1: Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the
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Speaker 1: stones out of the heaps of rubbish since they are burned?
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Speaker 1: So basically he throws several different insults at the Jewish people.
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Speaker 1: The first thing is that the Jews are feeble, they
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Speaker 1: are weak and cannot be independent. Secondly, will they fortify themselves?
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Speaker 1: Are they strong enough to actually build this wall? Can
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Speaker 1: they build something that will last? Are they smart enough
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Speaker 1: to do something like that. Thirdly, will they sacrifice? So
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Speaker 1: that's not talking about the temple sacrifices, by the way,
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Speaker 1: most likely because the Temple had already been built at
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Speaker 1: this point for me any many decades. This is probably
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Speaker 1: talking about the sacrifices that were done in Niamiah three,
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Speaker 1: verses one and two. I think it was. Let's see here, Yes,
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Speaker 1: it says in Niamia three, verse one, then Eli a Sheb,
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Speaker 1: the high priest, rose up with his brothers the priest,
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Speaker 1: and they built the sheep gate. They sanctified it and
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Speaker 1: set up its doors. They sanctified it even to the
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Speaker 1: tower of Hamea, to the tower of Hananel. So that's
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Speaker 1: probably talking about some sort of sacrifice that Eli a
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Speaker 1: Sheb the high priest did in order to sanctify the wall.
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Speaker 1: And that's probably what san Balot is talking about here,
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Speaker 1: like how dare these Jews sanctify this wall as if
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Speaker 1: this is something holy? This is not something holy? Then
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Speaker 1: he says, will they finish in a day? So basically
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Speaker 1: in that insult, he's saying, we now know about this plan,
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Speaker 1: and these Jews better finish these walls within the day,
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Speaker 1: because if they do not. We're gonna go down there
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Speaker 1: and we are going to stop them. So they better
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Speaker 1: have this finished in a day. Are they going to
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Speaker 1: be able to finish this by time? And then he says,
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Speaker 1: will they revive the stones out of the heaps of
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Speaker 1: rubbish since they are burned? Now right there, he's just
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Speaker 1: trying to insult them as best as he possibly can,
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Speaker 1: because he's like, well, they got their walls burned down
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Speaker 1: the first place because of their rebellion, because they're stupid
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Speaker 1: little Jews. This is what the sand ballot guy is doing.
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Speaker 1: So he's insulting them in every single way that he
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Speaker 1: possibly can. But now Tobaia, the Ammonite, who is standing
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Speaker 1: next to him, apparently increased the heat by saying this.
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Speaker 1: He said, what they are building, if a fox climbed
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Speaker 1: up it, he would break down their stone wall. Now,
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Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys have ever seen a
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Speaker 1: fox before. I have seen them. I live in the
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Speaker 1: middle of the sticks, and so every once in a
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Speaker 1: while we'll see a fox here and there, and they
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Speaker 1: are very little animals. They are not big at all.
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Speaker 1: He's saying that these Jews are so dumb that they
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Speaker 1: don't even know how to put a wall together. They
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Speaker 1: are just wasting their time. They are spending all of
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Speaker 1: this hard labor to create something that could be destroyed
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Speaker 1: by a little fox that just jumps up there. And
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Speaker 1: like I said, a fox is a little creature, and
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Speaker 1: it's a light creature as well. It would have to
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Speaker 1: be something pretty weak in order for a fox to
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Speaker 1: be able to tip it over. But that is how
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Speaker 1: Tobia views the Jews, that they cannot do anything good
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Speaker 1: for themselves, that they are weak, that they are useless,
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Speaker 1: that this wall is going to be useless, and the
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Speaker 1: time and energy they are putting into it is all useless.
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Speaker 1: So now, in verses four and five, Niamiah does something
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Speaker 1: interesting that we don't see often in scripture, but he
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Speaker 1: breaks from the story to write down a prayer to God.
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Speaker 1: During all of this, he says, here are God, for
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Speaker 1: we are despised. Turn back their approach on their own head,
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Speaker 1: give them up for a plunder in the land of captivity.
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Speaker 1: Don't cover their iniquity. Don't let their sin be blotted
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Speaker 1: out from before you, for they have insulted the builders.
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Speaker 1: So that is called an imprecatory prayer. This is when
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Speaker 1: a prayer is made asking God to judge somebody, and
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Speaker 1: that is what he does right here after relaying what
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Speaker 1: san Balot and Tobias said about the Jewish builders. And
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Speaker 1: I can imagine as Niamiah is writing all this down
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Speaker 1: that he is angry in his own right. He is
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Speaker 1: furious that these two men are saying this about Jerusalem
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Speaker 1: and about the Jewish people, acting like Jewish people are
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Speaker 1: so stupid and so dumb that they can't put a
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Speaker 1: wall together the right way. And as Niamia is writing
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Speaker 1: this down, he's probably so furious that he just stops
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Speaker 1: and he's like, you know what, God, I need to
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Speaker 1: reorient my heart, and so I am going to pray
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Speaker 1: to you that you take care of this issue. And
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Speaker 1: that is when he says, here are God, for we
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Speaker 1: are despised and turn their reproach on their own head.
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Speaker 1: So basically, all the insults they just said about the
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Speaker 1: Jews turn those insults back on them. And then in
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Speaker 1: verse six, Niemiah continues, so we built the wall, and
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Speaker 1: all the wall was joined together to half its height,
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Speaker 1: for the people had a mind to work. So the
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Speaker 1: people were not deterred actually from all of these insults.
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Speaker 1: Thankfully they continued with the work. They were ready to
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Speaker 1: rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And apparently, even while all
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Speaker 1: this is going on, with all these insults being thrown
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Speaker 1: at them, with the Samaritan Army getting involved with all
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Speaker 1: of this, the people continued on their work, so much
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Speaker 1: so that half the height of the wall was built.
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Speaker 1: So things are progressing very very quickly here for the
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Speaker 1: Jewish people. The wall is closing in. You know, everybody
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Speaker 1: is working at their own paces making sure the wall
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Speaker 1: connects with each other, and it's getting so tall that
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Speaker 1: half of the height is already built by this point.
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Speaker 1: So san Ballot and Tobia and all of the other
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Speaker 1: enemies of Israel then realize that they need to stop
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Speaker 1: complaining and they need to do something if they are
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Speaker 1: going to stop the Jews from continuing to build this wall.
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Speaker 1: So here's what it says. It says when sand Ballot
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Speaker 1: to buy the Arabians, the Ammonites and the Ashtadites heard
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Speaker 1: that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward
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Speaker 1: and that the breaches began to be filled, they were
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Speaker 1: very angry, and they all conspired together to come and
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Speaker 1: fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion among us. But
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Speaker 1: we made our prayer to our God and set a
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Speaker 1: watch against them night and day because of them. So
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Speaker 1: Niamiah somehow catches wind of this plot that is taking
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Speaker 1: place between san Balot and Tobiah and all of these
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Speaker 1: other enemies of Jerusalem, and Niemiah ends up thwarting it
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Speaker 1: before it even happens by setting guards up to protect
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Speaker 1: the walls. And I'm sure Jerusalem had enough fighting men
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Speaker 1: at this point in time to protect themselves. That's kind
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Speaker 1: of what it says right here. Even though I'm sure
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Speaker 1: the Samaritan army was pretty big, and the armies of
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Speaker 1: some of these other nations were pretty big, Jerusalem in
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Speaker 1: its own right was growing quite rapidly. There were many
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Speaker 1: thousands of Jews that had returned to Jerusalem at this point,
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Speaker 1: and so there was enough fighting men to guard the walls.
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Speaker 1: And so Niamia is very strategic with how he works
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Speaker 1: all of this. Actually, it says in verse ten Judah said,
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Speaker 1: the strength of the bearers of the burdens is fading,
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Speaker 1: and there is much rubble, so that we are not
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Speaker 1: able to build the wall. Our adversary said, they will
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Speaker 1: not know or see until we come in among them
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Speaker 1: and kill them, and cause the work to cease. So
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Speaker 1: when the Jews who lived by them came, they said
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Speaker 1: to us ten times, from all places, wherever you turn,
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Speaker 1: they will attack us. So Niami is getting the same
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Speaker 1: story everywhere he goes that San Ballot and Tobia and
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Speaker 1: the Samaritan army and all these other people are coming
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Speaker 1: to attack Jerusalem, and also that there's a problem taking place.
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Speaker 1: Apparently the rubble of the burned down wall was so
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Speaker 1: bad that it was becoming almost impossible to continue on
16:52
Speaker 1: with this work, so they had to obviously take some
16:55
Speaker 1: time to clear out the rubble before they could start
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Speaker 1: laying a new foundation for it these walls. So a
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Speaker 1: couple problems are happening right now, which I'm sure could
17:04
Speaker 1: have been very discouraging to Niemiyah. The progress on the
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Speaker 1: wall is being paused for a little while, and San
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Speaker 1: Ballot and all of these other people are about to
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Speaker 1: attack Jerusalem from every single side. Now you might be wondering,
17:16
Speaker 1: right here, didn't the Persian king give Niemiyah permission to
17:20
Speaker 1: do this? And wasn't the Persian king in charge of
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Speaker 1: all of this? And if so, how can San Ballet
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Speaker 1: just take his Samaritan army and make a charge against Jerusalem. Well,
17:32
Speaker 1: it's probably kind of a precarious situation. I'm sure san
17:35
Speaker 1: Balot knew that if he targeted Jerusalem that he'd be
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Speaker 1: going against the Persian king, which could have been why
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Speaker 1: it took him a little bit longer to come up
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Speaker 1: with this plan, was because he didn't want to get
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Speaker 1: on the Persian King's bad side. But also you have
17:50
Speaker 1: to remember that news traveled very slowly back in these days,
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Speaker 1: and these governors were given a lot of power to
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Speaker 1: protect their cities, and so sand Ballot could have potentially
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Speaker 1: made up some sort of excuse as to why he
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Speaker 1: needed to attack Jerusalem and tear down these walls or
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Speaker 1: stop the walls from being built, that you know, Jerusalem
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Speaker 1: was potentially in a rebellion again, something like that. So
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Speaker 1: he definitely could have lied about this situation, and the
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Speaker 1: Persian king, who would have gotten this information who knows,
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Speaker 1: like a month later, wouldn't have been able to do
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Speaker 1: anything by that point and probably would have just accepted
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Speaker 1: the story by san Ballot. So you have to remember that,
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Speaker 1: you know, things were very different back in these days.
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Speaker 1: People didn't have smartphones or newspapers. You know, things traveled
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Speaker 1: very slowly back in these days. But anyway, so Nehemiah
18:39
Speaker 1: is ready for this attack, and it says he set
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Speaker 1: guards in verse thirteen in the lowest parts of the
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Speaker 1: space behind the wall, in the open places, and I
18:47
Speaker 1: set the people by family groups with their swords, their spears,
18:51
Speaker 1: and their bows. And then it says in verse fourteen,
18:54
Speaker 1: I looked and rose up and said to the nobles,
18:57
Speaker 1: to the rulers, and to the rest of the people,
18:59
Speaker 1: don't be a f afraid of them. Remember the Lord
19:01
Speaker 1: who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers,
19:05
Speaker 1: your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. So
19:08
Speaker 1: he gives the people a pep talk, and he's like, look,
19:11
Speaker 1: God is on our side. And Namiah had evidence actually
19:15
Speaker 1: that God was on his side, because don't forget how
19:17
Speaker 1: the Persian king art Exerxes treated Neamiah. He gave Neemiah
19:21
Speaker 1: all of this power, all of this money to go
19:25
Speaker 1: to Jerusalem to rebuild these walls. And this is something
19:28
Speaker 1: that you know, I've talked a bit about before, but
19:32
Speaker 1: it's kind of crazy actually if you think about it,
19:34
Speaker 1: that art Exerxes would allow the Jerusalem walls to be
19:37
Speaker 1: rebuilt just politically, it sounds almost insane. But God was
19:43
Speaker 1: on Neamiah's side, and God was helping these people rebuild
19:48
Speaker 1: the walls. And Neamiah knew this. He had faith that
19:51
Speaker 1: God was with him and that these people Sanballat, Tobiah
19:55
Speaker 1: and all of these other guys were not going to
19:57
Speaker 1: be successful in slowing down the progress of these walls.
20:01
Speaker 1: So in verse fifteen, it says, when our enemies heard
20:03
Speaker 1: that it was known to us, in other words, this
20:05
Speaker 1: entire attack that they had planned, and that God had
20:09
Speaker 1: brought their counsel to nothing, all of us returned to
20:13
Speaker 1: the wall, everyone to his work. So whatever Neamayah does,
20:17
Speaker 1: whatever he planned worked. All of these people with swords
20:22
Speaker 1: and with spears being set in particular positions caused Sanballat
20:27
Speaker 1: and Tobia to think twice about what they were doing,
20:30
Speaker 1: because the last thing they want to do is lose
20:32
Speaker 1: their entire armies trying to take Jerusalem. Because if these
20:36
Speaker 1: guys are really focused on the political side of stuff,
20:40
Speaker 1: that would look so bad on them. The Persian king
20:43
Speaker 1: would potentially kill them for something like that. And so
20:47
Speaker 1: these guys didn't want to lose their entire armies. They
20:49
Speaker 1: only wanted to go do this if they could do
20:51
Speaker 1: it sneakily, if they could do it quickly, if they
20:54
Speaker 1: could basically take Jerusalem by surprise, because that's kind of
20:59
Speaker 1: what it says right here Twice it says that in
21:01
Speaker 1: verse eight they all conspired together to come and fight
21:04
Speaker 1: against Jerusalem and to cause confusion among us, basically take
21:08
Speaker 1: them by surprise. And then also it says actually in
21:13
Speaker 1: the verse that we just read, verse fifteen, when our
21:15
Speaker 1: enemies heard that it was known to us and that
21:18
Speaker 1: God had brought their counsel to nothing, all of us
21:20
Speaker 1: returned to the wall, everyone to his work. So, yeah,
21:22
Speaker 1: once they found out that the Jews found out about
21:25
Speaker 1: their plan, it was no longer a secret, and they
21:27
Speaker 1: weren't going to move forward with it because they wanted
21:30
Speaker 1: to strike in secret. They probably had this whole thing
21:34
Speaker 1: planned out as to what they were going to do,
21:36
Speaker 1: how they were going to kill the builders, Nehemiah the
21:40
Speaker 1: high priest maybe, and what they were going to tell
21:42
Speaker 1: the Persian king when he finds out about all of this.
21:44
Speaker 1: So they were probably like conspiring against the Jews for
21:47
Speaker 1: a very long period of time because they needed to
21:49
Speaker 1: act very stealthily, I guess, or rather craftily in order
21:54
Speaker 1: to get exactly what they wanted from all of this,
21:57
Speaker 1: and it didn't work. From that time fourth sixteen. Half
22:01
Speaker 1: of my servants did the work, and half of them
22:03
Speaker 1: held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the coats
22:06
Speaker 1: of mail, and the rulers were behind all the house
22:09
Speaker 1: of Judah. Those who built the wall, and those who
22:12
Speaker 1: bore burdens loaded themselves. Everyone with one of his hands
22:15
Speaker 1: did the work, and with the other held his weapon.
22:19
Speaker 1: Neamiah had half the people patrolling with a weapon, and
22:22
Speaker 1: the other half were working. And even the ones that
22:25
Speaker 1: were working on rebuilding this wall worked with one hand,
22:30
Speaker 1: it says, on their sword or on their spear, and
22:33
Speaker 1: the other hand was lifting rocks, carrying stuff, stacking rocks
22:39
Speaker 1: on top of each other, and just building the wall.
22:42
Speaker 1: But they were doing it all with one hand, and
22:44
Speaker 1: the other hand was on their weapon. You can imagine
22:48
Speaker 1: this was a big deterrent for anybody potentially trying to
22:51
Speaker 1: attack Jerusalem. Then in verse eighteen, among the builders, everyone
22:57
Speaker 1: wore his sword at his side, and so built. He
23:00
Speaker 1: who sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said
23:02
Speaker 1: to the nobles and to the rulers, and to the
23:04
Speaker 1: rest of the people, the work is great and widely
23:07
Speaker 1: spread out, and we are separated on the wall far
23:10
Speaker 1: from one another. Wherever you hear the sound of the
23:13
Speaker 1: trumpet rally there to us. Our God will fight for us.
23:17
Speaker 1: This wall was not a small project, is what Neamiah saying.
23:20
Speaker 1: And one end of the wall was a far distance
23:23
Speaker 1: from the other end. So Niamiyah had a trumpet player
23:27
Speaker 1: keeping watch, so that if an enemy attacked, either from
23:31
Speaker 1: the north, southeast, or west, this trumpet player would sound
23:34
Speaker 1: the alarm and everybody would meet in a central location
23:38
Speaker 1: at that point and fight against the enemy. But Niamiah says,
23:42
Speaker 1: it's not going to be us fighting this enemy. It's
23:44
Speaker 1: going to be God himself. Our God will fight for us.
23:48
Speaker 1: So Niamiah has faith in God, in the power of God,
23:52
Speaker 1: and it says, so we did the work. Half the
23:55
Speaker 1: people held the spears from the rising of the morning
23:57
Speaker 1: until the stars appeared. Likewise, at the same time, I
24:00
Speaker 1: said to the people, let everyone with his servant lodge
24:04
Speaker 1: within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a
24:07
Speaker 1: guard to us and may labor in the day. So
24:09
Speaker 1: neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the
24:12
Speaker 1: men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes.
24:15
Speaker 1: Everyone took his weapon to the water. So they even
24:18
Speaker 1: bathed with their weapons on, is what Neamiah saying. They
24:23
Speaker 1: did not take their weapons off at all. They took
24:26
Speaker 1: them into the water. They were doing night to shifts.
24:29
Speaker 1: They were just on guard constantly because they had to be,
24:34
Speaker 1: because if they weren't, the enemies would have came in
24:37
Speaker 1: already and destroyed the wall and probably killed tons of
24:40
Speaker 1: people in Jerusalem, and then made up some sort of
24:42
Speaker 1: phony story about how evil Jerusalem was and how they
24:45
Speaker 1: had to do it. And now you can see why
24:47
Speaker 1: there weren't a lot of women that helped build this wall.
24:51
Speaker 1: It did say in the previous chapter that there were
24:53
Speaker 1: some daughters that helped their father build a portion of
24:56
Speaker 1: the wall. And I imagine that even the women, the
25:00
Speaker 1: ones that were helping out, probably carried a weapon of
25:02
Speaker 1: some sort. But you can see that there were certain
25:05
Speaker 1: women that were more brave, more willing to do this
25:08
Speaker 1: hard labor than even some of the nobles. That's actually
25:11
Speaker 1: what it says in the previous chapter that the nobles
25:13
Speaker 1: were not willing to lift their hands to do the work,
25:17
Speaker 1: but some of the women were, which is unfortunate But
25:21
Speaker 1: I think the moral of Niamiah four is something I've
25:24
Speaker 1: stated a few times now on this podcast going through
25:27
Speaker 1: Ezra Niamiah with you guys, just because we are in
25:31
Speaker 1: God's will does not mean things are going to be
25:34
Speaker 1: easy for us. I mean, look at this chapter. This
25:36
Speaker 1: was difficult, and yet these people were actually in God's will.
25:42
Speaker 1: So you have to remember that that things are not
25:44
Speaker 1: always going to go easy peasy for you, even if
25:48
Speaker 1: you are doing something that God calls you to do.
25:51
Speaker 1: But that's actually kind of an encouragement to us because
25:54
Speaker 1: when things get rough when you are in God's will,
25:58
Speaker 1: you can remember stories like this one from Miama four
26:01
Speaker 1: where these people had difficulty and yet were able to
26:05
Speaker 1: overcome it because of their faith in God. So just
26:09
Speaker 1: remember that if you think that you are doing something
26:10
Speaker 1: that God called you to do, and yet you're struggling
26:13
Speaker 1: through some sort of terrible difficulty right now, I can
26:15
Speaker 1: imagine for some of you, your faith might be shaken.
26:18
Speaker 1: You might be like, man, I made such a mistake.
26:20
Speaker 1: Maybe I didn't understand the call of God. Maybe this
26:24
Speaker 1: isn't actually what God wanted me to do. Or you
26:27
Speaker 1: could even be thinking God is unfaithful to me, He's
26:29
Speaker 1: allowing me to go through this terrible circumstance. For whatever reason.
26:34
Speaker 1: He is angry at me. He doesn't like me, he
26:38
Speaker 1: isn't real, he's not good. You could be going through
26:41
Speaker 1: all of these things in your head, but just remember
26:44
Speaker 1: this story from Niamiah four. Niamiyah was certainly in God's
26:48
Speaker 1: will when he was facilitating the building of this wall,
26:51
Speaker 1: and yet things were so difficult for him, but he
26:54
Speaker 1: maintained his faith in Yahweh so much so that they
26:58
Speaker 1: were able to accomplish the building of this wall. And
27:00
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about that on the next episode
27:03
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. So I hope all of you guys tune
27:05
Speaker 1: in on Wednesday to talk more about the Book of Nehemaiyah.
27:09
Speaker 1: But before I let you guys go with a happy
27:12
Speaker 1: listening and God bless here's one last sponsor for today
27:15
Speaker 1: that I'd love for you guys to listen to well,
27:19
Speaker 1: faithful listeners. Tomorrow is a big day because we are
27:22
Speaker 1: starting the Book of James. We finished Hebrews on Thursday
27:26
Speaker 1: and now we are going to be in a brand
27:28
Speaker 1: new book of the New Testament. James and James is
27:31
Speaker 1: such a great book. I think it's my husband's favorite
27:34
Speaker 1: New Testament book of the Bible, and I can understand why.
27:36
Speaker 1: You know, James has such a unique writing style, more
27:39
Speaker 1: so than pretty much anybody else that I've seen in scripture.
27:42
Speaker 1: I was making a joke on Thursday when we ended Hebrews,
27:45
Speaker 1: but I said, if you think that Paul was a
27:49
Speaker 1: blunt author, just wait till we get to the Book
27:52
Speaker 1: of James. There is not a blunter author in the
27:55
Speaker 1: entire Bible, I would say, than James. So I'm excited
27:59
Speaker 1: to start the Book of James with all of you
28:00
Speaker 1: guys tomorrow, Faithful listeners. Hope to see you then six
28:04
Speaker 1: am or whenever you choose to wake up and listen.
28:06
Speaker 1: Make sure to check out all the links in the
28:07
Speaker 1: description for all the other things that I do here
28:10
Speaker 1: on the Bible Explained, including the YouTube channel and the
28:14
Speaker 1: merch store and the U version devotionals that I've done.
28:17
Speaker 1: Check out all of those links and more listed in
28:20
Speaker 1: the description of this episode. Faithful listeners, have a fantastic
28:23
Speaker 1: and wonderful rest of your day. Until tomorrow, happy listening,
28:28
Speaker 1: and God bless. I just want to take a second
28:35
Speaker 1: to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership
28:38
Speaker 1: with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if
28:40
Speaker 1: you go to lifeudio dot com you will find dozens
28:43
Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
28:45
Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.