Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 35:10-27 - The Point of Animal Sacrifice, and Why We No Longer Do It

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2 Chronicles 35:10-27 - The Point of Animal Sacrifice, and Why We No Longer Do It · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, howdy there, friends and faithful listeners, and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: welcome to the Bible Explained podcast. My name is Jen,
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  Speaker 1: and I am so excited that you're here to share
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: a couple of coffee with me as we read scripture
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  Speaker 1: together today. So I haven't chitchatted with you guys in
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  Speaker 1: quite some time. I know some of you hate the
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  Speaker 1: chit chat, like you're like, just get to the point
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  Speaker 1: of the podcast, and I understand that, but I do
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  Speaker 1: like to chitchat with you guys every once in a while.
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  Speaker 1: Just let you guys know I am a real human
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  Speaker 1: being and not just an AI bot. Right now, I've
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  Speaker 1: been very much enjoying the weather. I've also been painting
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  Speaker 1: a lot these days. I've got a new painting that
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  Speaker 1: i'm working on. It's the biggest one I've ever done,
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  Speaker 1: so I'm looking forward to revealing that painting to all
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  Speaker 1: of you guys when it's finished. And I've also been
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  Speaker 1: doing the worship ministry at my church and that has
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  Speaker 1: been an absolute blast as well. So let me know
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  Speaker 1: what kind of things are you involved in. What are
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  Speaker 1: your hobbies, What volunteer work do you do, what ministries
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  Speaker 1: do you participate in. I'd love to hear about all
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  Speaker 1: of these things. You can contact me via my email
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  Speaker 1: address listed in the description of this episode. Now, today
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  Speaker 1: we're going to be finishing up the Passover celebration that
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  Speaker 1: Josiah puts on and also Josiah's death. Now, of course,
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  Speaker 1: before I begin today's episode, here's a word from a sponsor.
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  Speaker 1: So let's turn in our Bibles to Second Chronicles thirty
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  Speaker 1: five ten through twenty seven. This again is going to
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  Speaker 1: be talking about the Passover celebration that King Josiah puts on.
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  Speaker 1: And if you don't remember us talking about that, then
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  Speaker 1: I recommend going back to Monday's episode to check out
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  Speaker 1: all of that. I'll be reading from the web as
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  Speaker 1: usual once again, Second Chronicles thirty five, ten through twenty seven.
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  Speaker 1: So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in
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  Speaker 1: their place, and the levites by their divisions according to
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  Speaker 1: the King's commandment, they killed the passover lambs, and the
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  Speaker 1: priest sprinkled the blood which they received from their hands,
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  Speaker 1: and the leevites skinned them. They remove the burnt offerings
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  Speaker 1: that they might give them according to the division of
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  Speaker 1: the father's houses of the children of the people, to
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  Speaker 1: offer to Yahweh as it is written in the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. They
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  Speaker 1: roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance. They
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  Speaker 1: boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans,
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  Speaker 1: and carried them quickly to all the children of the people. Afterward,
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  Speaker 1: they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests,
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  Speaker 1: the sons of Erin, were busy with offering the burnt
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  Speaker 1: offerings and the fat until night. Therefore, the Levites prepared
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  Speaker 1: for themselves and for the priests. The sons of Erin.
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  Speaker 1: The singers, the sons of Asaf, were in their place.
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  Speaker 1: According to the commandment of David, Asaf, Hayman and Jedithan,
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  Speaker 1: the King's seer and the gate keepers were at every gate.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't need to depart from their service because their
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  Speaker 1: brothers the Levites, prepared for them. So all the service
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  Speaker 1: of Yahweh was prepared the same day to keep the
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  Speaker 1: Passover and to offer burnt offerings on Yahwey's altar. According
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  Speaker 1: to the commandment of King Josiah. The children of Israel
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  Speaker 1: who were present, kept the Passover at that time, and
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  Speaker 1: the feast of unlovened bread for seven days. There was
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  Speaker 1: no passover like that Kepta in Israel from the days
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  Speaker 1: of Samuel the Prophet, nor did any of the kings
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  Speaker 1: of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept with
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  Speaker 1: the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who
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  Speaker 1: are present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This passover was
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  Speaker 1: kept in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.
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  Speaker 1: After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho,
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  Speaker 1: king of Egypt, went up to fight against Karchemish by
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  Speaker 1: the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. But he
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  Speaker 1: sent ambassadors to him, saying, what have I to do
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  Speaker 1: with you, King of Judah. I have not come against
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  Speaker 1: you today, but against the house with which I have war.
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  Speaker 1: God has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it
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  Speaker 1: is God who is with me, that he not destroy you. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised
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  Speaker 1: himself that he might fight with him, and didn't listen
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  Speaker 1: to the words of Necho from the mouth of God,
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  Speaker 1: and came to fight in the valley of Megido. The
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  Speaker 1: archers shot at King Josiah, and the king said to
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  Speaker 1: his servants take me away, because I am seriously wounded.
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  Speaker 1: So his servants took him out of the chariot and
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  Speaker 1: put him in a second chariot that he had, and
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  Speaker 1: brought him to Jerusalem. And he died, and he was
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  Speaker 1: buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all
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  Speaker 1: the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in
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  Speaker 1: their lamentations to this day, and they made them an
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  Speaker 1: ordinance in Israel. Behold, they are written in the lamentations.
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  Speaker 1: Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his
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  Speaker 1: good deeds according to that which is written in Yahweh's
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  Speaker 1: Law and his acts first and last, Behold, they are
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  Speaker 1: written in the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
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  Speaker 1: So the first portion of this chapter talks about Josiah's
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  Speaker 1: desire to keep the passover to Yahweh, and this could
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  Speaker 1: have been the first time that the Israelites kept the
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  Speaker 1: passover since the days of Hezekiah. Most likely it was
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  Speaker 1: quite honestly, because the Book of the Law somehow got
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  Speaker 1: lost during the reign of the other two kings before Josiah,
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  Speaker 1: So probably the people didn't really celebrate a mass passover
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  Speaker 1: since the days of King Hezekiah, which would have been
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  Speaker 1: about I don't know, seventy years prior to this. Probably
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  Speaker 1: you know, Hezekiah was Josiah's great grandfather. So now Josiah
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  Speaker 1: has this deep desire to keep the passover and to
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  Speaker 1: keep it the correct way. You'll notice that even when
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  Speaker 1: the Passover was kept by Hezekiah, it wasn't exactly kept
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  Speaker 1: perfectly the way that the Old Testament laws tell you
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  Speaker 1: to do it. Hezekiah, for example, didn't do it on
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  Speaker 1: the correct day. He also didn't force the Levites to
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  Speaker 1: sanctify themselves or rather become ceremonially clean like God commands.
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  Speaker 1: So there's a few things that Hezekiah did that weren't
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  Speaker 1: exactly by the book. And we talked about why Hezekiah
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  Speaker 1: did those things and how God made an exception for them,
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  Speaker 1: because overall, God wants our hearts to be in the
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  Speaker 1: right place. But Josiah, yeah you can see here, really
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  Speaker 1: has a desire to do things the way the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament law tells him to do it because he just
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  Speaker 1: received a prophecy in the previous chapter where the prophetess
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  Speaker 1: told Josiah that God was going to judge Israel. There
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  Speaker 1: was no two ways about that because they never followed
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  Speaker 1: his laws. And Josiah when he hears that, has this
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  Speaker 1: deep desire to try to get on track with Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: and to try to get the people on track with
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh as well. Maybe God would change his mind. So
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  Speaker 1: it says right here in verse ten that the service
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  Speaker 1: was prepared and the priests stood in their place, and
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  Speaker 1: the Levites by their divisions according to the king's commandment,
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  Speaker 1: they killed the passover lambs, and the priests sprinkled the
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  Speaker 1: blood which they received from their hands, and the Levites
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  Speaker 1: skinned them. So this is the first thing we see
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  Speaker 1: where Josiah did things as by the book, by the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament laws as he could possibly get. The priests
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  Speaker 1: were the ones who are supposed to offer and kill
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  Speaker 1: the passover lambs, and the Levites who were not priests.
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  Speaker 1: You know, not every Levite could become a priest, but
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  Speaker 1: every priest had to be a Levite. But the Levites
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  Speaker 1: could still help in certain areas and assist the priests
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  Speaker 1: with all of these other tasks. The Levites is said
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  Speaker 1: skinned the animals, they removed the burnt offerings that they
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  Speaker 1: might give them according to the divisions of the Father's
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  Speaker 1: houses of the children of the people, to offer to Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: as it is written in the Book of Moses. Now
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  Speaker 1: this statement was very confusing to me at first when
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  Speaker 1: I was reading this, Like, I was stuck on that
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  Speaker 1: verse for a while because it says they removed the
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  Speaker 1: burnt offerings, and for whatever reason, I couldn't get past that.
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  Speaker 1: I'm like, why were they removing the burnt offerings, Like
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  Speaker 1: burnt offerings, as we know, are supposed to be given
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  Speaker 1: fully to God, nothing left behind, And I was missing
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  Speaker 1: the part where it says to offer to Yahweh, Like
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  Speaker 1: right in the middle of the verse, it says they
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  Speaker 1: removed the burnt offerings to give them to the people
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  Speaker 1: to offer to Yahweh as it is written in the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Moses. This goes back to what we talked
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  Speaker 1: about on Monday, where Josiah gave thousands of animals to
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  Speaker 1: the people so that the poor people could also give
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  Speaker 1: burnt offerings to God. Because remember the burnt offerings, all
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  Speaker 1: of the offerings were supposed to be perfect, and that
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  Speaker 1: was possibly not feasible for a lot of the people
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  Speaker 1: in Judah and Jerusalem and Israel as a whole. So
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  Speaker 1: Josiah gave them animals. He gave them animals to offer
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  Speaker 1: fully to God. In other words, a burnt offering. The
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  Speaker 1: whole animal was to be given to God. Some of
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  Speaker 1: the other offerings that you could give, part of the
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  Speaker 1: animal would go to the priest, or part would go
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  Speaker 1: back home with you so that you could eat it
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  Speaker 1: with your family. But the burnt offering specifically was meant
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  Speaker 1: for Yahweh entirely. So that's what it means here. When
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  Speaker 1: the priests separated aside the burnt offerings and gave them
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  Speaker 1: to the people, it was so that the people themselves
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  Speaker 1: could take those offerings and give them fully to God.
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  Speaker 1: It mentions in verse thirteen that they roasted the Passover
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  Speaker 1: with fire. According to the ordinance, they boiled the holy
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  Speaker 1: offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried
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  Speaker 1: them quickly to all the children of the people. So
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  Speaker 1: the Passover lamb specifically was burned with fire, it says,
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  Speaker 1: according to the ordinance, which that's talked about back in
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament laws. When we go through the ways
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  Speaker 1: to celebrate the Passover. The lamb was to be fully sacrificed,
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  Speaker 1: and then it mentions boiling the holy offerings. Not every
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  Speaker 1: single offering was a burnt offering. Like I said earlier,
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  Speaker 1: Some of these offerings would be given to God and
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  Speaker 1: also part of the animal would be cooked, and then
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  Speaker 1: you would take the meat home and eat it with
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  Speaker 1: your family. It was called a fellowship offering or a
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  Speaker 1: peace offering, And it looks like a lot of people
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  Speaker 1: brought fellowship and peace offerings with them as well. Because
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  Speaker 1: the Levites were very busy in cooking all of these animals.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure there needed to be tons of Levites in
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  Speaker 1: order to do this. I mean, you can imagine cauldrons
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  Speaker 1: and cooking pots everywhere in order to keep up with
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  Speaker 1: the amount of animals being brought by the people. You know,
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  Speaker 1: there are thousands and thousands of people visiting Jerusalem for
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  Speaker 1: this one occasion, so you can imagine how much work
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  Speaker 1: this was, how much organization and planning went into this
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  Speaker 1: one event. It says they boiled the holy offerings in pots,
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  Speaker 1: in cauldrons and in pans and carried them quickly to
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  Speaker 1: all the children of the people. Afterward, they prepared for
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  Speaker 1: themselves and for the priests, because the priests were busy
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  Speaker 1: with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night.
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  Speaker 1: So there you can see the levites and the priests
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  Speaker 1: had very different roles. The priests were specifically handling all
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  Speaker 1: the burnt offerings, all the passover lamps that the people
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  Speaker 1: would bring, and meanwhile the Levites were cooking the meat,
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  Speaker 1: skinning the animals, and any other odd job that needed
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  Speaker 1: to be done. Now, while all this is taking place,
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  Speaker 1: it says the singers, the sons of Asaf were in
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  Speaker 1: their place according to the commandment of David Asaf Hayman
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  Speaker 1: and Jennithine, the King's seer, and the gatekeepers were at
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  Speaker 1: every gate. They didn't need to depart from their service
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  Speaker 1: because their brothers, the Levites, prepared for them. This was
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  Speaker 1: such an organized event that Josiah even had security taking place,
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  Speaker 1: and the security didn't even need to leave their posts
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  Speaker 1: because the food was brought straight to them. Not to mention,
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  Speaker 1: there were singers that were singing psalms and hymns to
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  Speaker 1: all the people as well. So this was a big
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  Speaker 1: event that Josiah put on. And it's very different if
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  Speaker 1: you go back to second Chronicles thirty four. The way
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  Speaker 1: that Hezekiah celebrated the passover really does look a little
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  Speaker 1: bit different. It was a lot less organized. It seemed
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  Speaker 1: like Josiah. It kind of seems to me like this
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  Speaker 1: is more somber. I might be wrong about that because
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  Speaker 1: I wasn't there, so I don't really know what it
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  Speaker 1: looked like. But it seems a lot more reflective than
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  Speaker 1: the passover that Hasekiah put on only a few chapters
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  Speaker 1: before this. It says, so all the service of Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: was prepared the same day to keep the passover and
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  Speaker 1: to offer burnt offerings on Yahweh's altar, according to the
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  Speaker 1: commandment of King Josiah. So all of this work, everything
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  Speaker 1: was done the same day. And that is crazy to
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  Speaker 1: me that that's how organized this event was. You can
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  Speaker 1: imagine how much planning went into this, because think about it,
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  Speaker 1: thousands of people are coming to you with all of
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  Speaker 1: these sacrifices and these offerings. You have to do all
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  Speaker 1: the work of preparing the meat, of cooking the meat,
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  Speaker 1: of making atonement for the people. You know, if you're
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  Speaker 1: in the case of the priest and performing the sacrifices
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  Speaker 1: the way that the Old Testament tells it to be done,
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  Speaker 1: and that included a lot of different rituals that the
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  Speaker 1: priests had to do, so it's amazing to me that
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  Speaker 1: all of this was done in one day. The children
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  Speaker 1: of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that
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  Speaker 1: time and the feast of unleavened bread for seven days.
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  Speaker 1: It says there was no passover like that kept in
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  Speaker 1: Israel from the days of Samuel the Prophet, nor did
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  Speaker 1: any of the kings of Israel keep such a passover
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  Speaker 1: as Josiah kept with the priests, the Levites, and all
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  Speaker 1: Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: This passover was kept in the eighteenth year of the
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  Speaker 1: reign of Josiah. So man scripture really props up Josiah
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  Speaker 1: for what he did here, because nothing was done like
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  Speaker 1: this since the days of Samuel the Prophet, literally hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of years before this. Remember Samuel the Prophet, he was
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  Speaker 1: the last judge of Israel, before there were even any
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  Speaker 1: kings that came into Israel's history. Josiah was one of
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  Speaker 1: the last kings of Judah. Samuel was before any of
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  Speaker 1: the kings, So you can see that nothing was done
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  Speaker 1: like this. Josiah is the only person to follow the
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  Speaker 1: passover the way it is written out in the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: and at this point in the episode, he might be thinking,
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  Speaker 1: this passover sounds like a blood quite honestly, and sort
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  Speaker 1: of strange. What was the point of the passover and
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  Speaker 1: all of these offerings being done? Well, you guys know
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  Speaker 1: that I can't stay away from the Book of Hebrews.
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  Speaker 1: So here's what Hebrews nine nineteen through twenty two says.
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  Speaker 1: For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to
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  Speaker 1: all the people according to the law, he took the
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  Speaker 1: blood of the calves and the goats, with water and
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  Speaker 1: scarlet wool and hissop, and sprinkled both the book itself
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  Speaker 1: and all the people, saying, this is the blood of
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  Speaker 1: the Covenant, which God has commanded you. He sprinkled the
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  Speaker 1: tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry in the
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  Speaker 1: same way with the blood. According to the law, nearly
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  Speaker 1: everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from the shedding
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  Speaker 1: of blood, there is no remission. So basically that passage
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  Speaker 1: in Hebrews gets to the root of the sacrifices without
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  Speaker 1: the sacrificial blood there is no remission of sins or
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  Speaker 1: forgiveness of sins. This is called the law of sin
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  Speaker 1: and death, and it's talked about very often in scripture
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  Speaker 1: that the wages of sin equal death and blood itself.
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  Speaker 1: God actually calls it the life of the human or
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  Speaker 1: the animal. So when the blood is drained out of you,
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  Speaker 1: that is your life being drained out. Life is required
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  Speaker 1: in order to forgive sins, and people understood this from
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  Speaker 1: the very beginning, even before God laid all of this out.
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  Speaker 1: In the Book of Genesis, you can see that people
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: were offering sacrifices. You know, Cain and Abel way way
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: back in the Book of Genesis, like the fourth chapter
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  Speaker 1: or something like that. Able offers a sacrifice to God
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  Speaker 1: and Cain did not do it the right way, and
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  Speaker 1: God accepted Able and rejected Cain's sacrifice. So people from
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  Speaker 1: the very beginning of time have understood that life is
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  Speaker 1: necessary to forgive sins. Hence why there is so much
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  Speaker 1: death and human sacrifice back in the old days the
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  Speaker 1: very beginning. Satan has twisted the things that God says
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  Speaker 1: to make it into something evil, and that's where human
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  Speaker 1: sacrifices come from. But even pagan people understood that life
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  Speaker 1: was necessary for the forgiveness of sins. They would offer
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  Speaker 1: a life to their gods in order to get on
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  Speaker 1: their God's good side, or to get forgiveness from their gods,
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  Speaker 1: or to appease their gods in some way. So this
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  Speaker 1: has been a fundamental understanding from the very beginning of time.
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  Speaker 1: But the way it was done correctly was through the
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  Speaker 1: life of these clean animals basically goats, sheep, bulls, and doves.
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  Speaker 1: These are the animals that could be sacrificed on behalf
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  Speaker 1: of the people. It might look like a bloodbath, but
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  Speaker 1: don't forget that each individual person was bringing a sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: for themselves or for their families. And don't forget that
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  Speaker 1: God never required a ton of animals to be sacrificed.
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  Speaker 1: You can see that even the day of Atonement, the
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  Speaker 1: animal is sacrificed for basically all the people. Now, individual
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  Speaker 1: people obviously would have to bring an animal for their
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  Speaker 1: own sins, but God did not ask the people to
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice thousands and thousands of animals for their own sins.
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  Speaker 1: It was one animal. When you realized that you sinned,
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  Speaker 1: you would take it to God and you say, God,
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  Speaker 1: I sinned. I did something wrong, and here is this animal,
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  Speaker 1: and it would cleanse you of your sins. That was
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  Speaker 1: the point I was trying to make here. So once again,
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  Speaker 1: it might look like a blood bath to the modern individual,
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  Speaker 1: and in some cases it probably did become that, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: which is why God later on said he hates sacrifices
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  Speaker 1: because it's not the sacrifice that he wants. He wants
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: the forgiveness of sins. But now that Jesus came to earth,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: which brings up a good point, we don't have to
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: do these sacrifices anymore. You know. Jesus did it for
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: all time. He was the perfect sacrifice, and it was
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: his blood that saved us. No longer the blood of
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the animals, but Jesus's blood. That's what it says in
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: First John chapter one, verse seven. It says, if we
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: walk in the light as he is in the light,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. It
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: is specifically the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: the sins. In the Old Testament, the people understood that
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: blood was needed in order to be forgiven, and that's
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: why they offered the animal sacrifices. So it mentions that
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the Passover was celebrated for seven days in verse seventeen.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: The children of Israel who are present kept the Passover
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: at that time and the feast of unleavened bread for
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: seven days. Now that of course, was the way it
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be done. This is another way that
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Josiah differentiated from Hezekiah. When Hezekiah kept the Passover for
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the first time, they actually did it for two weeks
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: instead of just one like is commanded. So again I'm
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: not saying that Hezekiah did something wrong when he celebrated
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: the Passover. Absolutely not his heart I believe was in
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the right place. But Josiah, I believe his heart was
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: in the right place. And he also tried to do
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: it as best he possibly could, reading through the Old
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Testament laws, truly keeping it the way God specifically asked
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: for it to be kept, and it was done. So
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: now everybody goes home, and It mentions after this in
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: verse twenty, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho, king
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: of Egypt, went up to fight against Krchmish by the Euphrates,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and Josiah went out against him, But Necho sent ambassadors
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: to him, saying, what have I to do with you,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: King of Judah. I have not come against you today,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: but against the house with which I have war. God
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it is
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: God who is with me, that he not destroy you. Nevertheless,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: himself that he might fight with him, and didn't listen
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: to the words of Necho from the mouth of God,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: and came to fight in the valley of Megido. The
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: archers shot at King Josiah, and the king said to
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: his servants, take me away, because I am seriously wounded.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Now this would have been not directly after the first Passover,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: but I think it was how many years after thirteen
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: years actually after the passover. So some time has passed
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: since Josiah did all of these reforms and you know,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: prepared the temple, prepared the passover, and he sees that
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh King Neko was passing through Judah. Now at this
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: point in time, you have to understand a little bit
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: of the politics that were going on. Assyria was basically
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: being overrun by the Babylonian Empire, Assyria, which had been
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: so strong only about one hundred years before this, like
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the strongest world power, is now completely crumpling due to
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the Babylonians. And historically Josiah was able to go up
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: into Israel and capture a lot of the land back
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: for himself because the Assyrian grip was really loosening up
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: in Israel, so much of the Israelite land actually came
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: back to Judah during the time of Josiah. But since
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: the Assyrian Empire was crumbling, they reached out to Egypt
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: for help, and King Neko responded, he said, yes, I
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: will help the Assyrians fight against the Babylonians. So that
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: is why Neko was in Megido in the first place, which,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: by the way, Meguido would have been in the territory
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: of King Josiah at this point. Meguido, I believe was
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: in the tribe of Manassa, and that tribe now was
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: part of Judah once again. So Pharaoh Neko was going
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: through Meguido to get to the Euphrates River so that
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: he could fight against the Babylonians and help the Assyrians.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: And it's very possible that Josiah did not like this,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: because he did not want the Assyrians to gain power
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: once again because that could potentially be very bad for him.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: So he got a little bit big for his riches
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: and he decides he's going to attack the Pharaoh while
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the pharaoh is in the territory of Judah. But Pharaoh
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Necho sends some ambassadors to Josiah and he says, leave
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: me alone. I have nothing to do with you. I
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: am passing through very quickly so I can fight this
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: war that I am part of. I have no issue
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: with you, and he says, right here, God has commanded
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: me to make haste. Beware that it is God who
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: is with me, that he not destroy you. And unfortunately
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Josiah didn't listen to what King Neko said. And probably
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: the reason he didn't listen was maybe a little bit
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: of pride, I would guess anyway. It does not say
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: this specifically in scripture, but if I were putting my
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: own two cents in, maybe Josiah was thinking, there is
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: no way that King Necho has had God speak to him.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: There is no possible way that this pagan man could
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: possibly believe in God, or believe the words of God,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: or be speaking through God. And maybe that's why Josiah
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: did not listen. Now, it could also be that Josiah
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: was just sort of pigheaded at this time, maybe once
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: again a little bit prideful got too big for his breeches.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Could also be that he saw a political opportunity and
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: thought that it was really good and just didn't ask
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: God's counsel, which unfortunately ended up being his downfall. So
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: instead of asking God about all of this and seeing like, hey, God,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: did you actually tell King Necho to go out to war?
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Josiah just assumes that it's not the case. He disguises
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: himself and goes out to battle with King Neko, and
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: the Egyptian archers shoot at King Josiah and wound him severely.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: This sounds very much like another king. I don't know
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: if you guys remember battle King Ahab. He went out
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: to war if you guys recall, actually disguised and randomly
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: got shot with an arrow and it killed him almost immediately.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Josiah had almost the exact same thing happened to him. Fortunately,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: and the fatal flaw that these two kings made was
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: that they didn't listen to what God said. Now, you
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: might be wondering, how is it possible that Necho, who
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: was likely a worshiper of many different deities. How is
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: it possible that God would speak through him. Well, God
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: actually speaks through a lot of different people in a
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: lot of different ways. I didn't look this verse up,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: but first John talks about how all truth belongs to
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: God because God is the father of truth. His name
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: itself is truth. It actually says, when Jesus comes back
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: again in the Book of Revelation, the name Truth is
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: given to him. It is written on his thigh. He
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: is truth, so there can be truth even in really
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: bad things. This brings to mind a guy named Balim
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: back in the Book of Numbers. I don't know if
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: you guys remember him, but he was a prophet who
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: did a lot of evil. Even though he could speak
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: to God and God would speak to him. He caused
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of destruction, actually to Israel, unfortunately, because he
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: mixed truth with lies. Or you can think about Caiaphas,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the guy who is the high priest during the days
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: of Jesus. I just read this verse. Actually, it says
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: that Caiaphas was prophesying through the Holy Spirit. Even though
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Caiaphas was a terrible person. And caused Jesus to be crucified,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: even he was able to speak prophecy that the Holy
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: Spirit gave him. And Scripture even talks about prophets who
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: actually prophesies something that comes true, but how they're still
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: false prophets because they don't speak the truth about Jesus.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: They say that Jesus is not the Messiah, or that
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Jesus never existed, and yet their prophecies are still able
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: to come true. So truth can come from various different means,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean we just follow anything that seems
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: like the truth. We have to test all spirits. Even
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: if something is truthful, it doesn't necessarily mean it's coming
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: from a good source, but still it's the truth. But
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: in the case of King Necho, here he was actually
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: speaking the truth. He had some prophecy from God, and
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Josiah just assumed that it was not the truth. Potentially,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: or maybe he did know it was the truth and
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: was trying to go against God's plans. We don't know
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: exactly what was going on in Josiah's head, but nevertheless
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: he should have asked God himself, Hey, is this the truth?
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: And if so, what do I do with it? Instead
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: of just going with his own plan. And unfortunately, that's
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: where we see a lot of the downfalls of the
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: kings is toward the end of their life, they just
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: kind of go with their own plan. And in Josiah's case,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: his death resulted from not listening to prophecy from God.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: It says his servants took him out of the chariot
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: and put him in a second chariot that he had,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: and brought him to Jerusalem, and he died and was
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Now, don't forget that in the
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: previous chapter there was a price prophecy given to Josiah
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: which says this. This was from the prophetess Holda. Starting
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: in verse twenty six, she said, but to the King
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, you
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: shall tell him this. Yahweh, the God of Israel, says
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: about the words which you have heard, because your heart
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: heard his word against this place and against its inhabitants,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: clothes and wept before me. I also have heard you,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: says Yahweh behold, I will gather you to your fathers,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: and you will be gathered to your grave in peace.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Your eyes won't see all the evil that I will
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: bring on this place and on its inhabitants. And some
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: people wonder, how is this a peaceful death that Josiah had,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: you know, because obviously a prophecy from God is going
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: to come true. Well, it doesn't say he's going to
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: have a peaceful death. It says he's going to be
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: gathered to his grave in peace, and that came true.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: He had a very wonderful funeral, as you see right here,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: a peaceful funeral even And don't forget the cultural belief
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: about bodies back in these days, it was a great
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: honor for people to care for your body after death.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: It says that everybody mourned for Josiah. Jeremiah lamented for Josiah,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and all the singing men and singing women spoke of
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Josiah and their lamentations to this day. So songs were
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: written by him, by the prophet Jeremiah, and by all
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: these singers men and women alike. They made him an
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: ordinance in Israel. Behold, they are written in the Lamentations,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: not the lamentations of Jeremiah. By the way, these were
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: lost lamentations. We don't have them anymore. But it says
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the rest of the acts of Josiah and all his
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: good deeds, according to that which is written in yawais Lah,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: his acts first and last. Behold, they are written in
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: the book of the King's and Israel. So Josiah was
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: given great honor at his death, and generally he died
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: very peacefully, because if you think about how his sons died,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: they did not die peacefully. And we're going to talk
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: about that in the next chapter. In fact, the next
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: chapter is the last chapter in Second Chronicles, and after
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: that we're gonna be moving into season eleven with the
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Very much looking forward
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: to those books. They're gonna be very different than what
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: we've been covering for a while on the Old Testament
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: side of stuff. So it's gonna be a lot of
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: fun to cover those books with you, faithful listeners. But
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: before I end today's episode once again, here is another
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: sponsor with a message for you. So one of the
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: things you might be asking yourself. Now that we discussed
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: how truth can come even from evil people, essentially is
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: why does God allow evil people to sometimes speak his truth? Well,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: the easy answer is to fulfill his will. In the
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: case of Josiah here, he did have a choice. He
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: could have chosen to turn around and not fight King Necho,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: and I don't know what would have happened to that
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: point because Josia didn't choose to do that. But after
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: giving Josiah a choice, we're gonna find out that Judah
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: loses power very very quickly. Like essentially, Josiah was the
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: last bulwark holding back the Babylonian army, and quite honestly,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: it was God's will for the Babylonians to come in.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Halda's prophecy that we talked about in the last chapter
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: is going to come true. God was going to show
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: his judgment on Judah for all of the terrible things
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: they've done over the years. So ultimately, when God allows
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: evil people to have prophecies, it's all for God's will. Now, again,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: that doesn't mean as Christians we accept every single thing
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: that comes out of somebody's mouth, even if they did
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: speak a little bit of truth before it doesn't mean
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: that everything they say is going to be truthful, so
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: you have to be aware of that as well. I mean,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: even the Book of James says that blessing and cursing
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: can come from the same tongue. One minute you're seeing
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: God's praises and then the next minute you are cursing
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: your brother or sister in Christ. So yes, we are
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: sinful human beings, but God will use who he uses
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: in order to allow his will to be done the
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: way it's supposed to be. Faithful listeners. Tomorrow, we are
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: in the Book of Hebrews. Like I said today, I
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: can't stay away from the Book of Hebrews, so we're
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: gonna be talking about Hebrews chapter six tomorrow and I
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: hope to see all of you guys over there for
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: the New Testament side of stuff tomorrow six am or
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: whenever you choose to wake up and listen until then,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Happy listening, and God bless I just want to take
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeudio dot com, you will find
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.