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2 Chronicles 30:1-12 - Celebrating Passover for the First Time · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hi favor listeners, A good morning, and welcome
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Speaker 1: to the Bible Explain podcast on this lovely Monday morning. Today,
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Speaker 1: we're going to talk about Hezekiah sending these letters to
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Speaker 1: all of Israel, not just Judah, but all Israel, that
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Speaker 1: everyone should come and finally celebrate the Passover, possibly for
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Speaker 1: the first time in their entire lives. We're going to
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Speaker 1: get into why Hezekiah did this and also the response
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Speaker 1: that the people gave him in just a second. So
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Speaker 1: I'm very excited that the weather just seems to be
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Speaker 1: getting nicer and nicer as the days go on. Right now,
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Speaker 1: it is beautiful and sunny outside, and there's birds chirping,
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Speaker 1: and just the buds are starting to come out on
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Speaker 1: the trees, and I'm so excited, so pumped to see
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Speaker 1: little signs of spring here in my great state of Ohio.
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Speaker 1: All right, as usual, here is a sponsored ad for
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Speaker 1: you guys, and then we'll get right into the episode.
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Speaker 1: All right, Hopefully during that ad you're able to get
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Speaker 1: some coffee or some ta if you prefer tea over coffee,
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Speaker 1: and also your Bible out of the version that you prefer.
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Speaker 1: As usual, I'll be reading from the web version or
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Speaker 1: the World English Bible. I often confuse people when I
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Speaker 1: say web because people think that it's like a web
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Speaker 1: version of the Bible, like you can only find it
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Speaker 1: on a specific website online. But that's not true. It's
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Speaker 1: all over the place that you can find it on
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Speaker 1: you version or a Bible Gateway or wherever else you
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Speaker 1: get the Bible. Pretty much, it's a not a common version,
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Speaker 1: but also not an uncommon version, if that makes sense.
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Speaker 1: So it's the World English Bible that I read out of,
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Speaker 1: and we're going to go ahead and read Second Chronicles
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Speaker 1: thirty today, verses one through twelve. Let's go ahead and
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Speaker 1: give reverence to God's word together. Hezekiah is sent to
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Speaker 1: all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Efriem
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Speaker 1: and Manassa that they should come to they Alway's house
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Speaker 1: at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to you Yahweh, the
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Speaker 1: God of Israel. For the King had taken council with
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Speaker 1: his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem to keep
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Speaker 1: the Passover in the second month, for they could not
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Speaker 1: keep it at that time because the priests had not
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Speaker 1: sanctified themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not
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Speaker 1: gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. The thing was right in
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Speaker 1: the eyes of the King and all the assembly. So
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Speaker 1: they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel,
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Speaker 1: from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to
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Speaker 1: keep the passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem,
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Speaker 1: for they had not kept it in great numbers in
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Speaker 1: the way it is written. So the couriers went with
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Speaker 1: the letters from the King and his princes throughout all
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Speaker 1: Israel and Judah, according to the commandment of the King, saying, you,
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Speaker 1: children of Israel, turn again to Yahweh, the God of Abraham,
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Speaker 1: Isaac and Israel, that he may return to the remnant
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Speaker 1: of you that have escaped out of the hand of
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Speaker 1: the kings of Assyria. Don't be like your fathers and
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Speaker 1: like your brothers, who trespassed against Yahweh, the God of
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Speaker 1: their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation.
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Speaker 1: As you see now, don't be stiff necked as your
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Speaker 1: fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh and enter into
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Speaker 1: his sanctuary which he has sanctified forever. And serve Yahweh
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Speaker 1: or God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
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Speaker 1: For if you turn again to Yahweh, your brothers and
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Speaker 1: your children will find compassion with those who led them captive,
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Speaker 1: and will come again into this land. Because Yahweh or
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Speaker 1: God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away
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Speaker 1: his face from you if you return to him. So
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Speaker 1: the couriers passed from city to city throughout the country
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Speaker 1: of Ephriam and Manassa, even to Zebulen, but the people
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Speaker 1: ridiculed them and mocked to them. Nevertheless, some men of Asher,
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Speaker 1: Manassa and Zebulin humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. Also,
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Speaker 1: the hand of God came on Judah to give them
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Speaker 1: one heart to do the commandment of the king and
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Speaker 1: of the princes of Yahwei's word. On Wednesday, we discussed
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Speaker 1: the start of the reign of King Hezekiah. Hezekiah was
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Speaker 1: the son of Ahaz, who we discussed as being the
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Speaker 1: worst king in Judah's history for many reasons, but mainly
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Speaker 1: because he introduced all this really terrible idolatry in Israel
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Speaker 1: and popularized human sacrifice as well. So ah Has was
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Speaker 1: a really really bad king. Not to mention, he actually
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Speaker 1: shuddered Yahwei's house so that nobody could go and actually
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Speaker 1: worship Yahweh at all. Even though ah Has was a
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Speaker 1: terrible king, Hezekiah actually was a very good king. So
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Speaker 1: within the first month of becoming the official king, Hezekiah
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Speaker 1: commanded his people to go into Yawai's house and clean
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Speaker 1: it from top to bottom, get rid of all of
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Speaker 1: the idols that they find in the house, and open
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Speaker 1: the doors once again. All of that took place in
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Speaker 1: eight days, is what it says, and that was completed
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Speaker 1: in the first month of Hezekiah's reign. So this shows
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Speaker 1: how important the worship of Yahweh was to Hezekiah, and
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Speaker 1: that was all talked about in the previous chapter. So
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Speaker 1: now knowing how much of a heart Hezekiah has for God,
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Speaker 1: which we know that also because Hezekiah is one of
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Speaker 1: the few kings where scripture says that he followed in
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Speaker 1: the footsteps of David, which very few kings did that.
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Speaker 1: You know, David kind of like the peak, like the
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Speaker 1: role model all the other kings are supposed to follow,
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Speaker 1: and pretty much no other king really followed in the
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Speaker 1: footsteps of David except for Atha many years prior to Hezekiah,
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Speaker 1: and now Hezekiah. These are the only two kings so
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Speaker 1: far that we see walking in the footsteps of David,
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Speaker 1: So that shows that Hezekiah truly had a heart for Yahweh.
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Speaker 1: And knowing that, we go into Second Chronicles, chapter thirty
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Speaker 1: and we talk about this story where Hezekiah not only
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Speaker 1: opens the temple back up, but wants to celebrate the
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Speaker 1: Passover feast with his people once again. And apparently this
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Speaker 1: was something that the Israelites just weren't doing. And that
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Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense because you know, King A
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Speaker 1: has before Hezekiah completely tried to shut down any form
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Speaker 1: of Yahism in Judah at all. So that means that
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Speaker 1: the Passover celebration, which would have been held in March
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Speaker 1: or April, or rather the first month of the Jewish calendar,
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Speaker 1: it was just not something that the people did anymore,
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Speaker 1: most likely because A has tried to completely destroy Yahwism
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Speaker 1: out of Judah entirely. So if he's shutting down the
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Speaker 1: Temple to God, obviously he's not going to encourage his
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Speaker 1: people to celebrate the Passover feast, which we know in
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Speaker 1: the Old Testament God commanded the people to celebrate the
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Speaker 1: Passover feast that's found in Leviticus twenty three four through
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Speaker 1: eight which says, these are the set feasts of Yahweh,
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Speaker 1: even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season.
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Speaker 1: In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month,
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Speaker 1: in the evening is Yahweh's Passover. In the fifteenth day
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Speaker 1: of the same month is the feast of unlovened bread
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Speaker 1: to Yahweh. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. In
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Speaker 1: the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You
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Speaker 1: shall do no regular work, but you shall offer an
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Speaker 1: offering made by fire to Yahweh. Seven days. In the
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Speaker 1: seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no
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Speaker 1: regular work. So that's God talking to the people about
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Speaker 1: how and when the Passover was supposed to be celebrate it.
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Speaker 1: And the reason God wanted the people to celebrate the
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Speaker 1: Passover was honestly, to remember him, because the Passover celebration
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Speaker 1: was in remembrance of God bringing his people out of
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Speaker 1: slavery from Egypt. So God wanted his people to take
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Speaker 1: an entire week every single year to remember him and
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Speaker 1: to remember the amazing miracles that took place when God
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Speaker 1: protected his people from the Egyptians and from the slavery
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Speaker 1: that they were part of, and Unfortunately, the people in
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Speaker 1: Hezekiah's day just were not celebrating the Passover. They weren't
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Speaker 1: taking any steps to remember God, which is why probably
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Speaker 1: Judah fell into such bad idolatry during this time, because
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Speaker 1: they were forgetting Yahweh their God. And now Hezekiah wants
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Speaker 1: to change all of this. So it says right here
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Speaker 1: in verse one that Hezekiah sent to all Israel and
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Speaker 1: Judah and wrote letters also to Ephriam and Manassa, that
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Speaker 1: they should come to Yawai's house at Jerusalem to keep
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Speaker 1: the passover to yah Ahwah, the God of Israel. And
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Speaker 1: that's what it says in verse one of our passage
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Speaker 1: for today, Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and
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Speaker 1: wrote letters also to Ephriam and Manassa, that they should
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Speaker 1: come to Yaowai's house at Jerusalem to keep the passover
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Speaker 1: to Yahweh, the God of Israel. For the King had
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Speaker 1: taken council with his princes and all the assembly in
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem to keep the passover in the second month. So
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Speaker 1: those verses describe Hezekiah writing some letters to all of
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Speaker 1: the different tribes of both Israel and the tribe of Judah.
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Speaker 1: And the reason he did this was because he didn't
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Speaker 1: want the Passover to only be a celebration for the
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Speaker 1: people of Judah, but he wanted it to be a
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Speaker 1: celebration for all the Israelites, because that's what it was
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Speaker 1: for the Israelites were the same as the Judites. They
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Speaker 1: were all twelve tribes but one nation. And this was
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Speaker 1: something I think that the Israelites and the Judites had
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Speaker 1: forgotten before King Hezekiah, because if you notice a few
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Speaker 1: chapters ago, in the days of a Has, the King
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Speaker 1: of j Judah, the Israelites actually came down and like
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Speaker 1: mass slaughtered one hundred and twenty thousand Judaite men and
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Speaker 1: just took all this plunder, took a whole bunch of
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Speaker 1: slaves for themselves. It was just really terrible actually what
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Speaker 1: the Israelites had done when Hezekiah was just a young boy.
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Speaker 1: But yet Hezekiah is able to look past that and
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Speaker 1: see what Israel truly is Israel was part of God's children.
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Speaker 1: And actually we know that Hezekiah had a deep regard
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Speaker 1: for Israel as a whole because Hezekiah ended up naming
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Speaker 1: his son Manassa. Manassa was one of the tribes of Israel,
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Speaker 1: not a tribe of Judah, but a tribe of Israel.
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Speaker 1: So this shows that Hezekiah held the Israelites as a
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Speaker 1: whole in deep regard. He knew that they were all
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Speaker 1: God's children, and so he wanted to invite everybody, every
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Speaker 1: single Israelite person to this wonderful Passover celebration. Now this
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Speaker 1: does pose a problem though, of when these letters the
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Speaker 1: Hezekiah wrote were written, because Israel was going through some
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Speaker 1: pretty severe problems of their own, where the Assyrian army
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Speaker 1: had actually gone into Israel and captured it fully. So
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Speaker 1: there were very few Israelites left in the land. And
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Speaker 1: all of that is discussed I believe in Second Kings fifteen.
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Speaker 1: I did not flip there. But somewhere in Second Kings
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Speaker 1: it talks about how the Assyrians went into Israel, displaced
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Speaker 1: all the people, and brought foreigners in to settle the
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Speaker 1: land of Israel. So they completely displaced all of the Israelites. However,
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Speaker 1: we do know that not every single person in Israel
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Speaker 1: was captured by the Assyrians. There were some people, like
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Speaker 1: native born people left in Israel. There was always a remnant,
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Speaker 1: and that's who Hezekiah was likely sending these letters to
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Speaker 1: where the remnants the little cities that hadn't gotten captured
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Speaker 1: by a sea yet. But before we get into the
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Speaker 1: response of these letters, it says in verse three, or
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Speaker 1: rather two and three, that they had to keep the
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Speaker 1: Passover in the second month because they could not keep
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Speaker 1: it at that time, meaning the first month, because the
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Speaker 1: priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, and the
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Speaker 1: people had not gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. The thing
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Speaker 1: was right in the eyes of the king and all
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Speaker 1: of the assembly. So don't forget what Leviticus chapter twenty
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Speaker 1: three said. It mentioned that God wanted the Passover celebration
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Speaker 1: to be held in the first month of the Jewish calendar,
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Speaker 1: but it says right here in second Chronicles that Hezekiah
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Speaker 1: was going to keep the Passover in the second month
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Speaker 1: rather than the first. However, Hezekiah was actually not breaking
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Speaker 1: any laws of God by doing this, because God had
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Speaker 1: actually given a stipulation to the people that if for
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Speaker 1: whatever reason they weren't able to celebrate to the Passover
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Speaker 1: in the first month, they they could legally do it
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Speaker 1: in the second month, and God would still accept the
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Speaker 1: Passover celebration in the second month, even though God wanted
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Speaker 1: it to be done right at the beginning of the year.
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Speaker 1: That's talked about in numbers chapter nine one through thirteen,
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Speaker 1: so I'll read that real quick. It says Ya always
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Speaker 1: spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the
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Speaker 1: first month of the second year, after they had come
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Speaker 1: out of the land of Egypt, saying, let the children
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Speaker 1: of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season on
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Speaker 1: the fourteenth day of this month, at the evening. You
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Speaker 1: shall keep it in its appointed season. You shall keep
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Speaker 1: it according to all its statutes and according to all
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Speaker 1: its ordinances. Moses told the children of Israel that they
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Speaker 1: should keep the Passover. They kept the Passover in the
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Speaker 1: first month on the fourteenth day of the month at
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Speaker 1: evening in the wilderness of Sinai, according to all that
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Speaker 1: Yahweh commanded Moses. So the children of Israel did. There
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Speaker 1: are certain men who were unclean because of a dead
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Speaker 1: body of a man, so they could not keep the
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Speaker 1: Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and
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Speaker 1: Aaron on that day. Those men said to him, we
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Speaker 1: are unclean because of a dead body of a man.
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Speaker 1: Why are we kept back that we may not offer
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Speaker 1: the offering of Yahweh, and it's appointed season among the
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Speaker 1: children of Israel. Moses answered them, wait that I may
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Speaker 1: hear what Yahweh will command concerning you. Ya always spooke
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Speaker 1: to Moses, saying, say to the children of Israel, if
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Speaker 1: any man of you or of your generation is unclean
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Speaker 1: by reason of a dead body, or is on a
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Speaker 1: journey far away, he shall still keep the passover to
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Speaker 1: Yahweh in the second month. On the fourteenth day, at
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Speaker 1: the evening, he shall keep it. They shall eat it
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Speaker 1: with unloven bread and bitter herbs. And actually, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to stop right there instead of reading to verse thirteen.
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Speaker 1: But essentially God made a stipulation where if the people
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Speaker 1: could not keep the passover in the first month, they
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Speaker 1: could keep it in the second month for whatever reason
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Speaker 1: it might be, whether they were on a long journey,
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Speaker 1: whether they had become unclean because somebody had died in
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Speaker 1: their family, or whatever the reason might be. And so
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Speaker 1: that is what Hezekiah is doing. In Second Chronicles thirty.
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Speaker 1: It says specifically in verse three that Judah could not
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Speaker 1: keep the passover at the correct time, meaning the first month,
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Speaker 1: because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number,
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Speaker 1: and the people had not gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: So I'm assuming what that means is that Hezekiah tried
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Speaker 1: to go very fast with this, but the things that
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Speaker 1: had to be done in order to celebrate the Passover
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Speaker 1: in that first month, there was just too much to do.
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Speaker 1: You know. The Levites were used to king a has
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Speaker 1: who didn't expect anything from them, didn't expect them to
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Speaker 1: follow the Old Testament laws, and so the priests weren't
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Speaker 1: actually sanctifying themselves in correct number. What that word sanctify
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Speaker 1: means is basically to make themselves clean. Okay, And there's
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Speaker 1: a whole there's a whole thing about how to make
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Speaker 1: a priest clean in Numbers chapter eight, which I am
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Speaker 1: not going to read. But the other problem going on
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Speaker 1: was the fact that the Levites priests just were either
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Speaker 1: very complacent or didn't truly care about the laws of
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Speaker 1: God very much. Because if you just jump a chapter
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Speaker 1: back the Second Chronicles twenty nine and read verse thirty four,
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Speaker 1: here's what it says about the priests. The priests were
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Speaker 1: too few so that they could not skin all the
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Speaker 1: burnt offerings. Therefore, their brothers. The Levites helped them until
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Speaker 1: the work was ended and until the priests had sanctified themselves,
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Speaker 1: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify
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Speaker 1: themselves than the priests. So essentially there was some laziness
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Speaker 1: going on with the priests, is kind of what it
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Speaker 1: sounds like here. And the priests just weren't doing the
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Speaker 1: job that God had told them to do, mainly to
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Speaker 1: be clean and to encourage the Israelites or the Judites
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Speaker 1: rather also to be clean, and I mean cleanliness was
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Speaker 1: not just bodily cleanliness, but also heart cleanliness as well,
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Speaker 1: and the levitical priests at this time in Hezekiah's day
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Speaker 1: just did not care to do that. And so that's
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Speaker 1: another reason why the passover was forced into the second month,
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Speaker 1: was because the levitical priests either didn't know how to
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Speaker 1: sanctify themselves because they hadn't really done their job or
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Speaker 1: really read God's laws for a really long period of
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Speaker 1: time because they just didn't have to, or they were
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Speaker 1: lazy and truly just didn't care about the things of God,
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Speaker 1: or maybe a little bit of both. So that was
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Speaker 1: the main reason why Hezekiah could not do the Passover
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Speaker 1: celebration in the first month, but regardless, he decides to
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Speaker 1: do it in the second month, because there is nothing
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Speaker 1: specifically against that in God's law, so it says in
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Speaker 1: verse five. So they established a decree to make proclamation
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Speaker 1: throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they
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Speaker 1: should come to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God
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Speaker 1: of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it
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Speaker 1: in great numbers in the way it is written. So
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Speaker 1: that verse right there shows that there were people that
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Speaker 1: kept the Passover. There were, but unfortunately the vast majority
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Speaker 1: did not keep the passover the way it was supposed
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Speaker 1: to be kept. And Hezekiah wants to change this verse six.
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Speaker 1: So the couriers went with the letters from the King
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Speaker 1: and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, according to
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Speaker 1: the command of the King, saying, you, children of Israel,
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Speaker 1: turn again to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
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Speaker 1: that he may return to the remnant of you that
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Speaker 1: have escaped out of the hands of the King of Assyria.
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Speaker 1: So there you go that this letter was clearly written
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Speaker 1: to the people who had escaped from Assyria. The cities
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Speaker 1: that hadn't gotten taken by the Assyrian king yet, or
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Speaker 1: maybe just the people that were allowed to stay in Assyria.
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Speaker 1: You know, the Assyrians, even though they took a huge
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Speaker 1: chunk of people out of Israel, they didn't take every
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Speaker 1: single person. They would probably honestly be kind of impossible
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Speaker 1: to do, especially back in these days. So they did
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Speaker 1: leave some people in the land, even though the land
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Speaker 1: now was majority foreigners that came in. And by the way,
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Speaker 1: that's the reason why the Israelites and the Samaritans hated
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Speaker 1: each other so much in the days of jesus Us.
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Speaker 1: When the Assyrians took the Israelites out of Israel, they
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Speaker 1: brought other people in and those people became the Samaritans,
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Speaker 1: and they also intermarried with the Israelites left in the land.
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Speaker 1: And so the Israelites of Jesus's day considered the Samaritans
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Speaker 1: to be half breeds, and they just didn't like them.
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Speaker 1: They thought that they were stealing the land. They worshiped
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Speaker 1: other gods, they didn't have the correct theology. You know,
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Speaker 1: the Israelites just did not like the Samaritans, and vice versa.
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Speaker 1: But that's just a little side note for all of
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Speaker 1: you guys. Not really part of the story right here.
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Speaker 1: So anyway, Hezekiah is sending this letter to anybody who
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Speaker 1: will listen, any Israelites that's in the land who will listen.
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Speaker 1: So he tells them. He says, you, children of Israel,
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Speaker 1: turn against Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
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Speaker 1: that he may return to the remnant of you that
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Speaker 1: have escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
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Speaker 1: Don't be like your fathers and like your brothers, who
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Speaker 1: trespassed against Yahweh, the god god of their fathers, so
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Speaker 1: that he gave them up to desolation as you see.
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Speaker 1: Don't be stiff necked as your fathers were, but yield
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Speaker 1: yourselves to Yahweh and enter into his sanctuary, which he
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Speaker 1: has sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh, your God, that his
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Speaker 1: fierce anger may turn away from you. So Hezekiah is
19:19
Speaker 1: calling the Israelites to repentance. Look at how all of
19:23
Speaker 1: these curses that God told you would happen. Look how
19:28
Speaker 1: they're coming true because you have abandoned Yahweh, the God
19:31
Speaker 1: of your fathers. So now just turn to him. And
19:34
Speaker 1: all you have to do to turn to him is
19:36
Speaker 1: just come to this Passover celebration and truly honor him
19:40
Speaker 1: with your heart, and God will look at you, is
19:43
Speaker 1: what Hezekiah says. He says, don't trespass the way your
19:47
Speaker 1: fathers did, but yield yourselves, humble yourselves to Yahweh and
19:51
Speaker 1: serve Yahweh or God, that his fierce anger may turn
19:53
Speaker 1: from you. For if you turn again to Yahweh, your
19:57
Speaker 1: brothers and your children will find compassion with those who
20:00
Speaker 1: led them captive and will come again into this land.
20:04
Speaker 1: Because Yahweh H, God is gracious and merciful and will
20:08
Speaker 1: not turn away his face from you if you return
20:11
Speaker 1: to him. So not only does he tell the people,
20:13
Speaker 1: you guys have to repent, but he also encourages them
20:17
Speaker 1: in the sense that if they worship God, God is
20:20
Speaker 1: going to take care of their brothers and sisters that
20:24
Speaker 1: were led away captive by the Assyrians. And God is
20:28
Speaker 1: going to take care of them to the extent that
20:30
Speaker 1: he will bring them back into the land once again.
20:33
Speaker 1: And all the people have to do is just listen
20:35
Speaker 1: to this letter and come to Jerusalem for the first
20:39
Speaker 1: time probably in any of their lives, and worship God
20:43
Speaker 1: at Passover Verse ten. So the couriers passed from city
20:47
Speaker 1: to city, through the country of Ephraim and Manassa, even
20:51
Speaker 1: to Zebulen, but the people ridiculed them and mocked them,
20:55
Speaker 1: I believe. Josephus adds that some of these messengers were
20:58
Speaker 1: also killed as well, So the Israelites did not listen
21:02
Speaker 1: to the message of King Hezekiah. They didn't care at all. Actually,
21:06
Speaker 1: and this kind of reminds me of a verse we
21:07
Speaker 1: read all the way at the end of the Bible,
21:10
Speaker 1: Revelation nine twenty and twenty one. Here's what's going to
21:14
Speaker 1: happen in the end days. It says the rest of
21:17
Speaker 1: mankind who are not killed with these plagues, didn't repent
21:20
Speaker 1: of the works of their hands, that they wouldn't worship
21:23
Speaker 1: demons and the idols of gold and of silver, and
21:25
Speaker 1: of brass and stone and of wood which can't see, hear,
21:29
Speaker 1: or walk. They didn't repent of their murders, their sorceries,
21:33
Speaker 1: their sexual immorality, or their thefts. That's talking about the
21:38
Speaker 1: end times, when all of these different disasters happen to
21:42
Speaker 1: the world. The people who are left on the world
21:46
Speaker 1: that weren't killed or deeply affected by these plagues or problems.
21:51
Speaker 1: They wouldn't turn to God, even though they could see
21:55
Speaker 1: all of the misery and the crap happening in the world.
21:58
Speaker 1: They said, no, I don't want want God. I'm not
22:00
Speaker 1: going to turn to him. I'm just going to keep
22:02
Speaker 1: doing what I'm doing. I'm going to worship my idols
22:05
Speaker 1: and my demons. I'm going to keep on doing murder
22:08
Speaker 1: and sorceries and sexual immorality or thefts. And that's an
22:12
Speaker 1: unfortunate verse and it kind of shows the human condition
22:17
Speaker 1: because in Second Chronicles thirty, this is exactly what the
22:20
Speaker 1: people do to Hezekiah's message when Hezekiah is like, repent,
22:26
Speaker 1: turn to God. You know, you see all this bad
22:28
Speaker 1: stuff happening in Israel. It's going to affect you. If
22:31
Speaker 1: you feel like it's not affecting you right now, it
22:34
Speaker 1: will affect you. Turn to God while you can pray
22:39
Speaker 1: for your brothers and sisters who have already been captured
22:43
Speaker 1: by the Assyrians. Pray for them that they come back
22:46
Speaker 1: into the land. Turn yourself to God. And the people
22:50
Speaker 1: are like, no, we're not going to do that. We'd
22:52
Speaker 1: rather have our gods and worship our demons and our idols.
22:56
Speaker 1: We do not want to serve God. It kind of
22:58
Speaker 1: just shows that people will do anything to avoid worshiping God, essentially,
23:04
Speaker 1: But there was some good news in verse eleven. Nevertheless,
23:08
Speaker 1: some men of asher Manassa and Zebulin humbled themselves and
23:12
Speaker 1: came to Jerusalem. So there were some people who listened,
23:16
Speaker 1: not the majority. The majority didn't want to listen. The
23:18
Speaker 1: majority wanted to mock the messengers that came with this letter.
23:23
Speaker 1: But some people actually did listen. And I think this
23:27
Speaker 1: really shows the Great commission. Honestly, this entire thing could
23:33
Speaker 1: be an analogy of Jesus sending out his messengers. The
23:37
Speaker 1: majority of people that listen to those messengers aren't going
23:41
Speaker 1: to believe. They're not going to listen, they're not going
23:43
Speaker 1: to care. They might even mock the messengers, but that's
23:47
Speaker 1: what they do. They get mad at the message and
23:49
Speaker 1: so they kill the messenger or they mock the messenger.
23:54
Speaker 1: But there are a few that are going to listen.
23:58
Speaker 1: And that's what happened here. A few people actually came
24:01
Speaker 1: to Jerusalem for the Passover. It says that they humbled
24:05
Speaker 1: themselves and came to Jerusalem. So they saw what was
24:08
Speaker 1: going on in the world, and they said, we don't
24:11
Speaker 1: want that we are going to turn back to God.
24:13
Speaker 1: And so they truly did humble themselves. But it says
24:16
Speaker 1: in verse twelve that the entire tribe of Judah actually
24:19
Speaker 1: had one heart in this matter, and God gave them
24:23
Speaker 1: that heart. It says in verse twelve to do the
24:26
Speaker 1: commandment of the King and the princes by Yahweh's word. Now,
24:30
Speaker 1: the people of Judah were very excited in the previous chapter,
24:34
Speaker 1: if you recall, because Hezekiah had just cleaned out the
24:38
Speaker 1: temple to God and opened its doors once again. And
24:42
Speaker 1: I think the people were just excited to have the
24:46
Speaker 1: worship of Yahweh back once again. Now it says right here, though, specifically,
24:51
Speaker 1: that the hand of God came on Judah to give
24:53
Speaker 1: them one heart, in other words, to be unified in
24:57
Speaker 1: this matter. But one thing that I personally believe is
25:01
Speaker 1: that God does not force you to obey, but he
25:04
Speaker 1: does help you obey. I don't know if you guys
25:07
Speaker 1: have ever had this experience before, but maybe some of
25:09
Speaker 1: you have been like, man, you know, I really don't
25:10
Speaker 1: want to do this thing that I think I need
25:13
Speaker 1: to do, but I know God probably wants me to
25:16
Speaker 1: do it. And so then you pray and you're like, God,
25:19
Speaker 1: just help me do this thing, help me obey. Even
25:23
Speaker 1: though I really don't want to do it. God will
25:26
Speaker 1: in fact help you obey. He does it. And so
25:30
Speaker 1: the people of Judah were already going through this heart change. Now, unfortunately,
25:35
Speaker 1: the people of Judah never did this long term. I
25:39
Speaker 1: think there's a verse in Hoseiah, if I'm remembering correctly,
25:43
Speaker 1: where God is just so saddened by the fact that
25:46
Speaker 1: the love of his people is like the morning do.
25:51
Speaker 1: One second's there and the next it's evaporated away, it's gone. So, yes,
25:55
Speaker 1: the people of Judah, the people of Israel would go
25:57
Speaker 1: through these periods of loving God and turning back to God,
26:01
Speaker 1: but it was so fast. It was here one second
26:05
Speaker 1: and gone the very next second. So even though Hezekiah
26:10
Speaker 1: is a great king trying to encourage his people to
26:13
Speaker 1: come back to Yahweh by celebrating the passover, by remembering
26:17
Speaker 1: what God did for them, unfortunately the people just did
26:20
Speaker 1: not do this long term. And we'll talk about that
26:23
Speaker 1: on another day, But for right now, here's a quick
26:25
Speaker 1: word from a sponsor. And then after that I will
26:28
Speaker 1: say goodbye with some closing notes. Already Faithful listeners, if
26:34
Speaker 1: you enjoy the Bible Explain Podcast, share it on their
26:36
Speaker 1: social media platforms and tell people that the Bible Explained
26:39
Speaker 1: Podcast exists. I really appreciate any comments that I get
26:43
Speaker 1: from you guys. I do see all the Spotify comments
26:45
Speaker 1: that you leave, and I also read the reviews that
26:48
Speaker 1: I get on Apple Podcasts and other places. But something
26:51
Speaker 1: you guys might not know about me is I also
26:53
Speaker 1: read my emails. So if you reach out to me
26:56
Speaker 1: via email, I do, in fact read it, especially if
27:00
Speaker 1: you have a prayer request. I will write you down
27:02
Speaker 1: in my little prayer journal and pray for you for
27:04
Speaker 1: the week. So don't hesitate to reach out with an email,
27:07
Speaker 1: especially if you have a prayer request that you need
27:10
Speaker 1: prayed for. So, faithful listeners, I hope you had a
27:12
Speaker 1: fantastic and wonderful time here with me today, and I
27:15
Speaker 1: hope you have a wonderful rest of your day as well.
27:18
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys tomorrow for an episode from the
27:19
Speaker 1: Book of Keepers, Cappy Listening, and God bless. I just
27:28
Speaker 1: want to take a second to thank the team at
27:30
Speaker 1: Life Audio for their partnership with me on the Bible
27:32
Speaker 1: Explain Podcast. In fact, if you go to lifeaudio dot com,
27:36
Speaker 1: you will find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in
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Speaker 1: their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
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Speaker 1: and more.