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2 Chronicles 28:1-15 - The Israelites Take Judahite Slaves · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hi, faith listeners, welcome to the Bible Explained podcast,
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  Speaker 1: and good morning. My name is Jen I am the
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  Speaker 1: host of this podcast, and I am so excited that
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  Speaker 1: you're here to share a delicious cup of coffee or
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  Speaker 1: tea with me. We're going to be talking about Second
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  Speaker 1: Chronicles twenty eight and discussing more about this evil king
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  Speaker 1: a has and just the absolute terrible trauma he caused
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  Speaker 1: for the people of Judah. We'll get into it in
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  Speaker 1: just a minute. And of course, before I begin the episode,
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  Speaker 1: here is a word or two from a sponsor. All right,
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  Speaker 1: faith listeners, grab your Bibles and let's go ahead and
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  Speaker 1: read Second Chronicles twenty eight one through fifteen. We talked
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  Speaker 1: about the first portion one through for the other day,
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  Speaker 1: but I will be reading that for you guys again
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  Speaker 1: because context is important. So I'll be reading this as
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  Speaker 1: always from the web. But of course, feel free to
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  Speaker 1: grab the version of the Bible that you prefer this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and once you have your Bible and your cup of coffee,
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  Speaker 1: let's go ahead and give reverence to God's word together
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  Speaker 1: as we read it. Second Chronicles twenty eight one through fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign,
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  Speaker 1: and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn't do
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  Speaker 1: that which was right in Yahweh's eyes, like David his father.
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  Speaker 1: But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: and also made molten images for the bales. Moreover, he
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  Speaker 1: burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinham,
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  Speaker 1: and burned his children in the fire. According to the
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  Speaker 1: abominations of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out. Before the
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  Speaker 1: children of Israel, he sacrificed and burned incense in the
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  Speaker 1: high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh has God delivered him into the hand of the
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  Speaker 1: King of Syria. They struck him and carried away from
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  Speaker 1: him a great multitude of captives, and brought them to Damascus.
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  Speaker 1: He was also delivered into the hand of the king
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  Speaker 1: of Syria, who struck him with a great slaughter. For Peka,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Romalia killed in Judah one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men,
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  Speaker 1: because they had forsaken Yahweh, the god of their fathers. Zikri,
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  Speaker 1: a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Messiah the king's son Azrakam,
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  Speaker 1: the ruler of the house, and Alkanah, who was next
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  Speaker 1: to the king. The children of Israel carried away captives
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  Speaker 1: of their brothers two hundred thousand women, sons and daughters,
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  Speaker 1: and also took away much plunder from them, and brought
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  Speaker 1: the plunder to Samaria. But a prophet of Yahweh was there,
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  Speaker 1: whose name was odd, and he went out to meet
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  Speaker 1: the army that came to Samaria. And he said to them, behold,
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  Speaker 1: because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah,
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  Speaker 1: he has delivered them into your hand, and you have
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  Speaker 1: slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven.
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  Speaker 1: Now you intend to degrade the children of Judah and
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. Aren't there
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  Speaker 1: even with you trespasses of your own against Yahweh or God?
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  Speaker 1: Now hear me, therefore, and send back the captives that
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  Speaker 1: you have taken captive from your brothers, For the fierce
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  Speaker 1: wrath of Yahweh is on you. Then some of the
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  Speaker 1: heads of the children of Ephraim, Asriah the son of Jehonah,
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  Speaker 1: Berachiah the son of Misham Jahiski of the son of Shaloum,
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  Speaker 1: and Amasa, the son of Hadley, stood up against those
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  Speaker 1: who came from the war, and said to them, you
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  Speaker 1: must not bring the captives here, for you intend that
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  Speaker 1: which will bring us a trespass against Yahweh, to add
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  Speaker 1: to our sins and to our guilt, for our guilt
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  Speaker 1: is great, and there's fierce wrath against Israel. So the
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  Speaker 1: armed men left the captives and the plunder before the
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  Speaker 1: princes and all the assembly. The men who have been
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  Speaker 1: mentioned by name rose up and took the captives, and
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  Speaker 1: with the plunder, clothed all who were naked among them,
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  Speaker 1: dressed them, gave them sandals, gave them something to eat
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  Speaker 1: and to drink, anointed them, carried all the feeble of
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  Speaker 1: them on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city
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  Speaker 1: of palm trees, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.
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  Speaker 1: So now we get into the second half of this
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  Speaker 1: story regarding King a Has. We talked on Monday about
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  Speaker 1: how King a Has was honestly the worst king in
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  Speaker 1: Israel's history, mainly because he introduced human sacrifice into Judah's culture,
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  Speaker 1: and this was something that was not really done in Judah.
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  Speaker 1: At this point. Now up in northern Israel, it was
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  Speaker 1: a different story and they were already performing human sacrifices.
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  Speaker 1: But in Judah that was not very common. There probably
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  Speaker 1: were people, like fringe peoples that were performing human sacrifices
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  Speaker 1: that were possibly very secretive about it because this all
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  Speaker 1: had to do with the worship of Malik. And we
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  Speaker 1: do know that people in Judah did worship Malik even
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  Speaker 1: before a Has introduced human sacrifice, So it is very
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  Speaker 1: possible that there were fringe groups in Judah that were
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  Speaker 1: performing human sacrifices, but it was not mainstream, It was
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  Speaker 1: not the norm, and A has brought all of this
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  Speaker 1: absolute garbage in. And even worse, it was child human sacrifice,
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  Speaker 1: but not just any child sacrifice, your own son or daughter.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason being was because the people who worshiped
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  Speaker 1: Malik believed that in order to have more children, they
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  Speaker 1: needed to sacrifice their firstborn child at the hands of
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  Speaker 1: Malik so that Molk would bless them with even more kids. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: that is how stupid this was. I'm going to sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: my only child so that in a few years I
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  Speaker 1: can have even more kids. Like how absolutely asinine is
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  Speaker 1: that thought process? So stupid, and yet this is what
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  Speaker 1: a Has introduced into Judah's culture. That's what it says
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  Speaker 1: in Second Kings, Chapter sixteen, verses one through four. It says,
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  Speaker 1: in the seventeenth year of Pega, the son of Romolia,
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  Speaker 1: a Has, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began
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  Speaker 1: to reign. AHAs was twenty years old when he began
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  Speaker 1: to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He
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  Speaker 1: didn't do that which was right in Yahweh, his God's eyes,
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  Speaker 1: like David his father. But he walked in the ways
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  Speaker 1: of the kings of Israel, and even made his son
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  Speaker 1: to pass through the fire according to the abominations of
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  Speaker 1: the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the children
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  Speaker 1: of Israel. He sacrificed and burned incense in the high places,
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  Speaker 1: on the hills and under every green tree. So he
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  Speaker 1: introduced such horrible idolatry into Judah that God was not
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  Speaker 1: with him. I mean, God hated human sacrifice, absolutely hated it.
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  Speaker 1: He actually told Jeremiah the Prophet, he said, this never
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  Speaker 1: even entered my mind to do something so horrific as
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  Speaker 1: to kill a child to worship a god God hated
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  Speaker 1: human sacrifice because he loves people and every single person
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  Speaker 1: is created in his image. It actually says in scripture
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  Speaker 1: that God loved people so much he doesn't want anybody
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  Speaker 1: to perish, but every single person to come to salvation.
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  Speaker 1: He desires a relationship with his people, and when human
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice takes place, that is somebody cutting that person's life
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  Speaker 1: short when God ordained life for that individual. So it's
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  Speaker 1: just a really, really sad thing. So going back to
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  Speaker 1: Second Chronicles twenty eight, verse five, it says, therefore, because
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  Speaker 1: a Has did all this, Yahweh, his God delivered him
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  Speaker 1: into the hand of the King of Syria. They struck
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  Speaker 1: him and carried away from him a great multitude of
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  Speaker 1: captives and brought them to Damascus. He was also delay
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  Speaker 1: into the hand of the King of Israel, who struck
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  Speaker 1: him with a great slaughter. So going back to Second
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  Speaker 1: King sixteen, it describes us a little bit more. In
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  Speaker 1: verses five and six, it says, then raising the King
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  Speaker 1: of Syria and Pega, the son of Romalia, King of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: came up to Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged a Has,
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  Speaker 1: but could not overcome him at that time, Raising the
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  Speaker 1: King of Syria recovered Elath to Syria and drove the
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  Speaker 1: Jews from Elath, and the Syrians came to Elath and
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  Speaker 1: lived there to this day. So one of the marks
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  Speaker 1: of being a bad king, other than introducing human sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: into your culture, was actually losing land to foreign nations.
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  Speaker 1: And it says right here that a Has lost a
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  Speaker 1: lot of land actually because God was not on his side.
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  Speaker 1: All of a sudden, AHAs Has tons of enemies coming
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  Speaker 1: at him from every single direction. The Syrians were coming
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  Speaker 1: at him, the Israelites were coming at him from the north,
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  Speaker 1: and it says they struck him. But God still protected
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  Speaker 1: a Has throughout all of this, because it says in
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  Speaker 1: Tewod King sixteen that even though these two countries came
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  Speaker 1: against a Has, they still could not overcome him. But
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  Speaker 1: God was allowing a Has to experience this war because
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  Speaker 1: he was trying to get the people of Judah to
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  Speaker 1: return to him again. God took his hand of blessing
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  Speaker 1: off of Judah because of the terrible sins that they
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  Speaker 1: were committing, killing innocent little babies and children at the
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  Speaker 1: hands of the god Moloch, not to mention all of
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  Speaker 1: the other terrible practices that went into other forms of idolatry,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the sex cults and the human feces worship
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  Speaker 1: that went with bail worship. I've talked about that many
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  Speaker 1: times before because I am just appholled at that. I
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  Speaker 1: am so disgusted by that that I also have to
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  Speaker 1: discuss all of you guys every single time I talk
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  Speaker 1: about it. But I mean, there is a lot of
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  Speaker 1: really gross things that went into the worship of them,
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  Speaker 1: these idols. God was sickened by all of it, so
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  Speaker 1: he took his hand of blessing off of Judah. And
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  Speaker 1: these people are coming in, even the Israelites up north,
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  Speaker 1: the brothers of the Judaites are coming into Judah and
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  Speaker 1: taking it. So going back to Second Chronicles twenty eight,
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  Speaker 1: it talks about this story right here. It says, starting
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  Speaker 1: in verse six, Peka, the son of Ramalia, killed in
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  Speaker 1: Judah one hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all
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  Speaker 1: of them valiant men, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the
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  Speaker 1: god of their fathers. Now. Peca, the son of Ramalia,
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  Speaker 1: you may or may not remember, was the king in
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  Speaker 1: Israel at this time, and he was one of the
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  Speaker 1: last kings in Israel's history. He may have been the
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  Speaker 1: last one. I think there was one more after Peka,
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  Speaker 1: but pretty much Peco was one of the last kings
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  Speaker 1: because Assyria went into Israel and pretty much demolished it
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  Speaker 1: right after Peko was the king, So Israel only had
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  Speaker 1: a few years left before Assyria came in and completely
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  Speaker 1: took it for themselves and drove all of the Jews
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  Speaker 1: out out of Israel and brought their own people in.
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  Speaker 1: So Israel was not doing very well up north, which
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  Speaker 1: shows how bad Judah was doing that they actually allowed
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites to come in and defeat them. To this capacity,
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  Speaker 1: Israel was on the brink of destruction, and yet they're
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  Speaker 1: going into Judah and attacking and killing one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: twenty thousand men in one day. It says all of
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  Speaker 1: these men that they killed were valiant men, so that
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  Speaker 1: means like warriors, trained people for war, and this all happened,
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  Speaker 1: it says because they had forsaken Yahweh, the god of
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  Speaker 1: their fathers. Then it mentions this man named Zikri, who
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  Speaker 1: was a mighty man of Ephriam up north in Israel,
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  Speaker 1: who killed Messiah the King's son Azrakam, the ruler of
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  Speaker 1: the house, and al Kana who was next to the king,
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  Speaker 1: So they got very close to the king and they
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  Speaker 1: were probably trying to kill AHAs, but God still protected
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  Speaker 1: a Has and still protected Judah throughout all of this. Now,
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  Speaker 1: it is interesting to note that it says they killed Messiah,
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  Speaker 1: the king's son. I would guess that probably Massaiah was
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  Speaker 1: the first born and he was next in line for
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  Speaker 1: the throne after a Has died. But for whatever reason,
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  Speaker 1: Massaiah was not meant to be the next king. Hezekiah
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  Speaker 1: was meant to be the next king, even though he
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  Speaker 1: likely was not the firstborn child. God chose Hezekiah to
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  Speaker 1: be the next king after a Has died because Hezekiah
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  Speaker 1: was one of the best kings in Israel's history and
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  Speaker 1: he pretty much undid everything his father a Has had done.
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  Speaker 1: But we'll get into Hezekiah's story on a later date.
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  Speaker 1: So Massaiah was killed, Azrakam was killed, and also Elkana,
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  Speaker 1: who was next to the king, was killed. So some
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  Speaker 1: of a Has, his best friends, and his son were
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  Speaker 1: all killed by this guy named Zikri who lived up
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  Speaker 1: north in Israel. It says the children of Israel carried
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  Speaker 1: away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand women, sons,
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  Speaker 1: and daughters, and also took away much plunder from them
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  Speaker 1: and brought the plunder to Samaria. So not only do
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites slaughter one hundred and twenty thousand men in
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  Speaker 1: one day, but they take all of the widows and
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  Speaker 1: the mothers, and the wives, and the children and the
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  Speaker 1: daughters of these people. They take them captive and carry
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  Speaker 1: them away to Samaria. Now, I do want to mention
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  Speaker 1: something here. A lot of times when we see the
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  Speaker 1: language in the Old Testament, it often depicts the masculine.
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  Speaker 1: So it says right here, the Israelites carried away captive
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  Speaker 1: of their brothers two hundred thousand women. So that shows
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  Speaker 1: right there that the word brothers does not always mean
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  Speaker 1: a male brother. A lot of times the word brothers
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  Speaker 1: just is talking about brothers and sisters as a whole.
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  Speaker 1: And you'll see this a lot in the New Testament
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  Speaker 1: as well, when Paul in his letters calls his friends brothers,
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  Speaker 1: even though he's talking to the church in general, the
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  Speaker 1: females in the congregation as well. So that's important to
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  Speaker 1: note that just because we see the word brothers in scripture,
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  Speaker 1: that doesn't just mean that scripture is only referring to
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  Speaker 1: the men. It's often referring to the congregation or the
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  Speaker 1: nation as a whole. So it says they carried away
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  Speaker 1: two hundred thousand women, sons and daughters, and also took
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  Speaker 1: away much plunder from them and brought the plunder to Samaria. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this was not good conditions that these poor Judite women
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  Speaker 1: and children were traveling under, because we find out later
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  Speaker 1: in this story that many of them were naked. That
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  Speaker 1: these men of Israel were so cruel that they actually
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  Speaker 1: stripped them of their clothing, like, took every single thing
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  Speaker 1: that they had off of their backs. Can you imagine
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  Speaker 1: as a woman traveling naked on foot with your children
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  Speaker 1: possibly naked next to you, and trying to protect yourself
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  Speaker 1: and your children from harm at the same time. This
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  Speaker 1: is terrible with these Israelites did not even to a
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  Speaker 1: foreign nation, which would have been bad enough, but to
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  Speaker 1: their own brothers, their own brothers and sisters. You know,
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  Speaker 1: the tribe of Judah was still part of the twelve
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  Speaker 1: tribes of Israel. You know, even though the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the tribes broke off from the Tribe of Judah, they
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  Speaker 1: were all Jewish people. They were all Israelites. And yet
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  Speaker 1: this is how the people of Israel are treating their neighbors,
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  Speaker 1: their brothers down south in Judah. Just absolutely terrible. You know,
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  Speaker 1: this would be like having a civil war in your
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  Speaker 1: country where the people from the north just mistreat and
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  Speaker 1: abuse of the people in the south, even though you're
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  Speaker 1: all one country, all one nation. They bring all of
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  Speaker 1: these people and the children and the women and the
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  Speaker 1: plunder to Samaria, which was the capital city of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: But a prophet of Yahweh, it says in verse nine,
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  Speaker 1: was there and his name was Odd, and he went
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  Speaker 1: out to meet the army that came to Samaria. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so this brave prophet, I believe he's only mentioned once
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  Speaker 1: in scripture, but his name is Odd and he goes
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  Speaker 1: specifically to meet these Israelite people that brought these fugitives
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  Speaker 1: from Judah. And he boldly says to them, because Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he
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  Speaker 1: has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain
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  Speaker 1: them in a rage which has reached up to heaven.
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  Speaker 1: So that shows right there that God does take his
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  Speaker 1: hand of blessing off of people because he's trying to
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  Speaker 1: teach them a lesson, and a lot of times, especially
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  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament, this was foreign nations going to
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  Speaker 1: war against God's people, and God would allow that to
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  Speaker 1: happen because of the immense amount of sin and corruption
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  Speaker 1: and just terrible things that were going on in Judah
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  Speaker 1: and Israel at this time. But God will also judge
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  Speaker 1: the nation that goes into Israel if they are extraordinarily cruel.
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  Speaker 1: For example, the Israelites here were extremely cruel to their
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  Speaker 1: fellow brothers. And that's what Oded says. He's like, God
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  Speaker 1: allowed you to go into Judah because He was angry
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  Speaker 1: with Judah. But now God is angry with you because
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  Speaker 1: you have slain them in a rage which has reached
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  Speaker 1: up to Heaven. Your own brothers, you did this too,
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  Speaker 1: he says. Now you intend to degrade the children of
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  Speaker 1: Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves.
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  Speaker 1: Aren't there even with you trespasses of your own against
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh or God? He says in verse eleven. Now hear me, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: and send back the captives that you have taken captive
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  Speaker 1: from your brothers, for the fierce wrath of Yahweh is
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  Speaker 1: on you. So there you go. Even though God took
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  Speaker 1: his hand of blessing off of Judah for their immense sins,
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  Speaker 1: israel had no right to go above and beyond with
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  Speaker 1: their cruelty the way they did. And so now God
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  Speaker 1: is going to judge the Israelites, and his fierce anger
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  Speaker 1: was on them, especially because it was against God's law
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  Speaker 1: for an Israelite to enslave another Israelite. That's what it
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  Speaker 1: says in Leviticus twenty five, verses thirty nine through forty three.
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  Speaker 1: This is from the NIV version. It says, if any
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  Speaker 1: of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you,
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  Speaker 1: do not make them work as slaves. They are to
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  Speaker 1: be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you.
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  Speaker 1: They are to work for you until the year of Jubilee.
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  Speaker 1: Then they and their children are to be released, and
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  Speaker 1: they will go back to their own clans and to
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  Speaker 1: the property of their ancestors. Because the Israelites are my
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  Speaker 1: servants whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not
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  Speaker 1: be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly,
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  Speaker 1: but fear your God. So there you go. The Israelites
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  Speaker 1: were not to be sold as slaves. Because they were
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  Speaker 1: the servants of God, is what God says. So he says,
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  Speaker 1: you better treat my servants with respect. And so Oded
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  Speaker 1: comes to them very bravely, I might add, and says
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  Speaker 1: to them, you need to not do this, otherwise God's
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  Speaker 1: fierce wrath is on you. And actually the Israelites listen.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: It says, some of the leaders of the children of
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Ephriam ended up listening to Oded the prophet. And this
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: is very rare where we see somebody actually listening to
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: a prophet. Usually they try to kill the prophet or
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: degrade them in some way. But actually the heads of
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: the children of Ephriam listened to Oded the prophet. That's
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: what it says in verse twelve of Second Chronicles twenty eight.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Then some of the heads of the children of Ephriam,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: as Ariah the son of Johonan, Beverrakiah the son of mischelamth,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Jehiskia the son of Shalum, and Amasa the son of Hadley,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: stood up against those who came from the war and
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: said to them, you must not bring in the captives here,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: for you intend that which will bring on us a
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: trespass against Yahweh. To add to our sins and to
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: our guilt, for our guilt is great, and there's fierce
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: wrath against Israel. So for whatever reason, these leaders of
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: the tribe of Ephriam ended up actually feeling some guilt
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: over what the Israelites had done to the people of Judah.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Maybe they felt guilty because of all of the men
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: they had killed that day. Maybe they felt guilty because
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: they saw the poor state of these captives from Judah,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: the women and the mothers and the children crying over
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: the loss of their husbands and sons and fathers. Maybe
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: other things that the Israelites had done made them feel guilty,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: and they knew that God was already angry with Israel.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: We don't know exactly why these men ended up listening
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: to the words of Oded, but they did. It says
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: that the armed men left the captives and the plunder
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: before the princes and all the assembly. The men who
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: had been mentioned by name rose up and took the captives,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: and with the plunder, clothed all those who were naked
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: among them, dressed to them, gave them sandals, gave them
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: something to eat and to drink, anointed them, carried all
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the feeble of them on donkeys and brought them to Jericho,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the city of palm trees, to their brothers, and then
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: they returned to Samaria. So that's kind of a happy ending,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I suppose, to a very sad story. These captives were
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: allowed to go back home. They were not sold as
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: sex slaves or any other slave in Israel. Instead, these
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: men actually took care of these women and children and
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: clothed them and fed them from the plunder and took
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: them home. It says they took them back to Jericho,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: which would have been on the northern border of Judah,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: and they also cared for the sick that were among
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the captives as well. So somewhat of a I guess,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: kind of happy conclusion to a very sad story. Now, granted,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: these women, probably their husbands had been killed, probably their
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: sons had been killed, so it still was a very
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: sad state of events. But God was protecting the Judaites,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: and you can kind of see that through this story
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: that God was not done with Judah yet, that even
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: though Judah had sinned so greatly by sacrificing their babies
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: at the hands of this god molik Yahweh, still loved
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: his people and he was still protecting them throughout all
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: of this terrible stuff that they were honestly inflicting on themselves.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: God protected King a Has at the beginning here where
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: it says that the Israelites were not able to fully
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: overcome Judah or a Has, even the king of Syria
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: was not strong enough to overtake Judah. And then these
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: captives actually were able to go home. And it does
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: mention that the plunder was left with the captives as well,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: so that means that the captives didn't really lose their
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: belongings either, they were able to take them with them,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: and that shows that in spite of these people's sins,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: God was still loving and caring for them and protecting
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: them all along. All righty, faithful listeners, I have a
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: few more things I'd like to say about the conclusion
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: to this story, but before I do, here's a word
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: from a sponsor. So the thing I'd like to conclude
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: with is that God God treats us the same way.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: There's a verse I think in Hebrews that talks about
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the punishment of God. And we're actually going to get
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: into the Book of Hebrews very soon here, because the
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Book of phi Lemen which we're in right now, is
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: very very tiny. It's only one chapter long, so we
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: won't be in the Book of Philemen for very long.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: We are moving into the Book of Hebrews very quickly,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: in just a couple days here. But the Book of
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Hebrews talks about the punishment of God for some time,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: and it talks about how the punishment of God is
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: actually good because it brings us back to a relationship
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: with Him, and even though punishment is very hard at
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the time, God punishes the people that he loves, and
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: the Book of Hebrews gives the example of how a
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: father punishes the child that he loves. You know, a
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: lot of the people listening to this episode are parents,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure that all of you understand you treat
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: your child differently than you treat somebody else's child. You know.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: When I was a kid, I remember my mom watched
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: somebody from our church their kids for a whole week
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: while these people were out of town. And my mom
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: never really disciplined those kids once, but she often disciplined
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: me physically, Like even when those kids were in the
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: house and we all did something bad together, I was
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the one that got disciplined, and the other three did
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: not get disciplined during that time. And that's because my
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: mom cared about me enough to punish me and discipline
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: me so that I grow up to be an adult
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: that people enjoy being around. But my mom couldn't do
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: that with other people's kids because those weren't her kids.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Just as somebody cares enough to discipline their own child
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: because that's their child, that's the one they care about.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: That's how God feels about the people that he disciplines.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: It actually says in scripture that if you don't receive
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: any discipline from God, you're not actually a child of his,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and that's something to be upset about, not happy about.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: So the discipline of God is good because it proves
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: God's love for you. Just as a parent loves a
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: child so much that they're willing to discipline him even
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: when it's no fun. That is how the father feels
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: about us. So God's discipline, even though it is no
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: fun in the moment, even though it is harsh in
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the moment, it's a good thing in the long run.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: And that's what God is proving right here in this
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: story that he disciplined the people of Judah because they
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: were his people, because he loved them, and he wanted
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: them to be on the right track with him once again.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: And that's the same thing that God does with each
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: of us as well. Well. Faithful listeners, I hope you
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. I'll
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: see you guys tomorrow for part two of phi Lemen,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: where we'll talk more about the dynamics between a slave
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and a master back in the days of Paul, and
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: also why the Book of phi Lemen is actually in
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: scripture as well why it's been canonized. So just kind
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: of some interesting history I'll present for you guys tomorrow
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: on the podcast. So I hope you guys tune in
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: six am or whenever you choose to wake up and
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: listen until tomorrow. Happy listening, and God bless. I just
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: want to take a second to thank the team at
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Life Audio for their partnership with me on the Bible
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Explain podcast. In fact, if you go to lifeaudio dot
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: com you will find dozens of other faith centered podcasts
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: and more.