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Nehemiah 6 - Discerning the Prophets · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, hello Fay for listeners, Welcome to the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Explained Podcast. I hope you all had a great
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  Speaker 1: Fourth of July. I did nothing. It was quite nice.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, I'm recording this episode at night when fireworks
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  Speaker 1: are happening, so you guys might hear some fireworks because
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  Speaker 1: people are still excited about July fourth. So if you
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  Speaker 1: hear a couple pops in the background, that's the fireworks
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  Speaker 1: going off near my house, which I love fireworks. They
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  Speaker 1: do not bother me at all. I know some people
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  Speaker 1: hate them. My dogs will band it. My old man
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  Speaker 1: he is so deaf he can't hear anything, so fireworks
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  Speaker 1: don't phase him at all. Cody, my other dog, doesn't
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  Speaker 1: really like them, so he kind of just like stands
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  Speaker 1: near me if they're going off. But he's a good boy.
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  Speaker 1: He's a chicken in general. So, but speaking chickens, Namiyah
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  Speaker 1: Chapter six is what we're going to talk about today,
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  Speaker 1: and Niamiyah was not a chicken. In fact, he was
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  Speaker 1: very very bold on many occasions, and so we are
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  Speaker 1: going to get into how Niamiyah was unafraid even of
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  Speaker 1: death threats against his life. He was not going to
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  Speaker 1: potentially sin against God even though his life was on
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  Speaker 1: the line. We're also going to talk about how Niamiyah
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  Speaker 1: discerned between real and false prophecies and real and false
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  Speaker 1: messages from God. Right after this quick word from a sponsor,
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  Speaker 1: let's turn to Niamiyah chapter six and read the entire thing.
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  Speaker 1: As usual. I'll be reading from the World English Bible
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  Speaker 1: or the web. Grab your cup of coffee, and let's
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  Speaker 1: dive into Niamiah six together. Now, when it was reported
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  Speaker 1: to sand Ballot, Tobiah, Jessham the Arabian, and to the
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  Speaker 1: rest of our enemies that I had built the wall
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  Speaker 1: and that there was no breach left in it, though
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  Speaker 1: even to that time I had not set up the
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  Speaker 1: doors in the gates. San Ballet and Jesham sent to
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  Speaker 1: me saying, come, let's meet together in the villages in
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  Speaker 1: the plain of Ono. But they intended to harm me.
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  Speaker 1: I sent messengers to them saying, I am doing a
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  Speaker 1: great work, so that I can't come down. Why should
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  Speaker 1: the work cease while I leave it and come down
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  Speaker 1: to you. They sent to me four times like this,
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  Speaker 1: and I answered them the same way. Then san Ballet
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  Speaker 1: sent his servant to me the same way. The fifth
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  Speaker 1: time with an open letter in his hand, in which
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  Speaker 1: was written it is reported among the nations, and Gashmu
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  Speaker 1: says it that you and the Jews intend to rebel
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  Speaker 1: because of that you are building the wall. You would
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  Speaker 1: be their king. According to these words. You have also
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  Speaker 1: appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem, saying there
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  Speaker 1: is a king in Judah. Now it will be reported
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  Speaker 1: to the king according to these words. Come now therefore,
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  Speaker 1: and let's take counsel together. Then I sent to him, saying,
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  Speaker 1: there are no such things done as you say, but
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  Speaker 1: you imagine them out of your own heart. For they
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  Speaker 1: all would have made us afraid, saying their hands will
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  Speaker 1: be weakened from the work, that it not be done.
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  Speaker 1: I went to the house of Shemeah, the son of Daalaiah,
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  Speaker 1: the son of mehet Abel, who was shut in in
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  Speaker 1: his home, and he said, let us meet together in
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  Speaker 1: God's house within the temple, and let's shut the doors
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  Speaker 1: of the temple, for they will come to kill you. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: in the night, they will come to kill you. I said,
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  Speaker 1: should a man like me flee, who is there that
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  Speaker 1: being such as I would go to the temple to
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  Speaker 1: save his life. I will not go in I discerned,
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  Speaker 1: and behold, God had not sent him, but he pronounced
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  Speaker 1: this prophecy against me. Tobia and san Ballet had hired him.
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  Speaker 1: He was hired so that I would be afraid do
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  Speaker 1: so and sin, and that they might have material for
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  Speaker 1: an evil report, that they might reproach me. Remember my God,
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  Speaker 1: Tobia and san Ballot according to these their works, and
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  Speaker 1: also the prophet is Noahdiah, and the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: prophets that would have put me in fear. So the
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  Speaker 1: wall was finished in the twenty fifth day of alul
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  Speaker 1: in fifty two days. When all our enemies heard of it.
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  Speaker 1: All the nations that were around us were afraid, and
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  Speaker 1: they lost their confidence, for they perceived that this work
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  Speaker 1: was done by our God. Moreover, in those days, the
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  Speaker 1: noble of Judah sent many letters to Tobia, and Tobia's
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  Speaker 1: letters came to them, for there were many in Judah
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  Speaker 1: sworn to him because he was the son in law
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  Speaker 1: of Shakania, the son of Aarra, and his son and
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  Speaker 1: Jehoah Han had taken the daughter of Mashulam, the son
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  Speaker 1: of Berekiah, as wife. Also, they spoke of his good
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  Speaker 1: deeds before me and reported my words to him, Tobias
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  Speaker 1: sent letters to put me in fear. In the previous
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  Speaker 1: days and weeks, we've been talking about Nehemiah and how
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  Speaker 1: he went to Jerusalem in order to oversee the walls
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  Speaker 1: being built. And the reason this was necessary was because
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  Speaker 1: the exiles had been back home for close to a
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  Speaker 1: century at this point, and still Jerusalem was without any
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  Speaker 1: security from the neighboring nations. And you can see how
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  Speaker 1: much the neighboring nations hated Jerusalem. So it's important that
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  Speaker 1: these walls get built for the security of everybody who
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  Speaker 1: lived in Jerusalem. Not to mention it also would show
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  Speaker 1: that Israel was becoming its own nation once again, especially
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  Speaker 1: if they had a cap city with walls surrounding it
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  Speaker 1: like Jerusalem. So the walls were very necessary, both politically
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  Speaker 1: and for safety reasons. Niamiyah he had it on his
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  Speaker 1: heart as an Israeli man to go to Jerusalem and
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  Speaker 1: to build those walls. So he presented his case before
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  Speaker 1: art Exerxes, the king of Persia, And because Niemiah was
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  Speaker 1: the cup bearer to the king, he was probably at
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  Speaker 1: least somewhat kind of close to him, though in a
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  Speaker 1: work type relationship, and he was able to get permission
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  Speaker 1: from art Exerxes to travel to Jerusalem with an army
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  Speaker 1: of Persians and also with supplies to rebuild these walls.
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  Speaker 1: And that's because God was overseeing this project and helping
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  Speaker 1: Niamaiyah along the way. But as we've talked before, even
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  Speaker 1: though Niamiyah was helped by God, this didn't mean that
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  Speaker 1: things were just going to go easy, peasy, lemon squeeze
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  Speaker 1: for him and for the Israelites. In fact, things are
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  Speaker 1: kind of the opposite of easy. At this point. Everything
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  Speaker 1: is very difficult. Cult a few chapters ago, this guy
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  Speaker 1: san Balot was trying to muster up his army of
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  Speaker 1: Samaritans to fight against Jerusalem, and thankfully Neamiah heard about
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  Speaker 1: it and put guards in place and gave a weapon
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  Speaker 1: to every single builder of the wall so that they
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  Speaker 1: would be protected in case the Samaritans came against the
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  Speaker 1: Israelites while they were rebuilding, so that was thwarted, thankfully.
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  Speaker 1: And then in the last chapter Niamiah five, we talked
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  Speaker 1: about how there are some internal problems taking place in
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem also, which was causing the work to be stalled
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  Speaker 1: on the walls. But now that these two things are
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  Speaker 1: taken care of, Miamiyah continues to build the wall, and
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  Speaker 1: he built it very very quickly. In fact, in our
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  Speaker 1: passage for today, verse fifteen, it says the wall was
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  Speaker 1: finished in the twenty fifth day of a lull, in
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  Speaker 1: fifty two days. That is crazy. That is so fast
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  Speaker 1: for a wall to be built with primitive supplies that
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  Speaker 1: these people were working with. But it was because God
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  Speaker 1: was with the Israelites. And we're going to talk about
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  Speaker 1: how they were able to build this wall so quickly
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  Speaker 1: once we get to that verse. But the start out,
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  Speaker 1: it says in verse one. Now, when it was reported
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  Speaker 1: to san Ballot, to Baia and Jessham the Arabian, and
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  Speaker 1: to the rest of our enemies, that I had built
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  Speaker 1: the wall and that there was no breach left in it.
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  Speaker 1: Though even to that time I had not set up
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  Speaker 1: the doors to the gates. San Ballot and Jessham sent
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  Speaker 1: to me saying, come, let's meet together in the villages
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  Speaker 1: in the plane of o no, but they intended to
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  Speaker 1: harm me. Oh no, you get it, the plane of
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  Speaker 1: oh no, oh no. Yeah. But anyway, so what's happening
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  Speaker 1: here is the work to the walls is almost complete.
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  Speaker 1: Other than the fact that the gates have not been
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  Speaker 1: set up yet, so the walls have been fully filled in.
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  Speaker 1: There is no breach left in these walls. So san Ballot, Tobia,
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  Speaker 1: and Jesh who likely are all governors of different regions.
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  Speaker 1: San Ballat being the governor of Samaria, Tobia being the
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  Speaker 1: governor of the Ammonites, and Jessham probably being the governor
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  Speaker 1: of the Arabians. These three men were getting panicked because
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  Speaker 1: they did not want these walls to be built, because
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  Speaker 1: that meant they lose political power over Jerusalem. They lose
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  Speaker 1: that land. They didn't want to lose that land. So
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  Speaker 1: what they do is they decide they're going to try
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  Speaker 1: to kill Neemiah so that the work stops. They were
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  Speaker 1: sending it to Neamiah specifically, san Ballot and Jessham kept
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  Speaker 1: sending to him saying, come on, let's meet together in
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  Speaker 1: the villages in the plane of oh No. But they
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  Speaker 1: intended to harm me. So Niamiah saw through their plan,
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  Speaker 1: and he probably didn't want to meet with them anyway.
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  Speaker 1: So he's basically like, I'm too busy. I'm not gonna
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  Speaker 1: come down and meet with you guys. There's no need
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  Speaker 1: to do that. The work must continue. In verse four,
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  Speaker 1: it says that four times this happens, and four times
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  Speaker 1: he answers them the same way. So finally the fifth time,
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  Speaker 1: san Ballot decides to turn up the heat. So it
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  Speaker 1: says he sends a servant to me the same way
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  Speaker 1: the fifth time, but this time with an open letter
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  Speaker 1: in his hand, in which was written. And so here
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  Speaker 1: we go. Here's the lies. It is reported among the nations,
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  Speaker 1: and Gashmu says it that you and the Jews intend
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  Speaker 1: to rebel because of that you are building the wall.
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  Speaker 1: You would be their king. According to these words. You
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  Speaker 1: have also appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: saying there is a king in Judah. Now be reported
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  Speaker 1: to the king according to these words. Come now, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: and let's take counsel together. Now, this is something I've
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  Speaker 1: talked about. I think I mentioned all of this back
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  Speaker 1: in the Book of Ezra. But you'll notice a theme
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  Speaker 1: in scripture. Whenever somebody is doing something good for God,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times those people tend to succeed right
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  Speaker 1: because God is with them. God is blessing their project,
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  Speaker 1: whatever it might be, and the people around them tend
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  Speaker 1: to get very jealous because they want to succeed in
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  Speaker 1: the same way. So you'll see this pattern of those
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  Speaker 1: people spreading false reports, and the false report has the
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  Speaker 1: same story over and over and over again, the story
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  Speaker 1: being that this person is trying to rebel against the king,
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  Speaker 1: or that this person is purposely disobeying the king in
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  Speaker 1: some way. That is always the same story. It happened
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  Speaker 1: with Shadrack, Mishak, and Abennigo, it happened with Daniel, it
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  Speaker 1: happened with Jesus, it happened with Paul, it happened with
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai in the Book of Esther, happened to the Israelites
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  Speaker 1: in the Book of Ezra, the one we just covered,
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  Speaker 1: And now it is happening to Nehemiah right here, same story,
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  Speaker 1: over and over and over again. And you can imagine
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  Speaker 1: that if the king of Persia art Exerxes believed this
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  Speaker 1: report about Niemiah, he would go and immediately kill Nehemiah.
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  Speaker 1: He would off him because first and foremost art e
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  Speaker 1: Xerxes was not a very nice guy. He murdered his
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  Speaker 1: two brothers to get to the position and he was in.
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  Speaker 1: He was not going to let people potentially take power
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  Speaker 1: away from him or usurp the throne from him or
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  Speaker 1: even set themselves up as a king to rebel against him.
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  Speaker 1: He wasn't going to allow that. And I'm sure that
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  Speaker 1: san Ballet knew this and was hoping that the Persian
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  Speaker 1: king would take action against Namayah to kill him. But
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  Speaker 1: thankfully the king liked Niamiyah and probably trusted him, and
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  Speaker 1: Niamaiyah did not cave to what san Ballet was doing.
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  Speaker 1: He did not run away in fear. Instead, what he
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  Speaker 1: did was call san Ballot out as a complete and
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  Speaker 1: total liar, and he possibly talked to the king. He
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  Speaker 1: might have sent letters to the king saying that this
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  Speaker 1: san Balot guy is either lying or getting incorrect information.
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  Speaker 1: That's what he says in verse eight. There are no
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  Speaker 1: such things being done as you say, but you imagine
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  Speaker 1: them out of your own heart, for they all would
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  Speaker 1: have made us afraid, saying the hands will be weakened
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  Speaker 1: from the work, that it not be done, but now
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  Speaker 1: strengthen myad hands. So here's another prayer. We see Niamaiyah
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  Speaker 1: praying a lot in the Book of Namiah. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: he was a prayer and his prayer here is that
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  Speaker 1: the people would continue to be strengthened in the work
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  Speaker 1: that they are doing, even if their hands are weakened,
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  Speaker 1: if they're discouraged, that God gives them strength to finish
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  Speaker 1: the work of the walls and put those gates on
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  Speaker 1: so that everybody is safe and secure inside of those walls.
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  Speaker 1: And now you can really see why these walls were
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  Speaker 1: so necessary and long overdue, because look at how much
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  Speaker 1: the nations did not want Jerusalem to have these walls,
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  Speaker 1: the amount of hatred they had for this little city.
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  Speaker 1: They wanted those walls to not exist. They wanted the
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  Speaker 1: Israelites to not exist. It's been the same story throughout history.
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  Speaker 1: People don't want the Israelites to have that land. But
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  Speaker 1: this wasn't the only thing that san Balot was trying
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  Speaker 1: to do in order to kill Niamiah. First, he wanted
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  Speaker 1: to kill Niamaiyah just privately out in the fields, you know,
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  Speaker 1: take Neamaiah away from the work and kill him right there.
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  Speaker 1: Then when that didn't work, he wanted to have the
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  Speaker 1: king of Persia kill Neamiyah, so he spread a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of lies about Niamiyah, how Niamiah is, you know, going
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  Speaker 1: against the king, rebelling with all of Jerusalem and everything
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  Speaker 1: like that. Then when that didn't work, here's the third thing.
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  Speaker 1: That he tries in verse ten, I went to the
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  Speaker 1: house of Sheameyah, the son of Delaiah, the son of
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  Speaker 1: mehet Abel, who was shut in at his home, and
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  Speaker 1: he said, let us meet together in God's house within
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  Speaker 1: the temple, and let's shut the doors of the temple,
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  Speaker 1: for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night,
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  Speaker 1: they will come to kill you. You know. The first
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  Speaker 1: thing that you think when you read that, you're like, oh, boy,
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  Speaker 1: you know, this guy is really trying to warn Neamayah.
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  Speaker 1: He's trying to keep Neamayah safe. And you would think
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  Speaker 1: that this man has the right intentions, right especially knowing
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  Speaker 1: what Neamaiyah is dealing with right now. But Niamiyah has discernment.
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  Speaker 1: He says in verse eleven, I said, should a man
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  Speaker 1: like me flee, who is there that being such as
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  Speaker 1: I would go into the temple to save his life,
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  Speaker 1: I will not go in. I discerned, and behold, God
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  Speaker 1: had not sent him, but he pronounced this prophecy against me.
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  Speaker 1: Tobia and san Ballot had hired him. So this is
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  Speaker 1: the third thing that san Ballot tries, and also Tobia
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  Speaker 1: is in on this one as well. They hired this guy,
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  Speaker 1: probably a priest because it says that he had access
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  Speaker 1: to the inside of the temple. They hired this guy
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  Speaker 1: to give a fake prophecy to Namiyah. The fake prophecy
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  Speaker 1: being that Niamiah was going to be killed that very night,
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  Speaker 1: and the only place of safety that Neemiah could go
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  Speaker 1: in order to not be killed was inside the temple.
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  Speaker 1: And you can imagine, you know, if somebody you really respected,
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  Speaker 1: like a very holy person, came to you and was like, oh, man, Jen,
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  Speaker 1: you know you're going to be killed tonight. There's people
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  Speaker 1: out to get you. You know, I got this vision
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  Speaker 1: from the Lord, and the only place that you will
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  Speaker 1: be safe is inside the temple. If you got that
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  Speaker 1: kind of prophecy, you'd be like, oh my gosh, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to be killed tonight. You know, this is a
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  Speaker 1: man of God. He got a vision, he got a prophecy,
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  Speaker 1: he's speaking from God. He does the work of the temple.
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  Speaker 1: And most people would probably have believed this person and
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  Speaker 1: gone into the temple, but Niamiyah had discernment because it
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  Speaker 1: was illegal according to the laws of God for Niamiyah
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  Speaker 1: to go into that temple. We've talked about that before,
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  Speaker 1: and God is never going to send a prophecy to
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  Speaker 1: somebody that tells them they need to sin, or that
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  Speaker 1: goes against his laws. There's a story in second Chronicles
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  Speaker 1: twenty six Now a king named Uziah. You might remember
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  Speaker 1: this guy. Uziah was a good and godly king for
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  Speaker 1: the most part. But here's what it says second Chronicles
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  Speaker 1: twenty six six. But when he was strong, his heart
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  Speaker 1: was lifted up so that he did corruptly, and he
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  Speaker 1: trespassed against Yahweh his God. For he went into Yahwei's
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  Speaker 1: temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azaria
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  Speaker 1: the priest went in after him, and with him eighty
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  Speaker 1: priests of Yahweh, who were valiant men. They resisted Uziah
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  Speaker 1: the king, and said to him, it isn't for you, Uziah,
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  Speaker 1: to burn incense to Yahweh, but for the priests the
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  Speaker 1: sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense, go
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  Speaker 1: out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. It will
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  Speaker 1: not be for your honor from Yahweh God. Then Uziah
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  Speaker 1: was angry. He had a censer in his hand to
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  Speaker 1: burn the incense. And while he was angry with the priests,
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  Speaker 1: the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priest
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  Speaker 1: in Yahwa's house beside the altar of incense. Azaria the
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  Speaker 1: chief priest and all the priests looked at him and behold,
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  Speaker 1: he was lepers in his forehead, and they thrust him
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  Speaker 1: out quickly from there. Indeed, he himself also hurried to
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  Speaker 1: go out because Yahweh had struck him. Uziah the king
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  Speaker 1: was a leper to the day of his death, and
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  Speaker 1: he lived in a separate house being a leper, for
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  Speaker 1: he was cut off from Yahway's house. Jotham, his son,
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  Speaker 1: was over the king's house judging the people of the land.
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  Speaker 1: So this king Uziah was a good and godly king,
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  Speaker 1: and he had a lot of successes under his reign.
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  Speaker 1: But then once he became too strong, he got complacent,
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  Speaker 1: he started becoming arrogant, and he decided he was going
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  Speaker 1: to be a priest. So he goes into the temple
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  Speaker 1: of God. He just walks right in with his little censer,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and he's about to burn incense to Yahweh, and the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: priests all come in, eighty of them, it says, along
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: with the high priest, and they say, Uziah, get out
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: of here. You're a king. You are not allowed inside
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: of this temple. Only the priests are allowed inside, and
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: he gets super angry, and he's probably like, I'm the king,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: I'm allowed to do whatever i want to do. And
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: right as he's getting angry, he becomes lepros because God
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: judged Uziah immediately right after Uziah became angry, which, by
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the way, Uziah had a chance to listen to the priests,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: but he didn't listen, and that was when he became angry,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: and God judged him for his sin. So it could
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: be going back to Niemiah six, that Tobiah and san
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Balat understood the law of God well enough to know
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: that it was wrong for anybody who was not a
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: priest to go inside the temple. And Niemiah was not
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: a priest. He was not allowed inside. He knew it
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: was wrong for him, even if that was the only
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: place of safety that he could go, he was not
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: going to go inside of that temple, and so he didn't.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: But not to mention this would have actually had very
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: bad political consequences for Namayah as well, because most likely
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: had he gone into the temple, like say, he listened
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and gone into the temple, not only would he have
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: had the wrath of God on him, but he also
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: would have had the wrath of the Persian king as well.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: You know, the temple was highly regarded, and if Neamiah's
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: like hiding out in the temple for a length of time,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: that would have looked very suspicious to anybody who knew
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: that he went in, and people absolutely would have known,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: because that was probably Tobia and san Balt's plan was
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: to trick Niemiah to go inside of there and then
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: tell everybody, Oh, Namiyah is inside the temple. I wonder
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: what he's doing in there. He could be trying to
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: make himself the king with the help of the priests
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: or something like that. So it would have looked very,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: very bad for Namiah had he gone into that temple.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: And thankfully he'd discerned and knew that God had not
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: sent Shemeya, but that Shemeyah pronounced this prophecy against Namiah,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: so it was a false prophecy, and Tobia and san
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Ballot had hired him. He was hired so that I
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: would be afraid do so and sin that they might
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: have material for an evil report that they might reproach me.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: And now again in verse fourteen Neamiah Praise, remember my God,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Tobiah and san Ballot, according to these their works, and
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and also the prophetess Noah Diah and the rest of
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the prophets that would have put me in fear. And
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: that's the thing we need to be very, very careful
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: about anybody who claims to have a prophecy from God.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: It says in the New Testament that we need to
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: test every single spirit to know whether it's from God
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: or whether it's from man. And you have to remember
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: that Satan does have an amount of power. He is
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: able to do some pretty miraculous looking things. I mean,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: in the Book of Exodus, the demonic magicians were able
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to do a lot of the same things that Moses
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: was able to do. At the very beginning. They turned
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: water into blood, they turned a stick into a snake.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: They were able to do these things because they had
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the demonic power working with them. And then after a
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: while they weren't able to do anything anymore, because you know,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: God's power is so much more amazing than anything demonic
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: ever could be. But Satan does have an amount of power,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: and he can fool, and he can trick, and he
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: can make things look very miraculous. So it actually says
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament, even if a prophecy comes true,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: if that prophet starts to speak against Yahweh or starts
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: trying to lead people into sin by worshiping other idols,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: that you are supposed to disregard that prophet entirely. And
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: actually I believe it says to stone him as well,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: because these types of prophets lead people astray. So nowadays
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: prophets are on the rise. You can get a prophecy anywhere.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: You can go on YouTube and get any number of
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: people claiming to be prophets, claiming to have some sort
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: of prophecy. But if those prophecies, first and foremost, if
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: they don't come true, that is the sign of a
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: false prophet. And even if they do have a prophecy
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: that comes true, that does not mean that that prophit
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: is necessarily of God. They could be working under a
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: different power. So you have to be very careful with prophets.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: That being said, we shouldn't despise the prophets as long
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: as they're real. The problem is finding a real way,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: and we don't see them very often these days unfortunately.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: In fact, I don't know that I've ever seen a
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: real prophet in my days, but there could be. We
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: shouldn't despise them, but we definitely need to test all
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: of those prophecies before we just decide, Oh, this person
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: claims to have a revelation from God, well who cares.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what they claim. Anybody can claim to
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: have a prophecy from God. I could claim it and
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: just be speaking lies in His name, and in order
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: not to have the wrath of God come on me.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Right now, I am not going to do that, but
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: I could do that if I wanted to. So you
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: have to be very very careful about prophets, and thankfully
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: nea Maiah was. So. It says the wall was finished
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: in the twenty fifth day of a lul in fifty
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: two days. When all our enemies heard of it. All
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: the nations that were around us were afraid, and they
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: lost their confidence, for they perceived that this work was
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: done by our God. So essentially, in about two and
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a half months a little bit less than that, the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: entire wall was complete. It was complete, and a lot
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: of people don't understand how this could be possible. In fact,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: the historian Josephus says that this figure is wrong, and
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: he I think says something like two years. I don't
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: remember the exact number, but he says that the wall
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: couldn't have possibly been completed in fifty two days. But
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: that's actually untrue because excavations of the Wall of Jerusalem
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: that have taken place show that the work was done
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: extremely fast and very primitively. It was basically the quickest
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: wall you could build for security. Hence, why that one
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: insult that Tobia made a couple chapters ago makes so
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: much sense, because Tobio was saying that this wall was
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: so flimsy looking that if a fox jumped up on
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: it that it would crumble down into pieces. It was
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: an insult, but that was probably because Tobio was seeing
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: how fast the work was getting completed. But it turns
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: out that the wall was actually very sturdy and very
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: well made in spite of the fact that it was
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: done very very quickly. So scholars and historians actually do
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: believe that it only took fifty two days to build
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: that wall, especially considering the amount of people that helped
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: build this wall. That was a couple chapters ago we
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: talked about that basically everybody built what was in front
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: of them. So whatever was directly in front of their house,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: they would build that and just do what they could do. Essentially, Now,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: this doesn't mean that the walls were pretty. This doesn't
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: mean that the walls that all the rubble was cleared
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: around the walls. It just means that there were walls
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: in place that would protect that city that the people
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: could build up even further at that point. But the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: walls were done, and everybody in the surrounding nations that
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: looked at this gave up. They gave up because they're like,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: this is an act of God. It says they perceived
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: that this work was done by our God. Moreover, in
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them, for there
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: were many in Judah sworn to him because he was
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the son in law of Shikania, the son of Aara,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and his son Jehoahan had taken the daughter of Mischulam,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the son of Berechiah, as wife. So now Nehemiah is
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: dealing with his last problem, even though the other nations
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: have broadly given up. Now that the wall is complete
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: and they lost Tobia just will not go away again.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Tobia was an enemy of Nehemiah. He has been mentioned
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: since I think the second chapter, just constantly causing trouble
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: for the Israelites, causing trouble for Neemiah. But the people
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem were actually attached to this guy because he
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: had connections, so they were loyal to him. It says
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: that his connections were the fact that he was the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: son in law of Shakania, the son of Aara, and
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: also his son Jehoahan had taken and the daughter of Masulam,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the son of Berakiah as wife, so Tobia was related
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: by marriage to Shikania, the son of Aara. Now Aara
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: is mentioned in Ezra chapter two as being one of
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the original people that came back to the land. It
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: says in Ezra to verse five that Aa Aarra's family
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: had seven hundred and seventy five people that came with him,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: so Arra was a leader in his own right, possibly
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: one of the princes of Israel. And Aara's son, Shikhania,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: had a daughter who Tobia married, so he was related
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: by blood to somebody very powerful in Jerusalem. And also
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Tobiah's son who was named Jehohan had taken the daughter
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: of Misulam, the son of Berakiah, as wife. Now, Maschulam
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: is actually mentioned twice in the book of Nehemiah. In
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Niemiah three, he was one of the builders of the wall.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: In verse four, it says Mischulam, the son Bearrakiah, the
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: son of Machezebel, made repairs, and then also jumping down
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: in this same chapter to verse thirty, it says after him, Mischulam,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the son of Bearrikiah, made repairs across from his room.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: So Michulam, it sounds like, was also a powerful man
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: in his own rights in Jerusalem, and one of his
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: daughters married one of Tobia's sons. So all of these
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: people are unfortunately loyal to Tobia because of this. And
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: it says they spoke good of his deeds before me
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: and reported my words to him, and Tobia sent letters
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: to put me in fear. So all these people are like, no, Neamiyah,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: you know he is actually a really good guy. He
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: did this, and he did this, and you know he
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: did all these great deeds, and you know you shouldn't
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: think so poorly of him. Man, I can tell you, guys,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: when somebody hurts you and other people speak well of
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: that person who is like out to get you or
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: hurts you. That is like one of the most irritating
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: things ever because it's like, oh, yeah, they hurt you, well,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: but they do really nice things to other people. Well,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: who cares they hurt me? I'm sure you guys have
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: experienced something like that too, And Neamiyah is dealing with
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: this as well. Oh yeah, Tobia just wanted to completely
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: destroy your reputation and possibly go along with san Ballet
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: to kill you. But he's really a nice guy, we promise.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: And then of course they were also spying on what
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Neamiah said and giving it to Tobia. So unfortunately, Tobia
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: just would not go away. He was a constant threat
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: and irritation to Namiah for the rest of his days. So,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed Namiyah Chapter six. Before
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: I close out today's episode, please listen to this last
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: sponsored ad for today. So, the moral of Neamiah six
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: is that you can't trust people who claim to have
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: prophecies or messages from God. And sometimes you can trust them,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: but you have to do your due diligence because anybody
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: can claim to have a prophecy or a message from God.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I will link in the description one of the episodes
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: that I've done about how you can know if something
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: is a real prophecy or not. So take a listen
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: to that episode once you are done with this one
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: in just a few seconds. So, faithful listeners, I hope
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: you all have a fantastic rest of your Monday. I
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: will see you guys tomorrow for an episode from James
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: six am or whenever you choose to wake up and listen.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: And until tomorrow, happy listening and God bless. I just
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: want to take a second to thank the team at
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Life Audio for their partnership with me on the Bible
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Explain podcast. In fact, if you go to lifeudio dot
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: com you'll find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: and more.