Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 20:20-37 - God Fights for Judah
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello and good morning friends and faithful listeners,
- 0:06Speaker 1: and welcome to the Bible, explained a podcast on this
- 0:08Speaker 1: absolutely lovely Monday morning, and I am so thankful that
- 0:11Speaker 1: you are here to share a delicious cup of coffee
- 0:13Speaker 1: with me as we discuss Second Chronicles twenty and finish
- 0:18Speaker 1: this chapter out talking about this battle that well it's
- 0:22Speaker 1: not even really a battle, not for Judah at least,
- 0:24Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about what happens with this
- 0:27Speaker 1: really crazy and amazing story and this miracle that God
- 0:30Speaker 1: performs for the people of Judah. So stay tuned for
- 0:34Speaker 1: a great episode. Well, faithful listeners, Here is a quick
- 0:43Speaker 1: word from a sponsor before I get started with this episode.
- 0:49Speaker 1: I hope you all have had a fantastic start to
- 0:50Speaker 1: your week so far. I can't remember if I told you, guys,
- 0:53Speaker 1: but I am doing worship with my church again, and
- 0:57Speaker 1: so that's been something really exciting that's been going on
- 0:59Speaker 1: in my life life recently. And my husband has taken
- 1:02Speaker 1: the worship over for the time being until we find
- 1:06Speaker 1: a full time worship leader that our church can hire.
- 1:10Speaker 1: So my husband is doing that right now and I'm
- 1:12Speaker 1: helping right alongside him. It's been a lot of fun
- 1:14Speaker 1: to get back up there and lead worship once again.
- 1:18Speaker 1: But speaking of worship leading, that is kind of what
- 1:20Speaker 1: we're going to talk about today. Actually in Second Chronicles
- 1:23Speaker 1: twenty versus twenty through thirty seven, this is the story
- 1:28Speaker 1: of jahash Fat having faith, about worship leaders and singers
- 1:32Speaker 1: going to battle, and also the end of Jehashfat's life.
- 1:37Speaker 1: We're going to talk about all those topics today on
- 1:39Speaker 1: the podcast, So grab your Bible out of the version
- 1:42Speaker 1: that you prefer, but as usual, I'll be reading from
- 1:43Speaker 1: the web again. This is Second Chronicles twenty twenty through
- 1:48Speaker 1: thirty seven. They rose early in the morning and went
- 1:54Speaker 1: out into the wilderness of Takulla. As they went out,
- 1:57Speaker 1: Jehashafat stood and said, listen to me, Judah, and you
- 2:00Speaker 1: inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in Yahweh or God, so you
- 2:04Speaker 1: will be established. Believe his prophets, so you will prosper.
- 2:08Speaker 1: When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed
- 2:11Speaker 1: those who were to sing to Yahweh and give praise
- 2:13Speaker 1: in holy array as they go out before the army,
- 2:16Speaker 1: and say give thanks to Yahweh for his loving kindness
- 2:18Speaker 1: indoors forever when they began to sing in praise Yahweh
- 2:22Speaker 1: set ambushers against the children of Amin, Moab and Mount Seir,
- 2:26Speaker 1: who had come against Judah, and they were struck, for
- 2:28Speaker 1: the children of Amin and Moab stood up against the
- 2:31Speaker 1: inhabitants of Mount Syr to utterly kill and destroy them.
- 2:34Speaker 1: When they had finished the inhabitants of Syr, everyone helped
- 2:37Speaker 1: to destroy each other. When Judah came to the place
- 2:40Speaker 1: overlooking the wilderness, they looked at the multitude, and behold,
- 2:44Speaker 1: there were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there
- 2:46Speaker 1: were none who escaped. When Jehashphat and his people came
- 2:49Speaker 1: to take their plunder, they found among them in abundance
- 2:52Speaker 1: both riches and dead bodies, with precious jewels, which they
- 2:56Speaker 1: stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away.
- 2:59Speaker 1: They took plunder for three days it was so much.
- 3:01Speaker 1: On the fourth day they assembled themselves in Barika Valley,
- 3:05Speaker 1: for there they blessed Yahweh. Therefore the name of that
- 3:08Speaker 1: place was called Barikah Valley to this day. Then they
- 3:11Speaker 1: returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehosha Fat
- 3:14Speaker 1: in front of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy,
- 3:17Speaker 1: for Yahweh had made them to rejoice over their enemies.
- 3:20Speaker 1: They came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments, harps and trumpets,
- 3:23Speaker 1: to Yahwai's house. The fear of God was on all
- 3:26Speaker 1: the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that Yahweh
- 3:28Speaker 1: fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of
- 3:31Speaker 1: jehosha Fat was quiet, for his God gave him rest
- 3:34Speaker 1: all around. So jehsh Fat reigned over Judah. He was
- 3:38Speaker 1: thirty five years old when he began to reign. He
- 3:40Speaker 1: reigned twenty five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azuba,
- 3:44Speaker 1: the daughter of Shile. He walked in the way of Asa,
- 3:46Speaker 1: his father, and didn't turn away from it, doing that
- 3:49Speaker 1: which was right in Yahwei's eyes. However, the high places
- 3:52Speaker 1: were not taken away, and the people had still not
- 3:55Speaker 1: set their hearts on the God of their fathers. Now
- 3:57Speaker 1: the rest of the acts of jehash Fat first in
- 3:59Speaker 1: last behold, they are written in the history of Jehu
- 4:02Speaker 1: the son of Hanani, which is included in the Book
- 4:04Speaker 1: of the Kings of Israel. After this, jehosh Fat, the
- 4:08Speaker 1: King of Judah, joined himself with the Hazia King of
- 4:10Speaker 1: Israel the same did very wickedly. He joined himself with
- 4:13Speaker 1: him to make ships to go to Tarsish. They made
- 4:16Speaker 1: the ships in Ezion Gaber. Then Eliezer, the son of
- 4:18Speaker 1: Dodovahu of Merisha prophesied against jehosh Fat, saying, because you've
- 4:23Speaker 1: joined yourself with a hazia Yahweh has destroyed your works.
- 4:27Speaker 1: The ships were wrecked so that they were not able
- 4:30Speaker 1: to go to Tarshish. Last week we talked about the
- 4:36Speaker 1: first portion of this chapter, and if you don't remember it,
- 4:38Speaker 1: you should go back and listen. But I still will
- 4:41Speaker 1: do a quick little recap here. So in verses one
- 4:44Speaker 1: through nineteen. Essentially what was happening is all of these Moabites,
- 4:48Speaker 1: Ammonites and the people of Mount Seer came to Judah
- 4:52Speaker 1: to try to capture it for themselves, and they came
- 4:55Speaker 1: with a huge army. We don't know how big it was,
- 4:58Speaker 1: but it was big enough that Jehashafat knew this was
- 5:01Speaker 1: a death sentence for him and his men if he
- 5:04Speaker 1: went out to try to confront them. So jehash Fat
- 5:07Speaker 1: learns about this attack that's coming his way, and he
- 5:10Speaker 1: orders all the people of Judah too fast and to
- 5:13Speaker 1: have a prayer gathering. So all these people meet him
- 5:16Speaker 1: in Jerusalem at the temple where jehash Fat gives this
- 5:20Speaker 1: really beautiful prayer, one of my favorite prayers actually in
- 5:23Speaker 1: the Old Testament. And after johash Fat is done with
- 5:26Speaker 1: that prayer that is filled with so much faith, you know,
- 5:28Speaker 1: you can tell he's terrified. He's absolutely terrified, but he
- 5:32Speaker 1: is giving God all of the glory and reminding God
- 5:36Speaker 1: of the promises that he made to Israel so many
- 5:39Speaker 1: years before. Right after this prayer is done, God gives
- 5:43Speaker 1: a word to one of the prophets that was in
- 5:46Speaker 1: the crowd, and this prophet speaks out to johash Fat
- 5:50Speaker 1: and he's like, don't be afraid, don't be dismayed because
- 5:53Speaker 1: of the great multitude. For the battle is not yours,
- 5:56Speaker 1: but God's verse sixteen says, tomorrow go against them. Behold,
- 6:01Speaker 1: they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz. You
- 6:03Speaker 1: will find them at the end of the valley, before
- 6:05Speaker 1: the wilderness of Jerul. You will not need to fight
- 6:08Speaker 1: this battle. Set yourselves stand still and see the salvation
- 6:11Speaker 1: of Yahweh with you, oh Judah and Jerusalem. Don't be afraid,
- 6:15Speaker 1: nor be dismayed, go out against them tomorrow, for Yahweh
- 6:17Speaker 1: is with you. And that was for Yahweh is with you,
- 6:22Speaker 1: and we talked about how that was God sending Judah
- 6:25Speaker 1: out into this battle that they didn't actually have to fight.
- 6:28Speaker 1: So this of course accomplished a few things. Both it was,
- 6:31Speaker 1: you know, testing the faith of the people of Judah,
- 6:35Speaker 1: can they go out to battle and trust that God
- 6:38Speaker 1: is going to take care of them? And also it
- 6:40Speaker 1: was showing them God's power, among many other things. So
- 6:43Speaker 1: that is where we left off last week, and now
- 6:46Speaker 1: let's start in verse twenty. It says they or the
- 6:49Speaker 1: children of Judah, rose early in the morning and went
- 6:53Speaker 1: out into the wilderness of Takoah. As they went out,
- 6:56Speaker 1: Jehashafat stood and said, listen to me, Judah and the
- 7:00Speaker 1: you inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in Yahweh or God, so
- 7:03Speaker 1: you will be established, believe His prophets, so you will prosper.
- 7:08Speaker 1: So as they're walking out to this battle, you know,
- 7:11Speaker 1: jehash Fat, who is the king, is essentially the commander
- 7:14Speaker 1: of this big army. He stands still, and josh Fat
- 7:17Speaker 1: says to them, believe in Yahweh or God, and also
- 7:21Speaker 1: believe his prophets, So I like that it differentiates how
- 7:26Speaker 1: we're supposed to believe in God as compared to the prophets.
- 7:31Speaker 1: Jehosh Fat specifically says, believe in Yahweh and also believe
- 7:36Speaker 1: the prophets. Don't believe in the prophets, but believe the
- 7:40Speaker 1: message of God's prophets, and that shows that your faith
- 7:45Speaker 1: is supposed to be in God alone. The prophets were
- 7:48Speaker 1: just messengers of God, which is why johash Fat says
- 7:51Speaker 1: to believe their words, because they were speaking the truth
- 7:54Speaker 1: from God. But the people weren't supposed to place their
- 7:58Speaker 1: faith or their trust in the prophets, but in God alone.
- 8:02Speaker 1: And that's why I believe josh Fat words it that way,
- 8:05Speaker 1: because I think a lot of people, you know, when
- 8:07Speaker 1: they hear a prophet or somebody that they think is
- 8:11Speaker 1: a prophet, they almost start placing their trust and their
- 8:14Speaker 1: faith in that prophet. But that is not what you're
- 8:17Speaker 1: supposed to do. You're supposed to place your trust in
- 8:19Speaker 1: God and also believe the true prophets, the ones that
- 8:23Speaker 1: actually are coming in the name of the Lord, and
- 8:26Speaker 1: their prophecies have been proven to be true. You can
- 8:29Speaker 1: believe their words because you know they're from God. But
- 8:33Speaker 1: you're not supposed to place your faith in those men
- 8:36Speaker 1: because ultimately they're just men. They're just mouthpieces of God himself.
- 8:41Speaker 1: So josh Fat says, believe in Yahweh or God so
- 8:43Speaker 1: you will be established. Believe his prophets so you will prosper.
- 8:47Speaker 1: So this is essentially a pep talk he's giving to
- 8:50Speaker 1: his army. And I can imagine that many people in
- 8:53Speaker 1: this army are probably terrified, thinking we are literally walking
- 8:57Speaker 1: to our deaths and we're not going to do anything
- 9:00Speaker 1: to stop these people, like if they're trying to kill us,
- 9:03Speaker 1: like we're just going to stand in the middle of
- 9:05Speaker 1: battle and not fight. I'm sure a lot of people
- 9:08Speaker 1: were thinking that. You know, they were probably terrified. So
- 9:10Speaker 1: he takes counsel with the people, is what it says.
- 9:13Speaker 1: So he's probably encouraging them. He's saying, no, this is
- 9:17Speaker 1: the truth. We're going to have faith God is going
- 9:20Speaker 1: to take care of us and going to show us
- 9:22Speaker 1: his might. So what jehash Fat does next is he
- 9:25Speaker 1: acts on that faith that he has. He is not
- 9:28Speaker 1: just all talk. He actually puts this into action. Here's
- 9:32Speaker 1: what he does. It says he appointed those who were
- 9:35Speaker 1: to sing to Yahweh and give praise in holy array
- 9:38Speaker 1: as they go out before the army and say, give
- 9:42Speaker 1: thanks to Yahweh for his loving kindness indoors forever. So
- 9:45Speaker 1: that's a famous psalm that we see many times throughout
- 9:49Speaker 1: the psalms. One of the ones that David wrote was
- 9:52Speaker 1: give thanks to Yahweh his loving kindness indoors forever. And
- 9:55Speaker 1: you know this psalm, it was timeless. It keeps coming
- 9:57Speaker 1: back up through all of the Kings and the chronicles.
- 10:01Speaker 1: But anyway, johasha Fat is sending these singers out, likely
- 10:05Speaker 1: without weapons, in the front of the battle, and they're
- 10:10Speaker 1: supposed to sing this psalm loudly to God and just
- 10:15Speaker 1: like walk into this battle. So instead of having weapons,
- 10:20Speaker 1: these people had worship. And these singers line up and
- 10:24Speaker 1: they go in front of the army. And johash Fat knows.
- 10:28Speaker 1: He knows that he is putting the lives of his
- 10:31Speaker 1: men on the line. He knows this, but he has
- 10:35Speaker 1: true faith in God that what God said is going
- 10:38Speaker 1: to come to fruition. He believed it. It says, when
- 10:42Speaker 1: they began to sing and to praise Yahweh, set ambushers
- 10:46Speaker 1: against the children of Amen Moab and Mount Seer who
- 10:50Speaker 1: had come up against Judah, and they were struck. So
- 10:54Speaker 1: apparently what happened is as soon as these singers start
- 10:58Speaker 1: praising God, is said that God sent ambushers. Who were
- 11:04Speaker 1: these ambushers? No one knows. It could be that members
- 11:09Speaker 1: of their own army betrayed them, though I kind of
- 11:12Speaker 1: think that's doubtful. It could be another nation, you know.
- 11:15Speaker 1: It does say that only half of the residents of
- 11:18Speaker 1: Mount Seer had come to battle with the Moabites and
- 11:21Speaker 1: Ammonites against Judah. So maybe the other inhabitants of Mount
- 11:24Speaker 1: Syr came up and ambushed these guys. Or and here's
- 11:29Speaker 1: what a lot of people think, God sent a supernatural
- 11:33Speaker 1: power like angels to ambush these men. We don't know
- 11:38Speaker 1: what happened here. In fact, it's all kind of confusing
- 11:41Speaker 1: because even the Moabites and Ammonites themselves have no clue
- 11:44Speaker 1: what's going on. It says that they start fighting against
- 11:48Speaker 1: the inhabitants of Mount Syr to utterly kill and destroy them.
- 11:52Speaker 1: So it's possible that the ambushers were the people of
- 11:55Speaker 1: Mount Seer. Maybe the other half that didn't come up
- 11:58Speaker 1: in this battle. Oh but somehow the Ammonites and the
- 12:02Speaker 1: Moabites start blaming the people mount Seir and start just
- 12:06Speaker 1: killing them off, and there's so much confusion. It says
- 12:10Speaker 1: that when they finished the inhabitants of Syr, everyone helped
- 12:13Speaker 1: to destroy each other. So they're all turning on each other.
- 12:17Speaker 1: There's no more unity within this battle because they probably
- 12:20Speaker 1: think there is an internal threat going on here, so
- 12:23Speaker 1: they start just like killing each other left and right.
- 12:26Speaker 1: Verse twenty four. When Judah came to the place overlooking
- 12:30Speaker 1: the wilderness, they looked at the multitude and behold they
- 12:34Speaker 1: were dead bodies fallen to earth, and there was none
- 12:37Speaker 1: who escaped. Every single person in this foreign army died.
- 12:42Speaker 1: And here's the other interesting thing about this. You know,
- 12:45Speaker 1: Judah believed they were going into battle. You know, they
- 12:49Speaker 1: they probably thought they were going to see a battle
- 12:52Speaker 1: of some sort. But yet when they finally get there,
- 12:55Speaker 1: you know, they were singing the whole way. When they
- 12:57Speaker 1: finally get to the wilderness where the invading army was,
- 13:01Speaker 1: everybody was just dead. You know, they like looked out
- 13:03Speaker 1: and like literally everybody. The entire wilderness is strewn with
- 13:08Speaker 1: dead bodies and so they obviously take advantage of all
- 13:12Speaker 1: of this. It says josh Fat and his people came
- 13:16Speaker 1: to take the plunder. They found among them in abundance,
- 13:19Speaker 1: both riches and dead bodies, with precious jewels which they
- 13:23Speaker 1: stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away.
- 13:28Speaker 1: They took plunder for three days. It was so much
- 13:31Speaker 1: so that gives us a little bit of a picture
- 13:33Speaker 1: of how big this army actually was, that it took
- 13:37Speaker 1: three solid days of coming back and forth to actually
- 13:40Speaker 1: take all of the plunder and all of the jewels
- 13:43Speaker 1: and armor and weapons that this army had had with
- 13:47Speaker 1: them right before they died the first time around, all
- 13:50Speaker 1: of these soldiers of Judah go down and take so
- 13:54Speaker 1: much plunder they couldn't even carry it all away with them, right,
- 13:57Speaker 1: So they take all of this plunder, and it says
- 14:01Speaker 1: on the fourth day they assembled themselves in Barica Valley,
- 14:05Speaker 1: for there they blessed Yahweh. Therefore the name of that
- 14:09Speaker 1: place is called Barraka Valley to this day. So the
- 14:12Speaker 1: name Barica means a blessing, so it's called Blessing Valley
- 14:16Speaker 1: because that's where the people went and blessed Yahweh. And
- 14:20Speaker 1: you might be like, what does it mean to bless God?
- 14:23Speaker 1: You know, we often see in the Bible of God
- 14:25Speaker 1: himself blessing us, you know, giving us favor of some sort.
- 14:29Speaker 1: How do we bless God? Because honestly, like, there's nothing
- 14:33Speaker 1: we can really give God. God owns everything, So what
- 14:36Speaker 1: can we actually give to God? Well, actually, the word
- 14:40Speaker 1: blessing is very similar to the word holy. Holy means
- 14:44Speaker 1: to be set apart. Blessing also means to set someone
- 14:49Speaker 1: apart as holy or different. So when we bless Yahweh,
- 14:53Speaker 1: we are saying that he is holy and above us.
- 14:55Speaker 1: We are exalting him. That is what it means to
- 14:59Speaker 1: bless Yahweh, basically just to glorify him, it says. Then
- 15:04Speaker 1: they returned out of this valley, every man of Judah
- 15:07Speaker 1: and Jerusalem, with Jehashafat in front of them, to go
- 15:09Speaker 1: again to Jerusalem with joy, for Yahweh had made them
- 15:13Speaker 1: to rejoice over their enemies. They came to Jerusalem with
- 15:17Speaker 1: stringed instruments, harps and trumpets to Yahweh's house. So basically
- 15:22Speaker 1: all of the people were flabbergasted and excited and joyful
- 15:28Speaker 1: because of what they had just seen. They saw God's
- 15:30Speaker 1: power through and through, so they are happy. They are joyful.
- 15:35Speaker 1: And you know what, God wants us to be joyful.
- 15:37Speaker 1: I think when He works for us and we praise
- 15:40Speaker 1: his name just in excitement and joy, he smiles down
- 15:44Speaker 1: on that. I truly believe that, because it says in
- 15:47Speaker 1: the New Testament that one of the fruits of the
- 15:48Speaker 1: spirit is joy. So obviously He wants us to be joyful,
- 15:54Speaker 1: especially if we are being joyful in him. He enjoys that.
- 15:58Speaker 1: He loves that. So the people are all singing with
- 16:01Speaker 1: stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, and they get to
- 16:04Speaker 1: Yahwei's house, probably to praise him more in front of
- 16:07Speaker 1: all of Judah. But not only has Judah seen God's
- 16:12Speaker 1: great power, but actually it says in verse twenty nine
- 16:14Speaker 1: that the rest of the kingdoms saw God's great power
- 16:17Speaker 1: through this. They heard about what happened to the Moabites
- 16:21Speaker 1: and the Ammonites, and they were terrified, is what it says.
- 16:25Speaker 1: The fear of God was on all the kingdoms of
- 16:27Speaker 1: the countries when they heard that Yahweh fought against the
- 16:31Speaker 1: enemies of Israel. So the realm of josh Fat was quiet,
- 16:34Speaker 1: for his God gave him rest all around. Not only
- 16:38Speaker 1: was God showing his power to the people of Judah,
- 16:42Speaker 1: but he was showing his power to the rest of
- 16:44Speaker 1: the world as well, because something like this does not
- 16:47Speaker 1: go unnoticed. You know, even back in these days when
- 16:50Speaker 1: news did not travel very quickly. There's no way this
- 16:54Speaker 1: wasn't getting out that a huge army of Moabites, Ammonites,
- 16:58Speaker 1: and people of Mount Seer had just died in this battle.
- 17:02Speaker 1: There is no way that's not getting out. God was
- 17:04Speaker 1: showing his power to all the people, and these people,
- 17:08Speaker 1: it says, recognized that it was Yahweh who had done this.
- 17:13Speaker 1: I wonder how many people of all these other nations
- 17:16Speaker 1: heard this story and thought, maybe I should start worshiping Yahweh.
- 17:21Speaker 1: He sounds like a very powerful God. Maybe that's who
- 17:26Speaker 1: I should be worshiping instead of these little iron gods
- 17:29Speaker 1: that don't seem to be doing anything for me. Maybe
- 17:31Speaker 1: I should try worshiping Yahweh. God was showing his power
- 17:34Speaker 1: to everybody through this one act that he did. Hey,
- 17:37Speaker 1: you know what everybody thinks that in the Old Testament
- 17:41Speaker 1: God was not reaching the gentiles, like he didn't care
- 17:44Speaker 1: about them. But there's verses strewn all over Scripture just
- 17:47Speaker 1: like this about how God was reaching out to the gentiles.
- 17:53Speaker 1: God is the God of everybody, and the Old Testament
- 17:55Speaker 1: proves this so many times over again. Verse thirty one,
- 18:01Speaker 1: it gives a little recap of Jehashavat's reign. It says,
- 18:06Speaker 1: so johsh Fat reigned over Judah. He was thirty five
- 18:08Speaker 1: years old when he began to reign. He reigned twenty
- 18:11Speaker 1: five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azuba, the
- 18:15Speaker 1: daughter of Shil. He walked in the way of Asa,
- 18:18Speaker 1: his father, and didn't turn away from it, doing that
- 18:20Speaker 1: which was right in Yahweh's eyes. So you remember that Asa,
- 18:24Speaker 1: Joshfat's dad was actually quite good as well. He, you know,
- 18:28Speaker 1: kind of went off the deep end a little bit
- 18:30Speaker 1: towards the end of his life. Not too bad, but
- 18:31Speaker 1: a little bit, as we see many of the kings
- 18:35Speaker 1: do towards the end of his life. But you know,
- 18:37Speaker 1: jehasha Fat, he maintained his belief in Yahweh, it says,
- 18:42Speaker 1: for his entire life. However, in spite of his dedication
- 18:46Speaker 1: to Yahweh. It says in verse thirty three that the
- 18:48Speaker 1: high places were not taken away, and the people had
- 18:52Speaker 1: still not set their hearts on the God of their fathers.
- 18:55Speaker 1: Even though jehash Fat was a great king and a
- 18:58Speaker 1: great leader for Judah, the high places, it says, were
- 19:03Speaker 1: not taken away, even though it did mention at the
- 19:05Speaker 1: beginning of Johashafat's reign a few chapters back that he
- 19:08Speaker 1: did remove the high places. It could have been that
- 19:11Speaker 1: he removed the high places of just the Asherah because
- 19:16Speaker 1: he really targeted the Ashera cult and got rid of
- 19:19Speaker 1: all of the Asherer poles throughout Jerusalem and Judah, and
- 19:24Speaker 1: also removed the homosexual prostitution that was happening alongside the
- 19:28Speaker 1: Ashera cult because you know, the Ashra cult was just
- 19:31Speaker 1: a big sex cult essentially, so he removed all of
- 19:34Speaker 1: that out of the land. And so it could be
- 19:36Speaker 1: that when Scripture mentioned that he removed the high places
- 19:39Speaker 1: a few chapters ago, they were talking specifically about the
- 19:42Speaker 1: high places in relation to the Ashera. But the other
- 19:47Speaker 1: high places, you know, the ones that were supposedly for
- 19:50Speaker 1: yahwe worship, those ones did not go away, just as Asa,
- 19:55Speaker 1: you know, Johashfat's dad before him, didn't remove the high
- 19:59Speaker 1: places to Yahwah, but remove some of the other ones.
- 20:02Speaker 1: Josh Fat did the same thing. So unfortunately the high
- 20:05Speaker 1: places were not removed. And also the people had still
- 20:10Speaker 1: not set their hearts on the God of their fathers.
- 20:13Speaker 1: So the people themselves, in spite of you know how
- 20:16Speaker 1: good of a king joosh Fat was, the people themselves
- 20:20Speaker 1: still refused to worship only Yahweh. They were constantly bringing
- 20:25Speaker 1: in all of these other little idols in their lives.
- 20:29Speaker 1: Even though they saw God's power, their hearts were not
- 20:32Speaker 1: fully set on Yahweh. You know this has talked about
- 20:36Speaker 1: in the prophets. I believe God told Jeremiah this that
- 20:40Speaker 1: he was so irritated with Judah because from the beginning
- 20:45Speaker 1: the people just refused to believe in God. Fully, they
- 20:49Speaker 1: just refused to put their trust in him, even though
- 20:53Speaker 1: he was constantly showing his power and love and blessing
- 20:56Speaker 1: to them. So Noat says that thirty four the rest
- 21:01Speaker 1: of the acts of jehash Fat first and last, behold,
- 21:03Speaker 1: they are written in the history of Jahu the son
- 21:05Speaker 1: of Hanani, which is included in the Book of the
- 21:08Speaker 1: Kings of Israel, So that would be talking about second Kings,
- 21:12Speaker 1: and jehash Fat, of course, is mentioned in Second Kings
- 21:15Speaker 1: and apparently, even though we don't know the author first
- 21:18Speaker 1: and second Kings, Jayhu the son of Hanani, penned some
- 21:21Speaker 1: of it, So that's kind of interesting. We don't know
- 21:23Speaker 1: if he wrote the whole thing, probably not, but he
- 21:25Speaker 1: certainly wrote portions of it, specifically regarding Jehoshfat's life. You
- 21:30Speaker 1: remember that jay who the son of Hanani, was one
- 21:32Speaker 1: of the prophets in Judah at this time. Then in
- 21:36Speaker 1: verses thirty five through thirty seven, there's an interesting little
- 21:39Speaker 1: story here. It says, after this jehash Fat, king of Judah,
- 21:42Speaker 1: joined himself with a Hazia, the king of Israel. The
- 21:45Speaker 1: same did very wickedly. He joined himself to him to
- 21:49Speaker 1: make ships to go to Tarshish. They made the ships
- 21:52Speaker 1: in Essie and Gaber. So, unfortunately, it seems that jehosh
- 21:57Speaker 1: Fat has not learned his lesson that he should not
- 21:59Speaker 1: part with evil kings. Because a Hazia was a very
- 22:04Speaker 1: bad king. He was the son of Ahab, who we
- 22:07Speaker 1: talked about several weeks ago. A Hazia was such a
- 22:11Speaker 1: bad king. Actually, his story is talked about in Second
- 22:15Speaker 1: King's chapter one, I believe, where he falls through the
- 22:19Speaker 1: roof and ends up dying because he refused to trust
- 22:25Speaker 1: in God and instead went to the bail prophets to
- 22:30Speaker 1: try to get you know, word from them, prophecies from them.
- 22:34Speaker 1: So he ended up dying, and that, you know, that's
- 22:36Speaker 1: very sad. He was only the king for two years
- 22:38Speaker 1: in Israel because of how bad he was, and unfortunately
- 22:41Speaker 1: josh Fatt thought it was a really good thing to
- 22:44Speaker 1: partner with him, as he did with King Ahab. So
- 22:46Speaker 1: I don't know what johosh Fat was thinking with this.
- 22:49Speaker 1: Maybe he was just thinking this would be a good
- 22:50Speaker 1: business opportunity, you know, to build these ships together so
- 22:54Speaker 1: we can go to Tarshish. Or maybe he felt some
- 22:56Speaker 1: sort of pressure to remain friendly with Ahab's family because
- 23:00Speaker 1: joosh Fat actually had his son marry Ahab's daughter, so
- 23:06Speaker 1: they were connected through marriage, and maybe he felt that
- 23:10Speaker 1: he had to continue being friendly with Ahab's family. I
- 23:13Speaker 1: have no clue what josh Fat was thinking, but he
- 23:17Speaker 1: joins with Hazia, and it says that Eliezer, the son
- 23:21Speaker 1: of Doda Vahu of Marisha, prophesied against Jehoashfat, saying, because
- 23:27Speaker 1: you have joined yourself with a Jazia, Yahweh has destroyed
- 23:31Speaker 1: your works and the ships were wrecked, so they were
- 23:34Speaker 1: not able to go to Tarshish. So that would be
- 23:36Speaker 1: a huge investment lost for Judah, like a really big
- 23:41Speaker 1: hit that these beautiful ships were all wrecked. And that
- 23:44Speaker 1: is essentially the end of Jehashafat's life, because if you
- 23:48Speaker 1: turn to the next chapter and read verse one, it
- 23:50Speaker 1: says that Jehashafat slept with his fathers and was buried
- 23:54Speaker 1: with his fathers in David's city. So jehash Fad dies
- 23:58Speaker 1: right after this. You know, he had a good long rain,
- 24:01Speaker 1: but it has come to the end, as everybody's life must.
- 24:06Speaker 1: And now his son, Jehoram is going to rain in
- 24:10Speaker 1: his place. And Jehorah, he's probably going to be the
- 24:13Speaker 1: worst king that Judah has had so far. So we
- 24:17Speaker 1: will be getting into Jehorah's life on Wednesday. So I
- 24:20Speaker 1: hope to see all of you wonderful, faithful listeners then.
- 24:23Speaker 1: And of course, before I end this episode, please take
- 24:27Speaker 1: a listen to a quick word from a sponsor. And
- 24:31Speaker 1: as I promised you guys last week, I'm going to
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- 25:21Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, have a fantastic and beautiful and wonderful rest
- 25:25Speaker 1: of your day. I will see all of you guys,
- 25:27Speaker 1: bright and early for an episode from tewod to Timothy
- 25:29Speaker 1: tomorrow morning, Happy listening, and God bless. I just want
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