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1 Chronicles 23 - The Important Work Behind-The-Scenes At The Temple · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Well, hello and good morning friends and faithful listeners, and
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Speaker 1: thank you for tuning into the Bible Explain podcast on
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Speaker 1: this lovely Monday morning.
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Speaker 2: So we're going to get.
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Speaker 1: Into First Chronicles chapter twenty three today and discuss the
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Speaker 1: levites and how they are broken up into different divisions
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Speaker 1: to do different jobs in the temple that is about
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Speaker 1: to be built, and of course, how does all of
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Speaker 1: this relate to today. Well, I hope you, faithful listeners,
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Speaker 1: had a wonderful weekend. I actually entered the Federal duck
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Speaker 1: stamp competition this year and the judging was on Thursday,
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Speaker 1: and my painting did not make it to the second round.
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Speaker 1: I did have one judge vote for it to move
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Speaker 1: into the second round, but only one, and you need
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Speaker 1: at least three judges to want it to move forward
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Speaker 1: in order for it to actually move forward. So that
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Speaker 1: was a little bit bummed out by that. But it
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Speaker 1: was such a fun experience, both from the painting of
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Speaker 1: the duck to the process of the judging. The entire
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Speaker 1: experience was fantastic and I have duck stamp fever. I
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Speaker 1: am looking forward to entering next year's contest and hopefully
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Speaker 1: my painting gets through to the second round, we shall see.
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Speaker 1: But of course, faith listeners, tell me what you guys
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Speaker 1: did over the weekend. I do love hearing from all
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Speaker 1: of you. And of course, if you ever have a
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Speaker 1: prayer request, do not hesitate to reach out. You're going
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Speaker 1: to find my email listed in the description of this episode,
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Speaker 1: and I will pray for you for the week. Let's
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Speaker 1: go ahead and read First Chronicles twenty three today, the
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Speaker 1: entire chapter, and as usual, I will be reading from
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Speaker 1: the web today, but feel free to grab the version
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Speaker 1: of the Bible that you prefer. And if you can't
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Speaker 1: read the Bible write at this minute because you're working
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Speaker 1: or driving, then I always encourage you to go back
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Speaker 1: when you can and read through it yourself, because you
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Speaker 1: know I am a human being and I make mistakes,
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Speaker 1: so please, I encourage you guys to always do that,
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Speaker 1: and don't just take my words for it. Read it
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Speaker 1: for yourself, and let the Holy Spirit work through what
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Speaker 1: you are reading. First Chronicles twenty three, the entire chapter.
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Speaker 1: Let's jump right in together. Now, David was old and
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Speaker 1: full of days, and he made Solomon his son, king
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Speaker 1: over Israel. He gathered together all the princes of Israel
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Speaker 1: with the priests and the Levites. The Levites were counted
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Speaker 1: from thirty years old and upward, and their number by
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Speaker 1: their polls manned by man was thirty eight thousand. David said,
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Speaker 1: of these, twenty four thousand were to oversee the work
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Speaker 1: of Yahwei's house, six thousand were officers and judges, four
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Speaker 1: thousand were doorkeepers, and four thousand praised Yahweh with the
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Speaker 1: instruments which I made for giving praise. David divided them
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Speaker 1: into divisions according to the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath,
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Speaker 1: and Murari. Of the Gershnites Leiden and Scheme. The sons
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Speaker 1: of Leyden, Jehiel, the Chief, Zatham and Joel three. The
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Speaker 1: sons of Shame, Schelmouth, Haziel and Herron three. These were
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Speaker 1: the heads of their father's houses.
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Speaker 2: Of Leiden.
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Speaker 1: The sons of Shame, Jayhath, Zena, Jayush and Beria. These
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Speaker 1: four were the sons of Shame. Jahath was the chief
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Speaker 1: and Ziza the second. But Jaeyush and Beriah didn't have
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Speaker 1: many sons. Therefore they became a father's house in one reckoning.
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Speaker 1: The sons of Kohath, Amram, Iszar, Hebron and Uziel four.
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Speaker 1: The sons of Amram, Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was
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Speaker 1: separated that he should sanctify the most holy things, he
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Speaker 1: and his sons forever, to burn incense before Yahweh, to
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Speaker 1: minister to him, and to bless in his name forever.
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Speaker 1: But as for Moses, the man of God, his sons
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Speaker 1: were named among the tribe of Levi. The sons of Moses,
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Speaker 1: Gersham and Eliezer. The sons of Gersham Shebuel the chief.
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Speaker 1: The son of Eliezer was Rahabiya the Chief, and Eliezer
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Speaker 1: had no other sons. But the sons of Rahabiyah were
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Speaker 1: very many. The son of Eazar Schelmuth the Chief, the
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Speaker 1: sons of Hebron, Jeria the Chief, Ameria the second, Jehaziel
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Speaker 1: the third, and Jacamium the fourth. The sons of Uziel,
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Speaker 1: Micah the Chief and Ishia the second. The sons of
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Speaker 1: m Marai, Molli, and Mushi. The sons of Mali, Eliezer
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Speaker 1: and Kish. Eliezer died and had no sons, but daughters only,
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Speaker 1: and their relatives. The sons of Kish took them as wives.
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Speaker 1: The sons of Mushi, Molli, Adir, and Jeremyth three these
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Speaker 1: were the sons of Levi after their father's houses, even
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Speaker 1: the heads of the father's houses, of those who were
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Speaker 1: counted individually in the number of names by their poles
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Speaker 1: who did the work for the service of Yaowai's house
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Speaker 1: from twenty years old and upward. For David said, Yahweh,
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Speaker 1: the God of Israel, has given rest to his people,
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Speaker 1: and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. Also the Levites will
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Speaker 1: no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its
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Speaker 1: vessels for its service. For by the last words of David,
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Speaker 1: the sons of Levi recounted from twenty years old and upward,
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Speaker 1: for their duty was to wait on the sons of
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Speaker 1: Erin for the service of Yahway's house, in the courts,
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Speaker 1: in the rooms, and in the purifying of all holy things,
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Speaker 1: even the work of the service of God's house, for
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Speaker 1: the show bred also, and for the fine flower, for
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Speaker 1: a mule offering, whether of unlevend wafers or that of
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Speaker 1: which is baked in the pan, or of that which
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Speaker 1: is soaked, and for all measurements of quantity and size,
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Speaker 1: And to stand every morning to thank and praise Yahweh,
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Speaker 1: and likewise in the evening, and to offer all burnt
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Speaker 1: offerings to Yahweh on the Sabbaths, on the new moons,
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Speaker 1: and on the feasts in number according to the ordinance
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Speaker 1: concerning them, continually before Yahweh, and that they should keep
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Speaker 1: the duty of the tenem meeting, the duty of the
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Speaker 1: Holy Place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron
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Speaker 1: their brothers for the service of Yahweh's house. So in
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Speaker 1: the last few chapters of First Chronicles, we are going
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Speaker 1: to get into basically David's last commands for his people
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Speaker 1: before he dies. And what's really interesting about this is
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Speaker 1: shows how dedicated David was to the Temple that the
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Speaker 1: last things he's telling people to do is all related
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Speaker 1: to the temple pretty much. So David's heart was definitely
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Speaker 1: for God's Temple, like that is what he knew needed
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Speaker 1: to succeed in order for Israel to succeed. David understood
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Speaker 1: that if if Israel was far away from God, that
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Speaker 1: if they were not worshiping Yahweh, that Israel as a
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Speaker 1: nation would fail, and that is why David dedicated so
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Speaker 1: much time to making sure that the temple was special,
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Speaker 1: that people would want to go there to worship Yahweh,
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Speaker 1: that things would be done the proper way, that organization
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Speaker 1: will be put in place so that people could effectively
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Speaker 1: go and worship Yahweh at the temple. So I think
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Speaker 1: that's what David's mindset was in his last days, that
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Speaker 1: this is what needed to be done in order for
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Speaker 1: Israel to succeed after him. So it says in verse
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Speaker 1: one that David was old and full of days, and
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Speaker 1: he made Solomon his son, king over Israel. Now what's
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Speaker 1: really funny is that the chronicler does not mention a
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Speaker 1: single thing about the tumultuous way that Solomon got to
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Speaker 1: the throne because David's kids were all kind of bad,
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Speaker 1: like they all were fighting with the each other and
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Speaker 1: trying to kill each other. You guys remember the famous
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Speaker 1: story of Absalom, right, one of David's sons tried to
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Speaker 1: kill David in order to get the throne. Well, that
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Speaker 1: actually happened again in First Kings Chapter one. David's son
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Speaker 1: ad in Nija tried to become the next king, tried
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Speaker 1: to usurp the throne in a very similar way actually
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Speaker 1: that Absalom had done years prior to this. But Solomon
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Speaker 1: was going to be the next king, that is who
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Speaker 1: David dedicated the throne to mainly because God had actually
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Speaker 1: told David that Solomon would be the son that would
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Speaker 1: raise up the temple, and so I think David knew
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Speaker 1: from God himself that Solomon was supposed to be the
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Speaker 1: next king. But David's other son, ad Nija, obviously wanted
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Speaker 1: the throne for himself, and you can read that story
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Speaker 1: in First King's Chapter one, verses thirty two through fifty three,
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Speaker 1: where at Nija is just deciding that he's going to
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Speaker 1: become the next king, and he starts like blowing these
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Speaker 1: trumpets throughout all the city's streets while his father is
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Speaker 1: still alive, by the way, telling people with all these
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Speaker 1: heralds that he is the next king, that David has
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Speaker 1: dedicated the throne to him, and that was not true,
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Speaker 1: and ultimately ad Nija did not win. Actually, he tried
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Speaker 1: to usurp the throne twice, once before Solomon became the king,
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Speaker 1: when David was still alive, and once afterward, actually after
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Speaker 1: Solomon had already become the king and David had died.
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Speaker 1: He tried to do it in a different way by
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Speaker 1: marrying one of David's concubines, which would have given him
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Speaker 1: some legitimacy to the throne, and Solomon I believe at
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Speaker 1: that point ended up having him killed because he kept
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Speaker 1: trying to take the throne away from Solomon. But the
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Speaker 1: chronicler does not mention any of that, which is kind
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Speaker 1: of funny, and instead just goes straight to the Levites.
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Speaker 1: So that kind of shines a light a little bit
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Speaker 1: on who the.
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Speaker 2: Author of Chronicles was.
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Speaker 1: Most people think it was the priest Ezra, and Ezra
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Speaker 1: was really focusing in on the rules of the temple
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Speaker 1: and on the building of the temple and who the
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Speaker 1: Levites were, because Ezra knew that this was important going forward,
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Speaker 1: especially since Ezra was writing this after the Babylonian exile
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Speaker 1: when people are starting to come back to Israel. But
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Speaker 1: going back to First Chronicles twenty three, verse two, it
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Speaker 1: says after David had made Solomon his son king over Israel,
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Speaker 1: it says he gathered together all the princes of Israel
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Speaker 1: with priests and the levites, which, by the way, David
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Speaker 1: never gave up the throne really until after he died,
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Speaker 1: but he dedicated the throne to Solomon, which has talked
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Speaker 1: about in First Kings Chapter one. But after all this happens,
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Speaker 1: and this tumultuous thing takes place. He gathered together all
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Speaker 1: the princes of Israel, with the priest and the Levites,
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Speaker 1: and it says the Levites were counted from thirty years
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Speaker 1: old and upward, and their number by their polls man
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Speaker 1: by man was thirty eight thousand. Now keep in mind
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Speaker 1: right here that the Levites, it says, were counted. A
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Speaker 1: few chapters back, we actually saw David go and count
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Speaker 1: the people, and that was considered to be a very
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Speaker 1: big sin. But this show's right here that there was
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Speaker 1: certainly something more going on in David's heart rather than
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Speaker 1: just counting the people, because we do see censuses taking
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Speaker 1: place several times in scripture. Actually in Numbers chapter four,
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Speaker 1: God commanded Moses to take a census. So censuses in
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Speaker 1: and of itself are not sins. Because even David right
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Speaker 1: here counts the Levites. He took a census of the Levites.
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Speaker 1: That wasn't a sin. So we know a few chapters
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Speaker 1: back when David counted the people, there was certainly something
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Speaker 1: more going on than just taking a census, but we
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Speaker 1: just don't know what that was. But anyway, David takes
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Speaker 1: the census here of these priests. It says the levites
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Speaker 1: were counted in verse three from thirty years old and upward,
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Speaker 1: and their number by their polls man by man was
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Speaker 1: thirty eight thousand. So that's a lot of levites, you
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Speaker 1: guys might be thinking, thirty eight thousand levites. David said,
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Speaker 1: of these, twenty four thousand were to oversee the work
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Speaker 1: of Yaway's house, six thousand were officers and judges, four
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Speaker 1: thousand were doorkeepers, and four thousand praise Yahweh with the
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Speaker 1: instruments which I made for giving praise. And you might
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Speaker 1: be like, why in the world is David setting up
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Speaker 1: all of these levites, like thousands of levites for each job,
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Speaker 1: for just one temple. You know, how much work could
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Speaker 1: possibly need done at this one temple. Well, very likely
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Speaker 1: these levites were not working all at the same time.
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Speaker 1: You know, I really highly doubt that four thousand levitical
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Speaker 1: doorkeepers were standing next to the door of Yahway's temple
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Speaker 1: like blocking the entrance to get in. They probably worked
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Speaker 1: in shifts and took months off. You know, I'm sure
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Speaker 1: that this was very highly organized, and in fact, this
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Speaker 1: is the first time in Israel's history that we really
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Speaker 1: see this organization taking place other than when God first
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Speaker 1: instituted it way back in the wilderness. You know, God
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Speaker 1: initially organized all of this, but then as the Israelites
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Speaker 1: moved into the Promised Land, they never organized any of this.
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Speaker 1: It was like the wild West in Israel's history, especially
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Speaker 1: during the time of the Judges, like nothing of this
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Speaker 1: nature was taking place. David was the first person to
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Speaker 1: reinstitute this organization of the Levites, and he did this
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Speaker 1: once again because he wanted God's temple to be a
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Speaker 1: place where everyone could easily go to worship Yahweh. He
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Speaker 1: understood the necessity of all of this. In verse six,
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Speaker 1: it says David divided them into divisions according to the
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Speaker 1: sons of Levi Gershin, Cohath, and Marari. And then in
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Speaker 1: verses seven through twenty one, it talks again about the
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Speaker 1: families of the Gershnites, the Coothites, and the Maraites. And
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Speaker 1: I'm not going to go back over these three families,
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Speaker 1: but i will remind you, guys what each of these
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Speaker 1: divisions are. So the Gershonite Levites were the Levites who
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Speaker 1: oversaw the temple coverings, so this would include any tapestries.
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Speaker 1: This included the ropes and the tents and all of
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Speaker 1: the things I suppose that went into making the temple
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Speaker 1: look beautiful. The Coothite Levites were the only ones allowed
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Speaker 1: to be priests. So no, not every single Levite was
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Speaker 1: a priest, but every single priest at this time had
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Speaker 1: to be a Levite. Now that all ended, of course,
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Speaker 1: when Jesus came and became the first priest who was
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Speaker 1: not a Levite, because Jesus was of the tribe of Judah.
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Speaker 1: It says in the Book of Hebrews that Jesus is
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Speaker 1: now our high priest, no longer under the order of
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Speaker 1: Moses and Aaron, but under the order of malc Kisa
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Speaker 1: Dek okay and Malchisedek was talked about way back in
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Speaker 1: the book of Genesis, and we will certainly get into
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Speaker 1: who Malchisa Dek was when we move into the Book
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Speaker 1: of Hebrews. But Malchisa Dek was a very important priest
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Speaker 1: back in the days of Abraham. In fact, he was
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Speaker 1: Abraham's priest before the nation of Israel even was born.
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Speaker 1: But up until the time of Jesus, every priest had
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Speaker 1: to be a Levite, but not every Levite was a priest.
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Speaker 1: Most of these Levites just made sure that the day
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Speaker 1: to day operations of the temple were running smoothly. So
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Speaker 1: the Gershanites could not be priests. The Coothites could be.
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Speaker 1: But the Coothites, not all of them became priests. But
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Speaker 1: they did have to oversee the temple furniture as well,
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Speaker 1: so they maintained and took care of the altar, the stands,
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Speaker 1: the implements, everything that was necessary for the functioning of
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Speaker 1: the temple. And they were also supposed to oversee the
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Speaker 1: Ark of the Covenant, but of course that all changed
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Speaker 1: now that there is a permanent temple in place. The furniture,
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Speaker 1: like the Ark of the Covenant, is not going to
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Speaker 1: be moving around anymore, so the Coothites no longer had
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Speaker 1: the responsibility of carrying the Ark of the Covenant. After
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Speaker 1: the temple was built, and then the last division of
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Speaker 1: the Levites were called the Maraites, and the Maraites oversaw
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Speaker 1: the construction of the temple, so they maintained the building
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Speaker 1: structure itself. They made sure everything was to code. I
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Speaker 1: guess they would update things as things were breaking down.
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Speaker 1: That was the job of the Miraites. So in a nutshell,
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Speaker 1: the three divisions of the Levites were the Miraites, the Coothites,
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Speaker 1: and the Gershenites. The only people of those three divisions
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Speaker 1: that could become priests were the Coothite males, specifically from
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Speaker 1: the lineage of Aaron, Moses's brother. So then, of course,
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Speaker 1: in verses seven through twenty three it goes into those
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Speaker 1: three divisions of the Levites a little bit more in depth.
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Speaker 1: But like I said, I'm not going to go back
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Speaker 1: over that again because in the next chapter actually this
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Speaker 1: is talked about once again, so you can see how
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Speaker 1: the author really focused in on the tribe of Levi
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Speaker 1: for a good reason actually, and we will get into
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Speaker 1: that a little bit more in depth in the next chapter.
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Speaker 1: But jumping down to verse twenty four, it says that
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Speaker 1: these were the sons of Levi after their father's houses,
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Speaker 1: even the heads of their father's houses, of whom were
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Speaker 1: counted individually in the number of names by their polls
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Speaker 1: who did the work for the service of Yaway's house
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Speaker 1: from twenty years old and upward. So it's really interesting
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Speaker 1: about that, is David had the Levites counted from twenty
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Speaker 1: years old and upward. But earlier on in this chapter,
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Speaker 1: in verse three, it says the Levites were counted from
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Speaker 1: thirty years old and upward, and that was according to
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Speaker 1: the law. In Numbers chapter four, verses one through three,
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Speaker 1: God himself specifically said that the Levites were supposed to
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Speaker 1: work from thirty years old and upward. You always spoke
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Speaker 1: to Moses and to Aaron, saying, take a census of
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Speaker 1: the sons of Kohath, from among the sons of Levi,
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Speaker 1: by their families, by their father's houses, from thirty years
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Speaker 1: old and upward, even until fifty years old, all who
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Speaker 1: enter into the service to do the work of the
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Speaker 1: tent of meeting. So God himself instituted that levites who
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Speaker 1: were supposed to help in the temple were to be
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Speaker 1: at least thirty years old. Now, later on, in Numbers
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Speaker 1: chapter eight, God did say that twenty five year olds
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Speaker 1: could help as well. Numbers eight, starting in verse twenty three,
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Speaker 1: you always spoke to Moses, saying, this is what is
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Speaker 1: assigned to the Levites.
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Speaker 2: From twenty five.
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Speaker 1: Years old and upward, they shall go in to wait
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Speaker 1: on the service in the work of the tene meeting.
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Speaker 1: And from the age of fifty years they shall retire
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Speaker 1: from doing the work, and shall serve no more, but
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Speaker 1: shall assist their brothers in the ten of meeting to
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Speaker 1: perform the duty, and shall perform no service. This is
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Speaker 1: how you shall have the leetes do their duties. So
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Speaker 1: God specifically puts a age limit in place. A Levite
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Speaker 1: who wanted to help in the temple had to be
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Speaker 1: at least twenty five years old, and they could be
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Speaker 1: no older than fifty years old. But David in First
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Speaker 1: Chronicles twenty three just kind of ignores the age limit,
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Speaker 1: and it says that he counted the people from twenty
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Speaker 1: years old and upward. And no one has any clue
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Speaker 1: as to why David did this, because in a sense,
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Speaker 1: David was kind of breaking the Old Testament law that
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Speaker 1: God put in place. There's a lot of speculation. It
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Speaker 1: could be that David made the age limit for Levites
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Speaker 1: a little bit younger because that was also the age
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Speaker 1: where a young man could join the military, and so
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Speaker 1: David wanted it even across the board. It could be
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Speaker 1: that David thought that younger men were more necessary for
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Speaker 1: or the work of the temple. Maybe he just wanted
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Speaker 1: like young guns in there who were able to do
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Speaker 1: physical work. Could also be that he thought that more
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Speaker 1: people were necessary in order for the functioning of the
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Speaker 1: temple to go smoothly. He just wanted more manpower. But
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Speaker 1: it is kind of bizarre that David ignored the age
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Speaker 1: limit that God himself put in place in the Book
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Speaker 1: of Numbers, and no one knows why he did that.
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Speaker 1: But in verse twenty five, David does explain why he's
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Speaker 1: putting all this organization in place.
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Speaker 2: Here's what it says.
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Speaker 1: For David said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given
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Speaker 1: rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. Also,
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Speaker 1: the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle
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Speaker 1: and all of its vessels for its service, for by
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Speaker 1: the last words of David, the Sons of Levi recounted
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Speaker 1: from twenty years old and upward. David explains, He's like,
19:52
Speaker 1: the reason I'm putting this organization into place is because
19:55
Speaker 1: God now has chosen Jerusalem as his home. He is
20:00
Speaker 1: going to stay here forever, which we know is not
20:03
Speaker 1: really the case, because you know, the people's sinned and
20:07
Speaker 1: so God did not live in Jerusalem forever. But I
20:11
Speaker 1: do believe God did choose Jerusalem because Jerusalem to this
20:16
Speaker 1: day is a very special place. We know that there
20:19
Speaker 1: is something very very holy and special about it, because Christians, Muslims,
20:23
Speaker 1: and Jews all want their piece of Jerusalem. So something
20:27
Speaker 1: is very special about Jerusalem, and we all understand that.
20:30
Speaker 1: But God was not going to dwell in a place
20:32
Speaker 1: where sin was running rampant, which unfortunately took place only
20:37
Speaker 1: a couple generations after David died. In fact, by the
20:40
Speaker 1: time of the Babylonian exile, the temple had gotten so
20:45
Speaker 1: bad that there was like prostitution happening in it, where
20:50
Speaker 1: people could go into the temple, rent a prostitute and
20:55
Speaker 1: have like ritualistic sex with that prostitute inside of Yahweh's temple.
21:00
Speaker 1: All this was taking place, and in fact God actually
21:02
Speaker 1: told his prophet Ezekiel, he said, look at what they
21:05
Speaker 1: are doing inside of my temple. It is disgusting. And
21:08
Speaker 1: he showed Ezekiel what was going on, like all of
21:11
Speaker 1: these hidden rooms where the priests would go in to
21:14
Speaker 1: like worship other gods and do like weird rituals to
21:18
Speaker 1: these other gods inside of the temple to Yahweh, and
21:22
Speaker 1: they were doing it kind of secretly, and God opened
21:25
Speaker 1: that up to the public. He showed through Ezekiel what
21:28
Speaker 1: these priests were doing inside of his temple, so God
21:31
Speaker 1: was not going to live in a corrupt temple. But regardless,
21:36
Speaker 1: David knew that Jerusalem was special, and that's why he's
21:38
Speaker 1: building the temple in Jerusalem. And so he says, the
21:43
Speaker 1: Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and
21:45
Speaker 1: all of its vessels for service. Back in the wilderness,
21:49
Speaker 1: we know that the Levites one of their jobs was
21:52
Speaker 1: to carry all of the tabernacle furniture and the tabernacle itself. Actually,
21:56
Speaker 1: because the tabernacle is just a big tent, that was
21:59
Speaker 1: one of their jo But now that there is a
22:01
Speaker 1: temple being built, David says, the levite's job is going
22:06
Speaker 1: to be different now. So we have to put a
22:08
Speaker 1: new structure in place, different organization, different roles for these
22:12
Speaker 1: Levites to do. And that is why David is organizing
22:16
Speaker 1: this all ahead of time. And then it lays out
22:19
Speaker 1: what the new duties of the Levites were going to be.
22:23
Speaker 1: For their duty was to wait on the sons of Aaron,
22:26
Speaker 1: in other words, the Coethite priests for the service of
22:29
Speaker 1: Yahweh's house in the courts, in the rooms, and in
22:32
Speaker 1: the purifying of all the holy things, even the work
22:35
Speaker 1: of the service of God's house for the show bred,
22:38
Speaker 1: also for the fine flour, for a meal offering, whether
22:41
Speaker 1: of unleavened wafers, or that which is baked in the pan,
22:45
Speaker 1: or that which is soaked, and for all the measurements
22:47
Speaker 1: of quantity and size, And to stand every morning and
22:50
Speaker 1: thank and praise Yahweh, and likewise in the evenings, and
22:54
Speaker 1: to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh on the Sabbath, on
22:57
Speaker 1: the new moons, and on the feasts in the number
23:00
Speaker 1: according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before Yahweh, that
23:04
Speaker 1: they should keep the duty of the tene meeting, the
23:06
Speaker 1: duty of the holy place, the duty of the sons
23:08
Speaker 1: of Erin their brothers for the service of Yahweh's house.
23:13
Speaker 1: I love that the last verse there is very unifying
23:15
Speaker 1: for the Levites. Even though they are assisting the sons
23:19
Speaker 1: of Erin, meaning the priests, that doesn't mean that they're
23:23
Speaker 1: not doing important responsibilities.
23:26
Speaker 2: All of these jobs.
23:27
Speaker 1: Were very important for the functioning of the temple. Even
23:31
Speaker 1: though they were not positions in the spotlight. They probably
23:36
Speaker 1: were thankless positions at many times, you know, cleaning the courts,
23:41
Speaker 1: making the show, bread. These were not jobs that were
23:44
Speaker 1: in the spotlight like the priest had, but yet they
23:48
Speaker 1: were such important jobs for making sure that the temple
23:52
Speaker 1: ran effectively. Yes, the priests had an important job as well,
23:57
Speaker 1: which was teaching the law to the people, offer ring sacrifices,
24:01
Speaker 1: offering prayers, you know, taking care of the spiritual health
24:05
Speaker 1: of the people visiting the temple. But the jobs in
24:07
Speaker 1: the background were also so important. The gatekeepers would keep
24:13
Speaker 1: watch over the temple to make sure that nobody nefarious
24:17
Speaker 1: was coming in. They're kind of like the security detail.
24:21
Speaker 1: The musicians would offer praises to God and encourage the
24:25
Speaker 1: people to worship through prayer and through psalms and hymns
24:29
Speaker 1: and whatever else. There were levites who were craftsmen who
24:33
Speaker 1: would make sure that, you know, things were up to
24:36
Speaker 1: date and looking pretty in God's house. There are levites
24:39
Speaker 1: who probably just went in and cleaned and swept and
24:44
Speaker 1: took care of the little details that nobody would think
24:47
Speaker 1: about to make sure that God's house just looked beautiful
24:50
Speaker 1: all the time. And that's how it is with the
24:54
Speaker 1: church as well. There are jobs that nobody is going
24:57
Speaker 1: to notice, but they are jobs that are so important,
25:01
Speaker 1: you know, I went to a ministry meeting at my
25:03
Speaker 1: church yesterday, and the one thing that I was really
25:08
Speaker 1: impressed with was the fact that there was so much
25:11
Speaker 1: organization behind the scenes taking place that I didn't even
25:15
Speaker 1: realize was going on behind the scenes. Nobody sees those positions,
25:19
Speaker 1: but yet they are so important for the functioning of
25:23
Speaker 1: the church. And I encourage all of you faithful listeners,
25:26
Speaker 1: if you are looking for something to do at your church,
25:29
Speaker 1: maybe do one of those positions that doesn't seem like
25:34
Speaker 1: it gets a lot of thanks, or it kind of
25:36
Speaker 1: seems sort of innocuous. Maybe step into one of those
25:39
Speaker 1: positions because I can guarantee that people are needed for
25:43
Speaker 1: those positions, but I can also guarantee that you might
25:47
Speaker 1: actually have a very enjoyable time filling that role. A
25:51
Speaker 1: lot of times when I'm the happiest serving it's when
25:55
Speaker 1: I'm doing things behind the scenes. I just really like
25:58
Speaker 1: doing those types of roles because you get to know
26:02
Speaker 1: more people in the church, you kind of get to
26:04
Speaker 1: form a team with them. So if you're looking for
26:07
Speaker 1: a role to step into in your church, maybe start
26:11
Speaker 1: in one of those smaller roles, like greeting people when
26:13
Speaker 1: they walk through the door, or serving coffee, or doing
26:17
Speaker 1: the soundboard, or being part of the security team or
26:19
Speaker 1: the medical team if your church has that, or even
26:22
Speaker 1: being part of the cleaning detail or whatever other capacity
26:25
Speaker 1: your church might have for you to step in and serve.
26:29
Speaker 1: You might find you very much enjoy those roles. And
26:33
Speaker 1: when you're in it, I think you're going to see
26:34
Speaker 1: how important those jobs actually are. And for those of
26:37
Speaker 1: you who already are doing those types of jobs in
26:40
Speaker 1: your church, I commend you because you're not getting the
26:43
Speaker 1: spotlight all the time, you're not getting thanks all the time,
26:46
Speaker 1: and yet you're showing up and you're doing these positions
26:49
Speaker 1: that are just so so needed for the functioning of
26:52
Speaker 1: your church. Keep at it, and when people don't thank you,
26:56
Speaker 1: just know that God sees you and that God is going.
26:59
Speaker 2: To reward you for that work.
27:02
Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, I've just been getting some of the nicest
27:05
Speaker 1: comments and reviews on the podcast, and on occasion I
27:09
Speaker 1: like to read those comments because I want to thank
27:11
Speaker 1: you guys. So the two comments I'd like to read
27:13
Speaker 1: today are from Spotify. The first one was from Mike Spicer,
27:18
Speaker 1: and he wrote, I have sifted through countless biblical podcasts
27:22
Speaker 1: and this one by Jen is the best. Keep up
27:25
Speaker 1: the great work. Well, thank you, Mike. I do appreciate
27:29
Speaker 1: that very greatly. I'm glad that the Bible explained struck
27:33
Speaker 1: a chord with you. Very very happy to hear that.
27:36
Speaker 1: And then I also have a comment here from Varren Muchasa,
27:40
Speaker 1: I believe that's how you pronounce it, who is from
27:43
Speaker 1: Zimbabwe and Varren says, hi there, thank you so much
27:46
Speaker 1: for taking your time to record these podcasts. Do not
27:49
Speaker 1: lose heart and keep on keeping on. These podcasts are
27:52
Speaker 1: really helping me on my daily devotional and I always
27:55
Speaker 1: look forward to them every morning. Thank you Varon for
27:58
Speaker 1: that encouragement.
28:00
Speaker 2: Not gonna lie. Sometimes I do lose heart.
28:02
Speaker 1: When doing this podcast, especially when things don't work out.
28:06
Speaker 1: I actually got a new interface for my MIC just
28:09
Speaker 1: recently because my old one was getting old. I'm like,
28:12
Speaker 1: all right, it's time to update to a new one.
28:14
Speaker 1: And of course it didn't work. So halfway through this
28:18
Speaker 1: podcast when I was recording it, the podcast just like
28:21
Speaker 1: stopped recording and I'm like, oh my gosh. I hate
28:24
Speaker 1: when things just don't work. Just let them work the
28:27
Speaker 1: way I expect them to work. Well, I just needed
28:29
Speaker 1: to update my drivers.
28:31
Speaker 2: That was it.
28:32
Speaker 1: It was a very very easy fix, and I certainly
28:34
Speaker 1: did not need to have as much irritation and discouragement
28:37
Speaker 1: over it that I did lesson hopefully learned for next time.
28:43
Speaker 2: So yes, I do appreciate the encouragement.
28:45
Speaker 1: Of all of these very nice comments that I get.
28:48
Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners, I will see you guys tomorrow.
28:50
Speaker 1: We are going to be in First Thessalonians chapter two,
28:54
Speaker 1: talking more about that fascinating book, and of course we
28:56
Speaker 1: will be getting into the discussions of Jesus returning, because
29:00
Speaker 1: that is what for Thessalonians focuses on very deeply. So
29:05
Speaker 1: I hope to see you guys tomorrow six am or
29:07
Speaker 1: whenever you choose to wake up and listen. But until tomorrow,
29:10
Speaker 1: happy listening and God bless