Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 5 - God Does Not Desire Sacrifice

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2 Chronicles 5 - God Does Not Desire Sacrifice · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Howdy and good morning, friends and faithful listeners, and welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the Bible Explain podcast on this absolutely lovely Wednesday morning.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you all have been having a good start
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  Speaker 1: to your week so far. We are in Second Chronicles
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  Speaker 1: today and we're going to talk about a few points
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  Speaker 1: actually that may make you scratch your head when you
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  Speaker 1: initially read it. There's a few things in here that
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  Speaker 1: I think people have a lot of questions about, specifically
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  Speaker 1: the amount of animals that are sacrificed. And also we're
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  Speaker 1: going to talk about this little interesting verse where the
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  Speaker 1: author of Second Chronicles says that the arc of the
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  Speaker 1: Covenant is still in the Temple, even though at the
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  Speaker 1: time of the writing of Second Chronicles the temple had
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  Speaker 1: already been demolished from the Babylonians and the ark of
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  Speaker 1: the Covenant had been gone for about a century at
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  Speaker 1: this point. So what's with that verse? We'll talk about
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  Speaker 1: all of that today. So we had our first freeze
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  Speaker 1: the other night, and before that happened, I had to
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  Speaker 1: go outside and get some of my plants because during
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  Speaker 1: the summer months, I actually take all of my plants
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  Speaker 1: outside because I free up space in my house because
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  Speaker 1: I've got way too many plants. So I had this
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  Speaker 1: like little what are those called those hope plants? I
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  Speaker 1: forget the name of it, the hope thing. It's like
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  Speaker 1: a leafy plant that has these weird looking flowers on it.
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  Speaker 1: That was outside. And then I had another thing that
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  Speaker 1: looks like a hope plant, but it has red flowers
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  Speaker 1: instead of white ones. That was outside too. Not to
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  Speaker 1: mention all my succulents and herbs. I had to go
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  Speaker 1: get all that stuff because we had our first freeze
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  Speaker 1: last night. So yeah, I guess winter is starting. But
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  Speaker 1: I have a perfect item for you guys. The P
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  Speaker 1: really nice hat. I'm not gonna lie it's I compare
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  Speaker 1: it to like the car heart hats. It's very similar
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  Speaker 1: to that. I don't know if I'm legally allowed to
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  Speaker 1: It is gender neutral, so you should check that out
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  Speaker 1: link in description. All right, fay for listeners, Let's go
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  Speaker 1: ahead and read Second Chronicles, chapter five. I'll be reading
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  Speaker 1: from the web versions, So grab your cup of coffee
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  Speaker 1: or your cup of tea, and also the version of
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  Speaker 1: the Bible that you prefer this morning, and let's give
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  Speaker 1: reverence to God's word together. Thus all the work that
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  Speaker 1: Solomon did for Yaway's house was finished. Solomon brought in
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  Speaker 1: the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver,
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  Speaker 1: the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in
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  Speaker 1: the treasuries of God's house. Then Solomon assembled the elders
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  Speaker 1: of Israel and the heads of the tribes, the princes
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  Speaker 1: of the father's households, of the children of Israel to
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem to bring up the arc of Yaway's covenant out
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  Speaker 1: of David's city, which is Zion. So all the men
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  Speaker 1: of Israel assembled themselves to the king. At the feast,
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  Speaker 1: which was in the seventh month, all the elders of
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  Speaker 1: Israel came, the Levites took up the ark. They brought
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  Speaker 1: up the ark the tene meeting, and all the holy
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  Speaker 1: vessels that were in the tent. The levitical priests brought
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  Speaker 1: these up. King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: who were assembled to him were before the ark, sacrificing
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  Speaker 1: sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered.
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  Speaker 1: For multitude, the priests brought in the Ark of Yahwa's
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  Speaker 1: covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the House,
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  Speaker 1: to the most holy place, even under the wings of
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  Speaker 1: the Cherubim. For the Cherubim spread out their wings over
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  Speaker 1: the place of the ark, and the Cherubim covered the
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  Speaker 1: ark and its poles above. The poles were so long
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  Speaker 1: that the ends of the poles were seen from the
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  Speaker 1: ark in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were
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  Speaker 1: not seen outside. And it is there to this day.
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  Speaker 1: There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets
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  Speaker 1: which Moses put there at Horeb when Yahweh made a
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  Speaker 1: covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out
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  Speaker 1: of Egypt, when the priests had come out of the
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  Speaker 1: holy place. For all the priests who were present had
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  Speaker 1: sanctified themselves and didn't keep their divisions. Also the Levites
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  Speaker 1: who were the singers, all of them, even asaf Hayman,
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  Speaker 1: Jennathin and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine
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  Speaker 1: linen with symbols and stringed instruments and harps, stood at
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  Speaker 1: the east end of the altar, and with them one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets, when the trumpet
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  Speaker 1: tears and singers were as one to make one sound
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  Speaker 1: to be heard in praising and thanking Yahweh. And when
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  Speaker 1: they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and symbols
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  Speaker 1: and instruments of music and praised Yahweh, saying for he
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  Speaker 1: is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. Then the
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  Speaker 1: house was filled with a cloud, even Yahway's house, so
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  Speaker 1: that the priests could not stand to minister by reason
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  Speaker 1: of the cloud, for Yahway's glory filled God's house. In
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  Speaker 1: the last couple episodes, we talked about the building of
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  Speaker 1: the temple and how beautiful the temple was supposed to be,
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  Speaker 1: but we also talked about some various problems that happened
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  Speaker 1: with the building of the temple as well, or problems
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  Speaker 1: that could potentially happen in the future. See should definitely
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  Speaker 1: go back and listen to those so as if you
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  Speaker 1: haven't gotten a chance. But now everything is done with
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  Speaker 1: the temple, which is why it says in verse one.
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  Speaker 1: Thus all the work that Solomon did for Yaway's house
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  Speaker 1: was finished, and now the dedication of the temple begins. Solomon,
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  Speaker 1: it says, brought in the things that David his father
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  Speaker 1: had dedicated, even the silver, the gold, and all the vessels,
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  Speaker 1: and put them in the treasuries of God's house. Back
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  Speaker 1: in First Chronicles, we talked about how much prep work
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  Speaker 1: David did for the temple. David was kind of obsessed
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  Speaker 1: with the building of the temple, and he went so
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  Speaker 1: far as to acquire all of the building materials for
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  Speaker 1: the temple, to lay out the plans for the temple,
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  Speaker 1: to purchase where the temple was supposed to be built.
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  Speaker 1: So David was pretty obsessed with the building of the temple,
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  Speaker 1: and so of course before he died, he ended up
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  Speaker 1: dedicating a lot of his own personal things to the temple.
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  Speaker 1: So to start the dedication process of the temple, it says,
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  Speaker 1: Solomon brings all the things that David had set aside
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  Speaker 1: for the temple, all the gold, all the vessels, all
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  Speaker 1: the silver, and he put them in the treasuries of
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  Speaker 1: God's house. So we know that the temple itself had
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  Speaker 1: these like side rooms. You couldn't get to them from
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  Speaker 1: inside the temple itself. They were almost like on the
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  Speaker 1: outside of the temple, so you'd have to walk outside
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  Speaker 1: to actually get to the storehouses, but they were connected
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  Speaker 1: to the temple building, and that was where the priests
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  Speaker 1: would keep all of the dedicated things, anything that had
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  Speaker 1: meaning to the temple or the money that came in
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  Speaker 1: from the people. So what's really funny about this is
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  Speaker 1: all of these things that David dedicated just went straight
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  Speaker 1: into the storehouses, like Solomon didn't even use it. And
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  Speaker 1: I don't really know why that's the case. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: exactly sure why David's stuff just got like thrown into
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  Speaker 1: a side room. I don't know, but David put a
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  Speaker 1: lot of effort, it sounds like into some things that
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  Speaker 1: Solomon didn't ever really end up doing. In verse two,
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  Speaker 1: it says then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and
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  Speaker 1: all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the
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  Speaker 1: father's households of the children of Israel to Jerusalem to
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  Speaker 1: bring up the Ark of Yahway's Covenant out of David's city,
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  Speaker 1: which is Zion. And that right there begins the most
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  Speaker 1: important part of the dedication of the temple, which is
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  Speaker 1: bringing the Ark into the temple. The ark was considered
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  Speaker 1: to be God's throne. It was literally where he sat.
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  Speaker 1: That's why the lid of the Ark was called the
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  Speaker 1: mercy seat. It was because it was God's seat, and
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  Speaker 1: of course God is merciful, so it was a mercy seat.
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  Speaker 1: And so obviously God's house couldn't possibly be finished if
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  Speaker 1: God doesn't have his throne in there, which is why
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  Speaker 1: the most important aspect of the dedication of the temple
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  Speaker 1: was to bring the Ark of the Covenant up into
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  Speaker 1: the temple. And so that's what they do. All the
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  Speaker 1: men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast,
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  Speaker 1: which was in the seventh month. All of the elders
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  Speaker 1: of Israel came, the Levites, took up the Ark. They
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  Speaker 1: brought up the Ark, the ten of Meeting, and all
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  Speaker 1: the holy vessels that were in the tent. The levitical
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  Speaker 1: priests brought these up. Now it sounds to me like
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  Speaker 1: Solomon actually did something correct that David had not done.
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  Speaker 1: Remember back when David first brought the Ark of the
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  Speaker 1: Covenant into Jerusalem, David did not read the Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: laws of how the Ark of the Covenant was supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be handled, and so they just put it on
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  Speaker 1: this wagon and like wheeled it through the city, and
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  Speaker 1: God was not happy about that because they were directly
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  Speaker 1: disobeying a command from the Old Testament, like one of
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  Speaker 1: the most basic commands actually, which was to have the
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  Speaker 1: levitical priests actually carry the ark on their shoulders. And
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  Speaker 1: you might be like, well, what's the big deal, Like,
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  Speaker 1: what difference does it make if it's on a wagon
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  Speaker 1: or if it's being carried by the priests. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: going to get back into that today because I covered
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  Speaker 1: that in depth on a recent episode not too long ago,
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  Speaker 1: So I will link that episode about why it was
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  Speaker 1: so important for the Levites to carry the Ark of
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  Speaker 1: the Covenant in the description, so you can go over
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  Speaker 1: there and listen to that episode once you're done with
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  Speaker 1: this one. But Solomon actually followed the Old Testament law here.
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  Speaker 1: This is like the one law that he actually followed
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  Speaker 1: in his lifetime. He didn't really follow that many laws,
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  Speaker 1: but he did follow this one. He had the Arc
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  Speaker 1: of the Covenant carried correctly, as well as the entire
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  Speaker 1: tent of Meeting that was the tabernacle that God had
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  Speaker 1: told the Israelites to build some five hundred years before
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  Speaker 1: this in the wilderness. The ten of Meeting was essentially
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  Speaker 1: the temple for the people, except the ten of Meeting
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  Speaker 1: was a tent and it was able to travel around
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  Speaker 1: wherever the people went. But now because there's like a
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  Speaker 1: brick and mortar building for the people to go to,
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  Speaker 1: the ten of Meeting was no longer necessary, according to Solomon,
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  Speaker 1: and so the tene Meeting was torn down and brought
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  Speaker 1: into the Temple of God and probably just stored away forever.
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  Speaker 1: And we don't know what happened to the ten of Meeting.
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  Speaker 1: He was probably ultimately destroyed at some point in time,
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  Speaker 1: but it ended up never getting used ever again. And
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  Speaker 1: that's kind of sad, actually, because the ten of Meeting
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  Speaker 1: was God's original design for his people for how worship
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  Speaker 1: was supposed to be done. And to see it just
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  Speaker 1: get stored away to eventually be destroyed, I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: There's something kind of sad about that. But at least
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  Speaker 1: Solomon did have it carried correctly, and all the holy
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  Speaker 1: vessels also were carried up to the new Tabernacle. It
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  Speaker 1: says the levitical priests brought all of these up. And
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  Speaker 1: after all of that is done, it says in verse
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  Speaker 1: six that King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel
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  Speaker 1: who were assembled to him, were before the Ark sacrificing
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  Speaker 1: sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered
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  Speaker 1: for multitude and not gonna lie. I think a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people people when they read that verse kind of cringe.
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  Speaker 1: They're like, oh, man, that is a lot of death
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  Speaker 1: of animals. The cattle and the sheep sacrifice could not
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  Speaker 1: be counted or numbered for multitude. Now, if you go
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  Speaker 1: to First Kings chapter eight, it talks more about some
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  Speaker 1: of these sacrifices that took place during the dedication of
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  Speaker 1: the temple. First Kings eight, starting in verse sixty two,
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  Speaker 1: says this, the king and all of Israel with him
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  Speaker 1: offered sacrifices before Yahweh. Solomon offered for the sacrifice of
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  Speaker 1: peace offerings which he offered to Yahweh twenty two thousand
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  Speaker 1: head of cattle and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep.
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  Speaker 1: So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh's house. So that means that the people, everybody who
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  Speaker 1: was at this celebration of the dedication of the temple,
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  Speaker 1: the individual people were bringing sacrifices to Yahweh. And Solomon
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  Speaker 1: himself had sacrificed approximately one hundred and forty thousand animals.
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  Speaker 1: It turned out that because so many sacrifices of animals
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  Speaker 1: were taking place at this time, that the altar in
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  Speaker 1: front of the temple was too little. That's what it
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  Speaker 1: says here in First King's eight sixty four. The same day,
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  Speaker 1: the king made in the middle of the court holy
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  Speaker 1: that was before Yaway's house, for there he offered the
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  Speaker 1: burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the
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  Speaker 1: peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering,
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  Speaker 1: and the fat of the peace offerings. Now he'll remember
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  Speaker 1: that when we talked about the building of the bronze altar,
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  Speaker 1: that thing was huge. That thing was big, and yet
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  Speaker 1: it didn't have enough space on it to handle the
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  Speaker 1: amount of offerings that people and Solomon himself were offering
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  Speaker 1: to God. And so you might be like, Jen, what
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  Speaker 1: the heck is going on here? Like this seems like
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  Speaker 1: a lot of sacrifices, like maybe needless sacrifices. And generally
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  Speaker 1: I would agree with that because of what Leviticus talks
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  Speaker 1: about regarding sacrifices to God, specifically sacrifices of sheep, goats,
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  Speaker 1: or cattle of some sort. So let's read Leviticus one
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  Speaker 1: one through four. Yahweh called to Moses and spoke to
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  Speaker 1: him from the tene meeting, saying, speak to the children
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, and tell them, when any one of you
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  Speaker 1: offers an offering to Yahweh, you shall offer your offering
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  Speaker 1: of the livestock from the herd and from the flock.
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  Speaker 1: If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd,
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  Speaker 1: he shall offer a male without defect. He shall offer
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  Speaker 1: it at the door of the tene meeting, that he
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  Speaker 1: may be accepted before Yahweh. He shall lay his hand
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  Speaker 1: on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall
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  Speaker 1: be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And
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  Speaker 1: it pretty much went like that across the board for
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  Speaker 1: most sacrifices, whether it was a burnt offering, a sin offering,
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  Speaker 1: a g to offering, and then peace offerings were a
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  Speaker 1: little bit different, but generally when somebody brought an offering
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  Speaker 1: to God, it would be one animal. They would have
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  Speaker 1: to lay their hands on that animal, and then the
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  Speaker 1: priest would slaughter that animal and what was the point
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  Speaker 1: of somebody laying their hands on the head of that animal.
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  Speaker 1: It was because it was a solemn thing. You know,
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  Speaker 1: animals are cute and sweet and innocent, and no sane
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  Speaker 1: person likes the death of an innocent creature. So when
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  Speaker 1: that person had to bring that innocent animal to be
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  Speaker 1: sacrificed for their personal sin, they would essentially be transferring
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  Speaker 1: that sin to the animal, and that would be a
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  Speaker 1: moment for the person to reflect when they put their
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  Speaker 1: hands on that animal and have to kill something innocent
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  Speaker 1: in their place. It was supposed to be a solemn thing.
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  Speaker 1: And on top of that, it never says that somebody
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  Speaker 1: had to bring like five animals for their sin. They
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  Speaker 1: would just have to bring one one particular animal, unless
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  Speaker 1: they are bringing birds, then it would have to be two.
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  Speaker 1: So the rules for birds were a little bit different.
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  Speaker 1: The person would not lay their hands on the birds.
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  Speaker 1: The priest would perform the entire ceremony. But the birds
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  Speaker 1: were generally for low income individuals to still be able
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  Speaker 1: to gain forgiveness from God through the sacrifices, So birds
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  Speaker 1: were a little bit different. But when it came to
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  Speaker 1: cattle and any animal of the herd, like sheep and goats.
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  Speaker 1: The hands would have to be laid on that animal,
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  Speaker 1: and it just was one one animal per person. But
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  Speaker 1: yet we read through the Old Testament people bringing multiple
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  Speaker 1: animals to be sacrificed. I would say, just based upon Leviticus,
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  Speaker 1: that that was something unnecessary. Large amounts of animals were
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  Speaker 1: not needed to gain forgiveness with God. It just took
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  Speaker 1: one sacrifice. Now, obviously that sacrifice was imperfect because it
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  Speaker 1: was an animal, and then eventually you'd sin again, you'd
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  Speaker 1: have to bring another animal to atone for that sin,
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  Speaker 1: which is why eventually all animal sacrifices were done away
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  Speaker 1: with when Jesus came to earth and became the perfect
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice for all of us to atone for all of
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  Speaker 1: our sins all the time. Essentially, so we don't do
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  Speaker 1: animal sacrifices now. But before Jesus came to earth, this
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  Speaker 1: was how people would gain forgiveness from God was through
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  Speaker 1: the animal sacrifices. Because the wages of sin is death.
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  Speaker 1: Because we sin, death happens if you sin. That means
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  Speaker 1: you have to die unless something innocent that has not
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  Speaker 1: sinned takes your place. And in the Old Testament, that
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  Speaker 1: innocent thing would have been an animal, but in the
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  Speaker 1: New Testament, that innocent sacrifice was the lamb of God
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  Speaker 1: or Jesus. So going back to Second Chronicles five, Solomon
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  Speaker 1: offering all of these sacrifices about one hundred and forty
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  Speaker 1: thousand for himself personally, like all these peace offerings, was
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  Speaker 1: very likely unnecessary. Here's what Hoseah six six says, and
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  Speaker 1: actually Jesus himself quotes this verse on a couple occasions.
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  Speaker 1: It says, I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. That's from the
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  Speaker 1: ESV version. And then again Psalm forty verse six, which,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, Psalm forty, my favorite chapter of the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: and also why P. Forty Ministries is named P forty
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  Speaker 1: is for Psalm forty. Psalm forty verse six says, in
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice and offering, you have not delighted, but you've given
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  Speaker 1: me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you
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  Speaker 1: have not required. So David got it. He understood that
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't sacrifice that God actually desired, but a heart
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  Speaker 1: that actually loves him. That is what God truly does desire.
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  Speaker 1: So in the case of Solomon, offering all of these
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  Speaker 1: sacrifices to God. If he was doing it for himself,
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  Speaker 1: thinking that that would give him a better relationship with God,
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  Speaker 1: it was fully unnecessary and just needless. Animal death. Will say, however,
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  Speaker 1: if Solomon were offering these peace offerings for the benefit
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  Speaker 1: of the people, then that's a different story, and it
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  Speaker 1: could be that that was exactly what he was doing. Actually,
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  Speaker 1: in that case, it would have been fine to do.
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  Speaker 1: The peace offerings were a special type of offering where
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: you would give only part of the animal to God,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: and then another part of the animal, I believe would
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: go to the priest and the rest would go home
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: to you and your family, and it was a way
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: to have peace with God and fellowship with God. Now
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: we find out in Second Chronicles chapter seven that Solomon
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: held a huge feast for the people. It was a
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: week long feast where hundreds of thousands of people participated
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: in this celebration in this feast. So if Solomon were
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: doing these peace offerings to dedicate them to the people,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: then that means that part of the meat of those
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: sacrifices would have gone to the people, and it could
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: be that's the way Solomon fed the people was by
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: doing this big peace offering and then giving the people
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the rest of the meat, thus providing all the meat
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: for this huge celebration that took place. And when it
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: comes to the people themselves, we don't know if they
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: were offering multiple sacrifices. It could be that their hearts
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: are in the right place and they really wanted to
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: offer like a sin offering to God because they knew
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: they had sinned, and so they brought their animal and
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: they sacrificed it in the proper way. There could have
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: been so many people participating in this sacrifice that that's
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the reason that so many animals ended up being sacrificed,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: was because each individual person was bringing their sacrifice to
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: God correctly. And it turns out that the priests couldn't
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: even keep up with how many people wanted to bring
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: sacrifices to God, so they had to build new altars,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: like quick little altars so there'd be enough space to
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: offer all of these sacrifices. But regardless, this big sacrifice
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: takes place where every single person in Israel, it sounds
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: like is there offering their sacrifices. And it says in
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: verse seven of Second Chronicles five, our passage. For today,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the priests brought in the Ark of Yahweis Covenant to
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: its place, into the inner sanctuary of the House, to
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the most holy place, even under the wings of the Cherubim.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: For the Cherubbms spread out their wings over the place
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: of the ark, and the cherubm covered the ark and
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: its poles above. The poles were so long that the
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: ends of the poles were seen from the ark in
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: the front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: seen outside. And it is there to this day. And
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: at that you might be like, wait a second. Jen
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: if Ezra wrote the Book of Second Chronicles after the
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Babylonian captivity, when the temple was destroyed and the Ark
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: of the Covenant had been gone for about one hundred
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: years at this point, how then could the Ark of
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the Covenant be there to this day? Well, the answer
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: is found in First Kings, chapter eight four through eight.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: So let's go over there and read these verses. They
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: brought up y always arc the tene meeting and all
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the holy vessels that were in the tent. The priests
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: and the Levites brought these up. King Solomon and all
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the Congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him were
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: could not be counted or numbered. For multitude, the priests
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: brought in the Ark of y always Covenant to its place,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: in to the inner sanctuary of the House, to the
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: most holy place, even under the Cherubum's wings, For the
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: cherubm spread their wings out over the place of the ark,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: and the cherubm covered the ark and its poles above.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: The polls were so long that the ends of the
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: but they were not seen outside. They are there to
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: this day. You're probably getting deja vu because that is
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: literally word for word to what Second Chronicles five says,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: which means that the author of Chronicles was quoting First
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Kings chapter eight. It is obvious that he was, because
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: you can't get that many words and that many sentences
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: perfectly aligned if you are not directly quoting somebody. So basically,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: that's just a direct quotation from First King's chapter eight.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Not Ezra himself saying that the temple had not been
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: destroyed in his lifetime and that the Ark of the
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Covenant was still there. That is not what Ezra's saying,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: he is just quoting First Kings, chapter eight, and then
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: moving on in our passage for Today, Verses eleven through fourteen.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: To conclude, it says, the priest had come out of
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the holy place, for the priests who are present had
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: sanctified themselves and didn't keep their divisions. And also the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Levites who were the singers, Asaf Hayman and Jeddathon, and
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: all their sons and their brothers arrayed in fine linen
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: with symbols and stringed instruments and harps. So all these guys,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Asaf Hayman and Jeddathon, you might remember those names, because
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: David had dedicated those guys to being singers. So now
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: they are no longer singers at the ten of meeting
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: or at the place where the Ark of the Covenant
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: was sitting, which was in Jerusalem under a tent. Now
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: these three men and all of their sons and everybody
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: else who were singers and instrumentalists with them, came to
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: the temple to work. This was their new job. They
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: were going to be singers and worshipers at the temple.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: And they start singing. They were praising and thanking Yahweh
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: is what it says in verse thirteen. They lifted up
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: their voice with the trumpets and the symbols and the instruments,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: and praised Yahweh, saying for he is good, for his
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: loving kindness indoors forever, and at that when the praise
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: starts to happen. Notice it's when the praise happens, not
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the sacrifices like these multitudes of sacrifices that take place.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: It's when the praise starts, the worshiping begins. That is,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: when God's presence fills the temple. God's presence came down
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: in the form of a cloud, is what it says,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: so that the priests could not stand to minister by
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: reason of the cloud. For Yahweh's glory filled God's house.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: That means that Yahweh has accepted the temple, but he
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: didn't accept it until the praise and worship started to happen.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: And that shows how powerful praise and worship actually is.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: It's not about the things we do, the good works
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: that we do for God. It's about our heart toward Him.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: So if you feel like you're at an impastorre, you
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: feel like God is like not listening to you and
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: you're like God, I do all these things for you, you know.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I go to church and I donate my money, and
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I volunteer at this thing, and you I do all
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: these good things. Why aren't you listening to me? Why
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: aren't you answering me? If you feel that way, maybe
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: start worshiping God and praising him and thanking him. The
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: way these singers started to do that was when God
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: answered was once the praise and the worship started, which
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: really goes to show that God truly does not desire sacrifice,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: but he desires our hearts and our love for him. Well,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I hope you learned something from today's episode.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: If you did, then tell people that the Bible Explained
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: podcast exists because word of mouth is one of the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: best ways for this podcast to grow. So I'm always
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: appreciative of you faithful listeners who tell me that you
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: are sharing the podcast with your loved ones. But if
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: you're curious about other things that P foury Ministries does,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: then definitely take a look at the links listed in
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the description of this episode. You'll find the books that
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: I have written, along with some merch that you can
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: get and I highly recommend because fall is here and
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: winter is around the corner. That you get one of
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the P forty Ministries beanies because they're actually really really nice,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: and I'm not lying about that. All of the merch
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: that I have in my shop is really good quality. Actually,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I made sure to get you guys good stuff. So
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: you got to go to the merch shop and get
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: one of those beanies for yourself or a T shirt
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: for yourself as well. Beef for listeners, have a fantastic
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: rest of your day. I will see all of you
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: guys tomorrow for an episode from Second Thessalonians. Until tomorrow,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: happy listening and God bless