Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 1 Chronicles 24-26 - The Levite's Role in The 2nd Coming of Christ

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1 Chronicles 24-26 - The Levite's Role in The 2nd Coming of Christ · 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 so much for tuning into the Bible Explain podcast.
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Speaker 1: On this absolutely lovely, lovely morning, We're going to be
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Speaker 1: talking about three chapters of the Bible today, first, Chronicles
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Speaker 1: twenty four through twenty six, and we will be talking
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Speaker 1: more about the Levites. And at this point you might
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Speaker 1: be like, Jen, how much more can we talk about
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Speaker 1: the Levites? Oh, we can talk about them more. We're
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Speaker 1: going to get into the ins and out to the
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Speaker 1: Levitical clan, but this time we're going to be going
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Speaker 1: a lot more in depth as to who the Levites
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Speaker 1: were and why they were so important both in the
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Speaker 1: days of the scriptures but also nowadays as well. Stay
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Speaker 1: tuned for that discussion. So where I live, I'm starting
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Speaker 1: to see the fall colors coming in on the trees,
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Speaker 1: just on the little, you know, the tips of the trees.
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Speaker 1: I'm starting to see the orange and the red coming through,
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Speaker 1: and I'm beginning to embrace it. You know, I can
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Speaker 1: hang on to summer forever as much as I'd like to,
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Speaker 1: I'm embracing the fall weather. So I have my nice
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Speaker 1: little light sweater on today and I'm enjoying the view
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Speaker 1: from my window here. So yes, unfortunately winter is coming.
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Speaker 1: Fall used to be my favorite holiday back before I
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Speaker 1: was an adult, you know, because all kids love the snow.
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Speaker 1: But then once you're actually in the snow as an adult,
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Speaker 1: it's no fun. It's just an unenjoyable experience for the
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Speaker 1: most part. So not looking forward to winter, but beginning
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Speaker 1: to embrace fall a little bit. But let me know,
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Speaker 1: do you enjoy fall or do you hate it? Do
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Speaker 1: you like winter or do you hate it. I'd also
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Speaker 1: like to know where you live and whether you have
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Speaker 1: really bad winters or really bad snowstorms. I'd like to
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Speaker 1: hear about all of that. You're going to find my
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Speaker 1: contact information listed in the description of this episode, So
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Speaker 1: answer that question, what is your favorite season? But today,
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Speaker 1: let's go ahead and read First Chronicles twenty four through
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Speaker 1: twenty six. So I'd like to two start in First
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Speaker 1: Chronicles twenty four, verses one through six. But before I
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Speaker 1: delve into what scripture is getting at here, don't forget
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Speaker 1: that there were three divisions of the Levites. So the
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Speaker 1: Levites were the only tribe out of all of the
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Speaker 1: twelve tribes of Israel that were allowed to be priests
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Speaker 1: and also allowed to serve in leadership positions in the temple.
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Speaker 1: No other tribe could do what the Levites did. Now,
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Speaker 1: not every single Levite was a priest, but every priest
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Speaker 1: at this point in time had to be a Levite.
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Speaker 1: That was all dictated by God back in the wilderness
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Speaker 1: when he was giving his instructions to the Israelite people.
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Speaker 1: So the Levites were very very important because they basically
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Speaker 1: oversaw the worship of Yahweh. They needed to have a
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Speaker 1: good grasp of the law. They needed to understand it
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Speaker 1: themselves so that they could help the people understand who
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Speaker 1: God was and what his laws actually were. So the
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Speaker 1: Levites were very very important, and that means that they
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Speaker 1: were a tribe set apart. They were very different from
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Speaker 1: the other tribes of Israel. The other tribes got pieces
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Speaker 1: of land when they went into the Promised Land. The
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Speaker 1: Levites were the only ones that did not get a
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Speaker 1: big chunk of land like the other tribes did. Instead,
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Speaker 1: the Levites were supposed to go and live among all
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Speaker 1: of the other tribes of Israel. Now, obviously they were
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Speaker 1: allowed to own land like it wasn't like they couldn't
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Speaker 1: have their own home or something. They were allowed to
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Speaker 1: own land and farms and whatever else, but they did
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Speaker 1: not get their own chunk of land, if that makes sense.
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Speaker 1: When you look at the ancient maps of Israel, you're
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Speaker 1: not gonna see a tribe of Levi on there. You're
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Speaker 1: gonna see the tribe of Judah, You're gonna see the
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Speaker 1: tribe of Naftali and whatever other tribe. But you're not
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Speaker 1: gonna see the tribe of Levi. Because they were supposed
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Speaker 1: to go and spread God's law and be a blessing
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Speaker 1: to every single tribe and live among every single tribe,
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Speaker 1: kind of like I guess modern day evangelists. And so,
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Speaker 1: the Levites were a tribe that was certainly set apart,
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Speaker 1: certainly supposed to be different. And another thing that made
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Speaker 1: them unique as compared to the other tribes was that
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Speaker 1: they had three divisions within the tribe of Levi, almost
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Speaker 1: like three mini tribes, and each division had a different
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Speaker 1: role that they were supposed to do. So the three
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Speaker 1: divisions of the Levites were the Coothites, the Gershonites, and
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Speaker 1: the Maraites. The Koothite Levites were the only ones that
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Speaker 1: were allowed to be priests. If you were a Gershonite Levite,
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Speaker 1: you could not be a priest. If you were a
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Speaker 1: Maraite Levite, you also could not be a priest. You
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Speaker 1: had to be a Coathite Levite from the family of Aaron.
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Speaker 1: And the Coathites that weren't able to be priests, they
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Speaker 1: had the responsibility of taking care of the temple furniture.
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Speaker 1: The Gershonite Levites could not be priests, but they did
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Speaker 1: have the role of taking care of the temple coverings.
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Speaker 1: So any kind of tapestries or ropes or tassels, I guess,
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Speaker 1: anything that made the temple look pretty, that was what
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Speaker 1: the Gershnites were in charge of. And then the Marait
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Speaker 1: Levites had the responsibility of taking care of the structure
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Speaker 1: of the temple. So anything that was problematic with the structure,
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Speaker 1: the Marawit Levites would go in there and they would
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Speaker 1: fix it, make sure that it was stable and up
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Speaker 1: to code. They would take care of everything regarding the
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Speaker 1: structure of the temple itself. So that was the three
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Speaker 1: divisions of the Levites. And so when David, who is
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Speaker 1: the first person to actually organize the Levites for worship
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Speaker 1: after the Israelites have been in the Promised Land, for
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Speaker 1: hundreds of years. David's the only one that thinks it's
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Speaker 1: necessary to do this. He actually breaks up the levites
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Speaker 1: even further into more specific jobs, and that is what
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Speaker 1: First Chronicles twenty four through twenty six goes through. Starting
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Speaker 1: at first Chronicles twenty four one through six, here's what
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Speaker 1: it says. These were the divisions of the sons of Aaron,
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Speaker 1: So that would mean the Coathite Levites that were allowed
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Speaker 1: to be priests. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, a
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Speaker 1: bye Who, Eliezer, and Ithamar. But Nadab and abie Who
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Speaker 1: died before their father and had no children. Therefore Eliezer
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Speaker 1: and Ithamar served as priests. So that is the story
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Speaker 1: of Aaron's two sons, Nadab and a bye Who. That's
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Speaker 1: talked about in Leviticus chapter ten, where Nadab and abie
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Speaker 1: Who who are the new priests of the Israelites. They
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Speaker 1: decide to go into the temple and offer a strange
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Speaker 1: fire before Yahweh, and so Yahweh's fire actually comes down
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Speaker 1: and completely consumes them, so that they died, but God's
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Speaker 1: fire did not consume their clothes, like God left the
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Speaker 1: priestly garments to be picked up by another person. And
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Speaker 1: so reading that story in Leviticus chapter ten, you might
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Speaker 1: be like, why in the world did God go so
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Speaker 1: far as to kill these two men because they offered
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Speaker 1: a strange fire? Like, what does that even mean? How
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Speaker 1: is fire strange? How that was one fire different from
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Speaker 1: another fire? Well, it was different because if you look
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Speaker 1: in Leviticus chapter nine, God himself lights the fire on
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Speaker 1: the altar that was supposed to burn continually, and the
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Speaker 1: priests were supposed to go and get their fire to
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Speaker 1: burn incense or anything else that needed burning from the
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Speaker 1: fire that God had lit on that altar. They were
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Speaker 1: not supposed to light their own fires at all. They
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Speaker 1: were always supposed to go to the altar to get
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Speaker 1: fire from God, and they were supposed to make sure
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Speaker 1: that that fire continued all the time. But for whatever reason,
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Speaker 1: maybe out of laziness or just complete rebellion, Nadab and
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Speaker 1: Abie who decide to light their own fire and bring
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Speaker 1: that in to offer to God, and God, who was
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Speaker 1: present inside the temple, did not accept that strange fire.
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Speaker 1: But that begs the question, what was so different about
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Speaker 1: Nadab and a bye Who's fire as compared to the
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Speaker 1: fire that God lit. Well, whenever we see God light
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Speaker 1: a fire, it is something miraculous and amazing. For example,
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Speaker 1: you know the burning bush. That's a very famous story
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Speaker 1: where Moses encountered God out in the wilderness by seeing
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Speaker 1: this burning bush. But the leaves on this bush were
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Speaker 1: still intact, the fire was not hot at all. And
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Speaker 1: this was a very special fire from God himself. So
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Speaker 1: whenever we see fire coming down from Heaven, that is
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Speaker 1: a special type of fire. And God wanted that specific
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Speaker 1: fire to always be burning inside the temple. And Nadab
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Speaker 1: and Abie, who was just like, oh, God's fire is
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Speaker 1: no more special than the fire that we light. And
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Speaker 1: they were proved wrong because that fire ended up consuming
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Speaker 1: them when they tried to offer it to God. So
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Speaker 1: Nadab and Abie, who who were two of the first
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Speaker 1: priests of Israel, ended up dying almost immediately because of
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Speaker 1: their disobedience and rebellion toward God. So Arin's other two
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Speaker 1: sons served as priests instead of Nadab and Abai who
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Speaker 1: Erin's other sons were named Eliezer and Ithamar's what says
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Speaker 1: in verse two, and all of the priests from that
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Speaker 1: time forward came from either Eliezer or Ithamar. Then, continuing
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Speaker 1: in our passage for today, in verse three, it says
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Speaker 1: David with Zadek of the sons of Eliezer and a Himelech,
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Speaker 1: the sons of Ithamar divided them according to their ordering
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Speaker 1: in their service. There were more chief men found of
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Speaker 1: the sons of Eliezer than of the sons of Ithamar,
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Speaker 1: and they were divided like this. Of the sons of
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Speaker 1: Eliezer there were sixteen heads of the father's houses, and
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Speaker 1: the sons of Ithamar, according to their father's houses eight.
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Speaker 1: Now we know that children are a blessing from God.
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Speaker 1: That is what scripture says. And it's really interesting here
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Speaker 1: that Eliezer had more sons than Ithamar did, which I
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Speaker 1: think kind of shows that God's blessing was more on
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Speaker 1: the house of Eliezer than on Ithamar. That actually makes
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Speaker 1: some sense to me, because of Aaron's two sons, Eliezer
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Speaker 1: was the far more obedient one to God. There's a
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Speaker 1: very famous story actually of Eliezer actually going in and
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Speaker 1: killing somebody who was having pagan sexual relations with a
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Speaker 1: woman outside of God's temple. Eliezer went in and actually
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Speaker 1: killed this man and woman while they were in the
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Speaker 1: middle of doing it because they were bringing dishonor and
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Speaker 1: pagan rituals into God's camp, and God blessed Eliezer, I
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Speaker 1: believe because of that, because Eliezer was not afraid to
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Speaker 1: stand up for God and say, no, this is wrong,
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Speaker 1: and I am not going to allow this to come
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Speaker 1: inside of God's temple. Eliezer kind of did what he
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Speaker 1: was supposed to as the priest, and it turns out
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Speaker 1: that he ended up having more children than his brother
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Speaker 1: Ithamar did. Now that being said, of course, Ithamar was
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Speaker 1: still blessed, he still had many sons himself, but Eliezer
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Speaker 1: had more, and I do believe that that shows God's
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Speaker 1: blessing on the house of Eliezer. In verse five, it
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Speaker 1: says they were divided impartially by drawing lots, for there
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Speaker 1: were princes of the Sanctuary and princes of God, both
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Speaker 1: of the sons of Eliezer and of the sons of Ithamar.
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Speaker 1: So there you go. I mean, God blessed both Eliezer
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Speaker 1: and Ithamar. And when David was deciding who gets what
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Speaker 1: role as priest, he ended up doing this system where
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Speaker 1: he impartially casts lots, meaning that there was no rhyme
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Speaker 1: or reason as to who was going to get what
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Speaker 1: particular role as priest in God's temple. This was a
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Speaker 1: very common thing in Israel, was that they would leave
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Speaker 1: decisions up to God by casting lots. They believed that
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Speaker 1: if they just threw the dice wherever they landed, that
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Speaker 1: was what God had chosen, and there was some credence
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Speaker 1: to that. Actually, God did you the randomized casting of
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Speaker 1: lots on many occasions to talk to his people, so
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Speaker 1: there was some evidence that God in fact was choosing
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Speaker 1: each individual man if lots for them was cast. It
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Speaker 1: says in verse six that Shameha, the son of Nathenol,
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Speaker 1: the scribe who is of the Levites, wrote them in
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Speaker 1: the presence of the King, the Princess, Zadik, the priest
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Speaker 1: a Himelech, the son of Abbiether, and the heads of
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Speaker 1: the father's household of the priests and the Levites, one
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Speaker 1: father's house being taken for Eliezer and the other for Ithamar.
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Speaker 1: And then in verses seven through nineteen it actually goes
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Speaker 1: into how the lots were cast and who ended up
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Speaker 1: getting what position for the roles of priests. And I'm
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Speaker 1: not going to go into all of that, but I'll
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Speaker 1: read the first few verses so you kind of hear
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Speaker 1: what it sounds like. Starting in verse seven, now, the
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Speaker 1: first lots came out to Jehoi Eib, the second to Judea,
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Speaker 1: the third to Harem, the fourth to Seorim, the fifth
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Speaker 1: to Malkija, the sixth to imagine mean, the seventh to
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Speaker 1: hack It. And I'm not going to keep going because
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Speaker 1: I'm already struggling with the names. But you guys get
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Speaker 1: the gist of what is going on here. So the
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Speaker 1: de was being thrown for each person, or rather the
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Speaker 1: lots were being cast for each person, and they were
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Speaker 1: getting their position based upon the role of the die
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Speaker 1: pretty much. And so in verse nineteen it says this
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Speaker 1: was their ordering in their service to come into Yaway's
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Speaker 1: house according to the ordinance given to them by Erin,
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Speaker 1: their father, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, had commanded him.
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Speaker 1: Then in verses twenty through thirty one, to finish out
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Speaker 1: this chapter, it talks about the rest of the Koothite Levites,
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Speaker 1: but the ones that were not of the family of Erin,
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Speaker 1: meaning the Kothite Levites that could not become the priests.
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Speaker 1: They also had jobs that they were supposed to do
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Speaker 1: inside of the temple, and lots again were cast for them.
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Speaker 1: It says in verse thirty one that these likewise cast
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Speaker 1: lots even as their brothers, the sons of Erin in
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Speaker 1: the presence of David, the King Zadek him and the
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Speaker 1: heads of the father's houses of the priests and of
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Speaker 1: the levites, the father's households of the chief, even as
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Speaker 1: those of his younger brother. So now all of the
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Speaker 1: Koathite levites, whether they be priests or not, have now
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Speaker 1: been given their roles by casting lots. And I believe
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Speaker 1: David did this specifically so that there was no partiality,
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Speaker 1: you know that he wasn't playing any favorites, really trying
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Speaker 1: to leave it up to the hands of God. Moving
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Speaker 1: into First Chronicles twenty five, it now talks about the
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Speaker 1: musicians again. And of course, you guys know I love
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Speaker 1: talking about the musicians because I am a musician myself,
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Speaker 1: and so it's a fun topic for me. So starting
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Speaker 1: in verse one of first Chronicles twenty five, it says moreover,
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Speaker 1: David and the captains of the army set apart for
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Speaker 1: the service certain of the sons of asaff of Hayman
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Speaker 1: and of Jennathon, who were to prophesy with harps, stringed
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Speaker 1: instruments and with symbols. Now, for those of you faithful
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Speaker 1: members who are going through the pal with me on Fridays,
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Speaker 1: you know the name Asaf. He was credited for writing
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Speaker 1: twelve of the psalms, and they're beautiful psalms and they
15:08
Speaker 1: are certainly very prophetic. It actually says here that Asaf
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Speaker 1: being a musician, along with these other musicians, Hayman and Jennithon,
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Speaker 1: they were prophets, and they specifically prophesied with harps, with
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Speaker 1: stringed instruments, and with symbols. And that shows right there
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Speaker 1: that the gift of prophecy is far more broad than
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Speaker 1: we generally think of it being. Usually when we think
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Speaker 1: of a prophet, we think of somebody who is talking
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Speaker 1: about something that hasn't happened yet, giving us like a
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Speaker 1: doomsday scenario kind of explaining what revelation means, maybe, you know,
15:48
Speaker 1: predicting Jesus's second coming, which is like super popular right now.
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Speaker 1: In fact, I am recording this yesterday, so I'm recording
15:57
Speaker 1: this on Tuesday. Everybody right now is actually saying that
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Speaker 1: Jesus is going to come again today, and man, I
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Speaker 1: really hope, so I hope that I look out my
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Speaker 1: window and I see Jesus coming out of the clouds
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Speaker 1: right now. That would be absolutely fantastic. But I suspect
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Speaker 1: that I'm still going to be here tomorrow and that
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Speaker 1: all of you guys will be as well. Because we
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Speaker 1: don't know the day or the hour, We don't know
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Speaker 1: when Jesus is going to come. We usually think of
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Speaker 1: prophets as being somebody who predicts when Jesus is going
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Speaker 1: to come again. And many people on YouTube will say
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Speaker 1: that they are great prophets, that they just have some
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Speaker 1: sort of special revelation from God, or they've been to heaven,
16:41
Speaker 1: or they see visions or something along those lines. Kind
16:44
Speaker 1: of reminds me of what we were talking about yesterday,
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Speaker 1: you know, with the super apostles in Paul's day, who
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Speaker 1: would go around claiming that they had some sort of
16:52
Speaker 1: revelation or special knowledge from God. But they were just Charlatan's.
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Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that every single prophet out there
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Speaker 1: that claims to be a prophet is a Charlottan. Don't
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Speaker 1: get me wrong on that. I'm saying probably like ninety
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Speaker 1: eight percent of them are, though, and you need to
17:08
Speaker 1: be very careful about prophecy. It actually says we're supposed
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Speaker 1: to test the prophets because having a word from God
17:14
Speaker 1: that seems really special that nobody else knows about that
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Speaker 1: is a money maker. Unfortunately, it gets people a lot
17:21
Speaker 1: of fame. That's why these YouTube prophets have so many
17:26
Speaker 1: followers so much credence, is because it seems really cool
17:31
Speaker 1: to be the one that talks to God directly or
17:35
Speaker 1: has God talk to them directly. But overwhelmingly, I would
17:38
Speaker 1: say with the majority of these people, God is not
17:41
Speaker 1: actually speaking to them. That being said, I don't want
17:44
Speaker 1: to say every single prophet out there is a false prophet,
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Speaker 1: because prophecy is a gift from God and God does
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Speaker 1: in fact talk to certain people, but you have to
17:54
Speaker 1: be very careful. The first way you can know if
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Speaker 1: a prophet is real or not is if his or
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Speaker 1: her prophecy comes true. If it does not come true,
18:03
Speaker 1: you can guarantee that that person is a false prophet.
18:07
Speaker 1: So if you and I are still here tomorrow after
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Speaker 1: rash haash Hannah is over and Jesus has not come back,
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Speaker 1: because all of these quote unquote prophets right now are
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Speaker 1: saying that Jesus is going to come back, which is
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Speaker 1: today and yesterday. If he does not come back, you
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Speaker 1: can guarantee that those prophets were false prophets and you
18:25
Speaker 1: should not listen to anything they have to say in
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Speaker 1: the future regarding prophecy because they lied from the beginning
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Speaker 1: and showed that they were not real prophets. So what
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Speaker 1: is a real prophet, Well, a real prophet is somebody
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Speaker 1: who has a word from God that might not be
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Speaker 1: talking about the future at all. That could just be
18:44
Speaker 1: talking about some sort of revelation that you get in scripture,
18:48
Speaker 1: or maybe God just speaking to you on a personal level,
18:52
Speaker 1: or maybe even God telling you, like you have this
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Speaker 1: gut feeling that God is telling you to go talk
18:59
Speaker 1: to somebody and give them a word of encouragement. This
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Speaker 1: actually just happened to one of my best friends recently.
19:04
Speaker 1: She was really struggling with something and she went to
19:08
Speaker 1: go take a walk around her neighborhood and she said
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Speaker 1: that a woman followed her. She knew kind of who
19:15
Speaker 1: the woman was. It was one of her neighbors. She
19:17
Speaker 1: had seen the woman before but never really talked to her. Apparently,
19:21
Speaker 1: this woman followed my friend because she was told by
19:25
Speaker 1: God that she needed to go and say something to
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Speaker 1: my friend. And so my friend Kelsey was like, that's
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Speaker 1: the first time that ever happened to me. And you know,
19:34
Speaker 1: I barely knew this woman, hardly ever talked to her before,
19:38
Speaker 1: and yet God had given this woman a revelation that
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Speaker 1: she needed to talk to me. And that was impactful
19:44
Speaker 1: for me because of what I was going through, because
19:46
Speaker 1: I was praying to God that I needed just something
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Speaker 1: from him, and He, you know, sent me this woman
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Speaker 1: to me. I would consider that neighbor of my friend
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Speaker 1: to be a prophetess because she got something from God
19:59
Speaker 1: that told her to go and speak to somebody that
20:03
Speaker 1: she did not know. That right there is who the
20:06
Speaker 1: prophets are, and usually they are living among us. They
20:09
Speaker 1: don't have big platforms, they don't proclaim their prophecies to
20:12
Speaker 1: millions of people. But these prophets and prophetesces they edify
20:17
Speaker 1: and encourage individual people that they come across, whether it's
20:21
Speaker 1: in their church or their neighbors, like in the case
20:24
Speaker 1: of my friend or a stranger even at the store.
20:27
Speaker 1: That is who the real prophets are. They're the ones
20:31
Speaker 1: living among us who we barely even know about. In
20:35
Speaker 1: the case of Asaf and Haman and Jedathin, they were
20:40
Speaker 1: musical prophets, meaning in my mind that they were getting
20:44
Speaker 1: lyrics from God, that God himself was speaking through their music.
20:49
Speaker 1: In fact, if you go into Asaf and Jedithin and
20:54
Speaker 1: Hayman a little bit more in First Chronicles twenty five,
20:57
Speaker 1: here's what it says about Asaf. It says that a
21:00
Speaker 1: prophesied at the order of the king of Jedithon. It
21:04
Speaker 1: says that he prophesied in giving thanks and praising Yahweh
21:08
Speaker 1: with the harp, So you can apparently also prophesy through
21:12
Speaker 1: the giving of thanks, which is kind of interesting. So
21:14
Speaker 1: I think that shows right there that you know, the
21:16
Speaker 1: gift of prophecy, especially in today's culture, is very misunderstood
21:21
Speaker 1: as to what it actually is. But after going off
21:24
Speaker 1: on that tangent, you know, as I told you, guys,
21:26
Speaker 1: I love talking about the musicians. Here, Verses one through
21:31
Speaker 1: eight talk about the sons of all three of these
21:35
Speaker 1: musical prophets, Asaf, Haman, and Jeddathon, and how these men
21:39
Speaker 1: were blessed under God. Now, Asaf, who was probably the
21:44
Speaker 1: most prominent of these three musicians. It actually talks about
21:47
Speaker 1: in the Book of Ezra how his family was the
21:51
Speaker 1: first one of the first to come back after the
21:54
Speaker 1: Babylonian exile. I believe Jeddathon's family also came back as well,
21:59
Speaker 1: but family was unfortunately lost to history, so we don't
22:04
Speaker 1: know if they all died. We don't know what happened
22:06
Speaker 1: to Hayman's family, but we do know that Asaf specifically,
22:10
Speaker 1: his family did come back to the Promised Land very
22:13
Speaker 1: quickly after the Babylonian exile. In verse eight, it mentions
22:18
Speaker 1: that between these three men and their families, who are
22:21
Speaker 1: also musicians, they cast lots for their offices, all like
22:26
Speaker 1: the small as well as the great, the teacher as
22:28
Speaker 1: well as the student, and then in verses nine through
22:32
Speaker 1: thirty one of the end of the chapter, it talks
22:34
Speaker 1: about who got these particular offices. But what's really cool
22:37
Speaker 1: about this is, you know, David was doing his best
22:40
Speaker 1: to show impartiality between all of the musicians. In this case,
22:44
Speaker 1: the teacher was not greater than the student. And I
22:47
Speaker 1: think that this was a way to not only leave
22:49
Speaker 1: it up to God as to who is going to
22:51
Speaker 1: get what position, but also to teach the musicians some humility.
22:57
Speaker 1: You know, us musicians, we have a hard time not
23:00
Speaker 1: letting our musicality go to our heads. You know. It's
23:05
Speaker 1: a very in the spotlight type of role, especially if
23:08
Speaker 1: you're good at it. You get a lot of compliments,
23:10
Speaker 1: you get a lot of praise, a lot of people
23:12
Speaker 1: saying like, oh, I wish I could do what you do.
23:15
Speaker 1: It's hard not to let that go to your head.
23:18
Speaker 1: And this exercise of casting lots for the prominent positions
23:23
Speaker 1: would certainly be a very humbling thing, especially if you
23:27
Speaker 1: did not get the role that you wanted. But that
23:31
Speaker 1: was by design, and I think that was a very
23:33
Speaker 1: very good idea for David to do with these musicians.
23:38
Speaker 1: And then moving into first Chronicles twenty six and now
23:41
Speaker 1: talks about the doorkeepers and also the judges and treasurers
23:45
Speaker 1: of God's house. So in verses one through nineteen it
23:49
Speaker 1: mentions who the doorkeepers were going to be, and this
23:52
Speaker 1: was also done by casting lots. Once again, the doorkeepers
23:57
Speaker 1: had a very important role, and it wasn't so much
23:59
Speaker 1: a spiritual role as it was a physical role. You know,
24:03
Speaker 1: the doorkeepers were the security of God's temple. They made
24:07
Speaker 1: sure that nobody got in who was trying to cause trouble,
24:10
Speaker 1: and they also probably had to boot people out who
24:13
Speaker 1: were already in the temple causing trouble. One of the
24:18
Speaker 1: more notable doorkeepers here was named obed Edom. You might
24:22
Speaker 1: remember that name because he was the guy that took
24:25
Speaker 1: care of the Ark of the Covenant for a little while.
24:27
Speaker 1: For three months after David tried to for the first
24:31
Speaker 1: time bring it into the city, there was an incident
24:33
Speaker 1: where God struck someone dead because they mishandled the Ark
24:38
Speaker 1: of the Covenant. So David, who was terrified and angry
24:41
Speaker 1: at God, actually sent the Ark of the Covenant to
24:44
Speaker 1: this guy named obed Edom, where God blessed obed Edom
24:49
Speaker 1: so drastically because the Ark of the Covenant was being
24:52
Speaker 1: taken care of so well by his family. And actually
24:55
Speaker 1: it says right here in First Chronicles twenty six, verse
25:00
Speaker 1: four that obed Edam had all of these family members,
25:04
Speaker 1: all of these sons because God blessed him. That was
25:09
Speaker 1: in our passage for today. So yes, obed Edam was
25:13
Speaker 1: greatly blessed for his role in taking care of the
25:17
Speaker 1: Ark of the Covenant. Moving down to the treasurers in
25:22
Speaker 1: verse twenty, it says of the Levites. Ahijah was over
25:25
Speaker 1: the treasurers of God's House and over the treasuries of
25:28
Speaker 1: the dedicated things. Once again, lots were cast in order
25:32
Speaker 1: to decide who the treasurers were going to be. And
25:35
Speaker 1: then lastly, in verses twenty nine through thirty two, it
25:38
Speaker 1: mentions the judges of Israel, David actually instituted judges to
25:43
Speaker 1: go out into all the different districts, all the different
25:46
Speaker 1: tribes of Israel and take on smaller cases that David
25:51
Speaker 1: just could not do. The Levites were supposed to do that.
25:54
Speaker 1: Here's what it says in verse twenty nine of the Isarites,
25:57
Speaker 1: Chanania and his sons were appointed to the outward business
26:00
Speaker 1: over Israel for officers and judges of the Hebrewnites. Hashbiah
26:05
Speaker 1: and his brothers one thy seven hundred men of Valor
26:08
Speaker 1: had the oversight of Israel beyond the Jordan westward for
26:11
Speaker 1: all the business of Yahweh and for the service of
26:14
Speaker 1: the king. And then it goes into some of the
26:16
Speaker 1: other Levites as well, who had jobs on the other
26:21
Speaker 1: side of the Jordan River, inside the Promised Land. If
26:23
Speaker 1: that makes sense. So, yes, all of these divisions were
26:26
Speaker 1: organized very well by David, and this is the first
26:30
Speaker 1: time anybody thought to do this. Though this was something
26:33
Speaker 1: very necessary, very important for the structure of Israel, for
26:37
Speaker 1: the worship of Israel. David, a man after God's own heart,
26:42
Speaker 1: knew how important this was, especially since he was about
26:45
Speaker 1: to die and Solomon was going to take over the throne.
26:49
Speaker 1: David wanted to help any way he possibly can to
26:52
Speaker 1: make sure that Israel's heart remained loyal to God. And
26:55
Speaker 1: that is why the levitical priests were so important. They
26:58
Speaker 1: know they're important even today, though this structure has been
27:01
Speaker 1: done away with since Jesus came and became our sacrifice.
27:06
Speaker 1: The Levites are the only tribe of Israel who still
27:11
Speaker 1: have their records, who still know who they are. All
27:14
Speaker 1: of the other tribes their records were lost after Rome
27:19
Speaker 1: came in and pretty much like trampled Jerusalem in eighty seventy,
27:24
Speaker 1: the records were lost, and a Jewish person today, unless
27:27
Speaker 1: he or she is a Levite, they do not know
27:30
Speaker 1: what tribe they are from. They generally just say we're
27:33
Speaker 1: from the tribe of Judah. But somehow the Levites were
27:37
Speaker 1: the only ones who were able to maintain their records,
27:40
Speaker 1: which is super cool, and that kind of shows that,
27:44
Speaker 1: in my mind, God is not done with the Levites yet,
27:46
Speaker 1: and I do believe that that's the case, because the
27:49
Speaker 1: Levites are going to play, i believe, a very important
27:52
Speaker 1: role for rebuilding the Temple in these days. That's prophesied
27:58
Speaker 1: about that the Jewish people are going to try to
28:00
Speaker 1: rebuild the Temple, and when they do, they're going to
28:03
Speaker 1: need the Levites to come back in and do all
28:08
Speaker 1: of the sacrifices and everything else that needs done inside
28:12
Speaker 1: of the Temple. And that's all prophecy that is going
28:15
Speaker 1: to happen right before Jesus comes back. So I personally
28:18
Speaker 1: think it's really cool that the Levites still know who
28:22
Speaker 1: they are and that Jewish people are getting ready to
28:25
Speaker 1: rebuild the Temple and are getting ready to institute the
28:29
Speaker 1: Leevites once again to perform the duties of the Temple
28:33
Speaker 1: all over again. Now, of course, I have no clue
28:37
Speaker 1: when the new Temple is going to be rebuilt, but
28:40
Speaker 1: I do know that the Jewish people have been talking
28:42
Speaker 1: about it since they've been back in the Promised Land
28:45
Speaker 1: for about a century now. They certainly want to rebuild
28:48
Speaker 1: the Temple, and we might see it in our lifetime,
28:50
Speaker 1: I don't know. But anyway, faithful listeners, I hope that
28:52
Speaker 1: you guys enjoyed talking about the Levites a little bit more.
28:56
Speaker 1: One thing that I forgot to mention actually in the
28:58
Speaker 1: podcast is that you know, the reason the Chronicler focused
29:03
Speaker 1: in on the Leevites so heavily was because most likely
29:06
Speaker 1: he was a Levite himself, but he knew that after
29:09
Speaker 1: the Babylonian exile was finished, the Levites were the ones
29:14
Speaker 1: who were going to change the course of Israel because
29:17
Speaker 1: Israel was no longer going to have a king. When
29:20
Speaker 1: the Babylonians let the Israelites come back to their land,
29:23
Speaker 1: there was no more king of Israel, and so the
29:26
Speaker 1: Levites would have to take it over. And I think
29:29
Speaker 1: that's why the Chronicler was so focused on making sure
29:33
Speaker 1: the Levites knew what they were doing, what family they
29:36
Speaker 1: were from, so they could go back, rebuild the temple,
29:40
Speaker 1: and serve in the position that they were supposed to
29:42
Speaker 1: serve in. Anyway, faithful listeners, I hope you all have
29:45
Speaker 1: a fantastic and wonderful, wonderful rest of your day. I
29:49
Speaker 1: will see you guys tomorrow as we discuss first Thessalonians
29:52
Speaker 1: chapter three, and speaking of the Second Coming, which it
29:55
Speaker 1: seems like it's coming up a lot these days. We
29:58
Speaker 1: are going to certainly start delving more into Jesus's Second Coming,
30:02
Speaker 1: especially as we move into Thessalonians three and four. Faithful listeners,
30:06
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys tomorrow six am, or whenever you
30:08
Speaker 1: choose to wake up and listen. Until then, happy listening,
30:12
Speaker 1: and God bless