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Ezra 8 - The Dangerous Journey Home · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Howdy and good morning, friends and faithful listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning in to the Bible
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  Speaker 1: Explain podcast. So we are in chapter eight of Ezra today,
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  Speaker 1: So go ahead and grab your Bible out of the
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  Speaker 1: version that you prefer, faithful listener, and also your cup
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  Speaker 1: of coffee or your cup of tea as this quick
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  Speaker 1: ad plays, and right after that we will dive into
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Ezra chapter eight. All right, So this
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  Speaker 1: chapter is mostly discussing all of the different people that
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  Speaker 1: end up returning to Jerusalem with Ezra, as well as
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  Speaker 1: talking about the faith that Ezra and these people had,
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  Speaker 1: whether it was foolhardy for Ezra to return back to
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem this dangerous journey without the Persian army, or if
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  Speaker 1: this was something good that he and the people actually did.
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  Speaker 1: So let's go ahead and turn in our bibles to
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  Speaker 1: Ezra chapter eight. And already I am going to apologize
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  Speaker 1: for the pronunciation of the names in this. I will
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  Speaker 1: do my absolute best. So let's read Ezra eight together
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  Speaker 1: and I'll be reading from the w EB. Now, these
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  Speaker 1: are the heads of their father's households, and this is
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  Speaker 1: the genealogy of those who went up with me from
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  Speaker 1: Babylon in the reign of art Exerxes, the King, of
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  Speaker 1: the sons of Phineas Gersham, of the sons of Ithamar Daniel,
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  Speaker 1: of the sons of David Hattoush, of the sons of
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  Speaker 1: hicania the sons of Parish Zechariah, and with him were
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  Speaker 1: listed by genealogy of the males one hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: of the sons of hath moab eliaho and I, the
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  Speaker 1: son of Zuriah, and with him two hundred males of
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  Speaker 1: the sons of Chicaniah the son of Jehaziel, and with
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  Speaker 1: him three hundred males of the sons of Aiden Ebed
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  Speaker 1: the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males of
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  Speaker 1: the sons of Elim Jeshiah, the son of Athaliah, and
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  Speaker 1: with him seventy males of the sons of Sfadiah, Zebediah,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Michael, and with him eighty males of
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  Speaker 1: the sons of joab Obadiah, the son of Jehiel, and
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  Speaker 1: with him two hundred and eighteen males of the sons
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  Speaker 1: of Selamath, the son of Josephia, and with him one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty males of the sons of Bibai, Zechariah,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Bibai, and with him twenty eight males
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  Speaker 1: of the sons of Asgad Johonan, the son of Hakaton,
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  Speaker 1: and with him one hundred and ten males of the
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  Speaker 1: sons of Adonikhim, who were the last. Their names are
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  Speaker 1: Alephilet Jeul, Shamaiah, and with them sixty males of the
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  Speaker 1: sons of Big vi Uthiah and Zeboud, and with them
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  Speaker 1: seventy males. I gathered them together at the river that
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  Speaker 1: runs to a Java, and we camped there for three days.
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  Speaker 1: Then I looked around at the people and the priests,
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  Speaker 1: and found that there were none of the sons of Levi.
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  Speaker 1: Then I sent for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shamaiah, for
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  Speaker 1: l Nathan, for Jaib, for el Nathan, for Nathan, for Zechariah,
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  Speaker 1: and for Meshulam chief men, also for Joyiib and el Nathan,
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  Speaker 1: who are teachers. I sent them out to Odo, the
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  Speaker 1: chief at the place Cassiphia, and I told them that
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  Speaker 1: they should tell Edo and his brothers, the temple servants
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  Speaker 1: at the place Cassifia, that they should bring to us
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  Speaker 1: ministers for the house of our God. According to the
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  Speaker 1: good hand of our God on us. They brought us
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  Speaker 1: a man of discretion, the sons of Mahali, the sons
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  Speaker 1: of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Shaabai with his
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  Speaker 1: sons and his brothers eighteen and Hashibai, and with him Jeshiah,
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  Speaker 1: of the sons of Maurari and his brothers and their
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  Speaker 1: sons twenty. And of the temple servants whom David and
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  Speaker 1: the priests had given for the service of the Levites
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  Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty temple servants. All of them were
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  Speaker 1: mentioned by name. Then I proclaimed a fast there at
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  Speaker 1: the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our
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  Speaker 1: God and seek from him a straight way for us,
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  Speaker 1: for our little ones, and for all our possessions. For
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  Speaker 1: I was ashamed to ask the king a band of
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  Speaker 1: soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on
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  Speaker 1: the way, because we had spoken to the King saying,
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  Speaker 1: the hand of our God is on all who seek
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  Speaker 1: him for good, but his power and his wrath is
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  Speaker 1: against all those who forsake him. So we fasted and
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  Speaker 1: begged our God for this, and he granted our request.
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  Speaker 1: Then I set apart twelve of the chief priests even
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  Speaker 1: sharebayah Hashebaiah and ten of their brothers with them, and
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  Speaker 1: wade to them silver, gold and the vessels, even the
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  Speaker 1: offering for the House of our God, which the King,
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  Speaker 1: the councilors, the princes and all Israel their presence had
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  Speaker 1: offered I Widh into their hand at six hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty talents of silver, one hundred talents of silver vessels
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  Speaker 1: and one hundred talents of gold, twenty bowls of gold
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  Speaker 1: weighing ten thousand derycks, and two vessels of fine bright
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  Speaker 1: bronze precious as gold. I said to them, you are
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  Speaker 1: holy to Yahweh, and these vessels are holy. The silver
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  Speaker 1: and the gold are free will offering to Yahweh, the
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  Speaker 1: God of your Father's watch. And keep them until you
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  Speaker 1: weigh them before the chiefs of the priests, the Levites,
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  Speaker 1: and the princes of the Father's households of Israel at
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem in the rooms of Yahwei's house. So the priests
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  Speaker 1: and the Levites received the way to the silver, the gold,
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  Speaker 1: the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the House
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  Speaker 1: of our God. Then we departed from the river Ahava
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  Speaker 1: on the twelfth day of the first month to go
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  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us,
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  Speaker 1: and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy
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  Speaker 1: and of the bandits. By the way, we came to
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem and stayed there for three days. On the fourth day,
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  Speaker 1: the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed
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  Speaker 1: in the House of our God into the hand of Mehrimath,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Uriah the Priest, and with him was Eliezer,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Phineas. And with them were Jozabad, the
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  Speaker 1: son of Jeshua, and Nodiah the son of Binui the Levites.
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  Speaker 1: Everything was counted and weighed, and all the weight was written.
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  Speaker 1: At that time, the children of the captivity who had
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  Speaker 1: come out of exile, offered burnt offerings to the God
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  Speaker 1: of Israel. Twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety six rams,
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  Speaker 1: seventy seven lambs, and twelve male goats for a sin offering.
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  Speaker 1: All of this was a burnt offering to Yahweh. They
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  Speaker 1: delivered the king's commissions to the king's local governors and
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  Speaker 1: the governors beyond the river. So they supported the people
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  Speaker 1: and God's house. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed me
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  Speaker 1: absolutely butchering every single name in this chapter because I
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  Speaker 1: do not know how to pronounce anything, and I will
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  Speaker 1: do my best with the limited knowledge of Hebrew that
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  Speaker 1: I have. So bear with me, and I apologize ahead
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  Speaker 1: of time. But this chapter is talking about Ezra finally
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  Speaker 1: going back home to Jerusalem. This may be the first
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  Speaker 1: time that Ezra ever went to Jerusalem because don't forget,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the Jews were living in Persia because they
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  Speaker 1: had been exiled from their homeland. So all of these
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  Speaker 1: Jews that Ezra is traveling with have never been to
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem or to Israel at all. They've only heard stories,
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  Speaker 1: probably from their grandparents and great grandparents about what Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: was like. So all of these Jews here were born
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  Speaker 1: and raised in Persia in Babylon, and we're making this
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  Speaker 1: scary journey back home. And there is only a handful
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  Speaker 1: of people that were comfortable to go back to Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: and help build it up. The rest of the people
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  Speaker 1: were content to stay in Persia. And that's not to
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  Speaker 1: say that they necessarily were doing something wrong by staying
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  Speaker 1: in Persia. You know, God calls certain individuals to certain things.
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  Speaker 1: For example, Daniel, he never returned back home to Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: He was probably too old to make the journey by
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  Speaker 1: the time that Cyrus allowed the Jews to go back home.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm sure Daniel was not outside of God's will
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  Speaker 1: by not returning back home to Jerusalem. So God calls
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  Speaker 1: different people to different things, and it could be that
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  Speaker 1: some of these Jews were just meant to stay in Persia,
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  Speaker 1: but some were also meant to go back home, and
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  Speaker 1: that's who it talks about right here in verses one
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  Speaker 1: through fourteen. And I am not going to restate all
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  Speaker 1: of these names. Instead, I'm just going to give an
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  Speaker 1: overview here. It says in verse two that the sons
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  Speaker 1: of Phineas and Gersham and the sons of Ithamar Daniel,
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  Speaker 1: so that would be talking about some of the priests
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  Speaker 1: that decided to make this journey to Jerusalem. And then
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  Speaker 1: also in verse two it mentions the sons of David,
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  Speaker 1: so that would have been the kingly line, the line
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  Speaker 1: of Judah. And then in verses three through fourteen it
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  Speaker 1: talks about all the other lay people I guess of
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  Speaker 1: the Jews. So these would have been different families of
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  Speaker 1: different tribes. But you're going to notice something here, and
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  Speaker 1: this is a common theme that keeps coming up in
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Ezra, the Leevites don't want to return
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  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. For whatever reason. The Leevites, even though they're
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  Speaker 1: given the opportunity to go back home home to Israel,
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  Speaker 1: they keep deciding to stay in Persia. This is the
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  Speaker 1: second time this has happened now. The first time was
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  Speaker 1: when the decree was first made by Cyrus that the
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  Speaker 1: Jews could return back home. The smallest tribe to return
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  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem, where the Levites. There was like what two
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  Speaker 1: hundred Levites or something out of thousands and thousands of
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  Speaker 1: other people that decided to go back home. Very few Levites,
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  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, wanted to return to Jerusalem. And that
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  Speaker 1: is the case right here in verse fifteen. It says
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  Speaker 1: I or Ezra gathered them together to the river that
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  Speaker 1: runs to Ajava, and there we encamped for three days.
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  Speaker 1: And I looked around at the people and the priests
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  Speaker 1: and found that there were none of the sons of Levi.
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  Speaker 1: So the Levites just don't want to go back home.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know why, but they just refused to make
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  Speaker 1: this journey. And apparently, out of all of these people
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  Speaker 1: that are choosing to go back home, which I believe
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  Speaker 1: the number was about fifteen hundred men, just shy of that.
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  Speaker 1: None of these, not a single one of them, were
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  Speaker 1: levites other than the priests, obviously, but priests were different
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  Speaker 1: than levites. A priest was always a levite, but a
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  Speaker 1: levite was not always a priest, if that makes sense,
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  Speaker 1: And they both had different roles and things that they
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  Speaker 1: had to do in the temple. The priests couldn't do everything,
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  Speaker 1: and the levites couldn't do everything, so they were needed.
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  Speaker 1: They were symbiotic with each other, and so if there
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  Speaker 1: wasn't enough levites to help in the temple, then things
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't function the right way. But Ezra refuses to give
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  Speaker 1: up because don't forget what happened in the previous chapter.
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  Speaker 1: We talked all about how Ezra talks to the king
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  Speaker 1: about making this journey back home, and the king actually
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  Speaker 1: grants Ezra with a ton of power. He tasks him
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  Speaker 1: with taking the people back to Jerusalem, like leading the
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  Speaker 1: charge for all of this. He tasks him with taking
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  Speaker 1: offerings back to Jerusalem, millions of dollars worth of money
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  Speaker 1: and gold and silver and vessels for the temple, just
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  Speaker 1: tons of stuff. And he also gives Ezra a ton
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  Speaker 1: of power to do all of this. So Ezra had
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  Speaker 1: the power actually to even enact judgment to the point
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  Speaker 1: of death, like to kill somebody if they did not
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  Speaker 1: follow the laws of God. So Ezra was granted a
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  Speaker 1: ton of power by King art Exerxes, and we discussed
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  Speaker 1: all of that on Monday. So Ezra here, when he
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  Speaker 1: sees that there is no levites accompanying him, he decides
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  Speaker 1: he's gonna get some levites to accompany him. Here's what
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  Speaker 1: he does. He sends for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah,
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  Speaker 1: and for el Nathan, for Jereb, for l Nathan, for Nathan,
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  Speaker 1: for Zechariah, for Meshelam the chief man, and also for
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  Speaker 1: Jeriab and for al Nathan, who are teachers. I think
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  Speaker 1: it's so funny that there's like six el Nathan's in
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  Speaker 1: this chapter. You know, people have always been the same.
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  Speaker 1: That is one thing that I really enjoy about Scripture,
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  Speaker 1: because you know, people look at Scripture and they think
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  Speaker 1: that these people were so different from us. You know,
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  Speaker 1: the these characters in the Bible basically just like floated
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  Speaker 1: across earth and never sinned. Like that's how people treat
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  Speaker 1: these stories in scripture. And yet this is the kind
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  Speaker 1: of stuff that brings so much humanity to the Bible
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  Speaker 1: when there's four L Nathans in the same sentence. Because
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  Speaker 1: whatever is popular, that is what people are going to do.
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  Speaker 1: And apparently the name el Nathan was very very popular
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  Speaker 1: at this point in time, just as the name Theodore
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  Speaker 1: is really popular right now, Like everybody is naming their
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  Speaker 1: kid Theodore. So if we looked at this nowadays, it
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  Speaker 1: would be like and I called Oliver and Theodore and
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  Speaker 1: Theodore and Theo and Teddy and Leo and Theodore, and
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  Speaker 1: like that's what it would be, because people don't change
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  Speaker 1: all that much. If something is popular, that is what
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  Speaker 1: people are gonna go with. And so yes, the name
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  Speaker 1: el Nathan here very popular name. And he sends for
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  Speaker 1: all of these people, all these l Nathans, and he
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  Speaker 1: tells them to go to this guy named Ida, the
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  Speaker 1: chief at the place Cassiphia. Okay, so I couldn't find
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  Speaker 1: much information on the place Cassifia, but I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: guess that this was some sort of Jewish temple that
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  Speaker 1: was in Persia or some sort of Jewish hub where
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  Speaker 1: they could find more Levites that might want to travel
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  Speaker 1: to Israel. With this caravan. And it says right here
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  Speaker 1: that I or Ezra told them what they should tell
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  Speaker 1: Edo and his brothers, the temple servants at the place Cassifia,
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  Speaker 1: that they should bring us ministers for the house of
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  Speaker 1: our God, according to the good hand of our God
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  Speaker 1: on us. They brought us a man of discretion, of
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  Speaker 1: the sons of Mali, the sons of Levi, the sons
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, namely sha Abayah with his sons and his
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  Speaker 1: brothers eighteen and Hashibayah, and with him Jeshiah, of the
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  Speaker 1: sons of Murari and his brothers and their sons twenty.
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  Speaker 1: And of the temple servants whom David and the princes
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  Speaker 1: had given for the service of the Levites two hundred
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  Speaker 1: twenty temple servants, and all of them were mentioned by name.
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  Speaker 1: So about two hundred and sixty Ish Levites stepped up
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  Speaker 1: to the task. They decided, you know what, we will,
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  Speaker 1: in fact go with Ezra and this caravan back to
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  Speaker 1: our hometown and we will help out. We will take
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  Speaker 1: the trip and we will move. And it took Ezra,
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  Speaker 1: it says, eight days, to do all of this. So
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  Speaker 1: all of this was from God. God had his hand
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  Speaker 1: on Ezra and on this caravan. Because God wanted his
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  Speaker 1: people to go back home. He told them that he
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  Speaker 1: would give them the land back. And this was God's
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  Speaker 1: promise coming to fruition. So of course God was going
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  Speaker 1: to provide levites and priests for the task of serving
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  Speaker 1: in the temple. And that's the thing. God is always
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  Speaker 1: going to protect his church, even if there are bad
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  Speaker 1: actors in the church or people who aren't doing what
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  Speaker 1: they're supposed to be doing. God is going to provide
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  Speaker 1: people to fill the roles that need to be filled.
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  Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean we shouldn't pray that God brings
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  Speaker 1: us more people. In fact, Jesus himself told his disciples
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  Speaker 1: that the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few.
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  Speaker 1: There are so many people ready to hear the gospel message,
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  Speaker 1: and there aren't enough laborers to go around and actually
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  Speaker 1: do the work that needs to be done. So Jesus
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  Speaker 1: tells his disciples pray for the laborers that they are sent.
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  Speaker 1: And it sounds like that is what Ezra did right here.
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  Speaker 1: He prayed that levites would step up, and indeed a
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  Speaker 1: couple hundred did in fact step up. And I don't
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  Speaker 1: think that Ezra though he was very powerful, was actually
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  Speaker 1: wielding his power here. I don't think he was demanding
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  Speaker 1: that people go. I do think that this was voluntary,
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  Speaker 1: he says in verse eighteen. According to the good hand
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  Speaker 1: of our God on us, they brought us a man
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  Speaker 1: of discretion named shaah Byah with his sons and his
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  Speaker 1: brothers eighteen and also a man named Hashebiah, and with
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  Speaker 1: him Jeshua, the sons of Murari. So that to me
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  Speaker 1: sounds like this was not forced, but that these two
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  Speaker 1: men actually stepped up and felt a calling from God.
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  Speaker 1: When they heard that levites were needed to go back home,
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  Speaker 1: maybe they changed their mind and they're like, you know what,
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  Speaker 1: we are going to ma make this trip. We are
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  Speaker 1: going to do this because we are needed over in Israel. So, yes,
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  Speaker 1: God will provide people for the service of his kingdom.
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  Speaker 1: He is always going to allow the word to get
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  Speaker 1: out there. But it's still important to pray that more
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  Speaker 1: people are sent, that more people feel this calling, and
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  Speaker 1: that they listen to the call of God. Because even
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  Speaker 1: though these levites stepped up, this was still not nearly
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  Speaker 1: enough leevites to help with the service of the temple.
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  Speaker 1: It was enough to get by and that is the
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  Speaker 1: same story. Nowadays, you're going to notice that if you
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  Speaker 1: do go to church a lot of times, the same
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  Speaker 1: people keep showing up for different roles, and because they're
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  Speaker 1: willing to lead, they get asked to step into even
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  Speaker 1: more roles and then they end up getting burned out.
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  Speaker 1: So honestly, if you have a calling from God where
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  Speaker 1: you want to serve in a particular ministry, I encourage
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  Speaker 1: you to listen to that calling and try to step
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  Speaker 1: up and maybe do something a little bit more, because
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  Speaker 1: that might take a burden off of somebody else's back
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  Speaker 1: and you'll get to do something really fun. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of people think that volunteer work or that serving at
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  Speaker 1: church is a bore. It is not a bore. It
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  Speaker 1: is so much fun. But after these levites step up.
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  Speaker 1: It says in verse twenty one that Ezra proclaimed a
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  Speaker 1: fast there at the river Ahava, that we might humble
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  Speaker 1: ourselves before our God and seek from him a straight
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  Speaker 1: way for us, for our little ones, and for our possessions.
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  Speaker 1: So before they set out, Ezra, who is the leader
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  Speaker 1: of all these people, proclaims this three day long fast.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason he proclaimed this fast was for protection
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  Speaker 1: for the very long journey to Jerusalem. This journey actually
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  Speaker 1: took Ezra and all of these people four months to do.
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  Speaker 1: And it wasn't just men making this journey. It was
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  Speaker 1: children and women, probably elderly as well. It could have
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: been up to seven thousand people making this journey. So
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: this was not an easy journey by any stretch of
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the imagination. I mean, I'm sure that some of you
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: moms listening in here you know how difficult it is
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: is even to take a car trip with an infant.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Can you imagine traveling on foot or on a donkey
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: with three very young children. I mean, this was a
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: difficult journey for anybody, let alone these mothers that were
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: making this trip as well. So Ezra was right in
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: proclaiming this fast, which fasting was almost always tied to prayer.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Whenever you see fasting in scripture, it is because you
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: are praying about something. And the reason some people might
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: fast while praying is to deny themselves comfort so that
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: they remember to pray. And I mean, if you've ever
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: done a fast before, you will know that after a while,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: you start thinking about food non stop because you're very hungry.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: I remember one time my sister was telling me that
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: she was doing a fast years years and years ago,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: and she was like helping in the nursery or something,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and she had this baby food that she was feeding
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: to one of the babies, and she was so hungry
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: that she was like, I really want to eat that
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: baby food. And that's how it gets. When you are hungry,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: you start thinking about food all the time, and so
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: then you remember, oh, when my stomach growls, I need
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: to pray. You deny yourself a comfort and make yourself
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable so that you can devote yourself even more to prayer.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: And so Ezra does this three day long fast specifically
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: to ask God that they could be protected on this
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: very long journey. It says in verse twenty two that
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: he was ashamed to ask the king for a band
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: on the way, because we had spoken to the king saying,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the hand of our God is on all of those
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: who seek him for good, but his power and his
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: wrath is against all those who forsake him. So actually,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: the reason for this fast goes even further. Apparently, Ezra
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: was talking with King art Exerxes about how God's power
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: is with those who fear him, and that you don't
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: have anything to fear when God is on your side,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: which all of that is the truth. But because he
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: told the king all of those things about God, it
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: says he now felt ashamed to go back to the
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: king and ask him if there could be an army
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: that escorts them to Israel. It says he was ashamed
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: to do this. If he did ask the king for
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: that army, the king would think that Ezra was lying
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: about God's power. So Ezra decided that all the people
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: were going to pray and fast, that they would be
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: protected on their journey and not need the help of
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the king's armies. And some of you might wonder if
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: that was the right thing for Ezra to do, like
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: maybe he needlessly put in danger all of these women
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and children. And honestly, that could be the case. Maybe
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Ezra was not thinking correctly. But I can see Ezra's
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: side on this one. If he's talking about the power
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: of God to a pagan king who doesn't understand yahweh,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: I can completely see why Ezra would be hesitant to
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: ask the king for an army to travel with them,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: because then that would be showing that Ezra and these
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: other Jewish people don't actually trust in the power of God.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Not to mention, there were fifteen hundred men, probably close
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: to fighting age, that were traveling with these people, and
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: so I don't think Ezra was needlessly putting anybody in
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: danger here, but just praying for success, that if any
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: bandits did come their way, or any other armies of
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: other nations did come their way, that they would have
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: enough fighting men, enough power of themselves, and the power
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: of God obviously to get them through all of this.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: And so I think that was Ezra's main motivation here,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: not necessarily to save face. So it says in verse
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: twenty three that they fasted and begged our God for this,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: and he granted our request. So God got them through safely,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: And that shows right there that God was pleased with
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the faith of Ezra and these people with this request.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: They weren't trusting in the weaponry of Persia. They were
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: trusting in their God to get them through. Then, in
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: verses twenty four through twenty nine, remember all that money
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: that Ezra was carrying with him, Well, it says they
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: he designated it to all the priests that were traveling
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: with him, that was their first act of the priesthood
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: was taking care of the offerings of God, even before
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: they got to Jerusalem. And it says in verse thirty
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: that the priests and the levites received the weight of silver,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: the gold, and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: to the House of our God. Then we departed from
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: month to go to Jerusalem. So now they are finally departing.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: It took them eight days to find levites that would
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: go with them, three days to fast, and now finally
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: they are on their way to Jerusalem. And it says
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the hand of our God was on us, and he
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: bandits by the way, So either that means the bandits
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: didn't touch them, didn't even think about going near them,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: or any bandits that did come their way, the men
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: in the group were actually able to fight them off.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: It says we came to Jerusalem and stayed there for
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: three days, so they rested, and on the fourth day,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in the House of our God into the hand of Merrimoth,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the son of Uriah. The priest, and with him was Eliezer,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the son of Phineas, and with him were Jazabad the
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: son of Jeshua, and all these other guys. And everything
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: was counted in weigh, and all the weight was written
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: at that time, So in other words, everything was found,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: nothing was lost. No bandits came and took anything. All
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: of the Levites did what they were supposed to do
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: with those offerings that they were to care for, and
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: it was all written down, probably to send back to
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the king to tell them, hey, we got to Jerusalem.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: We took all of the offerings, and we did with
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: them what you told us to do. And then in
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: verses thirty five through thirty six, to conclude, the children
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: of the captivity who had come out of the exile,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: for all Israel, ninety six rams, seventy seven lambs, and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: twelve mail goats for a sin offering. And all of
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: this was a burnt offering to Yahweh. So that means
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: that all of these animals went fully to Yahweh. Nothing
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: was left behind or taken home with them. These people,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: after their years of exile in Babylon are now in Jerusalem,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: and they make a sin offering for themselves and for
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: their families with all of these different animals to finally
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: make peace with God and say, God, we were in
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: exile because we sinned, and now we're back home and
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: we make peace with you through these sin offerings. They
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: delivered the king's commissions to the King's local governors and
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to the governors beyond the river. So they supported the
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: people and God's house. So remember that letter that Ezra
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: received as resent. That letter to all of the governors
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: that lived in the area and told them the king's
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: commands that they had to start giving the tribute to
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: the Temple, to God and to Jerusalem. And it says
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: that the people did not put up a fight, and
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: they did in fact do this thing. They supported the
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: people and God's house. So, faithful listeners, to conclude today's episode,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about a few things that we
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: can learn from today's chapter right after this last message
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: from a sponsor. So to conclude today's episode, I want
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: to talk about a couple of things that we can
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: learn from this chapter, because there's always something we can
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: take away from any chapter in the Bible. So the
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: first thing that we learn is that God does in
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: fact work through our faith. In the case of Ezra
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: and all of these Israelites, they had faith that God
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: was going to bring them safely home, and God in
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: fact did bring them safely home. So God does work
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: through our faith. And we've been talking so much about
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: faith in the Book of Hebrews recently, and that the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: only way that we can get close to God is
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: through faith. And don't forget what the definition of faith is.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Faith is believing plus obedience. Belief and faith are not
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the same thing. You have to have obedience along with
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: belief in order to have faith. And the only way
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: that we can please God is through faith. So both
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: obedience and belief, and that is what Ezra and these
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Israelites had in this chapter. They had the obedience to
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: actually go through with the plan of not you using
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the Persian army to get home, and they also had
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: belief that God would bring them safely. So through their faith,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: God did in fact bring them home. That's the first
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: encouragement we learn here. The second thing that we learn
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: here is that we should listen to the call of God.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: If God calls you to do something specific. We should
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: do it because it's not going to be just good
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: for us, but it's going to be good for the
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: people around us. Just like the Levites who initially did
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: not want to go back to Israel for whatever reason.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Maybe they were comfortable in Persia, they had family in Persia,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: they just had a business in Persia and did not
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: want to pack everything up and move to what they
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: considered a foreign country even though it was technically their homeland.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Some of them felt that call from God and probably
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: did not answer it and decided to stay in Persia.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: But some of them did in fact answer the call
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: to God and were blessed. Because they answered that call,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: they were immediately allowed to serve as Levites. I mean,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: even before they go to Jerusalem, Ezra was giving them
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: tasks to do. He was giving them the offerings, things
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: that they would be in charge of. So immediately the
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Levites had a job and God was blessing their role
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: as Leevites. So that's the second thing we learn is
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that we should listen to the call from God if
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: he calls us to do a specific thing, because it's
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: not going to be just good for us, it's going
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: to be good for other people as well. And thirdly,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: this is something I did not talk about on the podcast.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: But the last thing we can learn from today's episode
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: is that the offerings to God are holy. So if
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: we give financially to God, that is something considered to
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: be holy. That's actually what Ezra says to these priests
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: here in verse twenty eight, he said to the priests,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: you are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: The silver and the gold are a free will offering
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: to Yahweh, the God of your father's watch. And keep
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: them until you weigh them before the chiefs of the priests,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: the Levites, and the princes of the Father's households of
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Israel at Jerusalem, in the rooms of Yahweh's house. So
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: that right there shows that any offering we give to
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: God is holy and we need to treat it with
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: a modicum of respect. This is why I really don't
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: like it when churches spend money on useless stuff, because
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: churches are receiving their money from the congregants, and that
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: money is not supposed to go to silly things. We're
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: supposed to use it to build the church up, not
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: just to spend it because we might lose it at
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: the end of the year or something like that. A
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: lot of times people in the church, they have this
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: mentality of use it or lose it. If we don't
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: use every single cent that is designated for our ministry,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: then we might lose it. It might go to other
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: ministries in the church. Well, big deal. If it does.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: That's good because then if there's leftover money from your
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: ministry because you didn't need it, another ministry might actually
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: be able to use that. That's a very good thing.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: And we should be treating the offerings of God with
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: more respect. And I will say, and I'm not patting
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: myself on the back by any stretch of the imagination,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: but I will say that I am very very careful
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: at least I try to be very careful of how
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: I spend the money that you wonderful, faithful listeners donate
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: to this ministry. I always try to make sure I'm
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: not spending on anything frivolous or stupid. But I'm using
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: it for the betterment of this ministry, because that is
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: why you're donating money in the first place. And I
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: appreciate all of you guys, but I'm sure the majority
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: of people listening to this podcast. Don't handle finances for
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: your church or for your ministry. Maybe some of you do.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: But even if it's your own offering that you're giving
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: to God, once you set it aside for God, or
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: you decide in your mind this is for God, then
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: it's a holy thing. And at that point in time
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: it needs to be considered and treated as a holy thing.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: So I can feel the temptation, like if you decide
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: to give something to God, if you're like God, I'm
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: going to give this amount of money, and then you
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: set it aside and later on you're like, hmm, I
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: kind of wish I wouldn't have given so much, and
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: you kind of want to take some back out. I
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: can completely understand that temptation because it's stressful to give me,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: especially if you feel that you need it. But once
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: it's set aside, then it literally becomes holy. It becomes
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: set apart. So we have to treat it as holy
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: and give to God what we promised that we would
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: give him. So these are a few things that we
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: can learn from Ezra chapter eight. So, faithful listeners, I
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed it today's chapter. If you did share it,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: today's episode on your social media platforms and tell people
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: that the Bible Explained Podcast exists. I will see all
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: of you guys tomorrow for an episode from the Book
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: of Hebrews. Hope to see you there six am or
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: whenever you choose to wake up and listen until tomorrow.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Cap you listening and God bless I just want to
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: take a second to thank the team at Life Audio
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: for their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: In fact, if you go to lifeaudio dot com you'll
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.