Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Ezra 5 - When You Are Weak, God is Strong

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Ezra 5 - When You Are Weak, God is Strong · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, hello and good morning friends and faithful listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning into the Bible Explain podcast on
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  Speaker 1: this lovely morning and sharing a delicious cup of coffee
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  Speaker 1: or a cup of tea with me as we discuss
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  Speaker 1: Ezra chapter five. So today's chapter, I believe is a
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  Speaker 1: really good one because it's something that I think we
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  Speaker 1: all experience. We're going to be talking about complacency and
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  Speaker 1: fear and how sometimes we use excuses to not do
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  Speaker 1: something that we know we should be doing because we
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  Speaker 1: are fearful to do it. And we're also going to
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  Speaker 1: be talking about how when we step out in faith,
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  Speaker 1: we can expect discouragement pretty much every single time. But
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  Speaker 1: there's something good about that discouragement, which I will talk
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  Speaker 1: about at the end of this episode to day, but
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  Speaker 1: before we delve into Ezra chapter five, please listen to
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  Speaker 1: this first sponsor for today. You know, I'm really thankful
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  Speaker 1: to my Life Audio team because when I first started
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  Speaker 1: working with them, I was concerned about the sponsored ads
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  Speaker 1: playing during the middle of the Bible reading, and they
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  Speaker 1: worked with me so I don't play any sponsored ads
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  Speaker 1: during the middle of my reading, and that's something I'm
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  Speaker 1: very thankful for and I'm also just delighted to continue
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  Speaker 1: working with Life Audio. I think the partnership has been
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  Speaker 1: really good. Hopefully you guys think so too. For those
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  Speaker 1: of you who have been with me for many, many years,
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  Speaker 1: I actually have several listeners who started listening to me
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  Speaker 1: in my first couple months back when I was getting
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  Speaker 1: like twenty downloads a month, twenty people were tuning in
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  Speaker 1: per month, and I still have a couple of faithful
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  Speaker 1: listeners that were tuning in all the way at the
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  Speaker 1: beginning there. So the podcast has grown quite a bit
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  Speaker 1: since then in many different ways. For one, I am
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  Speaker 1: not speaking into my phone anymore to record episodes. I
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  Speaker 1: actually have some professional podcasting equipment as well as a
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  Speaker 1: brand new computer which was donated by one of my
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  Speaker 1: wonderful faithful listeners. And just the amount of support that
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  Speaker 1: all of you faithful listeners have given me throughout the years,
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  Speaker 1: it really encourages me. And I don't say thank you
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  Speaker 1: often enough to all of you that have provided so
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  Speaker 1: much encouragement over the years through the messages that you
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  Speaker 1: send me, the emails, the donations that you've given, and
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  Speaker 1: the reason I wanted to thank everybody that has made
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  Speaker 1: this podcast. A success today is because of our topic
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  Speaker 1: for today, which is discouragement. Whenever somebody is doing a
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  Speaker 1: ministry or something that is within God's will, you can
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  Speaker 1: expect discouragement. You can expect things to not go your way.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason that happens is because Satan does not
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  Speaker 1: want people to succeed if they are doing God's will.
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  Speaker 1: So he's going to do everything that he possibly can
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  Speaker 1: to stand in the way of letting somebody succeed. But
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  Speaker 1: in spite of all that, God is the great comforter,
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  Speaker 1: and he gives little bits of encouragement that just helped
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  Speaker 1: the person to flourish in spite of the fact that
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  Speaker 1: discouragement is happening. Let's read Ezra five, the entire thing
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading as usual from the w EB. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the prophets, Hagi the Prophet and Zechariah, the son of
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  Speaker 1: Edo prophesied to the Jews who were in Jerusalem and Judah.
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  Speaker 1: They prophesied to them in the name of the God
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  Speaker 1: of Israel. Then Zerubabyl the son of Sheltiel, and Joshua,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build
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  Speaker 1: God's House which is at Jerusalem, and with them were
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  Speaker 1: the prophets of God helping them. At the same time, Tetanai,
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  Speaker 1: the governor beyond the river, came to them with shar
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  Speaker 1: Bazanai and their companions and asked them, who gave you
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  Speaker 1: a decree to build this house and finish this wall.
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  Speaker 1: They also asked for the names of the men who
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  Speaker 1: are making this building. But the eye of their God
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  Speaker 1: was on the elders of the Jews, and they didn't
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  Speaker 1: make them to cease until the matter should come to
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  Speaker 1: Darius and an answer should be returned by a letter
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  Speaker 1: concerning it. The copy of the letter that Tetanai, the
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  Speaker 1: Governor beyond the river, and Chefar Bazanai and his companion
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  Speaker 1: the Afrisachites, who are beyond the river, sent to Darius
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  Speaker 1: the King follows. They sent a letter to him in
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  Speaker 1: which was written to Darius the King, all peace. Be
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  Speaker 1: it known to the King that we went into the
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  Speaker 1: province of Judah to the house of the Great God,
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  Speaker 1: which is being built with great stones, and timber is
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  Speaker 1: laid in the walls. This work goes on with diligence
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  Speaker 1: and prospers in their hands. Then we asked those elders
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  Speaker 1: and said to them, thus, who gave you a decree
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  Speaker 1: to build this house and to finish this wall. We
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  Speaker 1: asked them their names, also to inform you that we
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  Speaker 1: might write the names of the men who were at
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  Speaker 1: their head. Thus they returned to us an answer, saying,
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  Speaker 1: we are the servants of the God of Heaven and Earth,
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  Speaker 1: and our building the house that was built these many
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  Speaker 1: years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.
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  Speaker 1: But after our fathers had provoked the God of Heaven
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  Speaker 1: to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebeiconizer,
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  Speaker 1: king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and
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  Speaker 1: carried the people away to Babylon. But in the first
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  Speaker 1: year of Cyrus, King of Babylon, Cyrus the King made
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  Speaker 1: a decree to build this house of God. The gold
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  Speaker 1: and silver vessels of God's House, which Nebuchinezer took out
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  Speaker 1: of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into
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  Speaker 1: the Temple of Babylon. Those Cyrus the King also took
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  Speaker 1: out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered
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  Speaker 1: to the one whose name was Shesh Bazar, whom he
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  Speaker 1: had made governor. He said to him, take these vessels,
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  Speaker 1: go put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: and let God's House be built in its place. Then
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  Speaker 1: the same shesh Bazar came and laid the foundations of
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  Speaker 1: God's House, which is in Jerusalem. Since that time, even
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  Speaker 1: until now, it has been being built, and yet it
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  Speaker 1: is not completed. Now. Therefore, if it seems good to
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  Speaker 1: the King, let a search be made in the King's
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  Speaker 1: treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it is
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  Speaker 1: so that a decree was made by Cyrus the King
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  Speaker 1: to build this House of God at Jerusalem. And let
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  Speaker 1: the King send his pleasure to us concerning this matter now.
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  Speaker 1: Last week and asra for, we talked about how the
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  Speaker 1: Israelite people are finally back in the land after seventy
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  Speaker 1: years of Babylonian captivity. But just because they're back in
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  Speaker 1: the land does not mean that things going to be
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  Speaker 1: easy for them. In fact, the opposite was happening. Things
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  Speaker 1: were very, very difficult because they wanted to rebuild the city.
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  Speaker 1: The city was completely destroyed by the Babylonians as well
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  Speaker 1: as the temple, and so it was important for the
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  Speaker 1: Jewish people to begin rebuilding their homeland as quickly as possible. Plus,
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  Speaker 1: on top of that, they actually did have a grant
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  Speaker 1: from Cyrus, King of Persia, Cyrus the Great, who made
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  Speaker 1: the order that the Jews could go back home to
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  Speaker 1: their city of Jerusalem and actually rebuild everything. So they
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  Speaker 1: were doing it with permission. However, just because they had
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  Speaker 1: permission does not mean that the neighboring nations were very happy.
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  Speaker 1: So the neighboring nations, specifically the Samaritans, were very upset
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  Speaker 1: that the Jews were back home because as of this
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  Speaker 1: point in time, Judah had become mostly uninhabited. Like there
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  Speaker 1: was obviously some Samaritan people that had trickled down into
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  Speaker 1: the land, and a handful of Jewish people were allowed
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  Speaker 1: to live in the land, but generally speaking, it was
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  Speaker 1: mostly abandoned territory that the battle Bolognian Empire had control of.
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  Speaker 1: So when the Jews moved back in, the Samaritans got
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  Speaker 1: very angry and started trying to manipulate the Jews so
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  Speaker 1: that things would go the way of the Samaritans rather
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  Speaker 1: than the way God planned for things to actually happen.
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  Speaker 1: So the Samaritans see the Jews rebuilding the Temple to God.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the foundation was laid and the Samaritans go
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  Speaker 1: up to the Jews and they're like, hey, we worship
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh just as much as you guys wear ship Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: and we sacrificed to him and everything, and so you
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  Speaker 1: should let us help you rebuild the temple. But of
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  Speaker 1: course this was all to control the situation. They didn't
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  Speaker 1: really care if the temple was rebuilt. What they desperately
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  Speaker 1: didn't want was the Jewish people to take control of
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  Speaker 1: that land once again. They just didn't want that. They
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  Speaker 1: hated the Jewish people. But after the Jewish elders refused
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  Speaker 1: to let the Samaritans have any part in this, the
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  Speaker 1: Samaritans got very, very angry, and during the rest of
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  Speaker 1: King Cyrus Rain, who gave the Jews permission to rebuild
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  Speaker 1: a temple, the Samaritans were doing everything they possibly could,
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  Speaker 1: hiring counselors, lawyers, trying to make as much red tape
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  Speaker 1: as possible so that the Jews work would be slowed down.
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  Speaker 1: And this lasted for six years until Cyrus the Great died.
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  Speaker 1: Then Cyrus's son Canbasis ended up taking the throne, and
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  Speaker 1: I believe he reigned for nine years if I'm remembering
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  Speaker 1: the timeline correctly, he took the throne, and so the
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  Speaker 1: Samaritans see their opportunity to stop the Jews in their
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  Speaker 1: progress of building the Temple. So they write this letter
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  Speaker 1: to Canbasis and they're like, hey, you know these Jews
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  Speaker 1: that are under your authority, oh great Canvasis. These Jews
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  Speaker 1: are rebuilding this city. And this city was a rebellious city,
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  Speaker 1: which is why it was destroyed in the first place.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, if these people are able to rebuild
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  Speaker 1: this city then you're not going to have any control
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  Speaker 1: of them ever again, because they follow their own set
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  Speaker 1: of laws and they're never going to actually pay you
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  Speaker 1: the homage that you deserve, and you're going to lose
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  Speaker 1: control of this territory. So Campuses gets this letter and
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  Speaker 1: he's like, oh, yeah, this makes total sense. Make sure
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  Speaker 1: that these Jewish people aren't able to rebuild the temple,
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  Speaker 1: make them stop. And so, of course this delights the
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  Speaker 1: Samaritans in the region. They rushed down with an army
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  Speaker 1: to make the Jews stop rebuilding the Temple to God
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  Speaker 1: and also Jerusalem as a whole, and unfortunately, the Jews
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  Speaker 1: were forced to stop for nine whole years approximately. They
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  Speaker 1: are in this state of limbo. And so now Ezra
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  Speaker 1: chapter five jumps forward nine years to when the Jews
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  Speaker 1: begin rebuilding the temple once again. So here's what it
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  Speaker 1: says in verse one. Now the prophets Hagai the Prophet
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  Speaker 1: and Zechariah the son of Edo prophesied to the Jews
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  Speaker 1: who were in Judah and Jerusalem. They prophesied to them
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  Speaker 1: in the name of the God of Israel. Then Zer
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  Speaker 1: the son of Sheltiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak
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  Speaker 1: rose up and began to build God's House which is
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  Speaker 1: at Jerusalem. And with them were the prophets of God
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  Speaker 1: helping them. So at this point in time, canvass is dead,
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  Speaker 1: and historically there was a bunch of conflicts happening in
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  Speaker 1: Persia as to who was going to take the throne next,
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  Speaker 1: according to the historian Josephus, which this may or may
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  Speaker 1: not be true. I guess the Persian magi tried to
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  Speaker 1: take the throne for a while and gain control of
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  Speaker 1: the kingdom themselves, but then the people actually killed all
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  Speaker 1: the magi and ended up electing Darius. At this point,
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  Speaker 1: and right around this time, God starts telling the Jews
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  Speaker 1: that they need to rebuild the temple once again. They've
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  Speaker 1: taken about nine years off from doing this and they
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  Speaker 1: need to rebuild. So let's read that prophecy, which is
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  Speaker 1: in Hagai chapter one, and I'm going to read the
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  Speaker 1: entire chapter for you guys, because it's a short chapter.
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  Speaker 1: It's only fifteen verses long, and it gives some more
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  Speaker 1: context for what we're going to talk about today. Hagai one,
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  Speaker 1: verse one, in the second year of Darius the King,
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  Speaker 1: in the sixth month, in the first day of the month,
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  Speaker 1: Yahwai's word came by Haggai the Prophet to Zerubabyl the
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  Speaker 1: son of Sheltiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Jehozdak, the high priest, saying, this is
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  Speaker 1: what Yahweh of Armies says. The people say, the time
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  Speaker 1: hasn't come yet, the time for Yaway's house to be built.
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  Speaker 1: Then Yahwei's word came by Haggai the Prophet, saying, is
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  Speaker 1: it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your
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  Speaker 1: paneled houses while this house lies waste? Now? Therefore, this
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  Speaker 1: is what Yahweh of army says. Consider your ways. You
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  Speaker 1: have sown much and brought in little. You eat, but
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  Speaker 1: you don't have enough. You drink, but you aren't filled
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  Speaker 1: with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm.
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  Speaker 1: And he who earns wages earns wages to put them
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  Speaker 1: into a bag with holes in it. This is what
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh of Army says. Consider your ways. Go up to
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  Speaker 1: the mountain, bring wood and build the house. I will
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  Speaker 1: take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, says Yahweh.
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  Speaker 1: You looked for much, and behold, it came to little,
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  Speaker 1: and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why,
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  Speaker 1: says Yahweh of Armies, because of my house that lies
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  Speaker 1: in waste, while each of you is busy with his
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  Speaker 1: own house. Therefore, for your sake, the heavens withhold the
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  Speaker 1: dew and the earth withholds its fruit. I called for
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  Speaker 1: a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain,
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  Speaker 1: on the new wine, on that which the ground produces,
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  Speaker 1: on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of
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  Speaker 1: the hands. Then z Erubable the son of shell Teale,
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  Speaker 1: and Joshua, the son of Jehosedak, the High Priest, with
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  Speaker 1: all the remnants of the people, obeyed Yahweh their God's
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  Speaker 1: voice and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: their God had sent him, and the people feared Yahweh.
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  Speaker 1: Then Hagi, Yahwei's messenger spoke Yahwai's message to the people, saying,
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  Speaker 1: I am with you, says Yahweh. Yahwais stirred up the
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  Speaker 1: spirit as Erubable, the son of shell Tiel, governor of Judah,
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  Speaker 1: and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehosedak, the
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  Speaker 1: high Priest, and the spirit of all the remnants of
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  Speaker 1: the people. And they came and worked on the house
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  Speaker 1: of Yahweh of armies their God in the twenty fourth
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  Speaker 1: day of the month, in the sixth month, in the
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  Speaker 1: second year of Darius the King. So that is a
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  Speaker 1: message that God gave to Haggai, the prophet, who was
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  Speaker 1: helping the Israelites during this time. And what God says
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  Speaker 1: to them is, look, you guys came into this land
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  Speaker 1: expecting a lot, but you dropped the ball. You dropped
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  Speaker 1: the ball, and you are being selfish. You are focused
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  Speaker 1: on your own homes, building those up and making those beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: but you aren't focused on the spiritual things of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: You are falling into the same trap that your ancestors did,
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  Speaker 1: only focused on the physical and not on the spiritual.
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  Speaker 1: So God actually told them, because of this, I have
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  Speaker 1: ordered a drought to come on your land. Because of this,
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  Speaker 1: you're earning money, yet it's flittering away. You put it
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  Speaker 1: in a bag with holes in it. So, in other words,
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  Speaker 1: God is saying, I am not blessing you because you
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  Speaker 1: are not doing what I told you to do. And
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  Speaker 1: at this point you might be like, well, Jen, you
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  Speaker 1: know the people were stopped from, you know, building the
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  Speaker 1: temple to Yahweh. What else could they do? And yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's all well and good, But about three years has
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  Speaker 1: passed since Canvass had died, and not to mention all
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  Speaker 1: of that turmoil that happened in Persia before that, So
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  Speaker 1: approximately two to three years has passed and the Israelites
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  Speaker 1: still are not rebuilding the temple to God. And here's
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  Speaker 1: what they're saying at the beginning here, they're saying, the
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  Speaker 1: time hasn't come yet to build Yahweh's house. Well, how
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  Speaker 1: much time do they need? You know, three years has
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  Speaker 1: passed since Cambus has died. How much time do they need?
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  Speaker 1: And God is frustrated with his people all over again.
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  Speaker 1: So he says, you need to start focusing on the
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  Speaker 1: spiritual because that is the most important thing. And if
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  Speaker 1: they don't have a house of worship to sacrifice the
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  Speaker 1: offerings on, then how are they going to receive forgiveness
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  Speaker 1: from their sins or atonement from their sins as we
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  Speaker 1: talked about yesterday on the podcast. So God is upset
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  Speaker 1: with his people for their complacency, their fear, and their
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  Speaker 1: lack of moving forward with the rebuilding of the temple.
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  Speaker 1: So Hagai tells this prophecy to the people, and fortunately
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  Speaker 1: this time the people actually listened. It says they feared Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: their God. When they heard this message, they feared it.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't want to become like their ancestors who had
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  Speaker 1: been exiled from the land. They wanted to worship Yahweh, thankfully,
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  Speaker 1: so they start rebuilding the temple. So, going back to
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  Speaker 1: Ezra chapter five, before they even get permission from King Darius,
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  Speaker 1: they start rebuilding the temple, and again the people of
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  Speaker 1: the other nations hate it. They find out that the
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  Speaker 1: rebuilding has resumed and they get super irritated. So they
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  Speaker 1: go to Jerusalem to try to harass the Jews that
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  Speaker 1: are rebuilding the temple. They're like, who gave you permission
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  Speaker 1: to keep building this temple and all of these walls
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  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem? Who gave you permission to do this? And
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  Speaker 1: it says in verse four they asked for the names
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  Speaker 1: of the men who were making this building. However, verse five,
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  Speaker 1: the eye of their God was on the elders of
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  Speaker 1: the Jews, and the people of the other nations didn't
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  Speaker 1: make them cease until the matter should come to Darius
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  Speaker 1: and an answer should be returned by a letter concerning it. So,
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  Speaker 1: because God was with his people and he promised through
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  Speaker 1: Hagi the prophet that the rebuilding of the temple would
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  Speaker 1: resume and that God would be glorified through this, God
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  Speaker 1: protected the elders of Israel. And it was probably a
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  Speaker 1: very scary thing because these governors of other nations are
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  Speaker 1: harassing the Jews, being like, what's your name? They were
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  Speaker 1: probably very scared of that. But through the fear, they
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  Speaker 1: still did what they were supposed to do, and God
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  Speaker 1: was blessing them. And it actually says right here that
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  Speaker 1: the governor of the neighboring nations didn't force the Jews
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  Speaker 1: to stop until a letter was written to Darius, and
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  Speaker 1: her response was received. So the rebuilding of the temple
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  Speaker 1: is continuing. So here is what Tetani the governor beyond
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  Speaker 1: the river, this bad guy and also his companion cheth
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  Speaker 1: Bazaney and his other companions the a. Every single time
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  Speaker 1: I see this word, I'm like, what is this af
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  Speaker 1: for Sakhites who are beyond the river sent to Darius
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  Speaker 1: the King follows starting in verse eight to Darius the King,
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  Speaker 1: all peace, be it known to the King that we
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: went to the province of Judah, to the house of
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: the Great God, which is being built with great stones,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: on with diligence and prospers in their hands. Then we
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: asked those elders and said to them, who gave you
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: a decree to build this house and finish this wall?
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: And we asked them their names, also to inform you
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: that we might write the names of the men who
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: were at their head. So they're tattle tailing to King Darius.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: They're like, these are the people that are rebuilding this temple,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and they're doing the exact same thing that the Samaritans
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: in the previous chapter. We're doing. Also they are flattering
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: the king, making it seem like these Jewish people are
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: in the wrong for doing what they were actually commanded
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: to do so many years prior to this, making it
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: seem like if the Jews rebuild this wall, that King
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Darius is going to lose control of the region of Judah.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: And again, these these Afrosachites, however you pronounce it, and
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Tetani the governor, they don't care if King Darius loses
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: control of Judah. They could care less. What they don't
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: want is the Jews gaining power once again. That's all
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: they care about because they want that land for themselves.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: It says that they lived beyond the river, so I
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: would guess that these people probably lived in the region
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: of the Menastes. And I don't know if you guys
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: remember me talking about how Judah was broken up into
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: these different tribes. Most of the tribes lived close to
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the Metaiicals tterranean sea, like on the western side of
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: the river. But on the eastern side of the river,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the Jordan River, there were two tribes that were very
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: happy to stay over there, the Menasites and was it
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: the Ephrielites. I cannot remember who the other tribe was,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: but those two tribes stayed beyond the river, and most
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: likely this Tetanai governor who governed beyond the river probably
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: lived in the area of Israel that belonged to the
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Menasites and whatever that other tribe was that lived over there,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: and they didn't want the Israelites expanding once again and
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: taking control of the land all over again. There really
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: is something special about the Promised Land. Seems like every
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: person kind of wants their piece of it. So of
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: course it's no shock that these Afirsachites Sachites were upset
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that the Jewish people might take Israel once again and
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: potentially take the land that they are currently living in.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: So they do everything they can to make Darius the
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: King stop the Jerusalem and Temple rebuilding effort. And so
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: here's how the letter continues. They return to us an
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: answer saying, we are servants of God of Heaven and Earth,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: and are building the house that was built these many
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: But after our fathers had provoked the God of Heaven
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: to wrath, he gave them into the hand of nebukan Azer,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: king of Babylon. The Chaldean who destroyed this house and
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: carried the people away to Babylon. But in the first
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: year of Cyrus, King of Babylon, Cyrus the King made
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: a decree to build this House of God. So do
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: you see what these people are doing here, the manipulation
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: that's happening. They're writing down the history of the temple,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and look how they're framing it. The Jewish people are
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: rebuilding it not because they want to worship Yahweh, but
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: because they wanted to preserve what a mighty king of
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Israel had once made. They're referring to Solomon there. But
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: look how they're framing this, not that the Israelites want
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: a place of worship, but that they want to be
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: great once again. And they think that this temple is
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: going to make them like Solomon and was so many
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: years ago. So these Afrosachites are completely manipulating the situation here,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: making it seem like the Israelites are trying to grab
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: power for themselves again. It says in the first year Cyrus,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: King of Babylon, Cyrus the King made a decree to
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: build this House of God. The gold and the silver
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: vessels of God's House, which Nebukenezer took out of the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: of Babylon. Those Cyrus the King also took out of
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: whose name was Sheesh Bizar, whom he had made governor. Now,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: remember how I mentioned that Sheesh Bizar is very likely
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the same person as Zerubabyle. For whatever reason, people often
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: had multiple names back in these days, and it gets
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: confusing sometimes because you know, we don't have multiple names.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm Jen. You're always going to know me
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: as Jen. I'm not going to go buy some nickname
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: that I have that's completely different from Jen, because it
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: just gets confusing. But that was how things worked back then,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: because there are so many different cultures and languages that
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: people often took two names depending on what nation they
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: lived in or who they were being addressed by. So
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: very likely Sheesh Bizarre and Zerubrabyl were the same person.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: It says they were delivered to one whose name was
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Shesh Bizar, whom he had made governor. He said to them,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: take these vessels, go and put them in a temple
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: that is in Jerusalem and let God's House be built
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: in its place. Then the same sheesh Bizar came and
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: laid the foundations of God's House, which is in Jerusalem.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Since that time, even until now, it has been being built,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: and yet it is not completed. So again more manipulation
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: happening here. They are very aware of the turmoil that
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: happened in Persia just a few years ago and how
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Darius ended up becoming the king. They're aware of all
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: of that, and so they're probably trying to stir up
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: some anger in Darius that his predecessor Cyrus wanted these
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Jews to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild this temple.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: And on top of that, there's a little insult thrown
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: at the end here. It says they've been rebuilding this
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: temple this whole time, and yet it still isn't finished. So,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: first and foremost, that's a flat out lie, because it
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: hadn't been being rebuilt this entire time, because Canvass, Cyrus's son,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: stopped the rebuilding process of the temple because the Samaritans
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: got to him and he believed that the Jewish people
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: were evil and didn't go along with his father, Cyrus's plans,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: so he stopped the rebuilding efforts. But that is not
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: what these Afrosachites are saying to Darius in this letter.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: They're being like, this has been going on this entire time,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: and yet it's still not finished. To look at these
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: lazy Jewish people. Now, therefore, verse seventeen, if it seems
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: good to the King, let a search be made in
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: the King's treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: it is so that a decree was made by Cyrus
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the king to build this House of God at Jerusalem.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: And let the King send his pleasure to us concerning
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: this man. So he's like, King Darius, please go and
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: look at your records to see whether or not Cyrus
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: did this, and look to see how awful these Jewish
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: people really are. And then when you make your decision
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: about what should happen to these Jewish people, you just
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: write back to us and we will do everything that
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: you tell us to do. We will tell them to stop.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about the response that Darius
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: has to these Afrisachites in the next episode on Monday. Now,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I have a few closing notes right after this last
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: sponsored ad for today. So the Old Testament is certainly history,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: but there's also things we can learn from every single chapter.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: And what we can learn from this chapter, I think
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: is two things. Firstly, we need to not give up
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: when things aren't going our way, because that's kind of
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: what the Israelites did. After about nine years of not
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: being able to rebuild the temple, they got a complacent
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: kind of spirit, and even when they had the opportunity,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: like a three year opportunity to rebuild the Temple to
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: God once again, they kept putting it off. They kept saying, no,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: it's not the right time, No, this is more important
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: for us to do this, Or I need to focus
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: on my family right now, I need to focus on myself.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: That's what they started to do, and God was not
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: happy with that because they became complacent. They started making
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: excuses for their fear, because they didn't really want to
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: rebuild the temple again because it was difficult so many
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: years prior to that. So that's the first thing we
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: can learn from this. Just because things aren't necessarily going
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: our way doesn't mean we should become lazy or give
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: up with our faith journey. God always wants our hearts
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: and he wants us to do the best that we
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: can even when situations aren't ideal. That's the first thing
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: we learn. And the second thing that we learn is again,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: when we are doing the right thing, we're always going
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: to experience opposition. Someone is always going to discourage you
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: from doing what you are doing because you're doing God's will.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Notice here that the second the rebuilding begins, the neighboring
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: name again have to come over and cause a bunch
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: of trouble because they hate the will of God. They
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: don't want God's will coming to fruition. And that is
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: what always happens. When you are following God's will. You're
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: going to experience opposition. Don't be surprised when it happens
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: to you. In fact, expect it. If you start doing
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: something for God, expect discouragement and expect opposition. And that
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: might sound really depressing, but here's the cool thing about that.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: When discouragement happens and you feel really, really weak, that
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: is when God is going to show his power the
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: most and you're going to actually be able to see
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: God working in your life. It's happened to me so
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: many times in my life where I have just been
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: in like a pit and I don't know what to
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: do and I can't get out of that pit, and
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: God turns everything around for me. It's happened two major
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: times in my life, and the most recent one actually
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: happened this past year, where God completely turns something aroud
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: for me after three years of just deep discouragement. I
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: got to see God working in my life because I
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: was weak and He was strong. So that's the nice
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: thing that you can look forward to. Even when discouragement comes,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: You're going to see God working and how he's on
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: your side if you are doing his will. So those
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: are the two things I think that we can take
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: away from today's episode. Faithful listeners, I hope you all
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. Capy
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: listening and God bless. I just want to take a
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: second to thank the team at Life Audio for their
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you'll find dozens
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.