Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 35:1-10 - King Josiah and the Passover

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2 Chronicles 35:1-10 - King Josiah and the Passover · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, hi, and good morning friends and faithful listeners.
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  Speaker 1: My name is Jen. I am the host of the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Explained podcast. So we are at the very end
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  Speaker 1: of Second Chronicles. We only have one more chapter to
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  Speaker 1: go after this one today, so we are going to
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  Speaker 1: finish up season ten very soon here and move into
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  Speaker 1: season eleven. And Season eleven is going to be very
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  Speaker 1: different because for the past what is it three or
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  Speaker 1: four seasons now, we've been mostly talking about the kings
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  Speaker 1: and you know, how they rose to power and everything.
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  Speaker 1: But now we're going to get into the prophets and
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Job and Esther and some of the
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  Speaker 1: really heavy chapters about the exile of the Israelite people.
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  Speaker 1: So that is something you can look forward to in
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  Speaker 1: the next season, but for now we're going to read
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  Speaker 1: it Second Chronicles thirty five. But before we begin today's episode,
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  Speaker 1: do me a favor by listening to this message from
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  Speaker 1: a sponsor. Okay, we're going to be in Second Chronicles
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  Speaker 1: thirty five today one through ten. Make sure to grab
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  Speaker 1: your favorite version of the Bible, whatever you prefer, but
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  Speaker 1: as always I'll be reading from the World English Bible
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  Speaker 1: or the w e B. Again, this is Second Chronicles
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  Speaker 1: thirty five one through ten, Josiah kept a passover to
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh in Jerusalem. They killed the passover on the fourteenth
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  Speaker 1: day of the first month. He set the priests in
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  Speaker 1: their offices and encouraged them in the service of Yahwei's house.
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  Speaker 1: He said to the Levites who taught all Israel who
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  Speaker 1: are holy to Yahweh, put the holy ark in the
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  Speaker 1: house which Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel built.
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  Speaker 1: It will no longer be a burden on your shoulders.
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  Speaker 1: Now serve Yahweh, your God and his people Israel. Prepare
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  Speaker 1: yourselves after your father's houses by your divisions according to
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  Speaker 1: the writing of David, King of Israel, and according to
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  Speaker 1: the writing of Solomon his son. Stand in the holy
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  Speaker 1: place according to the divisions of the father's houses. Of
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  Speaker 1: your brothers, the children of the people, and be for
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  Speaker 1: each portion of a father's house of the Levites kill
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  Speaker 1: the passover, Lamb, sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers
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  Speaker 1: to do according to Yawai's word. By Moses, Josiah gave
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  Speaker 1: to the children of the people of the flock lambs
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  Speaker 1: and young goats, all of them for passover. Offerings to
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  Speaker 1: all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand
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  Speaker 1: and three thousand bulls. These were the king's substance. His
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  Speaker 1: princes gave a free will offering to the people, to
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  Speaker 1: the priests and to the Levites. Hilkia Zechariah and Jehiel,
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  Speaker 1: the rulers of God's House, gave to the priests for
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  Speaker 1: the Passover offerings two thousand, six hundred small live stock
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  Speaker 1: and three hundred head of cattle. Konania also and Shamea
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  Speaker 1: and Nathaniel his brothers, and Hashbiah, Jel and Jozabad, the
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  Speaker 1: chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the
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  Speaker 1: Passover offerings five thousand small live stock and five hundred
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  Speaker 1: head of cattle. So the service was prepared, and the
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  Speaker 1: priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their
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  Speaker 1: divisions according to the king's commandment. All right, So last
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  Speaker 1: week we talked about the religious reform that Josiah did
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  Speaker 1: throughout all of Jerusalem, all of Judah, and even all
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  Speaker 1: of Israel. Like his reform went far and wide, and
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  Speaker 1: he would travel to do it himself. Actually, unlike some
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  Speaker 1: of the other kings that did religious reform, who would
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  Speaker 1: have their servants go and do it. He was adamant
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  Speaker 1: to have a hand in it himself, not just let
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  Speaker 1: his servants do it, but he wanted to be part
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  Speaker 1: of the process. So that's what we talked about in
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  Speaker 1: the last chapter, and all of that happened in the
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  Speaker 1: first eighteen years of Josiah's rain. Now this is the
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  Speaker 1: third time I've had to correct myself in the past week,
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  Speaker 1: because on Wednesday, last time we talked about this passage,
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  Speaker 1: I mentioned how Josiah did all of this in the
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  Speaker 1: first twelve years of his reign. I was incorrect. He
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  Speaker 1: did all this in the first eighteen years of his reign. Now,
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  Speaker 1: in my defense, a lot of it did happen in
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  Speaker 1: the first twelve years of his reign. That was when
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  Speaker 1: he started all of his reforms and went into Israel,
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  Speaker 1: and and you know, he did a lot in his
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  Speaker 1: first twelve years. But after his eighteenth year, when they
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  Speaker 1: found the Book of the Law in the temple, when
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  Speaker 1: Josiah was like, hey, we need to clean out the
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  Speaker 1: temple make it beautiful again, they found the Book of
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  Speaker 1: the Law for the first time, and who knows how
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  Speaker 1: many decades they actually had the Law of God again.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the thing that they're supposed to be following
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  Speaker 1: the whole time. And after Josiah had it read to him,
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  Speaker 1: he got serious, Like if he wasn't serious before, he
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  Speaker 1: was serious now. And that was when he went into
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  Speaker 1: all of Israel, got rid of all of the idols.
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  Speaker 1: It says he ground them into dust. He burned the
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  Speaker 1: bones of the unfaithful, bail prophets on the altars to bail,
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  Speaker 1: and then destroyed the altars. He actually made one of
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  Speaker 1: the areas that was common for idol worship into a
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  Speaker 1: giant toilet area. He did a lot of kind of
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  Speaker 1: funny stuff when he was going through his reform. You
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  Speaker 1: can read about all of that in Second Kings if
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  Speaker 1: you're interested in that. But anyway, this was done in
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  Speaker 1: the first eighteen years of King Josiah's reign. And the
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  Speaker 1: reason I wanted to correct myself is because I found
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  Speaker 1: an interesting chapter that talks about King Josiah's reign in
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah twenty five. And I actually happened to find this
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  Speaker 1: by accident. It was when I was researching the Friday
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  Speaker 1: podcast for the Faithful Members that I came across this
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  Speaker 1: passage and I found it was kind of interesting. Just
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  Speaker 1: because of the fact that we were just talking about
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  Speaker 1: the reign of Josiah. So let's go ahead and read
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah twenty five one through seven and see what God
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  Speaker 1: says about the people during the reign of King Josiah.
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  Speaker 1: And I want you to keep in mind when this happened.
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  Speaker 1: Starting in verse three, it says, from the thirteenth year
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  Speaker 1: of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, even
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  Speaker 1: to this day, these twenty three years, Yahwai's word has
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  Speaker 1: come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising
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  Speaker 1: up early and speaking, but you have not listened. Yahweh
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  Speaker 1: has sent to you all his servants, the prophets, rising
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  Speaker 1: up early and sending them, but you have not listened
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  Speaker 1: or inclined your ear to hear, saying, return now everyone
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  Speaker 1: from his evil way and from the evil of your doings,
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  Speaker 1: and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to
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  Speaker 1: you and to your fathers, from of old and even forevermore.
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  Speaker 1: Don't go after the other gods to serve them or
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  Speaker 1: to worship them, and don't provoke me to anger with
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  Speaker 1: the work of your hands. Then I will do you
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  Speaker 1: no harm. Yet you have not listened to me. Says Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: that you may provoke me to anger with the work
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  Speaker 1: of your hands to your own hurt. So in verse three,
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  Speaker 1: when did this start? When did the prophecies come to Jeremiah?
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  Speaker 1: It came during the thirteenth year of King Josiah's reign,
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  Speaker 1: so right after, literally right after the first religious reform
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  Speaker 1: that Josiah did. That shows right there that even if
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  Speaker 1: a king is good and tries to get the people
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  Speaker 1: to worship Yahweh, that does not mean that the people
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  Speaker 1: are going to worship Yahweh. And unfortunately that was kind
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  Speaker 1: of the case with the Israelites here it seemed like
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  Speaker 1: they were addicted to their gods. I believe the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Malachi, if I'm remembering correctly, actually says that the
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  Speaker 1: Israelite people carried their gods out of Egypt with them
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  Speaker 1: and never let those gods go. They might have stopped
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  Speaker 1: worshiping certain gods and start worshiping other gods, but they
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  Speaker 1: never let the gods go. And what does God say
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  Speaker 1: right here in Jeremiah twenty five, He says, you have
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  Speaker 1: not listened to me, says Yahweh, that you may provoke
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  Speaker 1: me to anger with the work of your hands. To
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  Speaker 1: your own hurt. These little g gods are nothing but
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  Speaker 1: statues made with human hands, and this idolatry is hurting
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  Speaker 1: the people that are actually worshiping the idols. God says,
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  Speaker 1: it's to your own hurt that you do these things.
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  Speaker 1: But unfortunately, the people just would not listen, even though
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  Speaker 1: Josiah was doing all this reform, even though God was
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  Speaker 1: speaking through Jeremiah the prophet at this point, God was
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  Speaker 1: speaking through a lot of people actually before this, and
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  Speaker 1: yet the people just refused to listen. So unfortunately, it
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  Speaker 1: kind of didn't matter how much reform Josiah would do.
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  Speaker 1: The people were adamant to follow their own ways. Even so,
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  Speaker 1: going back to the passage for today, Second Chronicles thirty five,
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  Speaker 1: it says Josiah kept a passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: and this is likely the first time we see a
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  Speaker 1: king keeping a passover since the days of Hezekiah, who
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  Speaker 1: would have been Josiah's great grandfather. Hezekiah was one of
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  Speaker 1: the few kings to do a Passover celebration in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: and now Josiah is bringing that tradition back. It says
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  Speaker 1: they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the
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  Speaker 1: first month. Now, Josiah, you can tell was trying to
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  Speaker 1: do things as by the book as you possibly could.
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  Speaker 1: When you read the account of Hezekiah putting on that
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  Speaker 1: big Passover celebration, he actually did it on the fourteenth
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  Speaker 1: day of the second month, not the first. But if
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  Speaker 1: you look in the Old Testament laws, it says that
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  Speaker 1: God specifically wanted to Passover to be celebrated in the
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  Speaker 1: first month of the year. Now, we talked about the
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  Speaker 1: reasons why Hezekiah celebrated it in the second month, and
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  Speaker 1: how God did give some liberties to celebrating it on
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  Speaker 1: a different day specifically in the second month. But you
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  Speaker 1: can see here that Josiah is really trying to do
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  Speaker 1: things the right way, and so he's going to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that if the law says to celebrate the Passover
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  Speaker 1: on the fourteenth day of the first month, you better
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  Speaker 1: bet he's going to celebrate it on the fourteenth day
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  Speaker 1: of the first month. It says he set the priests
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  Speaker 1: in their offices and encouraged them in the service of
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh's house. Now, this is something I am sure that
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  Speaker 1: the priest didn't receive very often, was encouraging words, especially
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  Speaker 1: from the kings, you know, the kings before Josiah all
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  Speaker 1: let the temple fall in disarray, would even persecute the
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  Speaker 1: priests and the prophets, or shutter the doors to the temple,
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  Speaker 1: or put idols in the temple. But Josiah was a
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  Speaker 1: very unique king in the fact that he did none
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  Speaker 1: of that. He didn't even think about doing that. And
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  Speaker 1: so I would argue that Josiah was as close to
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  Speaker 1: being like David as any of the kings could have gotten.
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  Speaker 1: Quite honestly, it says he said to the Levites who
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  Speaker 1: taught all Israel who were holy to Yahweh, put the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Ark in the house which Solomon, the son of David,
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  Speaker 1: King of Israel, built. It will no longer be a
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  Speaker 1: burden on your shoulders. Now serve Yahweh or God and
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  Speaker 1: his people Israel. So first things first, Josiah wanted the
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  Speaker 1: Ark of the Covenant back in the Temple of God.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds like at some point before Josiah's reign the
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  Speaker 1: Ark of the Covenant was not inside God's house. One
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  Speaker 1: of the not so good kings before him probably took
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  Speaker 1: it out of the temple and put it who knows where,
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  Speaker 1: but the ar archu the Covenant was supposed to be
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  Speaker 1: inside the most holy place inside the temple, unless, of course,
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  Speaker 1: God specifically told people to take it out. Generally, it
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  Speaker 1: had to be inside the most holy place because remember,
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  Speaker 1: the Ark of the Covenant was supposed to be God's throne. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: it was where the Holy Spirit would sit. Hence why
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  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament laws you'll see it called the
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  Speaker 1: Mercy seat also, and that's because that was where the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit would sit inside the most Holy Place, on
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  Speaker 1: the Ark of the Covenant. And yet the Ark of
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  Speaker 1: the Covenant was not where it was supposed to be.
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  Speaker 1: So Josiah says, enough's enough, bring the Ark of the
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  Speaker 1: Covenant out from where it is and back into the temple.
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  Speaker 1: He says, it will no longer be a burden on
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  Speaker 1: your shoulders. Now, this could be interpreted two different ways,
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  Speaker 1: a bad way and a good way. The good way
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  Speaker 1: is Josiah is saying that whoever is keeping the Ark
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  Speaker 1: of the Covenant no longer has to deal with that
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  Speaker 1: burden any longer, because it's supposed to be inside the temple,
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  Speaker 1: not inside someone's house, because most likely one of the
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  Speaker 1: priests was taking care of it somewhere, potentially inside their
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  Speaker 1: own home. And we've seen stories before in Samuel and
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  Speaker 1: Kings about how important it was to take care of
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  Speaker 1: the temple according to God's standards, because otherwise it could
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  Speaker 1: be kind of dangerous if you're messing around with the
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  Speaker 1: Ark of the Covenant. It actually was a burden of sorts,
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  Speaker 1: and so if you're interpreting it that way, Josiah's saying,
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  Speaker 1: this burden is no longer the burden of one priest,
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  Speaker 1: but all the priests are supposed to take care of
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  Speaker 1: the Ark of the Covenant, and that's the good way
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  Speaker 1: to interpret it. The bad way to interpret it is
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  Speaker 1: that Josiah is saying that the Ark of the Covenant
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  Speaker 1: will never leave the most holy place ever. Again. The
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  Speaker 1: reason that's bad is because the Ark of the Covenant
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  Speaker 1: technically was designed to be carried around, and God specifically
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  Speaker 1: wanted it to be carried around. Hence why the polls
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  Speaker 1: that or inside the Ark of the Covenant were never
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  Speaker 1: supposed to move outside of it, because it was an
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  Speaker 1: item designed to be carried and possibly Josiah didn't understand that.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't realize that the Ark of the Covenant really
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  Speaker 1: was supposed to be moved around, especially when God said
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  Speaker 1: for it to be moved around. The reason it was
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be moved around it was because God's presence
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  Speaker 1: doesn't just stay in one place. So often you'll see
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  Speaker 1: the Ark of the Covenant coming outside of the Temple
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  Speaker 1: or the Tabernacle tent whenever the Israelites were about to
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  Speaker 1: go into battle or something along those lines, or had
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  Speaker 1: a big problem that they needed to solve, and they
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  Speaker 1: couldn't solve it on their own, so they wanted the
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  Speaker 1: mercy seat with them, you know, God's throne, to signify
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  Speaker 1: that God was there with them. So unfortunately, it could
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  Speaker 1: be that Josiah is saying here that the Ark of
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  Speaker 1: the Covenant is never supposed to be moved ever again,
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  Speaker 1: and that unfortunately was just not biblical. But honestly, we
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  Speaker 1: don't know what was going inside of Josiah's heart. But
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  Speaker 1: regardless of what Josiah might have been saying here, he
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  Speaker 1: was kind of speaking prophetically if you think about it,
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  Speaker 1: because the Ark of the Covenant never did become a
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  Speaker 1: burden for the Israelites ever again. They never had to
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  Speaker 1: carry it on their backs ever again because they took
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  Speaker 1: it for granted, and it wasn't too long after this
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  Speaker 1: that the Babylonians came in and completely destroyed the temple,
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  Speaker 1: and now we have no clue where the Ark of
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  Speaker 1: the Covenant is to this day. In fact, I'm pretty
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  Speaker 1: sure this is the last mention of the Ark of
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  Speaker 1: the Covenant. I might be wrong about that, but I
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  Speaker 1: don't think I am. The Ark of the Covenant was
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  Speaker 1: never going to be carried ever again, because the Babylonians
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  Speaker 1: were going to destroy it, just like how God said
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites never truly followed him even if the king
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  Speaker 1: was good. God was going to take all of their
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  Speaker 1: religiosity away from them, and that included the Ark of
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  Speaker 1: the Covenant, which was the symbol of God's presence being
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  Speaker 1: with them. But then he says, now serve Yahweh, or
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  Speaker 1: God and his people Israel. Notice the language that Josiah
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  Speaker 1: uses there. He does not say and his people Judah.
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  Speaker 1: He says and his people Israel, meaning that Josiah truly
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  Speaker 1: did understand that Judah was not only God's people, but
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  Speaker 1: all of Israel as a whole. Even though Israel split apart,
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  Speaker 1: there were multiple civil wars. The northern tribes of Israel
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  Speaker 1: would often attack the southern tribe of Judah. Not too
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  Speaker 1: long ago, we talked about a story where the Israelites
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  Speaker 1: went and captured a bunch of Judaites, women and children,
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  Speaker 1: and a lot of them were traveling naked and were
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  Speaker 1: sick and were miserable, and their husbands and fathers and
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  Speaker 1: sons and brothers were all killed by the Israelites. Yet
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  Speaker 1: Josiah was putting all of that behind him. He was
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  Speaker 1: putting all of that behind him because he knew that
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh was the God of the Israelites, not just the
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  Speaker 1: tribe of Judah. So he tells the priests, don't just
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  Speaker 1: serve Judah, serve all of Israel as a whole. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we did so much reform up in northern Israel. Stick
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  Speaker 1: with it, continue with it. Make sure the Israelites that
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  Speaker 1: are left up in Israel have the truth of God's laws.
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  Speaker 1: Then he says, prepare yourselves after your father's houses, by
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  Speaker 1: your divisions, according to the writing of David, King of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: Stand in the Holy Place, according to the divisions of
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  Speaker 1: your father's houses, of your brothers and the children of
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  Speaker 1: the people. And let there be for each a portion
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  Speaker 1: of the Father's house of the Levites. Kill the Passover lamb,
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  Speaker 1: sanctify yourselves and prepare for your brothers to do according
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  Speaker 1: to Yawi's word by Moses. So basically, he's telling the
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  Speaker 1: priests to go back to the Old Testament laws and
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  Speaker 1: do everything that is required of them, probably everything that
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  Speaker 1: they hadn't been doing for decades before Josiah became the king.
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  Speaker 1: Now because of Josiah's command, they have to go back
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  Speaker 1: to the Old Testament laws and see how these things
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  Speaker 1: are done. They have to be an expert at the
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  Speaker 1: laws once again, even though they hadn't seen God's laws
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  Speaker 1: until just recently. Because remember, the Book of the Law
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  Speaker 1: was found during the eighteenth year of King Josiah, so
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  Speaker 1: the priests hadn't even read it, they didn't know it
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  Speaker 1: was inside of it. But now they have to be
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  Speaker 1: experts at it because the king has commanded it. So
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  Speaker 1: now Josiah does his part with everything he ordered the Levites,
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  Speaker 1: but now he's going to also do his best to
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  Speaker 1: honor God and the people of Israel. It says Josiah
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  Speaker 1: gave to the children of the people of the flock
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  Speaker 1: lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover offerings,
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  Speaker 1: to all who were present, to the number of thirty
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  Speaker 1: thousand and three thousand bulls. These were of the king's substance,
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  Speaker 1: So Josiah was not just ordering people around and not
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  Speaker 1: doing it himself. He was doing it himself too. This
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  Speaker 1: was a big gift that the king was giving. And obviously,
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  Speaker 1: you know, yes, kings are rich, they've got more than
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: other people. But he gave away thirty thousand lambs and
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: young goats for the people to actually offer to God.
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  Speaker 1: And these weren't just any lambs and young goats. Remember
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  Speaker 1: what the ot laws say about the condition of the
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  Speaker 1: lambs and goats that you offer to God. They are
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: supposed to be perfect and spotless. Essentially, lambs and goats
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: that are in absolutely perfect health, lambs that would fetch
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the biggest price at the market, the best of the best.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: And also Josiah offered three thousand bulls on top of
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: all of this, and the bulls as well had to
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: be perfect, no blemishes, no skin diseases, no messed up feet,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: no broken horns, nothing like that. All of these animals
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  Speaker 1: had to be in tip top shape. This was a
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: huge gift that Josiah was giving from his own abundance,
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  Speaker 1: and his princes also gave a free will offering to
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  Speaker 1: the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. So
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the king was modeling generosity and giving for all of
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  Speaker 1: the other rulers in Judah as well. Now this doesn't
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: necessarily mean that these princes were his sons. Don't forget
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  Speaker 1: that tribe leaders were also considered princes. Basically, any ruler
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: that you find in Judah would be considered a prince.
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  Speaker 1: But it could be that Josiah's sons also took part
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  Speaker 1: in all of this giving as well. But it also
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: mentions in verse eight that the priests gave as well.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Hilkia Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of God's House, gave
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand, six
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: hundred small livestock and three hundred head of cattle. Again,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: all had to be perfect animals. Konania also and Shameya
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: and Nathaniel his brothers, and Hashibiah, JL and Josephad the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Passover offerings five thousand small livestock and five hundred head
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: of cattle. Now what they were doing here by giving
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: all this charity away for the people. Was they were
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: giving the people the opportunity to sacrifice offerings to God themselves,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: most likely poorer individuals. You know, not every person was rich.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: There were a lot of very poor people during this time.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Even the Levites, a lot of them were very poor. Now,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: through the generosity of those who can actually give, they
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: have the opportunity to give a really wonderful gift to
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: God when they may not have been able to afford
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: anything before, or they may have only been able to
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: afford a couple pigeons or something like that, but now
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: they have a spotless lamb that they can give to Yahweh.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: And you might be like, well, jen, is it actually
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: a gift from them to God if it was given
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: by somebody else? And I would argue, yes, it is,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: because there was probably a temptation for these poor individuals
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: who receive these perfect lambs to sell them at the market,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: or to breed them themselves or eat them themselves. There's
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: probably a huge temptation to keep these valuable animals rather
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: than offering them to Yahweh. And it could be that
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: some people were unfortunately kind of corrupt that way and
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: did not use the gift the way it was intended
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: to be used, but there probably were plenty of genuine
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: people that really wanted to offer a gift to Yahweh
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: and were excited to receive these lambs and these goats
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: and these bulls so they could offer these wonderful gifts
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to God. Now it says in verse ten, the service
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the levites by their divisions, according to the king's commandments.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: So now the passover is taking place, and it is
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: being done the way God commanded it in the Old
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Testament for the first time in decades. It's always fun
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: talking about these historical little passages with you guys because
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: you can get into the nitty gritty and how people
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: thought about the passover and why this was a big deal.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: So I always love these historical episodes that I can
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: talk about with you guys. Before I say goodbye to everybody,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: do me a solid and listen to a quick word
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: from a sponsor. Now, we're going to read the rest
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: of Second Chronicles thirty five on Wednesday and talk about
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the details of the passover, what went into it, why
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: it was super important, and also we're going to be
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: discussing Josiah's death, because he does die pretty quickly after this, unfortunately,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: even though he was a great king for Israel's history.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: We'll get into how and why he died and how
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: it actually came down to him not listening to a
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: word from God. We'll talk about all of that on Wednesday.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: But faithful listeners keep in mind what these Old Testament
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: passages are a teaching us. They are teaching us to
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: truly follow God, and how bad it is when we
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: don't follow God. Just the amount of corruption, evil, selfishness, narcissism,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and violence that happens when you don't make God the
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: center of your life, but you make yourself and your
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: idols the center of your life. That's the point of
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: reading through the Old Testament and diving into little passages
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: like this. It is all history. It is all meant
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: to teach us what not to do in the future. Essentially, Already,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: As always, happy listening and God bless. I just want
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: to take a second to thank the team at Life
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Audio for their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: In fact, if you go to lifeaudio dot com. You'll
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parent and more.