Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Nehemiah 11 and 12 - Jerusalem Becomes a Capital City Once Again

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Nehemiah 11 and 12 - Jerusalem Becomes a Capital City Once Again · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, hello and good morning, faithful listeners, and
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  Speaker 1: welcome to the Bible Explain podcast on this lovely morning.
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  Speaker 1: A little bit rainy here for me, just a nice,
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  Speaker 1: gentle rain. It's like one of those ones where it's
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  Speaker 1: like a sleepy day where you want to just curl
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  Speaker 1: up with a good book. That's what it reminds me of.
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  Speaker 1: So we have the good book right here that we're
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  Speaker 1: going to read today. We're going to be talking about
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  Speaker 1: Nehemiah eleven and twelve. And the reason we're discussing two
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  Speaker 1: chapters today is because this is talking about what happens
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  Speaker 1: now that the walls are finished, what the people are
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  Speaker 1: going to do to rebuild Jerusalem and start making Israel
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  Speaker 1: its own entity once again. So we'll get into these
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  Speaker 1: chapters right after this first sponsored ad for today. Now,
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  Speaker 1: faithal listeners, don't forget if you ever have a prayer
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  Speaker 1: request that you would like me to pray for, please
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  Speaker 1: don't hesitate to reach out. You'll find my email address
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  Speaker 1: listed in the description of this episode, and I do
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  Speaker 1: read all of my emails, so if you send me
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  Speaker 1: an email, be sure that I will read it and
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  Speaker 1: write you down in my prayer journal and pray for
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  Speaker 1: you for the week. So now let's get into Niamiyah
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  Speaker 1: eleven and twelve. Now I'm not going to read the
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  Speaker 1: entirety of these chapters. I'm just going to read little
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  Speaker 1: bits of them because the majority of it is talking
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  Speaker 1: about genealogies, and so instead of reading all of these
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  Speaker 1: names for you guys, I'm going to mainly talk about
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  Speaker 1: the main people and points in both of these chapters.
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  Speaker 1: So let's start in verses one and two of Namiyah eleven.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the web this morning. Here's what
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  Speaker 1: this says. The princes of the people lived in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: The rest of the people also cast lots to bring
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  Speaker 1: in one of the ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the
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  Speaker 1: Holy City, and nine parts in the other cities. The
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  Speaker 1: people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to
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  Speaker 1: dwell in Jerusalem. So now that the walls are finished,
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  Speaker 1: they need people to actually come and live in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: because Jerusalem was in shambles before the walls were built.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure there are some people living in that city,
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  Speaker 1: but for the most part it was pretty empty. As
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  Speaker 1: you can tell from what Nihemiah and Ezra had said
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  Speaker 1: about the city. You know, it was a dangerous city
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  Speaker 1: to live in in a lot of ways because it
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  Speaker 1: was blocked off in some areas and it was completely
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  Speaker 1: open in other areas. So probably not a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people had inhabited the city as of yet. I believe
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  Speaker 1: Niamaiyah in a previous chapter even said that the city
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  Speaker 1: was pretty sparse of people. So now it's time, since
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  Speaker 1: the walls are rebuilt and the city is beginning to
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  Speaker 1: thrive once again, it's time to bring people in. So
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  Speaker 1: it says that the princes of the people lived in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: so essentially the heads of the tribes decided that they
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  Speaker 1: were going to live in Jerusalem, the capital city. And
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  Speaker 1: it says the rest of the people cast lots to
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  Speaker 1: bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem. Okay, so
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  Speaker 1: I'm guessing what that means is that one out of
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  Speaker 1: every ten families buy lots, essentially throwing the dice, would
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  Speaker 1: be kind of forced to leave their homes behind and
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  Speaker 1: live in Jerusalem. I would guess that most people were
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  Speaker 1: on the same page that they did not actually want
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  Speaker 1: to go to Jerusalem, because I'm sure their homes are
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  Speaker 1: established they finally rebuilt them. They were probably living in
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  Speaker 1: their ancestral land in their tribes, and so probably not
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  Speaker 1: very many people actually wanted to pack everything up now
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  Speaker 1: that they had been established, to go and live in
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  Speaker 1: the city. You know, for me, I'm a country girl
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  Speaker 1: through and through, so I'd be devastated if I had
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  Speaker 1: to pack up my little house out in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of the country and move everything to the city. I'd
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  Speaker 1: be devastated. But people understood the necessity of this. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you can't really have a capital city if nobody lives
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  Speaker 1: in it. You can't really have a flourishing country without
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  Speaker 1: a capital city. People understood that it was necessary to
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  Speaker 1: actually move to Jerusalem and rebuild this city. But I'm
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  Speaker 1: sure not very many people actually wanted to do this.
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  Speaker 1: Hence why the casting of lots. So they would do
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  Speaker 1: it by throwing the dice and whichever family came up,
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  Speaker 1: I guess at the end of it they would agree
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  Speaker 1: and move their families to Jerusalem and repopulate that city.
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  Speaker 1: But some people were willing to do this. It actually
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  Speaker 1: says the people blessed all the men who willingly offered
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  Speaker 1: themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. So some people were like,
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  Speaker 1: you know what, I am totally okay, with packing everything
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  Speaker 1: up and moving to Jerusalem. I want to do this.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's necessary. We're not particularly established here or
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  Speaker 1: whatever the situation might have been. Some people voluntarily offered
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  Speaker 1: to go, and it says that the people blessed all
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  Speaker 1: the men who volunteered to do this, probably because they
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  Speaker 1: didn't want to do it themselves, so if anybody was
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  Speaker 1: willing to take their place, they were probably really excited
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  Speaker 1: about that. So, now that the city is being repopulated,
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  Speaker 1: it says, these are the chiefs of the province who
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  Speaker 1: lived in Jerusalem, and jumping down to verse four, says
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  Speaker 1: of the children of Judah Athaiah, the son of Uzaiah,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Zechariah, and also mentions in verse five Massya,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Baruk, and then it mentions in verse
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  Speaker 1: six the sons of Perez. And all of these men,
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  Speaker 1: who were only of the tribe of Judah, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: were four hundred and sixty eight Valian men. So four
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  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty eight men of Judah decided that they
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  Speaker 1: were going to go to Jerusalem to repopulate that city.
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  Speaker 1: And now in verse seven it mentions the sons of Benjamin,
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  Speaker 1: So the tribe of Benjamin that were willing to go
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  Speaker 1: into the city. Salu the son of Mishulam, it says
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  Speaker 1: after him in verse eight was Gabai, and Salai nine
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  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty eight. Joel the son of Zikary was
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  Speaker 1: their overseer, and Judah, the son of Hessenua, was second
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  Speaker 1: over the city. So that is now the tribe of
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin who was willing to repopulate the city. These came
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  Speaker 1: to nine hundred and twenty eight individual men. Now, if
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  Speaker 1: you turn to First Chronicles, chapter nine, what's really the
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  Speaker 1: interesting about this chapter is it's very similar to Nehemiah
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  Speaker 1: eleven because First Chronicles was probably written by Ezra, and
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  Speaker 1: we know that Ezra also did his own research in
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  Speaker 1: his own account of everybody that repopulated the city. So
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  Speaker 1: if you go to First Chronicles nine, verses one and two,
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  Speaker 1: here's what this says. So all Israel were listed by genealogies,
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  Speaker 1: and behold they are written in the Book of the
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  Speaker 1: Kings of Israel. Judah was carried away captive to Babylon
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  Speaker 1: for their disobedience. Now, the first inhabitants who lived in
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  Speaker 1: their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites,
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  Speaker 1: and the temple servants. In Jerusalem, there lived of the
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  Speaker 1: children of Judah, of the children of Benjamin, and of
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  Speaker 1: the children of Ephriam and Manassa. So don't forget the
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  Speaker 1: checkered history of Israel. Israel had been split into two
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  Speaker 1: separate nations, Northern Israel and Southern Israel, also known as
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  Speaker 1: Israel and Judah, Judah being the southern nation that the
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  Speaker 1: Babylonians came in and pretty much destroyed and took everything from.
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  Speaker 1: So now the people are back in Judah. But notice
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  Speaker 1: that it's not being called a Judah anymore. It's being
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  Speaker 1: called Israel. So Israel, who had been previously splintered by
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  Speaker 1: civil war, has now come together, and all of these
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  Speaker 1: tribes are living together, not as separate nations, not as
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  Speaker 1: north and South, but together. That's what it says in
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  Speaker 1: First Chronicles nine, verse three. In Jerusalem there lived the
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  Speaker 1: children of Judah, the children of Benjamin, and the children
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  Speaker 1: of Ephrium and Manassa. So all these tribes that were
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  Speaker 1: previously considered separate have now come together to rebuild the
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  Speaker 1: city after the Babylonian exile. So that's what's happening in
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  Speaker 1: the days of Neamiyah. Israel is now one whole nation. Again,
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  Speaker 1: it is not considered two separate nations. It is not
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  Speaker 1: considered a north and a south. It is one special
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  Speaker 1: nation with one capital city. So going back to Neamiyah
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  Speaker 1: eleven in verses ten and eleven and also twelve, and
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  Speaker 1: the priests that lived in the city were eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: and twenty two according to verse twelve, and as well,
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  Speaker 1: there was an additional two hundred and forty two which
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  Speaker 1: were the chiefs of the father's household. So I would
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  Speaker 1: guess these were like the higher up priests, if I'm
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  Speaker 1: guessing correctly, that's talked about in verse thirteen right here.
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  Speaker 1: And then in verse fourteen it mentions that there were
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  Speaker 1: some priests that were mighty men of valor, which included
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty eight of them, and their overseer
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  Speaker 1: was Zevdel, the son of Hagedelum Hagaedellum. I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how to pronounce that one. But yes,
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  Speaker 1: there was over one thousand priests that lived in the
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  Speaker 1: city of Jerusalem. But now in contrast to this, it
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  Speaker 1: mentions in verse fifteen the Leevites, all the Levites in
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  Speaker 1: the Holy City were two hundred and eighty four, So
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  Speaker 1: that is a incredibly low number. But we see this
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  Speaker 1: consistently throughout the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. They were
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  Speaker 1: always begging Leevites to come into Israel. For whatever reason,
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  Speaker 1: after the Babylonian captivity, the Levites wanted to stay in Babylon.
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  Speaker 1: They wanted to stay in Persia and not travel back home.
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  Speaker 1: And it could be that throughout the years the Levites
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  Speaker 1: didn't know what their role was because the priests did everything.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't know that they had a really important job
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  Speaker 1: back home in Israel. So unfortunately, the Levites were never
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  Speaker 1: very populous in Israel. And this is maintained again throughout
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  Speaker 1: the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Now it mentions in
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  Speaker 1: verse nineteen the gate keepers who are one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: seventy two men. Now, these gatekeepers would have been people
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  Speaker 1: who oversaw the gates to the city as well as
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  Speaker 1: overseeing the gates to the Temple of God, making sure
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  Speaker 1: that nobody who was ceremonially unclean was coming in, making
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  Speaker 1: sure nobody was causing any trouble. And so of all
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  Speaker 1: of these gatekeepers, there were one hundred and seventy two. Now,
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  Speaker 1: jumping to verses twenty through twenty four says the overseer.
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  Speaker 1: Also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzi, the son
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  Speaker 1: of Banni, the son of Hashebaiah the son of Matania,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Micah, the sons of Asaf, the singers
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  Speaker 1: responsible for the service of God's house, for there was
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  Speaker 1: a commandment from the king concerning them, and a settled
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  Speaker 1: provision for the singers as every day required. Pathiah, the
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  Speaker 1: son of ma Chezebel of the children of Zarah, the
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  Speaker 1: son of Judah, was at the King's hand in all
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  Speaker 1: matters concerning the people. So that's talking about the singers
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  Speaker 1: that King David put in place. These guys were really
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  Speaker 1: important because they led the people into worship of God.
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  Speaker 1: They obviously had to be good singers. They obviously had
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  Speaker 1: to be songwriters and no music very well, and be
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  Speaker 1: able to work as a cohesive team like in a choir.
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  Speaker 1: So these people were important for the worship of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: But we'll talk more about these guys in the next chapter. Now.
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  Speaker 1: In verses twenty five through thirty six, it mentions all
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  Speaker 1: of the other people who were not Levite who lived
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  Speaker 1: in the surrounding areas around Jerusalem, but not in the
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  Speaker 1: city itself. So now let's move to the next chapter,
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  Speaker 1: Niamiah twelve. Now this is talking far more about the
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  Speaker 1: Levites and the priests rather than the other tribes of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: It says in verse one of Niamiah twelve. Now these
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  Speaker 1: are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubabyl,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Sheltiel and Jeshua. So this is going
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  Speaker 1: all the way back. You know, about one hundred years
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  Speaker 1: prior to Neamiyah, when the people finally came back into
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  Speaker 1: the land after the Babylonian captivity, all of the priests
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  Speaker 1: that traveled with Zerubabyl. And you might be like, as
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  Speaker 1: I was, why do we need this again? And the
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  Speaker 1: reason I thought that was because, you know, I was like, man,
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  Speaker 1: we already went over all of these guys. I feel
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  Speaker 1: like from the beginning, it seems like Neamiyah and Ezra
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  Speaker 1: just repeating themselves over and over. But that's actually not true.
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  Speaker 1: When I did more re search into this chapter, this
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  Speaker 1: is the first time we really see the names of
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  Speaker 1: these priests that traveled to Israel from Persia. Every time
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  Speaker 1: they're mentioned, it's more so their numbers are mentioned, but
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  Speaker 1: they're not mentioned by name. In fact, if you jump
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  Speaker 1: back to Niamiah seven, for example, in verse thirty nine,
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  Speaker 1: it says, the priests the children of Judea of the
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  Speaker 1: House of Jeshua nine hundred and seventy three, and that's
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  Speaker 1: all we see. So Niamiyah chapter twelve, going into the
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  Speaker 1: names of the priests, is actually a unique chapter that
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  Speaker 1: we haven't seen yet, even though for you and I,
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  Speaker 1: because we don't know any of these names and we
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  Speaker 1: don't know these guys, it's it's harder for us to
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  Speaker 1: differentiate between some of these chapters. Though this chapter is
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  Speaker 1: very unique all on its own. So it mentions the
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  Speaker 1: Levites who went up with Zerubabyl one hundred years prior
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  Speaker 1: to this in verses one through seven, and jumping to
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  Speaker 1: verse eight, it says, moreover, the Levites, not just the priest,
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  Speaker 1: but the Levites. Now where Jeshua Binui, Kadmiel, Sherebayah, Judah
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  Speaker 1: and mat Tania, who were over the Thanksgiving songs he
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  Speaker 1: and his brothers. Then in verse Tennis says Jeshua became
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  Speaker 1: the father of Jehoya Kim, and Jehoya Kim became the
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  Speaker 1: father of Eli a sheep and Elia she became the
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  Speaker 1: father of Joyda. Now that verse is important because that
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  Speaker 1: is the lineage of the high priest that came with Zerubabyl.
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  Speaker 1: Remember Jeshua, the high priest that we talked about at
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  Speaker 1: some length in the Book of Ezra, Well, that's the
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  Speaker 1: names of all of his sons. Jeshua's first son was Joyakim.
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  Speaker 1: Then Joyakim's son was Eli a Sheb, and then Eli
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  Speaker 1: a Sheb was the father of Joida, and Joida was
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  Speaker 1: the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaduah.
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  Speaker 1: So that is the line of the priests. We know
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  Speaker 1: that Eli a Sheb, Jeshua's grandson, actually became the high
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  Speaker 1: priest during the days of Nehemiah. We'll talk about that
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  Speaker 1: guy at a later date though, because he does something
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  Speaker 1: wrong that Nihamiyah does not like and Nihemiah has to
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  Speaker 1: like throw all of the stuff out of the temple.
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  Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy. Actually. The next chapter of Nehemiah
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  Speaker 1: is somewhat hilarious but also sad at the exact same time.
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  Speaker 1: But going back to this chapter, verse twelve, it says
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  Speaker 1: in the days of Jehoiakim, where priests heads of father's
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  Speaker 1: households and then it names all of these different names
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  Speaker 1: in verses twelve through twenty one, and I'm not gonna lie.
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  Speaker 1: When I read that, I was like, who the heck
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  Speaker 1: is Joyakim? And again in verse ten it explains that
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  Speaker 1: Joyakim was the son of Jeshua. Okay, Jeshua being the
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  Speaker 1: high priest that traveled with Zerubabyl back to Israel from
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  Speaker 1: the Babylonian captivity. So Jehoiakim or Joyakim, I guess, was
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  Speaker 1: the high priest during the days of Ezra. And now
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  Speaker 1: in the days of Eliai Sheb verse twenty two, here's
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  Speaker 1: all the levites that were in place, Eliyai Sheb being
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  Speaker 1: the son of Joyakim, who was again the son of Jeshua.
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  Speaker 1: So that is pertinent information for under standing. You know
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  Speaker 1: who was standing next to Ezra at certain times. You
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  Speaker 1: know who all these levites and priests were. That's where
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  Speaker 1: you're going to get to. This information is in Nehemiah
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  Speaker 1: chapter twelve. So let's go ahead and jump to verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven and read the rest of this chapter, because
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  Speaker 1: it takes a completely different tone. It stops talking about
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  Speaker 1: the lineages, it stops talking about the priests and the
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  Speaker 1: names of everybody. Instead it talks about the dedication of
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  Speaker 1: the walls, because now the walls of Jerusalem have finally
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  Speaker 1: been built, the last stone is in place, the gates
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  Speaker 1: are on, and the people are ready to celebrate. And
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  Speaker 1: also it sounds like some time has passed because the Israelites,
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  Speaker 1: it sounds like, have repopulated the city. Jerusalem is starting
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  Speaker 1: to run and function as if it is the capital city.
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  Speaker 1: So they hold this big celebration, the celebration that people
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  Speaker 1: from far off can hear. That is how exciting everything was.
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  Speaker 1: So it says in verse twenty seven, at the dedication
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  Speaker 1: of the Wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites out
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  Speaker 1: of all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to
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  Speaker 1: keep the dedication with gladness, both with giving thanks and
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  Speaker 1: with singing, with symbols, stringed instruments and with harps. The
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  Speaker 1: sons of the singers gathered themselves together both out of
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  Speaker 1: the plane around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Nataphelites,
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  Speaker 1: also from Beth Gilgal and out of the fields of
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  Speaker 1: Gaba and Asthma Bath. For the singers had built themselves
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  Speaker 1: villages around Jerusalem. The priests and the Levites purified themselves,
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  Speaker 1: and they purified the people, the gates and the wall.
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  Speaker 1: So the first part of this celebration starts with bringing
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  Speaker 1: all the singers into Jerusalem. And it turns out that
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  Speaker 1: all these singers didn't live in the city itself, but
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  Speaker 1: they made little villages surrounding the city so that they
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  Speaker 1: could go into Jerusalem whenever it was necessary to do so.
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  Speaker 1: So the singers are coming into the city, the musicians
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  Speaker 1: are coming in, and they are making a beautiful, joyful
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  Speaker 1: noise to God with thanksgiving, it says. And you know
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  Speaker 1: something that kind of hit me about this chapter when
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  Speaker 1: I was reading through it. I'm a worship leader myself,
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  Speaker 1: or I was at least. I'm always trying to see
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  Speaker 1: what did the people in the Old Testament do to
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  Speaker 1: truly worship God? What are the psalms like, What does
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  Speaker 1: David sing about God? What kinds of things can we
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  Speaker 1: sing about God? And what is worship not? This chapter
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  Speaker 1: really hit me because every time worship is mentioned, it
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  Speaker 1: also mentions the giving of thanks And I never thought
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  Speaker 1: about how worship and thanksgiving kind of have to be
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  Speaker 1: hand in hand. You can't really praise God without having
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  Speaker 1: thanksgiving in your heart. Now I could argue that you
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  Speaker 1: could worship God without thanksgiving because you can look at
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  Speaker 1: the psalms and you can see that the people who
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  Speaker 1: wrote the psalms a lot of times didn't have a
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  Speaker 1: lot of thanksgiving because they were going through some very
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  Speaker 1: very difficult times and they were praying to God, begging
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  Speaker 1: him for his provision, begging him for his interaction with them,
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  Speaker 1: not necessarily praising his name, though a lot of times
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  Speaker 1: they did, because even the most depressing psalms, most of
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: them went back to how great and how good God
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: actually was in their past, and they're going to remember
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: those things. So even some of the most depressing psalms
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: came with a modicum of thanksgiving, minus a handful here
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and there. But you know, praise specifically, because praise and
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: worship are two different things. Praise specifically, you can't really
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: have that without thanksgiving. And I've talked about what the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: difference between praise and worship is before, But worship is
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: a little bit broader than praise, where it includes like
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: a heart condition where you just recognize that God is
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: so much greater than yourself, you're essentially humbling yourself. And
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: this can look like anything. It doesn't necessarily have to
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: be singing or making music, certainly not. Actually, you can
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: worship God in the day to day tasks that you do.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: For example, if somebody is snarky to you at your job,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: it could be an act of worship to just walk
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: away from that person instead of responding negatively to them.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: You know, it's things like that that you worship God
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: on a day to day basis, just recognizing that you're
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: going to follow God and you're going to do your best,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: knowing that God is worthy of worship and he's worthy
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: of praise. So you're humbling yourself in front of God.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: That is what worship really comes down to, whereas praise,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: on the other hand, is more of you expressing God's goodness,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: and again that doesn't always come down to making music.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: You can just say to somebody God is so good,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: like I praise his name. You could pray to him
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and praise you could I don't know pain in a picture,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: I guess in praise of God, but it's you expressing
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: God's goodness outwardly for other people to see. But music
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: can fall into both praise and worship of God. You're
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: humbling yourself by admitting that God is greater than you,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: and you're also expressing your adoration of God for the
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: world to see. Now, going back to this chapter, with
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: all that praise, I think has to include an amount
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: of thanksgiving for who God is. And all of these
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: songs right here, we're in thanksgiving to God. That's what
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: it says. In verse what is it? Verse twenty seven,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: it says they brought the singers to Jerusalem to keep
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the dedication with gladness, both with giving thanks and with
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: singing symbols, stringed instruments and with harps. And then in
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: verse thirty one it mentions that Nehemiah brought the princes
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: of Judah up on the wall and appointed two great
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: companies who gave thanks and went in procession. These singers
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: were to give thanks through the music that they were
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: singing to God. And that's what praise really comes down to,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: is to giving thanks and exclaiming the wonderful name of Jesus.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: So if a praise song does not include the giving
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: of thanks in it, can it really be called a
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: praise song? And I would say probably not. So if
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: you're singing praise songs at your church, maybe think about
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: some of the lyrics that are going on with them,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: do they really have a true aspect of giving thanks
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: to God? Or the songs we're singing more about ourselves
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: or more about our situations. I mean, you guys might
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: think I'm being nitpicky, but it is important because if
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: we're coming together to worship God and to praise God,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: then we should definitely be doing it the right way,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and I think that includes with thanksgiving. Now, jumping down
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: in verse thirty eight, says, the other company of those
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: who gave thanks went to meet them, and I after them,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: with half the people on the wall, above the tower
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: of the Furnaces, even to the wide wall, and above
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the gate of Ephraem, and by the old gate, and
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: by the fish gate, the tower of Hananel, the tower
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: of Hamea, even to the sheep gate, and they stood
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: still in the gate of the guard. So essentially, these
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: people are all over the city giving thanks to God,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: it says in verse forty. So the two companies of
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: those who gave thanks in God's house stood with I,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: and the half of the rulers with me, and the priests,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: and mentions all the names of the priests, and the
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: singers sing loud with Jezreel the overseer, and they offered
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: great sacrifice that day and rejoiced, for God had made
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: them rejoice with great joy, And the women and the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: heard even far away. So everybody was rejoicing. Everyone was
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: excited that the city was becoming repopulated, that people were
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: moving in, that the walls were done, that Jerusalem was
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: safe once again. And this joy that everybody was feeling,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: both the mothers and the little babies, could be heard
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: from a really long distance away. So I'm sure that
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the enemies of Jerusalem who didn't want those walls to
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: be built, were not very happy about all this joy
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: that they're hearing in Jerusalem. And now in Verses forty
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: four through forty seven, to conclude, it mentioned some of
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: the logistics for the treasury. On that day, men were
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: appointed over the rooms for the treasures, for the wave offerings,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: for the first fruits, and for the tithes to gather
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: into them according to the fields of the city, the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: portions appointed by the law for the priests and the levites.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: For Judah rejoiced for the priests and the levites who served.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: They performed the duty of their God and the duty
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: of the purification. And so did the singers and the gatekeepers,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: according to the commandment of David and Solomon his son.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: For in the days of David, and asaff of old,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: there was a chief of the singers and songs of
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: praise and thanksgiving to God all Israel. In the days
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: of Zerubabyl, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: portions of the singers and the gatekeepers as every day required.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: And they set apart that which was for the Levites,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: and the Levites set apart that which was for the
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: sons of Aaron. So that is talking about the payment
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: for the priests and the Levites. You got to remember
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the Levites didn't get an inheritance in the land of Israel.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: So their inheritance was actually the tithe that came in
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: to the temple. And I think they would get that
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: tithe every year, if I'm remembering correctly, or maybe it
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: was every three years. I did not look that up,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: so I apologize. But every year or so they would
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: get the tithe from the people, and they would get
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: also food from the people as well, because a part
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: of the offerings that were brought in for peace. Offerings
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: to God would go back to the priests and the levites.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: So essentially, the levites were paid by the people to
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: do the ministry of God. And this is a biblical thing.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Even in the New Testament. Even Paul, who very rarely
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: took paychecks from the people, said it was godly for
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: people to pay their spiritual leaders. And that is shown
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: also in the Old Testament right here in Nehemiah and
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: other places as well. So this was Niamiyah eleven and twelve,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: and I hope you guys enjoyed learning about these two chapters.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: We're going to jump into the last chapter of Niamiah
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: thirteen next Monday, and I'm excited to dive into that
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: chapter with you guys because it is insane what ends
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: up happening in Jerusalem, because you know, people, even though
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: they made these covenants with God, they didn't follow through unfortunately,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: and Neiamiah comes back to a big mess that he
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: has to clean up. So we're going to talk about
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: that on Monday, So I hope to see all of
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: you guys there now before I finish out this episode,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: for all you guys, please listen to one last sponsored
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: ad all right, faithful listeners, hopefully you all tune in
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: tomorrow for the Book of James, because we have been
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: going ham in the Book of James, like I feel
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: like it's just spicy topic after spicy topic. So faithful listeners,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: hope to see you all tomorrow for an episode from
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the Book of James at six am or whenever you
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: choose to wake up and listen in the morning. Faithful listeners,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Happy listening, and God bless. I just want to take
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeudio dot com you'll find dozens
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.