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Speaker 1: How do you faith? The listeners, Welcome to Season ten

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Speaker 1: of the Bible Explained podcast. So yesterday on the podcast,

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Speaker 1: I was talking about how, if you guys have listened

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Speaker 1: to me this entire time, like through these past several

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Speaker 1: years of us going through the Bible, you will have

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Speaker 1: listened to eleven books of the Old Testament. Well, I

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Speaker 1: was very wrong. I miscalculated because I can't do math.

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Speaker 1: If you've been with me this entire time, you have

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Speaker 1: listened to thirteen books of the Old Testament and twelve

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Speaker 1: books of the New Testament. So if I'm actually doing

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Speaker 1: my math correctly, that means you will have listened to

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Speaker 1: twenty five books of the Bible. That is super cool,

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Speaker 1: super super cool. That is more than a third of

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Speaker 1: the entire Bible. And we're moving into another book of

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Speaker 1: the Old Testament today, which is Second Chronicles, and in

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Speaker 1: this first chapter we're going to be talking about Solomon

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Speaker 1: and the High Places today. So this is going to

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Speaker 1: be really good. I'm reading the entire chapter today, and

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Speaker 1: as usual, I will be reading from the web, but

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Speaker 1: of course, feel free to grab the version of the

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Speaker 1: Bible that you prefer, and also grab that delicious cup

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Speaker 1: of coffee or cup of tea this morning, and let's

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Speaker 1: share that together. As we read the first chapter of

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Speaker 1: Second Chronicles. Solomon the son of David, was firmly established

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Speaker 1: in his kingdom, and Yahweh, his God, was with him

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Speaker 1: and made him exceedingly great. Solomon spoke to all Israel,

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Speaker 1: to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges,

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Speaker 1: and to every prince in Israel, all the heads of

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Speaker 1: the Father's households. Then Solomon and all the Assembly with

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Speaker 1: him went to the high place that was at Gibeon,

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Speaker 1: for God's tent of meeting was there, which he always

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Speaker 1: servant Moses had made in the wilderness. But David had

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Speaker 1: brought God's arc up from curious Jeram to the place

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Speaker 1: that David had prepared for it, for he had pitched

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Speaker 1: a tent for it at Jerusalem. Moreover, the bronze altar

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Speaker 1: that Bazellel, the son of Yuri, the son of her

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Speaker 1: had made, was there before Yahweh's tabernacle, and Solomon and

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Speaker 1: the Assembly were seeking counsel there. Solomon went up there

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Speaker 1: to the bronze altar before Yahweh, which was at the

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Speaker 1: tene meeting, and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it.

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Speaker 1: That night, God appeared to Solomon and said to him,

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Speaker 1: ask her what you want me to give you. Solomon

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Speaker 1: said to God, you have shown great loving kindness to

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Speaker 1: David my father and have made me king in his place. Now, yahweh, God,

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Speaker 1: let your promise to David my father be established. For

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Speaker 1: you have made me king over a people like the

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Speaker 1: dust of the earth in multitude. Now give me wisdom

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Speaker 1: and knowledge that I may go out and come in

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Speaker 1: before this people. For who can judge this great people

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Speaker 1: of yours? God said to Solomon, because this was in

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Speaker 1: your heart, and you have not asked riches, wealth, honor,

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Speaker 1: or the life of those who hate you, Nor yet

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Speaker 1: have you asked for a long life. But I have

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Speaker 1: asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may

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Speaker 1: judge my people over whom I have made you king.

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Speaker 1: Therefore wisdom and knowledge is granted to you. I will

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Speaker 1: give you riches, wealth, and honor such as none of

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Speaker 1: the kings have had who have been before you, and

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Speaker 1: none after you will have. So Solomon came from the

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Speaker 1: high place that was at Gibeon from before the Tene

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Speaker 1: meeting to Jerusalem, and he reigned over Israel. Solomon gathered

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Speaker 1: chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand, four hundred chariots

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Speaker 1: and twelve thousand horsemen that he placed in the chariot

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Speaker 1: cities and with the king at Jerusalem. The king made

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Speaker 1: silver and gold to be as common as stones in Jerusalem,

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Speaker 1: and he made cedars to be as common as the

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Speaker 1: sycamore trees that are in the lowland. The horses which

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Speaker 1: Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from QW.

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Speaker 1: The king's merchants purchased them from q They imported from

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Speaker 1: Egypt and then exported a chariot for six hundred pieces

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Speaker 1: of silver and a horse for one hundred and fifty.

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Speaker 1: They also exported them to the hit kings and the

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Speaker 1: Syrian kings. To start out season ten, it says that Solomon,

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Speaker 1: the son of David, was firmly established in his kingdom,

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Speaker 1: and Yahweh, his God was with him and made him

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Speaker 1: exceedingly great. So David has died, and now Solomon his son,

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Speaker 1: is reigning in his place, and God is actually establishing

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Speaker 1: Solomon's kingdom. God is with Solomon during this entire time.

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Speaker 1: So it says in verse two that Solomon spoke to

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Speaker 1: all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds,

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Speaker 1: to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel,

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Speaker 1: the heads of the father's households, and all of that

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Speaker 1: is talked about in the first three chapters of First Kings.

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Speaker 1: If you're curious about what Solomon did, like right after

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Speaker 1: he became the king, he actually did quite a bit.

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Speaker 1: He killed a lot of David's enemies, three of them

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Speaker 1: in particular, and actually one of them included Joab, the

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Speaker 1: Great Commander that David was always so irritated with. Solomon

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Speaker 1: eventually killed Joab because Joeab was very dis obedient but

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Speaker 1: also extremely loyal. He was kind of a weird anomaly

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Speaker 1: of a guy. I feel like he had a lot

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Speaker 1: of innertention happening within himself. So he was very loyal

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Speaker 1: to David, very loyal to Israel. But if he decided

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Speaker 1: that he did not like what David was doing, joe

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Speaker 1: Ab would just do whatever he wanted to do. He

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Speaker 1: just like he would just disobey and do what he

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Speaker 1: felt was the right thing to do. Towards the end

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Speaker 1: of David's life, joe Ab actually was against Solomon becoming

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Speaker 1: the next king for whatever reason did not like Solomon

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Speaker 1: and actually sided with ad and Nija, who was another

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Speaker 1: one of David's sons. So Solomon killed joe Ab because

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Speaker 1: of the amount of disobedience that joe Ab had, not

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Speaker 1: to mention all of the murder that joe Ab committed

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Speaker 1: throughout his life. So there was actually quite a few

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Speaker 1: things that Solomon did during the early days of his

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Speaker 1: reign in Jerusalem. But now after addressing all of the

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Speaker 1: leaders of Israel, he is seeking guidance. It could be

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Speaker 1: that he was worried, maybe he had a little bit

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Speaker 1: of insecurity that he was too young to be the

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Speaker 1: next king. As we saw at the end of First Chronicles,

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Speaker 1: that was something that David consistently said to Solomon. He's like,

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Speaker 1: you're a young, green, little shoot, and I want you

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Speaker 1: to be a man and grow up and become the king.

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Speaker 1: And I wonder if Solomon had a little bit of

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Speaker 1: an insecurity about that, where he's like, I am too

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Speaker 1: young to be the king of these people, And in fact,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of what he says. Actually, when God eventually

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Speaker 1: does appear to Solomon, he's like, how can I possibly

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Speaker 1: possibly be the king of these people? So what he

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Speaker 1: does is It says in verse three that he goes

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Speaker 1: to the high place that was at Gibeon, because that's

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Speaker 1: where the tent of meeting was. The tent of meeting

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Speaker 1: should never have been at a high place. The one

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Speaker 1: thing we consistently see in the Old Testament, God gets very,

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Speaker 1: very irritated with high places. In fact, if you look

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Speaker 1: at Deuteronomy chapter twelve, verses one through six, here is

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Speaker 1: what God has to say about high places. These are

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Speaker 1: the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to

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Speaker 1: do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers,

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Speaker 1: has given you to possess. All the days that you

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Speaker 1: live on the earth. You shall surely destroy all the

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Speaker 1: places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served

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Speaker 1: their gods. On the high mountains and on the hills,

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Speaker 1: and under every green tree, you shall break down their altars,

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Speaker 1: dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their asherra poles

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Speaker 1: with fire. You shall cut down the engraved image of

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Speaker 1: their gods. You shall destroy their name. Out of that place.

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Speaker 1: You shall not do so to Yahweh or God, but

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Speaker 1: to the place which Yahweh or God shall choose out

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Speaker 1: of all of your tribes to put his name there.

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Speaker 1: You shall seek his habitation, and you shall come there.

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Speaker 1: You shall bring burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the

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Speaker 1: wave offering of your hand, your free will offerings, and

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Speaker 1: the firstborn of your herd and the flock there. Now

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Speaker 1: that law was written before the Israelites even went into

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Speaker 1: the Promised Land. God knew that high places already existed

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Speaker 1: in the Promised Land, and God did not want his

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Speaker 1: people going into that land, going up to those high

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Speaker 1: places and worshiping Him at those high places. God never

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Speaker 1: wanted that. He said, destroy these high places, do not

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Speaker 1: go to them, do not offer on them, do not

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Speaker 1: rebuild them in my name. I want nothing to do

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Speaker 1: with these. And so you shouldn't want anything to do

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Speaker 1: with these high places either. And here's why God didn't

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Speaker 1: want anything to do with the high places, because chances are,

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Speaker 1: you know, Solomon and anybody else that was going up

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Speaker 1: to Gibbean to the high place at the ten meeting

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Speaker 1: to offer sacrifices there, chances are they weren't worshiping like

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Speaker 1: some sort of idol that was not God. Most people

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Speaker 1: were probably going there to actually offer sacrifices to Yahweh

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Speaker 1: so you might be like, what's the big deal, you know,

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Speaker 1: as long as those people are going to those high

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Speaker 1: places to offer sacrifices to God and to worship God there, like,

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Speaker 1: what's the big deal. Well, the big deal is the

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Speaker 1: fact that the high places were pagan in nature. It

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Speaker 1: was the same form of worship that all the rest

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Speaker 1: of the nations of the world would use in order

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Speaker 1: to worship their gods. They would go to high places

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Speaker 1: and hills and erect altars there and asher poles and

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Speaker 1: put little deities on these hills so that people could

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Speaker 1: go and worship those deities. That was what all the

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Speaker 1: nations did. God did not want his people following the

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Speaker 1: same formula for worship that the other nations had. He

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Speaker 1: was very clear, do things differently when you worship me.

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Speaker 1: Don't worship like how the other nations do it. Be different.

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Speaker 1: Be set apart, and here's how you do that. Verse three.

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Speaker 1: You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars into pieces,

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Speaker 1: burn their asher poles with fire. Every time I read that,

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Speaker 1: you know, it just seems so dramatic, but it's what

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Speaker 1: God wanted. He wanted something dramatic to get the point

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Speaker 1: across that these false idols made of wood were good

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Speaker 1: for nothing except the fire for heating the house. I

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Speaker 1: was actually just reading this in Isaiah. I forget what

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Speaker 1: chapter it was, but God was like calling out the

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Speaker 1: ridiculousness of idolatry, because He's like, yeah, a man goes

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Speaker 1: and cuts down a tree, takes a chunk of that

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Speaker 1: tree to make himself an idol, and with another chunk

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Speaker 1: of that tree, he throws it into the fire to

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Speaker 1: heat himself and to cook his food. What makes one

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Speaker 1: part of the tree a god and the other part

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Speaker 1: only good for heating your food? Why is one part

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Speaker 1: of the tree suddenly a god, suddenly something to worship,

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Speaker 1: but the other part of the tree is only good

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Speaker 1: for heating up your food. And of course that's God

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Speaker 1: like showing the ridiculousness. The irony I suppose of idolatry

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Speaker 1: is that these carved images, they're just wood, that's all

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Speaker 1: they are. They are literally a piece of a tree.

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Speaker 1: So here in Deuteronomy chapter twelve, God's like, yet, throw

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Speaker 1: that wood in the fire, these big asheripoles, these little

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Speaker 1: idols that people have carved out of wood, Throw them

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Speaker 1: in the fire, because that's actually what they're good for.

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Speaker 1: So that is why the ten of meeting should never

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Speaker 1: have been on the high place of Gibeon. And actually,

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Speaker 1: if you go to First King's chapter three, here's what

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Speaker 1: it says about Solomon. First Kings three one through three.

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Speaker 1: Solomon made a marriage alliance with the Pharaoh, King of Egypt.

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Speaker 1: He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into David's city

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Speaker 1: until he finished building his own house, Yahway's house in

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Speaker 1: the wall around Jerusalem. However, the people sacrificed in the

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Speaker 1: high places because there was not yet a house built

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Speaker 1: for Yahway's name. Solomon loved Yahweh walking in the statutes

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Speaker 1: of David his father, except that he sacrificed and burned

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Speaker 1: incense in the high places. So it's pretty clear even

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Speaker 1: right there in First King's chapter three that Solomon should

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Speaker 1: not have been going to the high places to sacrifice

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Speaker 1: to Yahweh. And actually, even our passage for today kind

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Speaker 1: of alludes to this, because here's what it says in

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Speaker 1: Second Chronicles one, verse four. But David had brought God's

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Speaker 1: arc of from Kyrios Jerum to the place that David

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Speaker 1: had prepared for it, and he pitched a tent or

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Speaker 1: at Jerusalem. Moreover, the bronze altar that Bizilla the son

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Speaker 1: of Uri, the son of her had made was there

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Speaker 1: before he always tabernacle, so Solomon and the Assembly were

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Speaker 1: seeking council there. So that's pretty clear that Solomon was

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Speaker 1: in the wrong place. He shouldn't have been seeking council

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Speaker 1: at the high Place of gibbeon where the Tene meeting was.

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Speaker 1: He should have been seeking the council where the Ark

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Speaker 1: of the Covenant was down in Jerusalem, because the Ark

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Speaker 1: of the Covenant was technically where God's presence was supposed

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Speaker 1: to sit. You know, the Ark of the Covenant literally

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Speaker 1: had a lid on top of it called the Mercy Seat.

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Speaker 1: It was where the Holy Spirit would sit like his throne.

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Speaker 1: So it's kind of interesting that Solomon chose to go

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Speaker 1: to Gibeon at the high Place to seek counsel from

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Speaker 1: God when the Ark of the Covenant was like right

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Speaker 1: next door to him. Solomon loved God, but he worshiped

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Speaker 1: at the high places, so his heart was not fully

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Speaker 1: in line with God. And then later on we find

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Speaker 1: this out for sure because towards the end of his life,

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Speaker 1: Solomon started worshiping and sacrificing two other idols, other deities

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Speaker 1: as well, so his heart was not perfect with God unfortunately.

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Speaker 1: But regardless, Solomon goes up to the High Place at Gibbean,

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Speaker 1: which you know, we could talk about how the Ten

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Speaker 1: of Meetings shouldn't have been there to begin with, but

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Speaker 1: I won't go into that right now. And the reason

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Speaker 1: Solomon did this was to ask God for help, and

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Speaker 1: God answers Solomon in verse seven. That night God appeared

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Speaker 1: to Solomon and said to him, ask for what you

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Speaker 1: want me to give you. So Solomon said to God,

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Speaker 1: you've shown great love and kindness to David my father,

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Speaker 1: and have made me king in his place. Now yahweh, God,

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Speaker 1: let your promise to David and my father be established,

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Speaker 1: for you've made me king over a people like the

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Speaker 1: dust of the earth in multitude. Now give me wisdom

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Speaker 1: and knowledge that I may go out and come in

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Speaker 1: before this people, For who can judge this great people

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Speaker 1: of yours. So basically Solomon says to God, God, I

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Speaker 1: need you to give me wisdom because I don't think

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Speaker 1: I have it. I don't think I can properly judge

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Speaker 1: these people. I can't go out and come in before them.

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Speaker 1: That's just old fashioned language to say I can't properly

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Speaker 1: judge these people or take care of them the way

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Speaker 1: I need to as king. But God is actually very

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Speaker 1: impressed with Solomon's request and he grants it. He says,

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Speaker 1: a Solomon, because this was in your heart, and you

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Speaker 1: didn't ask for riches or wealth, or honor, or long

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Speaker 1: life or the life of those who hate you, I

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Speaker 1: am going to grant your request, and you're gonna have wisdom.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna have knowledge that you can judge my people

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Speaker 1: over whom I have made you king. Therefore wisdom and

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Speaker 1: knowledge is granted to you. In verse twelve. I will

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Speaker 1: give you riches, wealth, and honor such as none of

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Speaker 1: the kings have had who have been before you, and

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Speaker 1: none after you will have. And that, of course came true.

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Speaker 1: Solomon was the richest of all the kings of Israel,

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Speaker 1: like Israel was at peak greatness when Solomon was the king,

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Speaker 1: and then it kind of went real downhill from there.

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Speaker 1: Like there are some other good kings that came after Solomon,

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Speaker 1: but not very many. And Israel unfortunately split into two nations,

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Speaker 1: where the northern nation, which was actually named Israel, all

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Speaker 1: of their kings were absolutely terrible. There was not a

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Speaker 1: single good king. I mean, the best king that Israel

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Speaker 1: had was this guy named Jehu, who was like a

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Speaker 1: genocidal murderer. So yeah, that was the best that Israel

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Speaker 1: could do. King wise. Judah. On the other hand, the

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Speaker 1: southern country of Israel, they had a few good kings,

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Speaker 1: but unfortunately the people just kept getting more and more corrupt.

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Speaker 1: In short, God gives Solomon greatness that no other king

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Speaker 1: is ever going to have, and he actually granted him

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Speaker 1: wealth also, wealth and honor that no other kings will

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Speaker 1: have before or after Solomon. So Solomon left the High

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Speaker 1: Place and went to Jerusalem and he reigned over Israel.

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Speaker 1: And we find out here in One Kings, chapter three

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Speaker 1: that when Solomon gets back to Jerusalem, he actually gives

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Speaker 1: a big sacrifice to Yahweh in Thanksgiving. So it is

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Speaker 1: kind of interesting that Solomon did not offer that sacrifice

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Speaker 1: up in Gibbeon at the High Place. He went back

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Speaker 1: down to Jerusalem, where he should have been the entire time.

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Speaker 1: So I think that God kind of got through to

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Speaker 1: Solomon a little bit, and maybe he felt a little

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Speaker 1: bit of conviction that he shouldn't be at the High

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Speaker 1: Place in Gibbeon. But scripture doesn't really say that. That's

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Speaker 1: just my own personal opinion. So then after this, in

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Speaker 1: verse fourteen through seventeen, Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. He

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Speaker 1: had one four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen that

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Speaker 1: he placed in chariot cities with the king at Jerusalem. Yes,

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Speaker 1: there were chariot cities in the days that Solomon was king. Now,

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Speaker 1: of course, you guys know where I'm going to go

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Speaker 1: with this if you've been listening to my podcast for

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Speaker 1: any length of time. We're going to Deuteronomy seventeen, the

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Speaker 1: rules for kings, and I talk about this a lot

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Speaker 1: on the podcast, because you know, the kings never actually

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Speaker 1: followed any of the laws God gave them. Deuteronomy seventeen,

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Speaker 1: verse sixteen says this, the king shall not multiply horses

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Speaker 1: to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt

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Speaker 1: to the end that he may multiply horses, because Yahweh

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Speaker 1: has said to you, you shall not go back that

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Speaker 1: way again. And here's what Solomon does in our reading

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Speaker 1: for today. He gets chariot cities, and in verse sixteen

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Speaker 1: it mentions that the horses which Solomon had brought were

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Speaker 1: out of Egypt and from Q. I don't know where

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Speaker 1: Q is, but I saw somewhere that it might be

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Speaker 1: in modern day Turkey. The king's merchants purchased them from Q.

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Speaker 1: They imported from Egypt, then exported a chariot for six

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Speaker 1: hundred pieces of silver and a horse for one hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty. They also exported them to the Hittite kings

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Speaker 1: and the Syrian kings for money. So, in other words,

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Speaker 1: Solomon was getting a monopoly on the horse and chariot market.

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Speaker 1: He was purchasing en mass it sounds like, horses and

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Speaker 1: chariots out of Egypt and then selling them at a

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Speaker 1: high cost to Hittite and Syrian kings. And all of

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Speaker 1: this was not good, you know. All of this was

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Speaker 1: certainly against what Deuteronomy seventeen says for the kings. So

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Speaker 1: that shows a little bit about Solomon's character and personality.

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Speaker 1: In short, his heart was not one hundred percent. For

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Speaker 1: yahweh well faith the listeners, I hope you enjoyed the

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Speaker 1: start of season ten and talking about the reign of Solomon.

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Speaker 1: Tomorrow we will be in the Book of First Thessalonians,

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Speaker 1: getting close to finishing up that book as well. So

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Speaker 1: definitely tune in because we're going to talk more about Jesus'

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Speaker 1: second Coming. I think a lot of you guys have

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Speaker 1: been enjoying the discussions we've been having on the Rapture

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Speaker 1: and the Second Coming, so definitely tune in tomorrow six

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Speaker 1: am or whenever you choose to wake up for another

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Speaker 1: episode about that. Faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful,

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Speaker 1: wonderful rest of your day, happy listening, and God bless