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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Good morning, friends and faithor listeners, and welcome

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Speaker 1: to the Bible Explain on this lovely Monday morning. I

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Speaker 1: hope you all had a fantastic Christmas weekend and that

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Speaker 1: you are ready to start your week nice and strong

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Speaker 1: by reading the Bible with me and sharing a cup

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Speaker 1: of coffee with me. Today, we're going to be in

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Speaker 1: Second Chronicles chapter sixteen, talking about Asa during the end

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Speaker 1: of his life and how his heart strayed away from

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Speaker 1: Yahweh and some of the problems that happened right after that.

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Speaker 1: We'll get into it in just a second. Now, Faival listeners,

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Speaker 1: before we begin this episode, do me a solid by

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Speaker 1: listening to a quick word from one of our sponsors.

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Speaker 1: All righty, now, let's get into this episode. We're going

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Speaker 1: to be reading Second Chronicles sixteen, the entire chapter and

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Speaker 1: finishing up ASA's rain and the end of ASA's life

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Speaker 1: and some of the problems that end up happening because

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Speaker 1: Asa just did not trust in God at the end

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Speaker 1: of his life. So I'll be reading this as I

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Speaker 1: always do from the web version, but grab your favorite

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Speaker 1: version of the Bible. And also you're a cup of

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Speaker 1: coffee or a cup of tea this morning. I've got

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Speaker 1: my tea right here with me. I am drinking blueberry

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Speaker 1: tea today, which is my favorite tea and the one

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Speaker 1: that I normally drink if I do, in fact, to

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Speaker 1: choose to drink tea, because tea is just so much

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Speaker 1: less enjoyable than coffee. But if I'm going to drink tea,

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Speaker 1: I might as well drink one that I enjoy So yes,

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Speaker 1: this blueberry one does the trick for me. So grab

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Speaker 1: your favorite beverage and let's go ahead and read Second

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Speaker 1: Chronicles sixteen the entire thing. Let's give reverence to God's

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Speaker 1: word together. In the thirty sixth year of Ace's rain, Basha,

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Speaker 1: king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Rama

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Speaker 1: that he might not allow anyone to go out or

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Speaker 1: come into Asa King of Judah. Then Asa brought out

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Speaker 1: silver and gold out of the treasuries of Yahway's house

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Speaker 1: and of the King's house, and sent to ben Hadad,

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Speaker 1: king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying, let there

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Speaker 1: be a treaty between you and me, as there was

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Speaker 1: between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent

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Speaker 1: you silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with

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Speaker 1: Basha King of Israel that he made apart from me.

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Speaker 1: Ben Hadad listened to King Aesa and sent the captains

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Speaker 1: of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they

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Speaker 1: struck Eigen, dan Abelemame and all the storage cities of Naftali.

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Speaker 1: When Basha heard of it, he stopped building Rama and

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Speaker 1: let his work cease. Then Aesa the king took all Judah,

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Speaker 1: and they carried away the stones and timber of Rama

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Speaker 1: with which Basha had built, and he built Gaba and

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Speaker 1: Mizpah with them. At that time, Hanani the Seer came

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Speaker 1: to Asa, King of Judah, and said to him, because

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Speaker 1: you have relied on the King of Syria and have

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Speaker 1: not relied on Yahweh or God, Therefore the army of

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Speaker 1: the King of Syria has escaped out of your hand.

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Speaker 1: Weren't the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge army with

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Speaker 1: chariots and exceedingly many horsemen. Yet because you relied on Yahweh,

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Speaker 1: he delivered them into your hand. For Yahwai's eyes run

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Speaker 1: back and forth throughout the whole earth to show himself

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Speaker 1: strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect

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Speaker 1: toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from

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Speaker 1: now on you will have wars. Then Aesa was angry

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Speaker 1: with the Seer and put him in the prison, for

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Speaker 1: he was in a rage with him. Because of this thing.

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Speaker 1: Asa pressed some of the people at the same time.

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Speaker 1: Behold the acts of Asa first and last, Behold they

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Speaker 1: are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah

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Speaker 1: and of Israel. In the thirty ninth year of his reign,

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Speaker 1: Asa was diseased in his feet. His disease was exceedingly great.

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Speaker 1: Yet in his disease he didn't seek Yahweh, but just

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Speaker 1: the physicians. Aesa slept with his fathers and died in

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Speaker 1: the forty first year of his reign. They buried him

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Speaker 1: in his own tomb, which he had dug out for

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Speaker 1: himself in David's city, and laid him in the bed,

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Speaker 1: which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of

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Speaker 1: spices prepared by the perfumer's art. And they made a

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Speaker 1: very great fire for him. So we've been learning a

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Speaker 1: lot about King Aesa so far. And Aesa was a

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Speaker 1: really good king, especially to start out. He was a

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Speaker 1: king that is said, his heart was perfect before Yahweh.

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Speaker 1: In fact, if you turn to First Kings, chapter fifteen.

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Speaker 1: That's what it says in verse fourteen. The high places

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Speaker 1: were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Aso is

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Speaker 1: perfect with Yahweh all his days. So Asa had a

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Speaker 1: perfect heart with Yahweh. And that doesn't mean that Asa

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Speaker 1: never sinned, because clearly in this chapter he definitely sinned.

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Speaker 1: But that means that Asa never worshiped anything other than

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Speaker 1: Yahweh his entire life, and that's something actually pretty uncommon

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Speaker 1: for the kings in Israel and Juda's history. Generally, all

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Speaker 1: the kings would start worshiping the idols of the other nations.

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Speaker 1: But Asa was one of the few kings of Judah

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Speaker 1: that did not worship any other God other than Yahweh himself.

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Speaker 1: And so that's why ASA's heart was perfect before Yahweh.

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Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean he wasn't going to sin, and

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Speaker 1: so we actually read about some of his sins in

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Speaker 1: today's portion. It says in verse one, in the thirty

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Speaker 1: six year of Ace, this reign, Basha, the king of Israel,

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Speaker 1: went up against Judah and built rama that he might

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Speaker 1: not allow anyone to go out or to come in

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Speaker 1: to Asa, King of Judah. So don't forget Israel and Judah.

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Speaker 1: Though they were originally one nation, they ended up splitting

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Speaker 1: after Solomon died. It was right after Solomon's son took

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Speaker 1: the throne. He caused an immediate civil war between the

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Speaker 1: two nations, and so Israel split into two, and so

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Speaker 1: Israel became the northern parts of Israel and Judah became

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Speaker 1: the southern part of Israel. So Asa was the king

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Speaker 1: of Judah the southern part, and Basha at this time

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Speaker 1: was the king of Israel. And Basha was not a

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Speaker 1: good king. You can read about the tumultuous history of

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Speaker 1: Basha in First Kings fifteen and sixteen if you would

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Speaker 1: like to. I'm not going to go back over it today.

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Speaker 1: But Basha was not a good king. And so it

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Speaker 1: says right here that Basha built up rama that he

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Speaker 1: might not allow anyone to come in or go out

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Speaker 1: to King Asa of Judah. Now, this was actually pretty

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Speaker 1: problematic for a few reasons. The first reason was that

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Speaker 1: this was kind of a declaration of war that Basha

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Speaker 1: was doing to Asa. That was the first problem. But

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Speaker 1: the second problem was that this was cutting people off

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Speaker 1: from being able to worship at the temple in Jerusalem

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Speaker 1: because the location of Rama was only a few miles

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Speaker 1: north of Jerusalem, and that was the only road that

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Speaker 1: people could take to get from Jerusalem into Israel. So Basha,

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Speaker 1: who was in control of Rama at this time, ended

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Speaker 1: up fortifying that city and basically cutting it off so

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Speaker 1: that no pilgrims could travel from Israel down to Jerusalem

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Speaker 1: to worship Yahweh. And part of the reason Basha may

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Speaker 1: have done this was because he didn't want any more

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Speaker 1: of his people leaving to go to Judah, because that

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Speaker 1: was a big problem in times past for Israel. Since

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Speaker 1: Israel had introduced a state run religion, a lot of

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Speaker 1: the devout people in Israel actually left, and a lot

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Speaker 1: of the Levites left as well to go down to Judah,

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Speaker 1: and that actually made Judah a lot stronger because these

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Speaker 1: devout people and Levites are leaving Israel and making their

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Speaker 1: home in Judah. So Basha doesn't want that happening again,

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Speaker 1: so he is cutting off every pathway into Jerusalem so

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Speaker 1: that his people no longer can move to Judah if

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Speaker 1: they don't like what's going on in Israel any longer.

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Speaker 1: But this was also a declaration of war, and Asa,

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Speaker 1: the King of Judah certainly understood this. So it says

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Speaker 1: that Basha, the King of Israel, went up against Judah

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Speaker 1: and built Rama that he might not allow anyone to

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Speaker 1: go out or come in to Asa, King of Judah.

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Speaker 1: So Asa, in retaliation, it says, brings out the silver

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Speaker 1: and the gold out of the treasuries of Yahweh's house

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Speaker 1: and the king's house, and sent them to ben Hadad,

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Speaker 1: King of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, let there

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Speaker 1: be a treaty between you and me, as there was

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Speaker 1: a treaty between my father and your father. Behold, I

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Speaker 1: have sent you silver and gold. Go and break your

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Speaker 1: treaty with Basha, King of Israel, that he made a

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Speaker 1: part from me. So that was ASA's idea as to

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Speaker 1: how he could get rid of Basha, the King of Israel,

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Speaker 1: was to make a treaty with the King of Damascus

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Speaker 1: or the Syrian king. Apparently this same Syrian king had

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Speaker 1: a treaty going on with Basha at this time. But

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Speaker 1: Asa sends over all of this money like tons of money,

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Speaker 1: and ends up convincing this king of Syria to break

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Speaker 1: his treaty with Basha. And this king is more than

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Speaker 1: happy to do so. He's like, yeah, I'll take your

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Speaker 1: money and stab Basha in the back. That's totally fine,

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Speaker 1: And so that's what ends up happening. It says that

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Speaker 1: ben Hadad, the King of Syria, listened to King Aesa

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Speaker 1: and sent the captains of his armies against the cities

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Speaker 1: of Israel, and they struck Eigen and Dan and abel

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Speaker 1: Main and all the storage cities of Neftali. Now, don't forget. Basha,

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Speaker 1: the King of Israel is now in Rama right now,

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Speaker 1: like trying to build that city up. But he hears

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Speaker 1: that the Syrian king is terrorizing the northern tribes of Israel.

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Speaker 1: So he immediately leaves Rama to go and live somewhere

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Speaker 1: closer to this conflict, so that if this ever happens again,

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Speaker 1: he will be there to protect his people. Because Rama

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Speaker 1: was way too far away from all of this. You know,

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Speaker 1: Rama was right on the border of Judah, way too

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Speaker 1: far away from the northern tribes of Israel. So he leaves,

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Speaker 1: and this looks like a big success for Asa, and

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Speaker 1: Asa immediately goes into Rama and steals all of the

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Speaker 1: materials that Basha was using to build the city up.

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Speaker 1: That's what it says in verse six. Then Asa the

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Speaker 1: King took all Judah and they carried away the stones

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Speaker 1: and timber of Rama with which Basha had built, and

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Speaker 1: he built Gaba and Mizpah with them. So he stole

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Speaker 1: all of the materials that Basha is using, which is

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Speaker 1: kind of funny. So this looks like a big success,

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Speaker 1: you know. I'm sure Asa was very proud of himself

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Speaker 1: for thinking this through. But there's a few problems going

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Speaker 1: on here, as we're about to discover. In verse seven,

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Speaker 1: it says at that time Hanani the Seir came to Asa,

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Speaker 1: the King of Judah. And we don't really know who

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Speaker 1: Hanani the Siri is, other than the fact that he's

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Speaker 1: mentioned as the father of another prophet later on down

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Speaker 1: the line. And this other prophet actually went to kings

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Speaker 1: of Israel to tell them what they were doing wrong.

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Speaker 1: But this particular prophet or seer as they're sometimes called,

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Speaker 1: went to Asa with a message from God. And here's

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Speaker 1: the message, Asa, because you have relied on the King

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Speaker 1: of Syria and have not relied on Yahweh, your God.

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Speaker 1: Therefore the army of the King of Syria has escaped

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Speaker 1: out of your hand. Weren't the Ethiopians and the lou

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Speaker 1: beam a huge army with the chariots and exceedingly many horsemen.

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Speaker 1: Yet because you relied on Yahweh, he delivered them into

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Speaker 1: your hand. For Yahwe's eyes run back and forth throughout

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Speaker 1: the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf

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Speaker 1: of them whose heart is perfect toward him. You have

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Speaker 1: done foolishly in this, for from now on you will

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Speaker 1: have wars. And Asa here's this message, and does not

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Speaker 1: respond positively at all. He flies into a rage, is

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Speaker 1: what it says. And he actually puts this man Hanani

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Speaker 1: into prison. He puts him in the stocks because of

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Speaker 1: how angry he is at this message from God. But

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Speaker 1: why would he be so angry over this, I would

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Speaker 1: say because Asa probably thought he was doing the right

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Speaker 1: thing when he sent all of that money to the

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Speaker 1: King of Syria. He probably thought, I am protecting all

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Speaker 1: of these people who want to come down to Jerusalem

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Speaker 1: and worship God at the Temple. I am opening up

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Speaker 1: the routes for these pilgrims to come down and worship

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Speaker 1: at the Temple the way they should be worshiping, instead

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Speaker 1: of that crappy state run religion that Israel has going

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Speaker 1: on up there. I'm not going to trap them up

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Speaker 1: in Israel when they could be down here worshiping, and Asa,

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Speaker 1: instead of asking God, is this the right thing to do,

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Speaker 1: just went ahead and did it, and when it was successful,

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Speaker 1: Asa probably thought he was truly doing the right thing.

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Speaker 1: And don't forget this was later on in ASA's Rain.

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Speaker 1: It actually says this was the thirty sixth year of

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Speaker 1: Ace's Rain, and Asa reigned for forty one years before

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Speaker 1: he died. So Asa was growing quite old and very

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Speaker 1: set in his ways at this point in time, and

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Speaker 1: I think this was causing him possibly to either have

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Speaker 1: some pride or it was causing him to have some fear,

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Speaker 1: because it could also be that Asa was truly fearful

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Speaker 1: of Basha. It could be that Asa wasn't thinking at

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Speaker 1: all about the pilgrims who wanted to come to Jerusalem

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Speaker 1: to worship God, but he was scared that Basha was

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Speaker 1: right on his doorstep, you know, only a few miles

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Speaker 1: away from him, and that terrified him. Maybe, so it

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Speaker 1: could be that he was either feeling very prideful or

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Speaker 1: very fearful as he was getting older and coming to

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Speaker 1: the end of his life. So he responds so negatively

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Speaker 1: to this poor prophet, who's only coming to him to

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Speaker 1: tell him, hey, God is not happy with you because

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Speaker 1: you actually allowed Syria to get away. They're a way

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Speaker 1: bigger problem for you then Israel will ever be. Syria

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Speaker 1: is the problem you should be dealing with, not Israel,

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Speaker 1: and you allowed them to escape from your hands. And

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Speaker 1: not only that, don't forget what it says Asa actually

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Speaker 1: took the money from Yahweh's house, like from the treasuries,

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Speaker 1: and gave it to a pagan king. That money was

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Speaker 1: supposed to be for the Temple of God. That was

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Speaker 1: money that people had donated to the temple, and it

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Speaker 1: should never have gone to a pagan king just wanting

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Speaker 1: to destroy people, wanting to stab people in the back.

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Speaker 1: And who's to say he wouldn't do that to Asa

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Speaker 1: very shortly down the line, and we know that Syria

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Speaker 1: became a huge, huge problem for Israel and Judah not

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Speaker 1: too long after this. Syria is always a problem for

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Speaker 1: Israel and Judah. But there's one last thing I want

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Speaker 1: to focus on here real quick, that this prophet says

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Speaker 1: in his prophecy. He says in verse nine, for Yahwa's

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Speaker 1: eyes run back and forth throughout the whole Earth to

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Speaker 1: show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart

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Speaker 1: is perfect toward him. And I think that is really

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Speaker 1: beautiful because that verse means that God is looking for

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Speaker 1: people who are worshiping him truly, who genuinely have faith,

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Speaker 1: so that he can show himself. And actually, this prophet

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Speaker 1: gives an example to Asa of how God did this

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Speaker 1: for Asa in the past. He's like, don't you remember

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Speaker 1: the Ethiopian army that came up against you, And that's

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Speaker 1: talked about in the previous chapter where a million Ethiopian

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Speaker 1: soldiers came up against little old Judah And Asa was like,

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Speaker 1: this is a death sentence for me and my men.

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Speaker 1: We on our own cannot do this. And so Asa

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Speaker 1: actually cried out to God and was like, God, please

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Speaker 1: help Judah get through this. And God actually did it.

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Speaker 1: God completely destroyed that Ethiopian army on behalf of Judah

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Speaker 1: because Judah had faith in God. And so this prophet

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Speaker 1: is like, Asa, why aren't you having faith in God

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Speaker 1: in this situation. You know, Israel is small compared to

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Speaker 1: that Ethiopian army you faced, and yet you didn't have

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Speaker 1: faith in God to take care of this situation for you.

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Speaker 1: You thought you could do it on your own. God

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Speaker 1: is looking to bless you Asa, if you will just

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Speaker 1: have faith in him, but Asa doesn't want to hear it.

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Speaker 1: So after this, it says Asa was angry with the

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Speaker 1: seer and put him in prison for he was in

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Speaker 1: a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa

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Speaker 1: pressed some of the people at the same time. So

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Speaker 1: it could be that there were other people speaking up

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Speaker 1: about what Asa had done also, just perhaps these people

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Speaker 1: were angry and upset that Asa had actually taken the

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Speaker 1: monies from the treasuries of God's house to give it

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Speaker 1: to the King of Syria. Perhaps other people were on

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Speaker 1: the side of this seer as well, and that was

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Speaker 1: who Asa ended up oppressing. Anybody who disagreed with him

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Speaker 1: or didn't say, yes, King, we are totally fine with

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Speaker 1: everything you do, that is who Asa ended up oppressing.

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Speaker 1: So Asa, right after this, it says, ends up getting

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Speaker 1: a disease in his feet, which is kind of interesting. Now.

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Speaker 1: It does not say anywhere in scripture that this disease

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Speaker 1: was because Yahweh was angry at Asa. It does not

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Speaker 1: say that, but that's what a lot of people imply

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Speaker 1: is because Asa refused to seek after Yahweh. During the

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Speaker 1: later times of his life, God allowed Asa to get

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Speaker 1: this disease in his feet, and a lot of scholars

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Speaker 1: think that the disease Asa god was either gout or

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Speaker 1: some form of gangren, which ended up being really bad

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Speaker 1: and possibly even taking his life. It says in verse

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Speaker 1: twelve here that in the thirty ninth year of his reign,

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Speaker 1: Asa was diseased in his feet. His disease was exceedingly great.

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Speaker 1: Yet in his disease, he didn't seek Yahweh, but just

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Speaker 1: the physicians. So that's how far Asa kind of fell

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Speaker 1: away from God. You know, even though Asa never worshiped

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Speaker 1: any other God in his entire lifetime, even in his

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Speaker 1: old age, he stopped seeking God for matters he thought

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Speaker 1: he could handle. Whether it was the matter of Basha

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Speaker 1: being right on his doorstep or this disease in his feet.

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Speaker 1: He thought, you know, I can handle this. I can

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Speaker 1: do this. I don't need to ask God for help

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Speaker 1: in this situation. And so it says that Asa relied

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Speaker 1: on the physicians instead of on God. And that's really

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Speaker 1: sad because God is the great physician. God is the

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Speaker 1: ultimate healer. He is the one who gives power to

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Speaker 1: the doctors to heal us. God is the one who

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Speaker 1: gives us the medicines and herbs and anything else that

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Speaker 1: can cure us of these diseases. God does it. And

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Speaker 1: unfortunately Asa was not asking God for his wisdom. He

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Speaker 1: was relying on his own wisdom and the wisdom of

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Speaker 1: these physicians. So Asa never heals of this disease in

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Speaker 1: his feet. In fact, most people believe that it actually

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Speaker 1: took his life. In verse thirteen, Asa slept with him

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Speaker 1: father's and he died in the forty first year of

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Speaker 1: his reign. They buried him in his own tomb, which

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Speaker 1: he had dug out for himself in David's city, and

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Speaker 1: they laid him in a bed which was filled with

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Speaker 1: sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by Perfumer's art,

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Speaker 1: and they made a very great fire for him. So

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Speaker 1: this fire that's being talked about here would not be

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Speaker 1: like a cremation type of fire. This was something that

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Speaker 1: the ancient people would do to honor the dead, especially

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Speaker 1: a king. They would essentially have a big bonfire to

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Speaker 1: honor the king's life when he had died. So that's

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Speaker 1: what Second Chronicles is talking about here. So Asa died

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Speaker 1: with honor. You know, his people overall liked him. He

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Speaker 1: died a good king, and the majority of his life

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Speaker 1: he was great for Judah. It wasn't until the last

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Speaker 1: few years of his reign that he started to fall

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Speaker 1: away from Yahweh, and not fully because his heart was

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Speaker 1: always perfect with Yahweh, is what Scripture says that multiple times.

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Speaker 1: So he never fully fell away from Yahweh, but he

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Speaker 1: just didn't seek Yahweh at the end of his life,

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Speaker 1: either because of pride or because of fear, and ultimately

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Speaker 1: this solid his good reputation. You know, I think a

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Speaker 1: lot of people think of the Old Testament as just

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Speaker 1: stories that don't really apply to us nowadays, but that

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Speaker 1: couldn't be further from the truth. There's absolutely a message

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Speaker 1: in there for us as well. So I'm going to

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Speaker 1: end with Proverbs nine, verse ten, which says, the fear

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Speaker 1: of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge

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Speaker 1: of the Holy One is understanding all right, favor listeners,

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Speaker 1: Before I end out this episode, please take a listen

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Speaker 1: to this word from one of our sponsors. So if

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Speaker 1: you're interested in learning more about the topic we covered today,

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Speaker 1: which is trusting God throughout your entire life. I actually

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Speaker 1: highly recommend that you read the Book of Ecclesiastes because

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Speaker 1: that book is just filled with knowledge and wisdom about

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Speaker 1: what happens when you choose to not follow God for

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Speaker 1: your entire life, or even during parts of your life.

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Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes such a great book, and I think Ecclesiastes eleven

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Speaker 1: specifically is one of my favorite chapters, though I like

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Speaker 1: eleven and twelve together. So check out the Book of

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Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes in your personal reading if that's something that interests you,

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Speaker 1: all right, Fay for listeners. I hope to see all

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Speaker 1: of you guys tomorrow for an episode from First Timothy

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Speaker 1: where we're going to be finishing up the book First

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Speaker 1: Timothy very soon. Here, I think we only have one

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Speaker 1: more chapter to go, so we're going to be finishing

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Speaker 1: it up and moving into the Book of tewod Timothy

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Speaker 1: very soon. So I hope to see you guys over

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Speaker 1: there tomorrow morning six am or whenever you choose to

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Speaker 1: wake up and listen. Until then, happy listening, and God bless.

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Speaker 1: I just want to take a second to thank the

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Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on

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Speaker 1: the Bible explain podcast. In fact, if you go to

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Speaker 1: lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of other faith

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Speaker 1: centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,

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Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.