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Speaker 1: Hello, faithful listeners. My name is Jen I am the

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Speaker 1: host of the Bible Explain podcast, and I am so

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Speaker 1: excited that you're here with me this morning to share

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Speaker 1: a delicious cup of coffee with me. We are going

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Speaker 1: to be discussing the sin that David commits in First

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Speaker 1: Chronicles twenty one and no, this is not the sin

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Speaker 1: with Beth Sheeba, but the other major sin that David

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Speaker 1: committed when he counted Israel. So we're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about why this might have been a sin and also

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Speaker 1: God's response to this sin that David commits. So I

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Speaker 1: hope you all have been having a fantastic week. And

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Speaker 1: by the way, the reason I call you guys faithful listeners,

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Speaker 1: I haven't explained that in a while. The reason I

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Speaker 1: call you faithful listeners is not because you are my

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Speaker 1: faithful listener, but because you are faithful and you are

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Speaker 1: listening to the Bible. But anyway, faithful listeners, let's go

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Speaker 1: ahead and read First Chronicles twenty one one through thirteen.

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Speaker 1: As usual, I'll be reading from the Web version of Scripture,

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Speaker 1: but of course you feel free to grab the version

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Speaker 1: of the Bible that you prefer this morning, and also

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Speaker 1: your favorite hot beverage, whether it's tea or coffee. Let's

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Speaker 1: give reverence to God's word. Together, Satan stood up against

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Speaker 1: Israel and moved David to take a census of Israel.

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Speaker 1: David said, to Joab and to the princes of the people,

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Speaker 1: go count Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring

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Speaker 1: me word that I may know how many there are.

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Speaker 1: Joab said, may Yahweh make his people a hundred times

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Speaker 1: as many as they are. But my Lord the King,

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Speaker 1: aren't they all my Lord's servants. Why does my lord

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Speaker 1: require this thing? Why will he be a cause of

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Speaker 1: guilt to Israel. Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab.

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Speaker 1: Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel. Then came

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Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. Joab gave the sum of the census of

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Speaker 1: the people to David. All those of Israel were one million,

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Speaker 1: one hundred thousand men who drew a sword, and in

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Speaker 1: Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew

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Speaker 1: a sword. But he didn't count Levi and Benjamin among them,

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Speaker 1: for the king's word was abominable to Joab. God was

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Speaker 1: displeased with this thing. Therefore he struck Israel. David said

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Speaker 1: to God, I have sinned greatly and that I have

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Speaker 1: done this thing. But now put away. I beg you

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Speaker 1: the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.

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Speaker 1: Yahways spoke to God David Sear, saying, go and speak

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Speaker 1: to David, saying, Yahweh says, I offer you three things.

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Speaker 1: Choose one of them that I may do it to you.

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Speaker 1: So Goad came to David and said to him, Yahwei says,

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Speaker 1: take your choice. Either three years of famine or three

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Speaker 1: months to be consumed before your foes while the sword

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Speaker 1: of your enemy overtakes you, or else three days of

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Speaker 1: the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and

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Speaker 1: Yahweh's angel destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore,

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Speaker 1: consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.

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Speaker 1: David said to God, I am in distress. Let me fall.

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Speaker 1: I pray into Yahwei's hand, for his mercies are very great.

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Speaker 1: Don't let me fall into man's hand. So Yahweys sent

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Speaker 1: a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.

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Speaker 1: You guys might actually remember me talking about this story

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Speaker 1: not too long ago, about a year ago. We discussed

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Speaker 1: it in Second Samuel, chapter twenty four, and some people

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Speaker 1: say that there's some inconsistencies between these two chapters. For example,

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Speaker 1: if you turn to Second Samuel twenty four, it says

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Speaker 1: in verse one again, Yahweh's anger burned against Israel, and

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Speaker 1: he moved David against them, saying, go and count Israel

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Speaker 1: and Judah. But then in our passage today, in verse one,

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Speaker 1: it says Satan stood up against Israel and moved David

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Speaker 1: to take a census of Israel. So how do you

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Speaker 1: reconcile those two things? Because in Second Samuel it seems

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Speaker 1: like God is the one telling David to do this,

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Speaker 1: but then in Second Samuel it says that Satan was

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Speaker 1: the one who moved David to sin. How do you

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Speaker 1: reconcile those two things. Well, we do know that throughout scripture,

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Speaker 1: God does in fact work out all things for his good,

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Speaker 1: and he will allow and even use Satan for his

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Speaker 1: will to be done. I think the best example we

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Speaker 1: have of this actually is Judas is Scariot. You know,

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Speaker 1: it is prophesied that there would be somebody who would

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Speaker 1: betray the Messiah, that was prophesied about in Psalm chapter

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Speaker 1: forty one and also in the Book of Zachariah, not

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Speaker 1: to mention Jesus himself. In John seventeen, verse twelve, says this,

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Speaker 1: while I was with them, I protected them and kept

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Speaker 1: them safe by the name that you gave me. None

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Speaker 1: of them have been lost, except the one doomed to destruction.

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Speaker 1: So that scripture would be fulfilled, because we know that

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Speaker 1: Satan possessed Judas is Scariot and caused Judas to sell

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Speaker 1: Jesus for thirty pieces of silver to the Pharisees, and

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Speaker 1: then of course Jesus's death ended up happening after that.

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Speaker 1: So God does in fact use Satan on many different

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Speaker 1: occasion to fulfill some sort of end goal or will

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Speaker 1: that he has. And in the case of David, with

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Speaker 1: this census, it says right here in Second Samuel twenty

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Speaker 1: four that Yahweh's anger burned against Israel, and we don't

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Speaker 1: know exactly why that was. It could be that Israel

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Speaker 1: was once again worshiping their idols, not worshiping God, even

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Speaker 1: though they were under the covenant of God. But it

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Speaker 1: could also be that Israel was in just complete rebellion

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Speaker 1: of Yahweh. Even though the author of the Chronicles does

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Speaker 1: not talk about some of these stories, there was a

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Speaker 1: lot that happened at the end of David's life, namely

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Speaker 1: that people were trying to take the throne from him.

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Speaker 1: The first person was David's own son, Absalom, who was

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Speaker 1: absolutely terrible, but the people loved Absalom because he was

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Speaker 1: charming and handsome, and so everybody made Absalom their king

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Speaker 1: even while David was still the king, and David had

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Speaker 1: to flee, had to go on the run against his

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Speaker 1: own son, and right after Absalom dies, then people start

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Speaker 1: looking to this other guy named Shiva. Shiva was another

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Speaker 1: Benjamite who tried to take the throne from David and

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Speaker 1: was almost successful. So toward the end of David's life,

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Speaker 1: Israel was rejecting King David. It could be that God

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Speaker 1: was angry at Israel just because of their constant rebellion

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Speaker 1: from the time they were in the wilderness when they

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Speaker 1: tried to stone Moses to now trying to kill King

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Speaker 1: David and make another king their king. Whatever it was,

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Speaker 1: and we don't know what it was, God was very

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Speaker 1: very angry at Israel, and so he allowed Satan to

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Speaker 1: tempt David in this way. Now, all that being said,

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Speaker 1: I'm actually not in the opinion that God tells Satan

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Speaker 1: to go and make people sin. I don't believe that

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Speaker 1: because I do think that scripture backs up that Satan

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Speaker 1: has free will and power here on earth. That is

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Speaker 1: what the New Testament talks about all the time, that

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Speaker 1: Satan has the power here on earth. He is the

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Speaker 1: prince of the power of the air. He has dominion

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Speaker 1: of this earth right now. But I do think that

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Speaker 1: even though Satan has control and power right now, he

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Speaker 1: just can't get away from God's sovereignty and God's will

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Speaker 1: in the end, and he's going to lose. Even though

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Speaker 1: he might think he's winning right now and is trying

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Speaker 1: very hard to win against God, in the end, he's

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Speaker 1: going to fail because God's sovereignty always wins out. I

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Speaker 1: think more often than not, Satan targets people believing that

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Speaker 1: he's doing some kind of damage, but just ends up

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Speaker 1: doing whatever God's will actually was. You can kind of

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Speaker 1: see that actually, going back to the story of Judas

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Speaker 1: escape Carrio. After Jesus died, Judas is Scariot, who still

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Speaker 1: probably had Satan possessing him, was very distressed over what

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Speaker 1: he had done. He believed he was truly going to

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Speaker 1: do damage to God's son, but it ended up having

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Speaker 1: the opposite effect, because God's son, Jesus, is all powerful,

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Speaker 1: and through Jesus's willing sacrifice and death, Jesus brought about

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Speaker 1: the salvation of the world. And Judas, who was somewhat

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Speaker 1: of a catalyst, ended up fulfilling prophecy in the end.

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Speaker 1: And so Judas is so distressed at the fulfillment of

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Speaker 1: that prophecy that he goes and hangs himself. And in

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Speaker 1: the case of First Chronicles, Satan probably already wanted to

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Speaker 1: target David because he hated David and he hated the

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Speaker 1: nation of Israel because they were God's people. But it

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Speaker 1: ended up working out exactly in God's will. And he

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Speaker 1: might be like, well, Jen, what about the story of

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Speaker 1: jib You know where Satan was in the throne room

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Speaker 1: of God and there was this really nice guy on

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Speaker 1: earth named Job, and God told Satan to go and

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Speaker 1: basically destroy Job's life. Well, actually, if you look at

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Speaker 1: that story, Satan was the one who wanted to destroy Job.

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Speaker 1: Let's look at Job chapter one and start in verse six.

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Speaker 1: One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord,

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Speaker 1: and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan,

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Speaker 1: where have you come from? Satan answered the Lord, from

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Speaker 1: roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.

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Speaker 1: And doesn't that remind you of the verse where Jesus

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Speaker 1: said that Satan roam's around like a roaring lion, seeking

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Speaker 1: who he can devour. Verse eight. Then the Lord said

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Speaker 1: to Satan, have you considered my servant job. There is

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Speaker 1: no one on earth like him. He is blameless and upright,

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Speaker 1: a man who fears God and shuns evil. Does Job

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Speaker 1: fear God for nothing? Satan replied, have you not put

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Speaker 1: a hedge around him and his household and everything he has.

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Speaker 1: You have blessed the work of his hands so that

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Speaker 1: his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But

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Speaker 1: now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has,

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Speaker 1: and he will surely curse you to your face. Then

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Speaker 1: the Lord said to Satan, very well, then, everything he

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Speaker 1: has is in your power. But on the man himself,

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Speaker 1: do not lay a finger. Then Satan went out from

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Speaker 1: the presence of the Lord. Now notice something here. When

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Speaker 1: Satan was giving his monologue to God in verses nine

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Speaker 1: through eleven. He distorts God's power here. He says, in

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Speaker 1: verse eleven, God, go ahead and stretch out your hand

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Speaker 1: and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse

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Speaker 1: you to your face. So he tries to make it

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Speaker 1: seem like God is the bad guy who is going

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Speaker 1: to strike Job and take away everything that he has.

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Speaker 1: But God puts it right back on Satan. He says, no, Satan,

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Speaker 1: everything he has is in your power. God puts it

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Speaker 1: right back onto Satan. He says, no, Satan, you're the

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Speaker 1: one causing the destruction here. It is not me. You're

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Speaker 1: trying to blame me. It is you. So Satan was

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Speaker 1: the one who wanted to destroy Job. It was not

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Speaker 1: God that said, Satan, go out and curse Job and

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Speaker 1: do all this stuff to him, and you know, take

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Speaker 1: away everything he has and do all sorts of mean

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Speaker 1: things to him. Go do that. That is not what

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Speaker 1: happens in that story. It was Satan who destroyed Job's life.

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Speaker 1: Now that's not to say though, that God didn't allow it.

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Speaker 1: God did allow it. Because God allows Satan to rule

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Speaker 1: this earth. That's not going to be forever. Someday, Jesus

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Speaker 1: is going to come back and Jesus is going to

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Speaker 1: rule and Satan is going to be completely locked away

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Speaker 1: in the Lake of Fire forever. But until that time comes,

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Speaker 1: Satan has a lot of power here on earth, and

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Speaker 1: God allows him to have that power. But ultimately God's

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Speaker 1: will in the end is going to be accomplished, like

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Speaker 1: it was going back to First Chronicles twenty one, where

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Speaker 1: God was already angry with Israel and allowed Satan to

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Speaker 1: tempt David because God was going to bring about some

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Speaker 1: kind of punishment on Israel. So going back to our

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Speaker 1: passage today, and you know, we're already talking on this

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Speaker 1: for like fifteen minutes and we're only on verse one,

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Speaker 1: so we're doing really good with time. Today, Satan stood

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Speaker 1: up against Israel moved David to take a census of Israel,

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Speaker 1: and David said to Joeab and to the princes of

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Speaker 1: the people, go out and count Israel from Beersheba, even

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Speaker 1: to Dan, and bring me word that I may know

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Speaker 1: how many there are. This was certainly a sin. Why

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Speaker 1: no one really knows, but you know who did know

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Speaker 1: Joeab and David's captains. Joab said to David, may Yahweh

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Speaker 1: make his people one hundred times as many as they are.

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Speaker 1: But my Lord the King, aren't they all my lord's servants?

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Speaker 1: Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he

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Speaker 1: be a cause of guilt to Israel? Somehow Joab knew

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Speaker 1: that this was a sin that David was committing. David,

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Speaker 1: for some reason did not consider it a sin at

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Speaker 1: this time. But even Joab, who is like the most

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Speaker 1: morally gray person you could get, knew that this was

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Speaker 1: a sin. He even says to David, why will you

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Speaker 1: be a cause of guilt to Israel? Like, don't do

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Speaker 1: this thing? This is really bad. And if you go

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Speaker 1: to Second Samuel, chapter twenty four, it also says that

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Speaker 1: David's captains tried to talk him out of doing this

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Speaker 1: thing as well. Verse four of Second Samuel twenty four says,

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Speaker 1: notwithstanding the King's word prevailed against Joab and against the

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Speaker 1: captains of the army. So everybody he knew that this

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Speaker 1: was a sin. Both morally gray people like Joeab and

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Speaker 1: also David's captains all knew that David was doing something

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Speaker 1: wrong by counting the people. In fact, if you jumped

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Speaker 1: down to First Chronicles twenty one, verse six, it says

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Speaker 1: that Joe Ab didn't count Levi and Benjamin, for the

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Speaker 1: King's word was abominable to JOEAB. So that is how

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Speaker 1: much joeab hated David's command here. It was abominable to Joeab.

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Speaker 1: Whatever this was so clearly some serious sin was going

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Speaker 1: on with David, and we don't know exactly what that was.

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Speaker 1: It could have been, you know, pride that David was feeling.

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Speaker 1: Israel was super strong, and he wanted to count his

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Speaker 1: men so he knew how many fighters he had so

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Speaker 1: he could try to recruit more people. It could have

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Speaker 1: been some sort of pride issue. It could have also,

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Speaker 1: on the opposite spectrum, been a fear issue where David

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Speaker 1: was struggling with all of the stuff that had just

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Speaker 1: happened to him with his son Absalom and then also Shiva,

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Speaker 1: the two guys that tried to take the throne from him,

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Speaker 1: and maybe David was starting to feel some amount of fear,

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Speaker 1: starting to put his trust in chariots and horses when

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Speaker 1: his trust was supposed to be in Yahweh. Could have

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Speaker 1: also been that, or there could have been some sort

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Speaker 1: of political thing going on here that we're not really

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Speaker 1: sure about, something like Israel trying to expand its borders,

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Speaker 1: which was clearly against Yahweh. By the way, maybe David

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Speaker 1: was trying to go to war with somebody that Joab

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Speaker 1: and the other captains thought was a terrible idea. Maybe

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Speaker 1: there was something like that going on as well. But

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Speaker 1: the other idea is that whenever a census was taken.

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Speaker 1: According to Exodus chapter thirty, censuses were not specifically wrong

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Speaker 1: for a country to take, but God did say that

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Speaker 1: it was supposed to be done a very specific way

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Speaker 1: in Exodus thirty, ring in verse eleven. Here's what it says.

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Speaker 1: Yahways spoke to Moses, saying, when you take a census

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Speaker 1: of the children of Israel, according to those who are

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Speaker 1: counted among them, then each man shall give a ransom

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Speaker 1: for his soul to Yahweh when you count them, that

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Speaker 1: there be no plague among them. When you count them,

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Speaker 1: they shall give this everyone who passes over to those

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Speaker 1: who are counted half a shekel. According to the Shekel

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Speaker 1: of the sanctuary, the shekel is twenty geras half a

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Speaker 1: shekel for an offering to Yahweh. Everyone who passes over

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Speaker 1: to those who are counted from twenty years old and

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Speaker 1: upward shall give the offering to Yahweh. The rich shall

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Speaker 1: not give more and the poor shall not give less

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Speaker 1: than half the shekel when they give the offering of

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Speaker 1: Yahweh to make atonement for your souls. God was teaching

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Speaker 1: Moses how to take a census. The way it was

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Speaker 1: supposed to be done was when the person was counted,

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Speaker 1: they were to pay a temple tax, which was half

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Speaker 1: a shekel. If this didn't happen, God said there would

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Speaker 1: be guilt on is. So every single person was to

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Speaker 1: pay this tax when they were counted. So it could

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Speaker 1: be that David, when he was counting his people, either

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Speaker 1: did not expect them to pay this tax, and maybe

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Speaker 1: joeab was like, hey, King, it says in the law

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Speaker 1: when you do a census you have to make the

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Speaker 1: people pay, And maybe David was like, Oh, that's too harsh.

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Speaker 1: They don't have to pay, and Job was like, no,

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Speaker 1: it says right here that they got to pay, or

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Speaker 1: God's going to be angry. Maybe something like that was happening,

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Speaker 1: or maybe the reason this was a sin was because

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Speaker 1: it was an unnecessary tax on the people. At this

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Speaker 1: point in time, David didn't need to take this census

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Speaker 1: at all, and if he was expecting the people to

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Speaker 1: pay this tax. You know, a half shekel wasn't nothing.

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Speaker 1: That was a not a hefty amount of money, but

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Speaker 1: it certainly was something. And perhaps this census just turned

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Speaker 1: into a needless burden on his people, and maybe Joab

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Speaker 1: was like, no, this entire thing is unnecessary because you're

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Speaker 1: putting a burden on the people. So we don't know

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Speaker 1: exactly what was going on here. I can't specifically say

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Speaker 1: how David was sinning here by taking this census, but

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Speaker 1: something was going wrong, and we don't have the full

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Speaker 1: story here. We just know that Joab and all the

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Speaker 1: other captains knew that this was a sin and that

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Speaker 1: David was doing something wrong, and even tried to convince

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Speaker 1: him not to do it. But the King's word prevailed,

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Speaker 1: is what it says in verse four. So therefore Joeab

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Speaker 1: it departed and went throughout all of Israel, then came

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Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. Joab gave us sum of the census of

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Speaker 1: the people to David. Now we do find out in

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Speaker 1: First Chronicles, chapter twenty seven that Joab was not able

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Speaker 1: to finish this census. It says in verse twenty four, Joeab,

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Speaker 1: the son of Zeruia, began to take a census, but

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Speaker 1: he didn't finish, and wrath came on Israel for this.

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Speaker 1: The number wasn't put into the account in the Chronicles

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Speaker 1: of King David. So Joab did not finish his job,

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Speaker 1: either because God had already punished Israel and so Joab

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Speaker 1: wasn't able to finish, or because Joab himself did not

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Speaker 1: want to finish this job, which is kind of what

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Speaker 1: it seems like, because it does say in verse six

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Speaker 1: that Joab didn't count Levi and Benjamin because the king's

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Speaker 1: word was abominable to him. So don't know why Joab

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Speaker 1: stopped counting short, but he did. And what's interesting here

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Speaker 1: is in verse eight, David very quickly recognizes his sin.

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Speaker 1: He goes to God and he says to God, I

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Speaker 1: have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing.

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Speaker 1: But now put away. I beg you the iniquity of

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Speaker 1: your servant, for I have done very foolishly. Last time

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Speaker 1: we saw David sin in a really bad way, which

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Speaker 1: was with Bethsheba, he had to be told about his sin. Actually,

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Speaker 1: the prophet Nathan went to David and was like, hey, buddy,

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Speaker 1: you screwed up real bad and David was like, oh,

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Speaker 1: my gosh, I did. But David somehow knows with this

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Speaker 1: one that he screwed up because he goes to God

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Speaker 1: directly without having a prophet come to him first. So

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Speaker 1: in order to answer David, God speaks to the prophet

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Speaker 1: God in verse nine, and he says, go and speak

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Speaker 1: to David, saying, Yahweh says, I offer you these three things.

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Speaker 1: Choose one of them that I may do it to you.

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Speaker 1: So Gad came to David and said to him, here's

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Speaker 1: what Yahweh says. Take your choice. Either three years of famine,

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Speaker 1: three months to be consumed before your foes while the

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Speaker 1: sword of your enemies overtakes you. Or else, three days

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Speaker 1: of the sword of Yahweh even pestilence in the land

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Speaker 1: and Yahway's angel destroying it throughout all the borders of Israel. Now, therefore,

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Speaker 1: consider which answer I shall return to him who sent me. No,

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Speaker 1: that's not really a law matter, but all three of

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Speaker 1: those choices are absolutely terrible, you know, like, none of

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Speaker 1: these choices were any better than the rest. Either you

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Speaker 1: get three years of famine, three months to be consumed

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Speaker 1: by enemies, or three days of a pestilence in the land.

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Speaker 1: So David, overwhelmed with these options, tells God, I am

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Speaker 1: in distress. Let me fall. I pray into Yahweh's hand,

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Speaker 1: for his mercies are very great. Don't let me fall

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Speaker 1: into man's hands. And what that sounds like to me

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Speaker 1: is David is saying, let God choose, because God's mercy

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Speaker 1: is very, very great. So I am not going to

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Speaker 1: choose one of these three. Let God choose. But I

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Speaker 1: do think when David says don't let me fall into

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Speaker 1: man's hand, he is saying I really don't want the

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Speaker 1: second option though, the one where the enemies come into

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Speaker 1: Israel and consume us for three months once. Please don't

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Speaker 1: let that happen. That is me falling into man's hand

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Speaker 1: instead of God's hand. So my interpretation of this is

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Speaker 1: David saying, please let God choose between the first one,

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Speaker 1: the three years of famine, or the last one, which

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Speaker 1: is the pestilence, and God does choose. God sent a

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Speaker 1: pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell,

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Speaker 1: so seventy thousand people died. And whenever you see God

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Speaker 1: send pestilences on people, I think you know, the overall

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Speaker 1: reaction is to get really angry and be like, you know,

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Speaker 1: God is just so mean, He's just wiping out all

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Speaker 1: of these people. But I know first hand that God

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Speaker 1: works very individually with people. It might look to us

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Speaker 1: like God is randomly choosing people to strike down, but

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Speaker 1: that is not the case. God works with all of

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Speaker 1: us individually. I do believe it's first Peter. I did

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Speaker 1: not look this verse up, but I believe it. Peter

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Speaker 1: who says that when God judges a nation, God has

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Speaker 1: the ability to save his people out of that destruction.

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Speaker 1: And then Peter gives some examples like Lot out of

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Speaker 1: Sodom and Gomorrah. You know where God struck those cities

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Speaker 1: because they were so corrupt, but he saved Lot and

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Speaker 1: lots two daughters from that destruction. So God has the

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Speaker 1: ability to save while he is punishing. So, of course,

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Speaker 1: even though it looks to us like seventy thousand innocent

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Speaker 1: people died in Israel, we don't know if these people

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Speaker 1: were innocent or who they were. We just know that

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Speaker 1: God works individually with every single person, and he is

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Speaker 1: able to save. In fact, one Thessalonians five, verse nine

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Speaker 1: says this for God has not appointed us to wrath,

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Speaker 1: but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So

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Speaker 1: I think this passage is important for us to learn

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Speaker 1: because it shows the sovereignty of God. And I've been

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Speaker 1: throwing that term around a lot today, but sovereignty means

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Speaker 1: supreme power and authority. God is completely sovereign, and he

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Speaker 1: should be treated by us as if he is sovereign.

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Speaker 1: But faithful listeners, I hope that you learn something from

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Speaker 1: today's episode. If you liked it, check out all of

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Speaker 1: the links listed in the description of this episode. You're

405
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,439
Speaker 1: going to find more things that the Bible explained and

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Speaker 1: P forty Ministries does. For example, I've got some free

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Speaker 1: devotionals on you version right now, and I'm also in

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Speaker 1: the process of editing a new YouTube video that all

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Speaker 1: of you guys will be able to see if you

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Speaker 1: go over to my YouTube channel, and while you're there,

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Speaker 1: you might as well subscribe. All right, faithful listeners, have

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Speaker 1: a fantastic rest of your Wednesday. I will see you

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Speaker 1: guys tomorrow bright and early for an episode from Colossians.

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Speaker 1: As always, happy listening and God bless her back time