Prepare to Meet Your God, O Israel

Summary

Podcast Summary: Gilbert House Fellowship

Episode: Prepare to Meet Your God, O Israel
Hosts: Derek & Sharon Gilbert
Date: March 22, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Gilbert House Fellowship delves into the biblical Book of Amos, specifically chapters 4 and 5. Derek and Sharon Gilbert explore Amos's prophecies, focusing on God’s call for Israel to repent, the spiritual and supernatural context of biblical references (such as Bashan and the divine council), and modern misunderstandings about Israel and biblical symbols. Blending personal anecdotes, archaeological insights, and theological scholarship, the Gilberts also address related topics like donations, app updates, end-times prophecy, and listener questions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Podcast Updates and App Information

• The Gilberts discussed technical improvements to their podcasting and upcoming plans for live broadcasts on YouTube and other platforms.
• They addressed a mix-up with their podcast app regarding donations—some listeners were able to donate despite the Gilberts not being a 501(c)(3); those donations have been (per Subsplash’s policy) refunded.
• [06:00] Sharon: “If you have been one of those wonderful people to donate directly through the Subsplash app... understand... we appreciate every penny.”
• The hosts confirm they only accept donations via their main site and express gratitude for listener support.

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2. Study of Amos 4 and 5: Themes & Exegesis

a. Context and Background

• Amos’s role as a prophet: delivering divine warnings to Israel, especially the Northern Kingdom, due to social injustice, idolatry, and neglect of the poor.
• The Lord’s use of other nations to chastise Israel—and His subsequent judgment of those nations ([11:57] Sharon: “He uses other nations to chastise, but at the same time, He also judges the other nations”).

b. Supernatural References: Bashan and Divine Council

• Cows of Bashan ([13:36]–[23:20]):
  • The phrase is unpacked as a reference to supernatural beings, not just literal livestock.
  • Derek: “Anytime you see reference to Bashan... think supernatural. Bashan... was known to be... the entrance to the netherworld.”
  • Sharon and Derek discuss archaeological finds at the Sea of Galilee, mentioning Dr. Michael Heiser and newly discovered ancient sites linked to the Rephaim and cult of the dead.
  • Academic sources (Robert Miller, Dr. Mike Friedman) are cited: “These are not bovine, they are divine.”

c. Idolatry and False Worship Practices

• Amos 4:4–5: Israel is condemned for ritual hypocrisy—performing sacrifices without genuine repentance.
• Division over rituals at Bethel, Gilgal, Beersheba: [30:10] “Northern Kingdom had their own rituals... ‘Don’t go to Jerusalem, come here to Bethel or Dan…’”
• Discussion on ancient religious enclosures (“Gilgal”), their shapes, and archaeological significance.

d. God’s Judgments and Calls for Repentance

• Repeated phrase: “Yet you did not return to me” (Amos 4:6–11).
• [33:36] Money Quote: “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
• Sharon highlights textual differences in translation, pointing out that the Septuagint translates “his anointed one/Messiah” where the Masoretic does not ([34:20]–[34:52]).

e. Prophetic Warnings, Day of the Lord, and Messianic Hints

• The “Day of Yahweh” (the LORD) is not simply vindication for Israel, but a time of widespread judgment ([48:27]–[51:18]).
• The famous justice verse: [52:28] “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
• The dangers of presuming God’s favor while perpetuating injustice and idolatry.

f. Ancient Astral Deities: Sikkuth, Kiwan, and Misunderstandings About the Star of David

• In-depth exploration (citing the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary and Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible) of terms in Amos 5:26: Sikkut (Sakkuth), Kaiwan/Kiwan (Saturn), and their links to Babylonian religion.
• Sharon and Derek clarify the misunderstanding that the modern Star of David is the “star of your god Rephan/Kaiwan” ([69:55]–[73:33]):
  • “No inscription, no carving, no statue, no idol has ever been found of Refan... nobody knows what it looked like. The Star of David is not an occult symbol.”
  • Discussion of Kabbalah and the Star of David’s much older origins.

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3. Cross-References in Scripture & Early Christian Interpretation

a. Stephen’s Speech in Acts 7

• Stephen quotes Amos 5 in Acts 7:41–43 ([60:03]–[62:08]), connecting Israel’s ancient disobedience and idolatry with the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus.
• Sharon: “[Stephen says] you stiff-necked people... you always resist the Holy Spirit...”

b. Jesus’ Use of Psalm 82 in John 10

• Derek explains how Jesus, referencing Psalm 82 (“you are gods”), affirms both his divinity and the reality of the divine council, distinguishing between God and spiritual beings ([65:30]–[66:47]).
• “Jesus is not saying, hey, we can all be gods... The word of God came to angels and it was angels who delivered it to Moses.”

c. The Divine Council & Revelation Symbolism

• Sharon connects the divine council and elders from Exodus and Revelation ([67:25]–[68:13]).

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4. Listener Q&A: Priestly Qualifications and Perfection

• Topic: Why were priests with physical defects excluded from service? (Leviticus 21:16–24)
• Derek and Sharon discuss practical and theological reasons ([81:25]–[85:41]):
  • Practical: Physical limitations could hinder ritual duties.
  • Theological: Symbolic of approaching God’s perfection.
  • “[It] was a reminder to the Israelites that when you came near to God, since He is perfect, God being holy is set apart and represents wholeness... not intended as a ‘you’re not good enough.’”
  • 1 Corinthians 15 cited—resurrected believers will be perfected.

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5. Personal Updates & Community Life

• Derek gives a medical update about his recovery, shares prayer requests, and explains the family’s housing situation and future plans ([79:03]–[88:29]).
• Sharon updates on her writing (“The Redwing Saga”), emphasizing Derek’s health as her priority.
• The Gilberts express deep gratitude for their listeners, ongoing prayer, and God's provision (“it is humbling to know that these efforts... the Lord has used them to reach you”).

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6. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Bashan & the Supernatural:
  “[Bashan]... was known to be, or I was going to say believed to be, but... I would say known to be is correct. The entrance to the netherworld.” (Derek, [14:06])
• On Justice & Repentance:
  “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” ([52:28])
• On Biblical Translation:
  “In the Septuagint... [it] proclaims to men his Christ. The Lexham [translates] ‘his anointed one’ but that’s what that means—Messiah.” (Sharon, [34:20]–[34:52])
• On Idolatry & the Star of David:
  “No representation of the star Refan... has ever been found... So to say the Star of David is this is impossible because we don’t know what the Star of Remphan looked like.” (Derek, [69:55])
• On Modern Application:
  “What’s in our hearts that matters, not ritual, rote routine, performances... The lesson for us is… what’s in our hearts that matters.” (Derek, [88:53])
• On Endurance:
  “When I was in the hospital and would try to lay flat so I could try to get some sleep, I could not breathe... But we’re past that. You got through it.” (Derek & Sharon, [80:07]–[80:12])
• On Fellowship:
  “Every donation... we pray for you and your family. And so you’re not buying our prayers. We pray for all of you anyway.” (Sharon, [08:13])
• On Melchizedek Preview:
  “We discussed that tonight, and I think we reached the conclusion that Melchizedek was more than just a man.” (Derek, [93:12])

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7. Timestamps of Key Segments

• [09:42] Study begins: Introduction to Amos & context
• [13:36] Cows of Bashan explained—supernatural context
• [24:29] Judgment of Israel: metaphors and their meanings
• [33:36] “Prepare to meet your God”—the weight of this phrase
• [34:20] Septuagint variation: “proclaims to men his Christ”
• [42:41] Justice, righteousness, and distortion of worship
• [52:28] Let justice roll down... (notable quote)
• [60:03] Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 and connection to Amos
• [65:30] Jesus, Psalm 82, and the divine council
• [81:25] Listener Q&A: priestly defects and symbolism

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Additional Resources & Recommendations

• Books/Authors Mentioned:
  • Rebooting the Bible by Doug Woodward
  • The Great Inception, The Second Coming of Saturn by Derek Gilbert
  • The Redwing Saga (Sharon)
  • Doug Van Dorn’s Battle for the Bible
  • Dr. Michael Heiser (various works and influence)
• Archaeological Sites:
  • Gilgal Rephaim, Sea of Galilee, Bet Yerah, Bethsaida, ancient synagogues at Capernaum and Sidon

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Conclusion

This episode weaves together ancient prophecy, biblical scholarship, personal experience, and challenges facing both ancient and modern Israel. The Gilberts emphasize that God’s call for justice, genuine faith, and repentance is timeless. They caution listeners about attributing occult meaning to the Star of David and urge discernment using historical and scholarly insight. The message is rich, layered, and encourages deeper study of scripture and Christian living amid challenging times.

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For archives, upcoming live streams, and resources, visit: gilberthouse.org

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

The beautiful Missouri Ozarks. Greetings and welcome to the Gilbert House fellowship for Sunday, March 22, 2026. I'm Derek Gilbert.

[A]

I am Sharon Gilbert. Welcome to our home, everybody. Welcome. Brand new listeners. If you are listening on YouTube, please hit the subscribe button. Also hit that notification bell because yes, Derek and I actually yesterday he said on PID radio, he said, do you want to go live today? I said, because it hadn't even occurred to me. And he was like instantly, let's go live. And I thought, let's wait. But we do. Derek's figured out how to do it. We're going to go live probably in the very near future and it may be a last minute decision. So hit that notification bell.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You will see. Oh, the Gilberts are live run.

[B]

Yeah. But that'll give you an opportunity to engage with us in real time and

[A]

we appreciate that and with each other in real time. And that's what I love about it.

[B]

Yeah. And we will be able to see your chat as we do it. The system that we use for recording podcasts has a lot of, lot of powerful functions and so not only will we be Streaming live to YouTube when we go and go ahead and do this, but it'll be streamed live to X and to Facebook and to. We can even go crazy and go to LinkedIn if we want. I doubt that we will.

[A]

Nobody's at LinkedIn. The only people over there are the ones patting their resumes.

[B]

Exactly. But YouTube is the one where we get the most engagement, I'm sure. So again, click the bell for notifications. Please hit the like button. And once you've done all of that, then please download our mobile app to your smartphone or tablet because that will also guarantee that we never get canceled. I had a guest on View from the Bunker this past week who I was, you know, wondering if we were going to get by with it because I think had this interview taken place five years ago.

[A]

Oh, you wouldn't have gotten by with it.

[B]

It would have been yanked.

[A]

Maybe even three years ago.

[B]

Yeah, it would have been yanked off.

[A]

But during this administration things have eased up a bit.

[B]

Quite a bit. Yes.

[A]

But go and you'll see who it is. If we, you know, if we put it on this one, if we talk anywhere, I'm talking around it because I'm trying. I tell you what, even these days.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The algorithm is so twitchy, finicky. Yeah.

[B]

And there have been cases, literally on our podcast, as non confrontational as we tend to be, we tend not to go into areas even when we're talking politics beyond what we can support with evidence or news reports. If we're speculating, we'll say we're.

[A]

We always say it ahead of time.

[B]

But we don't go out there and start putting, you know, things out there that are not supported by the evidence. And even then, there have been a couple of cases where the algorithm has gone back three years. Hey, three years ago you said something about this thing that violates community standards and we're going to take that offline. So.

[A]

Well, if you get the app, you

[B]

don't have to worry about that way. You don't have to worry about it. It'[e-mail] Apple by the way, speaking of

[A]

the app, couple of things. Not only can you communicate with us because there are where you can ask us questions. In the top right menu of the app, you'll see little talk bubbles. Click on that and you'll see where you can communicate with us, with each other. There are lots of what I suppose you call them chat rooms, but topics of discussion and prayer requests being the big one that almost everybody uses. But also, this is something Derek only recently discovered. Even though we do not have a donation button to donate directly through the app, right. Somehow over the last who knows how many months and months, many of you have been kind enough to. I don't know where you found it, but somehow you figured out a way to donate to us. But you see, here's the rule. The the creators who maintain also maintain the app are Subsplash. It's a Christian company. We love them so much, we cannot say enough good about them. But they have a rule that says you cannot put the donate button if you are not a 501C3. And because they mainly do churches. And I'm sure that there are other reasons why they have that rule. So we're perplexed as to how that happened. So now Subsplash is returning those donations because we asked them, why do you have on here something about the donations we've received?

[B]

They send out a monthly update as to how much engagement we've received and things like that. And we don't obsess over analytics.

[A]

Not at all.

[B]

Usually I just kind of skip over that. It's like, okay, yep, all right, very good.

[A]

But recently you went.

[B]

I noticed.

[A]

You noticed it.

[B]

Yeah, I noticed at the bottom one, say, two donations, like, wait a minute, what? We never set up with the company for donations because they said we couldn't receive them. They couldn't connect that for us because we're not.

[A]

We're not a 501.

[B]

And we don't intend to become one either.

[A]

No, we don't, for a lot of reasons. It's a lot of things that we just don't have the time to do. But also, we never want to be in a position where some administration tells us what we can and cannot say.

[B]

Right. Because the IRS has control over what 501 C3s can, can, and cannot do. And we just don't want to be bound by the government regulations.

[A]

No, we just pay taxes on all the donations.

[B]

We pay the taxes on the donations. So anyway, they've been refunded to those of you who are kind enough to donate. And again, we never saw any of that money.

[A]

But here's the thing. I just want to make sure that if you are listening and you have been one of those wonderful people to donate directly through the Subsplash app or page or however it was you found it. You're such a detective. Kudos to you for doing that.

[B]

We don't even know how to do it.

[A]

But I want to make sure they understand, honey, that we're not. We didn't ask Subsplash to refund it. No, we just found out about it. They chose to do that. They thought it was the best solution. So when you saw it coming back or when you will see it coming back, please understand. Derek and I appreciate every penny you guys are kind enough to sacrificially give to us. So don't take this as any kind of rebuff or rejection from us. It is not. We appreciate each and every one of you, and some of you may have donated, and all of a sudden you're getting the money back and going, boy, I really needed that money at this time.

[B]

Could be. Yeah.

[A]

So if it's a blessing, then it's a blessing.

[B]

And I've got the names of those of you who have donated, and I'm going to track down your email addresses and send you a note just to explain what's going on with this.

[A]

And you can always send us an email, infoilberthouse.org if you have questions. Right.

[B]

That's a good place to do it. So, again, it was a shock to us when I saw it because it'd been going on for months based on the number of refunds that went back out.

[A]

It's like, oh, I know. It really was a shock. It's like, okay, I guess we need to thoroughly read these reports from now on. We need someone.

[B]

I sent a note to the customer support person it's like, how are you guys taking these donations and where'd that money go?

[A]

And they couldn't figure out how it happened.

[B]

Right. So that, that's why they chose to refund it, because they've been holding it because they didn't have any place to send it anyway.

[A]

But, but here's the thing. If you guys do feel if the Lord leads and you want to gift us with a dollar or two, you can do that. That you go to Gilberthouse.org donate yes. And all of the information is right there on how you can do that. You can do it through PayPal, Stripe, you can send us a check through snail mail.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

I only check the post office box about once a week. So if you are looking for having it cashed immediately. It may not be immediately. But I tell you what, every donation, every donation that comes in, we pray for you and your family. And so you're not buying our prayers. We pray for all of you anyway. But we just want you to know that we sincerely appreciate it.

[B]

Absolutely. It's humbling to us to know that these efforts, which began in a spare bedroom, we'd be using the barn if my mobility were. If it were better and you know, if God wills it, I've got another course of treatment probably coming up in another month, early to mid April. Yeah. And so by late April, early May, May start seeing improvement in my situation. And if that happens, then great, then we will go back to using the barn. But if and until, you know, you were. And of course, we started, started working here in the living room because grace and glory and Gloria, being a puppy at the time, could not be trusted in the house for a while. But now it's just the difficulty I have in getting around. But it's humbling to know that these efforts, that the Lord has used them to reach you. And again, we are truly thankful. So we've got a really exciting study today.

[A]

I love the book of Amos anyway.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It just reminds me of things going on today. And there are a lot of wonderful promises in here. I'm talking about the judgments.

[B]

The judgments, but also some divine counsel type stuff in here. And some connections to things that we will address that have popped up again recently in some quarters of the Internet and among some professing Christians as a condemnation of the state of Israel.

[A]

Yep. And by judgments, you're going to understand what I mean by that. I'm not talking directly against Israel. I'm talking the way the Lord uses other nations against Israel to chastise against Christians.

[B]

Yes, absolutely. Well, without further ado, let's pray. We'll get into the study. Father, thank you for bringing us together over your Word. And as we read today, help us, Lord. Grant us wisdom and discernment. Help us to learn that which you would have us know. The lessons that you would have us take from your Word today, and just the interconnections in your word that we're about to reveal or share, I should say, because, Lord, it is your Holy Spirit that reveals it to us. So, Lord, we just ask that you would grant us clarity of thought and word for this next hour. And help us all, Lord, to be truly amazed and excited by the wonders that we see that you have preserved for us in your Word for millennia. And Father, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

[A]

Amen. If you missed last Sunday, by the way, then last Sunday we were reading about the Lord using other nations to try to get Israel's attention, especially the northern kingdoms, but all of Israel as well. And one of those was that they were. The Lord was going to go after those who did it. The Lord has jujitsu moves that are just beyond my comprehension. He uses other nations to chastise, but at the same time, he also judges the other nations.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In other words, he's not necessarily directly saying, I want you to do this. He allows the fallen realm to do what they want to a certain extent, and then he goes after them, which we're going to see here. One of those is they were sawing women with child in half, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we see that was a condemnation

[B]

of the Arameans against the women of Gilead.

[A]

Yes. And we see things like that today. It's the idea that women who bear children is being chastised. It is being marginalized. Women are being turned into men, the. But also children are being destroyed. So it's a different method of doing it, but it's that same fallen realm idea. They hate human beings. And the fewer there are, the happier they are. And they love, frankly, sacrificed human beings.

[B]

Blood is the life. And there seems to be some power that they either some power that they attain or some pleasure that they experience through the shedding of human blood.

[A]

Or both.

[B]

Yeah. And God made that a prohibition. As you remember back in Genesis 9, I think it is where God tells Noah that there would be a reckoning for the shedding of human blood. Even when an animal sheds human blood, a reckoning would be required. That's how precious human blood is.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah. And why it should not be shed. Okay.

[A]

As usual, I'M going to follow along in the Septuagint while Derek reads aloud from esp.

[B]

And we start in Amos, chapter four. We're going to do Amos four and five today, God willing. And right from verse one, we're off and running. Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, bring that we may drink.

[A]

You know, in the Septuagint it says, ye heifers.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Of the land of Bashan.

[B]

Now, anytime you see the reference to Bashan or a reference to Bashan in the Bible, you got to think supernatural, because Bashan in the ancient world was known to be, or I was going to say believed to be, but the fact that it keeps being referenced in supernatural context in the Bible, I would say known to be is correct. The entrance to the netherworld.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To the pagan Canaanites. We know this from Canaanite texts. Bashan was connected to the Rephaim and it was believed to be the place where the Rephaim were buried. There's a reference in a Ugaritic, which was an Amorite, and the Canaanites were just Amorites. Kingdom of Ugarit, which is in northern Syria, to a king who's searching for his son who has gone missing. And he believes his son is dead. And it turns out that that's what's happened. But he says, when I find him, I will bury him in a tomb. For the. The cognate in Hebrew would be Elohim Eretz, the gods of the underworld. And that's a reference to the Rephaim. Yeah.

[A]

In context would be underworld, probably there. Or it could just mean earth.

[B]

It can mean earth. Right, but in that context.

[A]

In that context, exactly.

[B]

Because you're burying him in a tomb. So he does find his son and then he mourns for him and he buries him in a tomb at Kinneret, which is the Sea of Galilee. So that region between the Sea of Galilee and Mount Hermon Bashan is where the Rephaim were believed to be. And we know it from other Canaanite texts as well.

[A]

There is a relatively recently observed structure on the south end of the Sea of Galilee that Mike Heiser is the one who brought it to our attention years ago. And the late Mike Heiser, we love him so, so much. And it is sort of pyramidal in shape and it's a stack of stones.

[B]

Yeah. Basalt blocks.

[A]

Yeah. It's. It's. Why is there a pyramid at the south end of the Sea of Galilee. Now it was on the land at one time, right. But the, the southern border has now encroached over it. But when Derek and I were there just recently, they, the whole land was going through a drought and so the Sea of Galilee was very, very low. And we went to that, the closest land area to where that was and tried to see if it was peeking up above the water. We didn't see it.

[B]

It is not.

[A]

We were kind of sad.

[B]

Yeah. It was only discovered in around 2012 because some archaeologists were using an underwater drone to try to find the ancient bed of the Jordan river which used to exit north of this tell, which is what they call a pile of ruins. It's a city that is referred to as Bet Yarrach, which means house or temple of the moon God. It now exits the Jordan, now exits south of that tell. So when they were down there, they just stumbled across this thing. It's like, what is this? And found it there. And Dr. Mike Friedman, who we met at Gilgal Refaim, which is that big megalithic structure about 10 miles east of the Sea of Galilee in Bashan. In Bashan wrote a paper about it and he connects it to that same Ugaritic text called the Epic of a Cot that I referred to earlier where the, the king, whose name is Daniel, is looking for his son Akat. And that city, Beth Yera, is actually one of the geographic locations mentioned in the Ugaritic text. Now bear in mind, ugarit is like 200 miles away, which if you're walking is long walk. Yeah, it's like a, you know, it's like a three week hike and it's rough terrain and it's rough terrain between you because you get across over the Lebanon Mountains and then come down through the Beka Valley past the city of Dan. It's a long walk and it's a rough walk. So point being, whenever you see Bashawa, here's the other thing I was trying to remember and I wanted to mention it during PID radio yesterday.

[A]

I'm going to close the window. Get a little noisy out there. Everybody's heading down.

[B]

Sunday morning, people are heading up, down to the lake. But maybe off to church too.

[A]

Well, that could be. I'd like to think it's that.

[B]

Yeah. Aaron looking shared a story on Facebook about the recent discovery by archaeologists who used some high resolution satellite imagery.

[A]

Oh yes, I shared that on X. Yeah.

[B]

And found how many more was. It was like 18 more structures similar to Gilgal, definitely.

[A]

I think it was in the two dozen or more. In fact, it may have been even more than that, but I'll look for the story, you keep talking.

[B]

Yeah. Anyway, the thought was that Gilgal Rephaim, which was only rediscovered in 1967 after the Israelis captured the Golan Heights from Syria, and that's a hard thing to miss.

[A]

28 more.

[B]

28 more. Okay. I thought it was more than a dozen. They thought that this was unique. It's a circular structure about 500ft across. And they estimate the weight of the stones there at is about 60,000 tons. Anywhere from 42 to 60,000 tons. For comparison, Stonehenge has about 2,500 tons of stone. So about 6,000 years ago in the Golan Heights, there was a civilization that organized and moved 60,000 tons of basalt blocks into this giant circle, circular shaped structure. Probably related to the cult of the dead, according to Dr. Friedman. And now that they've discovered this was not alone. Not only that, there were like 28 more on the Golan Heights connected to the cult of the dead, these giant circular shaped stone structures.

[A]

Derek and I visited another one of them. Yes, with Aaron Lipkin. And we know of at least two others.

[B]

Right.

[A]

One is site 133.

[B]

Site 133, which is in a. That's the one that's in the IDF firing range where they, they practice shooting. So visiting there, you've got to get us in there. He said he'd get us in there. We just have to make prior arrangements so that the soldiers aren't practicing here.

[A]

Put this little shirt on. It's got the target on the back.

[B]

That's it. And there's another one that's in a minefield, so nobody's been there, but, but they've discovered 25 others. Besides those three we visited the one called Khirbet Bethehah, which means ruins of Bethsaida, and that's on the bank of the Jordan river, just a couple miles north of the Sea of Galilee and a perfect place along the bank, because the bank, it sits at the top of the bank and then the bank slopes down about 100ft to the river. It makes a perfect natural theater. And that's why we think, and we argued in the book, the Gates of Hell, we think that's where Jesus was baptized,

[A]

fed the 5,000.

[B]

Yeah, and Doug Van Doren came up with that because it was in the wilderness near Bethsaida, which is only about half a mile from this structure, hence the name. So again, this is a long excursion into why Bashan was believed to be connected to the dead, the Rephaim. It's where Jesus was baptized. It's where he went into the wilderness for 40 days and then was taken up a very high mountain, probably Mount Amoron, by Satan, who showed him all the kingdoms of the world. So when you see a reference like in Psalm 22, the bulls of Bashan that surround me, or the fat beasts of bashan in Ezekiel 39, or here, the cows of Bashan, as scholar Robert Miller wrote in his paper, the bales of Bashan, these are not bovine, they are divine.

[A]

Yes, exactly.

[B]

So the cows of Bashan in the mountain of Samaria would suggest that Amos is referring to supernatural entities that are controlling the people of Samaria, which was the capital of, of the Northern kingdom of Egypt.

[A]

You got it.

[B]

So long explanation here, but that's what this is about. Divine, not bovine. Verse 2. Now, well, let me back up and run. Verse 1 again. Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria. And by the way, I just laugh at the commentary by the study Bible. Author of the Study Bible Notes for Faith Life. Study Bible the region was known for its livestock, especially cattle.

[A]

Except it's not.

[B]

Except it's not. Robert Miller wrote in his paper, the bales of Bashan, it would have been a terrible place to raise cattle.

[A]

And I think he did some geological surveys.

[B]

There's no evidence agronomy, he showed you just cannot grow enough grass there to support major cattle operations.

[A]

Yeah, it's sort of like here. You can get some cattle here, but less so at least we get a lot of rain here.

[B]

Yeah. And we can. We can grow grass here on Bashan, not so much. Yeah, it's a thin, thin layer of soil on top of basalt. So you who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, like the condemnation of God of the gods in Psalm 82.

[A]

There are a lot of things that connect to Psalm 82 in Amos.

[B]

Yeah, boy, we're already at 25 minutes. Better hurry up here. A lot of stuff to talk about. Who say to your husbands, bring that we may drink. The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you when they shall take away with hook, take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fish hooks.

[A]

Yes, Mister, Is that the end of that verse?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

In the Septuagint it says, the Lord spoke, swears by his holiness. Now this is a big. When the Lord says something, it's going to happen anyway. But to swear by his holiness. Yeah. He is indeed holy. He swears by his holiness that, behold, the days come upon you when they shall take you with weapons and fiery destroyers shall cast those with you into boiling cauldrons.

[B]

Well, the Lexham Septuagint says the Lord swears by his holy ones.

[A]

Ah. Oh, that may be the noun that goes with the they. If it's by his holy ones that, behold, the days come upon you when they shall take you with weapons and fiery destroyers shall cast those with you. Those with you into boiling cauldrons. Oh, this is. These are not humans. Supernatural.

[B]

That may be why the Lexham translators render their holiness. The word in Hebrew is Kaddish, which is like Kadeshim, which in Daniel was be put in parallel with Irim, referring to the watchers. That's interesting. Verse 3. And you shall go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead. And you shall be cast out into. Harmon declares Yahweh.

[A]

Okay, almost the same. And ye shall. This is septuagint, verse 3. And you shall be brought forth naked. You don't get to take anything with you. It's just you in the presence of each other. You might even say you're all together, lined up, being taken off like captives,

[B]

marched out per block.

[A]

Yep. And. Yeah. And you shall be cast forth on the mountain. Roman. Yeah, double M, said the Lord. Now, that probably is Hermon.

[B]

Yeah. Harmon, the.

[A]

This says R, O, M, M, A, N. Right.

[B]

The diacritical markings indicating vowels were added later. Later, the original text would have just had the. The consonants. So.

[A]

Yeah, but mountain is har. So har.

[B]

Gotcha. Okay. So, yeah, in fact, the Faith Life Study Bible notes reads mountain of Reman. The Targum, which is the Aramaic translation, has mountains of Armenia, Again, because of the R. But it's very possible, given that we've got the reference to Bashan in verse one, and it's actually Hermon. Yeah, a condemnation of the spirits on the summit of Hermon. So we're dealing with the Canaanite Father God El, who I argued in the second coming of Saturn, is actually Shemyaza, the leader of the sons of God from Genesis, chapter six. But it is Bull, El, his epithet, who was most likely worshipped at Beth El and Dan.

[A]

Well, exactly, which gets us to the

[B]

next verse, verse 4. Come to Bethel and transgress to Gilgal and multiply. Transgression. Now, Gilgal is not a reference to Gilgal Rephaim. It was the place where the Israelites stopped near Jericho.

[A]

I would also just mention that. It just means Enclosure. It doesn't necessarily mean geometrical circle, circle. It's an enclosure. And there are a lot of enclosures that Aaron Lipkin has found and Adam Surtall found that are foot shaped or sandal shaped.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

And it follows the idea that the promise to Joshua that wherever the Lord put his sandal or wherever you put your feet there, I will be with you. So. And these were put there by Joshua and his men.

[B]

Yeah. Actually the promise was made to Moses because it's in the book of Deuteronomy.

[A]

That's right. That's right. Thank you very much for that. So, yeah, there are a lot of those. So it could be that Gilgal was one of these enclosures.

[B]

Correct. Might even been the one that we visited at Aragon because that's in the Jordan Valley, not too far from Jericho. It's north of Jericho, always. And then I think there was one closer to Jericho. But yeah, it was a place that was probably still a, a place of pilgrimage.

[A]

Well, I think there's also.

[B]

Just to commemorate.

[A]

Oh yeah, I think there's also one around Joshua's altar.

[B]

Yes, there is. The enclosure around Joshua's altar has that

[A]

footprint shape and there's one around Jerusalem.

[B]

When you look at the city, the Old city and the city of David, it does have that same shape.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer a sacrifice. Interesting. Three days.

[A]

Yeah, I know this says bring your meat offerings in the morning and your tithes every third day. Not really sure why they were doing it that way.

[B]

Northern kingdom had their own. They did, had their own rituals. They basically said, no, no, you don't need to go to Jerusalem. Come here to Beth El or Dan. Because Jeroboam thinking, no separation between church and state. We don't want my people being drawn back to Jerusalem and under the rule of the King of Judah.

[A]

In fact, when you go to Tel Dan and you walk up the street a ways, I've got photographs of a stone that is part of a wall and it has a shape on it that forms a bull head.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

Remember that I've told you about that. You'd forgotten. Yeah, yeah. You have to kind of look for it. Someone said they had seen it and I said, where is it? And. And I sure enough, I've got a photo of it somewhere.

[B]

Huh.

[A]

I think I got it in 2018. And again when we went back in 2019, I think.

[B]

Oh, oh, oh, no, you're thinking of Shiloh.

[A]

That's it. Shiloh, yeah. Or Shiloh.

[B]

Yeah, Shiloh Yeah.

[A]

I thought that was Tell Dan.

[B]

No. No. Is it Shiloh? Because I remembered. I do remember that. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Okay.

[B]

It's kind of hidden.

[A]

Eli and your kids, let's talk. What are you doing?

[B]

Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings. Publish them, for so you love to do, O people of Israel, praise the Lord. Yahweh, verse five.

[A]

Yes. Okay.

[B]

Verse six. I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, which is not a reference to good dental hygiene. It means he didn't give them enough food to stick to their teeth. They were starving. I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you did not return to me, declares Yahweh.

[A]

He's trying very hard to get their attention.

[B]

Get their attention. Right. I also withheld the rain from you. When there were yet three months to the harvest, I would send rain on one city and send no rain on another city. One field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither. So two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water and would not be satisfied. Yet you did not return to me, declares Yahweh. I struck you with blight and mildew, your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locusts devoured. Yet you did not return to me, declares Yahweh. I sent among you pestilence after the manner of Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils, the smell of death. Yet you did not return to me, declares Yahweh. I overthrew some of you as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were, as a brand, plucked out of the burning.

[A]

Now, this is kind of an unusual way to put this. I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's the same way in the Septuagint, it's first person and third person.

[B]

Yeah. That is.

[A]

That's the same person speaking.

[B]

Right. Yet you did not return to me, declares Yahweh. Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel, because I will do this to you. Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.

[A]

That's where that comes from.

[B]

Prepare to meet your God. For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind and declares to man, what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. Yahweh. The God of hosts is his name.

[A]

Verse 13 in the Septuagint. Write this down and if you're following in the Septuagint, highlight it. If you have a copy that you can do that with. Verse 13. For behold, I am he that strengthens the thunder and creates the wind storm.

[B]

God, Language.

[A]

And proclaims. Here we go. And proclaims to men his Christ.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that means because this is. This English is based on the Greek, which is the Greek version of the Hebrew texts in about 200 BC called septuagint because it was 70 translators.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

They saw a Hebrew word that meant anointed one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is why they called this Christ.

[B]

Yeah. The Lexim says his anointed one, but that's what that means. Messiah.

[A]

That's entirely different from what you read.

[B]

Masoretic text. Took that out the Masoretes because they didn't want Christians using that verse to say, see, there's Christ in the Old Testament.

[A]

But here's what's interesting about this is in, I think it's Acts 7, Stephen.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is proclaiming to his questioners. And these would be the Pharisees. In fact, Paul Saul was there holding the coats.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Or watching them. They were thrown down in his feet. Stephen is giving a history. You guys are eight up in the head and you know nothing. Let me tell you about what Yahweh has done for us. And gives you history lessons.

[B]

Right, Right. We'll get to that at the end of chapter five. Assuming we. I think we'll get that far. It's going to be a long study. But we're only at 35 minutes.

[A]

Well, I realize that, but that I think is part of the reason that this was taken out.

[B]

I think, yes, you're right, because Stephen would have been using the Septuagint translation as the basis for the history that he gave.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. But also he definitely pointed to the very one that they had killed and even tells him that, yes, at the right hand of the Father, the anointed one.

[B]

Just similar to Daniel in Daniel Chapter seven. Seeing one like a son of man at the right hand of the ancient of days. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So do we have time for another one or do we.

[B]

Well, we're at 35 minutes, so.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But yeah, I think. I think it's going to be long because we get to the end of chapter five, then we're going to have to dive into all of the. All of that.

[A]

Well, it may be a two part study of Amos 4 and 5. Okay. Chapter 5. I will now read in the ESV. Hear this word that I take up. Sorry. Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel. Remember this is Amos telling what the Lord has shown him. And it's probably was never a very happy position to be in.

[B]

No.

[A]

I'm here to give you some really bad news.

[B]

Yeah. Septuagint says, by the way, hear this word of the Lord.

[A]

Well, yes, it's essentially saying, thus saith the Lord, fallen no more to rise is the virgin Israel forsaken on her land with none to raise her up. For thus says Yahweh. Sorry. Thus says the Lord. Yahweh, the city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left. And that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel. For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, Seek me and live. But do not seek Bethel and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba.

[B]

Now that's interesting, because Beersheba is in the south of Israel, would have been in the territory of Judah at the time Amos was writing. So that suggests that Beersheba, because that's where Abraham and Isaac had their confrontations with the king Abimelech, over whose well this was.

[A]

Yeah, means well of the oath.

[B]

It may have been a place of pilgrimage for people even in the Northern Kingdom.

[A]

That's a really good point.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm sorry.

[B]

I was going to say there's another reference to it in. Oh, gosh. Well, I'm sure we'll come to it again someday. But I think there's another reference to Beersheba as a place of special religious significance. But this is one of those hints

[A]

that that's the case. I'll back up to four. For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, Seek me and live. But do not seek Bethel and do not enter into Gilgal. That's an interesting way to put. It doesn't say, do not go to Gilgal. It says, do not enter into Gilgal. This idea of there was a ritual. Enter into the enclosure or cross over to Beersheba. For Gilgal shall surely go into exile and Bethel shall come to nothing. Seek Yahweh and live, lest he breaks out like fire in the house of Joseph and it devour with none to quench it for Bethel. O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth. Got your hand up?

[B]

Yeah. It says the house of Joseph, which of course is referenced to the northern Kingdoms. Often Ephraim is a substitute for the Northern Kingdom of Israel. But it says there will be no one quenching it for the House of Israel.

[A]

This just says no one to quench it for Bethel.

[B]

Yeah, no, the House of Israel in the Septuagint. Again, the Nazarenes maybe wanted to change that just a little bit so it didn't sound so all encompassing.

[A]

Yeah. If you are interested in the idea of what changes were made in the Masoretic text as opposed to what would have been available in 200 BC, we don't have those texts available. We only have the Greek boy. We've got a couple of author friends, Doug Woodward, who has a two volume set called Rebooting the Bible. It's all about the Septuagint. And our good friend Doug Van Dorn just has written a book and I can't remember the title.

[B]

Pull that out here. Why do I not have that? That was a recent episode of Iron and Myth.

[A]

Yeah, forgive me.

[B]

It was in fact it was last Iron and Myth episode we did, which was back in mid January, called the Plot to Deny the Messiah. But I think the book is the Battle for the Bible.

[A]

That sounds right.

[B]

Doug Van Dorn's book on how in the second century A.D. the rabbis changed the text to de emphasize evidence for the coming Messiah or the one that Christians were then pointing to in the second century and saying, yes, the angel of Yahweh, we know who that is. And then things like what we had just discussed here. The reference to his anointed in Amos, chapter 4,

[A]

verse 6. Seek Yahweh and live, lest he break out like a fire in the house of Joseph and it devour with none to quench it. For Bethel, O you who turn justice to Wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth. So, you know, I have to ask, is he still addressing Israel here? Probably. But casting down righteousness to the earth and turning justice to Wormwood, they clearly don't appreciate him. Verse 8. This is why you should appreciate him. He who made the Pleiades and Orion and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the Sea of Yam and pours them out on the surface of the earth. Yahweh is his name. You guys have been on the wrong side. He's saying to Israel.

[B]

Yeah, and that's very different in the Septuagint.

[A]

Yeah, I know, I read it.

[B]

The one making all things and transforming and changing the shadow into the morning and darkening day into Night. The one who is summoning the water of the sea and pouring it out upon the face of the earth. The Lord. It is his name. Yeah. Where's Pleiades and Orion come in?

[A]

I don't know. So what does it begin? The first line of verse eight.

[B]

Verse eight says, the one making all things and transforming and changing the shadow.

[A]

Where did the Pleiades and Orion come from?

[B]

Yeah, that's. That's not in the Septuagint at all.

[A]

I don't know. Backing up to beginning of verse 8. He who made the Pleiades and Orion don't know where that came from. And turns deep Dr. Darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night. Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth. Yahweh is his name. Who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. Now, I want to see what the word for destruction is here. Shod.

[B]

Yeah, it's not mash, Keith.

[A]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. And fortress is Mishar.

[B]

Mashketh is a reference to the destroyer.

[A]

Yeah, an entity.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Verse 10. They hate him who reproves to the in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. When you entered a city, the gate, the portal into the city, was a place of judgment.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You either got in or you didn't. But also, if you lived in the city and you had a problem, you went to the gate and asked, and there was actually often either a judge's seat at the gate, or sometimes the king himself would sit there and he would judge. So it was a place of judgment. And. Well, it's where the Lord himself should be sitting. They hate him who reprieves. And who reprieves. That's exactly the opposite. Who reproves in the gate. And they abhor him who speaks the truth. Therefore, because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him who has built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. This reminds me of Jesus talking about the rich man. I got so much stuff, I need another closet to put it in. Need another barn? Well, you're going to die tonight. I think in the Septuagint, it doesn't say, say houses of Hewnstone. I think it says polished. Polished? More like marble. Hewn stone sounds kind of rough. This is a really wealthy guy who's got probably polished marble, you know, housing, and he lives like A king.

[B]

Yeah. And it's known that Ahab used ivory in a lot of the building in his palace.

[A]

Yeah, that's not cheap. You have to kill a lot of animals to get enough ivory to line your walls.

[B]

Now, ahab lived about 100 years before the time of Amos. What Amos, by the way, is doing here and all these condemnations that God is bringing against Israel is prophecy of its coming destruction in the year 722 by the Assyrians under Tiglath Pileser.

[A]

Yeah, but I also think it's an already, but not yet, and I'll tell you why.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

For I know this is verse 12. For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins. You who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe and turn aside the needy in the gate. Another reason this is so interesting is because Stephen references this, and this is definitely. You could easily say Pharisees.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because they lived large. Therefore, he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time. For it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil that you may live. And so Yahweh, the Lord of hosts. Sorry, The God of hosts will be with you. As you have said, hate evil. Evil and love good and establish justice in the gate. It may be that Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the Lord. In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, alas. Alas. They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing. Those who are skilled in. In lamentation. They had professional wailers, by the way. And in all vineyards there, there shall be wailing. For I will pass through your midst. For I will pass through your midst. That's something says Yahweh. Think about when Abraham cut that covenant, Genesis 15.

[B]

And God passed between. God passed right when Abraham didn't. So that's why it's unconditional. It was only God who was promising to do these things for the descendants of Abraham.

[A]

Exactly. Verse 18. Woe to you. This is why I'm saying it's an already but not yet. Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh.

[B]

Yeah. The final judgment, the final battle, the final war. Armageddon.

[A]

Why would you have the day of Yahweh? It is darkness and not light. As if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him is not the day of Yahweh. Darkness and not light and no gloom and. Sorry. And gloom with no brightness in it. When we go to these prophecy conferences, many of them, the conferences, we're speaking about the prophetic timeline. We're talking about the signs of the Lord's coming that only arrives. The arrival of Jesus on the Mount of Olives only comes at the end of. Oh, a world of suffering.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And a lot of suffering for the

[A]

Jews and saints too. And the Jews.

[B]

The saints and the Jews.

[A]

And by that I mean the church and the Jews. Many will come to accept Christ as Savior and Messiah. And many of them will be Jews.

[B]

Yeah. And we look at Zechariah 12 and we see the awful things that will take place prior to God arriving then to go out and fight for the people of Israel. The Jews.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And in Zechariah 12:10, then we see, they will look on me, on him whom they have pierced and mourn. But leading up to that point, the world comes against Israel and it is not pleasant for the people of Israel, for the house of Judah and the house of David, according to Zechariah 12.

[A]

Now think about the. I mean, look at what's being. What the Lord vows to do here. But think about the weapons in the hand of the fallen realm and human beings that we have today.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's not sword and shield.

[B]

No. It is increasing exponentially. And now with the use of artificial intelligence to autonomously select targets and fire, it's getting really, really scary out there on the battlefield. I think what God is condemning here and warning the people of Israel is you think that the day of Yahweh is just going to be against all of your enemies. It is going to be chastisement and Correction for you first. And that's why we see in Zechariah 12 after all of this horrific stuff. And we'll get to that when we get to the book of Zechariah. But there's a lot of suffering for the people of Israel on that day, the day of the Lord.

[A]

And then the Messiah arrives and it's beat down time, fallen Rome and all

[B]

the humans involved in Ezekiel 39, then they will know. The world will know I am the Holy One in Israel.

[A]

Yes, exactly. Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh. Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light. As if a man fled from a lion and a bear, met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall. And a serpent met him. Is not the day of Yahweh darkness and not light and gloom with no brightness in it. Verse 21. I hate. I despise your feasts and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept. Accept them. And the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs to the melody of your harps, I will not listen. This is another quote that a lot of people have seen and heard. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.

[B]

Now we get to the. Interesting. I mean.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Just.

[A]

Yeah. Many of you listening to this, you're going to go, I know what that is.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. But do you? Okay. Verse 25. Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel, you shall take up the Sukkot, as in the Sukkah.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Sort of a tent or the proper name. I know.

[B]

Okay. We'll read through it all, then we'll go back and we'll break it down.

[A]

Yeah. You shall take up Sikut, which may mean that. But I don't think it does. Your king and Kiyun, your star God, your images that you made for yourselves. And I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.

[B]

The Septuagint reads this, and this is what was quoted by the Apostle Stephen, as Sharon mentioned earlier, back in chapter four. Did you bring me offerings and sacrifices in the wilderness 40 years, O house of Israel, verse 26. And you took along the tent of Molech and the star of your God, Kiwan, Although in the Septuagint, the Lexham, or that's the Lexham Septuagint, the Brenton Septuagint, the star of your God, Rephon, or Remphan in some translations, the images of them that you made for yourselves. So I will resettle you beyond Damascus, says the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.

[A]

Well, where I read Sukkot. Right, Your king, and that's why I said it could mean tent. You said tent of Molech. Molech Melech, yeah.

[B]

Sukkot is the feast of Booths, the feast of Tabernacles. Exactly, the tent. And that's why Jews, to this day, when they celebrate the feast of Tabernacles, build themselves a booth re Sukkah. Right? And they use that for the course of the seven day festival. Now, Sukkoth and Kaiwan or Rephon Remphan in this Septuagint according to the anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. And I'm going to summarize this because we're already at 55 minutes. It appears to be a reference to the planet Saturn because Saturn was the most distant planet that's visible to the naked eye and it seems to move slowly across the sky. It was known by the adjective Kayamanu or Kajamanu meaning the steady one, and that would have been translated into Hebrew or transliterated as Kaiwan. But because of a. The Akkadian letter M is sometimes appears as a W in loanwords. In Hebrew, the consonants Kayamanu would be Kaiwan. And then there's also confusion between the consonants that would make the R sound and the K sound. So that's how you get from Kaiwan to Rephon or Remphan.

[A]

Also understanding that the translators in 200 B.C. or so were translating as best they understood from their teachings and their understanding of culture at the time what that would have meant in Greek.

[B]

Yes, Sakuth, as you read in Amos 5, 26, followed by Kaiun or Kaiwan, the Masoretic vocalization for both of those names. And this is now from the dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, the DDD great source, very scholarly is that of the vocalization of both names is used for that of idols. In other words, they changed Sukk or Sukkut to Sukkoth so that Hebrews, Hebrew speakers would know that they were dealing with an idol or a detestable thing.

[A]

Oh, it could be, yeah.

[B]

In other words. But that's how you get from BAAL to Bosheth. Detestable thing. The parallel between Sukkoth and Kaiwan suggests that Sukkoth is also a divine name. In other words, the name of a deity.

[A]

Right.

[B]

The only God known having a similar sounding name is a Babylonian deity, Sakut Sag Kud, the two syllables Sakkut has been identified with the God Ninurta. Oh, Ninurta, who is an agricultural deity but also a warrior God. There is a an inscription from like the 26th century BC showing Ninurta defeating the seven headed chaos monster called Bashmu, which is the Akkadian form of Bashan. So it's possible that this Bashan means

[A]

place of the serpent.

[B]

By the way, Sakut was a cupbearer of the gods and was associated with the city deer, which was on the border with Elam, which is modern Persia. But the problem of why the Israelites adopted an obscure God like Sukkot remains unsolved. Two options. One, Israelites took over the worship before the fall of Samaria, which would explain why Amos was condemning them for this. Or two, scrolling up, where's the second option here? Oh, Amos refers to deities that were brought to Samaria by Assyrian settlers. In Second Kings 17, there is a reference to the men of Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth. So anyway.

[A]

Well, I guess my confusion is it seems to, taken in context, reference what was going on in the 40 years in the wilderness.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So that wouldn't have been.

[B]

Wouldn't have. Exactly. Yeah. It would have been long before they came into contact with the Babylonians. Now, Kiwan. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

[A]

Oh, no, carry on. I'm just going to go to Acts, verse chapter seven.

[B]

Right. Just want to get through this real quick. Kiwan was a reference to Kajumanu, which is a Babylonian name for the planet Saturn. Kajumanu, the steady one. But Kajamanu was not a deity of any great importance. In fact, the references to it in Babylonian texts occur mainly in astronomical texts. In other words, not religious texts. In Mesopotamia, Saturn was the only star, we'll put that in air quotes. That was not related to one of the major deities.

[A]

By the way, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the symbol for Israel. Nothing.

[B]

And yeah, we're going to get to that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So anyway, this is why this is referencing Stephen in Acts chapter 7.

[A]

He quotes it in Acts chapter 7. He is being judged, unrighteously judged by the Pharisees. And he says in verse 41, and they made a calf in those days because he is giving the history of Israel and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. This is Stephen speaking. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets. Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness? O house of Israel, you took up the tent of Molech, the star of your God rephon and images that you made to worship, and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked him to, and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. And he goes on, it's wonderful, this section. And of course then he goes to say, by the way, I saw the very, the very Messiah that you guys killed.

[B]

He says in verse 56, behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man. And again, this is.

[A]

But going back to 51, you stiff necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, whom you have now betrayed and murdered you.

[B]

Yes, yes.

[A]

Received the law as delivered by angels.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And did not keep it. And of course later he says he sees the very one they had just murdered standing at the right hand of God.

[B]

Yes. As delivered by angels. Now that is really fascinating because that. I'm glad you got that because I skipped over that and was really weird.

[A]

I know.

[B]

Looking forward to make. Bring this in. So we're jumping from Amos 5 to Acts 7 and now we're going to go to John 10.

[A]

But before we get to that, I want to just say this. Remember how Jesus from the cross said, father, forgive them, for they know what they do. He was looking at a whole bunch of Jews.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Stephen has just said to the Pharisees, you murdered him. Speaking of Messiah, the very last thing he said says before he dies is, lord, do not hold this sin against them.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And then verse one of chapter eight, and Saul approved of the stoning of Stephen. Saul who later became Paul. Yeah, the reference to the law delivered to angels, that, that kind of jumps out at you. And it's like one of those. Is that always in there?

[A]

Was that all I said there?

[B]

Yeah. That connects to a couple of things. So we're going to jump from Acts 7 to John 10, where in John Jesus is confronted by Jews at the time of the feast of dedication, which is Hanukkah. So Jesus is in the temple in Hanukkah. It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple and the Jews gathered around him and asked him, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered them, I told you. And you do not believe the works I do in my Father's house. Bear witness about me. But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. And then in verse 30, he says, I and the Father, Father are one. So the Jews picked up stones again to stone him. And Jesus answered them, I have shown you many good works from the Father, for which of them are you going to stone me? The Jews answered him, it is not for a good work that we're going to stone you, but for blasphemy. Because you, being a man, make yourself God. Money quote. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law? I said, you are gods. If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came, and scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world? You are blaspheming because I said, I am the Son of God. Now, if he called them gods, to whom the word of God came. Dr. Mike Heiser wrote a paper on this and delivered it at one of the Society for Biblical Literature conferences, pointing out that John 10, right here, which is often used by critics of the supernatural view of Psalm 82, where God says to the gods, the divine council. I said, you are gods, all of you, sons of the most High, yet like men, you shall die and fall like any prince. They'll point to John 10 and said, well, the word of God came to Moses and the Israelites. And so if they're gods, then I'm a God. You're a God. Wouldn't you like to be a God too? That's not what Jesus is saying. Because just four verses earlier, five verses earlier, he said, I and the Father are one. Exactly. And he was going to stone him for claiming to be God. So Jesus is not saying, hey, we can all be gods. No, what he was saying, the word of God came to Elohim, which just means a denizen of the spirit realm. And that's what Mike was explaining in his paper. I find that it's taken me years to get the my head around this. I'm not as smart as Mike was. Is because he is still, like, he's more alive now.

[A]

He's even smarter now.

[B]

Yeah. But he's looking down from heaven and said, derek, bless your point, little head. One of Mike's pet phrases. He's saying the word of God came to angels and it was angels who delivered it to Moses.

[A]

You know, which tells me that when Moses climbed the mountain to receive the law, he was climbing up into the divine assembly. Yes.

[B]

Sinai was a rather. Let me flip that around. The tabernacle in its construction with the various areas. You had the outer court open to everybody, then the inner court opened to the priests, and then the holy of holies Only open to the high priest. Sinai was the same way. The people could assemble at the base. You had some of them who could go part way up the mountain. Like when the elders of Israel came with Moses.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But then only Moses could approach, approach Yahweh.

[A]

It's the same thing in a very real way. If the elders of Israel were the heads of the 12 tribes, so 12 went up with him. And you might say, this is Matthew. And also in the book of Revelation, where you see. I think it's Revelation only actually, where you see the 24 elders and elders being like an elder of a church, those who are in the judging category, the elders, the angels. So if there were 24 in total in. In Revelation, then it's the same thing. There may have been 12 Elohim and 12 humans.

[B]

Oh, yeah, good analysis, good observation.

[A]

They had gone up into the throne room, so to speak.

[B]

Right. But even they were not allowed to pass the four living creatures to come into the immediate presence of.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Only the lamb who was slain. Now we're talking Revelation.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Jesus, or in Daniel 7, or in Stephen's vision. Except notice that Stephen, instead of quoting Daniel 7, look, there's one like a son of man. There's a human up there. No, he says it's the Son of Man, which is a title. And if you've been following our study on the Book of First Enoch, the last Sunday of every month, you know that we're into that section now called the Book of Parables, where the title, the Son of Man, is first revealed. So, wow. We're connecting First Enoch today, too. Wow. So Psalm 86, of course, where God takes his place in the midst of the divine council. Psalm 82. 6 is what Jesus quotes in John 10:35. I said you were gods, sons of the Most High, all of you. He's not saying you humans are all gods. No, no. He's saying, you, Elohim, the law came to you, but because you didn't keep it. As we said in the condemnation of the cows of Bashan, verse 2 of Psalm 82, how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Verse 3. Give justice to the weak and the fatherless. Maintain the right of the afflicted and destitute. Verse 4, Rescue the weak and the needy, Deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They weren't doing that, and that's why God was condemning them.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Now back to Acts 7. The star of Remphan or Rephan has been incorrectly used as a. As a condemnation of the Star of David, or which is more accurately called the Shield of David, which is, of course, the hexagonal symbol that is on the flag of the nation of Israel. It was adopted as the official symbol of the Zionist movement in 1897, was the first Congress. I'm not sure if they did it at that first meeting, but it became the official symbol of the Zionist movement. There are those who say that this Star of David is the star of your God Rephan or Remphan, a representation of Saturn. And so the Jews are actually occultists who are worshipping Saturn. That happens not to be the case. No representation of the star Refan, or more correctly, Kaiwan or Kajamanu from ancient Babylon, ancient Akad, Sumer, Israel. No inscription, no carving, no statue, no idol has ever been found of Refan, Kaiwan, Kajamanu. We don't know what it looks like. Nobody knows what it looks like.

[A]

No, it may. In fact, there is one theory of thought that it was just a pillar. It wasn't a star shape. It was a pillar representing male potency.

[B]

Oh, okay. But again, it's a theory because we don't know for sure. Nothing has been positively identified as a representation of this ancient entity that was a minor deity in the Babylonian pantheon. So to say the Star of David is. This is impossible because we don't know what the Star of Remphan looked like.

[A]

Yeah, I need to do more research to find out where Hitler came up with the idea to use a yellow star as the badge to have the Jews wear. I think it was called the Judenstad. Yeah, I've got to do research on that before the Red Wing saga. Anyway.

[B]

Now, yes, it is true that there are Kabbalists going back into the Middle Ages that use that symbol, but there are occultists that use the cross as a symbol. The Rosicrucians, for example.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

So you cannot say then that the Star of David is an occult symbol because the Kabbalists use it. There are synagogues. In fact, we've seen the synagogue at Capernaum. I have a picture on my iPhone of the Star of David from the second century A.D. yep, I've got that picture too. The Kabbalah was not written until the Middle Ages, 12th or 13th century.

[A]

Right.

[B]

In fact, there's a. An ancient synagogue at Sidon in Phoenicia, what is now Lebanon, Sidon, that dates back to the 5th or 6th century BC and has a Star of David on it. So the Star of David far predates the Kabbalah.

[A]

It's Very, very old. One thing I find interesting and we probably need to wrap up wrap up in the Septuagint calling it Kayun spirit spelled K A Y, Y U N or Q A Y Y U N. It could also be the if you want to pronounce Middle Eastern, sometimes K's and Q's and G's all get mixed up. It's just that K sound. That can be a G sound. Kaiun is one alternate way to spell Cain's name.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[A]

Don't know if that has anything to do with him or not, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if somewhere along the line he became worshiped as a deity.

[B]

That's a really interesting. Yeah, that's a really interesting thought. Yeah. Anyway, looking once more time at the Anchor Yield Bible dictionary, but it does not really say anything more that is relevant to our discussion. Anything more than we've already said. So again, according to the ddd, the anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, minor Babylonian deity. Why or if the Israelites were worshiping it, or if these were gods that were brought into Samaria by people who were condemned in 2 Kings. But again, that would be a bit of anachronism for Amos to be criticizing it maybe 50 or 60 years before the Assyrians actually brought the people from Mesopotamia and resettled them in Samaria.

[A]

Anyway, so Amos fascinating. We'll continue that next Sunday, which is Palm Sunday.

[B]

Next Sunday we'll be back in the book of first Enoch. Oh, well, we Sunday of the month

[A]

I read ahead on in Amos now. Oh, that's right. It is the last Sunday. Because we are not doing because easter actually is April 5th, I think, and we will be we will not be having a study on Easter Sunday. Derek and I are going to probably spend the day with his mother.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But next Sunday we'll be here.

[B]

Yeah, we'll be back in the first Enoch. And then the following Sunday, Resurrection Sunday will be week off. And let's see what else is going on. Well, just a couple of events to tell you about. We'll be very quick about it. We've got the Go Therefore conference coming up at the end of July in suburban Dayton, Ohio. That is July 24th and 25th. We've got more. There's more information, a list of [e-mail] and the remnant rising 2.0 conference, which is coming to Springfield, Missouri, our backyard. Yeah. August 7th through 9th. And some great speakers at that one, including our good friend Joe Arnis Horn, Vicki Joy Anderson, Kenny C. And many others. Complete list of speakers and a place to register at Hear the watchmen. That's plural. Herethewatchmen.com both of those conferences, by the way, have streaming videos. So if you can't travel or the dates don't work for you, get the stuff, streaming video, and then you can go back and watch it at your convenience from the comfort of your own recliner.

[A]

You gotta love that. We do plan on going to Israel. Yes. It's difficult for Derek to get around, but they said, Lipkins said that they're going to get him a little vehicle of some kind that can be stored under the bus and he can have wheels and the rest of us have to walk.

[B]

And it's possible that with the infusions that are. I pray. Assuming the insurance company plays ball.

[A]

They will.

[B]

Yeah, they just. They want a new nerve conduction test which is coming up this Friday. And they'll find out that. Yeah. Oh, it's wiring is all shorted out.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

So they will approve the treatments. I may be able to get around without the. The little bite.

[A]

That would be wonderful. But that is an option. However, if things really light up in the region and it looks like most people hesitate to sign up, we will probably reschedule that for next spring. So be looking for that. If you've already registered, we will let you know. We'll probably make that decision in the next few weeks.

[B]

Yeah. So information at our website, Gilberthouse.org, go to the calendar, look at upcoming events. And of course we've got a calendar of upcoming Bible studies. The schedule for the upcoming readings there as well, which I realize now I'm going to have to modify once again because I forgot to take a week off for resurrection.

[A]

Yeah, Well, I mean, we could. Could have a study that morning. It's just. Just in case we decide to go

[B]

with mom at the nursing home. Is a good idea.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So your prayers for just the insurance company's compliance, shall we say, or just willingness to.

[A]

It's standard.

[B]

And approve the treatment. This is the frontline treatment for the condition that I have.

[A]

And it's expensive, so you can understand why they want to challenge it, but they're not going to be able to say no when they see your emg. It's going to be basically, oh, look, his calves and feet are dead.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. So I have regained about half of the weight that I lost while I was in the hospital last month. I'm back up to about getting close to £187. I was at 197 before I. Yeah,

[A]

you're nearly six feet tall, so you need to weigh about in that range.

[B]

Yeah. And when I dropped the 20 pounds a year ago, it was, some of it was, was body fat, but it was also a lot of muscle. And when the, when it came back, thankfully due to the protocol my primary care physician put me on, it came back as muscle. So when I took the weight off this time it was muscle.

[A]

It was the muscle, yeah.

[B]

So I was very weak the first few days that we got back, but thankfully things are, are getting better. I'm getting back on the recumbent bike and working my legs and so yesterday

[A]

you had chicken, you had legs. Yep. Lots of protein.

[B]

So appreciate your prayers very much because you know when you're in the middle of it, you don't realize how sick you are. But yeah, when I was in the hospital and would try to lay flat so I could try to get some sleep, I could not breathe and I would have panic attacks, which I'm not prone to. No, but when you can't breathe all of a sudden. Yeah, that'll wake you up in a hurry.

[A]

It is a panic.

[B]

But we're past that.

[A]

You got through it.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

So thank you for your prayers. You guys got us through this and many of you have asked some questions. Are we going to do a question today? Do we have time for that? Yeah, we can we try to answer some of your questions in our studies. Because it's. Or on PID radio, because it's just easier. Especially with Derek. He can't type very well anymore. He has to use speech to text. And I am almost always on my phone and I really hate typing on the phone.

[B]

Yeah, speech to text is just a lot faster than my typing these days. This is from Victor. This would be a little interesting. Hello, Derek. I truly pray you're doing well. Look forward to the OG report, hear of your progress and how God has his hands on you even in ailments. Thank you, Victor. Question, Sir. In Leviticus 21, 16, 24 I was reading today, why does God not want anyone with a defect? The only thing I can gather is because God is caring and loving, he doesn't want someone with an ailment to have to worry about serving in this capacity. What are your thoughts? Thank you. Let me open Leviticus 21, beginning of verse 16. And I think this were qualifications for priests, if I'm not mistaken.

[A]

I think that is what it is.

[B]

Yahweh spoke to Moses saying. Speak to Aaron saying, none of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. For no one who has a blemish shall draw near a man blind or lame, or as a mutilated face, or a limb too long, or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a defect in his sight, itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles.

[A]

What verse are you reading from?

[B]

Leviticus 21, beginning in verse 16.

[A]

Oh, thank you.

[B]

Verse 21. No man of the offspring of Aaron, the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer Yahweh's food offerings. Since he has a blemish, he shall not offer the bread of his God. It sounds harsh.

[A]

This is. Or, who has. In the Septuagint I'm looking at. That's why I asked. Verse 19. A man who is a broken hand or a broken foot, or humpbacked or blear eyed or has lost his eyelashes.

[B]

Huh, okay.

[A]

Or a man who has a malignant ulcer or tet, or whatever that is, or one that has lost a testicle, whoever of the seed of Aaron the priest has a blemish on him shall not draw nigh to. To offer sacrifice. Is it possible that this rule exists for these priests because they are coming close to the actual throne of the. Of God right in heaven? When we are actually before his throne, we will be perfect to his blood.

[B]

I think that's. I think that's it. I think that it was a reminder to the Israelites that when you came near to God, since He is perfect, God, being holy, is set apart and represents wholeness. But I think Victor also makes a good point, and I think the. Yeah, the commentators in the Faith Life Study Bible also make the same point. These regulations also ensured that the priests delivering offerings could carry out their duties without a physical issue hindering them. For example, the broken foot, in my case.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[B]

I mean, you couldn't do it. I wouldn't be able to do it because of my balance issues. I got to keep one hand on my cane all the time. So if I had to carry offerings that required, you know, two hands or. And also because my issues affect the. The muscle, my autoimmune issue doesn't just attack nerves, it attacks the muscles. And so the weakness in my hands is pronounced. When I pick up my iPhone, it feels like it weighs five pounds. There are things that I used to be able to do with one hand that now require two, like lifting the Little plastic waste basket in our bathroom. I need two hands to lift it.

[A]

Now, I know I tried to make. We have drinkware that you use. It's a big handles, a big 16 ounce or 20 ounce mug. But it's acrylic.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's very, very light on its own. And fill them about 2/3 full. So you know it when you pick it up, it's not going to spill.

[B]

So I think it's an. It's a both. And Victor, I think it's a reminder of God's perfection and his holiness. It was not intended as a. You're not good enough to come near me.

[A]

No.

[B]

Because as Paul writes in First Corinthians 15, when we are resurrected, we will be raised incorruptible. And so we will be raised whole and free of defect. But also, again, the priests had duties that need to be carried out. And if you had somebody who had

[A]

a limitation, lose an eyelash, you just can't do it,

[B]

as in my case, I would not be able to fulfill those duties. And so I would be excluded. And I think that's the reason for it. That's a really good question, Victor, because. Yeah, again, it seems in our modern age that seems kind of discriminatory. But I think it's also because we have forgotten how reverent we should be when we approach God. Jesus is my bff, you know, kind of attitude.

[A]

Yeah. And it may. Was it Isaiah or Elijah? I think Isaiah who said, I'm a man of unclean lips.

[B]

Right. It was Isaiah.

[A]

Yeah. And what he was saying was, I shouldn't be here. I don't dare even look at you because seriously, I am not without blemish.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And the angel came over and touched

[B]

him with the coals, the seraph. Yeah. So, yeah, good question. If you want to ask questions of us that we address at the end of our study, you can direct those to Sharon and. Or me through the app. Just go to the conversations section, the groups, and you'll find one labeled Questions for Derek, another one labeled Questions for Sharon. I try to get in there and not let them back up too far. But over the last month or so, yeah, we kind of got away from that just because of the, you know, health issues.

[A]

And I will add. I will add this. I mentioned it yesterday. For those of you who've been asking about book nine of the Red Wing saga, I'm still working on it. I work on parts of scenes. Anytime I've got a chance, it's in my head processing almost every minute of the day. Derek is my priority. Seriously, he is my priority right now. And it's slows down writing and that's okay. I'm fine with that. So if you can be fine with that. And many of you have said take your time, I really appreciate that. I believe the day is going to come when Derek has more strength.

[B]

Yep. And I think that is coming. I think April May, I think as we move into the summer, I think things will begin to turn and I will begin recovering things.

[A]

I do too.

[B]

Abilities. And so.

[A]

So anyway, we do have our house on the market. Many of you have already noticed that, and we did that because it's a great time to put your house on the market.

[B]

Right.

[A]

We want to downsize. This is a four plus bedroom home with two bathrooms. It is on 10 acres. It's got the magnificent barn that you guys helped us to finish out on the inside to make it into a studio. So it is a great space for podcasters, for musicians, for people who just want to start a, you know, have man cave, whatever. But if the Lord heals Derek or makes him better to the point where we know and our house has not sold, we've not had an offer. We see this as we trust in youn, Lord. And if those things happen, then your answer to us is, hey, I don't want you to sell the house.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But if, if he does want us to sell the house, that will happen too. So we are. I'm fine either way.

[B]

Yeah, that's. That's what we're looking at right now and sort of putting out a fleece before the Lord. And so we appreciate your prayers for the Lord's will to be done, not us to jump ahead of the Lord and, you know, mess things up like Abraham. How can we. How can we make this, this child, this promised child appear?

[A]

So you know, the one that your wife is. My wife is going to have.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, that's. That's what's going on. We'll close with a word of prayer. Father, thank youk for taking us yous word through youh word today and the warnings that Amos delivered to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And noticing that you offered them the opportunity to repent and turn back, but because they did not, their sacrifices meant nothing, Their rituals meant nothing. And that the lesson for us is what's in our hearts that matters not Ritual wrote routine performances of almost like performing magical rituals to get you to comply with what we want. We understand, Father, that is not how the world works. And sadly, the Northern Kingdom of Israel did not turn back and they were destroyed. Destroyed, Father, even then you restored them in 1948 and brought them back. And yes, Father, we know that like all nations on earth, the modern state of Israel, the United States, every nation on earth is run by flawed, sinful men and women. We also know, Father, that no one comes to you except through Christ Jesus. We pray for our friends, our brothers and sisters in Israel. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray for the people of Iran, that they may be able to free themselves from the grip of the religion that has held them enslaved since 1979. That your presence may be known to them through the preaching of the Word through the underground church, through dreams and visions of a man in white coming to offer salvation. May that word spread like a wildfire through the people of Iran, the Persian people who for centuries loved, supported, sheltered, and lived side by side with the Jewish people. Lord, we pray for peace everywhere. But we know that true peace, lasting peace, will not come until you return. And so we pray for that soon return. And until that day, Father, may your Holy Spirit guide us with wisdom and discernment and the boldness to speak truth with gentleness and respect, as the Apostle Peter commanded us. Father, we pray for your blessing. We pray for our president, for his cabinet. We pray for the men and women in our armed forces who are in harm's way. May you protect them supernaturally, Father. And may innocence be protected from the crossfire in Israel, in the Gulf States. We pray for peace in Ukraine and Russia. Lord, we pray for peace across this world. But again, Lord, we ask. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, it's in your name we pray. Amen.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

Tonight we talk about Melchizedek on Iron and Myth.

[A]

Well, that's really. That. That's a very interesting topic. And while I think most of us, at least I was taught. We know exactly what it means. It means king of righteousness. Oh, does.

[B]

Well, yes.

[A]

What the main meaning does. Question is, who is he?

[B]

Why? Yeah, he's.

[A]

I was taught he was Jesus.

[B]

And that is one possible explanation.

[A]

I know it's only as I've gotten older, I thought, okay, not everybody was taught that.

[B]

Yeah, there's some nuance to that. But, yeah, we discussed that tonight, and I think we reached the conclusion that Melchizedek was more than just a man. So Iron and Myth, that'll be available after 7pm Central Time tonight. VFTB mad. And of course, on our YouTube channel, @Gilberthouse. On YouTube, or on our app.

[A]

I'm sitting here laughing and daring Derek is staring at me like, okay, what. What's wrong with her now? What. What you said. Or maybe something I said. Oh, it is something you said. It reminded me of some of the. Well, the very discussion in the Name of the Rose.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Where they all got together and. All right, we're all going to decide whether or not Jesus carried a purse by. That meant a container of money.

[B]

Yes, yes.

[A]

Which. Okay, this is why you guys are all getting together for this massive conference

[B]

between the Franciscans and rella and representatives.

[A]

Nothing.

[B]

Nothing. Yeah. The Name of the Rose, by the way, was a wonderful novel by Umberto Eco which was turned into a film with Sean Connery, a very young.

[A]

Oh, gosh, the actor that I. I can see him and I can't think of his name. Yeah. And many of you are shouting his name right now. But. And Ian McNeese is in it.

[B]

Ian McNeese. Oh, gosh, the guy who played Salieri.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Gosh, Abraham. Abraham, yeah. As Butternutter. Double gooey. Oh, my gosh, what a wonderful film.

[A]

It's a wonderful film. Yeah, but about debauchery. And there's a murder.

[B]

Yeah, Murder mystery, as Sean Connery is a. A monk who actually serves as a detective of sorts.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So, yeah, one wonderful film. Very interesting. Not the kind of thing you'd expect from a major Hollywood studio, but anyway, yeah, sometimes we get caught up in some of the. We major in the minors. Anyway, we're just curious. Melchizedek Tonight on a view from the Bunker Iron and Myth, episode number 48. And until next time, I'm Derek Gilbert.

[A]

I am Sharon Gilbert. We love you guys so much. Bye bye, everybody.

[B]

Thank you for joining us. We post a new Bible study each Sunday morning, subscribe to the podcast and explore the archives [e-mail].