The Fall of Israel

Summary

Podcast Summary: Gilbert House Fellowship, "The Fall of Israel"

Date: August 2, 2026
Hosts: Derek and Sharon Gilbert

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Gilbert House Fellowship takes a deep dive into the biblical period preceding and surrounding the fall of Israel, focusing on the reign of King Ahaz of Judah and the collapse of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) under Assyrian conquest. The Gilberts guide listeners through 2 Chronicles 28 and 2 Kings 16–17, exploring the spiritual failings and political missteps that led to catastrophe. The discussion blends biblical exegesis with historical and theological context, along with candid personal reflections and listener Q&A.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Life Update & Setting ([00:14]–[07:18])

• Ozark Life: Derek and Sharon open with lighthearted banter about their cats and wildlife, setting the friendly, conversational tone typical of the podcast.
• Personal Reflections: They discuss their health and challenges, using their situation to stress God's faithfulness and the need to remain focused on Christ even in difficulties.

2. Historical & Scriptural Context

Starting Scriptures:

• 2 Chronicles 28
• 2 Kings 16–17

King Ahaz’s Reign ([08:04]–[19:55])

• Background: Ahaz reigned in Judah c. 735–715 BC, about 250 years after David, 200 after Solomon.
• Moral Failure: "He did not do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel." – Derek ([08:47])
• Idolatry and Child Sacrifice: Ahaz sacrificed to Baal and Molech, even burning his sons (2 Chronicles 28:3). Sharon underscores, "This is breaking so many commandments." ([10:29])
• Political Missteps: Facing attacks from Edomites, Philistines, and northern Israel/Syria, Ahaz appeals to Assyria for help—a "tragic mistake," as Derek emphasizes.
• Consequences: Rather than helping, Assyria afflicts Judah further, exploiting its weakness and leading to further chaos and decline.

Theological Insights

• Divine Council Worldview: Derek references Dr. Michael Heiser’s work on the "divine council," pointing out that “gods/Elohim” refers not to imaginary gods but to real spiritual beings—"fallen angels, essentially" ([19:10]).
• Idolatry and Syncretism: The Gilberts discuss how idolatry contaminated Israel and Judah, often via “high places” and syncretistic worship.

3. The Fall of the Northern Kingdom ([42:16]–[66:25])

• Summary of Events:
  • Hoshea becomes king over Israel; Shalmaneser of Assyria demands tribute. When Hoshea seeks help from Egypt and withholds tribute, Assyria besieges Samaria for three years, leading to the exile of Israel’s inhabitants ([43:13]–[44:05]).
  • Assyrian Policy of Resettlement: Assyria repopulates Samaria with foreigners, leading to religious syncretism—worshipping Yahweh alongside other deities ([54:24]–[62:47]).
• Memorable Quote:
  • “Imagine being under siege for three years… you see an enemy army of people who are known to flay their prisoners alive just for fun.” - Derek ([44:12]])
• Theological Reflection:
  • The Gilberts stress that ignoring God and embracing idolatry led to disaster: “How about coming to me for help?” – Sharon ([48:06])
  • Sharon elaborates on syncretism as “basically taking worship of …a polytheistic religion, you’re not really following that first commandment.” ([61:27])

4. Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the Folly of Seeking Human Solutions:
  • “Instead of calling on God—exactly. He continues to worship fallen angels and demons.” – Sharon ([28:11])
• Modern Application:
  • “We see this to this very day… mainstream religions, that when they convert a tribe or a region, the pagan rituals are simply converted… like worship of saints instead of ancestors.” – Sharon ([63:01])
• Reflection on Human Free Will:
  • “Why do bad things happen to good people? …You chose to create us with free will rather than creating us as little slaves, little automatons, unable to choose for our own.” – Derek ([99:09])
• On Communion as Spiritual Warfare:
  • “This is a message to the fallen realm, saying it doesn’t have to be repeated again and again… I have given my body and my blood one time. One and done.” – Sharon ([70:24])

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Timeline of Important Segments

• [08:04] Introduction to the week’s study, prayer for wisdom.
• [08:47–12:30] Exploration of Ahaz’s idolatry, introduction of scriptural timeline and family context.
• [19:10] Discussion of ‘Elohim’ as real supernatural entities.
• [25:04–28:32] Comparison of Ahaz’s actions to historical examples of inviting conquerors.
• [42:16–44:05] The besieging and fall of Samaria—historical context and psychological impact.
• [54:24–61:27] Forced resettlement of Samaria, rise of syncretism, and continued spiritual compromise.
• [66:25] Transition to communion and its Old Testament typology.

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Listener Q&A ([72:01]–[84:40])

• Were the Jack the Ripper killings ritualistic or satanic?
  • Sharon discusses why she sees ritual elements in the Ripper and similar murders, connecting historical facts and spiritual insights.
    “Why would you do these things unless they have some spiritual aspect at the very least! …These are sacrifices to the fallen realm.” – Sharon ([75:01])
• Is Cremation Wrong for Christians?
  • The Gilberts affirm that Scripture does not condemn cremation; what's forbidden is burning in pagan ritual context.
    • “Trust me, the Lord knows the plan. He can put me back together out of nothing.” – Sharon ([79:28])
    • “Unless you’re offering yourself as a sacrifice to a pagan deity, Dolores, there is nothing to be concerned about.” – Derek ([81:08])

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Health Update: "OG Report" ([87:05]–[92:08])

• Derek details his ongoing medical journey with multiple specialists and chronic conditions, maintaining positivity and gratitude.

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Closing Highlights

• Upcoming Events: Gilberts preview their participation in the Remnant Rising 2.0 Conference ([92:08]–[96:38])
• New Book: Derek’s "War of the Watchers" is now available ([95:08])
• Final Prayer & Reflections:
  • “Whenever we get comfortable, we begin to think that we are responsible for the good things in our lives instead of you as the source of all our blessings.” – Derek ([96:39])
  • The episode closes with an earnest prayer for wisdom, humility, and steadfastness.

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

• Tone: Conversational, scholarly, occasionally humorous, and warmly pastoral
• Main Themes: Spiritual consequences of idolatry; dangers of seeking worldly solutions over divine help; God’s patience and justice; modern parallels to ancient syncretism; the importance of discernment and faithfulness
• Call to Action: The Gilberts urge believers to rely on Christ, learn from Israel’s mistakes, and stand firm in biblical truth.

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Listen to the full episode or explore the archives at: GilbertHouse.org
Contact/Submit Questions: [e-mail] or via the Gilbert House app.

Transcript

[A]

From the beautiful Missouri Ozarks, Greetings and welcome to the Gilbert House fellowship for Sunday, August 2, 2026. I'm Derek Gilbert.

[B]

I am Sharon Gilbert. And where did August come from?

[A]

It snuck up behind us. It's been lurking on little cat feet.

[B]

Seriously? On the cat feet belonging to four little cats?

[A]

Yeah, we got 16 of them. 16 little feet roaming around the house?

[B]

Not the house. Roaming around the yard?

[A]

Yeah. Outside the house. Outside the house.

[B]

So yes, they're circumnavigating. Circumambulating the house?

[A]

I don't think so. I think they're just terrorizing the local meadow mice population.

[B]

They are.

[A]

Meadow mouse population, yeah. Well, welcome. And if you are new to us, thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to share the Bible with you. And if you've got a spare mode, we appreciate you taking time to download our app. You can get it both for mobile devices, iOS, Android, Amazon, Kindle Fire, or for your television even. We've got devices or apps rather for smart TVs and set top boxes like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Android TV, basically all them TVs pretty much.

[B]

If you want an app and you want to follow us on the app, we've got one for just about anything. Go to Gilberthouse.org app right.

[A]

And. Or you can just go to the App Store. That is correct. For your device and do a search for Gilbert House and you.

[B]

Shoot.

[A]

Turn it up. Yeah, Gilbert House. Two words. And that should turn it up. So thank you for that. The reason for doing that, A couple reasons. The mobile device has some additional features that are very handy, including the community feature where you can interact with other folks and exchange prayers and prayer requests. But also questions for Sharon and me comment on our studies or our programs or just share news items that you think are important. So again, Gilberthouse.org Apple by the way,

[B]

today is the first Sunday of the month, so we will be celebrating communion.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

And you can hit pause now and go get the elements for yourself, or you can do so later on. When we start in on that, it'll be toward the end of the study. By the way, you mentioned little cat feet. Yes, One of my favorite poems, by the way, the fog comes in on little cat feet. I think it was E.E. cummings.

[A]

E. Cummings.

[B]

Yes, we still have Portia the porch cat and her three kittens. And some of you have expressed concern that they're outside. Yeah, it's kind of warm here during the day, but they spend the day underneath the porch where it's quite cool.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We cannot bring them in because of Derek's mobility issues and his extreme allergies to cats.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We would love to bring them in, but we cannot. Derek has COPD and the. If cats were in this house, he would probably go into. We'd have to call 91 1.

[A]

Yeah, I'd be. I'd be using. Hitting on the rescue inhaler pretty, pretty

[B]

frequently every 10 minutes.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So anyway, that's why they're outside. But we take good care of them. I've been slowly getting the cat, the kittens, used to being handled. So as soon as they allow me to pick them up consistently, I plan to put them into a little container, take them to our vet, and get them spayed and neutered.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think I know one is a female. And also we will get Portia spayed. She's clearly been endorsed. She's very tame and a very sweet cat.

[A]

She is.

[B]

If you live in the area and you would like to just have Portia. The kittens are old enough now that she's been going off for a couple of days at a time and leaving them on their own.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So she is distancing herself from them so that they will be forced to survive on their own, and they're fine.

[A]

She's starting to get to the point where they. When they want to latch onto her for, you know, a little drink, she's getting a little snarly, testy with them,

[B]

and she's actually swatted at him a couple of times, so.

[A]

Get off me.

[B]

She's clearly trying to distance herself, which is what you do.

[A]

We thought that they had actually relocated because, of course, we weren't here last weekend because we were in Ohio at the. The Go There for conference.

[B]

And they even disappeared before we left for Go There for. We hadn't seen them for over a week. And then one morning, there they were on the back deck. Well, hello. Oh, look at the hummingbirds. Oh, we think we can catch them.

[A]

Yeah, hummingbirds. They. They will toy with the cats, buzz up to them, kind of hover there for a minute, and as soon as the cat makes a move, the hummingbird is gone.

[B]

I also can't trap them, as I know a lot of people will do. The Trap Neuter release program.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because we have so many raccoons.

[A]

Yeah. We wind up neutering a raccoon.

[B]

Well, that might actually be a good idea, but my fear is that the raccoon and a cat might get somehow trapped together.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's the last thing we want. I had to run off four raccoons this morning when I went out to feed the cats. It was about 5:30, and one of the cats meowed in a clearly different sound. And I looked, and here came two raccoons just hopping over the gate and two more on the other side of the yard.

[A]

So it's a quartet competition out in the yard. We got the cat quartet and the raccoon quartet.

[B]

Yeah. Except Portia wasn't here at the time.

[A]

Oh, I see.

[B]

Mama wasn't there to keeping guns for almost two days. And so I thought, okay, don't know if she's coming back or not. So I'm gonna have to take on these raccoons. They. They turned around as soon as I made it clear they weren't welcome. So I stayed out there. So anyway, we're looking after them.

[A]

It is a. God's creation is pretty amazing. And those kittens are pretty cute.

[B]

They are.

[A]

I've got to confess, I'm. I'm more of a dog guy, but. And if I was not allergic and didn't have the mobility issues where a cat getting underfoot, because my feet are basically paralyzed at this point, so I cannot adjust when my center of gravity shifts over, you know, out to where I need to adjust very quickly.

[B]

Yep. Even I have to watch it because they will walk right around my feet.

[A]

Yeah. So it is an interesting little soap opera with the kittens and the raccoons. But thankfully, the weather has not been as beastly hot as it sometimes gets here in the Ozarks.

[B]

It's been in the 60s the last two months.

[A]

Yeah. And yesterday here was only 74 degrees Fahrenheit for a high, which on the first day of August in the Ozarks is. That's about 12 degrees below normal.

[B]

Wonderful. Actually. So thank you, Lord. Well, this morning, we're back in the Bible again.

[A]

Back in the Bible. Yeah. We're looking at some very interesting history here. The father of Hezekiah, who. Hezekiah clearly grew up under the tutelage of either his mother or somebody else, because he clearly didn't take after his father, which was a good thing. We'll open with a word of prayer. Father, thank you for bringing us together over your Word. And we thank you, Father, for preserving your word for millennia. And we pray, as we study, Father, you'll grant us wisdom and discernment that we would take away from your word that which you would have us learn. Help us, Father, again, to understand the best of our ability. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

[B]

Amen.

[A]

So we're going back in time, almost 27, more than 2700 years. King Ahaz was will be the subject of this week's study. And he reigned, according to the scholars, between 735 and 715 BC. This is about 250 years after the time of David, about 200 years after the. The time of Solomon's passing. Ahaz. We're starting in second chronicles 28, by the way. Second chronicles 28. Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem.

[B]

In the Septuagint it says he was 25.

[A]

Interesting. And it's interesting the Bible says it reigned 16 years. And the. Again, the study notes from the Faith Life Study Bible, which is one of the free tools that we've got linked at our website, Gilberthouse.org you can find it in the left hand column. And we like it not just because it's free, but also because it incorporates the divine council worldview. The late Dr. Michael Heiser wrote some of the notes, especially in Genesis and in some of the other places where the divine council is evident in Scripture. But again, it's interesting, the study notes have him reigning for about 20 years.

[B]

Well, the Septuagint says he reigned 16. It says 25 when he became king.

[A]

Yeah. And the Masoretic text also says 16 years. So. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. And his father's name was not David, by the way. It just says, you know, his father, meaning his ancestor. His father's name was Yotham. He even made metal, or rather as his father David had done. But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. That was the northern kingdom. Again, Ahaz was the king in Judah, the southern kingdom. He even made metal images for the Baals. The Baals. And he made offerings in the valley of the son of Hinnom Gehenna and burned his sons as an offering, meaning he was sacrificing to Molech.

[B]

Yeah. This is breaking so many commandments.

[A]

Yes. Burned his sons as an offering according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the people of Israel, the Canaanites. You want to get a summary of what they were doing, read Leviticus, chapter 18. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

[B]

It's interesting in verse Four, it says in the Septuagint. And he burnt incense upon the high places and upon the roofs. Not the hills. The roofs.

[A]

Interesting. The word translated hills here is Gabaoth. Hills. That's what the Hebrew word means. And under every green tree. Green trees, there was a. Shall we say, the fertility culture. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

The Asherah poles.

[A]

The Asherah poles. Right. Therefore, Yahweh, his God, gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force. For Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed 120,000 men from Jerusalem, from Judah, in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers. And Zikri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the king's son, and Azrikam, the commander of the palace, and Elkanah, the next in authority to the king. This was a pretty serious defeat.

[B]

That's a huge 120,000 mighty men.

[A]

Yeah, 120,000 soldiers.

[B]

This says mighty men.

[A]

Yep. Well, it says all of the men of valor.

[B]

Yeah. So humans, but well trained.

[A]

Yes. The king's son, the commander of the palace, and the next in authority to the king, the men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives.

[B]

This says 300,000.

[A]

Okay. 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought them the spoil to Samaria. But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, behold, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand. But you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven. And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against Yahweh, your God? Well, yeah, because they still had the temples there to El, the golden calves at Bethel and at Dan. Now hear me and send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of Yahweh is upon you. And no kidding, because this was early in the reign of Ahaz, beginning around the year 7. What did I say? 735. 735. Because it was 722 when the Assyrians came and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Yohanan, Berechiah the son of Meshilemoth, Yehazkaya the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai. I say H A D L A I. This is the random connection my brain makes. I'm thinking Headley from Blazing Saddles. That's Hedley. Anyway, sorry, sorry. I digress. Hadley stood up against those who were coming from the war and said to them, you shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against Yahweh in addition to our present sins and guilt, for our guilt is already great and there is fierce wrath upon Israel. So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. And the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives and. And with the spoil, they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink and anointed them. And carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria. At that time, King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria for help. Not Syria, but Assyria. Big mistake.

[B]

Was that your tummy?

[A]

That. Yes. Yeah, I had. I don't.

[B]

It's commenting on. On the study.

[A]

It is. I don't know if that was picked up on the microphone, but. Don't know why. But this. Ever since this autoimmune issue picked up, for some reason, my stomach makes the loudest noises.

[B]

Maybe it's saying, thank you for the lovely breakfast I made.

[A]

Well, and. And she did. Sharon made a wonderful omelet this morning. Cheese and onions and peppers.

[B]

I know. And some cinnamon toast.

[A]

And cinnamon toast and then some sausage as well. So well fed. It's not. It's not saying, I'm hungry. It's saying, thank you. At that time, King Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria for help. For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives. And the Philistines had made raids on the cities in the Shephalah, that's the. The lowlands along the coast, and the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth, Shemesh, Azulon, ghetto, Soco with its villages, Timna with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. So basically, Judah was under attack from the south, the east and the north.

[B]

Basically, Timna was a big. Lost that. That was an area where they Mined tin, I think. Copper.

[A]

Copper. Copper, yeah. Big copper mines there at Timna. That's in the Jordan Valley. For Yahweh humbled Judah because of Ahaz, King of Israel. Well, King of Judah. For he had made Judah act sinfully.

[B]

It says King of Judah in the Septuagint.

[A]

Which is correct. Yeah. And had. Why the Masoretes made it Ahaz, King of Israel. Because Israel is the northern kingdom.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And the king there was Pekah, or Peka. Yeah. For he had made Judah act sinfully and had been very unfaithful to Yahweh. So Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria, came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him.

[B]

There's not much help.

[A]

Again, big mistake. For Ahaz took a portion from the house of Yahweh and the house of the king and of the princes and gave tribute to the king of Assyria. But it did not help him. No, the Assyrians were not nice people,

[B]

but we gave you a bunch of stuff.

[A]

Yeah. Which means you're weak. So we're just going to come and take more stuff. Yeah, it's.

[B]

You got it.

[A]

Yeah. Neighborhood bully. In the time of his distress, he became yet more faithless to Yahweh, this same king, Ahaz, for he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, yeah, yeah, if I

[B]

just sacrifice to you, you'll be nice to me, right?

[A]

Right. Yeah. Well, they. They just defeated me, which clearly means they're stronger than Yahweh. In fact, that's what he said. He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God. And he shut up the doors of the house of Yahweh, and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem, in every city of Judah. He made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger Yahweh, the God of his fathers.

[B]

I mean, can he make any more mistakes than he's making here?

[A]

This kid was clearly getting bad advice. And by the way, the word translator translated gods as Elohim, which always refers to supernatural beings. We're not talking about the imaginary friends of the Arameans. We're talking about fallen angels, essentially. Now, the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. Nope, sorry, you're not worthy. And Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his place.

[B]

Okay, let's see.

[A]

Second kings, 16. So now we get the second kings account of what happened. Okay, if you're reading in the Septuagint, by the way, two Kings is actually Fourth Kingdoms. That's the name of the book. Yeah, Fourth Kingdoms in the Septuagint translation.

[B]

But you can type it in as Second Kings and it will pull it up. Yeah, I read [e-mail] which you can get just about any translation there. It's. It's a wonderful place. Also, Blue Letter Bible now has the Brenton Septuagint English translation under their choices as well. So, second kings, chapter 16. In the 17th year of Peka, the son of Ramalia, Ahaz, son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to Reign. Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign. Or now does it say in second kings, 25?

[A]

Says 20.

[B]

Because, you know, in second chronicles it said 25.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Interesting. Ahaz was 20 years old. This is young. You're right. He was a kid, so he was stupid. Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, his God, as his father David had done his ancestor David. But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering according to the despicable practices of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the people of Israel. Well, you know, that didn't work well for them, but it'll work well for me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Then Racine, King of Syria, and Pica, the son of Ramalia, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. At that time, Racine, the king of. Or Reason.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is one of your ancestors.

[A]

Yeah, my great, great, great grandfather. Yeah. Reason Bailey. Yep.

[B]

At that time, Racine, the king of Syria, recovered a lot for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Eilat and the Edomites from Eilat, where they dwell to this day.

[A]

Hmm.

[B]

Different.

[A]

I'm looking to see. Yeah, because that. That seems odd, that if this.

[B]

It's E L A T H. Yeah,

[A]

Well, yeah, this is the same Eilat. So the Syrians captured Eilat, which is on the. The modern city. It's the port at the north end of the Gulf of Aqaba.

[B]

Yes, well, remember, it says that the Edomites came to Eilat and they dwell there to this day. It says.

[A]

Okay, yeah, which makes sense with the Edomites doing that.

[B]

So. Excuse me. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the king of the. Sorry. And from the hand of the king of Israel who are attacking me. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[A]

No. The Assyrians at this point had been fighting to try to take the levant for about 150 years because AHAB was part of a coalition that included a number of Canaanite city states and Aramean city states that fought against the Assyrians in the 9th century BC, the time of Elijah, which is around. Well, again, about 150 years before the time we're talking about right now. So they knew that the Assyrians were not people you wanted to mess with. But this stupid young man, rather than saying, you know, the Assyrians would be really bad to invite into our neighborhood because they're not likely to, you know, here, I'll just give them a few things and they'll help me out and they'll go away. It's like, no, instead of coming in and saying, hey, you're too weak to defend yourself against Israel, why don't we just conquer you and take all your stuff?

[B]

It would be a bit like Spain saying to Morocco, hey, you know what? Send over a bunch of people to. Because we don't have nearly enough people in our country. And that way, when other folks bother us, you've got some really strong prisoners in your prisons. How about just releasing them and sending them over to one of our possessions?

[A]

Or for people who are familiar with the story of, of King Arthur, yes. This is like Vortigern inviting over the Saxons to help drive the Picts back into what is now Scotland.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah. And the Saxons saying, hey, this is a really nice land. It's a lot more pleasant than where we come from. Let's just take it for ourselves.

[B]

The origin of the. The phrase night of the long, night

[A]

of the long knives. Right? Yeah.

[B]

It didn't work out well for Vortigern.

[A]

No, it did not.

[B]

But I want to Just make it clear. He's appealing to the king of Assyria to help him against the king of Syria.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

There are two different places.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So can you explain that?

[A]

The Assyrians, their kingdom was based in northern, what is now northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. Basically the Kurdish regions of those countries.

[B]

Like Kurdistan. If it existed.

[A]

Yeah, if Kurdistan existed, that would basically be the heart of the Assyrian kingdom. But the Assyrians extended their empire to the point where they conquered the Levant. They never really captured Judah, but Judah was sort of a vassal state. They had to pay. And they even conquered Egypt, if I remember correctly.

[B]

So Syria.

[A]

Syria was. Yeah. Why the names are so similar, I do not know. But Syria, obviously, when you look at a map, that's the Syria that we would talk about, Biblically speaking, would be centered around Damascus.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

There were some other kingdoms further north that were what they call neo Hittite, you know, Aramean, like Aleppo and what is now Antioch. There's another one up that way that I'm thinking Homs would be Hama in the ancient world. But Syria, when we think of Syria in terms of the biblical references to it, would be the Aramean Kingdom of Damascus.

[B]

Yep. The present Syria has artificial lines drawn around it.

[A]

Right.

[B]

That were negotiated amongst the United States, England and France.

[A]

Yeah. When you go through different periods of history, there were times when Syria would include all of what is now Lebanon and Israel, which was referred to as Palestine back in the day, which is just a geographic designation. There has never been an independent state called Palestine. But the Assyrians were from what is now northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran.

[B]

So silly. Ahaz. Yeah, punk. Ahaz.

[A]

Instead of calling on God.

[B]

Yes, exactly. He continues to worship fallen angels and demons. And he looks at a very strong king up there in Assyria and thinks, you know, I could get him to help me out. And you help me out against the king of Syria. Two different kingdoms, two different kings.

[A]

Yeah. And against Israel, because the northern kingdom of Israel had allied him, allied himself with the king of Damascus.

[B]

So verse 8. Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was in the house of the of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. Oh, he'll like me now. I sent him a whole bunch of money.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the king of Assyria.

[A]

And Yahweh won't mind.

[B]

No. And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir. And he killed Ratzin. So where would Kirby Kir?

[A]

That is a good question. In fact, I think I tried to look this up once and I don't know that anybody really knows where it is.

[B]

Not Keir Starmer.

[A]

No.

[B]

Because he's out. He's just right out. See if I can see. Yeah, it's. It's a place in Mesopotamia.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The name means wall.

[A]

Yeah. Now, interestingly, In Amos, chapter 9, verse 7 indicates that Kir is where the Arameans originated.

[B]

That's interesting.

[A]

So.

[B]

So does it say Kir also in the Septuagint?

[A]

It does not. It says the king of Assyria heard him. The king of Assyria went up to Damascus and captured it. He exiled it and killed Reason.

[B]

Oh, well. So cure's not even. Yeah, it's sir, not appearing in this translation.

[A]

Yeah. Wonder why my great, great, great great grandfather decided to name one of his son's Reason.

[B]

I've wondered about that too.

[A]

I. I think there's another reason mentioned in scripture. Who is a better guy. Yeah. Was one of the temple servants. We'll look that up.

[B]

Good old Reason Bailey.

[A]

Yeah. In fact, some of the old documents going back in the. Because he died, I think, around 1835. But some of the documents related to him that we've found spell the name R E A S O N. Like Reason.

[B]

Yeah, but it was probably named after Reason or Ritzian of the Bible.

[A]

Yeah. No, not. Not seeing another reason. Only one. Yeah.

[B]

When King Ahaz sent to Damascus. Sorry. When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria, and he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz went to Uriah the priest a model of the altar. Sorry. And King Ahaz sent. I keep missing a messing up. Went and sent. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar and its pattern, exact in all its details. Uriah the priest built the altar in accordance with all the King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Uriah the priest made it before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.

[A]

Okay, well, it's pretty quick, so.

[B]

Yeah. So that means that Ahaz was in Damascus for a while, huh? Because you have to have time for him to get the model, the instructions to send it down there and for it to be built.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering. And through the blood of his peace offerings on the altar and the bronze altar, that was before Yahweh. He removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of Yahweh and put it on the north side of his altar. It's a little bit different than in Second Chronicles.

[A]

Yeah, it's a little different here in the Septuagint as well. He burned his burnt offering in his sacrifice and his drink offering. He poured the blood of the peace offerings that were on the altar of bronze. Let me start again. He poured the blood of the peace offerings that were his on the altar of bronze that was before the Lord. And he brought the face of the house of the Lord from between the altar and the house of the Lord and showed it on the thigh of the altar toward the north.

[B]

What?

[A]

I don't know. What?

[B]

Can you look in the Lexa?

[A]

That's what I'm looking.

[B]

Oh, that's. Oh, well, let me see if I can find this in the Brenton Septuagint.

[A]

Well, I've got it here.

[B]

I do, too, actually. What verse is that?

[A]

10. 13. And offered his whole burnt offering and his meat offering and his drink offering, and poured out the blood of his peace offering on the brazen altar that was before the Lord. And he brought forward the one before the house of the Lord from between the altar and the house of the Lord. And he set it openly by the side of the altar, northwards.

[B]

It's pretty much what it is in the ESV Confusion. Yeah, I know. That's odd.

[A]

I wonder what the Net Bible says about that.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

He moved the bronze altar that stood in the Lord's presence stood in Yahweh's presence from the front of the temple between the altar and Yahweh's temple, and put it on the north side of the new altar.

[B]

The bronze altar is clearly an offering before the face of the Lord. And we're talking about the Holy of Holies. That's the face of the Lord. So moving the altar away from the face of the Lord is an insult.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Regardless of where you put it.

[A]

So he was. Okay, set up the new altar, basically, and said that all the sacrifices would now be made on the new altar

[B]

because I think the Holy of Holies faced east.

[A]

Well, the doors open. Yes, yes. Would have. Because the doors open to the east.

[B]

So putting it on the north side.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Would be putting it on the Lord's left side.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So verse 14. And the bronze altar, that was before Yahweh, he removed from the Front of the house from the place between the altar and the house of yhwh and. And put it on the north side of his altar.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest saying. Interesting, because Uriah was a Hittite name, wasn't it? Uriah the Hittite.

[A]

Yeah, but it doesn't necessarily mean that

[B]

was a. Yeah, it just seems odd. Yeah. On the altar, burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering and the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their grain offering and their drink offering and throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

This new one is his personal altar?

[A]

Well, no, the one that was already there has now become his. The new one is the large one, the one that they just built based on the pattern from Damascus. On the large altar, offer up the burnt offering.

[B]

Oh, sorry, sorry. On the great altar. Yeah, on the new one that. That.

[A]

Yeah, that's the one based on the pattern from Damascus.

[B]

Okay. Which calling it the large altar, it's like. Okay, so this is bigger than Yahweh's altar.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But I'm going to keep Yahweh as my hedge. Mm. Gonna hedge my bets here. Uriah the priest did all this as King Ahaz commanded. And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them. And he took down the sea, the laugh, the big thing of water, I guess, from off the bronze oxen that were under it, put it on a stone pedestal. He is tearing apart the altar and every bit of the furnishing of the temple as constructed on Yahweh's design.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

I don't like your design. I'm going to move things around. And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the altar entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of Yahweh because of the king of Assyria. Was he trying to mimic what he'd seen in Damascus?

[A]

Well, I'm not sure. He removed the entrance of the king that was outside the house of the Lord from the face of the king of Assyria.

[B]

What verse was that?

[A]

Verse 18. Yeah. The Hebrew phrase used here may indicate that Ahaz had been ordered by Tiglath Pileser III to make these changes to the temple in order to obtain the goods necessary for his tribute payment to Assyria. It could also be a reference to Ahaz setting aside this portion of the temple so it would be out of sight of anyone from Assyria. So in other words, the guys of

[B]

the here's the bottom line. He sinned. He did things absolutely contrary to the Lord's commands. He was asking for it, you might say.

[A]

New English translation renders it this way. He also removed the Sabbath awning that had been built in the temple and the king's outer entranceway on account of the king of Assyria. But the translator's notes regarding Sabbath awning saying the precise meaning of the term is uncertain.

[B]

Well, it says and the covered way for the Sabbath, which is similar to saying some sort of a covering an awning.

[A]

Study notes from the Net Bible which by the way are also available for free, just like the Faith Life Study Bible. You can find [e-mail] netbible.org it is doubtful that Tiglath pileser ordered these architectural changes. Ahaz probably made these changes so he could send some of the items and materials to the Assyrian king as tribute. Again, taking the bronze oxen from below the sea and he put the sea, which is a big basin with water in it, on a stone foundation. Probably those bronze oxen were sent as tribute to Assyria.

[B]

Yeah, that would be my guess too. Yeah, because we had seen in second chronicles that he chopped them up. Yep, verse 20. And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his place.

[A]

Yeah, buried in the city of David, but not among the tombs of the kings of Israel. By the way, I looked this up in the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Reason R E Z I n name of one of the families of the temple personnel known as the Nethinim N E T H I N I M the sons of Reason are listed as part of the returnees from the exile in Ezra 2:48 and Nehemiah 7.

[B]

So there is a good receiver.

[A]

Yes, there is a good reason.

[B]

There's a good reason for reason being named.

[A]

Yes. And it may well be Retzin. But like I said, we can tell from the way some of the documents about my ancestor were spelled that they they pronounced reason back then in the 18th and 19th centuries. 2nd Kings 17. In the 12th year of the Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel. And he reigned nine years. And we're kind of moving back in time a little bit. So we're taking a run up to the reign of Pekah King of king of Israel.

[B]

So it's a flashback.

[A]

I think. So Hoshea reigned between 732 and 722 BC. Probably should put a timeline somewhere. Just easily accessible.

[B]

Ahaz reigned 16 years and this is in his 12th year.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So he had four years left to live. He just didn't know it.

[A]

Yeah. Hoshea, the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel and he reigned nine years. And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Osha became his vassal and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to so king of Egypt.

[B]

This is Segor S E G O R or Shegor.

[A]

Yeah. Outside of this one verse in the Bible, there is no evidence for any Egyptian king named. So this may refer to the king of Sais S A I s, the Egyptian city, which is referred to as Sa in Akkadian documents. So anyway, he sent messengers to the king of Egypt anyway and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria. And for three years he besieged it. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria.

[B]

Can we stop for a second? Imagine being under siege for three years.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That implies that this king of Assyria had time. He wasn't in a hurry to take over Samaria. He was using war of attrition. He was starving them out. Yeah, three years.

[A]

So that would be 725 BC because it was 722 when Samaria finally fell. But yeah, that's a long time to just know that you're locked up inside the city. You go up on the walls and you look out there and you see an enemy army of people who are known to flay their prisoners alive just for fun. Yeah, the Assyrians were nasty, nasty people. You did not want. I'm not sure I would want to become prisoner of the Assyrians. There are certain people in world history you would not want to fall prisoner to. The Inca.

[B]

Yeah, that would be bad.

[A]

Yeah, the Assyrians would be right up there. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed Them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan. And in the cities of the Medes, it says.

[B]

And in the mountains of the Medes.

[A]

Yeah. And that would be the. I guess the Zagros Mountains of northwestern Iran.

[B]

Yeah, yeah,

[A]

the Habor. There's a river called the Haber that is in northern Syria, southern Turkey. So they could refer to the what? Caber.

[B]

Caber.

[A]

Yeah. No, no, I'm thinking of the river that runs near the city of Haran in southern Turkey. These study notes here do not indicate where exactly that is.

[B]

You know, it's difficult because these being translated into English from Hebrew. Hebrew writing about place names that they didn't always say. Exactly. Because sometimes there was a twist of the name to denigrate it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or just from language to language, because it would not have been in Hebrew necessarily. It may have been in Hittite or whatever another language in the area was. I have no idea if, you know, I'm just thinking etymologically, is Heber related to Hever, which is very close to Khyber, which is in Afghanistan. So.

[A]

Yeah, don't know. Don't know. Don't know where goes on is either. Gozos. Yeah. Ghostbusters.

[B]

I knew you'd think of that.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. There's a triangle, an area that was called the Kabir Triangle in northern Syria. That was an area that was occupied by the Hurrians a long time ago. That's where the city of Kesh was located, if I'm remembering correctly. I could be wrong speaking out of turn, but anyway, northern Syria, I'm pretty sure about that.

[B]

You have an amazing memory, so you're probably right.

[A]

Verse 7. And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against Yahweh, their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the people of Israel and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.

[B]

So, no, the Lord didn't want them to send to Egypt for help.

[A]

No. Just as he didn't want Ahaz sending to the Assyrians for help.

[B]

Right. How about coming to me for help?

[A]

Yeah. The Lord says, so you got Israel going to Egypt and Judah going to Assyria and. Yeah, and the people of Israel did secretly. Verse 9.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And the people of Israel did secretly against Yahweh, their God. Things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns from Watchtower to Fortified city they set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree. And there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom Yahweh carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking Yahweh to anger.

[B]

Oh. This says they dealt with familiar spirits.

[A]

Ah.

[B]

And they carved images to provoke the Lord to anger.

[A]

And they served idols of which Yahweh had said to them, you shall not do this. Yet Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes in accordance with all the law that I commanded your fathers and. And that I sent to you by my servants, the prophets. But they would not listen, but were stubborn as their fathers had been, who did not believe in Yahweh, their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false. And they followed the nations that were around them concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of Yahweh, their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves. Again, I think that calf is just a pejorative here. They're insulting bull El, the father God of the Canaanites.

[B]

Not only that, it says even to heifers.

[A]

Oh, really?

[B]

Yeah. Okay, you're not only not grown up and big, you're just a little girl.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. The Canaanite father God El, the texts that have been discovered about him from Ugarit make reference to his, shall we say, generative powers fairly frequently. Yeah. He liked to dally with the goddesses. And so, yes, calling him basically a heifer, quite an insult. And they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served baal.

[B]

Let's see, how many. How many commandments can we break here? All of them.

[A]

Let's see if we can't get all of them in one king's reign here. Therefore, Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and he gave him a lot of time, actually, because again, we're talking 200 years since the split between Solomon, when Solomon's son took over, and Jeroboam split the two kingdoms. So we're talking about two centuries have passed.

[B]

Did you skip verse 17?

[A]

No, I hadn't got to it yet.

[B]

Okay. Because it looks to me like, according to the Septuagint, you've read all of 16 and you were starting in on 18. Start with 16 again.

[A]

Okay. And they abandoned all the commandments of Yahweh, their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves. And they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking him to anger.

[B]

That's what I was missing. Yeah.

[A]

Therefore, Yahweh was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. And this is where the myth of the, you know, the northern tribes being removed and disappearing has originated. This is not quite accurate because the tribe of Simeon was also in the south, further south than Judah even. And of course, the tribe of Benjamin was there with Judah. But you had a lot of Levites that came south when Jeroboam split the kingdoms and said, you're going to worship El instead of Yahweh. And there's another reference in the Chronicles somewhere of faithful people who came south because they wanted to remain faithful to Yahweh.

[B]

And many others were sent back later on, a couple hundred years later.

[A]

Right. When. When the tribes came back, Ezra, under Ezra and Nehemiah. So, yeah, I mean, the 10 northern tribes did not just disappear from history, nor did they become Anglo Saxons, which is a heretical teaching. That's out there.

[B]

Just right.

[A]

Yeah. That. We. We are. Ephraim. We. We are the northern kingdom. That.

[B]

No, we're not.

[A]

We're not. Sorry. We are. Sharon and I, anyway, are Japhethites, and you may be as well. 19, verse 19. Judah also did not keep the commandments of Yahweh, their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. And Yahweh rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers until he had cast them out of his sight.

[B]

Well, that's the thing. If you're going to say that those northern tribes vanished, then you have to look here and say, you know, the Lord punished all of them.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And the tribe of Judah, by the way, is just referring to the fact that Judah was the dominant tribe in the southern kingdom. That's all that means. It is not. I did not mean to imply in any way that the scripture here is inaccurate, because there are no errors in Scripture.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Yeah. Verse 21, when he had. Nope.

[B]

Yeah, 21.

[A]

21. When he had torn Israel from the house of David. They made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh and made them commit great sin. The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants, the prophets. So Israel was. Was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day. And of course, the chronicles being written after the exile would, you know, expand on that. But at the time of the writing of first and second kings, the exile had not yet ended. And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kutha. The city of Kutha, by the way, was the city sacred to Nergal, the entrance to the gatekeeper of the netherworld, who was equated with Reshef, the plague God, who was Apollo, Evi, Hamath, that's a kingdom in northern Syria and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear Yahweh. Therefore, Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So the king of Assyria was told, the nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the God of the land because Israel belongs to Yahweh. Therefore, he has sent lions among them. And behold, they are killing them because they do not know the law of the God of the land. Then the king of Assyria commanded, send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the God of the land.

[B]

Now, now, just so you understand, it's a capital G in God of the land in the Septuagint. Okay, so this seems to be implying Yahweh.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So he sent lions. You gotta love that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Lion of the tribe of Judah.

[A]

Now, here in the esv, it's. It's small G God.

[B]

Interesting. Yeah, his capital, G. So one of

[A]

the priests they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear Yahweh. But it is entirely possible that the priest that they carried off would have been rather idolatrous. I mean, if he was a priest in the northern kingdom, might not have been a priest of Yahweh, he would have been a priest of the golden calves.

[B]

Yes, but let us not forget that Elijah was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom and he thought he was the only good one, but he was wrong.

[A]

Yeah, prophet, but not a priest.

[B]

That's my point, though, that they would understand how to worship Yahweh. So if there were prophets that were loyal, maybe there were priests who were also loyal.

[A]

Could be, yeah. And it does say taught them how they should fear yahweh.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Verse 29. But.

[B]

Oh, there's always that.

[A]

Yeah, there's a but. But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made. Every nation in the cities in which they lived. The men of Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth. Don't know anything about that.

[B]

They were making images of their city deity.

[A]

Yes. The men of Koth made Nergal. There we go. The men of Chaboth made Ashima. And some of these are not mentioned anywhere else in. They've all got re entrance entries in the dictionary. Deities and Deity. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible.

[B]

We highly recommend. If you love studying and you want to understand some of these aspects of spiritual warfare more deeply, that book, you can either get the printed book or you can get a PDF. Yeah, which we've. I've got a PDF and it's searchable, so I can find all sorts of stuff in there.

[A]

Yeah. I looked up Ashima not too long ago and thought that was an interesting entry, But. Nope. Basically it's a long entry saying, well, it could be this, could be that, could be this other thing. But at the end of the day, we really don't know.

[B]

Right.

[A]

The Avites, a v v I t e s made Nibhas and Tartak, it

[B]

says a blazer or Oblitzer and Tartek.

[A]

Yeah. Again, unknown and unknown. And then Adrammelek. There we go. I want to look that one up again. Here we go. Both Adrammelec and Anamalek may be seen as aspects of Molech.

[B]

Yes. Because they end in Molech.

[A]

The Sepharvayats, the Sepharvites, burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anamalek. And again Melek, Molech. The Hebrews changed or Israelites changed the vowels from Melek, which means king, to Molech, which means basically a shameful thing. It becomes a pejorative. The gods of Sepharvayim, they also feared Yahweh and appointed among from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.

[B]

Can you read that again?

[A]

Beginning of 32, verse 32. They also feared Yahweh and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.

[B]

This says in the Septuagint. And they feared the Lord, yet they established their abominations in the houses of the high places, which they made in Samaria, each nation in the city in which they dwelt. And they feared the Lord, and they made for themselves priests of the high places and sacrificed for themselves in the house of the high places. It seems to be almost saying same thing twice.

[A]

It kind of does, but it's a

[B]

little different than from what you read.

[A]

Yeah. Verse 33. So they feared Yahweh, but also served their own gods after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

[B]

You have to wonder, is this repeated several times just to emphasize the fact that they allegedly, we have to say, feared Yahweh and yet worshiped these other deities? Did you really fear Yahweh?

[A]

Because if you did, you wouldn't be serving the other ones at all. Yeah. God is not. You shall place no other gods before him or in, you know, in higher in priority than him. And if you're making God one of a pantheon in a polytheistic religion, you're not really following that first commandment. No, to this day, they do according to the former manner. They do not fear Yahweh, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.

[B]

In verse 34, it's a repeat of the. It's, you know, repeat, rinse, repeat. Until this day, they did according to their manner. They fear the Lord. Doesn't say they did not. It says they fear the Lord and they do according to their customs and according to their manner and according to the law, and according to the commandment which the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whose name he made in Israel. Excuse me.

[A]

According to. Yeah, because the Masoretic says they do not follow the statutes of Jesus.

[B]

I know, that's why I read it out.

[A]

Gotcha.

[B]

It's repeating the previous verses.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They fear the Lord. Plus they do these other things. Yeah, they fear the Lord.

[A]

That's what it's called syncretism. You're basically taking worship of. And again, that's why they pointed out here they appointed all sorts of people as priests, because that's not what God commanded Moses.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

They were all supposed to be descendants of Levi.

[B]

We see this to this very day. I'm not talking about Israel, necessarily. I'm talking about religions, mainstream religions, that when they convert a tribe or a region, that the pagan rituals are simply converted. It's similar to the worship of saints.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Instead of ancestors.

[A]

Right. Praying to saints, which essentially is the same thing.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Augustine, the old ways.

[A]

Yeah. Augustine was responsible for that, by the way. We can't get him to stop venerating the ancestors. So let's just kind of Christianize that by saying. Okay, no, you got to pray to, like, you know, St. Paul and St. Peter and Saint Andrews all over the world. It does. It does. And there are a lot of New Age practices, too, that, like, was it Josh Peck and Stephen Bankhars in their book Second Coming of the New Age? A lot of Christians, knowingly or not, bring a lot of New Age practices into their religion.

[B]

What I do love, though, is that in Madagascar, when the. Were they Dutch or German?

[A]

Norwegian.

[B]

Norwegian missionaries came in and converted them to Lutheranism.

[A]

Right.

[B]

To Christianity. When Bill Bennett. Bob Bennett went over there, he was a little surprised to discover that they took the Bible quite seriously.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

And they were engaging in spiritual warfare, which the. The missionaries hadn't necessarily taught them. They just understood.

[A]

Right.

[B]

That this was real.

[A]

Oh, no, no. We don't believe in demons anymore. It's like. What are you talking about? It's right here in your book. The witch doctors got a better understanding of it than the missionaries. Yeah. Verse 34. Again, to this day, they do according to their former manner. To the former manner. They do not fear Yahweh, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that Yahweh commanded the children of Jaco, whom he named Israel.

[B]

It's so opposite of what's actually in the Septuagint.

[A]

Yahweh made a covenant with them and commanded them, you shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them, or serve them, or sacrifice to them, but you shall fear Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power. And with an outstretched arm, you shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandments that he wrote for you. The commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, but you shall fear Yahweh, your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner. So these nations feared Yahweh and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children, as their fathers did, so they do to this day. Well, Samaritans still had that reputation even down to the time of Jesus 700 years later.

[B]

Mm, very true. Well, now we are going to celebrate communion.

[A]

Yes. This is something that we do on the first Sunday of every month, the Lord's Supper, which is a reversal, one of many that we see in Scripture. In fact, I just finished producing tomorrow's just five things which will be about the Oak of Moreh. And it occurred to me that the. The pagan belief around the Oak of Moreh, which was believed to be an omphalos, or a point of contact between the natural realm and the supernatural, or the spirit realm, God reversed that through Abraham, where he appeared to Abraham when he first arrived in Canaan. And God told Abraham, sorry to be making noise. And at that time, Abraham was still called Avram. His name had not yet been changed and said that basically told Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. Later, Abraham's grandson Jacob buried all of the household idols, the household gods, as they're called in the book of Genesis, but the idols that represented the ancestors in the monthly ancestor ritual called Kispum, where they had to be summoned and fed. Jacob buried those idols at the Oak of Moreh. And then later Joshua, at the end of his life, when he called the tribes together, set up a stone as witness to the covenant between the people of Israel and God. And that's, of course, where Jacob made that very famous proclamation, choose this day whom you will serve. The gods of your fathers in the land beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh. And he set up that stone on Mount Gerizim there, at the Oak of Morehouse. So again God reclaimed that spot, which was referred to as the diviner's oak in the Book of Judges. When the city of Shechem rebelled against Abimelech, who was Gideon's son by his Canaanite concubine, it rebelled against the sons of Gideon and killed them all, except for one, Jotham, the youngest, who cursed them from Mount Geretzim near the Oak of Moreh. Anyway, the Lord's Supper, in the same way, reversed that kispim ritual, the feeding of the ancestors to keep them alive in the afterlife. Jesus became that ritual meal. And I hate to use the word ritual, because we don't do it as a ritual, believing that this somehow is magical or anything. It's just something that we do as well. As Paul wrote to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 11, beginning at verse 23, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

[B]

Hallelujah.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

This is a message to the fallen realm, saying it doesn't have to be repeated again and again and again. I have given my body and my blood one time. One and done. That's it. And I did it for these human beings that you decided weren't worthy. Yeah, they are worthy to me.

[A]

Mm. That's a really good point. Because the fallen realm tried to eliminate humanity, and then God himself sacrificed himself to make sure that we would have eternal life. Huh. Winning.

[B]

Winning because we are the children of the winner.

[A]

Amen. Well, every week, when we remember, which we try to do every week, we answer a question which you can submit to us one of two ways, either by email infoilberthouse.org that's infoilberthouse.org or through our little app. And you can go into the app, into the community section there. If you've got the app on your smartphone or tablet, look for the little talk bubbles in the top right hand corner on the main screen, and that'll bring you in there. And they've got a section for questions for Derek and questions for Sharon. And this week, questions for Sharon was quite active. Was it two for you this week? Oh, yeah. One from Steven.

[B]

Hi, Steven.

[A]

Listening to the first book of the Red Wing Saga, so.

[B]

Oh, thank you.

[A]

All of the Red Wing Saga novels, by the way, are available as audiobooks. So you can read those or listen as your. As your choice at your discretion. Is it pure fiction or is it your belief the killings were actually satanic rituals? I certainly believe they could have been ritualistic killings. I've read about the Austin axe Murderer and always thought it was interesting how they could tie into the Ripper murders. Don't know anything about the Austin axe murderer. But anyway, regarding the Jack the Ripper

[B]

killings, I personally think they were ritualistic. There are a number of reasons why I conclude that they had a spiritual aspect in the Red Wing saga. There were more than just five murders. There are only five canonical murders recognized as by Ripperologists. But there were at least two others that might fit in there, if not three or four others. There were also murders like that taking place in other countries, not necessarily at the same time, but somewhere within a 50 year period before or after. And of course, we've had serial killers as well since the descriptions from witnesses very wildly as to what he looked like. But think about this. The reproductive organs seem to be prized by whatever was doing this. And I say what intentionally? But it was done so quickly. There was one murder and I think it's the one where the leather apron. The part of a leather apron was left. A policeman had just walked past. When he walked past this area again. When he walked past the first time, nothing was there. No one was there. When he walked past the second time, only a few minutes later, later, because he had a beat that he walked from one end to the other, he saw the body. No screaming, nothing like that. So whatever happened, happened within a minute or two. For a woman to be murdered and without screaming and disemboweled or. Or have her reproductive organs or both removed. Not in a butchery kind of. I'm just going to slash and pull this stuff out. If you're not aware of anatomy, you have. The intestines aren't just slopping around in there. They're connected to a mesenteric membrane. So that in order to get to the various organs, including the kidney in one case, it takes a little bit of finessing and you have to know anatomy a bit. So I do think that these were another series of murders that were taking place. Had to do with. There was a torso discovered at Scotland Yard. There were a number of heads that were discovered and also infants, some of them preborn. So these things that I put in the Red Wing saga, a lot of them are actual facts in history. Why would you do these things unless they have some spiritual aspect at the very least? If it's a human doing it, this human is inspired by the fallen realm. These are sacrifices to the fallen realm. And sometimes the trophies that were taken had. I think they had ritualistic meaning.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So anyway, yes, the answer is yes.

[A]

I Just looked up the. The Austin ax murderer. And this was a series of murders that were committed in Austin, Texas, three years before Jack the Ripper called the servant girl murders or the servant girl Annihilator.

[B]

Thank you very much for mentioning this, because I wasn't aware of those. I'm gonna definitely look those up. And there's a. An American branch of the inner circle that will be featured in one of Derek's novels.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it would surprise me.

[A]

Yeah. Thank you for that. Because 1884 and 1885, a series of eight ax murders referred to as the servant girl murders. Five black women, two white women, and one black man.

[B]

That's really interesting.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And they were all servants.

[A]

Yes. New York Times reporting on this December 26, 1885, murders committed by some cunning madman who is insane. Insane on the subject of killing women. But again, one man was one of the victims.

[B]

And of course, there was H.H. holmes.

[A]

Yes. the same. Yes. Around that.

[B]

Just about the same time. Yeah. It was in 93.

[A]

Right.

[B]

In Chicago area.

[A]

Right. So, yeah. So, Stephen, thank you very much for that. Because that. What was going on around that period of time?

[B]

Well, I will tell you a number of things. One of the. This is actually going to dovetail into my talk in Springfield, because 1884 is when those nine individuals met to plan out the best way to look after humans.

[A]

Ah, okay.

[B]

I'm not going to give you any more clue than that, but the fact is that there were nine of them. I think that's so significant. Yeah, yeah. 1884.

[A]

Okay. So one more question for you. Dear Sharon, is it wrong to be cremated? The same from Dolores writes, I am 70 years old, and I've chosen to be cremated to save my family the expense of burying me. Please let me know soon. And I did respond to her in the. In the app. And also one of our other regulars inside the app shared a very good video teaching from a fellow who I believe is Mennonite Edwin Yoder. He's got the dress and he's got the beard, but he had a very good teaching on this and said, look, Scripture tells us Genesis 3:19. Essentially, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, to dust. That's not a direct quote from the verse, but basically says that to dust we will return.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Please let me know soon. I don't want to go to hell for my decision.

[B]

I don't. There's nothing in the Bible that implies that you would go to hell for that. We do see that. The burning of infants to molech.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

But being Cremated is entirely different.

[A]

Yeah. And the. The fact is that the human body eventually decomposes.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

And turns back to dust anyway.

[B]

Trust me, the Lord knows the. The plan. He can put me back together out of nothing.

[A]

But what about, you know, you could make the case then if. If cremation was, you know, in error. Because there's nothing in scripture that says deliberately cremating yourself after your death to dispose of your remains. It's not a ritual to a pagan deity.

[B]

No, it would not be. Unless, of course, you're someone who said, you know, I think I'll just offer myself up to this deity and burn

[A]

myself as a burnt sacrifice. Yeah, that's different. That's totally different.

[B]

Your father was cremated.

[A]

My dad was cremated. Mom intends to be cremated. You and I have both made decisions.

[B]

Yeah, I just see no point that way. If you are left alone and I go first, you can just take me with you. Yeah. Travel from here to there.

[A]

Yeah. And I know that there are some who concerned. Well, if you burn yourself, then how can you be resurrected? Because you just be ash. That's my point again. Your body is going to decompose into dust anyway. The Lord has the pattern and he has the power. So he spoke the entire universe into existence, I think.

[B]

Oh, nothing.

[A]

Yeah. But no, it is not something that. Dolores, this would not condemn you. She said she was told by a friend that the Book of Enoch speaks against this. Now, we've been studying, we're up to almost chapter 60 of the book of 1 Enoch, and we've not come across anything.

[B]

No, neither have I.

[A]

That speaks about this. Bear in mind that One Enoch is not scripture. There are things in it that are important to understanding Christian theology. But again, unless you're offering yourself as a sacrifice to a pagan deity, Dolores, there is nothing to be concerned about. And again, Sharon and I plan to do it. My dad was cremated. My mother will be cremated. In fact, just kind of an amusing story which shows. And I think we can laugh about this because we knew, my sister and me, where dad went after his passing. We knew that he knows the Lord. And he said as much to me during that time. I had with him just a few weeks before he passed. He said, look, if I recover, great. If I don't, I'm ready to go. And he knew the Lord and so he was prepared. But when he was cremated, they had to have my mother sign a release acknowledging that there was no way they could guarantee that 100% of the ash in the urn was my dad and my sister. Started laughing and mom thought that was really inappropriate as to why she was laughing. And Sandy said, well, dad always enjoyed having people to talk to.

[B]

I know, I know. I love that so much.

[A]

Now again, she was not serious about that. But again, it's just my sister, she's got an odd sense of humor. So thank you for that question, Dolores. Please don't let that trouble you because, you know, we're, we're like you. We're at that age. We're starting to think about those kind of plans. But no, we. And again, thank you to the regular in the forum there on our app who answered very quickly with what I think was a very comforting answer. I'd never heard of Edwin Yoder before, but he gave a very good 30 minute teaching on this and basically said the same thing. Do not be distressed about something like this.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yeah. And certainly the cost of cremation and an urn is much, much cheaper than having to pick out a coffin.

[B]

If you're really concerned about it, there are other ways you can go. My sister Marty was buried in I think a cardboard coffin or something like that so that she could very quickly. It was very inexpensive for her husband and she just wanted to very quickly decompose because my sister is with the Lord. Absolutely with the Lord. So she wasn't worried about what happened to her body after she died?

[A]

No, no.

[B]

She's going to get a new one.

[A]

And the fact is that once you have passed on, your physical remains are. You're no longer there. And once you're in the ground, your loved ones are not going to dig you back up to, you know, look at you again. So what's. No, you're, you might as well. What, you know, Marty did, I think was a. I know was a really good option as well.

[B]

Great idea. And it was very inexpensive.

[A]

Yeah. So don't, don't despair if that's something that you or if a loved one is considering it. Don't, don't be distressed over it. It's just, you know, a less expensive way of. And, and certainly it takes up less real estate, which is. Okay.

[B]

Well, the other thing is, and this is why I say to you, because we don't know that you say if I went first that you would live here for. By yourself for a long time. Probably not.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You would probably move somewhere. So what if you're in a different state and I'm, you know, it's like my parents are both buried in Indiana.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We here living in here. Missouri. Your dad is buried in South Carolina.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Even though he was cremated, he's in an urn in a little niche in South Carolina.

[A]

Yeah. And mom will go back and be next to him when she passes on. But yeah, we're such a mobile society anymore that many of us no longer live near anywhere near where our ancestors or even our parents are interred.

[B]

It's like Reason Bailey.

[A]

Nobody knows where Reason is buried now. I actually found the burial location or at least the graveyard where my great, great great great grandfather Grumbright Bailey was interred. He must have had a very exciting life because he lived through the American Revolution and the War of 1812, as did Reason. Reason served as a scout and spy for General J. James Wilkinson, who turned out to be a dual agent for the King of Spain after the War of 1812 or before the War of 1812. He was. Yeah, he was a character. And Reason was a drove pack animals for General Mad Anthony Wayne to the Battle of the fallen timbers in 17. I want to say that was 1794, where the, they called it the American Legion under General Wayne defeated the Shawnee and a coalition of tribes under blue Jacket. Which is why you've got the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team and then you've got the Fort Wayne Mad Ants minor league basketball team. But yeah, Reason why he left his kids with a neighbor in Sullivan County, Indiana and then went over to Illinois and presumably passed away somewhere in Illinois.

[B]

Even then mobile society people were moving around.

[A]

Well, that's true.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

That's true.

[B]

So OG Report.

[A]

The OG Report. Well, after we got back from the go there for conference, had three specialists appointments in two days. Pulmonology got another prescription for yet another inhaler. So now I've got three inhalers plus the generic albuterol that I came home with from the hospital with. So I've got four inhalers, not counting the non prescription Primatene mist, which makes five inhalers. Got all the inhalers.

[B]

You don't use the primate.

[A]

No, don't use the Primatene. I'm going for the prescription strength stuff. So we'll be seeing him again in a little bit. Just to follow up with the the. Because I've been dealing, I've been needing the. The. The rescue inhaler more frequently.

[B]

Yeah. Of late again, if we brought the cats in, we'd end up taking Derek to the emergency room.

[A]

Yeah, the. The level of oxygen in my blood every time they put an oximeter, you know, little thing they put on your finger to check pulse and oxygen levels. I'm always 97 to 99%. So I don't need oxygen yet, but. So it's a very mild case of copd.

[B]

Well, technically, your tissues are getting oxygen in your finger.

[A]

True. If I could walk on my fingers, that would probably be a lot.

[B]

But whether or not your brain's getting the oxygen it needs, I don't know.

[A]

That's a different question. They need a really big thing to just stick on your head.

[B]

They do, yeah.

[A]

Neurology. We're going to see them again in December. Started with the first round of intravenous immunoglobulin infusions. That was the Monday and Tuesday before the conference in Ohio. I haven't noticed any difference yet, but according to what we've read, I shouldn't expect to feel any difference until four to six weeks at the earliest. So I love the second round of infusions coming up in two weeks.

[B]

You also will be seeing at some point in the near future, an ophthalmologist. In fact, he was my ophthalmologist when I had my cataracts off. He is one of the brightest minds in the region when it comes to ophthalmology and also when it comes to neuro ophthalmology.

[A]

Right. Because I've got an ocular migraine, which is when you see like a little fluttery thing in your vision.

[B]

And.

[A]

And oftentimes, at least when I get those in the past, it would be at the corner of my vision. It would kind of move, and then it would fade away in 30 minutes or so.

[B]

Sometimes called an aura, it just sort of travels from one side to the other, usually in the space of 30 minutes. But yours has been around for about a month. Yeah.

[A]

And it's just straight ahead and it's always in the same place. It doesn't. Doesn't move. So. And it's, you know, when I. Doesn't matter when I close one eye or the other, it's. It's.

[B]

It's there.

[A]

So it's not a physical thing. It's probably a neurological thing.

[B]

It's not in your eyes. All of those tests were on. So it's not in your eyes. It's in your brain somewhere. Honey, you've got a brain cloud.

[A]

The Tom Hanks movie, Joe Versus the Volcano.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah. He's brain cloud. You couldn't come up with anything better than that?

[B]

Oh, gosh, I love that movie.

[A]

So anyway, yeah, so we'll be adding another specialty here, ophthalmology to all of the other allergies.

[B]

Why not?

[A]

And then the Hematologist, oncologist, saw him and finally got a talk with him about the results of all the tests that have been done, the blood work, the bone marrow biopsy and so forth. And his assessment is that it's indicating what they call smoldering myeloma, which is a type of bone marrow and blood cancer. But it. It's like stage zero. In other words, I don't have the cancer yet, but the very low level of this odd protein that was detected in my blood means that it could develop at some point into myeloma. So I'll need to follow up with him about every four months. Going back.

[B]

I think you're going back in a few weeks, but after that it's going to be about every four months, right?

[A]

Yeah. Going. Because he had ordered another test and so going to. Is it radiology? Yeah, for this other test in a couple of weeks. So, yeah, so we'll add that Radiology to another specialist. Yeah. So that's it. I was trying to, you know, put a good spin on this, as I, you know, told, you know, filled in our daughter about all this and said smoldering myeloma is very rare, just like cidp, which is the autoimmune issue I'm dealing with. So now I've got not one, but two conditions that affect about one out of every hundred thousand people. And Nicole sent back a note saying, stop trying to be so unique, please.

[B]

She worries about you.

[A]

She does.

[B]

She loves you very, very much. And we love her, too.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So anyway, that's the OG Report. We are going to be in Springfield this coming week.

[A]

Yes. So we will not be here next weekend with a Bible study because we will be in at the Oasis Hotel and Conference center for the remnant rising 2.0 conference.

[B]

I'm riding my horse all the way there. You can see on a video. It's proof.

[A]

Yes, yes, it is. Totally not AI.

[B]

Totally not AI.

[A]

No. No. Okay. It is just we did the nose and we will be there with a number of people we're looking forward to meeting, like John Pounders, host of now youw See tv, Tony Merke of host of the Confessionals, and the head of Merkle Media, which is working on a documentary featuring Vicki Joy Anderson. Oh, and that's what she was using the barn for.

[B]

Oh, that's right.

[A]

A few weeks back. Yeah. She borrowed the barn so they could have a set for that. Jamie Walden, Pastor Larry Ragland, Tracy Tennant, Dave Hodges of the Common Sense Show. Kenny C. Will be there and he will be speaking this Time. David Paxton, Ashley Schrader, who's got a very interesting ministry, beyond the Bite.

[B]

Beyond the Bite. Talking about tick bites.

[A]

Yeah. And how you can live a productive life even after contracting Lyme. And the emcee, Patrick McCurdy will actually be serving as the MC. Oh, good. Had a chance to meet him last year. Wonderful man and a great ministry, reaching out to and helping for first responders who are often traumatized by some of the things that they have to see.

[B]

And he was very, very helpful to us.

[A]

He was very much so.

[B]

So if you're going to be there, please stop by our table and say hello. And if you cannot go in person, because I think it is. So it's kind of full right now. If you can't go in person, you can stream it.

[A]

Yeah. Streaming videos available. You can do that at Hear the watchmen sign up. That is Hear the Watchmen. That's herethewatchmen.com and by the way, you can still sign up and get streaming video from last weekend's conference atgo therefore conference.com. so if you want to see some of the great presentations like Greg Reed's talk.

[B]

Oh, I know.

[A]

And some of the others.

[B]

All of them so very good. Yours was really you. You Seriously, honey, it was the best presentation I've heard. You give it a long time. And I know that you kind of regret that you can no longer, you know, preach. Walking back and forth, you know, like your typical preacher man, but sitting quietly in your chair and telling these truths about the long spiritual war. Yeah. We all need to understand that.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'll be sitting again this coming weekend. And Mike Kerr very graciously said, hey, I saw the picture of you from the conference in Ohio. Do you want that kind of a setup again? Say yes, please. Because standing at a podium would be.

[B]

It's just not.

[A]

I could do it, but it would be very tiring.

[B]

Yeah. And by the way, Derek's new book is now available for in print, in Kindle and in audio format.

[A]

Right. Meant to put the link in yesterday's notes for the PID radio episode. But you can still do that. I did not. I can still do that and modify things, but I will put it in the notes for this week's study. So if you're interested in the book War of the Watchers, Book one from BAAL to Balfour basically covers the history of the long supernatural war for the land and people of Israel from pre history through World War I, then. Yeah, it is available right now. And I think today the new Programs. The two programs. The first of the two programs that we recorded at Skywatch TV about the book is available.

[B]

Oh, good, good.

[A]

So if that is the case, I will check on that and I'll put a link to that in the notes as well so you can get an idea of what the book is about. But yeah, that should be available. And they may have a special on that at Skywatch tv. I don't know, because I don't know if they got the books from the printer yet.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But I know it's available now at Amazon.

[B]

Yep. And because they haven't had. If they are available from the printer, we'll pick up a few and bring them to Springfield with us. But I don't think they are.

[A]

Yeah, I don't think so either. I think that they were looking at September for those.

[B]

Yeah, me too. I think that because of your talks in the two conferences, I think they made them available. Available at Amazon sooner.

[A]

Yeah. So anyway, that's. That's what's going on there. Let's close with a word of prayer.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Father, we thank youk for bringing us together over your word today. And, Lord, we see, looking back over 2,700 years of history, the foolishness of young King Ahaz and how he chose to follow other gods and how the people followed him in this. Well, in this. In this heresy. Father, this is a pattern that we see repeated over and over through history. Whenever we get comfortable, we begin to think that we are responsible for the good things in our lives instead of you as the source of all our blessings. Lord, may we be wise and turn to you, even in good times, to always be humble and thankful that you have blessed us as you have. And, Father, when things get difficult, may we accept these tests that you have allowed for our own growth. May we learn from these lessons rather than as Ahaz did, rejecting youg and turning to other gods. Father, we pray for our elected officials that they would have wisdom and turn to youo as a source of instruction and guidance and as the source of a moral code that does not change. Father, we know that there are many things in this world that cause many to question, why do bad things happen to good people? And we know, Lord, it's because you chose to create us with free will rather than creating us as little slaves, little automatons, unable to choose for our own, just as we as parents choose to have children, knowing that they will someday rebel and try to talk their way out of responsibility for their own actions. Lord, we are guilty of doing the same thing. Each day we fall short of your moral code by thought, by word, by deed. We ask your forgiveness for our sins, Father. We give thanks for your sacrifice on our behalf, which you chose to do, knowing from the beginning of time that we would rebel against your authority. We pray, Father, for that day when you welcome us back into your presence like the prodigal son returning home and where Jesus will sing of your praises. And when we will see that the trials we suffer in this life were as nothing compared to the glory that we'll experience in your presence. We pray, Father, for the wisdom and the courage to share the hope that we have in you with our families and our friends. Speaking gently, Father, planting seeds that your spirit will bring to fruition, Father, until that day when you call us home, we see you coming in the clouds with great glory. We pray for your blessing and we give thanks for them. In Jesus name, Amen.

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Until next time, in two weeks. Hello, I'm Derek Gilbert.

[B]

I'm Sharon Gilbert. We love you so very, very much. Jesus loves you so much. He died and rose again just for you. Bye bye everybody.

[A]

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