1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Season two of Love in Context podcast welcomes you. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,600 Get ready for engaging unscripted conversations with your host, Ben and Spencer. 3 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:17,120 Our mission remains unchanged to explore the Bible through the powerful lens of love. 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,060 In this new season, we'll embark on a journey together, unearthing fresh insights and gaining 5 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:25,440 deeper understanding of how we can love God and live out our faith in practical ways. 6 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:30,200 So let's dive into this season of Love in Context, where love in the context of the 7 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:34,400 Bible intersect to transform our lives. 8 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:35,560 All right, everyone. 9 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,320 Welcome back to the podcast. 10 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:39,480 Exactly. 11 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:42,320 We are starting a new series today. 12 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:43,520 Actually we started it last week. 13 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,680 We're starting a new series today. 14 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:51,200 Now we actually started a new series last week. 15 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:52,440 Sorry. 16 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,480 These episodes sometimes just blend together for me a little bit and it's like, OK. 17 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:00,320 You know, the problem is what ends up happening is you and I talk about these and then we 18 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:02,320 order these and then we start recording them. 19 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:03,820 But then we're talking about what's coming up. 20 00:01:03,820 --> 00:01:07,680 And so it's hard to be like, what did we talk about and what are we about to talk about? 21 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:08,680 Yeah. 22 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:15,240 So we are talking about kings and kingdoms and non-Jewish kings in the Bible. 23 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:16,920 So buckle up. 24 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,280 Some of you are going to be like, wait a second. 25 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:27,400 I thought the Bible was all about the Jewish tradition, faith, the introduction of Christianity. 26 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:28,520 Yes, all of that stuff. 27 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:29,840 All of those things. 28 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:34,400 However, there are people in the Bible who are mentioned who are not Jewish. 29 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:35,400 Right. 30 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:36,400 By tradition. 31 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:42,920 So last week there was that guy by the name of Mckisdek, who is just an intriguing character. 32 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,080 And we basically ascertained a few things. 33 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,880 He was a real person and we don't completely understand what his role was. 34 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:49,880 Yep. 35 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:54,640 Except that he's used later as this idea of like a stand in for Jesus. 36 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,000 That Jesus is a priest in the line of Mckisdek. 37 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:58,000 Yeah. 38 00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Right. 39 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:00,000 Yeah. 40 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,000 So go listen to that episode. 41 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,560 Today we're going to be talking about Sennacherib. 42 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,360 Yeah, it was not a stutter. 43 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:06,360 That's a real name. 44 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:08,360 If you are expecting child. 45 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:09,360 Little Sennacherib. 46 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:10,360 Yeah. 47 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:11,360 Sennacherib. 48 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:12,360 There you go. 49 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,880 Or if you want to have two children, you can name one Sennacherib, one Kareb. 50 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:15,880 Yeah. 51 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:16,880 Yeah. 52 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:18,480 I mean, however you want to do that. 53 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:19,720 That is up to you. 54 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,000 So we're just going to kind of start with some background. 55 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,840 How many, I mean, show of hands, people who are listening. 56 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:28,200 I really do want you to raise your hands. 57 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:29,200 How many of you. 58 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:30,200 We will know. 59 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:31,200 We will know. 60 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:32,200 Yeah. 61 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:33,200 How many of you know who Sennacherib is? 62 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:34,200 Oh, Ben does. 63 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:35,200 Yeah. 64 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:36,200 Right. 65 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:37,200 Right. 66 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:41,560 It's not a, at least, you know, I've studied the Bible my whole life and this is not a 67 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:43,280 name that pops up a lot. 68 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,160 Well, it doesn't show up a ton. 69 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,720 No, it shows up a couple of times. 70 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:56,080 Sennacherib was king of Assyria from about 705 BCE to 681 BCE. 71 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:01,880 He is known for his military campaigns and expansion of the Assyrian empire. 72 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:07,000 So Assyria, little context there, they were not a nice nation. 73 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,000 No. 74 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:09,000 No. 75 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,600 Like they actually, we're not going to dive into it on this podcast, but you can go research 76 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,360 some of the horrific practices they did to nations that they conquered. 77 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:20,440 Yeah, let's just say it involved a lot of like heads on polls and different things like 78 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:21,440 that. 79 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,520 And that was like the starting point. 80 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:24,520 Yes. 81 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:25,520 Yes. 82 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,280 The one I will share with you is they did have a game that they would play to see who 83 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,400 could skin a victim alive and keep them alive the longest. 84 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:34,400 Yeah. 85 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:35,400 Not good people. 86 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:36,400 Yeah. 87 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:37,400 So that would give you kind of idea of who they are. 88 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:38,400 Yeah. 89 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:39,960 So just just brutal invasions. 90 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:40,960 Yeah. 91 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,120 So when we're talking about Assyrians, we're not like a lot of times we're like, oh yeah, 92 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,640 the Assyrians conquered this nation. 93 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,280 It's more like the Assyrians came in and completely devastated this nation to where there was 94 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,240 like little to nothing left of them. 95 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:53,240 Correct. 96 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,080 And what was left, they typically cart off into slavery. 97 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:57,080 Yeah. 98 00:03:57,080 --> 00:03:58,080 Yep. 99 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:05,040 So there are two different accounts of where you can actually find Sennacherib mentioned. 100 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:07,640 First one is Second Kings 18 and 19. 101 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:08,640 Yeah. 102 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,120 And so we're actually just going to read that because I don't know how many of you actually 103 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,240 read in Second Kings 18 and 19 recently. 104 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:15,600 It's probably at the top of all your lists. 105 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:16,920 Actually just read through first and second. 106 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:17,920 Oh, there you go. 107 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:18,920 So overachiever. 108 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:19,920 Yeah. 109 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:20,920 All right. 110 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,000 So starting verse one, it says in the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel 111 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,760 has a kiosk and has King of Judah became began to reign. 112 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:32,840 He was 25 years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years. 113 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:36,000 His mother name was Abba Jah, daughter of Zechariah. 114 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,600 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father, David, had done. 115 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:44,160 By the way, if you read Kings, you know that is not the normal refrain that you get. 116 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,120 It's usually he does not do do good. 117 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:47,120 Yep. 118 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:48,120 So what did he do? 119 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:52,120 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. 120 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,720 He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made for at that time. 121 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:57,520 The Israelites had been burning incense to it. 122 00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:59,680 It was called Nahashitan. 123 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:03,560 By the way, we did the Torah series and we talked about the bronze tank and the whole 124 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:04,960 thing about this bronze snake. 125 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,840 You're supposed to look to to God for salvation. 126 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:08,840 Yeah. 127 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:12,800 And now this very thing that was supposed to like lead them back to God, they're now 128 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:14,600 worshiping as an idol. 129 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:15,600 Yeah. 130 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:16,600 Not great. 131 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:17,600 No. 132 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:21,840 So Hazzakai had trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, and there was no one like him among 133 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:24,800 all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 134 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,780 He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him. 135 00:05:27,780 --> 00:05:30,820 He kept the commands the Lord had given Moses and the Lord was with him. 136 00:05:30,820 --> 00:05:33,240 He was successful in whatever he undertook. 137 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,280 He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him from Watchtower to Fort 138 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:41,320 of Ith City, he defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory. 139 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,200 In King Hazzakai's fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hosea, son of Elah, king 140 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:46,200 of Israel. 141 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,800 Wow, that is a great name. 142 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:53,720 Shalman Nasser, king of Syria, marched against Samaria and laid sea-stread. 143 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:55,720 At the end of three years, the Assyrians took it. 144 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,920 So Samaria was captured and Hazzakai is six year. 145 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:04,720 The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled in the Hala in Gozin in the Haber 146 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,560 River and in the towns of Meads. 147 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:09,280 You really need Nick here to read all this. 148 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:11,120 This is so good for him. 149 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,520 This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God and they had violated his 150 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:16,520 commandments. 151 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,120 All that Moses the servant had commanded him. 152 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:23,000 In the fourteenth year of King Hazzakai's reign, Sennacherib, that's the guy we're talking 153 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,680 about, king of Assyria, attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 154 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,240 So Hazzakai of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish. 155 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:35,640 I have done nothing wrong, withdraw from me and I will pay whatever you demand of me. 156 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:40,820 The king of Assyria exacted from Hazzakai, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver 157 00:06:40,820 --> 00:06:42,860 and thirty talents of gold. 158 00:06:42,860 --> 00:06:45,760 So Hazzakai gave him all the gold that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the 159 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:47,880 treasuries of the royal palace. 160 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:52,560 At this time, Hazzakai, king of Judah, shipped off the gold which he had covered the doors 161 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:56,180 and doorposts of the temple of the Lord and gave it to the king of Assyria. 162 00:06:56,180 --> 00:07:00,160 But the king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander in 163 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,600 a large army from Lachish to king of Assyria at Jerusalem. 164 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:07,360 They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the upper pool on the road to 165 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:08,920 the waterman's field. 166 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:13,640 They called it for the king and Elikim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator. 167 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:14,640 You're right. 168 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:15,640 I really well loves here. 169 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:16,640 Pastor Nick, read this. 170 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:17,640 Yeah. 171 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,720 Shepna, the secretary and Joah, son of Asva, the recorder, went out to them. 172 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:22,480 The field commander said this to them. 173 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:23,480 Tell Hazzakai. 174 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:28,920 All right, by the way, this is about what's going to get Sennacherib in trouble. 175 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:33,840 Because God was using them to go and bring correction to his kids. 176 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:37,120 But he's about to overstep his bounds here. 177 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:41,120 This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says, on what are you basing this confidence 178 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:42,120 of yours? 179 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:45,560 You say you have the council and might for war, but you speak only empty words. 180 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,280 On whom are you depending that you rebel against me? 181 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:52,460 Look, I know you're depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff which pierces the 182 00:07:52,460 --> 00:07:54,440 hand of anyone who leans on it. 183 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:59,120 Such a Pharaoh king, such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 184 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:02,720 But if you say to me, we are depending on the Lord, our God, isn't he the one whose 185 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,280 high places and altars has a car removed? 186 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:10,160 Saying to Judah, the dish in Jerusalem, you must worship before this altar in Jerusalem. 187 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:12,760 Come now, make a bargain with your master, the king of Assyria. 188 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:14,600 I will give you 2000 horses. 189 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,840 If you can put riders on them, how can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's 190 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:23,440 official, even though you are demanding depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 191 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:27,160 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? 192 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,520 The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it. 193 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,160 OK, so not a great move on his part. 194 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:41,880 So I'm going to not interbreed in the rest of this, but they they go out and then they 195 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:43,320 say, don't listen, has a guy. 196 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:44,320 Don't listen, has a guy. 197 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:45,600 Don't listen to has a guy. 198 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,160 And then has a guy of praise. 199 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:50,360 And I say I then prophesies Seneca Rebs fall. 200 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:55,800 By the way, you should recognize Isaiah from the book of Isaiah. 201 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:00,480 And he prophesies this in Chapter 19, starting in verse 21. 202 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:02,680 Virgin daughter Zion despises you and mocks you. 203 00:09:02,680 --> 00:09:05,040 Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee. 204 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,000 Who is it that you have ridiculed and blasphemed against? 205 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,320 Who have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride against the Holy One of 206 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:11,320 Israel? 207 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,200 By the way, that's not a good idea. 208 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,480 By your messengers, you have ridiculed the Lord and you have said, with my many chariots, 209 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,040 I have ascended to the heights of the mountain, the utmost heights of Lebanon. 210 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:23,200 I will cut down its tallest cedars, the choices of its junipers. 211 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:27,240 I will reach its remotest areas, our most parts, the finest of its forests. 212 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,480 I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there with the soles of my feet. 213 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:32,600 I have dried up all the streams of Egypt. 214 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:34,560 Have you not heard long ago? 215 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:35,880 I ordained it in the days of old. 216 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:36,880 I planned it. 217 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:42,360 Now I have brought it to pass that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. 218 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,160 Their people drained of power and dismayed and put to shame. 219 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,920 They're like plants in the field, like tender green shoots and grass sprouting on the roof, 220 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:50,760 scorched before it grows up. 221 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:54,600 But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against me because 222 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:58,960 you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears. 223 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:04,080 I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth and I will make you return by 224 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:05,400 the way you came. 225 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:07,600 This will be a sign for you, Hezekiah. 226 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:11,080 This year you will eat what grows by itself and the second year what springs from that. 227 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,640 But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 228 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:20,320 Even more, a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will not take root below and bear fruit above. 229 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,120 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, not of Mount Zion, a band of survivors. 230 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,680 The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. 231 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:29,500 Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria. 232 00:10:29,500 --> 00:10:33,560 He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. 233 00:10:33,560 --> 00:10:36,940 He will not come before with shield or build a siege ramp against it. 234 00:10:36,940 --> 00:10:38,500 By the way that he came, he will return. 235 00:10:38,500 --> 00:10:40,880 He will not enter this city, declares the Lord. 236 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:45,440 I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of David my servant. 237 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:49,680 Then it says that that night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 238 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:50,920 in the Assyrian camp. 239 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,280 When the people woke up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies. 240 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,140 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. 241 00:10:57,140 --> 00:10:59,600 He returned to Nineveh and he stayed there. 242 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:05,280 And then one day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrach, his sons Adram 243 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:10,680 Melek, wow, he's great in naming his kids too, and Shirazer killed him with a sword 244 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:13,480 and they escaped to the land of Ararat. 245 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:18,360 And his son Erashadon succeeded him as king. 246 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:19,360 That's Sennacherib story. 247 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:20,360 Right? 248 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:21,520 Like that's who he is. 249 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:26,600 He was, like the thing is, in his life he's actually is being called by God to come and 250 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:28,160 bring correction. 251 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,800 Because the kings are continually doing evil on the side of the Lord, doing evil on the 252 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:33,760 side of the Lord, doing evil on the side of the Lord. 253 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:36,760 And eventually God's like, listen, you got to tell the right story and I'm going to bring 254 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:38,840 a remnant out of you. 255 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:43,120 But Sennacherib, unfortunately, gets a little too big for his britches. 256 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,040 Yep. 257 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:46,040 He does. 258 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:47,700 And guess what happens to him? 259 00:11:47,700 --> 00:11:48,700 He loses. 260 00:11:48,700 --> 00:11:49,700 He loses. 261 00:11:49,700 --> 00:11:54,320 Like, and it's like such a dramatic loss because he's like, you say that God's going to protect 262 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:55,660 you, but God sent me here. 263 00:11:55,660 --> 00:11:57,600 So I'm going to come and I'm going to do all this things. 264 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:58,600 It's not by his hand. 265 00:11:58,600 --> 00:11:59,600 I'm super strong. 266 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,680 Because like, hmm, yeah, let's have a conversation about that. 267 00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:04,680 Right. 268 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:09,560 So one of the other spots where he sees Sennacherib mentioned is Isaiah 36 and 37. 269 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:14,120 So on the 14th year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib, king of Assyria attacked all 270 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:15,800 the fortified cities and captured them. 271 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:17,400 We just read this, right? 272 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:24,840 And then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army to Leshan, to 273 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:30,600 King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, where the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the upper pool 274 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:38,920 of the road, the road of the lavender field, Elikim son of Helikai. 275 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:40,760 Maybe it's good to have you read these names. 276 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:41,760 Yeah. 277 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:49,120 The palace administrator, Shereb the secretary and Joah son of Ashif the recorder went with 278 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:54,400 them and the commander said to them, tell Hezekiah. 279 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:56,640 And then you remember that we actually just went through that. 280 00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:57,640 Yep. 281 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:02,040 So in Isaiah, you have a little bit of a different telling of this story. 282 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:03,040 Right. 283 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:06,840 So if you want another another part of the story, you can look at that. 284 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:11,480 And it's actually told one more time in the story is there's second Chronicles chapter 285 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:12,480 32. 286 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:16,120 One of the things we've talked about in the past with first and second Kings, first Samuel 287 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:21,280 and versus Chronicles is that first Samuel first and Kings are kind of written like as 288 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:22,280 it's happening. 289 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:23,280 Right. 290 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:24,280 Yeah. 291 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,200 Now in Isaiah, they're going to be writing the story in the in terms of like the prophetic 292 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:28,960 focus of the time. 293 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:30,480 Right. 294 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:33,680 But in the book of Chronicles, it's going to it's actually one of the last books written 295 00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:36,520 in the Bible and it's written in retrospect. 296 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:41,200 And so one of the things that they highlight in chapter 32 of second Chronicles is Hezekiah's 297 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:45,840 preparations and also his conversations with the people about trusting God. 298 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:46,840 Yeah. 299 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,080 And like they're they're looking back and they're like, well, what was it that really 300 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:52,320 like stood out about Hezekiah's leadership? 301 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:53,320 Right. 302 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,100 When when you're looking at retrospect, what was it that really stood out? 303 00:13:56,100 --> 00:14:01,080 And when they looked back, they said, you know, Hezekiah encouraged his people to trust 304 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:02,080 the Lord. 305 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:03,080 Mm hmm. 306 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:04,080 Like that was the significant thing. 307 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:08,240 It wasn't just that he prayed, but he was all about the people trusting God in that 308 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:09,240 situation. 309 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:10,240 Mm hmm. 310 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:11,240 Yeah. 311 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:18,520 So interesting thing here is when you talk about some of these figures in the Bible, 312 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:23,520 archaeology has been like it's a fantastic study and they've learned so much. 313 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:26,840 But some of these kings and kingdoms and different places, you're like, OK, but did they really 314 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:32,840 exist because there's, you know, there's not a not a physical record of some of these places. 315 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:33,840 Yeah. 316 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,500 So regarding Sennacherib, there is actually a number of different places you can find 317 00:14:37,500 --> 00:14:38,500 information on him. 318 00:14:38,500 --> 00:14:41,520 One of them is actually in the Assyrian records. 319 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:46,240 So there's a thing called Sennacherib's prison, Prism Prism. 320 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:50,440 And it's it's a cuneiform inscription that details Sennacherib's military campaigns, 321 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:52,640 including his invasion of Judah. 322 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:56,120 And it mentions the siege of Jerusalem and claims he trapped Hezekiah like a bird in 323 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:58,520 a cage, though it does not mention capturing the city. 324 00:14:58,520 --> 00:14:59,520 Right. 325 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:01,840 Not surprising when you're writing your own history. 326 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,360 Typically you're going to write to make yourself look a little better. 327 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:06,360 Right. 328 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:11,600 In in Lachish, they actually have found wall panels of Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh 329 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:16,640 depicting the siege and captors of Lachish, a major city in Judah. 330 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:22,880 In Babylonian chronicles, they found some internal affairs in context of Sennacherib's 331 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:23,880 reign. 332 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:28,800 And then there's a Greek historian by the name of Herodotus, who the men does a similar 333 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:30,360 event involving Sennacherib. 334 00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:31,760 Except I think this is interesting. 335 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:37,200 It says that his account attributes a Syrian retreat to the plague of mice, which some 336 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,920 interpret as a possible misinterpretation of a biblical plague. 337 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:42,800 Right. 338 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:43,800 Or that's how God did it. 339 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:45,400 I mean, we don't know. 340 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:46,400 We don't know. 341 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:47,640 But it is. 342 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:51,320 So one of the things with all these different sources is that there's there's a pretty broad 343 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:55,040 consensus across historians that Sennacherib was indeed a legitimate person. 344 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:56,040 Yes. 345 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:59,120 And that this this event happened in some capacity. 346 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:00,120 Yeah. 347 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:03,200 So Sennacherib did a few things while he was king. 348 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:04,600 He built palaces. 349 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:05,600 Right. 350 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,760 He he actually advanced a lot of architecture for the day. 351 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:16,080 So Assyria and Babylon, they were known for not just their military might, but their technology 352 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:18,480 technological achievements at the time, too. 353 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:20,040 So he did do that. 354 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:22,480 He did have great military might. 355 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:23,480 Right. 356 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,520 Like he was known for strong military. 357 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:28,360 His campaigns. 358 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:29,480 He had this desire. 359 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:33,200 If you look at historical context from from I haven't read a ton on him. 360 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:38,280 But from what I have read, he had this desire to essentially have an empire similar to what 361 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:39,280 like Rome had. 362 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:40,280 Right. 363 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:43,640 Like just this massive empire ruling pretty much over the whole known world. 364 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:44,640 Right. 365 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:45,640 Right. 366 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:50,680 So he was power hungry, power thirsty and wanted to take over everything. 367 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:57,160 So Sennacherib is king of Assyria, but he's actually his kingdom or his is I'm going to 368 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:58,160 say his capital city. 369 00:16:58,160 --> 00:16:59,280 That's probably not the right way to say it. 370 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,360 But his main city is a city that a lot of us have heard before. 371 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:05,640 It's Nineveh, Nineveh. 372 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,280 And if you're like, wow, that that city sounds familiar. 373 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:09,280 It's it should. 374 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:10,280 It's from the Book of Jonah. 375 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:14,480 Now, one of the reasons I always find this interesting to learn about Sennacherib and 376 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:19,120 the way that he attacked Judah and came through and was just like laying waste to the to the 377 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:20,120 people. 378 00:17:20,120 --> 00:17:21,120 Right. 379 00:17:21,120 --> 00:17:27,120 Is that then when you step into the Book of Jonah, God comes to his prophet and you remember 380 00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:29,480 we said the Syrians are not good people. 381 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:31,240 No, they're not good people. 382 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:33,000 Like they are they're doing all sorts of torture. 383 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:34,880 They're carting people off into captivity. 384 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,120 There's a lot of murder and all sorts of things that are happening. 385 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:44,160 And God comes to Jonah and he says, hey, I want you to go and talk to the Assyrians at 386 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:50,560 Nineveh because they're not like they're doing bad things, but their evil hasn't reached 387 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,160 its full measure and I don't want to pour my wrath on them. 388 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,760 Yeah. 389 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:58,480 That's a big lift. 390 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:02,840 Like I think sometimes when we encounter that story in Jonah, we're like, why does Jonah 391 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:03,840 run? 392 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:04,840 Mm hmm. 393 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:09,640 I mean, he's being told to go to the people who probably literally killed friends of his. 394 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,280 Well, he's being told to go to the worst of the worst. 395 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:13,280 Yeah. 396 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:19,000 Like, yeah, to put a modern day like World War Two equivalent in it'd be it would be 397 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:24,920 like if someone was told like, hey, I want you to go to Hitler and proclaim forgiveness 398 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:27,640 and redemption so he has a chance to repent. 399 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:28,640 Right. 400 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:29,640 Right. 401 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:33,520 Uh, there would be people, there'd be people who'd be like, say what? 402 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:34,520 Yeah. 403 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,640 And so like there's, uh, this is kind of what's going on. 404 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:43,320 Uh, Assyria is known like we kind of have to talk about the brutal tactics a little 405 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:44,320 bit. 406 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:45,320 Yeah. 407 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,960 Like this is, uh, this is probably a, if you don't want to hear about these things, skip 408 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:48,960 five minutes ahead. 409 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:49,960 Yeah. 410 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:50,960 Yeah. 411 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:54,320 So, uh, Assyria, just a couple of brutal tactics, just to kind of give you an idea. 412 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,960 We hinted at them earlier, but when they went into a city, one of the things they did is 413 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:05,200 they decapitated people, put their heads on stakes and put that all around the city so 414 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:09,760 that people could see their loved ones destroyed and see their city in waste. 415 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:10,760 Right. 416 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:12,120 That was one of the things they did. 417 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:14,640 They were brutal slave owners. 418 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:17,400 Um, like they worked slaves to death. 419 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:22,740 They saw them as lesser people and they actually would work them little to no food and water 420 00:19:22,740 --> 00:19:27,400 to the point where starvation, malnutrition, all that would take over while still driving 421 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,480 them to work day in and day out with little to no rest. 422 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:31,480 Right. 423 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:32,480 Yeah. 424 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:36,440 And so one of the things about them too is they're, they were, um, masters of siege warfare, 425 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:37,440 right? 426 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:40,800 Cause a lot of cities, the way that you protect cities, you have halls, right? 427 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,820 But they both had, uh, they were masters of like battering rams and as well as siege towers 428 00:19:44,820 --> 00:19:45,820 in order. 429 00:19:45,820 --> 00:19:47,500 And they would, a lot of times starve these people out. 430 00:19:47,500 --> 00:19:51,480 And then when they finally get in there and take over the area, they would, there would 431 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:55,960 be significant reprisals for the cities and not, not a good way. 432 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:56,960 Yeah. 433 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,520 Uh, rape was common as well, uh, amongst the Assyrians. 434 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:07,080 Uh, they also, what they would do with captives too is they would, uh, they would tie captives 435 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:11,760 to a stake and then they would play a game and they would, uh, skin them while they were 436 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:12,760 alive. 437 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:17,160 And the whole goal of the game was to see who could keep their captive alive the longest. 438 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:18,160 Yeah. 439 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:23,080 Like, so some of the practices that Assyrians did, like you, uh, child sacrifice was in 440 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:24,080 there too. 441 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:28,480 There's a few other things, but, uh, some of the practices that they did were just horrific 442 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:29,480 by nature. 443 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:33,240 Like some of the most horrific things that have actually been seen in history. 444 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:34,240 Right. 445 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:36,520 So, so that's the group of people we're talking about. 446 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:37,520 Yeah. 447 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:39,800 We're not, we're not, it's not a, you got to remember the biblical times. 448 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:41,920 It was a, it's a brutal time to be alive. 449 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:42,920 Right. 450 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:47,840 Um, I feel like sometimes in the 20th century American idiom, um, not idiom, that's not 451 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,560 even the word I'm looking for, uh, context. 452 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:56,500 We don't really have a concept of like brutal people because we haven't had brutal fights 453 00:20:56,500 --> 00:20:58,840 like this in, in hundreds of years. 454 00:20:58,840 --> 00:20:59,840 Right. 455 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:03,120 Um, well we do it all from a click of a button. 456 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:04,120 Correct. 457 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:05,120 Yeah. 458 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:09,280 So, and, uh, and so like, it's just, you know, is a lot of it, I was, I was, uh, I was, I 459 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,720 was even researching and getting into Assyrian warfare. 460 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,280 It's a lot of it was psychological that they would try to inflict terror through the areas. 461 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:21,440 Um, the mass deportation served for destabilizing like trade routes and everything across the 462 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,360 entire country made a lot easier to invade. 463 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:27,080 And that's who the Assyrians are. 464 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:28,080 Right. 465 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:32,160 And this is who's the neck rep, uh, is the king of, right. 466 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:36,200 And uh, and, and so then Jonah, poor little Jonah. 467 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,840 Well, not poor little Jonah. 468 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:40,360 Well and here's the deal. 469 00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:42,360 Jonah's an outsider going to the city. 470 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:43,360 Yeah. 471 00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:47,640 So as soon as he walks in, he has every right in his mind to think, he knows some of these 472 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,760 practices that they're doing and he has every right in his mind to think, Hey, this might 473 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,040 happen to me if I go there. 474 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:59,640 The, uh, the hard thing, the interesting thing about the book of Jonah is nobody behaves 475 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:01,400 like you expect them to. 476 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:02,400 Right. 477 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,880 Um, because the king of Nineveh is not actually named in the book of Jonah, but I would argue 478 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:09,640 that you could actually put Seneca Rebbe in there as the picture. 479 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:10,640 Right. 480 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,720 Um, Jonah is the prophet of God and he runs away. 481 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:14,720 Right. 482 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:18,960 Uh, the sailors that are boating him out, like they do everything they can to try to 483 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:19,960 spare his life. 484 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:20,960 Yeah. 485 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:21,960 Right. 486 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,240 So Jonah walks in and he walks in like barely. 487 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,200 So it's one of my favorite things about Nineveh, by the way, it says, it takes, I think it 488 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,000 says it takes three days to walk through. 489 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:34,640 It says Jonah walks in one day's walk, walk in. 490 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:36,320 So like he doesn't even go halfway through the city. 491 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,320 He preaches a five word sermon and he walks on the, waits on the held for them to get 492 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:40,320 destroyed. 493 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:41,320 Right. 494 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:45,800 So J, Jonah goes in, doesn't even go through halfway through the city, preaches a short 495 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,080 message that lacks a lot of context. 496 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:49,080 Yeah. 497 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:51,960 Um, actually I want to read this to you real quick here because I think this is, this is 498 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:54,160 we've done Jonah, but I really want to read this to you real quick. 499 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:55,160 All right. 500 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:56,160 Let me find it here. 501 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:57,160 Right. 502 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:00,320 So Jonah actually goes in and he preaches this message and it's five words in Hebrew, 503 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,400 but Spencer, can you tell me what's missing in this message? 504 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,440 So you're you've preached before, right? 505 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:06,440 Okay. 506 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,080 Do you're preaching to somebody about repentance because something coming against them in their 507 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:10,080 life. 508 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:11,080 Tell me what's missing from this sermon. 509 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:15,800 40 more days and Nineveh will be overturned. 510 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:16,800 Repentance. 511 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:22,400 Overturned by who? 512 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,560 For what? 513 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:26,600 Why? 514 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:27,880 Yeah. 515 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,060 You know, like there's a, like if you, who, okay. 516 00:23:31,060 --> 00:23:38,000 So the who, I get that, but, but who's going to overturn how, why, and I guess you have 517 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:39,880 the when, right? 518 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:45,680 But like 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. 519 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:46,840 So lots of questions here. 520 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:47,840 Mic drop. 521 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:49,160 I'm going to go sit on a hill and wait for your distractions. 522 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:50,160 So lots of questions. 523 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,280 Like you said, who, why? 524 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:53,280 Yeah. 525 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,720 All of that repentance isn't mentioned. 526 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:56,720 Right. 527 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:58,840 Like it's just like, Hey, you guys are going to be overturned in 40 days. 528 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:00,520 It sounds more like a declaration. 529 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:01,520 Yeah. 530 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:08,240 And so like, as far as Jonah doing what God has called him to do, Jonah came, Jonah walked 531 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,240 and did the bare minimum. 532 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:11,240 Yeah. 533 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:16,080 And he's like, all right, uh, 40 days and y'all are done and walks out. 534 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:17,080 Right. 535 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,200 And it's like, okay. 536 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,480 Now as Assyrians, like put it, put it in their context. 537 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:24,080 They're the powerhouse of the day. 538 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,160 Their city takes three days to get through. 539 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,480 Like Nineveh is a massive city, big city. 540 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:29,480 Big city. 541 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:30,480 All right. 542 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:35,440 And they're like, there's probably a lot of people in town at first who are like, okay, 543 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:36,440 who are you talking about? 544 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:38,880 And like, seriously, who do you think is going to overturn us? 545 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:42,560 Well, and there's also no implication that he said that message more than once. 546 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:43,560 Yeah. 547 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:48,800 Like, and I would argue that he probably didn't because, but somehow these people, these powerhouse 548 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:53,400 people, these people who are known for their evil, somehow they hear it and it gets all 549 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:59,360 the way to the king and he goes, everybody repent, put on sackcloth and ashes and cry 550 00:24:59,360 --> 00:25:01,040 out to God that he'll forgive us. 551 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,040 In fact, you know what? 552 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,600 Get the cows and the pigs and put them in sackcloth and ashes too. 553 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:08,920 Right? 554 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,080 And so everybody has like, has this huge turnaround. 555 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:16,020 And so you take like these super proud people and like, this is one of the reasons why when 556 00:25:16,020 --> 00:25:18,920 you read the book of Jonah, you need to understand that it's satire. 557 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:24,200 It may be a legitimate real event, but it's meant to point out something deeper, a deeper 558 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:29,080 truth because if you see Sennacherib as the king of Nineveh, he's not the kind of guy 559 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,240 who picks up subtlety. 560 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:33,340 Right? 561 00:25:33,340 --> 00:25:39,040 And yet Jonah is mad because God has compassion. 562 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:44,520 And like, so these are the places, like these are the places that Nineveh, Sennacherib and 563 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,440 all these places are mentioned. 564 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:51,800 You know, the real tie in from the book of Jonah is that God has compassion for everyone. 565 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:56,960 And that, well, we're called to be involved within his message. 566 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:57,960 Yeah. 567 00:25:57,960 --> 00:25:58,960 Yeah. 568 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,360 I mean, you can, you can think of it in a way of like, who's someone who's hurt you 569 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:02,360 really bad. 570 00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:03,360 Right. 571 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:06,640 And then seeing them come to faith in Jesus. 572 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:07,640 Right. 573 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,640 At least I've had that happen a few times in my life. 574 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:14,360 And there's a small part of me that's like, why them? 575 00:26:14,360 --> 00:26:15,360 Right. 576 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:17,800 And that's who the Assyrians are to Jonah. 577 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,960 Like the Assyrians have done horrific things to the Israelites. 578 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,120 Well, and it's, it's actually interesting. 579 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:26,640 Like the whole thing about the Assyrians and Nineveh specifically is if you actually look 580 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:31,040 at Nineveh being used in the Bible, first place that shows up is in Genesis 10. 581 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,880 There's a guy by the name of Nimrod, which is just great name, by the way, if you're 582 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:38,560 thinking about naming a kid, some great names, we have some great baby names here, by the 583 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:39,560 way. 584 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:41,800 We're going to start, we're going to write a biblical baby name. 585 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:42,800 Yeah. 586 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:43,800 Yeah. 587 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:44,800 So there's a guy by the name of Nimrod. 588 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:46,640 He's described as a mighty hunter before the Lord. 589 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:47,640 Right. 590 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:52,960 Then he's founding these cities, several cities, including Babel and Nineveh, talking about 591 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,960 the separate spread of civilization and power. 592 00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:01,880 But these cities are often associated with human ambition and defiance to God. 593 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:02,880 Yeah. 594 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,360 So now in the book of Jonah, you hear about Nineveh and now if you have Genesis and you 595 00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:11,520 have Nimrod and a rebellion and you have Sennachera being the king of Nineveh and you have the 596 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:15,800 Assyrians and all these things and God, and now Jonah writes, or God writes this book 597 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:22,240 about Jonah and he says, you need to go to Nineveh. 598 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,000 You're like, why them? 599 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:26,880 Why them? 600 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:28,200 Yeah. 601 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:34,440 And I think the very simple thing is that no matter how much we feel about it, God is 602 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:36,160 for everyone. 603 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:37,520 Yep. 604 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:38,520 Not just us. 605 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:42,680 I remember a few years ago, I had this conversation and a guy was talking to me. 606 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:46,160 He said, sometimes I think that people are just bad and we should just toss them in the 607 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:47,160 fire. 608 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,760 And I was like, I think you've read the gospel. 609 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:52,400 Well, he wasn't a Christian. 610 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:57,960 To be fair, and he was talking about, you got your Mussolini's, your Hitlers and stuff. 611 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,600 And I said, and he's like, well, how do you square that with like, they're evil? 612 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,880 And I said, as much as evil increases, so should my capacity to be able to forgive and 613 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:05,880 restore. 614 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:09,560 I said, now life has consequences. 615 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:11,920 If you're a mass murderer, you're probably going to die. 616 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:12,920 Right? 617 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:19,040 I was like, but I'm concerned about people's eternity, not about their temporary. 618 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,980 And the hard thing for a Christian is that when we see these terrible, terrible things, 619 00:28:22,980 --> 00:28:25,960 we have to stand in absolute justice against it. 620 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:26,960 Yeah. 621 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:27,960 Right. 622 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,360 Think about has a Kaia standing against the Neckerab wanting to come and lay waste to 623 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:31,760 their, to these places. 624 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:32,760 Right? 625 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:38,680 He prays out to God, but then he says, trust in God and he stands against injustice. 626 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,520 But then like Jonah, we also have to go into the very lion's den. 627 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:43,880 I know that's Daniel, but you know what I mean? 628 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:44,880 Right. 629 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:46,840 You get some mixed metaphors here, man. 630 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,160 I get some metaphors. 631 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,600 We have to actually literally go into a terrorist trap. 632 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:52,600 Yeah. 633 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:53,600 Right. 634 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:58,240 To give them on an equivalent that when God says I'm for everyone, he means it. 635 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:02,280 And I think one of the biggest things that King like Seneca can teach us about following 636 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:07,280 Jesus is that those people that are on the outside, those people we think don't matter. 637 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:11,960 Those people we think are just too violent, too hard, too difficult, too awful. 638 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,960 God's like, still mine. 639 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:15,960 And I still want them. 640 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:16,960 Yeah. 641 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,960 And that's hard. 642 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,280 It is. 643 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:23,680 There's this missionary story. 644 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:27,960 This happened years and years ago, but as this missionary, they were kidnapped by this 645 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,140 tribe held for ransom. 646 00:29:30,140 --> 00:29:33,720 People paid a ransom, freed them and they're like, all right, you're free. 647 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:34,720 Great. 648 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:35,800 What are you going to do? 649 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,680 And she was like, I'm going to go back to that tribe and proclaim Jesus. 650 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:40,680 And that's what she did. 651 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:42,000 So great. 652 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,000 Right? 653 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,440 And she's like, the people who kidnapped you, who like threatened to kill you if money wasn't 654 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:48,440 paid to them. 655 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:54,680 She's like, I'm going to go back to them and tell them about Jesus. 656 00:29:54,680 --> 00:30:02,240 But that's like, yeah, that's like, that's like what it is to walk back into the lion's 657 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:03,240 den. 658 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:04,240 Yeah. 659 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,200 To be like, these are people who were causing me harm, but I'm going to go back to them 660 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:11,800 and share who Jesus is with them so they have a chance to experience him like I do. 661 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,200 So St. Patrick, right? 662 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,360 So you guys have never read any stories of St. Patrick. 663 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,680 Like some of it's folklore and some of it's legend. 664 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,280 But there's enough truth in there that I think the stories are worth reading. 665 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:23,280 Yeah. 666 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:24,280 Right? 667 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:29,480 Is captured in his childhood and taken to Ireland. 668 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,940 And then he's put into slavery, eventually escapes and gets back. 669 00:30:32,940 --> 00:30:37,960 But he's called by God when he's in Ireland to be a Christian, right? 670 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,120 Meets God, becomes a Christian, becomes a follower, comes back, dedicates his life to 671 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:42,120 following him. 672 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:43,120 God says, you got to go back. 673 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,720 And his family is like, you just got out of slavery there. 674 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,440 And he goes back to the very places that enslaved him. 675 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:57,520 And he goes town by town by town and he approaches their evil and stands against it. 676 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:01,320 And it's that they eventually came out with that, you know, whole thing that he drove 677 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:02,560 the snakes out of Ireland. 678 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,920 Well, the snakes were used in worship and he just walked into their dark places of worship 679 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,560 and proclaim Christ. 680 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:11,400 And he didn't have to go back. 681 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,920 He had a passion to go back to the very people that oppressed him. 682 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:16,920 Yeah. 683 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:17,920 Right. 684 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:22,600 I was struggling a few years ago in my life, working through forgiveness. 685 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:29,560 And with, you know, I mean, I can't imagine anybody listening doesn't understand people 686 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:31,840 hurting you and not wanting to forgive them. 687 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:32,980 Right. 688 00:31:32,980 --> 00:31:36,280 And I was actually sleeping one night and God spoke to me in a dream. 689 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:39,800 And he specifically gave me the name Snekareb. 690 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:41,240 Right. 691 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:43,240 And I was like, man, I've heard that name before. 692 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:44,240 Right. 693 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,960 So I went and I started reading about Snekareb and then I started getting in a Ninevon. 694 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,840 I started understanding like why Jonah didn't want to go. 695 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,280 And God's like, hey, you know those people you won't forgive. 696 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,420 I want them to. 697 00:31:56,420 --> 00:32:01,560 And I said, oh, you're crafty because I went and got into it for like three or four hours 698 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:02,560 of study. 699 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,240 And then God just comes and gives me the message that he had the whole time. 700 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:06,240 Right. 701 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,280 And it broke me in good ways. 702 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:14,040 It broke me in good ways and helped me recognize that forgiveness is not about me. 703 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:17,080 It's about God's mercy and glory moving through the world. 704 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:18,080 Yeah. 705 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:19,080 Right. 706 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:20,080 I was bought with a price. 707 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,280 Now it's time for me to pay that price forward. 708 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:23,280 Right. 709 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:24,280 Yep. 710 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,720 Well, that's what we got for you today, folks. 711 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,640 Until next week, if you're watching, we're going to look a lot the same because we're 712 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:34,080 going to be recording that in about five minutes from now. 713 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:38,840 So next week, we're actually going to be talking about a king that I bet you didn't even know 714 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:39,840 was in the Bible. 715 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:44,720 They're like, we didn't know Sennacherib or Mekitha next. 716 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:49,000 This one's literally got, the next week's literally, he literally has two verses, I 717 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:50,620 believe, written about him. 718 00:32:50,620 --> 00:32:53,520 So we'll be diving into some cultural context a little bit more. 719 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,080 But until next time. 720 00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:00,100 And that's a wrap for today's episode of Love and Context. 721 00:33:00,100 --> 00:33:04,020 We hope you enjoyed this engaging conversation and gained valuable insights into the powerful 722 00:33:04,020 --> 00:33:06,000 message of love within the Bible. 723 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,120 We'd love to hear from you and continue the conversation. 724 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:15,480 Connect with us by sending us your questions, thoughts, and suggestions to loveandcontextatgmail.com. 725 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:20,100 We greatly appreciate your feedback and ideas for future episodes. 726 00:33:20,100 --> 00:33:24,360 Stay connected with us on social media for updates, behind the scenes content, and additional 727 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:25,360 resources. 728 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:30,200 You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook at Love and Context. 729 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,200 Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay up to date with the latest episodes and 730 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:35,320 join our growing community. 731 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:37,880 Thank you for being part of the Love and Context family. 732 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,680 Remember, love is at the heart of it all. 733 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:45,560 Until next time, keep seeking wisdom, embracing love, and living out your faith in the context 734 00:33:45,560 --> 00:34:04,560 of today's world.