We have had several almost discussions about the importance of Hope in the Christian life. Almost discussions because we have neither defined nor clearly articulated what hope is in the context of our lives. I really felt the lack in our discussion last week, when we spent our time looking at the connection between Psalm 72 and Christ and didn't go into the application of it at all. Christ as King! What must that mean to us, and what impact will it have in our lives as we totally embrace and internalize that truth?
Let's start at the end; the Revelation passage that was the final reference from our study guide. "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one cold count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'" Re. 7:9-10
This is the end we're looking forward to. If our hope doesn't internalize that ending, believe it in our innermost being, we will always have a hard time with this middle part of life! God is working a well orchestrated plan, even when it seems like chaos to us, that will end up with all of us before the throne worshiping the Lamb. There is no doubt about that. There where eternity will truly begin.
If you're in Psalm 77 this week you will see these astounding questions: "Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?" Define unfailing. How could something unfailing ever fail? What does the word promise mean, after all?
I'm reminded of this matter of fact reminder from Hebrews 6:13-15: "When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, 'I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.' And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised." Duh.. He received what was promised. Was there ever another option?
[And knowing what we know about Abraham, do we appreciate the author's perspective that Abraham waited patiently....at least a s patiently as we do!]
The entire book of Hebrews is dedicated to convincing us that what God has promised will happen. So how do we become convinced? [Being convinced is very different than wishing and often even very different than the way we use the word hope.]
I believe our ability to navigate life is proportionate to what we KNOW about what God has done and is doing in our lives and how we KNOW him. I don't think I can emphasize that enough. Do you know God and his plan well enough to survive whatever life throws at you? Don't wait until you're in the middle of a crisis to find out. Build that hope, that certain belief, now.
And indeed, that's why you're in Bible studies. You want to find out about God and his plan. My encouragement to you is to make that finding out as concrete as you possibly can. Move what you wish and think about God into what you know and believe to be true of him.
How? The identity stuff from Andersen that Carolyn brought Tuesday is an example of concrete things to know. Memorized verses are an example of concrete things to know. Knowing where the passages are that expound on the person and work of God is an example of concrete things to know. Do you know God well enough to trust him? That isn't as rhetorical as you might think.
I have known God since I was a little girl; I was in church every time the door was open. We were a Christian family. I was involved in ministry in college and in church music from eternity past... One day I got a call from my sister-in-law that her husband, my brother, had been arrested for molesting my niece, their daughter.
My knowledge and understanding of God did not have a niche for that. Hopefully none of you will ever experience that, but life, even the Christian life, is lived in the valley of the shadow of death. Stuff happens.
After that phone call my life went from bad to worse for about the next 5 years. What I knew and believed about God was totally inadequate and often even wrong! I had to throw out everything I thought I knew about God and build a hope based on truth. In fact, I began with only one thing that I truly knew. God is here. That was it. He is here.
And from that point on I began to build a knowledge of God based on only what I knew from scripture to be true... no more wishful thinking for me. That's the kind of knowledge of God you need to be building now... before the world pulls the rug out from under you.
Psalm 72 ended with the beautiful verses, "Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory." That is truly beautiful..... but meaningless if you haven't actually learned the amazing things he's done. Hollow if you haven't glimpsed his Glory. Empty, in the face of life's tragedies, unless your hope is a solid rock.
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Psalm 1
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither." Psalm 1:3
The more I think of this tree planted by streams of water, the more I love thinking about it. We have the picture of a planted tree, a tree chosen by someone and carefully planted in just the right place to bear fruit [John 15 added to the picture]. The fact that the tree was planted by someone, it's not just a random, self-sown mulberry tree that sprouted up somewhere inconvenient.... that fact changes everything.
And the sturdiness of the word planted; "the pitcher planted her feet for the windup" is powerful. "The two year old planted his feet and wailed." Lots of lovely used of the word. So the tree is not just tossed in a hole and covered up, it's planted there. It reminds me of Paul's continuous use of the word Established, when talking of his ministry to the churches. Planted or established is a sturdy, permanent place to be.
It seems really relevant to this picture of sturdiness in the life of a follower of God that she delights in the Torah, the stories of God's interaction with his chosen people in Genesis through Deuteronomy. [I hope you expand on that word delight, Angela, as it will be used again in Psalm 16 next week.
There are two groups in Psalm one; it's a very black and white poem. There is the one who is blessed and the one who is judged. One is watched over by God; the other is allowed to go his own way and perish. One has a beautifully fruitful life and the other a life of no value.
The difference is the time spent meditating on the Word. And note that the time is not 10 minutes in the morning... the time is day and night! That's the kind of spending time in the word that changes you. That's the kind of time in the word that establishes you, plants you firmly in a place you can thrive and bear fruit. That's the kind of time in the word that makes the choice to stay out of the saloon of sin and the university of mockery.... or something like that.... a pretty easy choice to make.
You girls know that; that's why you're here! You want to really know the Word. You want to understand the God of the Word. You want to know Him. I hope we can make real progress together towards that goal this semester.
It takes time and thought for scripture to transform you mind and sink into your heart in order to accomplish that. But how blessed! Doesn't the picture of this tree just make you want to have that beautiful, secure, planted in God kind of life. How gracious of David to share his secret of blessedness with us.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
My City in Ruins
I will never forget one (of many) moment at the time of the 911 attack. A celebrity concert aired on TV featured Bruce Springsteen performing My City of Ruins. That moment is the closest I have ever come.... and I'm quite a ways from New York City..... to understanding what the destruction of home would feel like.
I remember one other moment, when there was a tornado in northern Iowa, Parkersburg, maybe (?) and the the camera panned the town and there was nothing standing....nothing taller than the TV van. Utter ruin.
There is one large lesson to be learned from the book of Jeremiah. We do not want to pay for our sins. The anger of God, his holy wrath, is every bit as large and unknowable as his love and grace. We get a picture of what paying for your sin looks like in Jeremiah, and it is a grim picture. "How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!" Jeremiah begins his Lament. My City of Ruins.
We have heard many times that Israel and Judah were exiled because they turned to other gods. That is not a stand alone thing. In the first place, it isn't like they went from the Baptist church to the Presbyterian church. They abandoned God and went looking somewhere else, in a breach of faith that God consistently refers to as prostitution. The difference between worshiping God and worshiping, e.g. Molech.... was like the difference between earth and Jupiter. Like the difference between earth and a black hole. The difference was, in a word big. I'll just throw out one concept; child sacrifice.
What I had not thought of much before is how deserting God and following Molech, etc. changed the entire character of the nation. Even nominal followers of God would think about morality and kindness and honesty... We may think of those as basic human virtues but I think they are instead basic godly values. Man is depraved, and in Jerusalem before it's destruction we see what that really means.
I'll see if I can skim the book for the character of the city in this post-God worshiping state.
5:1 "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.... if you can find one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city."
:7 adultery and prostitution
: 26-28 wicked men, set traps for unsuspecting, full of deceit,
do not plead the case of the fatherless,
do not defend the rights of the poor.
7:5 oppress the alien, the fatherless, the widow.
shed innocent blood
8:19-- things related to the law, such as the Sabbath. Such as the year of Jubilee.
34:8 One of the last straws was when the last king, Zedekiah, responded to a word from Jeremiah to free all the Hebrew slaves. Hebrew slaves were to against the law; their own people! But immediately the king and officials changed their minds, taking back the very slaves they had just freed, making them their slaves again.
Is that enough? Without going into the details of the Caananite and Egyptian religious practices, is that enough? This is the nation who was chosen to be a representation of God to the world around them.
I started to count how many times God says, just in the book of Jeremiah, "Return to me and I will return to you!" and this is even after he has given them up for destruction. At any point, God would have blessed them in their repentance, but there was none.
So here's the end. We left the narrative last week after King Jehoida was taken to Egypt , where he died, and Jehoiakin became king.
In the third year of Johoiakin, Daniel and over 3,000 Jews were taken into captivity in Babylon. [Daniel 1:1] Then King Jehoiakin rebelled against Nebuchadnezzer and was himself taken to Babylon and either was killed or died there.
His son, Joachin became the 18 year old king of what was left of Judah... mostly just the city of Jerusalem. He was king for 3 months. The Babylonians laid siege to the city. Then Nebuchadnezzer himself came to the city, and Jehoiachin surrendered.
This is where I think we can begin to see how difficult Jeremiah's message was. What king wants to hear that God's will for their life is to surrender to the conqueror...especially a king with a national memory of having God on their side?
Think about this, though. Josiah had three sons and a grandson who were made king. Jehoiachin was the only one who lived through the judgement of the nation. It still kind of sticks in our craw, doesn't it? What kind of a king surrenders? Well... the kind who lives.
Here's a word from those fascinating genealogies of 1 Chronicles. The sons of David are listed in chapter 3. Verse 15says the sons of Josiah were Jehoida, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. Of the sons of .... oops.... Jehoida and Zedekiah didn't have any surviving sons..... Looks like it was a good thing Jehoiachin surrendered.
Now look at his geneology, as the chapter continues... "The decendants of Jehoiachin the captive:" his son Shealtiel, his son Pedaiah, his son Zerubbabel..... [who was the political leader after the return.] And they are going to return. God has decided to judge Judah: he's going to destroy Judah, but God always preserves a remnant.to fulfill his promise to Abraham. As much as anything else, Jeremiah's very unpopular message was about the people of God continuing as a people, something God had promised they were going to do.
We have to remember two things about the kings of Judah. One: the kings of Judah were the descendants of David. Two: the kings of Judah were the ancestors of Jesus.
So as we reach the end of the book of Jeremiah we begin to hear more of his message of surrender... a very unpopular message. But the message is not really about surrender, it's about survival.
Zedekiah, the last king of Israel, is as wishy-washy as they come. Remember he abolished Jewish slavery only to reinstate it. [Then again, he became king at 21.] He really wants to have it both ways.
Jeremiah chapter 21 is right up there in the list of saddest chapters in the Bible. Zedekiah sent the Temple official [one of Jeremiah's most hateful enemies] and the priest, asking Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord for them. This was about 30 years into Jeremiah's ministry.... but I guess there was a chance he would say something different this time. Nebuchadnezzer was attacking the city. "Maybe," King Zedekiah asked, "the Lord will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us." This king who refused to obey God, held out some hope God would deliver him.
Isn't that sad? We just looked at King Hezekiah's deliverance... the Assyrian king withdrew from the city and angels killed 180,000 of his soldiers. Israel's history, when God was protecting them, was full of stories like that. I think Zedekiah saw there was no hope without God. Unfortunately, this time there was no hope at all. Except surrender.
"I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. Whoever stays in the city will die by the sword, famine, or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians will escape with his life." [21:9] That was an unpopular message.
There is so much intrigue just involving Jeremiah during Zedekiah's reign, it could be a whole book. In stocks. In prison. In a cistern of mud. Starving. Provided with bread every day. We would call them 10 years from Hell. God only called it obedience. Jeremiah was obedient to the very end.
So this is the end. An 18 month siege. Severe famine; people eating their own children. When the Babylonians broke through the wall, King Zedekiah and his army abandoned the city and the people, trying to escape. We feel justifiably happy they did not escape. Everything removable from the palaces and temple was removed and taken to Babylon. All the religious leaders were executed; that doesn't make us very sad either. Most of the remaining population of the city was killed. 745 were chained together and marched off, the last of the exiles to Babylon. The very poorest remnant of the city was just left in Jerusalem, probably those who wouldn't survive the march.
Jeremiah had previously sent a couple of letters to the Jews exiled to Babylon. We are so familiar with these verses from the 29th chapter of Jeremiah: "I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you and will bring you back from captivity." The destruction of Judah was a horrible chapter in a much longer story. God gave vent to his wrath on a sinful people; yet he mercifully preserved the lineage that would bring us final deliverance from that wrath.
There's a little more to this story, and then the miraculous return to the land under Cyrus, then another falling away, then 400 "silent years" and then the Messiah. Then we are grafted into the story.
The man, Jeremiah, has his own part in the story. He was the prophet of God who for maybe 40 years declared destruction. He spoke the truth during that difficult time no matter what it cost him....and it cost him much. He had his times when he questioned God, but he knew God, knew what God was doing and what the mega plan was. He was the voice of God during the most disastrous time in his nation's history, but his voice was always strong and true.
Yet, even this life is the story of God. At the beginning of his ministry, back when Josiah was king...maybe when Jeremiah was the privileged teen-aged son of the High Priest, God called him and made him a promise. "Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, a bronze wall to stand against the whole land--- against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but not overcome you, for I am with you."
I remember one other moment, when there was a tornado in northern Iowa, Parkersburg, maybe (?) and the the camera panned the town and there was nothing standing....nothing taller than the TV van. Utter ruin.
There is one large lesson to be learned from the book of Jeremiah. We do not want to pay for our sins. The anger of God, his holy wrath, is every bit as large and unknowable as his love and grace. We get a picture of what paying for your sin looks like in Jeremiah, and it is a grim picture. "How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!" Jeremiah begins his Lament. My City of Ruins.
We have heard many times that Israel and Judah were exiled because they turned to other gods. That is not a stand alone thing. In the first place, it isn't like they went from the Baptist church to the Presbyterian church. They abandoned God and went looking somewhere else, in a breach of faith that God consistently refers to as prostitution. The difference between worshiping God and worshiping, e.g. Molech.... was like the difference between earth and Jupiter. Like the difference between earth and a black hole. The difference was, in a word big. I'll just throw out one concept; child sacrifice.
What I had not thought of much before is how deserting God and following Molech, etc. changed the entire character of the nation. Even nominal followers of God would think about morality and kindness and honesty... We may think of those as basic human virtues but I think they are instead basic godly values. Man is depraved, and in Jerusalem before it's destruction we see what that really means.
I'll see if I can skim the book for the character of the city in this post-God worshiping state.
5:1 "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.... if you can find one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city."
:7 adultery and prostitution
: 26-28 wicked men, set traps for unsuspecting, full of deceit,
do not plead the case of the fatherless,
do not defend the rights of the poor.
7:5 oppress the alien, the fatherless, the widow.
shed innocent blood
8:19-- things related to the law, such as the Sabbath. Such as the year of Jubilee.
34:8 One of the last straws was when the last king, Zedekiah, responded to a word from Jeremiah to free all the Hebrew slaves. Hebrew slaves were to against the law; their own people! But immediately the king and officials changed their minds, taking back the very slaves they had just freed, making them their slaves again.
Is that enough? Without going into the details of the Caananite and Egyptian religious practices, is that enough? This is the nation who was chosen to be a representation of God to the world around them.
I started to count how many times God says, just in the book of Jeremiah, "Return to me and I will return to you!" and this is even after he has given them up for destruction. At any point, God would have blessed them in their repentance, but there was none.
So here's the end. We left the narrative last week after King Jehoida was taken to Egypt , where he died, and Jehoiakin became king.
In the third year of Johoiakin, Daniel and over 3,000 Jews were taken into captivity in Babylon. [Daniel 1:1] Then King Jehoiakin rebelled against Nebuchadnezzer and was himself taken to Babylon and either was killed or died there.
His son, Joachin became the 18 year old king of what was left of Judah... mostly just the city of Jerusalem. He was king for 3 months. The Babylonians laid siege to the city. Then Nebuchadnezzer himself came to the city, and Jehoiachin surrendered.
This is where I think we can begin to see how difficult Jeremiah's message was. What king wants to hear that God's will for their life is to surrender to the conqueror...especially a king with a national memory of having God on their side?
Think about this, though. Josiah had three sons and a grandson who were made king. Jehoiachin was the only one who lived through the judgement of the nation. It still kind of sticks in our craw, doesn't it? What kind of a king surrenders? Well... the kind who lives.
Here's a word from those fascinating genealogies of 1 Chronicles. The sons of David are listed in chapter 3. Verse 15says the sons of Josiah were Jehoida, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. Of the sons of .... oops.... Jehoida and Zedekiah didn't have any surviving sons..... Looks like it was a good thing Jehoiachin surrendered.
Now look at his geneology, as the chapter continues... "The decendants of Jehoiachin the captive:" his son Shealtiel, his son Pedaiah, his son Zerubbabel..... [who was the political leader after the return.] And they are going to return. God has decided to judge Judah: he's going to destroy Judah, but God always preserves a remnant.to fulfill his promise to Abraham. As much as anything else, Jeremiah's very unpopular message was about the people of God continuing as a people, something God had promised they were going to do.
We have to remember two things about the kings of Judah. One: the kings of Judah were the descendants of David. Two: the kings of Judah were the ancestors of Jesus.
So as we reach the end of the book of Jeremiah we begin to hear more of his message of surrender... a very unpopular message. But the message is not really about surrender, it's about survival.
Zedekiah, the last king of Israel, is as wishy-washy as they come. Remember he abolished Jewish slavery only to reinstate it. [Then again, he became king at 21.] He really wants to have it both ways.
Jeremiah chapter 21 is right up there in the list of saddest chapters in the Bible. Zedekiah sent the Temple official [one of Jeremiah's most hateful enemies] and the priest, asking Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord for them. This was about 30 years into Jeremiah's ministry.... but I guess there was a chance he would say something different this time. Nebuchadnezzer was attacking the city. "Maybe," King Zedekiah asked, "the Lord will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us." This king who refused to obey God, held out some hope God would deliver him.
Isn't that sad? We just looked at King Hezekiah's deliverance... the Assyrian king withdrew from the city and angels killed 180,000 of his soldiers. Israel's history, when God was protecting them, was full of stories like that. I think Zedekiah saw there was no hope without God. Unfortunately, this time there was no hope at all. Except surrender.
"I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. Whoever stays in the city will die by the sword, famine, or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians will escape with his life." [21:9] That was an unpopular message.
There is so much intrigue just involving Jeremiah during Zedekiah's reign, it could be a whole book. In stocks. In prison. In a cistern of mud. Starving. Provided with bread every day. We would call them 10 years from Hell. God only called it obedience. Jeremiah was obedient to the very end.
So this is the end. An 18 month siege. Severe famine; people eating their own children. When the Babylonians broke through the wall, King Zedekiah and his army abandoned the city and the people, trying to escape. We feel justifiably happy they did not escape. Everything removable from the palaces and temple was removed and taken to Babylon. All the religious leaders were executed; that doesn't make us very sad either. Most of the remaining population of the city was killed. 745 were chained together and marched off, the last of the exiles to Babylon. The very poorest remnant of the city was just left in Jerusalem, probably those who wouldn't survive the march.
Jeremiah had previously sent a couple of letters to the Jews exiled to Babylon. We are so familiar with these verses from the 29th chapter of Jeremiah: "I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you and will bring you back from captivity." The destruction of Judah was a horrible chapter in a much longer story. God gave vent to his wrath on a sinful people; yet he mercifully preserved the lineage that would bring us final deliverance from that wrath.
There's a little more to this story, and then the miraculous return to the land under Cyrus, then another falling away, then 400 "silent years" and then the Messiah. Then we are grafted into the story.
The man, Jeremiah, has his own part in the story. He was the prophet of God who for maybe 40 years declared destruction. He spoke the truth during that difficult time no matter what it cost him....and it cost him much. He had his times when he questioned God, but he knew God, knew what God was doing and what the mega plan was. He was the voice of God during the most disastrous time in his nation's history, but his voice was always strong and true.
Yet, even this life is the story of God. At the beginning of his ministry, back when Josiah was king...maybe when Jeremiah was the privileged teen-aged son of the High Priest, God called him and made him a promise. "Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, a bronze wall to stand against the whole land--- against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but not overcome you, for I am with you."
Monday, January 15, 2018
What was happening historically during Jeremiah's lifetime?
The where and when of the book of Jeremiah may not be very interesting to anyone but me. Yet I think the orchestration of the destruction of Jerusalem is a pretty amazing sequence of events. And as much as I love to go back to the beginning (!) I'm only going to go back to the time of King Hezekiah.
Hoshea was the last king of Israel. Scripture makes it very clear why Israel was destroyed. In fact, such well know prophets as Elijah and Elisha had been telling Israel to return to God from it's very beginning. I Kings 17, which tells us about the Assyrians conquering Israel during Hoshea's reign, also tells us very clearly why.
"All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right." Verses 7-23 recite some of the specifics. We will get more into those specifics next post when we look at what was going on in Judah in particular preceding it's destruction. With Israel gone, scripture says, "Only the tribe of Judah was left, and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced."
But Judah had something going for her; King Hezekiah.
1 Kings 18:5 says Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. "There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him." So when Sennacherib, the Assyrian king kept right on marching south toward Judah, Hezekiah did two things.
First, he gave Sennacherib all the silver in the temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. [11 tons of silver and 1 ton of gold, actually!] Still, the Assyrians came right up to the gates of Jerusalem and called for the king. In a famous account, the field commander called out to the city, "Are you depending on Egypt? Are you depending on your God to deliver you?"
18:28 records the arrogance of the Assyrian king. "Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my had. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, 'The Lord will surely deliver us..." And he makes a very persuasive point; none of the other gods have been able to save their people from Assyria.
King Hezekiah and all his officials tore their clothes, put on sackcloth and went to the Temple. Then they sent a message to Isaiah to pray for the remnant.
Isaiah's response was very amazing. He said not to be afraid of the blasphemous words of the Assyrians. [vs 7] "Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country and there I will have him cut down with the sword. " And that's exactly what happened. Not only that, but during the night the angel of the Lord slaughtered 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Assyrian didn't trouble Judah again. In fact Assyria was eventually to fall to the nation of Babylon.
Hezekiah had great favor with God and great trust in him..... but I need to keep going.
Hezekiah's young son Manasseh became king after him. He was one of the worst. He did more evil than the Canaanites had. His son Amon wasn't any better. He was so bad that his own officials assassinated him and made his son Josiah the king.
This is where it gets really interesting. Josiah was only 8. He was righteously brought up and walked in all the ways of his ancestor, David. I think Jeremiah had something to do with that. Jeremiah 1:1-4 says in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah.... Josiah would have been 21.... the word of the Lord came to me..." The young prophet, Jeremiah started predicting the destruction of Judah....and why not? Judah was living the same godless lives Israel had before them.
In the 18th year of Josiah, five years into Jeremiah's ministry, Josiah sent to Hilkiah the high priest asking him to repair the temple. The temple, during the half century of evil kings, had evidently fallen into that much of a run down state. During the remodeling Hilkiah [did you remember that he was Jeremiah's father?] FOUND THE BOOK OF THE LAW! Not only was the temple in a terrible state; evidently the entire worship of God had fallen to the same level.
Josiah instituted wide reaching reforms. And were they needed! Listen to this! "Remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts." "He did away with the pagan priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places..." "He broke down the shrines at the gates of the city.""He desecrated Topheth...so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech." "He removed the horses dedicated to the sun." He even got rid of some sites remaining from Solomon's time! the list is remarkable. [2Kings 23:1-25]
Interestingly enough, throughout Josiah's reform, Jeremiah continued to prophesy against Judah. And 2 Kings 23:26 says the Lord didn't turn away his fierce anger from Judah. Evidently the King turned to God, but the nation did not.
At this time the Egyptian King, Neco, sent an army to the Euphrates River to join forces with Assyria, [against the upstart Babylon?] For some reason, Josiah went out to fight with him. He was killed and his son Jehoahaz became King. Judah came under the rule of Egypt. Jehoahaz paid 3.4 tons of silver to Neco through taxing the people of the land, yet Neco took the young king captive to Egypt where he died.
Jehoiakim was also Josiah's son, stepbrother to Jehoahaz. He became king by the appointment of Neco and about the same time Nebuchadnezzar became King of Babylon, challenging Assyria's control. If you check out a map you can see that tiny little Judah was just a pygmy caught between two giants. Jehoiakim soon became a Babylon's vassal.
Although Josiah had been a man of God, Josiah's reform had not touched the hearts of the people. His two sons who followed him were not godly. But now a big thing had changed. Something was different than when Hezekiah was king. God wasn't there for them any more.
Jeremiah's message was different than Isaiah's, and this is what has always drawn me to Jeremiah. How would you like to be the Prophet whose message was, God is gone.
Jeremiah 3:4-5. "You have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame. Have you not just called to me, 'My Father, my friend from my youth; will you always be angry with me?' This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can."
During the reign of Josiah, the message had been to return; return to Me. But they would not.
In chapter 11 Jeremiah formally reviews the terms of the covenant God made with Israel [undivided then, therefore Israel included Judah] . "This is what the God of Israel says; 'Cursed is the man who does not obey the terms of this covenant, the terms I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace. I said Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people and I will be your god. Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey---the land you possess today."
Clearly they had broken the covenant, and by that act gave up both the land and the protection of God. Under the very clear terms of the covenant, they were cursed.
Then in verse 14, these instructions to Jeremiah. "Don't pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress." vs 17, "The Lord Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal."
The men of Anathoth, the priests from Jeremiah's own home town, hatched a plot to try to kill him. It would not be the last such plot.
King Jehoiakin revolted against Nebuchadnezzer and was immediately taken to Babylon and killed. Neco lost the disputed land between Egypt and the Euphrates River to Nebuchadnezzer and decided to stay home. The stage was set for the end.
Hoshea was the last king of Israel. Scripture makes it very clear why Israel was destroyed. In fact, such well know prophets as Elijah and Elisha had been telling Israel to return to God from it's very beginning. I Kings 17, which tells us about the Assyrians conquering Israel during Hoshea's reign, also tells us very clearly why.
"All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right." Verses 7-23 recite some of the specifics. We will get more into those specifics next post when we look at what was going on in Judah in particular preceding it's destruction. With Israel gone, scripture says, "Only the tribe of Judah was left, and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced."
But Judah had something going for her; King Hezekiah.
1 Kings 18:5 says Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. "There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him." So when Sennacherib, the Assyrian king kept right on marching south toward Judah, Hezekiah did two things.
First, he gave Sennacherib all the silver in the temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. [11 tons of silver and 1 ton of gold, actually!] Still, the Assyrians came right up to the gates of Jerusalem and called for the king. In a famous account, the field commander called out to the city, "Are you depending on Egypt? Are you depending on your God to deliver you?"
18:28 records the arrogance of the Assyrian king. "Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my had. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, 'The Lord will surely deliver us..." And he makes a very persuasive point; none of the other gods have been able to save their people from Assyria.
King Hezekiah and all his officials tore their clothes, put on sackcloth and went to the Temple. Then they sent a message to Isaiah to pray for the remnant.
Isaiah's response was very amazing. He said not to be afraid of the blasphemous words of the Assyrians. [vs 7] "Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country and there I will have him cut down with the sword. " And that's exactly what happened. Not only that, but during the night the angel of the Lord slaughtered 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Assyrian didn't trouble Judah again. In fact Assyria was eventually to fall to the nation of Babylon.
Hezekiah had great favor with God and great trust in him..... but I need to keep going.
Hezekiah's young son Manasseh became king after him. He was one of the worst. He did more evil than the Canaanites had. His son Amon wasn't any better. He was so bad that his own officials assassinated him and made his son Josiah the king.
This is where it gets really interesting. Josiah was only 8. He was righteously brought up and walked in all the ways of his ancestor, David. I think Jeremiah had something to do with that. Jeremiah 1:1-4 says in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah.... Josiah would have been 21.... the word of the Lord came to me..." The young prophet, Jeremiah started predicting the destruction of Judah....and why not? Judah was living the same godless lives Israel had before them.
In the 18th year of Josiah, five years into Jeremiah's ministry, Josiah sent to Hilkiah the high priest asking him to repair the temple. The temple, during the half century of evil kings, had evidently fallen into that much of a run down state. During the remodeling Hilkiah [did you remember that he was Jeremiah's father?] FOUND THE BOOK OF THE LAW! Not only was the temple in a terrible state; evidently the entire worship of God had fallen to the same level.
Josiah instituted wide reaching reforms. And were they needed! Listen to this! "Remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts." "He did away with the pagan priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places..." "He broke down the shrines at the gates of the city.""He desecrated Topheth...so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech." "He removed the horses dedicated to the sun." He even got rid of some sites remaining from Solomon's time! the list is remarkable. [2Kings 23:1-25]
Interestingly enough, throughout Josiah's reform, Jeremiah continued to prophesy against Judah. And 2 Kings 23:26 says the Lord didn't turn away his fierce anger from Judah. Evidently the King turned to God, but the nation did not.
At this time the Egyptian King, Neco, sent an army to the Euphrates River to join forces with Assyria, [against the upstart Babylon?] For some reason, Josiah went out to fight with him. He was killed and his son Jehoahaz became King. Judah came under the rule of Egypt. Jehoahaz paid 3.4 tons of silver to Neco through taxing the people of the land, yet Neco took the young king captive to Egypt where he died.
Jehoiakim was also Josiah's son, stepbrother to Jehoahaz. He became king by the appointment of Neco and about the same time Nebuchadnezzar became King of Babylon, challenging Assyria's control. If you check out a map you can see that tiny little Judah was just a pygmy caught between two giants. Jehoiakim soon became a Babylon's vassal.
Although Josiah had been a man of God, Josiah's reform had not touched the hearts of the people. His two sons who followed him were not godly. But now a big thing had changed. Something was different than when Hezekiah was king. God wasn't there for them any more.
Jeremiah's message was different than Isaiah's, and this is what has always drawn me to Jeremiah. How would you like to be the Prophet whose message was, God is gone.
Jeremiah 3:4-5. "You have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame. Have you not just called to me, 'My Father, my friend from my youth; will you always be angry with me?' This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can."
During the reign of Josiah, the message had been to return; return to Me. But they would not.
In chapter 11 Jeremiah formally reviews the terms of the covenant God made with Israel [undivided then, therefore Israel included Judah] . "This is what the God of Israel says; 'Cursed is the man who does not obey the terms of this covenant, the terms I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace. I said Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people and I will be your god. Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey---the land you possess today."
Clearly they had broken the covenant, and by that act gave up both the land and the protection of God. Under the very clear terms of the covenant, they were cursed.
Then in verse 14, these instructions to Jeremiah. "Don't pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress." vs 17, "The Lord Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal."
The men of Anathoth, the priests from Jeremiah's own home town, hatched a plot to try to kill him. It would not be the last such plot.
King Jehoiakin revolted against Nebuchadnezzer and was immediately taken to Babylon and killed. Neco lost the disputed land between Egypt and the Euphrates River to Nebuchadnezzer and decided to stay home. The stage was set for the end.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
The heroes of the book of Jeremiah
One of the many ways I'm unlike anyone else I know is that I love Biblical names. I love to read the genealogies and compare the names. I love to trace the families through the different eras of the Biblical record. I even love to try to figure out how to pronounce them!
Jeremiah has an interesting family history. If you aren't crazy about such things you may not know about the lengthy genealogies in 1 Chronicles. But, exciting news, Chapter 6 lists the complete history of Jeremiah's family. Of course the family is rooted in Israel's son, Levi, and his great grandson, Aaron. "Aaron was set apart," 1 Chronicles 23:13 says, "he and his descendants forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever." This is the lineage of Jeremiah.
I'm sure there are lots of fascinating stories in these people; priests who led during the Exodus, struggled through the times of the Judges and Saul. When the Ark was triumphantly brought into the City of David, 120 relatives from Jeremiah's ancestors joined the procession. Zadok presented offerings before the lord, "morning and evening, in accordance with everything written in the Law of the Lord" during that exciting festival. During the historic reign of David, the faithful priests of this line served in the temple.
I could get quite carried away, [and have already told you way more than you want to know I image!] so I'll skip a few generations, through the division of the kingdom, through the destruction of Israel as a nation and through some good but mostly nasty kings of Judah up to Hezekiah. Hezekiah grew up in Judah during the time Israel was being destroyed by Assyria. He listened to the prophets who said seeking gods other than God was not only a bad idea, but wrong. Because of that, "He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him. He kept the commands the Lord had given Moses." He also,by miraculous intervention by God, defeated Sennacherib, the Assyrian King who had destroyed Israel.
Later a priest, Jehoida, pulled off a coup that established 8 year old Josiah as the King of Judah, earning a short reprieve from the nation's coming judgement. And it was another priest, Hilkiah, who was ordered by the young King Josiah to repair the temple, leading to the discovery of the books of the law, leading to Josiah's reforms. Once again we read the words to a godly king, "Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and it's people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore our robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. Now I will gather you to your fathers and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here. " 1 Chronicles 34:27.. this was to be Judah's last reprieve.
Hilkiah, that priest who discovered the book of the law, was Jeremiah's father. What an exciting time a privileged place for Jeremiah to grow up; a contemporary with possibly the greatest king of Judah, son of a High Priest during a time of revival. [Ironically, Jeremiah's ministry began 1 year after Josiah's reform. I only mention it now in passing, but that must indicate Josiah's reform was mostly a personal one. All of the political reforms a King could make did not result in a true repentance of the people.] All of those heroes of the faith preceded, but I think, influenced Jeremiah.
Jeremiah's ministry lasted from the 13th year of Josiah through the 11th year of Zedekiah, otherwise know as the end. Apparently this would be [BC is very tricky for me but I have a Swindoll article to help me out] 627 BC to 586 BC.
We see Jeremiah as standing alone during that time. This is an often quote scripture from Jeremiah's call; "Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land-- against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you." Jeremiah 1:17-19. Certainly it was a lonely job Jeremiah was called to, and his obedience and dependence on God is one of the huge lessons of the book. But I believe God also did provide godly men to encourage him in his lonely ministry. There is also a lesson here that God does not leave us alone. God never only has one servant. They are only briefly mentioned, but remember this book covers 40 years of ministry. We only have access to an album of snapshots, not a comprehensive newsreel.
Mostly the men we read about appear in the end of the story, when the situation became very dire. There's an account that Jeremiah sent a letter to the first of the exiles, Jehoiachin et al. King Zedekiah sent an envoy to Babylon and Gemaiah, son of Hilkiah [Jeremiah's father!] was entrusted with Jeremiah's letter. How encouraging to think Jeremiah's family was still active in Jerusalem and his brother was a trustworthy ally.
As the city comes under siege, other allies are recorded. The Recabites come to town to escape Nebuchadnezzer's destruction outside the city walls. They were such a godly family Jeremiah used them as an illustration of how far Judah had fallen short of the mark. The prophet must have been greatly encouraged by them.
In Chapter 38 when it looks like Jeremiah might die in a muddy cistern waiting for the end of the war, Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace came to the king and asked for the prophets release. That is the only word we have about this man.
Even the king, Zedekiah, though he waffled continually during his 11 year reign, occasionally showed compassion. After one brilliant speech by Jeremiah where he asks why he is in prison instead of all the prophets who said Nebuchadnezzer would NOT attack the city, Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be released from imprisonment and only confined to the courtyard of the castle guard and be given bread daily.
And of course the prophet's constant supporter was the scribe, Baruch. Their names became inseparably linked in the minds of those last kings of Judah. On the well known occasion when King Jehoiakin cut off the pieces of the scroll as they were read to him and tossed them into the fire, the royal secretary, Micaich [he must have a wonderful story we don't know much about!] made sure Baruch, who wrote out the scroll as Jeremiah dictated it, and the prophet were both safely hidden before he took the scroll to the king. [Hidden by whom? Certainly another unknown, to us, supporter of the prophet.]
Baruch is addressed personally by God, quite possibly through Jeremiah as they hid together. "You said, [Baruch] Woe is me. The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest." Chapter 45.
And God answered him. "I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life." There is a rebuke in there, but also a promise that Baruch would not be killed.
And that brings me back to my profound respect for Jeremiah and all of the steadfast men of God during those horrible years of God's judgement. Jeremiah had his moments when he cried out to God, too. Many moments. But he was only a man like us. He wasn't the stuff of Greek legends or from the pen of Tolkien. He was a man living through a terrible tragedy who served God faithfully until the very end. He is the hero who has drawn me many many times to the book of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah has an interesting family history. If you aren't crazy about such things you may not know about the lengthy genealogies in 1 Chronicles. But, exciting news, Chapter 6 lists the complete history of Jeremiah's family. Of course the family is rooted in Israel's son, Levi, and his great grandson, Aaron. "Aaron was set apart," 1 Chronicles 23:13 says, "he and his descendants forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever." This is the lineage of Jeremiah.
I'm sure there are lots of fascinating stories in these people; priests who led during the Exodus, struggled through the times of the Judges and Saul. When the Ark was triumphantly brought into the City of David, 120 relatives from Jeremiah's ancestors joined the procession. Zadok presented offerings before the lord, "morning and evening, in accordance with everything written in the Law of the Lord" during that exciting festival. During the historic reign of David, the faithful priests of this line served in the temple.
I could get quite carried away, [and have already told you way more than you want to know I image!] so I'll skip a few generations, through the division of the kingdom, through the destruction of Israel as a nation and through some good but mostly nasty kings of Judah up to Hezekiah. Hezekiah grew up in Judah during the time Israel was being destroyed by Assyria. He listened to the prophets who said seeking gods other than God was not only a bad idea, but wrong. Because of that, "He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him. He kept the commands the Lord had given Moses." He also,by miraculous intervention by God, defeated Sennacherib, the Assyrian King who had destroyed Israel.
Later a priest, Jehoida, pulled off a coup that established 8 year old Josiah as the King of Judah, earning a short reprieve from the nation's coming judgement. And it was another priest, Hilkiah, who was ordered by the young King Josiah to repair the temple, leading to the discovery of the books of the law, leading to Josiah's reforms. Once again we read the words to a godly king, "Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and it's people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore our robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. Now I will gather you to your fathers and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here. " 1 Chronicles 34:27.. this was to be Judah's last reprieve.
Hilkiah, that priest who discovered the book of the law, was Jeremiah's father. What an exciting time a privileged place for Jeremiah to grow up; a contemporary with possibly the greatest king of Judah, son of a High Priest during a time of revival. [Ironically, Jeremiah's ministry began 1 year after Josiah's reform. I only mention it now in passing, but that must indicate Josiah's reform was mostly a personal one. All of the political reforms a King could make did not result in a true repentance of the people.] All of those heroes of the faith preceded, but I think, influenced Jeremiah.
Jeremiah's ministry lasted from the 13th year of Josiah through the 11th year of Zedekiah, otherwise know as the end. Apparently this would be [BC is very tricky for me but I have a Swindoll article to help me out] 627 BC to 586 BC.
We see Jeremiah as standing alone during that time. This is an often quote scripture from Jeremiah's call; "Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land-- against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you." Jeremiah 1:17-19. Certainly it was a lonely job Jeremiah was called to, and his obedience and dependence on God is one of the huge lessons of the book. But I believe God also did provide godly men to encourage him in his lonely ministry. There is also a lesson here that God does not leave us alone. God never only has one servant. They are only briefly mentioned, but remember this book covers 40 years of ministry. We only have access to an album of snapshots, not a comprehensive newsreel.
Mostly the men we read about appear in the end of the story, when the situation became very dire. There's an account that Jeremiah sent a letter to the first of the exiles, Jehoiachin et al. King Zedekiah sent an envoy to Babylon and Gemaiah, son of Hilkiah [Jeremiah's father!] was entrusted with Jeremiah's letter. How encouraging to think Jeremiah's family was still active in Jerusalem and his brother was a trustworthy ally.
As the city comes under siege, other allies are recorded. The Recabites come to town to escape Nebuchadnezzer's destruction outside the city walls. They were such a godly family Jeremiah used them as an illustration of how far Judah had fallen short of the mark. The prophet must have been greatly encouraged by them.
In Chapter 38 when it looks like Jeremiah might die in a muddy cistern waiting for the end of the war, Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace came to the king and asked for the prophets release. That is the only word we have about this man.
Even the king, Zedekiah, though he waffled continually during his 11 year reign, occasionally showed compassion. After one brilliant speech by Jeremiah where he asks why he is in prison instead of all the prophets who said Nebuchadnezzer would NOT attack the city, Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be released from imprisonment and only confined to the courtyard of the castle guard and be given bread daily.
And of course the prophet's constant supporter was the scribe, Baruch. Their names became inseparably linked in the minds of those last kings of Judah. On the well known occasion when King Jehoiakin cut off the pieces of the scroll as they were read to him and tossed them into the fire, the royal secretary, Micaich [he must have a wonderful story we don't know much about!] made sure Baruch, who wrote out the scroll as Jeremiah dictated it, and the prophet were both safely hidden before he took the scroll to the king. [Hidden by whom? Certainly another unknown, to us, supporter of the prophet.]
Baruch is addressed personally by God, quite possibly through Jeremiah as they hid together. "You said, [Baruch] Woe is me. The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest." Chapter 45.
And God answered him. "I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life." There is a rebuke in there, but also a promise that Baruch would not be killed.
And that brings me back to my profound respect for Jeremiah and all of the steadfast men of God during those horrible years of God's judgement. Jeremiah had his moments when he cried out to God, too. Many moments. But he was only a man like us. He wasn't the stuff of Greek legends or from the pen of Tolkien. He was a man living through a terrible tragedy who served God faithfully until the very end. He is the hero who has drawn me many many times to the book of Jeremiah.
You've been studying WHAT?
It's true. I have been studying Jeremiah in the break between the fall and spring Women's ministries Study. I have been interested in the man Jeremiah for a long time. To me he is a hero, right up there with Hercules, Strider or even Frodo himself. He was given the mission, at a time when the world was falling apart around Judah, to tell his countrymen...."Yep, it's all falling apart and it's your fault. Oh, and God is not going to save you." The strength of character and the steadfast faith of this man is the stuff of legend. Yet he was a real, flesh and blood man, no more heroic than any one of us plus God could be.
I've been trying to organize in my head how to present what I've learned. The chronological walk through all 50 chapters of the book doesn't seem to be the way to go, [especially since we start the Psalm study in a couple of weeks]. And, I was surprised to learn that even the book is not organized chronologically.
So this is what I think I will do; Who, when, where, what, how. That just hit me but sounds as good as anything. Perfectly good newspaper theory. It might look like this:
1) Who are the players in the book of Jeremiah? And a big question for me, was he alone as all commentaries say?
2) When and where will be related. The rise and fall of the Supernations at this time of history was large and loud; and there was Judah, unfortunately it seems, stuck between Egypt and Whoever was in power in the North.
3) What actually happened within Judah itself?
4) How..... might actually make its way into parts 2 and 3.
Alright! I have a plan. Let's get to it.
I've been trying to organize in my head how to present what I've learned. The chronological walk through all 50 chapters of the book doesn't seem to be the way to go, [especially since we start the Psalm study in a couple of weeks]. And, I was surprised to learn that even the book is not organized chronologically.
So this is what I think I will do; Who, when, where, what, how. That just hit me but sounds as good as anything. Perfectly good newspaper theory. It might look like this:
1) Who are the players in the book of Jeremiah? And a big question for me, was he alone as all commentaries say?
2) When and where will be related. The rise and fall of the Supernations at this time of history was large and loud; and there was Judah, unfortunately it seems, stuck between Egypt and Whoever was in power in the North.
3) What actually happened within Judah itself?
4) How..... might actually make its way into parts 2 and 3.
Alright! I have a plan. Let's get to it.
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