WEBVTT 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:04.879 These videos just out of here. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:08.720 2005. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:09.519 Really? 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:12.480 You would have thought the late 70s, wouldn't you? 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:18.399 Hey, uh hairstyles like that never go into style, really. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:27.920 At one point, he said Solomon's Empire was the biggest, and then he went in and talked about King Ahab. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:32.799 Actually, the biggest territorial appears to be under Ahab's father, the King Omri. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:41.280 So uh he's the one who shows up in something called the Moabite Stone, which unfortunately uh tomb raiders essentially broke. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:48.320 It's no longer it's now a disaster, but we do have like a rubbing of it, and we saw that in Jordan on the hill of Amman. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:54.159 But Omri appears to have had the biggest territorial hegemony, not Solomon. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:01:01.359 Um questions about the video or responses as we basically concluded our study of Jeremiah. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:06.480 We didn't read all of it, we read the lion's share, though, and this is our conclusion of the book. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:12.480 So did anything surface for you as we went through, or again, uh comments or questions about the video. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:16.799 I have a question. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:17.680 Please. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:20.799 Maybe I misread this. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:29.519 See, Jeremiah was he the grandfather of King of Jedediah? 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:30.560 No. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.480 Jeremiah is in some kind of priestly class. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:47.519 Again, I'm disagreeing very openly with the book that Jeremiah may not have been in the highest class of priests, he may have been a Levite, so he may not have been a member of of the nobility. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.760 Um, but he's not related to these kings in any way. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:52.640 Okay. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:55.519 I guess their names are similar, but I read it and I'm not sure. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:56.959 Their names are very similar. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.040 Wait a minute. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.560 And then getting along his grandson to be the king? 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:02.959 I don't know. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:16.240 Yeah, and so there's uh some real the real big tricky wicket when we read the history in Kings and Chronicles is that there's King Jehoiakim, and then there's King Jehoiakin. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:16.879 Yeah. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:18.639 And those are really darn close. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:25.280 And then you may have noticed in the video, the king of Assyria is called Tiglat Pelezer, but they call him Pull. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:35.039 So it's kind of like reading War and Peace, if you've ever done that, which there's like each character has 20 different names, which only a Russian person would know. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:36.080 Um anyway. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:45.120 Solomon is called Jedediah as well, which is really confusing because he's yeah, anyway. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:45.840 Just because. 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:46.879 Just because. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:50.319 That's apparently a common nickname for Solomon, Jedediah. 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:51.840 Sounds a lot alike. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.120 All these names have meaning, correct? 00:02:59.360 --> 00:02:59.520 Yeah. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:07.439 Yeah, and I mean there's a really strong read that says your name, particularly in the Hebrew Bible, is an indication of your character or who you are. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:13.919 You heard that on Sunday morning if you were here for the sermon, um, and it does kind of bear out. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:27.680 Now, sometimes we're scratching our head trying to figure out what the connection is, and sometimes there's some real confusion, like Solomon is related to the word for peace, but it's more than likely not a Hebrew name. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:38.159 It's more than likely a Jebuzite name because David comes from the Jebuzite town of Bethlehem, and so Salim is a Jebuzite god. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:39.919 And what do you know? 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:44.319 Solomon builds a temple much like the Jebuzites. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:48.479 The Hebrew people didn't worship in temples, they had the tabernacle that went all around. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:54.159 Well, Solomon and David are around Jebuzites who build a home for their gods, and so what do you know? 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:56.000 They build a home for God. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:00.319 Yeah. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:04.560 So did the Levites live in the temple? 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:14.400 So the Levites in general manned these local shrines, and this is a thing that we don't like have a big grasp on. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:17.199 There wasn't just the temple in Jerusalem. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:18.480 There was that. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:26.160 But if you had to butcher an animal and you lived uh like in the Galilee, that's a really a far way to take your butchery. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:31.360 So you needed essentially a shrine, and and that's where the Levites were. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:36.879 And notice that there's shrines, particularly in Dan and Bethel, and Jeremiah refers to those. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:39.040 He says, or in Shiloh as well. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:40.800 But go have a look at Shiloh. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:43.040 Jerusalem's gonna be like that. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:52.639 Shiloh was destroyed by the Assyrians 722 utterly, and and Jerusalem doesn't get totally destroyed until 586. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:01.759 We're getting to hear, the book is asking you to hear and read this history again and again and again because it's not familiar to us. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:10.319 Again, a lot, I think the average church person doesn't even realize that the the kingdom split into Israel and Judah. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:21.519 Most people don't realize that the northern kingdom is called Jacob or Israel or Ephraim, like interchangeably, over and over and over again. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:30.079 And and that there's this sort of transition between the knee, and it's important, it's not the Assyrian Empire, that's ancient. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:33.839 It's the Neo-Assyrian Empire that becomes the war machine. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:42.399 They're like the first Sparta to give you, I mean, they predate Sparta by 400 years, but they're extremely militaristic. 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:53.120 Um and then that only lasts so long as we know on the world scene, they get replaced not by Babylon, because like the code of Hammurabi is from 2000 BC. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:06:04.399 It's the Neo-Babylonians that replace them, and then those get replaced by the Medes and the Persians, which we we now call the Persian Empire. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:07.600 The Medes get kind of swallowed by the Persians. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:16.959 And then the Greeks come next. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:18.800 And then the Romans. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:25.600 In Jeremiah, they talk about, I maybe spelled this wrong. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:28.480 They call them the C-H-A-L-D-A-L. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:29.279 The Chaldeans. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:30.240 The Chaldeans. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:41.360 Now they are, are they a uh uh we'll call it a uh were they hired, if you will, by the Neo-Babylonians to fight their battle? 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:43.439 The Chaldeans are the Neo-Babylonians. 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:43.920 Okay. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:50.160 So Abraham comes from Ur of the Chaldees, which is pretty close to modern-day Babylon. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:07:04.560 Ancient day, modern day Babylon, ancient day Babylon, and that of course is the seat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and that's again Chaldeans is a is a wide geographic swath. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:09.519 If you say the Babylonians, you're talking about the people who live in the city Babylon. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:10.959 That's one city. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:14.240 The Chalbee is the most large geographic area. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:17.600 Curiously enough, it's really close to Assyria. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.680 I mean, these aren't like vastly different people. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:28.319 They're essentially Fertile Crescent people, both the Assyrians and the Neo-Babylonians. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:39.360 I read a little bit of some other literature, and it said that the Assyrians are really good documenters. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:45.439 That they actually built, well, in particular, Assyria built a particularly good library. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:47.680 Whereas the Babylonians were not. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:50.720 Well, the Neo-Babylonian Empire didn't last very long. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:56.160 It lasted about 50 years, to put that in perspective, and then Cyrus wipes it out. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:59.279 Cyrus is the Persian Persian. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:12.240 And we have some Persian artifacts, and of course, the Persian culture and religion sort of was you know, Syria is this first really big kind of empire. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:18.639 Babylon is a quick takeover, and then the Persians grab all of that and make it bigger. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:27.920 And then the Greeks sort of take that, and the Romans take that, you know, so that you kind of get expansion of empires. 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:37.360 Does Persia ultimately take the uh what is today in modern Israel? 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:38.639 Oh, absolutely. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:40.320 Yes, all the way down to here. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:41.279 Yes. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:49.200 Now I'm curious to know, have not the Persians been monotheistic for a long time? 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.559 Uh depends how you choose to read it, right? 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:56.639 Because the the the religion of the Persians is Zoroastrianism. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:03.360 So if you ask your regular old Zoroastrian, I think they would tell you there are monotheists. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:21.440 Although there's people who quibble and say that Ahura Mazda, the supreme deity, has an opposing deity, and there might be dualism, like sort of like we do with God and Satan in a corrupted version of Christian religion that gives like this opposite figure a lot of power. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:30.559 Um the thing we don't really know is, I mean, most of the Zoroastrian scriptures are no longer extant, like they there's a lot missing. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:37.039 So you can read the Zarathustra, right, which are the writings of Zoroaster, but a lot of them are just missing. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:41.120 And there's not really a lot of uh Zoroastrians left in the world. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:55.440 I mean, there are some, but at one time it was extremely influential, uh, so it hasn't really been maintained, which is an interesting thing when you consider how many of those people there were compared to how many Jewish people there were. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:57.919 About as many as there are now. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:06.799 Like half of a percent of really influential religion in the same of the world to have been practiced by so few. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:18.080 There were still some very strong Persian descendant family. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:18.960 Yes. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:39.679 Yeah, it's uh uh what's his name? 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:41.919 Um Bob Marley. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:42.480 No. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:48.080 No, you're way more swagger than Bob Marley, it's Freddie Mercury. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:48.799 Oh, really? 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:49.360 Yeah. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:50.000 Of course. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:50.559 That's right. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:52.159 He was from that part of the world. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:53.279 Or I mean his family was. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:55.679 They were from that part of the world, moved to England, right? 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:55.919 Yeah. 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:57.519 His real name is Farouk. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:10:58.720 And uh anyway. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:02.240 I have a question, please. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:05.120 How do you pronounce N-I-N-E-V-E-H? 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:06.000 Nineveh. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:06.799 Nineveh. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:11.440 In in Hebrew it's pronounced Nineveh, but we call it Nineveh. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:14.559 This is where Jonah ends up going in the book of Jonah. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:18.480 And that is arguably the capital of the Assyrian Empire. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:27.039 The older capital would be the city of Ashur, but um, but it seems like Nineveh is the Neo-Assyrian capital. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:35.519 So shall we dive straight into some of these bits here? 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:43.919 I do there is one thing I wanted to make sure you saw, and it has to do with covenants, and and I it shows up in Jeremiah. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:45.600 I'll I'll read it to you. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:51.039 You can join me if you want to, but it's in Jeremiah 34, verse 18. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:56.879 I just wanted to give you a textual example of covenants. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:01.600 Um, yeah, there we go. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:08.559 Um those who transgressed my covenant did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:14.000 I will make like the calf when they cut it in two and pass between its parts. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:27.120 So reminder, I told you covenants are never made, they're always cut, and symbolically that is when you split an animal in half and pass between the parts, and you say, if you don't keep your your part, may you be like this calf. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:29.679 So here's a direct reference to that. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:30.960 That shows up in Genesis. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:42.960 God, Abraham cuts a bunch of animals in half and passes through them with a torch, and God is present in this terrible, it's Genesis says this like terrible darkness. 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:46.559 And um and here it is again in Jeremiah as well. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:48.000 Jeremiah what? 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:50.000 Jeremiah 34, 18. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:58.159 And the promise of cutting a covenant is if you don't keep your end, I'm gonna cut you in half. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:04.879 Again, that's how it's different from making a contract or making an agreement. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:07.519 You don't make a covenant, you always cut one. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:14.720 So the Jewish covenant reminder is not made at circumcision, it's cut at circumcision. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:19.679 And that's why circumcision is so so important, because it still is a cutting. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:26.000 Well, this it goes on to say that uh I'm not gonna read it all, but I've seen this more than once. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:31.039 Their corpses shall be food for the birds of the air and the animals, animals of the earth. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:31.519 Yep. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:38.480 They s this particular passage, if you will, I've read it numerous times in here. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:38.879 Yeah. 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:47.440 And that's really bad because it means you're deprived of proper burial, which means your afterlife in the place of the dead will be ambiguous. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:48.080 Right? 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:49.759 So this is still true today. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.120 You know, we scramble to get a funeral within three days. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:56.320 Uh you're Jewish, you're gonna be buried within 24 hours. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:59.120 Yeah, and you're not gonna go to the morgue in the hospital. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:02.960 Like if the hospital does that to you, it's really bad. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:08.159 So Jewish dead patients can stay in that room a lot longer than you can. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:13.759 The Jewish mortician removes them, does whatever embalming, within 24 hours, they're in the ground. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:26.480 Because I have an in-law who's in this situation, it's Jewish, has a fatal illness, and this is this may sound like a crude question in another state. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:32.000 Would Jews make arrangements to be close by if a person were gonna die? 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.320 Because you wouldn't be able to get a flight out. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:35.759 Maybe 24 hours. 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:39.759 You don't have to have people at your funeral, you just have to have one. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:48.639 But they're in any of this cremation, and they're in any of this, hey, we're gonna wait a week and and prop up the body. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.120 You got 24 hours to get the body in the ground. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:15:00.879 I know there may be a is there not only a religious component, but also a I'll call it a uh health component, if you will. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.279 You don't want a dead body sitting around for an hour. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:06.480 It just starts to to to decompose pretty quickly. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:10.399 And they don't do all the formaldehyde pumping that we've become accustomed to. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:15.279 So do you think that affects your afterlife if you pump full of formaldehyde? 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:17.360 I mean, I don't even know the answer to that. 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:20.240 I think sometimes there's just something you do and you do it. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:26.720 I mean, I how could you know I think there's this weird I and this isn't here or there, but I since it came up. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:32.399 Um, my parents were really opposed to um cremation because how is your body going to be resurrected? 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:33.919 Well, I gotta say, right? 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:36.320 There's people been dead 5,000 years. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:43.360 For God to reanimate them and give them bodies is no more miraculous than doing that out of a bunch of ashes in my brain. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:47.679 But part of it is, hey, there's this tradition, you need your body. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:52.000 Uh so what's interesting is that's a Western tradition and it's relatively new. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:54.480 Cremation's actually pretty darn old, alright? 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.600 The Indian people have been doing that for a long, long, long, long time. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:00.399 So it's funny, we're not. 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:02.720 This is what I love about the Episcopal Church. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:08.320 We're supposed to make decisions based on scripture reason and tradition, knowing that tradition's not always reasonable. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:09.919 We still make room for it. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:11.679 We still make room for it. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.600 You know, we do, because hey, life isn't just subject to pure reason. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:16.240 It isn't. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:17.759 We don't make decisions like that. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.759 The most important thing is to make sure you're really dead. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:22.799 Well, that helps. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:24.080 Cremational do that. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:24.960 I'll I'll let you know. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.039 Didn't they used to have a little bell? 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:27.600 Oh, yeah. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:30.159 Well, you know how that came about? 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:31.279 This is really may I. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:32.080 You please. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:33.600 It's really interesting. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:43.200 Back in Ireland, okay, they made, they made the first Irish whiskies uh were not well uh distilled. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.840 And they had a lot of methanol in them. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:51.279 And so sometimes people would pass out and they would appear to be dead. 00:16:52.080 --> 00:17:03.440 So they would they would have a wake and then they would bury them with a string and a bell above the ground so that should they wake up, they could they could wheel their toe and the bell would ring. 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:08.960 But of course, I would say who's in the the the um graveyard at night when the bell is ringing. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:10.480 But anyway, that's how that came about. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:12.240 And and and the same thing with a wake. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:14.960 The reason the wake came about was so that they might wake up. 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:16.640 They might wake up and they did. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.200 And you may want to wake up during cremation. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:20.960 That's what's scary. 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:22.720 Oh no, no, no, no. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:23.759 It's not like that. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:25.920 There will be no waking up during cremation. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:26.960 Oh no, no, no. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:27.759 No, no, no. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:29.440 That fire is like 2,000 degrees. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:30.400 That's like a kiln. 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:35.359 So jumping into a uh scares me. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:36.400 Volcano. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:37.920 I just want to make sure you know. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:38.880 Yes, it would be. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:45.359 I just don't know, but people are getting cremated now because it's so expensive to have a normal funeral. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:47.839 I think it's much more environmentally friendly, too. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.359 But the interesting thing about that is his grandfather. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:18:00.400 It's uh wanted to be cremated because he said, Oh, yeah. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:12.160 Well, it's interesting to know that in Germany you you can be buried with a with a maximum term of 50 years, after which they will dig you up and cremate you because they don't have enough farmland. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:13.839 Yeah, it was British. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:30.079 And I heard on the radio last night that we've already done pre-mation that some cultures have a practice of digging up the dead on their birthday every year, having a picnic with them and re-burying them. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:43.920 Well, just because you asked about the Zoroastrians, I'm going to tell you, you can go to these places in Iran still that are like these um where Zoroastrians did burial, and they didn't they didn't really do burial as we understand it. 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:54.559 They took uh people's dead bodies up to these towers, and vultures ate all of the stuff, and then they took the bones, collected them, and put them in an ossuary and buried that. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:19:02.079 And you were there for two weeks as a family, like eating food and grieving, and then you went back with the bones and put them in the family ossuary. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:14.240 So in India it's been a big problem because they do this, and India is really populated, and the vultures, well, they drop pieces of people when they fly away. 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.079 So that's been a major problem. 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:18.400 They put it in the river. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:19.359 No, no, no. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.559 Not the Zoroastrians, the Indians put the ashes in the river. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:22.720 Yeah. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.400 We saw one of those places, one of the towers. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:26.880 Yeah. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:28.160 And very interesting. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:29.359 It's totally different. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:32.480 Okay, now I do have to make sure we go back to Jeremiah, and you're here at a great time. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:34.480 It's because there's a lot of really good things here. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:37.759 So we want to make sure we get what happens with Jeremiah. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.559 Um, just chronologically in the book. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:44.480 He does some interesting, interesting bits, and maybe let's go backward. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:47.680 Jeremiah tells the people, don't go to Egypt. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:52.319 And they say, You're crazy, we're going to Egypt, and we're taking you with us. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:20:03.680 So Jeremiah goes, and this is why, if you've seen the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Ark is in Egypt, because they there's this myth that the Ark was never destroyed. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:10.880 It was taken to Egypt, and we have found some very old textual graveyard. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:25.920 I mean, remember, Hebrew skulls aren't discarded, they're buried like they're a person because they have God's name written on them, particularly an Elephantine island, and that's sort of down by Luxor and Karnak, and it's just an island in the middle of the Nile. 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:28.559 Um, that's the very end of the book. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.039 Well, but that's the end of Jeremiah. 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:35.200 So apparently he dies in an exile in Egypt, he didn't want. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:41.039 If Jeremiah was gonna pick where to go, it's clear he would have picked Babylon. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.799 Why doesn't he go there? 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:44.160 He's not smart enough. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:45.519 This is really important. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:49.440 This is where I disagree wholeheartedly with the book. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:57.599 People who were smart and educated and part of the aristocracy did not have a choice about whether they were staying or going. 00:20:57.759 --> 00:20:59.759 They were taken into captivity. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:01.759 So Jeremiah didn't make the cut. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:03.279 I don't mean he was a dummy. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:09.359 What I mean is he didn't have like the proper connections or wealth for birthright. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:12.960 He has some money because he's able to buy a field. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:14.480 Now, this is really important. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:20.319 He buys a field at fair market value before the invasion. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:24.319 This is not a good real estate plan, right? 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:27.680 So after, and I mentioned this in a sermon a month ago. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:34.960 After Chernobyl melts down, the land abutting it should be available for pennies on the ruple. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:42.720 You should not be paying pounds on the ruple for post Chernobyl land. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:51.279 But Jeremiah does that as an effort of a good faith, and honestly, as an as an effort of justice. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:58.000 The scriptures are very, very clear that you're not to profiteer off your brother in need. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:02.480 And Jeremiah actually lives under the Torah very carefully that way. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:05.920 This is apparently a final land transaction. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:10.240 So, you know, many transactions are reversible in the year of Jubilee. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:17.039 When you have to sell land to pay a debt, you will get it back 50 years ago, even if you're dead, your family gets it back. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:20.880 This kind of transaction, though, is sealed and marked, etc. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:22.880 This is a permanent thing. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:29.519 The people who have sold the land, what that means, right, is that they've sort of sold part of their ancestral story forever. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:32.880 Doing this is really a big thing. 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:38.799 And hence, Jeremiah pays fair market value to honor how deep of a ritual this is. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:40.000 I don't know if that makes sense. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.599 So if you purchase it, it's yours forever. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:46.720 If you borrow depending on the terms of the purchase. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:50.160 If it's a fire sale, your family will get it back. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:57.599 If you're liquidating it to pay a debt, because the Bible is very shrewd about this. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:03.920 If you have to liquidate your land to pay a debt, your family will always be slaves. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:11.279 Because they'll always be starting with no capital to farm, which means they'll always be sharecroppers or servants. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:18.880 So every 50 years you're supposed to reset it so that people have a chance then of no longer being born into servitude. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:22.880 We're not sure anybody ever practiced this. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:25.519 We just know it's in the scriptures. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:37.599 So when Bono says forgive the third world debt, really this is kind of a biblical principle that, hey, if Africa owes us a bajillion trillion dollars, how are they ever going to pay that back? 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:46.799 And if we're demanding always interest, if interest is being compounded daily and all they can pay is interest, how are they ever going to pay principal? 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:51.599 If their money is all going to this debt, how will they invest in infrastructure? 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:53.839 Hopefully, this makes sense. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:57.119 Now, of course, lenders don't like that practice. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:01.440 However, it allows for new trade to emerge. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:04.880 You know, so it's if you can be very short-sighted with it. 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:07.920 So that's the field of Anathoth. 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:11.839 Um, Jeremiah does have a conclusion that's not poetic. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:13.039 You notice it's prose. 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:18.240 The very last chapter says Zedekiah tries to run away. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:27.920 They catch him, they kill his children in front of him, and then put his eyes out and take him back to Babylon, where he lives in this kind of sad place. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:37.119 So that's where the book ends, although that's just not really a poetic, I mean, that's not like the rest of the book. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:43.279 That's just the factual pattern into the story, and we believe that's how that actually went. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:47.920 Prior to this, right, Jeremiah gets imprisoned twice. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:52.799 Once he gets imprisoned because the people perceive him to be a deserter. 00:24:53.519 --> 00:25:05.359 The Babylonians back off, and he goes out to see his land, and he gets reported as deserting, and he says, No, no, I'm a deserter, and he gets put in jail, and he appeals to the king. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:06.880 What did I do wrong? 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:09.200 I told you these people were coming. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:12.000 The false prophets told you they were going. 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:15.359 So why are you mistreating me? 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:19.680 Then he sends Baruch, his scribe. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:26.559 Remember, now this book has decided scribe means secretary, so Jeremiah is too important. 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:30.079 Another way to understand it is Jeremiah himself isn't literate. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:37.039 He sends his scribe into the temple because he's forbidden to go to share one of his oracles. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:45.839 And when he shares it, people are real mad and they throw him in a cistern that has no water in it, but has a bunch of mud, right? 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:53.359 And a servant of the king pulls him out of the cistern, and then there's this really important moment, I think, for compassion here. 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:55.359 The king says, What should I do? 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:57.440 And Jeremiah says, Surrender. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:03.359 And the king says, if I do that, the people who have gone into exile will mistreat me. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:06.400 The people who have held out will mistreat me. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:09.519 And Jeremiah says, No, they won't. 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:14.640 I mean, this poor king is in the middle of a rock and a hard place. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:20.079 And he can't even let them know what they've talked about. 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:24.880 Because if he did, right, he would be in one of those rock or hard places. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:27.119 I mean, this is what we call the double bind. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:32.480 So, a little bit of compassion for Zedekiah. 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:39.119 Maybe he knows he's got nowhere to go, but his alternative isn't any better. 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:42.880 Because his own people might lynch him, let's just be honest. 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:51.519 So, do you trust the mercy of the of the of the conqueror, or do you trust the mercy of your own people? 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:53.119 It's tough. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:07.119 Um, those are some of the the other uh major kind of fact act, right, is that Jeremiah makes a yoke of wood. 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:10.000 And he says, Look, this is your yoke. 00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:15.039 And this other prophet, Hananiah, says, poppycock and breaks the yoke. 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:22.960 So Jeremiah makes a metal yoke and says, Oh, things will actually be much worse than I had initially offered. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:26.880 And Hananiah, you'll die in the next year. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:29.200 And apparently he does. 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:33.200 These are the big actions in the latter part. 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:36.720 Remember, actions sometimes speak louder than words. 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:45.200 So this is like prophetic deed or performance art or whatever it is you want to call it happening here in the book. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:52.960 We do get another fact issue is that things are really bad, and all the people free their slaves. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:55.519 And the people back off a little bit. 00:27:56.319 --> 00:28:00.400 The Babylonians back off, and then they re-enslave their slaves. 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:06.720 And Jeremiah says, Because you've done that, I will set you all free by the sword. 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:09.599 Which is really tough. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:12.000 This is him speaking for God. 00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:12.960 Yes. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:20.960 You freed them and you re-enslaved them, and that becomes this really interesting thing to think about. 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:24.799 That happened in a concrete historical moment. 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:32.000 But there is this, I think, thought about whether or not we perpetuate that system of injustice. 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:38.559 Uh again, I what's the average credit card uh interest rate? 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:39.200 20%? 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:43.519 And payday loans is like more than 20%? 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:48.000 And listen, I don't need that stuff, but some people apparently do. 00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:52.240 So then how do you free people? 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:54.559 Again, this is where you come back to the Jubilee. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:59.920 How do you cancel a debt, but also give somebody the opportunity to earn a living wage? 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:02.559 And this is a tough, tough bit. 00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:07.039 And if you didn't mind me doing this, I'm gonna talk out of Jeremiah for a second. 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:15.200 Somebody liked some post on Facebook, and I don't spend a lot of time on Facebook, I sort of do it when I have nothing to do for five minutes at the end of the day. 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:18.559 I never do it right before bed because that's not gonna be good for me. 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:30.319 But it was about how Walmart has gone to automatic checkouts, and um, people are all enraged about Walmart going to automatic checkouts, so they're not gonna shop there anymore, maybe. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:32.000 Yeah, right, I'll believe it when I see it. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:39.119 I mean, Walmart has been really, really pushing the boundary of like employment rights for a long time, and no one cares about that. 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:44.559 But now they're upset because they don't like computers and they're taking away American jobs. 00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:47.359 It's really, really interesting to think about. 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:57.200 I mean, so does buying a pair of shoes that are manufactured in Vietnam take away American jobs, and nobody seems to be complaining about that on Facebook. 00:29:57.359 --> 00:30:06.160 And there's this really interesting uh book, apparently, that was written that says most jobs are essentially just made up so that people have something to do. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:15.039 They actually have very little actual value, but it gives people a perceived value and they can earn this wage. 00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:17.759 I don't know what you think about that premise. 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:21.839 I think there's something to it, to be honest with you. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:27.279 Um I think that that's about this a little bit. 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:42.160 And some of the posts on this were saying, well, uh that's because we insist on paying these people$15 an hour, so if we paid in less, then people wouldn't need these computer checkouts, and they couldn't survive. 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:45.039 So, like this is this interesting thing. 00:30:45.200 --> 00:31:00.000 Oh, listen, we'll free you to be, we want our, we're gonna mandate you be check-arounder people at Walmart at 29 hours a week so they don't have to pay you benefits, and they'll hire you at whatever you choose to work because capitalism's great. 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:07.200 So pay people$2 an hour to do this, and then we'll go back and shop at Walmart because people will be nice and respectful. 00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:12.960 I mean, I I think the Bible actually has a lot of insight into these kinds of problems. 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:19.279 And I don't know that there's a straight ruling because it's really hard, but I think there's a whole lot of insight into this. 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:21.839 Similarly, this is going to sound crazy. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:25.759 I I actually think I'm probably superfluous in a lot of ways. 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:29.519 I mean, um, you know, there's all kinds of online resources. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:32.319 There's people way more educated and talented than I am. 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:34.160 You could just watch those videos, you know. 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:36.000 You're so much more fun, though. 00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:37.599 I choose to believe that. 00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:47.039 I actually think, I actually think it's because, and this is I think the same thing with the checkout people, there's an opportunity for relationship there that we can't have and automate. 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:47.599 Yeah. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:55.359