Bible History Unmasked: Amalek Unmasked: Cousins, Conflict, and Covenant

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and this is Faith on the Go, where you take the word with you

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on your drive to work, while you're getting ready in the morning,

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or even in those quiet moments before prayer.

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Real life, real word, and real growth, all while you are on the go.

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Before we get into today's word, let's take a moment to center ourselves with a familiar prayer.

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The prayer of Jabez.

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Oh, that you will bless me indeed and enlarge my territory.

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Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.

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Father God, we come before you this day asking that you will indeed bless us,

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not just with what we have, but in who we are becoming.

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Enlarge our territory, Lord. Lord, expand our capacity, our mindset,

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and our ability to receive what you have for us.

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Let your hand be upon us, guiding us, covering us, and leading us in every decision we make.

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And Father, keep us from harm, physically, emotionally, and spiritually,

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that we may walk in peace and not in pain.

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And Lord, just as you heard Jabez when he cried out to you, hear us now.

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Your word says that you granted his request, and we believe that you are the same God today.

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So we come boldly before you, knowing that you hear us, knowing that you see

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us, and knowing that you respond to the prayers of your people.

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Have your way in this moment as we sit, listen, and receive your word.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Hello and welcome back to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I'm your host Connie Morris and we're on episode four titled Amokites and Surrounding Nations.

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I also want to welcome you back to the Bible History Unmasked where we follow

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the biblical record, examine the nations named in scripture,

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and let the word of God tell the story.

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We see here and we learned in episode 3, we follow Israel into Canaan and examine

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the conquest of the promised land,

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the Canaanite kings and the fortified cities, and the fulfillment of a covenant

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God that he had spoken earlier, generations earlier.

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But before Israel ever crossed the Jordan River, they had already faced enemies.

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The wilderness was not empty.

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Israel came out of Egypt carrying the promise of God, but they also entered

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a region filled with ancient people, tribal kingdoms, family nations,

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and competing territories.

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I want to stop here because I want to understand that when we are called to

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take nations, especially nations in our life, right?

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Look what we have to cross over. We got ancient people.

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We have tribal kingdoms. We got family. There we go. Family.

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We got cousins. we got our long lost relatives, we got our media family,

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and then we just got some unknown people competing for our stuff.

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But among them were the nations, were the Amokites.

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And their conflict with Israel begins almost immediately.

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After the Exodus. Let's go to Exodus chapter 17, verses 8 through 16. Let's read that.

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Verse 8 says, Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

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And Moses said unto Joshua, Shoes us out men and go out, fight the Amalek tomorrow.

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And I will stand at the top of the heel with the rod of God in my hand.

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So Joshua said, did as Moses has said to him and fought with the Amalek.

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And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

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And it came to pass when Moses, Hur held his hand up that Israel prevail.

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And when he let it down, his hand, Amalek prevailed.

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But Moses' hands were heavy and they took, and so they took a stone and put

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it under him, and he sat thereof.

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And Aaron and Hurst stayed up his hands. So they held up his hands, gave him a place to sit.

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And on the other side, his hands were steady until going down of the sun.

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And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

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And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse

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it in the years of Joshua.

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For I will ugly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

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And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah Nisi.

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For he said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek

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from generation to generation.

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We see here that Amalek came and fought with Israel.

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And it's interesting because they started to fight right away,

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right? Israel had just came out of slavery.

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They had not yet established a kingdom. They did not have fortified cities.

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They did not have a generation of military experience as a nation.

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They were traveling through the wilderness under the leadership of Moses,

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carrying the covenant promises of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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And then the Amalek attacked.

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Moses tells Joshua, shoes us out men and go out and fight with Amalek.

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While Joshua fought below, Moses stood above the battlefield with the rod of God in his hand.

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And the scriptures tells us in verse 11, And it came to pass that when Moses

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held his hand, the Israel's prevailed.

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And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

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This battle was not presented as merely military. Israel had fighters. Joshua had leadership.

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But the text makes us clear that the victory depend upon God's intervention

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and covenant protection. We see here again,

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that the God factor is in play. You got to understand that God followed them by cloud and by fire.

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So he was always present and he did not deliver them out of slavery to see them

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get defeated on their way to the promised land.

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That's how much God loves us. That's how much he fights for us, right?

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And so we continue that Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hand until the.

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Excuse me, until the sun went down.

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Joshua defeated Amalek and afterwards Moses built an altar and Moses built an

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altar and called it Jehovah Nisi.

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The Lord is my banner.

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That name tells us what Israel was supposed to understand. Their security was

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not ultimately the sword.

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Their protection was not ultimately in the numbers. Their protection was not

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ultimately on their own. Their survival was tied to God who had brought them

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out of Egypt and who was leading them towards the land he had promised.

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But the Amokites were not strangers to Israel's family history.

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They were connected to the descendants of Esau. Let's go to Genesis 36, 12.

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Isn't that powerful? God didn't just lead them out into the land to be free.

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He led them out, and then he stayed with them because he is so good.

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He said, I want to make sure they get there.

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But he knew that there was going to be some fighting, and he didn't want to

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leave them because they weren't yet trained.

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This is probably one of their first or second fights, right?

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So let's go to Genesis 36, 12 and see what was going on.

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And Timnah was a concubine to Elphes Esau's son, and she bared to him Eveleth Amalek.

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And these were the sons of Adu, Esau's wife. So he gave us a history of where they came from, right?

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Here we go. So when Amalek attacked Israel, we were not simply reading about

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two unrelated people meeting in the desert.

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We're looking at another branch of the Abrahamic family.

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Jacob and Esau had separated generations earlier. Jacob became Israel.

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And from Esau's descendants came Edon. And through Eliphaz came Amalek.

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Amalek, that make this conflict part of a much larger biblical story of families becoming nations.

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And Amalek was not only surrounding the nation Israel encountered,

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they were Edomites, they were Moabites, here go these Isis, the Ammonites,

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the Midianites, the Amorites, the people of Canaan.

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So there was giants in the land.

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And the other nations whose territory surrounded Israel journeyed from Egypt

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towards the promised land, many of these nations were themselves connected to

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people who had already encountered.

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In Genesis. So they already know him. Adam came through Esau.

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Moab and Amnon came through Lot. Pay attention.

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Midian came through Abraham and Keturah. The Midianites came through Abraham

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and Keturah. Check that out.

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The Israelites came through Jacob. So as we move through this episode,

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one of the important things to remember is this.

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The Bible is showing us families becoming people, people becoming nations,

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and nations eventually coming into conflict.

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And that's why genealogy matters. The conflict that appears later in Exodus,

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Numbers, Deuteronomy, Judges, Samuel, and Kings often have roots that go all the way back to Genesis.

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But the Amokites' attack also carries a special biblical condemnation.

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Moses later reminded Israel of what happened.

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So let's go to Deuteronomy and see why they were attacking them.

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Deuteronomy verse 25, and it is 17 and 18.

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Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of

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Egypt, how he met thee by the way, and smote the hid most of thee,

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even all that were feeble behind thee.

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When thou was faint and weary, and he feareth not God.

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He said, I want you to remember what happened, remember that Amalek did

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unto thee by the way, that when you come out forth out of Egypt,

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he met you and he smote thee, even all that were feeble behind thee,

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and thou was faint and weary.

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According to the scripture, Amalek did not simply challenge Israel's army.

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He struck the vulnerable. He attacked the weary.

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They targeted those traveling at the rear. And this is why God tells Israel.

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In verse 25, verse 19, Therefore it should be, when the Lord thy God hath given

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thee rest from all thy enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God

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giveth thee for an inheritance

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to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under

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heaven, thou shalt not forget it.

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Thou shalt not forget what Amalek did.

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The hostility does not disappear after the wilderness. The Amalekites continue

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to appear later in Israel's history.

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They appear during the time of the judges. They appear during the reign of Saul.

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They appear in the story of David. And according to the traditional biblical

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genealogy, the conflict may echo even later through Haman, the Agagite, and the book of Esther.

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So Amalek becomes more than just one battlefield encounter.

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It becomes a reoccurring biblical picture of opposition against the covenant people.

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But this episode is not about Amalek.

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We are also going to examine the surrounding nations, who they were,

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where do they come from, and where were they're connected in genealogy.

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Why did God sometimes tell Israel to fight one nation, but specifically forbidden

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them from attacking another one?

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Because God did not give Israel permission to seize every land.

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And so God says, I want your obedience. It's not that you take every land,

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but you take the ones that I'm giving you. And we see that Amalek is like a.

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Bad dream. They just never go away. They keep showing up.

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Let's keep going. So Deuteronomy 2, verses 4 and 5. And command thou the people,

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saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren, the children of Esau,

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which dwell in Seir, and they shall be afraid of you.

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Take ye good heed unto thyself. Therefore, meddle not with them,

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for I will not give you of their land, not so much as a foot breath,

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because I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for possession.

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So you don't get to take all the land, some of the land I gave to

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Esau. I love that. Verse nine tells us,

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and the Lord said unto me, distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them

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in battle, for I will not give thee of their land for possession,

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because I gave giving hour unto the children of lot of a possession.

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So every place you fought wasn't for you to fight.

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And it tells us that something very, very important when we read Deuteronomy

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29, it tells us that God recognized the territory inheritance of nations other than Israel.

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Israel's covenant did not mean they could supply, simply take whatever land they wanted.

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There were boundaries. There was instructions.

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There was nations Israel was told to pass by. There were nations Israel were permitted to confront.

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And there were nations that initiated conflict against them.

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So we see here that there's always a good, bad, and ugly in every situation, right?

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So we're going to slow down history and we're going to trace back these nations through scripture.

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We're going to look at their genealogies and we're going to examine their geography

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and we're going to look at their relationship in Israel.

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And we're going to examine what biblical text says about God's covenant protection.

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From Egypt to the wilderness, the Repidim to Moab, and eventually toward Canaan,

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Israel's journey repeatedly demonstrated one simple truth.

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One simple truth is this, 31 verse 8, and the Lord he is that doth go before

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thee, and he will be with thee.

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He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee, fear not, and neither be dismayed. He says, I don't.

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Who I tell you to fight, who attacks you.

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Don't you worry, I am with you. Israel had enemies all around them,

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but God had already gone before them.

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Their survival was not accidental. Their preservation was part of the covenant story.

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So today we're going to follow the Amokites and the surrounding nations through the biblical record.

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We're going to look beyond simplified maps and familiar names and ask,

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Who were these nations and how were they connected?

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Why did some become enemies of Israel and why was others protected?

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And what does the wilderness story reveals about God who defends his covenant people?

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In this episode four, the Amalekites and the surrounding nations,

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we're going to understand that the Amalekites were Afro-Asianic,

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Semitic, and Near Eastern people descended from Esau, Israel's brother.

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Their hostility towards Israel was not racial, it was spiritual,

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covenantal, and generational.

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God's dealing with Amalekah revealed his commitment to protect the lineage that

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will lead to Jesus. Isn't that interesting?

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If it has nothing to do with the lineage of Jesus, the Israelites wasn't out fighting any old body.

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God was very specific. If it's going to protect the lineage,

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then we have to destroy it. So let's go a little deeper here.

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Let's talk about the Amalekites. The Amalekites descended from Amalek.

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The grandson of Esau in Genesis 36.12.

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This makes them Semitic, descendants of Shem, Afro-Asianic, linguistic and cultural

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family, brown-skinned Near Eastern people, and relatives to Israel through Isaac.

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They lived in Negev, southern Israel, Sinai Peninsula, and the northwestern Arabia.

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These cultural overlaps with Edomites, Midianites, and Ishmaelites.

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So let's get started. First of all, the first attack happened with Amalekite.

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We covered that, but we're going to just kind of do a brief summary and go through

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the different battles that the Israelites were involved in.

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Remember, these were giants. So Amalek 17, Amalek, Exodus 17 from 18 to 16,

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which I read, Amalek attacked Israel from behind, targeting the weak and the weary.

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It was not a territorial war.

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It was a spiritual assault against God's covenant people. Amalek was Israel's cousins through Esau.

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This conflict shows that family lineages does not guarantee covenant alignment.

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Moses raises hands symbolizes dependence on God.

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Joshua's leadership emerges for the first time. He was the one that says,

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let's put him on a rock, let him sit down, and you take one hand and I'll take

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you and they take one hand.

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Remember Joshua was fighting. So you got Ben and Ur up there holding up Moses' hand.

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And then God declares perpetual conflict with Amalek because Amalek opposes his redemptive plan.

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So we see here that Amalek was, they were the ones that opposed it.

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God's plan was. Let's talk about the judgment of the Amaleks as found in verse

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25, Deuteronomy 25, verse 17 through 19.

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Remember what the Amalek did unto thee by day when ye were come forth out of

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Egypt, how he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee,

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even all that were feeble behind thee,

00:18:40.307 --> 00:18:43.791
when thou was faint and weary, and he feareth not God. He said,

00:18:43.791 --> 00:18:45.205
I want you to remember what they did to you.

00:18:45.472 --> 00:18:50.284
They attacked from the back and they attacked the vulnerable and the weary.

00:18:50.505 --> 00:18:55.480
When we think about the ethnic content of the Amaleks, we find that they are Semitic.

00:18:55.903 --> 00:19:00.153
They're not foreign outsiders. Their hostility came from spiritual rebellion,

00:19:00.472 --> 00:19:02.405
not ethnic differences.

00:19:02.903 --> 00:19:08.010
When we look at the theological side, we see here that God's judgment is based

00:19:08.010 --> 00:19:10.084
on wickedness, not race.

00:19:10.241 --> 00:19:14.316
Amalekite attacked on the vulnerable reveals their moral corruption.

00:19:14.594 --> 00:19:17.860
And if you think about what's happening today, we have the widows,

00:19:17.860 --> 00:19:23.900
the orphans, the poor, who are constantly having to battle whatever is happening in Washington.

00:19:24.237 --> 00:19:26.216
And they don't have a lot of money.

00:19:26.564 --> 00:19:31.110
They don't have a lot of protection. They need help. And so when God says.

00:19:31.630 --> 00:19:36.729
When your actions start to affect the vulnerable and the orphans and the widows,

00:19:36.955 --> 00:19:41.035
then there's something going on besides what we think.

00:19:41.318 --> 00:19:44.906
He calls it moral death, moral corruption.

00:19:45.208 --> 00:19:47.367
Let's go to 1 Samuel 15.

00:19:47.698 --> 00:19:53.938
I won't read the whole story of 1 Samuel 15 just for the sake of time. But this is about Saul.

00:19:54.430 --> 00:20:00.260
And the thing about Saul is that he was king, but he wanted to do his own thing.

00:20:00.650 --> 00:20:05.200
And you can't do your own thing when God promotes you into an office,

00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:08.288
no matter where it is, what type of job. It could be McDonald's.

00:20:08.521 --> 00:20:13.960
If God puts you in a space and you go in there and you disobey your boss and

00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:16.590
you're just totally acting up, God ain't having that.

00:20:16.758 --> 00:20:21.176
Because you're disobeying the leadership he has placed in your presence.

00:20:21.594 --> 00:20:27.971
So that's Samuel, 1 Samuel 15. You can write that down. That talks about Saul's failure.

00:20:28.261 --> 00:20:36.092
Saul's disobedience disobeys God by sparing King Agod. He was told to kill everything.

00:20:36.365 --> 00:20:41.440
And this is a funny story because when he said kill everything,

00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:45.240
and Samuel said, what is that sheep sound like here? And he says,

00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:47.242
well, you know, I didn't want to destroy everything.

00:20:47.807 --> 00:20:51.254
All of it. But what was the command? The command was all of it,

00:20:51.254 --> 00:20:54.308
including the king. But he didn't do that.

00:20:54.604 --> 00:20:58.795
I'm going to read that in verse 15. Samuel also said unto Saul,

00:20:59.080 --> 00:21:03.604
The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel.

00:21:03.604 --> 00:21:08.101
Now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord.

00:21:08.368 --> 00:21:13.854
Thus says the Lord of hosts, I remember that which was Amalek did to Israel,

00:21:14.161 --> 00:21:17.267
how he laid wait for them in Egypt.

00:21:17.522 --> 00:21:23.084
Now go and smite Amalek and utterly store all that they have and spare them

00:21:23.084 --> 00:21:30.034
not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel.

00:21:30.034 --> 00:21:32.969
So he says, go over there and kill everybody.

00:21:33.184 --> 00:21:36.509
And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telang,

00:21:36.794 --> 00:21:40.497
200,000 foot men and 10,000 men of Judah.

00:21:40.735 --> 00:21:44.154
And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay wait in the valley.

00:21:44.421 --> 00:21:49.843
And Saul said unto Canaanites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites,

00:21:50.052 --> 00:21:52.856
lest I destroy you from them.

00:21:53.111 --> 00:21:55.956
For ye show kindness to all the people of Israel.

00:21:56.327 --> 00:22:01.624
And when he came out of Egypt, so Canaanites departed from among the Amalekites.

00:22:01.624 --> 00:22:03.247
So he told the Canaanites to go.

00:22:03.508 --> 00:22:09.264
And Saul smote the Amalekites in Havala until thou cometh to sure that it's

00:22:09.264 --> 00:22:12.514
over against Egypt. And he took Agag, the king.

00:22:13.134 --> 00:22:17.220
What did God tell him to do? He said, kill everybody. But what did Saul do?

00:22:17.562 --> 00:22:23.684
He took King Agag and the king of the Amalites alive and only destroyed all

00:22:23.684 --> 00:22:26.095
the people with the edge of the sword.

00:22:26.426 --> 00:22:32.074
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the oxen and

00:22:32.074 --> 00:22:35.264
all the fatling and the lamb and all that was good.

00:22:35.264 --> 00:22:37.754
You just heard what I this. So he told the story, everything,

00:22:37.754 --> 00:22:42.180
but thou, but everything that was violent, refused. He uttered the story.

00:22:42.551 --> 00:22:44.705
He kept the good stuff. Then a word.

00:22:45.523 --> 00:22:49.896
It came the word of the Lord to Samuel, saying, If it repented thee that I have

00:22:49.896 --> 00:22:55.786
set up Saul to be king, for he turned back from following me and hath not performed my commandments.

00:22:56.048 --> 00:23:00.279
And he grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night.

00:23:00.407 --> 00:23:04.906
And when Samuel rose up early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel,

00:23:04.906 --> 00:23:10.566
saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a place and has gone about

00:23:10.566 --> 00:23:13.492
and passed on and gone down to Gilgath.

00:23:13.782 --> 00:23:21.955
So he, Paul did not, not Paul, Saul did not obey the Lord through the prophet Samuel.

00:23:22.298 --> 00:23:27.576
And it goes on to talk about that, but that's part of Saul's failure.

00:23:27.576 --> 00:23:31.876
We read what they told him to do, and he totally did the opposite.

00:23:32.281 --> 00:23:39.044
Saul disobeyed God by sparing King Agai. Agai was a brown-skinned Semitic king of Amalek.

00:23:39.415 --> 00:23:43.380
His survival allowed future hostility to continue.

00:23:43.543 --> 00:23:47.989
Theological insight, partial obedience is disobedience.

00:23:48.256 --> 00:23:51.844
Saul's failure leads to his rejection as king.

00:23:52.221 --> 00:23:57.579
God protects the covenant line by removing leaders who compromise.

00:23:58.537 --> 00:24:02.827
Isn't that interesting? He protects his line by moving. Now,

00:24:03.007 --> 00:24:05.950
Saul was voted king by the people.

00:24:06.472 --> 00:24:11.506
God promoted him, and yet he had only one thing to do. And he knows sooner.

00:24:11.506 --> 00:24:12.904
That was all in one chapter.

00:24:13.229 --> 00:24:18.896
Don't do this and then all of a sudden what he does Saul does exactly what they

00:24:18.896 --> 00:24:21.374
told him not to do let's go to Esther

00:24:21.740 --> 00:24:25.686
because Esther brings up the agai remember if you killed your enemy like God

00:24:25.686 --> 00:24:30.620
told then Esther would not be having the problem Esther was having with Haman

00:24:30.858 --> 00:24:36.056
so we go to Esther 3 we won't read that but we know that Esther 3 Haman the.

00:24:36.856 --> 00:24:42.311
Agai he was a thorn in the flesh of Esther and Mordecai.

00:24:42.805 --> 00:24:48.698
Haman is a descendant of Agag, and he attempts to genocide against the Jews.

00:24:48.698 --> 00:24:54.862
Haman was an Amalekite, proving the conflict lasted centuries.

00:24:55.030 --> 00:24:59.773
So it was like he could have killed this king and they wouldn't have any problem.

00:25:00.173 --> 00:25:04.266
But yet he didn't. Let's keep talking about these ites. Theological insight.

00:25:04.614 --> 00:25:11.481
The Amalekite spirit represents opposition to God's covenant and Messiah lineage.

00:25:11.673 --> 00:25:15.468
Lineage. The Edomites, think about it. So we think about this,

00:25:15.468 --> 00:25:18.368
that we're going to continue. We'll do Edomites later after that.

00:25:18.368 --> 00:25:21.930
But think what happened when Saul disobeyed God.

00:25:22.128 --> 00:25:27.346
It opened up to continual battle between Esther and Haman.

00:25:27.637 --> 00:25:33.858
And we understand that Agag was not a European race. He was of a brown-skinned

00:25:34.032 --> 00:25:36.256
Semitic king. So let's continue.

00:25:36.604 --> 00:25:40.878
And the surrounding areas that they had to fight was the Edomites.

00:25:41.278 --> 00:25:46.858
This is so good. The Edomites was a Semitic Afro-Asianic brown-skinned Near

00:25:46.858 --> 00:25:53.398
Eastern people, Israel relatives, often hostile due to spiritual rebellion.

00:25:54.501 --> 00:26:00.558
The Midianites was a sentence to Abraham and Keturah, the Semitic Afro-Asianic.

00:26:00.558 --> 00:26:02.663
They were nomadic desert people.

00:26:02.970 --> 00:26:07.348
Moses married into Midian and sometimes allies and sometimes enemies.

00:26:07.348 --> 00:26:10.099
So they fought back and forth with the Midianites.

00:26:10.436 --> 00:26:14.743
And then we hear here in Ishmaelites, it says Semitic Afro-Asianic.

00:26:15.358 --> 00:26:19.830
They are descendants of Ishmael. They're Arabian people, so they're not white.

00:26:19.830 --> 00:26:23.886
They're Arabian. They're kind of a lighter brown trader and caravan merchants

00:26:24.176 --> 00:26:25.859
connected to Joseph's story.

00:26:26.208 --> 00:26:30.141
These nations form the ethnic landscape around Israel.

00:26:30.437 --> 00:26:35.050
When we think about the world versus the Bible, the world treats Amokites as

00:26:35.050 --> 00:26:41.870
mythical, depicts them as European or generic villains, and ignore the Semitic

00:26:41.870 --> 00:26:44.311
and Afro-Asianic identity.

00:26:44.584 --> 00:26:48.967
However, the Bible names their genealogy, places them in real geography,

00:26:49.100 --> 00:26:54.320
shows their connection to Israel, and reveals their spiritual opposition to

00:26:54.320 --> 00:26:58.197
God's covenant. What place are they in the lineage of Jesus?

00:26:58.557 --> 00:27:04.300
The Amalekites are not in Jesus' lineage, but their hostilities threaten the

00:27:04.300 --> 00:27:07.572
people to whom God will come through.

00:27:07.804 --> 00:27:12.088
God's protection of Israel ensures the survival of Judah, the birth of David.

00:27:12.471 --> 00:27:16.340
And the preservation of the Masonic lineage.

00:27:16.340 --> 00:27:21.490
This is very interesting because now we understand, like, I'm thinking the ice

00:27:21.490 --> 00:27:23.228
are all giants, but it looks like they're not.

00:27:23.454 --> 00:27:26.065
But they're all enemies of Israel for sure.

00:27:26.373 --> 00:27:30.200
We'll cover most of the giant stuff later, apparently. But this is still good

00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:35.620
information to understand how these ice came through.

00:27:35.620 --> 00:27:39.916
The Edomites came through Esau, the Midianites came through Abraham,

00:27:40.224 --> 00:27:46.777
and Keturah, the Ishmaelites came through Ishmael. So let's look at what the world says.

00:27:47.998 --> 00:27:51.073
This is good. I think we covered that. So let's pray. By the God,

00:27:51.073 --> 00:27:55.912
in the name of Jesus, help us understand the spiritual battles Israel faced

00:27:56.261 --> 00:27:59.848
and the ethnic reality of nations around them.

00:28:00.098 --> 00:28:07.696
Teach us to see your protection over the covenant line and your justice against wickedness.

00:28:07.905 --> 00:28:09.804
We pray this in Jesus' name.

00:28:10.315 --> 00:28:15.573
Amen. The next episode, we're going to discuss Egypt, Cush, and the African

00:28:15.573 --> 00:28:22.395
nations. We got the Amalek is through Eliphaz, Esau, Isaac, Abraham, Shem, and Noah.

00:28:22.596 --> 00:28:27.063
This makes the Amalekites Semitic, Afro-Asianic, Near Eastern,

00:28:27.063 --> 00:28:28.650
and a relative of Israel.

00:28:29.057 --> 00:28:33.927
Their skin tone and appearance was based on the Near Eastern anthropology,

00:28:34.211 --> 00:28:39.333
brown skin, Semitic facial features, similar appearance of the Edomites,

00:28:39.333 --> 00:28:42.443
the Midianites, and early Israelites, not European.

00:28:42.722 --> 00:28:49.073
And then the language they spoke was laid to Hebrew, Aramatic, Edomite, or Arabic.

00:28:49.763 --> 00:28:55.220
The culture was nomadic and semi-nomadic, skilled in desert warfare,

00:28:55.423 --> 00:28:59.443
known for a surprise attack. We saw that connected to trade routes.

00:28:59.443 --> 00:29:01.808
Everything seemed to be connected to these trade routes.

00:29:02.046 --> 00:29:08.663
And Amokites live in Negev Desert, Sinai Peninsula, and Northern Arabia.

00:29:08.663 --> 00:29:13.360
The territories that overlap with Edom, Midian, and the Israelites. Think about that.

00:29:13.685 --> 00:29:22.193
That's powerful. And we know just from our study about how the genealogy works from Rahab, Boaz.

00:29:22.653 --> 00:29:27.680
And we know that that was the lineages that birthed out Jesus. And we think about this.

00:29:28.069 --> 00:29:31.256
I want you to see this. David, Israel, was the greatest king.

00:29:31.587 --> 00:29:36.945
He was Afro-Asianic ancestry through Rahab and Ruth. Jesus, son of David.

00:29:37.281 --> 00:29:41.409
Jesus' genealogy includes Rahab, a Moabite.

00:29:41.959 --> 00:29:48.327
The Canaanite, Ruth, the Moabite, Tamar, Canaanite, and Bathsheba, the Afro-Escenic.

00:29:48.583 --> 00:29:53.391
And so the message lineage is multi-ethnic, Afro-Asianic, and Near Eastern.

00:29:53.391 --> 00:29:55.955
That was the history of Jesus.

00:29:56.158 --> 00:30:00.495
I'm your host, Connie Morris, and this has been the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

00:30:00.796 --> 00:30:03.287
And I'll see you on the next episode.

00:30:03.612 --> 00:30:07.350
Before we close today, I don't want to take for granted that everyone listening

00:30:07.623 --> 00:30:09.045
knows Jesus personally.

00:30:09.434 --> 00:30:13.851
If you have listened to this episode or any other episodes and felt something

00:30:13.851 --> 00:30:18.971
stirring in your heart, maybe you know about God, but you're not sure you truly know him.

00:30:19.156 --> 00:30:23.336
Maybe you grew up in church, walked away, got hurt, became tired,

00:30:23.731 --> 00:30:26.061
and never fully surrendered your life to Jesus.

00:30:26.461 --> 00:30:30.871
I want you to know this. God loves you. He has not forgotten you.

00:30:30.871 --> 00:30:32.827
He is not waiting to shame you.

00:30:32.995 --> 00:30:35.933
He is calling you home.

00:30:36.107 --> 00:30:40.141
The Bible says in Romans 10, 9, if you declare with your mouth,

00:30:40.356 --> 00:30:47.624
Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

00:30:47.821 --> 00:30:50.260
Salvation is not about being perfect.

00:30:50.463 --> 00:30:53.371
It's about surrendering to the one who is perfect.

00:30:53.684 --> 00:31:01.097
Jesus died for your sins, rose again, and made a way for you to be forgiven, restored, and made new.

00:31:01.318 --> 00:31:04.731
So right where you are, you can pray this prayer with me.

00:31:04.888 --> 00:31:10.049
Lord Jesus, I come to you today with an open heart. I believe you are the son of God.

00:31:10.438 --> 00:31:17.751
I believe you died on the cross for my sins. And I believe that God raised you from the dead today.

00:31:18.145 --> 00:31:22.771
I confess that I need you. I repent of my sins. I ask you to forgive me,

00:31:22.771 --> 00:31:25.879
cleanse me, and make me brand new.

00:31:26.075 --> 00:31:27.991
Jesus, come into my heart.

00:31:28.310 --> 00:31:33.849
Be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, and my King. I surrender my life to you.

00:31:34.045 --> 00:31:37.448
I give you my past, my present, and my future.

00:31:37.727 --> 00:31:41.657
Teach me how to walk with you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

00:31:41.929 --> 00:31:45.881
Lead me in truth, healing, obedience, and love.

00:31:46.201 --> 00:31:51.002
From this day forward, I belong to you. In Jesus' name, amen.

00:31:51.176 --> 00:31:55.611
If you pray that prayer from your heart, I want you to know that heaven has

00:31:55.611 --> 00:31:57.620
heard you. This is not the end.

00:31:57.944 --> 00:32:02.839
This is only the beginning of your walk with Jesus. Find a Bible-believing church,

00:32:03.012 --> 00:32:08.184
begin reading the word of God, pray daily, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow.

00:32:08.463 --> 00:32:13.223
God is not looking for perfection from you. He is inviting you into relationship,

00:32:13.538 --> 00:32:17.041
transformation, and eternal life. through Jesus Christ.

00:32:17.341 --> 00:32:23.358
And remember, you are loved, you are not forgotten, and God still has a purpose for your life.

00:32:23.689 --> 00:32:26.573
Thank you for listening to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

00:32:26.778 --> 00:32:31.235
Until next time, keep walking in truth, faith, and freedom.

00:32:42.213 --> 00:32:45.383
Family, thank you for spending time with me today.

00:32:45.667 --> 00:32:49.324
To every woman listening who has ever felt hidden, overlooked,

00:32:49.324 --> 00:32:51.786
or pushed aside, hear me clearly.

00:32:52.053 --> 00:32:56.592
God has not forgotten you, and neither have I.

00:32:56.987 --> 00:33:01.741
Now let's go before the Lord and close this out with a word from God.

00:33:02.171 --> 00:33:06.594
Because someone out there needs this reminder today.

00:33:06.867 --> 00:33:10.855
Jeremiah 29, 11, verses 11 through 14.

00:33:11.285 --> 00:33:16.134
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you

00:33:16.134 --> 00:33:20.039
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

00:33:20.329 --> 00:33:25.077
Then when you call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you,

00:33:25.338 --> 00:33:30.644
you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

00:33:30.644 --> 00:33:36.710
I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and bring you back from captivity.

00:33:37.088 --> 00:33:43.054
Father God, we thank you for your word, that it is true, that it is living, that it is for us.

00:33:43.205 --> 00:33:48.244
You said you know the plans you have for us, plans to prosper us and not to

00:33:48.244 --> 00:33:51.158
harm us, plans to give us hope and a future.

00:33:51.448 --> 00:33:55.750
So today we receive that, not just in our minds, but in our hearts.

00:33:55.976 --> 00:33:59.685
When we feel overlooked, remind us you still see us.

00:33:59.976 --> 00:34:05.206
When we feel forgotten, remind us you still have a plan. And when we feel hidden,

00:34:05.531 --> 00:34:07.743
remind us you are still working.

00:34:08.039 --> 00:34:11.185
Your word says that when we call on you, you will listen.

00:34:11.522 --> 00:34:15.521
So we call on you now. Hear us. Strengthen us. Guide us.

00:34:15.771 --> 00:34:21.454
Help us to seek you with our whole heart, not halfway, not sometimes, but fully.

00:34:21.675 --> 00:34:26.121
And as we seek you, let us find you in every season, in every place.

00:34:26.644 --> 00:34:31.862
Even the hidden one. Restore what was lost, renew what feels broken,

00:34:32.182 --> 00:34:36.593
and remind us that nothing in our lives is wasted in your hand.

00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:43.187
Lord, we trust you, we believe you, and we stand on your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

00:34:43.506 --> 00:34:47.569
This is Diary of a Black Woman podcast, and I'm your host, Connie Morris,

00:34:47.842 --> 00:34:50.588
and I'll see you on the next episode.