1 00:00:14,119 --> 00:00:17,359 Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast. 2 00:00:18,379 --> 00:00:24,100 If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you. 3 00:00:24,660 --> 00:00:26,660 Thank you for joining us today. 4 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:36,380 Well, I guess we can get started. 5 00:00:39,260 --> 00:00:46,100 We're gonna be in Joshua chapter 20 tonight, so you guys can turn there if you want. 6 00:00:47,619 --> 00:00:47,979 Yeah, sure. 7 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,200 Can I just grab it, too? 8 00:00:55,579 --> 00:00:57,899 You got the cord, but that's okay, right? 9 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:13,060 All right, hopefully I don't take too many things down with me tonight. 10 00:01:15,579 --> 00:01:16,859 All right, good evening. 11 00:01:16,859 --> 00:01:19,599 Welcome to Wednesday Night Bible Study. 12 00:01:20,500 --> 00:01:22,819 Tonight we're gonna be in Joshua chapter 20. 13 00:01:23,500 --> 00:01:32,000 We're gonna be talking about the cities of refuge, and it's really three things I want to touch on tonight. 14 00:01:32,620 --> 00:01:45,560 The first one will be, I want to explain the context and go through the verses and also look at the six categories of killing 15 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:47,579 that are dealt with in the Bible. 16 00:01:48,819 --> 00:01:55,280 And then we're gonna look at some commonalities between the English common law and the Bible 17 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,540 and how English common law built on the Bible. 18 00:01:59,719 --> 00:02:05,459 Not exclusively, but how a lot of what we believe in our legal system is rooted in Scripture. 19 00:02:06,299 --> 00:02:11,860 And then we're gonna talk a little bit about the justice of God and how this all ties in. 20 00:02:11,860 --> 00:02:18,840 So, maybe a little bit heavy on the mind at first, but then we're gonna tie it in with some heart stuff. 21 00:02:19,780 --> 00:02:26,719 But actually, in the Hebrew worldview, the mind or the heart did the thinking and the feeling. 22 00:02:27,439 --> 00:02:37,139 So, I'm not really sure what the mind did, but yeah, so why don't we read Joshua chapter 20. 23 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:38,539 It's only nine verses. 24 00:02:38,539 --> 00:02:40,900 So verse one. 25 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:27,379 And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly and did not hate him in the past. 26 00:03:28,199 --> 00:03:35,620 And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is the high priest at the time. 27 00:03:36,620 --> 00:03:42,860 Then the manslayers may return to his own home and his own town, to the town from which he fled. 28 00:03:43,539 --> 00:03:54,139 So they set apart Kadesh in Galilee, in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiryat Arba, that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah. 29 00:03:54,139 --> 00:04:08,800 And beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer, in the wilderness, on the table land, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramot, in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan, in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. 30 00:04:09,099 --> 00:04:22,779 These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel, and for the strangers sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation. 31 00:04:22,779 --> 00:04:31,379 So let's just pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you for Joshua chapter 20. 32 00:04:32,180 --> 00:04:39,980 And Lord, we just pray that you would give us spirit of wisdom and revelation tonight, that you would open our eyes, that we might see you more clearly. 33 00:04:41,079 --> 00:04:47,860 Lord, and we just do lift up Tevin and his family. Lord, we ask that you would be with them during this tragedy. 34 00:04:47,860 --> 00:04:54,000 Lord, and we just pray for your peace and comfort to be on everybody, in Jesus' name. Amen. 35 00:04:55,600 --> 00:05:08,899 So, this scripture is dealing with some legal items that were prescribed in the Old Testament. 36 00:05:10,060 --> 00:05:27,480 Specifically, this is the Old Testament, but specifically in the Torah, and Joshua and the Israelites are marking out some cities for a specific legal provision that deals with a specific type of killing. 37 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:38,879 Now, just a couple things we can look in the verses. So in verse 2, they set aside the cities of refuge, or that word, by the way, we're in Joshua chapter 20. 38 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:50,459 So Joshua chapter 20 verse 2 says, appoint the cities of refuge. Now, the word refuge could also mean asylum. So these are like asylum cities. 39 00:05:51,459 --> 00:06:06,480 So they're setting aside the cities. If we look at verse 3, it says, the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. 40 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:16,160 So the word manslayer basically is a Hebrew word that just means killer, but it's a broad term. 41 00:06:16,819 --> 00:06:30,060 And in the next section, or just in a minute, I'm going to go through the four Hebrew words that deal with killing or killer. 42 00:06:30,579 --> 00:06:34,800 And I'll kind of line them out for you. We won't go too deep, but just like a brief overview. 43 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:46,939 But this word manslayer, you could also translate it as killer. But the second word in there that's key is the word strikes. 44 00:06:47,959 --> 00:06:59,360 And this word has to do with not as much murder, but more just in a broad sense of killing somebody. 45 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:08,540 So I'll make it more clear just in a minute. But then in verse 4, the cities are pointed for fleeing to. 46 00:07:09,899 --> 00:07:20,860 And then one thing that's key that comes up a couple of times is that the actual category that this fits in of murder is called manslaughter, 47 00:07:20,860 --> 00:07:32,959 which it means you're killing somebody, but you're not killing them. Look at verse 3, it says, you're killing them without intent or unknowingly. 48 00:07:34,019 --> 00:07:43,660 So if you accidentally drop something, or it's kind of hard to think of a lot of circumstances in which you would accidentally strike somebody and kill them. 49 00:07:43,660 --> 00:08:06,240 But if this was like, you know, maybe he's riding his horse quickly at night and somebody steps out in the road without hearing the horse coming by in his carriage or his horse strikes this man or woman, and then they end up dying, then that would be a good example. 50 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:14,699 I mean, the best example we have in modern days, and sorry, this can be maybe a little graphics part of this because it has to do with killing and murder. 51 00:08:16,019 --> 00:08:27,199 But would be like vehicular manslaughter, where like you're driving, somebody runs out in the road, you try to stop, and you're not able to stop, or someone's not able to stop in time. 52 00:08:28,199 --> 00:08:37,360 It wasn't your intention. And you didn't have any knowing, you didn't plan it, you didn't try it. So it's not classified as murder. 53 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:46,320 Another part of this, let's see if it says it in here exactly. 54 00:08:47,000 --> 00:09:00,500 But I know that, oh yeah, if you look at verse five, it says, struck his neighbor unknowingly and did not hate him in the past. 55 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:07,899 And so he didn't, he, there was no, this speaks to the motive part of it. So there was no ill will there. 56 00:09:07,899 --> 00:09:19,200 And there was, there'd be no reason probable cause as to why this would, you know, the guy would unintentionally kill his neighbor. 57 00:09:21,380 --> 00:09:36,299 So anyway, let's say this happened. This is kind of a strange section in scripture, because what happens is, let's say you're driving your carriage, your horse, and you hit somebody, 58 00:09:36,299 --> 00:09:46,879 and they pass away. And now what do you do? Right? It wasn't your fault necessarily. It was unintentional. You didn't try it. 59 00:09:47,139 --> 00:09:57,299 But now the Bible says that you have to flee, and the Lord allows the people who committed this to flee to one of these cities. 60 00:09:57,299 --> 00:10:12,000 And then actually, the Bible allows one of these people's family members to actually go and chase down the person who unintentionally committed this act. 61 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:28,100 Now, there's not a whole lot of other context given here. But I could assume that, let's say, that you could probably pass on attacking the person. 62 00:10:28,879 --> 00:10:38,940 Right? And if, if you didn't want to go after the person who committed the manslaughter, then you could probably say, hey, I just, I know that guy. He's a good guy. 63 00:10:38,940 --> 00:10:52,279 And he didn't do it. You know, he and my brother and father were friends. But the Bible also says that the Bible doesn't say in this section that you can't go after that person. 64 00:10:52,279 --> 00:11:06,460 And so the phrase there, avenger of blood, which is, let's see which verse is, which verse is that in verse three? Yes, exactly. Verse three. 65 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:21,279 So that word avenger can also mean redeemer. That's the same word that the Bible uses for redeemer. So the redeemer of blood, the one to go and redeem the family of that blood that was lost. 66 00:11:23,639 --> 00:11:34,759 So it's, it's a very interesting thing. And then when the person who committed the manslaughter, they arrive at one of the cities of refuge, they get a hearing in front of the council of elders. 67 00:11:36,179 --> 00:11:46,139 And, you know, I assume it's not really in the text, but I assume that the council of elders will either, you know, pronounce him guilty or not guilty. 68 00:11:46,139 --> 00:11:57,440 And then if he's guilty, he will get the requisite punishment, which if you are actually guilty of murder in the Old Testament, it was a capital punishment. 69 00:11:58,179 --> 00:12:12,320 So you would be executed. And then if he was pronounced not guilty or innocent, then he would have to wait in that city of refuge until the high priest at the time would pass away. 70 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:23,639 So it's kind of some very interesting things. I'm sure there's a lot more cultural nuance going on within this section than we're privy to since so long ago. 71 00:12:23,740 --> 00:12:37,320 And we were very removed from this context. But I imagine that if he had to live there for a long time and he was the main provider for his family, that his family would probably get up and go join him in that city. 72 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:55,580 And they would start a new life in that city. And he and the man wouldn't or whoever committed the murder, just saying it's a man, the person who committed the murder wouldn't be allowed to leave that city limit or else the avenger of blood could come and kill that person. 73 00:12:55,580 --> 00:13:14,059 So it's interesting. It leaves the section without things being wrapped up nice and tight, like so many Old Testament passages leave us kind of at a bit of a wondering, like, okay, Lord, what's that all about? 74 00:13:14,059 --> 00:13:25,419 Or, you know, why would if he was actually innocent, why would you allow the avenger to go and avenge the blood if he was actually innocent? Right. 75 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:41,259 And so, you know, we have some theories and I'll share a little bit towards the end of kind of how I think that reconciles. But it is a bit puzzling and perplexing as I was studying this. 76 00:13:42,279 --> 00:13:56,100 But I think one of the things that I found interesting over the years is the difference in the way the Bible treats different kinds of killings. 77 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:10,039 And from a legal perspective, I find this interesting and you may or may not find this interesting, but I'm just going to run through the six broad categories that the Bible has for different types of killings. 78 00:14:10,039 --> 00:14:19,360 So the first one is easy. It's the one in the Ten Commandments is thou shall not kill and it's thou shall not murder. 79 00:14:19,919 --> 00:14:33,120 So it's forbidden and it's deserving of judgment. And the key characteristics are that it's intentional, it's unjustified, and it's outside of God's legal order. 80 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:50,600 And God condemns this kind of killing. And so normally it's pre premeditated or you have hate towards somebody and you just in your anger, as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, in anger, you kill that person. 81 00:14:51,460 --> 00:14:56,259 And so that's like the first category. I think that one's pretty obvious. 82 00:14:56,899 --> 00:15:07,679 Some key passages would be Exodus 20, verse 13, Genesis nine, verse six, where after the flood, God lays out different laws and provisions for mankind to follow. 83 00:15:08,159 --> 00:15:13,559 And he says, you shall not shed the blood of one of your brothers or blood should be required of you. 84 00:15:14,519 --> 00:15:21,620 So that would be the first category. The second category is the one we're looking at tonight, which is an accidental killing, which is manslaughter. 85 00:15:21,620 --> 00:15:27,000 So it's not murder and it's protected through the cities of refuge as we see here. 86 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:36,559 And so this is actually a pretty advanced legal framework for a country or a people so long ago. 87 00:15:36,940 --> 00:15:43,120 I think a lot of times we can look back on the ancient world and be like, oh, wow, they were pretty developed. 88 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:47,980 But I mean, they and kind of a bit of condescending way, if you catch what I'm saying. 89 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:53,139 But actually, they were very well developed and nuanced in their perspective on these things. 90 00:15:54,080 --> 00:16:05,320 And the the person would have been innocent, not causing a death or of they were they caused a death, but they were not guilty of murder. 91 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:12,919 And he receives protection. He receives a hearing. He may live in the city of refuge and he's protected from revenge. 92 00:16:13,519 --> 00:16:18,100 And this is one of the earliest legal distinctions between murder and manslaughter that we have on record. 93 00:16:19,899 --> 00:16:28,220 So the third category would be judicial execution. And this would be permitted under Israel's covenant law. 94 00:16:28,220 --> 00:16:37,940 We see that I just mentioned Genesis nine verse six, where the Lord says, if you take somebody's life, then blood will be required of you. 95 00:16:38,220 --> 00:16:44,720 And so they had judicial execution for certain crimes underneath the Old Testament law. 96 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:53,500 Now, as far as I've researched it and we don't have a lot of case law to lean on because it was all oral. 97 00:16:53,500 --> 00:17:02,519 But I've heard that throughout the ages, the Jewish people didn't really enforce capital punishment that often. 98 00:17:03,059 --> 00:17:07,779 So take that for what it's worth. That's just kind of something I read somewhere. 99 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:14,079 I can't remember where. And I don't think the guy was such a, you know, it wasn't a big name that you'd probably know him anyway. 100 00:17:14,559 --> 00:17:19,000 But take that for what it's worth. But there is a provision for judicial execution. 101 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:31,019 Number four, would it be warfare? So the Bible makes a distinction between murder and manslaughter and also killing in war. 102 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:38,119 And warfare was not was not forbidden underneath God's law. 103 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,759 And Israel defended itself against attacking nations. 104 00:17:41,759 --> 00:17:48,859 And the Lord even commanded certain wars and some battles, particularly during the conquest of Canaan. 105 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:54,019 And these were presented as specific divine judgments. 106 00:17:54,839 --> 00:18:01,140 And examples of this would be Joshua, like we were going through and Deuteronomy 20 as well. 107 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:07,220 And the interesting thing about the warfare, and this is kind of echoed in Romans 12 as well, 108 00:18:07,220 --> 00:18:16,099 where the Lord raises up armies to judge and nations to judge other nations is the Lord uses war very specifically. 109 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:22,140 We see this in the Old Testament. He uses war as judgment against other nations. 110 00:18:22,319 --> 00:18:27,859 And so the Israelites are judging the Canaanites because of their wickedness and their iniquity. 111 00:18:28,599 --> 00:18:36,960 And a couple of months ago, I talked a little bit about the depth of the depravity that the Canaanites were involved in. 112 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:48,160 Mass child sacrifice, mass cult prostitution, and all types of demonic pagan worship. 113 00:18:49,500 --> 00:18:56,819 So we can think, oh, you know, there's just like the guy down the street was, you know, attacked by an army. 114 00:18:56,819 --> 00:19:02,960 But really, this was like a culture that was so perverted that, you know, 115 00:19:03,019 --> 00:19:14,119 we have certain instances where like the angels come to visit lot and the townspeople are literally banging down the door because they want to know, 116 00:19:14,819 --> 00:19:20,339 know, if you know what I'm saying, they want to know the new messengers, you know. 117 00:19:20,339 --> 00:19:27,140 And this is just to show you like the Lord is judging these kinds of communities. 118 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:34,339 And the Lord obviously, he knows the hearts and intentions of men. 119 00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:38,079 He knows how wicked or good our intentions are. 120 00:19:38,220 --> 00:19:45,539 And so when he raises up the army to go and execute judgment, we can trust that his judgment is just. 121 00:19:45,539 --> 00:19:50,980 And so warfare is not condemned by God in the Old Testament. 122 00:19:51,539 --> 00:19:54,940 In the New Testament, you might have some differing opinions. 123 00:19:56,140 --> 00:20:02,380 But we see in Romans 12 that the Lord does raise up armies to go and judge other nations. 124 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:11,480 But I will let that's really not the main thrust of this message here to debate pacifism or not. 125 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:18,420 I'm not a pacifist, but yeah, there's a debate there to be had. 126 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:24,920 But I think an important distinction is that thou shall not kill would say, OK, 127 00:20:25,819 --> 00:20:31,200 I think a lot of pacifists use that as an argument to say, well, I shouldn't go to war because the Lord commands not to kill. 128 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:36,680 But the type of killing that the Lord is forbidding is murder. 129 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:38,599 It's not killing in battle. 130 00:20:39,980 --> 00:20:44,599 Self-defense. Some of us are going to get more excited about this than others. 131 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:51,660 But one example of self-defense appears in Exodus chapter 22. 132 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,059 This is a very interesting case. 133 00:20:57,559 --> 00:21:00,359 Gun enthusiasts will love this one. 134 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:09,799 But in Exodus chapter 22, he says, verse 2, 135 00:21:10,839 --> 00:21:17,720 If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no blood guilt for him. 136 00:21:17,799 --> 00:21:22,420 So here we have a thief breaking into somebody's house. 137 00:21:22,420 --> 00:21:32,339 And if the owner of the house is awakened and they kill that person for breaking into their house, 138 00:21:32,779 --> 00:21:39,180 it says that the person who defended their house is not liable for any blood guilt. 139 00:21:40,339 --> 00:21:47,539 So that's another instance where killing would not be or it's a different category of killing. 140 00:21:47,539 --> 00:21:51,240 Personal revenge is another category. 141 00:21:52,619 --> 00:21:56,359 But the Lord forbids this one. He says that vengeance is mine. 142 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,339 And so we are not to take revenge against other individuals. 143 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:05,759 And an example would include the cities of refuge. 144 00:22:06,859 --> 00:22:11,539 Probably part of the reason these were instituted was to prevent blood feuds. 145 00:22:11,539 --> 00:22:18,640 Because if you understand anything about even today, you could think about it like Middle Eastern tribal culture. 146 00:22:19,460 --> 00:22:28,299 If you kill some relative of somebody, then the oldest male has to go and kill the person who killed that person. 147 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:34,500 And then it just kicks off. Even in Turkey, they would call it like a blood feud. 148 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:40,200 And it was just endless killing between different tribal parties. 149 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:45,079 And so this is instituted in order to prevent that. 150 00:22:46,319 --> 00:22:51,259 So those are the six categories. 151 00:22:52,140 --> 00:22:55,279 Just to run through them again, we have murder, which is forbidden. 152 00:22:56,220 --> 00:22:59,200 Accidental killing, which is manslaughter, which is what we see in Joshua 20. 153 00:23:00,039 --> 00:23:08,519 Judicial execution, which is given provision underneath Genesis 9 and Exodus 21 specifically under the Torah. 154 00:23:09,519 --> 00:23:12,059 Warfare, sometimes committed or permitted by God. 155 00:23:12,660 --> 00:23:15,420 Self-defense and personal revenge. 156 00:23:15,700 --> 00:23:18,000 So self-defense is allowed in some circumstances. 157 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,119 And personal revenge is forbidden. 158 00:23:23,140 --> 00:23:25,059 So intent really matters. 159 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:31,220 And that's one thing that was really key within the Old Testament framework. 160 00:23:31,220 --> 00:23:42,839 Especially within the cities of refuge that if it was unknowingly and you didn't have hate against your brother, 161 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:48,500 then it would fall into the manslaughter category. 162 00:23:49,160 --> 00:24:00,480 And so just real quick to wrap up this section, we have four terms in Hebrew that deal with killing. 163 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:08,000 So the first one is rot sock, which is murder and unlawful killing. 164 00:24:08,140 --> 00:24:14,400 So this one actually is the one where it says in the Ten Commandments, thou shall not kill. 165 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:22,759 And the same root of this word is used for the word manslayer in Joshua 20. 166 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:29,799 But when the noun is used, apparently they say that the term is a little bit broader. 167 00:24:32,900 --> 00:24:41,000 But there's a broader term for kill and slay, which is dealing with warfare, executions, and general killing. 168 00:24:41,799 --> 00:24:46,980 And that word is harag, which the words aren't really important, but I'll give them to you anyway. 169 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:55,839 And then there's another word called mut, which is caused to die or put to death, legal executions, general death. 170 00:24:55,839 --> 00:25:02,019 And then naka, which is strike or smite, which can result in death or injury. 171 00:25:02,180 --> 00:25:15,079 And so within Joshua 20, you have the noun of rot sock, which means killer or murderer more particularly. 172 00:25:15,940 --> 00:25:21,839 But then you have, so that's the noun, but for the verb, you have naka, which is strike or smite. 173 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,920 And this can result in death or injury. 174 00:25:27,460 --> 00:25:37,859 So within this category, it leaves a little bit, it leaves more leeway to say, you know, struck, not intentionally with murder. 175 00:25:38,859 --> 00:25:43,799 And so specifically, that's the phrase used in Joshua 20. 176 00:25:43,799 --> 00:25:54,980 So if that's too much information for you, which is a lot of information, we can move on. 177 00:25:55,200 --> 00:26:03,279 But I just the point of all that is to say that there's a lot of nuance around the legal code within the Old Testament. 178 00:26:03,279 --> 00:26:16,500 And even as we think about it today, like I've thought a lot about, well, is in what cases and in what instances may I might I use a weapon? 179 00:26:16,500 --> 00:26:22,039 And if you put yourself in that in that category, you have a lot of interesting conversations. 180 00:26:22,039 --> 00:26:33,980 We've had conversations with friends that say, in no case whatsoever, should you ever use a weapon on somebody else, even in a case of self-defense. 181 00:26:35,039 --> 00:26:40,220 And then you say, well, what if they're coming after your wife and kids and then they start to think about it a little bit more. 182 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:43,119 But I think it's really interesting. 183 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:53,359 I think the Old Testament gives us so many pictures of war and it can be so brutal and very explicit. 184 00:26:54,079 --> 00:27:01,599 And even it's just almost like sometimes are rated right with the stories it gives us. 185 00:27:03,159 --> 00:27:07,079 But I think it's good just to wrestle with these different categories. 186 00:27:07,079 --> 00:27:10,579 It's good to think about what does it actually mean? 187 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:18,240 What does war actually mean? Is war different today than it was in the Old Testament or not? 188 00:27:18,319 --> 00:27:19,400 And there are a lot of different answers. 189 00:27:20,259 --> 00:27:28,099 And the time and the prep, I'm just throwing these questions out. 190 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,940 I'm not going to answer them. So maybe we can have some discussion around this. 191 00:27:31,940 --> 00:27:38,720 But really, I think it's clear that there are different categories. 192 00:27:39,420 --> 00:27:49,200 If you want to go deeper in those categories, invite you to do a word study on murder and killing like I did. 193 00:27:49,900 --> 00:27:56,599 And it's fairly simple if you just go to Blue Letter Bible and just look up the words and you can begin to read through them. 194 00:27:56,599 --> 00:28:09,440 And I'm not going to draw like super definitive conclusions around each one just because I'm not a Hebrew scholar and I'm not a scholar in general. 195 00:28:10,420 --> 00:28:17,960 But I think it's very interesting and would encourage everybody to do their own homework if this topic interests you. 196 00:28:18,559 --> 00:28:24,480 So I find the legal code of the Old Testament very interesting. 197 00:28:25,980 --> 00:28:31,839 Okay, so enough with that. If that's boring you, I apologize. 198 00:28:33,900 --> 00:28:40,480 You know, you don't always get a... when you're in Joshua, they don't cross the Promised Land every chapter. 199 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:45,460 So sometimes you have to do with what you're dealt. 200 00:28:46,319 --> 00:28:51,740 But I just wanted to run through just a couple of things and I find this very interesting. 201 00:28:51,740 --> 00:29:01,519 But the way that the legal code is actually shaped by the Scripture. 202 00:29:02,119 --> 00:29:06,480 And in the West we have this thing called British common law or English common law. 203 00:29:08,100 --> 00:29:15,460 And American law is very connected to that because the people who came and wrote the laws, 204 00:29:15,460 --> 00:29:21,700 they were coming from England and Scotland and that Anglo type of area, 205 00:29:21,700 --> 00:29:28,480 which they built on a lot of the laws that were in the English or British common law. 206 00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:34,220 And many of those laws were rooted in Scripture, not all of them. 207 00:29:34,420 --> 00:29:39,940 It's not a complete copy paste, but a lot of the ideas are rooted in Scripture. 208 00:29:39,940 --> 00:29:44,960 And I want to just go through a couple of examples of how the law is rooted in the Scripture. 209 00:29:45,319 --> 00:29:50,519 And actually, has anybody ever heard of the evangelist Charles Finney? 210 00:29:51,259 --> 00:29:52,000 Anybody ever heard of him? 211 00:29:52,500 --> 00:29:58,140 He was one of the most powerful and effective evangelists of the 1800s. 212 00:29:58,619 --> 00:30:04,640 And he was an attorney and he was not a born again believer at this time. 213 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:10,160 And he was reading all these legal briefs and he was studying the law. 214 00:30:11,079 --> 00:30:16,079 And he began to see that all the laws were referencing Scripture. 215 00:30:17,180 --> 00:30:19,480 And he started to think, huh, that's very interesting. 216 00:30:19,980 --> 00:30:24,240 They're referencing different Bible verses, either in like the court cases, 217 00:30:24,380 --> 00:30:28,539 the judges would reference it, or just in his legal textbooks, 218 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:30,359 they would reference the Bible. 219 00:30:30,559 --> 00:30:32,519 So he began to read the Bible. 220 00:30:32,519 --> 00:30:36,619 And he had a very dramatic conversion. 221 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,400 He was out in the woods and he was reading the Scripture. 222 00:30:40,299 --> 00:30:46,660 And he said he felt warm liquid love pouring through his body. 223 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:53,779 And then he went on through time to be one of the most effective evangelists in America. 224 00:30:54,380 --> 00:30:59,140 Just whole towns would come to know the Lord because of his effective preaching. 225 00:30:59,140 --> 00:31:02,880 And he was actually the guy who started the altar call. 226 00:31:03,079 --> 00:31:07,619 He used to have people come up to the front and sit on the nervous bench, 227 00:31:07,660 --> 00:31:09,119 they would call it, or the anxious bench. 228 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:13,599 And then he would talk to them one by one and lead them to the Lord. 229 00:31:14,319 --> 00:31:16,519 And then that's how the altar call developed because they'd say, 230 00:31:16,599 --> 00:31:20,359 come up here, you know, if you want to learn more or you want to, 231 00:31:20,820 --> 00:31:23,039 you know, if you're anxious about the state of your soul. 232 00:31:23,039 --> 00:31:31,519 So anyway, all that to say is that Charles Finney came to the Lord. 233 00:31:32,059 --> 00:31:35,160 Originally, he was an attorney and he's began to see how Scripture 234 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:36,799 connected to the legal code. 235 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,440 So here are, I think I've got a couple. 236 00:31:42,140 --> 00:31:45,299 But number one would be murder versus accidental killing. 237 00:31:45,559 --> 00:31:47,299 I think we can see that already. 238 00:31:47,460 --> 00:31:52,539 But there are different types of codes that were developed in the law. 239 00:31:52,539 --> 00:31:57,559 We have murder, manslaughter, justifiable homicide, excusable homicide. 240 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:04,140 And so these are all drawn from the different nuances within Scripture. 241 00:32:04,819 --> 00:32:07,420 We have the requirements of witnesses. 242 00:32:07,740 --> 00:32:09,559 Deuteronomy 19.15 says, 243 00:32:09,599 --> 00:32:12,140 a matter shall be established by two or three witnesses. 244 00:32:12,839 --> 00:32:20,220 So the English courts, they didn't always require a witness to convict. 245 00:32:20,220 --> 00:32:27,619 But a lot of times you would need one for a jury to be able to convict. 246 00:32:28,339 --> 00:32:31,779 Due process, we see that here in the Scripture that there's actually 247 00:32:31,779 --> 00:32:38,619 a process for the manslaughter or manslaughter to actually go 248 00:32:38,619 --> 00:32:42,559 and sit before a council of elders and have his case heard. 249 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:48,220 You couldn't just, you know, off him without having a process 250 00:32:48,220 --> 00:32:51,220 or a trial or these kinds of things. 251 00:32:51,779 --> 00:32:53,559 You need to hear both sides. 252 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:57,619 Another important note from Joshua 20 is that they're going to a city 253 00:32:57,619 --> 00:33:02,920 that the people in the city don't know the man or woman. 254 00:33:04,079 --> 00:33:09,900 And that speaks to impartiality and how they would take the facts 255 00:33:09,900 --> 00:33:13,839 more into account rather than the man's character 256 00:33:13,839 --> 00:33:18,000 or, you know, maybe he was, maybe he had some bad business dealings 257 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,440 and he upset the chief elder and then chief elder says, 258 00:33:21,619 --> 00:33:24,039 now we got him, you know, this is payback. 259 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:31,440 And then the Torah repeatedly insists that justice should not favor 260 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:33,099 the rich or the poor. 261 00:33:33,940 --> 00:33:37,799 Leviticus 19.15 and Deuteronomy 16.19. 262 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:41,579 And English jurists would emphasize this, 263 00:33:41,579 --> 00:33:44,859 especially when they signed the Magna Carta in 1215, 264 00:33:45,099 --> 00:33:51,859 that the king now had to be subject to the laws of God and the law. 265 00:33:51,980 --> 00:33:53,920 This is a very important legislation. 266 00:33:54,259 --> 00:33:58,680 And the scholars say that this signing in 1215 kicked off 267 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:06,599 the whole movement towards rights and kind of now how we have human rights 268 00:34:06,599 --> 00:34:10,760 and everybody is equal under the law. 269 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:12,639 And that's why there's so many leads that we can trace. 270 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,940 And we can trace this to Scripture because the Old Testament kings 271 00:34:15,940 --> 00:34:19,659 were also subject to God and God's laws. 272 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,920 And that's also why when you see the crown on the king from like, 273 00:34:23,980 --> 00:34:26,460 you know, the video games or like the movies, 274 00:34:26,500 --> 00:34:29,900 it's got a cross on top because the king had to be subject 275 00:34:29,900 --> 00:34:31,880 underneath the cross of Christ. 276 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,019 Theoretically, we know what happens in practice. 277 00:34:36,699 --> 00:34:38,880 Protection of property was in there. 278 00:34:39,639 --> 00:34:40,880 You can see a lot of boundary markers. 279 00:34:41,039 --> 00:34:42,159 Don't move your neighbor's boundary. 280 00:34:43,019 --> 00:34:48,940 Restitution, false testimony, which false testimony. 281 00:34:50,059 --> 00:34:52,300 I heard somebody say this once and really click with me. 282 00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:56,579 If there could be any death penalty, 283 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,800 it should be for lying in court, which is perjury. 284 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:04,420 Because one of the biggest problems in a court is that 285 00:35:04,420 --> 00:35:05,780 people are untruthful. 286 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:07,800 People don't tell the truth. 287 00:35:07,940 --> 00:35:10,719 This is the thing that the Lord has on all of us. 288 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,559 And this is why the Lord constantly warns us against judging others 289 00:35:14,559 --> 00:35:16,880 is because we don't have all the facts. 290 00:35:18,340 --> 00:35:21,179 We don't know what everybody has been through, 291 00:35:21,179 --> 00:35:24,619 why people are acting that way and why they're doing this and that. 292 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,599 Now, we do have some leeway to judge fellow believers 293 00:35:27,599 --> 00:35:30,460 who we're in covenant community with. 294 00:35:30,780 --> 00:35:32,739 But there's also procedures for that. 295 00:35:32,739 --> 00:35:34,760 But the Lord really warns us. 296 00:35:35,179 --> 00:35:37,699 Jesus says, hey, get the speck out of your eye 297 00:35:37,699 --> 00:35:40,119 before you go for the log in somebody else's eye. 298 00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:44,559 So there are a lot of precautionary tales to that. 299 00:35:45,260 --> 00:35:49,300 But if we had the facts correct in court, 300 00:35:49,860 --> 00:35:54,880 then we could more confidently convict people. 301 00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:55,900 Does that make sense? 302 00:35:55,900 --> 00:36:03,000 If we had a guarantee that all the facts were laid out there, 303 00:36:03,460 --> 00:36:06,119 then the judge could make a good decision, 304 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:08,360 especially if he was a just judge. 305 00:36:08,900 --> 00:36:13,860 For me personally, I don't have a problem with capital punishment 306 00:36:13,860 --> 00:36:17,900 for rape and murder, like 100%. 307 00:36:18,420 --> 00:36:25,119 But the problem is that are we always convicting the right person? 308 00:36:25,119 --> 00:36:28,119 The answer to that is no. 309 00:36:28,820 --> 00:36:30,900 So that's kind of where the rub comes. 310 00:36:31,460 --> 00:36:33,480 But if we knew exactly what happened, 311 00:36:34,019 --> 00:36:36,960 then we wouldn't have as much of an issue 312 00:36:39,759 --> 00:36:41,239 giving the right judgment. 313 00:36:42,179 --> 00:36:44,619 And the Bible in the Ten Commandments says, 314 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:46,139 you shall not bear false witness. 315 00:36:46,679 --> 00:36:49,880 And so this was one of the core things that the Lord said, 316 00:36:50,039 --> 00:36:51,599 is do not bear false witness, 317 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,039 do not give false testimony against your neighbor. 318 00:36:54,039 --> 00:36:56,860 And we say, yeah, don't lie, but false testimony 319 00:36:56,860 --> 00:37:01,139 or bearing false witness is way higher than lying. 320 00:37:01,300 --> 00:37:04,880 It's basically, do not commit perjury 321 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,380 is basically what that's saying in the law of court. 322 00:37:08,619 --> 00:37:13,039 You shouldn't lie either, but it's not just like, 323 00:37:13,739 --> 00:37:16,099 oh, I told a white lie, I broke the Ten Commandments. 324 00:37:16,420 --> 00:37:18,340 Maybe that probably relates to it. 325 00:37:18,639 --> 00:37:19,719 We shouldn't do that. 326 00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:23,820 But this is like, don't lie in court, which is perjury, 327 00:37:23,980 --> 00:37:26,119 because if you give a false testimony, 328 00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:28,159 somebody might get executed because of that. 329 00:37:29,179 --> 00:37:32,940 So that's also in our legal proceedings. 330 00:37:33,300 --> 00:37:35,420 Sanctity of life, no private vengeance. 331 00:37:37,059 --> 00:37:38,559 We talked about kings under the law. 332 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:43,380 And we can say that the British common law, 333 00:37:43,639 --> 00:37:46,940 which a lot of that came over to us, 334 00:37:46,940 --> 00:37:49,159 trickled down to us here in the States, 335 00:37:49,940 --> 00:37:52,800 was heavily influenced by the Hebrew scripture. 336 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:56,780 And we owe it, we owe a lot of our legal foundation 337 00:37:56,780 --> 00:38:00,440 to the Old Testament, which some of you might be super obvious. 338 00:38:00,679 --> 00:38:03,059 And you're saying, yeah, duh, you could have saved me, 339 00:38:03,059 --> 00:38:06,019 you know, 15 minutes, not talking about that. 340 00:38:06,380 --> 00:38:09,900 But I think for me, it's interesting just to dig in 341 00:38:09,900 --> 00:38:15,380 and see like where some of these things actually come from. 342 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:21,920 So let's wrap this up. 343 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:28,039 This passage leaves us with a couple of loose ends, 344 00:38:28,039 --> 00:38:31,460 and hopefully I can tie up a few of them here. 345 00:38:32,820 --> 00:38:34,840 But the one thing that puzzled me 346 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,940 and kind of concerned me a little bit as I was reading this, 347 00:38:39,219 --> 00:38:40,780 maybe concern isn't the right word, 348 00:38:40,780 --> 00:38:44,760 but it was, yeah, like a splinter, 349 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:51,019 is that the avenger could go and kill the person. 350 00:38:51,179 --> 00:38:53,739 And if the avenger was like really quick or had a fast horse, 351 00:38:54,460 --> 00:38:59,980 like he could get there to the city before the guy and kill him. 352 00:39:00,039 --> 00:39:02,460 And I was thinking like, what is up with that? 353 00:39:02,559 --> 00:39:04,820 Now that's probably not, 354 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:07,400 I don't know what the chance of that would have been 355 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:08,719 in the ancient world. 356 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:12,159 Whereas like, you know, either traveling on foot 357 00:39:12,159 --> 00:39:14,900 or like on a donkey or something, 358 00:39:15,860 --> 00:39:17,619 how quickly could you get there? 359 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:23,219 You know, it's not like today where if I couldn't afford a plane ticket 360 00:39:23,219 --> 00:39:27,139 I'd have to drive, but the guy could fly, you know, to Chicago 361 00:39:27,139 --> 00:39:29,039 or whatever if that's where it was from here. 362 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:29,699 You know what I'm saying? 363 00:39:29,980 --> 00:39:33,300 But I think where I kind of land on it, 364 00:39:33,300 --> 00:39:37,380 and this might come up in discussion time too, 365 00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:43,099 but we're never going to have perfect justice 366 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,059 on this side of the age to come. 367 00:39:47,199 --> 00:39:52,420 And I think that's one thing that ought to give us hope 368 00:39:52,420 --> 00:39:58,420 is that we will have perfect justice on the other side of the age to come. 369 00:39:58,699 --> 00:40:02,340 When we all stand in front of God, he's going to judge us. 370 00:40:02,340 --> 00:40:08,239 Roman says on that day he will judge the hearts and the secrets of men. 371 00:40:08,739 --> 00:40:10,559 And we can all keep secrets. 372 00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:17,019 We can all try to, you know, not show our full hand all the time 373 00:40:17,019 --> 00:40:22,019 in small ways or in big ways, but on that day the Lord will reveal it all. 374 00:40:22,559 --> 00:40:25,760 And like this guy, just think about the abuse of this, right? 375 00:40:25,860 --> 00:40:27,480 Like the law gets abused all the time. 376 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:30,099 But think about how this law could be abused 377 00:40:31,099 --> 00:40:33,480 if you actually killed somebody. 378 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:37,360 Let's say you rigged it so that, like, you're a blacksmith 379 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,719 and at that moment the guy walks in and you like put down your anvil 380 00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:44,019 and it hits him, you know, that kind of thing, and you got him. 381 00:40:44,619 --> 00:40:46,960 But you could claim, oh, it was unintentional. 382 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:48,639 I didn't have anything against that guy. 383 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:53,420 And maybe nobody knows like how he, how he, whatever, 384 00:40:54,679 --> 00:40:57,920 cheated your son out of a business deal or something like that, right? 385 00:40:58,059 --> 00:40:59,159 Who knows what it could have been. 386 00:40:59,159 --> 00:41:03,199 And then now he's fleeing to the city of refuge where nobody knows him 387 00:41:03,199 --> 00:41:04,900 and he might be able to get off. 388 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:11,179 And so there's that side too where it could go both ways. 389 00:41:11,380 --> 00:41:16,340 There could be injustice on the one end 390 00:41:16,340 --> 00:41:21,739 where the guy comes and kills the man for not getting to the city quick enough. 391 00:41:22,460 --> 00:41:26,219 Or maybe the guy did actually kill him. 392 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:28,320 He did have hate in his heart for him 393 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:30,199 and he did intend to do that. 394 00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:35,199 And I just think like that just brings up so many, so many questions. 395 00:41:35,420 --> 00:41:42,099 And to me it just reflects so much of like the abuse even of our legal code today 396 00:41:42,099 --> 00:41:46,039 of how like the FBI can know that the mafia is like operating in these ways 397 00:41:46,039 --> 00:41:48,800 but they have to like catch him on tape, you know, 398 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:53,079 in order for it to work in a court of law because we do have due process. 399 00:41:53,079 --> 00:41:57,019 Like we can't just, we're not supposed to just go in and, you know, 400 00:41:57,820 --> 00:42:02,659 do a federally approved hit on 20 mafia guys, 401 00:42:02,699 --> 00:42:07,599 although that would kind of be justice because if they know 402 00:42:07,599 --> 00:42:09,960 that they're doing these kind of things and ordering these hits, 403 00:42:10,139 --> 00:42:11,599 whatever, et cetera, et cetera. 404 00:42:11,739 --> 00:42:14,659 But we're never going to have perfect justice on this side of heaven 405 00:42:14,659 --> 00:42:18,960 and on this side of eternity. 406 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:24,139 And I think that gives, that's kind of sad but also gives us hope 407 00:42:24,139 --> 00:42:31,260 that the Lord is just and he's going to judge and he's going to restore all things. 408 00:42:31,500 --> 00:42:34,539 He's going to restore all debts and he already did. 409 00:42:34,980 --> 00:42:39,719 Jesus died on the cross for all of our debts, for all of our sins, 410 00:42:40,179 --> 00:42:46,880 for everything that we have done wrong and that God is going to judge us for. 411 00:42:47,780 --> 00:42:53,199 And he's basically given us a blank check saying, hey, come to me 412 00:42:53,199 --> 00:42:59,579 and I will basically forgive and cancel all of your debts, all of your sins. 413 00:43:00,079 --> 00:43:03,579 Just walk with me, walking covenant, faithfulness with me. 414 00:43:04,159 --> 00:43:05,059 I'll give you the Holy Spirit. 415 00:43:05,500 --> 00:43:06,360 Here's the down payment. 416 00:43:06,739 --> 00:43:10,199 You get eternal life now and in the age to come, 417 00:43:10,380 --> 00:43:13,880 you get a new body and you get to live with me 418 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,880 and walk it out on the new heavens and the new earth. 419 00:43:18,219 --> 00:43:20,059 And I think that's the tension here. 420 00:43:20,179 --> 00:43:24,900 We even see like in Israel how they had the laws of God, 421 00:43:25,079 --> 00:43:32,699 but even with God's laws, they were falling short of the glory. 422 00:43:33,739 --> 00:43:40,320 And even with the system set up given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, 423 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:43,099 it still wasn't enough. 424 00:43:44,079 --> 00:43:50,579 And the Lord had to send Christ in order to fully complete his plan. 425 00:43:51,340 --> 00:43:54,119 And in the end, he will fully restore everything. 426 00:43:54,260 --> 00:43:57,599 And in the end, he will reign with righteousness and justice. 427 00:43:58,079 --> 00:44:01,320 And all these little things are going to get worked out. 428 00:44:02,099 --> 00:44:07,280 If anybody never heard of Alan Dershowitz, I think he defended OJ, right? 429 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:10,780 Maybe, maybe not, that my dad would probably know. 430 00:44:11,300 --> 00:44:15,480 But he said the legal system is not supposed to be, 431 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:18,639 the American legal system is not supposed to be right all the time. 432 00:44:19,739 --> 00:44:22,239 It's supposed to be right on the balance. 433 00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:27,400 Like if it's right 80, 90% of the time, that's good enough. 434 00:44:27,619 --> 00:44:31,280 And he's one of the top legal minds in America or has been. 435 00:44:31,619 --> 00:44:35,679 He's a professor of law or was a professor of law at Harvard University. 436 00:44:35,679 --> 00:44:39,539 And this is the way legal scholars think about the law. 437 00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:45,280 And they do this, and they think this way because of so many things, 438 00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:50,320 because people lie in court, people have different motives, da-da-da-da. 439 00:44:50,500 --> 00:44:53,420 You can't get every case right. 440 00:44:53,579 --> 00:44:57,139 There's human error involved and there's human sin nature involved. 441 00:44:57,659 --> 00:45:04,000 But when we stand before God, it is not going to be correct on the balance. 442 00:45:04,619 --> 00:45:07,000 It's going to be correct 100%. 443 00:45:07,699 --> 00:45:10,320 And if you're in Christ, that's an amazing thing 444 00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:14,000 because he's going to judge us as righteous because we are positionally 445 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:17,420 and we have been made holy and righteous before him. 446 00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:24,019 We've been justified by faith and he's going to right all the wrongs. 447 00:45:24,199 --> 00:45:26,320 And I'm not exactly sure how he's going to do it, 448 00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:28,440 but he's going to restore all things. 449 00:45:28,980 --> 00:45:31,440 All the records of debt are going to be canceled 450 00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:36,480 and the wicked are going to receive a punishment as well. 451 00:45:36,599 --> 00:45:40,360 And the wicked will receive a punishment in according to their works, 452 00:45:40,559 --> 00:45:41,400 is what the Bible says. 453 00:45:41,940 --> 00:45:46,980 And they will have wrath and shame on them. 454 00:45:47,179 --> 00:45:50,500 And the righteous will receive eternal life and honor and glory 455 00:45:50,500 --> 00:45:55,679 and all these things that we have to look forward to. 456 00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:02,360 So, yeah, this is an interesting section of scripture. 457 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:07,760 And I think in my mind, it piqued some interesting questions. 458 00:46:08,340 --> 00:46:11,719 And I hope that it piques interesting questions in your mind. 459 00:46:12,639 --> 00:46:15,880 If this is your first time here, it's not going to be like this each time. 460 00:46:16,260 --> 00:46:16,619 Right? 461 00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:20,559 I'm just kind of kidding because I think at some points it was maybe a little bit dry. 462 00:46:20,559 --> 00:46:28,320 But really, the Lord is speaking to us even through these more dry sections 463 00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:29,360 of the scripture. 464 00:46:29,840 --> 00:46:34,900 And I hope that it piques your interest to go and study the Old Testament 465 00:46:34,900 --> 00:46:40,880 and to ask the Lord what was his intention behind all these things 466 00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:51,619 and then to go and study and get answers from either other verses in the scripture 467 00:46:51,619 --> 00:46:58,059 or even study the historical context to begin to understand what that ancient world was really like. 468 00:46:58,579 --> 00:47:01,760 So, we got some questions that we're going to go over. 469 00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:06,019 And so, let me just pray, but then we'll break up into groups. 470 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:09,760 And I have printed out a bunch of questions for us. 471 00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:12,300 So, if you have some time, you can hang around. 472 00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:17,519 But let's just pray and ask the Lord just to bless the rest of our time. 473 00:47:17,719 --> 00:47:20,840 So, Lord, we thank you for this scripture. 474 00:47:21,619 --> 00:47:25,699 Lord, we thank you that you are speaking to us through Joshua 20. 475 00:47:27,139 --> 00:47:32,519 And Lord, we pray that you would just teach us about who you are, Lord. 476 00:47:33,119 --> 00:47:34,420 Teach us about your ways. 477 00:47:35,099 --> 00:47:38,159 Teach us about how just you are. 478 00:47:38,900 --> 00:47:40,900 Lord, we thank you that you're just. 479 00:47:41,099 --> 00:47:45,179 And we thank you that your justice will be revealed in full at the end of the age, Lord. 480 00:47:45,260 --> 00:47:48,400 And we look forward to that day when you will put all things right. 481 00:47:48,559 --> 00:47:50,699 You will settle all the accounts, Lord. 482 00:47:50,820 --> 00:47:56,780 And you will reward the righteous with resurrection and eternal life and new bodies, Lord. 483 00:47:57,079 --> 00:47:59,940 And you will punish the wicked, Lord. 484 00:48:00,019 --> 00:48:03,380 And we thank you that you are good, Lord. 485 00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:05,780 And we pray that you would just bless this discussion time. 486 00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:07,139 In Jesus' name, amen. 487 00:48:11,180 --> 00:48:16,599 Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His Word. 488 00:48:17,300 --> 00:48:22,739 Don't forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube. 489 00:48:23,780 --> 00:48:25,840 Be blessed and have a great day!