The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Israel Is Not Always Right

[0:00] Would you open your Bibles, please, to Genesis chapter 34, where we are going to engage one of the most bizarre and brutal and cruel and heartless texts in all of Scripture.

[0:16] And all of those negative descriptions are solidly laid at the feet of the people of Israel as it existed at that time.

[0:31] Actually, Israel wasn't thought of as a nation in this portion of Scripture. They are simply a people, a clan, if you will. They will not be recognized nor birthed as a nation until they come out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses and they take on a kind of national stature.

[0:52] But prior to that time, we have an account here in Genesis 34 that we are going to begin engaging just as soon as I get some of these preliminary propositions out of the way.

[1:07] For a study this morning, many weeks ago, we began this series that we have labeled the Jewish solution to the world's problems.

[1:19] The world's problem is its sin corporately and personally. The Jewish solution is the provision of a Savior, one who can deliver the world from its sin and restore humanity by redeeming it.

[1:36] The irony in all this is that the Jewish people providing the solution are not themselves aware of precisely what that provision consists of.

[1:50] Never in their wildest imagination could they have contemplated that the provision they would make as a nation would require the death, burial, and resurrection of the very one whom they awaited as their Messiah.

[2:06] This death and resurrection is the core of what is referred to as the mystery of Christ. This mystery, this death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah was part of the predetermined plan conceived in the triune God in the council halls of eternity.

[2:26] This plan and all its minor and major players is in progress as we speak. We are all a part of that plan and the plan, the cosmic conflict presently occurring between good and evil, between God and Satan, and between the nations of the world, large and small, from the past, the present, and the future.

[2:50] One nation in particular, the nation to which this key player of all key players is a part, is the ancient and now modern nation of Israel.

[3:04] Israel is germane to the outworking of this great unfolding drama. Lucifer, the fallen angel, is another key player and heads the efforts of evil.

[3:18] His goal is to thwart the plan and program of God, and he does this through attacking Israel, the key nation, and the person Israel produced to be the Savior, namely Jesus Christ.

[3:30] Israel, in the persons of the progenitors of the nation, namely Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had been given strategic and solemn promises from God that he would use these people and their descendants, namely ancient and present-day Jews in Israel and those scattered around the world to effect his plan and purpose.

[3:55] To them and their descendants, God promised a great name, Abraham, a great land, Israel, a great seed or progeny, Christ himself.

[4:08] And that they, Israel, would be the vehicle through which all the world would be blessed. This biblical revelation, so clearly set forth in promises God gave, we have seen to be of an unconditional nature.

[4:24] That means they are inviolate and irrevocable, backed by the integrity of the God who gave them. This is why we today, with many other churches and Christians throughout the world, are supporters of the nation of modern Israel.

[4:43] This is also why we abhor the hideous nature of anti-Semitism. Does this mean that we are Jew lovers? Of course it does.

[4:57] Any intelligent Christian has to be a lover of the Jews, simply because God is a lover of the Jews. It also means that we are lovers of Arabs, too.

[5:12] Neither the Jew nor the Arab knows what is in their best interests. But God does, and we do, because God has informed us.

[5:24] Yet, neither the Jew nor the Arab understands why we are compelled to love them, and both tend to be suspicious of our love.

[5:34] Does our love for either the Arabs or the Jews give them a blank check to conduct themselves however they will?

[5:45] Of course not. Does our love for Israel mean that Israel can do no wrong? Of course not. Is Israel always right, no matter what they do?

[5:57] Of course not. They need to be held as accountable for their actions as any other nation. The same is true of the Arab nations, and the same is true of the USA.

[6:09] In fact, for this very purpose of accountability, we have an international body designed for the specific purpose of holding member nations accountable.

[6:22] It is called the United Nations, and it has a miserable track record of repeated failures, corruptions, waste, and fraud.

[6:33] The UN is as inept at policing itself as are the nations it is supposed to hold accountable. In most instances, the UN is better thought of as the useless nations.

[6:48] But that's another story. So back to Israel. Well, an ancient nation fraught with multiple failures, some of which has resulted in the hatred of other nations.

[7:01] Their list of failures, disobedience to the God who gave them status and promises is legion in the Old and New Testaments as well as in more modern history.

[7:12] Genesis 34 is one of the most heinous and brutal in the history of this nation of Israel, and we're going to look at that now. If I had to do over again, I would have given you this message before last Sunday's message, because chronologically and historically it does come before.

[7:30] Any consideration of Israel being in Egypt or Moses leading them out, etc. Nonetheless, what we have here does not bode well for this fledgling people who would ultimately become the nation of Israel.

[7:45] Actually, the people that we are talking about in Genesis 34 only numbered about perhaps 60 people in all. That was all of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and their descendants that existed at that time.

[8:03] It will not be until after they spend their 400 years in Egypt that they come out numbering probably well over 2 million people. But for right now, this is just a fledgling, ragtag group of people.

[8:17] As I've said, the whole clan only numbers about perhaps 55 to 65 people, something in that area. Because when they do go down into Egypt, after Joseph is there, all of the souls that will go to Egypt of this clan number 70.

[8:35] So this predates that. And I also want to remind you that the instance that we are going to be dealing with now occurred before the law of Moses was ever given.

[8:48] Until that time, men kind of had a law under themselves in that they policed themselves and didn't do a very good job of it.

[9:00] That is true. But specifics that are going to be laid down by the law of Moses regarding life and limb and property and relationships and all of that didn't even exist at the time we are giving you this account.

[9:17] And it is a rather gruesome account. As I've said, it does not reflect well upon the ancestors of Israel. But I want to stress this particular thing right at the beginning.

[9:29] And that is this. These people did not do what they did because they were Jews. They did what they did because they were human beings.

[9:42] And human beings of any and every culture and age and generation is fully capable of doing the same kind of thing. So let us begin the text, if we may. Genesis chapter 34.

[9:55] And we have here introduced the only girl, to my recollection, that is mentioned as having been born of Jacob. I don't know whether there were not others, but she, to the best of my knowledge, is the only one who is mentioned.

[10:09] There are 12 boys. But one thing I do want you to notice, too, in addition that is, I think, very strategic, is that the action that is going to be so reprehensible and taken in this chapter is by two full brothers of Dinah.

[10:28] See, Dinah is going to have six half-brothers born of three other women. And she's also going to have six full brothers who will be from the same mother, and that will be Leah.

[10:48] So the two boys, Simeon and Levi, who are involved in this massacre, are not half-brothers of Dinah. They are full brothers of Dinah.

[10:59] That probably plays into it as well. So we read in verse 1, Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.

[11:13] Let me translate that for you and put it in modern language. This is probably an older teenage girl who is going out in her community to touch base with other girls in the community.

[11:27] A perfectly understandable thing for teenage girls to do in just about any and every culture. Young people want to hang together, and girls want to be with other girls, and guys want to be with guys, until they both get old enough to recognize that there is a lot greater appeal with the other group than there is with their group.

[11:47] And that's partly what's going to take place here. So she is going to go out and just have a time of acquaintance and enjoyment with girls her own age that live there in the community.

[11:59] And by the way, remember now, at this point in time, nobody is designated as a Jew or Gentile. That designation doesn't even exist here in Genesis. Not yet.

[12:10] In fact, it will not be in Genesis at all, other than Hebrew and then Gentiles later on. But for now, these are just people from different clans.

[12:22] Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had born to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. And when Shechem... And that's a little confusing because there is also a town by the name of Shechem.

[12:36] We don't know. It's entirely possible that the town may have been named after the boy. Shechem... The town may have taken on a name because he was born there.

[12:47] They gave the name to him. We don't know. But at any rate, to avoid confusion, be advised that this young man's name is Shechem. And the town is also Shechem.

[12:57] Today, in Israel, it is modern Nablus. N-A-B-L-U-S. And it is under Palestinian control. Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her.

[13:16] He took her. And lay with her. By force. This young man, obviously with raging hormones, cast his eyes upon this young girl and was deeply attracted to her.

[13:35] He probably lured her to some more secluded place. And there he took advantage of her. He raped her. I'm sure he probably considered her irresistible.

[13:47] And he did what he did. But the text is going to make it clear that this wasn't purely, solely, a physical thing. He really, obviously, had feelings for her.

[14:00] Terrible way for him to show them, violating her like that. But he took her and lay with her by force. This is a simple case of rape. And verse 3 tells us that he was deeply attracted to Dinah.

[14:16] I think within himself, he was simply saying, I have got to have this girl permanently as my own. And would not take no for an answer.

[14:29] And he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. I don't know if he perhaps had some tinge of regret. I should hope that he did for having forced himself upon her.

[14:42] He probably felt some degree of remorse. And he continued the relationship with her as he could by trying to court her, even after he had violated her like this.

[14:57] He wanted her for his wife. He spoke tenderly to her. These are the sweet nothings that a guy whispers in a girl's ear. So, Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, get me this young girl for a wife.

[15:16] And all he is doing is following the standard protocol. Because parents made all of the marriage arrangements in this day. The children did not decide for themselves whom they were going to marry.

[15:28] That was a responsibility of the parents. So, he went to his mother and father and said, I really feel strongly about this girl. I want you to enter into the negotiations and arrangements so that I can have her for a wife.

[15:46] Now, Jacob heard that he, Shechem, had defiled Dinah, his daughter. But his sons, that is, Dinah's brothers, were with his livestock in the field.

[16:02] So, Jacob kept silent until they came in. And then Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak with him.

[16:15] Now, the sons of Jacob came in from the field, and when they heard it, And the men were grieved, and they were very angry. Because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

[16:37] And I suspect that one thing that exacerbated this is that the sons of Jacob, at least most of them, maybe even all of them, were older than Dinah.

[16:52] And you know what that makes them? That makes them Dinah's big brothers. And big brothers, who are worth their salt at all, have a very serious sense of protection toward their younger sisters.

[17:12] They want to look out for them. They may tease them and make fun of them and all the rest, but in their heart of hearts, they are protective.

[17:24] And woe be unto anybody who violates their younger sister. Nothing has changed. That's the way it is today.

[17:36] And that's the way it ought to be. That's the way it ought to be. They are infuriated over what has been done. But Hamor spoke with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter.

[17:55] Please give her to him in marriage. And intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

[18:07] And thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be opened before you. Live and trade in it, and acquire property in it. And Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me.

[18:27] Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me. But give me the girl in marriage. Now this guy really is deeply, deeply infatuated with Dinah.

[18:43] And he tells her father and her brothers, I have to have this girl. Whatever you take, I'll provide.

[18:54] Just name it. Just name it. No price is too high. I'll provide what... This is a very, very deep longing that just cries out to be satisfied. But down, underneath, these brothers are fuming.

[19:15] Wheels are turning as to how best they can handle this situation. They are absolutely livid. But apparently they are managing to keep their cool and not play their hand openly.

[19:31] Quite an interesting proposition that is made here. Verse 13. That leads me to believe that these brothers had to have gotten together somewhere on the sideline and talked about this situation.

[19:58] And I imagine comments were flying like something like this. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. Ruben, let me have your knife and I'll take care of him right now.

[20:12] All kinds of talk like that. And as the conversation went on, somebody came up with a scheme that is just almost unimaginable.

[20:26] I guess this is attributed to creative thinking. It's also the kind of thinking that a deep sense of revenge could concoct.

[20:38] Because in this culture and in this day, revenge is a very important thing. And don't lose sight of something because we're dealing with it today.

[20:50] It is the same. Especially in the Mideast. Revenge, bloodlust is a very important thing. And it is tied to a family or a people's honor.

[21:05] When you have been violated, you seek revenge. Forget about this stuff called forgiveness. It is payback time. This is nothing more than the Hatfields and the McCoys of Kentucky pushed back a few thousand years in another part of the world.

[21:24] Same kind of situation. It is the revenge and anger factor that lures in the human heart that wants to get even. It is a bloodlust thing.

[21:37] And as I've said, there is no consideration of forgiveness or some other kind of payment that might make a more satisfactory answer to the offense that was committed.

[21:50] You know, justice, wherever justice is administered, it requires an equitable punishment in light of the crime that was committed.

[22:05] And when justice is served, the punishment would not be too lenient and it would not be too severe. It's sometimes a very difficult thing to arrive at.

[22:15] And this is one of the things that the law of Moses will help to describe and to ameliorate. But for right now, it doesn't exist. And the only name of the game is revenge.

[22:27] And we're going to see that played out. Verse 14, they said to them, we cannot do this thing.

[22:38] Now, remember, they're speaking with deceit. This is all underhanded. We cannot do this thing to give our sisters to one who is uncircumcised.

[22:49] For that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will become like us in that every male of you be circumcised.

[23:05] I can just see the men who are standing there looking at each other when he's saying this. Is this guy serious? Is he for real?

[23:17] I mean, circumcision for an eight-day-old baby is one thing. He doesn't understand what's happening to him anyway.

[23:29] He won't remember it. He'll squall and scream and cry and carry on. But it'll all be over after a short while. But if you're talking about circumcising an adult male, that's a whole different situation.

[23:46] And you can be sure that these men are thinking seriously about what's being said. But what is going to overcome them and make them acquiesce to this bizarre demand is their sense of greed.

[24:03] So these sons of Jacob are going to be motivated by hatred and a desire for revenge. And the sons of Hamor are going to be willing to do this thing and take them up on it out of a sense of greed.

[24:17] Read on and it'll explain what we're talking about. Then, verse 16, Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.

[24:35] In other words, we'll all together just be one big happy family, and we'll share all of these sons and daughters. Doesn't that sound good? And? And? Hmm.

[24:52] But if you will not listen to us, verse 17, to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, Dinah, and go.

[25:03] We'll just depart. Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem. This is father and son. And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter.

[25:19] This is Shechem. He's saying, Circumcision. Okay, put me down. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes. I'll be circumcised. And he's the first one to volunteer. Now, he was more respected than all the household of his father.

[25:39] What does that mean? That means this guy had leadership qualities. I suspect that Shechem was probably a very intelligent, hard-driving young man who was used to getting whatever he wanted, and he had a way about him that caused others to look up to him and follow his lead.

[26:01] And he's certainly in charge here. He is the role model. He's the example. He is willing to do this. He is saying to his other colleagues, Look, guys, I'm going to do this.

[26:15] It's just time for you to man up and be circumcised like me, and I'll be your example, and come on and follow me. And they are influenced by his leadership.

[26:28] And we are told that Hamor, verse 20, and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, and the gate, you've got to understand, the gate is our equivalent of the county courthouse.

[26:46] The gate was where all meaningful business and contracts were entered into, where covenants were made, where deals were made, and there was a public kind of forum so that everybody in the community knew what was taking place because it was at the gate of the city.

[27:05] All of the business was transacted there. And they said, These men are friendly with us. Therefore, let them live in the land and trade in it.

[27:16] For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them. Only on this condition will the men consent to live with us, to become one people, that every male among us must be circumcised as they are circumcised.

[27:36] Now, we do not know how many people are involved here. I suspect it was probably not, probably not many hundreds, probably a small village, maybe a total of a couple of hundred residents.

[27:49] I'm just guessing. We are not given any population figures, but it was not a large city consisting of thousands and thousands of people. The temptation is, verse 23, will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours?

[28:07] We're going to pool all of our resources. And listen, all of you guys know that these boys, that Jacob and his sons, they've got a lot more livestock than we do.

[28:19] I mean, we stand to gain a whole lot more from this deal than what they do. They're going to pool all, and all of their animals, do you see how many, fine looking animals too. They're all going to become ours.

[28:30] It's all going to be share and share alike. And these guys are stroking their beard and saying, hmm, hmm, yeah, well, well, circumcision, huh? Well, and then they look over these flocks of animals and say, and the result is, all who went out of the gate of the city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised.

[28:55] Now, all who went out of the gate of his city. Now, it came about on the third day when they were in pain.

[29:10] Being in pain from circumcision on the third day means you are virtually immobile. You do not move around at all. This is a very delicate, sensitive thing.

[29:25] And these men are all incapacitated. The idea of being really active and moving about quickly is out of the question because the degree of soreness, particular on this third day, is just immeasurable.

[29:44] And only men who have been there can identify with that. So, I wonder too who it was that did the circumcision.

[29:54] You know, in just about every Jewish community, there is a particular individual, a man, what's he called? I think he's called the Mottal. The Mottal. He is the official circumciser.

[30:06] And he goes around to Jewish families when they have a baby boy. He shows up on the eighth day. And this still goes on today right here in the United States as well as throughout the world in Jewish communities.

[30:19] And he is the official circumciser. And he goes around with his little surgical knife. But back in this day, they didn't have surgical knives or surgical steel. They used a sharpened flint stone.

[30:32] Imagine that. Now, that immediately gains the sympathy of every male. Stone.

[30:42] Oh, but it was a sharp stone. It couldn't be sharp enough, could it? Well, so here are these guys all lying around, however many there were, moaning and groaning on this third day, probably wondering why they ever allowed them to talk themselves into that.

[30:57] And when they were in pain, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, this is the second and the third born child of Jacob.

[31:10] First born was Reuben. Then the second born was Simeon. And then Levi. And they are full brothers, not half brothers, full brothers of Dinah.

[31:23] They each took his sword and came upon the city unawares and killed every male. This is just a giant massacre.

[31:39] Each of them took their swords and quietly went from house to house and would go inside and find the male lying there on his sickbed on this third day.

[31:55] and hack him to death with the sword. And they went through the whole community and did that. Literally destroying every one of them. Remember what we said about justice?

[32:12] Justice is the right amount of retribution or punishment in accordance with the crime that was committed. This was way over the top.

[32:25] There's no justification for this. Should there have been some kind of penalty paid by Shechem for having raped their sister? Of course.

[32:35] There's no reason at all that he should have gotten off scot-free. There should have been some kind of punishment. But the punishment has to fit the crime. And the massacre of all of the males in the community does not fit the crime.

[32:50] In addition, they killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword and took Dinah from Shechem's house.

[33:08] He had no doubt had already claimed her and went forth. And Jacob's sons came upon the slain and looted the city because they had defiled their sister.

[33:21] They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys and that which was in the city and that which was in the field. And they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives even all that was in the houses.

[33:41] So they are making prisoners of these other survivors here all of whom probably are female. And then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land among the Canaanites and the Perizzites and my men being few in number they will attack together against me and attack me and I shall be destroyed I and my household.

[34:17] But they said in defense should he treat our sister as a harlot? Well no he shouldn't treat sister as a harlot and he shouldn't have gotten away with it but neither should you have retaliated in the way you did.

[34:31] You've made me odious throughout the land. I think the King James says you have made me to stink among the inhabitants of the land. And here is going to arise one of the first kinds of situations that's going to make people feel justified in having it in for these people because of what they did.

[34:53] You cannot justify this. Yet these are the very same people among whom later God is going to tell them you don't associate with these people.

[35:04] Remember the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, all of the other ites. They are in that category here and later they're going to be told to steer clear of them.

[35:15] Here is going to provide a ready-made kind of situation for a premature and I say that premature simply because what we think of as anti-Israel or anti-Jewish had not yet arisen.

[35:30] This is one of the very earliest cases and it's going to be situations like this that is going to cause the Jew to be persona non grata and this is one of them right here.

[35:41] So we're looking at Israel from a very early standpoint and actually what this is is nothing more than misguided human behavior.

[35:51] That's all it is. They are making bad choices. They are overcome with hatred and revenge for what had been done to their sister. this is a this is an activity and a behavior that is in keeping with humanity across the board.

[36:09] Not just Jews but people in general. History is replete with all kinds of similar unjustified massacres that have been perpetrated on people.

[36:20] We have some right here in our very own in our very own nation between the white man and the Indian going back several years and there were massacres on both sides. There were whites who massacred Indians women and children and they were Indians who massacred the whites women and children and history is replete with that.

[36:42] The problem is it is a human condition. It's not a Jewish condition. It's a human condition and yet under these circumstances in this place and in this time the nation of Israel is beginning or what will become the nation of Israel is beginning to establish a reputation that is not going to be appreciated by many people.

[37:04] Now, I don't say that they were worse than those other I-vites that dwelt there among them. In fact, you read the litany of their accomplishments and their behavior and it was very, very it's even hard to read it and contemplate it so difficult and so bad was it.

[37:25] So, what we've got here is a very early instance of people having it in for the Jew and we're going to see how that intensifies.

[37:36] So, how does this play out then? And the bottom line is this. God has made a covenant of grace on behalf of these people and he is determined to fulfill his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and he is not making his making good on his promises dependent upon the worthiness or the obedience of the Jewish people because they are not going to be worthy and they are not going to be obedient.

[38:13] And as you get into Samuel and the kings and you see the idolatry, the wickedness, the evil, the splitting of the dividing of the tribes of Israel in the north and south and the intrigue that took place there, the murder, the idolatry, all of this, Israel is going to prove themselves unworthy of God's favor and God's blessing time after time after time.

[38:42] Eventually, it will lead to the Babylonian captivity where God is going to use a pagan enemy to chastise his own people and the minor prophets are filled with these kind of things.

[38:53] So God is not making his covenant conditional based upon their behavior because they simply wouldn't qualify and yet this is the way a great many people interpret it and this is why many feel that they are justified today in standing against Israel because Israel has shown themselves to be unworthy time after time after time.

[39:17] Are they worthy now? No. And I would hasten to add neither is any other nation or any other people. There are none who are worthy and if God were not acting in grace then nobody would be a recipient of any of his covenants or any of his blessings.

[39:38] So God is determined to do what he is going to do because he is determined to do it not because of the worthiness of the recipient. It is all because of his grace. when God made that covenant with Abraham he could have just as well said Abraham it doesn't make any difference what you or your descendants do or don't do this is what I'm going to do.

[39:59] And that's a perfect way I think of interpreting the covenant rather than saddle it with a lot of conditions and ifs and so on. and that's the way most people interpret it today.

[40:10] Unfortunately even most Christians do because they simply do not understand the basis of grace or the conditions of the unconditional nature of the contact that God made with Abraham.

[40:24] So had you a question or comment? Anybody? I've specifically allowed time. Now if you don't take this time for questions I'm not going to give it to you anymore.

[40:38] I'll just use it like I usually do. Any comments or questions? Anyone? Okay in the back. Gary. You mentioned that this was not at this point Jews and Gentiles.

[41:01] When did that take place then? I was thinking it started with Abraham I guess. Well Abraham I think we could safely say that Abraham was the first Hebrew. Yeah.

[41:12] And he was given that name. If the name if we are able to put confidence in the meaning of the name Hebrew or Hebrew as one who crossed over then Abraham kind of distinguished himself as a separate person with a separate family and that would have been with his coming out of Ur of the Chaldees crossing over the Euphrates River into this new land.

[41:39] But I don't think that we can think of them existing at all as a nation. Their nationality isn't really established until they form in Egypt and come out of that.

[41:52] So up until this time they are just a people. I guess you'd say a clan. And there were several other clans. There were hundreds of other clans and they were just one of them, the Hebrews.

[42:03] But they were of course distinct in that they had a monotheistic view of God and that set them apart from the very earliest of times.

[42:15] Actually the term Jew isn't going to be realized until the tribe of Judah and Benjamin that constitutes the southern kingdom is going to be carried off into Babylonian captivity.

[42:33] And while they are there, because the vast majority of them will be from the tribe of Judah, the word, the term will be just shortened.

[42:46] And they will call them Jews, which is a shortened term for Judah. I don't know how the spelling got to J-E-W, but that's where it originated. And came out of, I think you'll find it in the book of Esther and Nehemiah, they're referred to there as the Jews, and in Daniel too during the captivity period.

[43:08] So that's when the term Jew actually originated. Other thoughts or comments? Anyone? Up here in the front, Ron? Here comes the microphone.

[43:29] Yeah, the next chapter, chapter 35, goes right into where the nation failed, his boys failed. He was afraid that they would be attacked because of it, but God sends them someplace else.

[43:43] He instructs them, all the people turn in their idols and all that stuff and start all over again. Yeah, it's really sad. It's just a picture of bad human behavior, that's what it is, and the principle of injustice, the principle of anger, the principle of hatred, the principle of revenge, all of these things are just nasty commentary on humanity.

[44:03] And you know something? We're still dealing with it today. You know what jihad is all about? It's all about revenge. The jihad is found in the Koran, and it actually takes on two forms.

[44:23] The more peaceable Muslims, they practice the jihad too. See, there are two different jihads. One is an internal jihad, where a Muslim recognizes that he has to control and he has to dominate his own spirit inwardly.

[44:45] He has to war with himself. And really this is nothing more than the Christian view of Romans chapter 7, of the war that is within. And he recognizes, the peaceable Muslim recognizes that he has to take control of his own emotions, his own desires, his own doings, etc.

[45:04] He has to master himself. And he is engaged in a spiritual war within himself. It is a spiritual jihad. And that's the way most of the moderate Muslims will describe jihad.

[45:20] But there's a second stage of jihad that is outward. And that means that you insist that others conform to a standard. And you will use force and violence to make them do so.

[45:33] And that's the meaning of jihad is holy war. That's what it means. Holy war. But there's an internal holy war and an external holy war.

[45:45] And the twin towers, 9-11, was external jihad. And what we see in ISIS taking place in Iraq right now and in Syria is external jihad, external holy war.

[45:58] war. That's the way they look at it. That's the way the Koran presents it to. Revenge has always been in the heart of man. There is always a desire to get even with, to get back at those who have wounded us or hurt us or damaged us.

[46:15] There is a payback. And you know something? to an extent that is legitimate. But there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. And we have established the principle of law whereby someone can be charged with a crime that they have committed and taken to court and face the music and be sentenced for their crime so that they pay for the crime.

[46:38] And the most difficult thing that mankind has ever had, the most difficult thing that he's ever had to try and produce and has failed time and time and time again.

[46:49] And that is to exact justice. We all know how flawed our courts are. We all know of horror cases where guilty go free and where innocent are punished because our justice is far from perfect.

[47:05] Far from perfect. And that's what this is really all about. So anything else before we dismiss? Dave Campbell up here has a comment. It's interesting that these external jihadists are non-discriminatory though.

[47:30] They're not exactly always putting their terror against Jewish people. They don't care. They just seem to want to exact terror on everybody.

[47:45] Well, that's true. And Muslims have no qualms about killing fellow Muslims if they think that there is any way, shape, or form that they are standing in their way or that they're an obstacle of any kind.

[47:57] They are very indiscriminate. And when it boils right down to it, the whole concept, the whole concept of Islam, the Koran, and everything that goes along with it is really illogical and unsupportable.

[48:13] And the reason it is illogical is because it is contrived by minds that are warped in their thinking and in their reasoning ability they are skewed and they come up with these kind of things.

[48:26] that's the basis for every cult and every ism that exists throughout the world. They are all contrived and put together by fallen minds, by skewed thinking, and they arrive at some of these utterly preposterous positions that we see.

[48:44] This is what man does when he turns his back on the revelation that God has given and replaces it with his own thinking and his own ideas than what we've got is what you get.

[48:58] And that's the way most of the world operates. It is with human reasoning. We gave you information at the outset when we introduced this series. There are only three possible sources for information.

[49:11] There are only three possible data banks from which men can gather information and make decisions. And one is the mind of Satan. 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 4, verses 3 and 4, the mind of Satan.

[49:28] He blinds the minds of those who believe not. And the second source of information is the mind of man. Man contrives all kinds of things.

[49:39] Romans 1 talks about the darkness of man's mind and the darkness of their imaginations come up with all kinds of screwball ideas and schemes, etc.

[49:50] And the third, of course, is the mind of God. And if you do not go with what the scriptures teach and the mind of God, you don't have anything left but human reasoning or demonic reasoning.

[50:02] Those are the only other two sources. This is why we must constantly be driven to the scriptures for our authority, because that's the only place where you will find truth and the mind of God.

[50:14] Everything else comes from skewed, warped thinking. People adopt that, then they do the acts and the deeds that come from doing that, and you get the kind of world that we're living in today.

[50:26] That's why the world is the way that it is. We need to just be aware of this, and it makes so many more things make sense that otherwise it wouldn't.

[50:38] Well, thank you for your kind attention in dealing with a passage of scripture that is extremely unpleasant, and one that you'd just as soon pass over. And you know what?

[50:49] Most churches probably throughout the country wouldn't dream of dealing with a passage like this in a congregation. And that saddens me because any time you feel you have to apologize and avoid content that is in the word of God, because you might possibly offend someone in their delicate sensibilities, that is putting people and their estimation above the authority of the word of God.

[51:23] And if God didn't want these passages understood and explained and taught, he certainly would have omitted them. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and while I don't enjoy dealing with a passage like this, I cannot even think about apologizing for it, because there is no apology that can be rendered for the word of God.

[51:47] Would you stand with me, please? Father, we've seen some really negative lessons here, and we must admit that we are part and parcel of the same kind of mentality with that potential that these have, and we are reminded again and again that these men, Simeon and Levi, did not do what they did because they were Jews.

[52:21] They did what they did because they were people. People with a fallen nature and fallen sensibilities, just like we are. And the only thing that keeps us from these kind of acts is staying close to the revelation that you've given in your word that lets us know what pleases you and what displeases you.

[52:41] And we are so grateful for that revelation. And we recognize that these men living back then did not have the advantage of what we have now. Even though you had placed the sense of right and wrong within the human heart, they did not have all to go on that we have today.

[52:57] That makes us even more responsible for our actions than they were for theirs. Thank you for having given us the revelation of scripture. And thank you for also enabling us through your grace to be responsive to it in a right way.

[53:12] We pray in Christ's name. Amen.