Bible Study: December 28, 2022

Let's record, sir. Okay. Okay, so last week, if you remember, we ended in chapter 21, and I think we got through verse 5. And we were talking last week about Babylon, and in chapter 21, when it talks about the wilderness of the sea, you'll remember that we talked about how Babylon itself was reclaimed from the marshes. Remember, we talked about Samiramis. She had these series of canals or whatever that she did, so that Babylon was actually constructed from that. And then when Cyrus, who Bible names by name, came in, he undid those canals. That allowed them to lower the water, and the Persians and the Medes marched into Babylon and conquered it in 580, I think it's 586 BC.

So we got through verse 5. One of the things about chapter 21 is this is a classic chapter again where there is the dual prophecies that are referring. You have, clearly, in the first few verses here, it talks about the fall of the original world-ruling Babylon that's cast or that's prophesied in Daniel 10 or Daniel 2 with the great image. As we went through the first five verses, you'll remember that in verse 5, the Barman's commentary actually calls that one of the most amazing verses in all of Isaiah, because it's such a detail, chronicles, and outlines what really happened at the end of Babylon as detailed for us in Daniel 5.

We went through Daniel 5 last week at the end of the final study, we didn't go through all of it, but we showed how verse 5 there pretty much just predicted the prophecy line by line of what happened in that fall of Babylon. If El Shazar was there, they were out feasting, they used the instruments of God, blaspheming him, and then all of a sudden they came in and they feasting, and then they had to call the people in and Babylon fell. And so we have the end of verse 5, and that really chronicles the end of Babylon.

This is the first Babylon. And we know this is talking about Babylon, though, when we talked about the wilderness of sea, but in verse 9 as we go through it, it talks about one of those classic verses in the Bible. Babylon is fallen, is fallen. Whenever something's repeated twice, it usually indicates it's a dual prophecy, and in this case it clearly is. So we have to follow the first Babylon, the first five verses of chapter 21, and as we begin in verse 6, we see that we have the prophesied fall of the second Babylon, the Babylon, the society that will be extant on the earth at the time of Jesus Christ's return.

So let's pick it up there in verse 6 of chapter 21. Are there any questions before we go in there? Anything from last week that anyone wants to talk about? Okay, then let's pick it up in verse 6. It says, For thus has the Lord said to me, right? This is Isaiah. For us, as the Lord said to me, Go set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.

So what God is saying here is, you know, go out and watch. What is going on? You be the watchman. Now, you know, we read about watchmen in the book of Ezekiel, and God says, We are to be a watchman for people. We are to vote. We should be letting people, letting the world know what's going on. Part of our commission is. And God says, if you see danger coming and you let the people know, and they do nothing about it, then that's their problem. But if you don't warn them, their blood is going to be on your head.

So God says, Go set a watchman, and let him declare what he sees. And in verse 7, he says he sees a chariot with a pair of horsemen. And it's interesting that it talks about this pair of horsemen. And that can mean a couple of things. You read some of the commentaries, and they'll talk about, of course, the commentaries, apart from the UCG commentary, don't really understand dual prophecies.

So they relate everything back to the first fall of Babylon. But here you have a pair of horsemen. Some of those commentaries say that this can refer to, remember Darius from Daniel 5. We have Darius the Mede, who is there in Daniel 5. We also have Cyrus the Persian. We'll see outside the Medes and the Persians, who came and they conquered Babylon. But we also have, as we read last week, a couple of these whirlwinds from the south that we talked about in two separate instances.

If we go back to verse 1 of chapter 21, we come back to that, and we'll just kind of rehearse this for a moment here. It says, As whirlwinds in the south pass through, so it comes from the desert from a terrible land. There's two places in the Bible that has the same verbiage as these whirlwinds in the south.

Means an army. Means trouble is coming to Babylon. Let's go back and reverse those for just a second again, because we're going to talk about them here in a little bit. Back in Job 37, in verse 9, that's where I buy it. 37.

And verse 9, it says, From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind, and pulled from the scattering winds of the north.

And what we talked about from the chamber of the south, you remember last week, I don't have that map. I don't have that map pulled up this time. We talked about how the countries, the Medes and the Persians, we had the map up of where Babylon was and showed that Persia was down south, the media was over kind of southeast, and those whirlwinds would come from the south, and it was talking about going into, and they would be the things from the south that would conquer modern-day ancient Babylon. The other one that references this, and I'm looking at Job 37 and 9 again because, yeah, from the shape of the south comes the whirlwind, and pulled from the scattering winds of the north. The other place is in Zechariah. Let's go to Zechariah 9.

Zechariah is the second book from the old end of the Old Testament.

Zechariah 9 and verse 14. It says, The Lord will be seen over, and his arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord God will blow the trumpet and go with whirlwinds from the south. He will defend them. They shall devour and subdue with flingstones. They shall drink and roar as if with wine. They shall be filled with blood-like basins like the corners of the altar. The Lord their God will save them in that day.

So we have in this prophecy, then, Jesus Christ returning, picturing as a whirlwind from the south. So in the first fall of Babylon, in the first few verses there of Isaiah 21, you know, we have the Medes and the Persians who came like whirlwinds, kind of surprised Babylon, lowered the water, and then all of a sudden they were there. They were just there, and there was no way Babylon who had sustained themselves, they simply fell. But here in the last part of Isaiah 21, we'll see that this is clearly as we look at it, talking about the end time Babylon, and it'll be Jesus Christ pictured in those that whirlwind from the south of Zachariah 9 who will come in and conquer that kingdom. So this pair of horsemen that the watchman sees here, the commentaries might say Darius and Cyrus, we might say it's the Medes and Persians, and then Jesus Christ, the double fall of Babylon, ancient Babylon, as well as the future Babylon. So in verse 7 then, so we saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, a chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels.

Now, I don't know about donkeys, I've got a thought on it, but I'm not going to say anything about it, but the chariot of camels, it's when the Persians fought, they used camels for their horses are used, but they used camels. So this is probably referring, here's a chariot of camels. The chariot of donkeys don't know what that is, and unless Darius the Medes used donkeys, but we have two different kinds of things happening here. One of them clearly is Persians, and the chariot of donkeys is something else, but we have two different things going on here. And then this watchman, it says in verse 7, he listened earnestly with great care. He was paying attention. Now, you know, there's some lessons in those verses for us too, because we're supposed to be watching what is going on in the world around us, and we're supposed to be, you know, diligently and earnestly following God, learning God, doing God. But he also wants to be diligently and soberly, as he says in the New Testament many times, watching what is going on. Be aware. Remember, Jesus Christ says, watch. Watch that you may be counted worthy to escape. That these things will sneak up on the world around us. They'll be taken by surprise. Those who are asleep, the people of God who are asleep, will be taken by surprise. But he says, you don't be that way. You don't be taken. You don't be taken unaware. You pay attention to what's going on. You listen earnestly with great care. And that's what this watchman is doing here in Isaiah 21.

And then he says in verse 8, as he's watching earnestly, he cries out, a lion, my lord. What he means is danger. Danger is approaching. There's something happening here. He cried, a lion, my lord. I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime. Even though he's doing things, in the daytime he's got his eyes wide open. And I have sat at my post every night. I am watching, and I am waiting, and I am aware of everything that is going on here. And so this watchman is doing exactly what he should be. God said, set that watchman. Watch what's going on.

Tell the people what is going on. I've been there every day. I've been there every night. I haven't rested. I've been following exactly what you said. And verse 9, and look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen. Here's a pair of horsemen again, but a chariot of men. And what this kind of means when you look at the way the words are written and what the commentaries will say, the Hebrew words mean here, you have an army. You have a great army coming here, led by these two horsemen. Babylon is doomed. What's happening to them, they cannot prevail over these armies that are coming their way, is what this means. Here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen.

Whether it's talking about that original fall of Babylon, personally, I think talking more about the two falls of Babylon, Babylon, the society, ancient Babylon, and the future, both are going to be conquered, both are going to be no more. And then he says in verse 9, Babylon is fallen.

Let's say you have these two horsemen. You have two falls of Babylon. You have ancient Babylon that history records happened exactly the way that God said. Verse 5 of Isaiah 21 matches perfectly with what went on in Daniel 5, which is documented in history and every place else. So everything is exactly as God said. And here we have future Babylon answered and said Babylon is fallen, is fallen. All the carved images are for God's. He has broken to the ground. He, God, has broken to the ground. Of course, it is God who conquers those nations. So we should take the time to look at the fall of Babylon, the fall of ancient Babylon, or the future Babylon, again. So let's go forward to Revelation. Revelation 18. Now these are familiar verses, but let's reverse them again since we are talking about the fall of Babylon here in Isaiah. In verses 1 through 4, in verse 2, we see that verse repeated that we just read. Chapter 18 verse 2, he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. And then he defines what this new Babylon, this society, this culture of Babylon at the end of the age is like. All the nations have drunk of the wine, or the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. The merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. And God said, this is a very alluring society that it's in. You know, if we go back one chapter to one chapter, chapter 17, God names the civilization, the society that's extant on the earth at the time of Christ's return. In chapter 17 verse 5, it says, on her forehead a name was written, mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, and of the abominations of the earth.

And so you have this system, right? You have this government, you have this religious system that's not the church of God. It's a very deceptive church. It's a blasphemous church. We've read many times over the last few weeks, Daniel 11, about the king of the north, what he is like. He worships a god different than every other god before him. This church is anti-God. In verse 6, it says, I saw the woman, this mystery Babylon the Great, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

Now, when you talk about the system that's in chapter 18, and you read about the wealth that people have been able to obtain from working with this system of Babylon and how God is going to destroy it in one day. Well, before I even get there, let me read verse 4 in chapter 18 again as a reminder for us. It's a very alluring society by it. It says merchants have become rich. However, it is a very demonic and a satanic society is anti-everything, everything about God. In verse 4, God reminds us, Christ reminds us, I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, come out of her, my people. That is the message for the ages. It's a very alluring, a very deceiving society. There is wealth that is part of it, and people can become enamored with it. They can believe that false ideals and everything against God is the way to go. It's much like the society that we see around us today. There are a number of people, when they read chapter 18, that say that they believe America is Babylon. But America is not Babylon. This is a system that is in the king of the north. It's the society and the civilization that is extant on the earth at that time. Now, there are other traits of Babylon that have been in other nations as well. Certainly, as you read some of this stuff, you see America is that way.

If you read, you see that as the country becomes more and more anti-God and anti-Christian and more and more autocratic, and we have all these things going on around us about truth, the Bible says America will fall. But this is the end time society that's there. In verse 24 of chapter 18, you go through all these things, and it says, and in verse, was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slain on the earth. And then, of course, you have chapter 19 in Revelation where Christ returns. You know, remember Zechariah 9 14, He returns, He comes, and the society is absolutely obliterated. As you read through the last few verses there of chapter 19, you see that when Christ returns the beast power, the kings of the earth, verse 19, and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. They were captured with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. They were cast alive and the rest were killed into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse. All the birds were filled with their flesh. So we have the complete destruction of end time Babylon there. So we have ancient Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon, Belshazzar at the end. He's completely defeated. And then we have the second fall of Babylon. This will put an end to Babylon forever. Babylon, which had the mystery of religion, many of the things that have carried over into lives today, religion today, the false religion, were there in Babylon. The mixture of good and evil, the mixture of truth and error.

Those continue through there until Christ returns and puts an end to all of those things and sets up his kingdom that'll be a kingdom of truth. And so we have there in the first nine verses there of chapter 21, we have two Babylons. Two Babylons that fall ancient and then clearly the future one.

Let me pause there and see if there's any questions about that. I'm just looking at my notes here and see if I've forgotten anything.

Okay, let's go on to verse 10 then. Here is another indication that this Babylon that we're talking about right now is the future Babylon. In verse 10 it says, O my threshing and the grain of my floor, that which I have heard from the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Isaiah says, I have declared to you, O my threshing and the grain of my floor, that which I have heard from the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.

When Isaiah was delivered a message, he delivered it exactly the way that God wanted it delivered. Now let's look at Jeremiah 51.

You remember that Jeremiah was not one of the prophets that was the contemporary of Isaiah.

But Jeremiah did prophesy to the nation of Judah for the 40 years until the time of Judah's fall. And in the last part of Jeremiah, the last few chapters, we see prophecies again about Babylon. There's an awful lot about Babylon and prophecies about Babylon in the Bible. And in verse 33 of Jeremiah 51, and you see Babylon scattered throughout that chapter as you're flipping over to verse 33, you see that God inspired Jeremiah to use the same words, basically, that Isaiah did. Again, you can see God at work. He prophesied through Isaiah to give him those words about a threshing floor when he talks about the future fall of Babylon. And here's what he says to Jeremiah, thus says the Lord of folks, the God of Israel, the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor. When it's time to thresher, yet a little while at the time of her harvest will come. And then he goes down and talks through that. And we'll probably hit some of these later because later on in Isaiah, there is another... oh no, I'm getting ahead of myself. There's another prophecy about Jeremiah, not Jeremiah Jerusalem that we'll get to in a minute. So 21 verses 1 through 10 is the second prophecy that we've had about Babylon. And you see that in Isaiah. You know, we have these series of prophecies that are there in Isaiah. They're detailed. God will talk about a city like Babylon, like he did back in chapters 13 and 14. Then we come back to it and he gives a little more detail in chapter 21. Later on tonight, we'll get to chapter 21 and chapter 22 about Jerusalem. And we'll see, you know, a few chapters later in Isaiah, he'll come back to Jerusalem and some prophecies. And we have other prophecies in the Bible about Jerusalem as well, because what God is doing is all this area that's around Israel and Jerusalem in ancient times. He's giving the prophecies about what will happen to all of these nations. And what he says did happen, in many of those cases, to the nations at that time. But there's a future time before the return of Jesus Christ, where we have the same setting and the same groups of people that are involved that are there at the end time. And we can see what prophecy says is going to happen at the end time by seeing what has happened before. So that's the first 10 verses of chapter 21.

So chapter verse 11 here, verse 11 here, it's just a very short prophecy against Duma in verse 11. And Duma is the Ithumeans. Anyone know who the Ithumeans were? Who the Ithumeans were? Who the Ithumeans were descendants of? Edom? Edom, yeah. And who is Edom? What's a famous Bible character? Who is Edom? Esau. Genesis 36, verse 8 specifically says Esau is Edom. And so we do have we do have Edom who was there in a factor through the time before. And they're evident in the end times as well. So here's this prophecy against Duma. Let's go back and just so we can see in Genesis where these tribes and nations began. Genesis 25. Genesis 25, verse 13. We're gonna read verses 13, 14, and 15 here because a few of these names that are here in 13, 14, and 15 of Genesis 25, we're gonna see showing up here in the prophecies of Duma and then Arabia, which is the prophecy that follows this. And verse 13 it says, these were the names of the son of Ishmael. We remember who Ishmael was, right? He was the son of Abraham by Hagar. And if you remember, you know, Abraham had to send Hagar away.

There was animosity between the two families between Ishmael and Isaac, the son of promise. These were the names of the sons of Ishmael by their names, according to their generations. The firstborn of Ishmael was Nebioth, then Kedar, Advil, Mibsom, Mishma, Duma, which is this prophecy, Masa, Hadar, Teema, we'll see his name here in a minute, Jator, Nefesh, and Kedima. We'll also see Kedar there, the first one that was named there. So we have this with prophecy about Duma. Let me pull up a map here. I think it is good to see where these...where'd my little share button go?

Yeah, okay. Everyone can see that map?

Nope. Nope. Nope. Okay. I was afraid of that because I don't see my little symbol here. I'll try one more time. How about now? Yeah, I think you can see it now. Okay. So you see some area there off to the west. You see some area of the capital of Israel. You see Judea down south, the southern kingdom of Judah, and then you see Ithumea down below Judea. That's the area of Edom that we're going to be talking about. That's what this prophecy is going to talk about. Edom, Ithumea. We're going to talk about who the Ithumeans were, some famous Ithumeans here, and how they interacted with Israel over the course of history. You see off...while I have this map up, you see off to the east there with a little red, kind of like balloon, little pointer thing on it, Arabia. The next prophecy we have, the prophecy against Duma or Ithumea, is just two verses long, but then we have a prophecy against Arabia. So we have this whole area here that we were talking about. So again, just so we have our idea of how close these are and how God is giving prophecies about all these areas that surround Israel. They all interacted in ancient times. They'll all interact again, these peoples at the end time, and God is giving prophecies that you know, of what will happen to them and the ancient times, as well as what will happen in the future. Now, while we have this up here with Arabia, you know, I will say that the commentaries, the UCG commentary, all agree that Kedar, K-E-D-A-R, who was the first name son of Ishmael, that generally when you see Kedar, it's referring to the Arabians. And so we have Kedar, who's Arabia. We have Duma, who is Idumea, and also Edom. Also down in Edom, Idumea, we're going to see here. You still have your Bible here open to, you still have your Bible open to chapter 21.

And you'll see in verse 11, it says, the burden against Duma. He, God, God calls to me out of Sier. When we ever we see Sier, Mount Sier, it's talking about Edom. It's talking about Idumea, that area right in there, because it's very mountainous. And so Petra is right in that region as well. We talked about Petra a few Bible studies ago. But Sier, when you see Sier, it's talking about Idumea, the burden against Duma. He calls to me out of Sier. And then, let me go ahead and stop the share on this and bring you back to the Bible here. And then we have these two, we have this sentence, this question asked twice. Again, when we see things twice, we have to stop and ask ourselves, why does God say it twice? Does it indicate a dual prophecy, something that's going to happen once and then again in the future? And indeed, it may well be that this indicates a fulfilled prophecy, watchman, what of the night? And then the second question, watchman, what of the night? And so we have, you know, I was going to talk about the Idumea, but let me since I'm talking about watchman, what of the night? What it's talking about here, when you see this word night in there, it's talking about calamity. It's talking about a time of crisis in this nation. You know, so we had Duma, and it says, well, what of the night? How long is this going to happen? What's this time of darkness that we're in? How long is this going to last? Is the sense of the question that we have here in verse 11? And it's, I think it's in Micah. Do I have that written down here? Yeah, Micah. Malachi. No, I think I wrote that down. I think it's Micah. Micah 3. Let's go back to Micah.

Yeah, Micah. Micah 3 and verse 5. Let's change that. Not now, okay.

Micah 3 and verse 5. It says, thus says, and remember, Micah is a contemporary of Isaiah, so when you read through Micah, many of the things that we see in Isaiah, we see in Micah as well, thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make the people stray. Notice that? Prophets, false prophets, who make the people stray, who chant peace while they chew with their teeth. Meaning, you know, oh, everything's okay. Everything's okay. Chew with their teeth. It's a time of trouble, but don't worry about it. Everything's okay. Just forget it. Just forget it. Just get on with life who chant peace while they chew with their teeth, but who prepare war against him who but who prepare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths. Therefore, you shall have night without vision. And as it's talking about night without vision, it's like you don't know where you're going. You know how it is at night when you're walking around and there's no light at all. It's like, where are we going? Where are we headed? What are we going to run into? And so, God likens this time of war, this time of calamity to like a night without vision. So, when he's talking to Edomia, what of the night? What of the night? How long is this night going to last? Where are we going? What is all this about? But who therefore you shall have night without vision and you shall have darkness without divination. The sun will go down on the prophets and the day shall be dark for them. So the seer shall be ashamed and the diviner divine is abashed. Indeed, they shall all cover their lips for there is no answer from God. They're running around in darkness. They're saying things. They don't have any clue where they're headed. Knocking their heads against walls, going all over the place. This is the scene that we have in verse 11 about Edomia. Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? And what the watchman said, the morning comes, the morning comes. It's about to be over. There is light at the end of this tunnel. Now, you know, we can say, what would be the morning? What would bring an area out of darkness? What would be the light at the end of the tunnel? Because we know we have the analogy of Christ is light and the world is darkness. And before Christ came, the world was darkness. He brought light into the world. There was hope, there was salvation, there was a future, there was a meaning and a purpose for mankind. Without Christ, there is no meaning. It's just complete darkness and complete futility. And so, when he says here, the morning comes, indicates this is an end time prophecy. The morning comes, the Savior is about to return. We're in end times. The morning comes, and also the night.

There's hope, but there's a problem. It's not all the way that it should be. It isn't just straight to the morning, it's the night. It indicates that there's a period of hope that there can be, but then there's the night that goes on as well. Let me look at my notes here, because I wanted to talk about, you know, in ancient times with Idumea or Edom. It says Edom, you know, was under a Syria's rule, and they would come out, but they would be subject to Babylon. So the commentaries will talk about the history and say, this is exactly what happened to Duma. They were under a Syrian rule. Babylon conquered Assyria for a moment. It looked like they were free again, but then they came under Babylonian rule. So in ancient times, watchman, what are the nights? How long will it be? In and out. When we look at Edom and we look at Duma, Idumea here at the time, we won't turn back to Daniel 11, but you remember that when we read in Daniel 11, the last several verses are there, when the king of the north comes like a whirlwind through the king of the south, who, what are the nations that are spared? The nations that are spared are Edom, Ammon, and Jordan. We talked about all that in relation to Petra and God's outcast that He's protecting. So you have this period of time, it's like, oh, there's a morning that comes, we're not conquered. But God shows clearly in those prophecies that we did before that there will be destruction come for Edom, Moab, and Ammon. They will be doomed as well. If we go over a few chapters forward into Obadiah, a little one chapter prophecy that I think comes right after Amos, if I remember correctly, we see that that whole prophecy is about Edom. Yeah, Amos Obadiah says, the vision of Obadiah. If you found it, I'm in verse one of Obadiah, the vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom, we've heard a report from the Lord and a messenger has been sent among the nations saying, arise and let us rise up against her, her battle.

The night is coming, the night is coming, what of the night? Behold, I will make you small among the nations. You will be greatly despised because of why the pride of your heart has received you, you who dwell in the cliffs of the rock whose habitation is high, you who say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground. Though you ascend as high as the eagle and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the eternal. And so, you know, you can read through the rest of Obadiah, but let's drop down to verse 18.

Says the house of Jacob will be a fire. They will be defeated, but God will will bring them back again. The house of Jacob shall be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau shall be stubble. They shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau. The Lord has spoken. Watchmen, what of the night?

Looks like hope. Looks like, you know, we've been spared from the king of the north, but then destruction comes, and because of the way that they have treated Israel. Now, we can talk about the Itumeans a little bit here. Anyone remember there is a famous Itumean in the New Testament? Anyone know who that famous Itumean is in the New Testament at the time of Christ? It's Herod the Great, right? Remember Herod the Great? He's the one who, you know, he was the one who had all the babies under two years old killed when Christ was born when he was told this king of Israel was born. And Josephus will record that he was an Itumean. He was part Itumean, and he was part Jewish. We talked about Herod the Great and that family back when we were in the book of Acts. We talked about how, oh, I guess how unsettled they were. They knew the truth of God, but they could not bring themselves to yield to God. And so they were just in conflict all the time because they had this Itumean part of them that was against God, as Edom always has been, dating back to the conflict between Esau and Jacob. And so we have the Harrods that are doing this stuff, and Josephus says he was an Itumean. And there is a verse where Itumea is. I'm going to have to kind of look at my notes here a little bit closer to see where that is. Itumea in the New Testament. Yeah, Mark 3, just so we can see that even in Christ's time, this nation is still here. Mark 3. And there's still a factor in, and you know, by this time the House of Israel has been scattered, but the Jews are still here. Mark 3 and verse 1. Well, no, this is, I wouldn't need to read all the first few verses there. Let's go down to verse 7. Now verse 6. Okay, then the Pharisees. This is Christ. Christ healed someone of the Sabbath. The Pharisees want to, they want to destroy Christ and to kill Him. Verse 6, the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him.

They, you know, it would be against God how they might destroy Him. But Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem, and Edumea and beyond the Jordan, and those from Tyre and Sidon, the great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to them. So we have people from these various kingdoms that are coming and listening to Jesus Christ. So Edumea was still a nation at that point, and a group of people to be there, and that verse they're not enemies, except the Herodians are mentioned there too, since that is part of their ancestry as well. So we know who Edumea is. We know who Edom is. We know what area of the world they're in. We know of their interactions with Israel in the past and the animosity between the two countries. And we see this watchman, what will happen? Watchman, what will happen? We have the dual prophecies. We have what happened to them in ancient times with the Assyrias, the light that would come, but then conquered by the Babylonians and part of the empire. Same thing with being spared by the king of the north, but eventually they will be destroyed by God as all the prophecies show.

And so the verse, so we go back to Isaiah 21, and it says, the watchman said, the morning comes, and also the night. There's a little hope, but then the calamity comes again. It doesn't happen. It looks okay, but then calamity strikes again. And Isaiah says, if you will inquire, inquire. If you want to ask, ask. Why? Why is this happening? What would it be? And then he uses the term that's often used in the Old Testament to indicate repentance. Return. Come back. Return. Come back. If you want to inquire, inquire. If you want to know what, if you want to know how to be spared, this is what's going to happen. God said it's going to happen. Do you want to know why? Do you know what you can do? The answer is return. Return to God. Come back. It's a message of repentance that I hear that Isaiah is talking to Edumea, the nation, the nation, or the group of Duma there. Same message that the church and the same message that Jesus Christ preached when he came, repent and believe in the kingdom that John the Baptist said. Church should be preaching today, loud and clear. Repent. Come back. If you don't want this ending, then come back to God.

So that's Edumea. Just a little too, a few couple verses there, but then we get into verse 13. And Arabia. Remember Arabia? Arabia is another son of Ishmael. He's Kedar. K-e-d-a-r.

And it says this prophecy against Arabia, verse 13. In the forest in Arabia. Well, it just means, you know, that country that I put up before, you will lodge. Oh, you traveling companies of D-d-ites. This is talking about caravans. You know, when you think of the Middle East, you might think of caravans. You think about Abraham. You think about people who wander through the desert and things like that. These are the D-d-ites. That is one of the sons of Ishmael as well. Let me put another map up here of Arabia this time. I can get the right map here.

Yeah, this is Arabia in Isaiah's time. You can see the name Kedar there. You can see the D-d-nites.

You can see Timah, T-e-m-a, most of the commentaries. In our UCG commentary, this is kind of a holy land, if you will, a holy area of Islam. Many people think Timah is modern-day Mecca, where the Muslims will be. They're a holy city and where they go. You see where Jerusalem is. You see the Damascus area. You see Babylon up there. Arabia is directly east of Egypt. So you see the Red Sea there. I'll just leave that up there for a few moments, just so you can kind of, as we read through some of these cities that are here. In the forests in Arabia, you will lodge. OU traveling companies of D-d-nites. They kind of wandered through that wilderness there. O inhabitants, verse 14 of the land of Timah, bring water to him who is thirsty. With their bread they met him who fled. I'm not going to get into all the detail of this because the meaning of these prophecies is what's going to happen. We could spend a lot of time in, you know, bring water to him who was thirsty. With their bread they met him. This is a time of trouble and, you know, and those things. For they fled from the swords, verse 15, from the drawn sword. So here they have an invading army that's there. They have something coming going on in their land when there's war, usually famine, pestilence follows. And so you have a shortage of water. You have a shortage of bread. You have war going on. These edomites and these people of Timah, they're fleeing. They're fleeing from this army that's there. They fled from the sword, from the drawn sword. They fled from the bent bow and from the distress of war. So you got a time of trouble here in Arabia. Verse 16, for thus the Lord has said to me, speaking to Isaiah, thus the Lord said to Isaiah, within a year, according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar, that's Arabia, will fail. Now the history books and the commentaries will tell you that in 716 or 715 Kedar, Arabia, did fall to Assyria. And so that would put the timing of this, you know, in 716, which falls into the general time frame of where we are because we know that King Ahaz saw the fall of Israel in 720 BC to Assyria, and then he died. And then these prophecies from chapter 15 on occurred after the time of Ahaz's death. So the 716 would be after his death. Some of the commentaries say, seems a little bit out of order, but we don't have the exact years here or whatever. So within a year, according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar will fail. And the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished, for the Lord God of Israel has spoken it. So it could mean that, could be the first fulfillment of this prophecy. Our UCG Bible commentary will also bring forth the, you know, the possibility that this is a future, another dual prophecy that would indicate in the year before Christ's return, you have Arabia and that whole area falling again. And that they would be brought, they would be brought down to nothing in the year before the return of Jesus Christ.

You know, so I'll leave it, I'll leave it at that. But when it says there, the people of Kedar will be diminished, the Lord God of Israel has spoken it. We know it, we know for sure that prophecy came about. History documents it, the Bible documents it. If there's a future, if there's a future fulfillment of that, we will, you know, we will see likely, likely there is a future fulfillment. So let me...

Okay, any questions on that or anything?

comments?

That will be...

Okay, so let's move into chapter 22. Chapter 22 is an interesting, is an interesting chapter. We've been in these prophecies all around Jerusalem. We've talked about Israel and God's prophecy about Israel falling to Assyria. We know that God prophesied and through Jeremiah prophesied to Judah that they would fall to a king that would come down from the north, Babylon. And in chapter 22, we have this prophecy of Isaiah that God gives to Isaiah that is about Jerusalem. We would know...

Yeah, someone have a comment? Okay, verse 1 says the burden or the prophecy against the Valley of Vision. Now, looking at the Valley of Vision, that is a name for Jerusalem, apparently. Every commentary I looked at says the Valley of Vision is Jerusalem. Our UCG Bible commentary says the Valley of Vision is Jerusalem. It goes to the fact that so many of the visions come to Jerusalem or through Jerusalem at that time. And so this is it, and you can kind of...

we will see that clearly as we go. Now, I thought it would be interesting because through the Bible, we know that Jerusalem is God's city, and Jerusalem is mentioned over and over and over in the Bible. And God uses different names to identify Jerusalem, and it's important that we recognize that. If you flip seven chapters forward in Isaiah, we're going to come to another prophecy about Jerusalem in chapter 29. And it says, woe to Ariel, A-R-I-E-L, woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt. So Ariel, when you see Ariel, that's another name for the city of Jerusalem. So God uses different names to identify Jerusalem. So when you see these names... now, this, I don't even know if Ariel shows up anywhere else in the Bible. I didn't look that up, but that clearly is Jerusalem. When you see Valley of Vision, that's going to show up again in chapter 22. That's Jerusalem. So I thought we should just spend a few moments looking at the names of Jerusalem because it holds such a significant place in history or in the Bible that it's important to know what it is. I put together this little list here from the Bible where it's talking about Jerusalem. I won't take the time to go through all those verses. You probably will remember most of them as we go through there. In Genesis 14 verse 18, it talks about Melchizedek, king of Salem. There's every indication that that's where Jerusalem was built. El-Kezedah, king of Salem, when Abraham met him there, that would be the future site of Jerusalem. In Judges 19 verse 10, it talks about Jeebus, the city of Jeebus. Remember the Jebusites when Israel was going in and they were taking over that land. They conquered the Jebusites. And David, I think, if I remember correctly, purchased this area from the Jebusites called Jeebus. A boarding guide was the one who orchestrated that. So when you see Jeebus, that's talking about the Jerusalem, the land that God gave them. In 2 Samuel 5 and 2 Samuel 6, it'll talk about the city of David because he's the one who bought the city of Jeebus and became known as his city. City of David also Zion is in those verses. Again, in Psalm 76, it talks about Salem and Zion. In Psalm 87 verse 3, it talks about the city of God. When we read, when we see city of God, it's talking about Jerusalem. Many times, you see in Isaiah, there are several verses here that have different names for Jerusalem. It's all talking about Jerusalem. In Isaiah 1 verse 26, it's called the city of righteousness or the faithful city. In Isaiah 2, you know, those are very well-known verses. Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. The law shall go forth from Zion.

His word from Jerusalem, Zion in Jerusalem. Isaiah 29, we just talked about, you know, Ariel. I could have thrown in there Isaiah 22 that talks about the valley of vision. Isaiah 52 calls it the holy city. You know, there's a song called the holy city, very famous song. We played it with the piece last year. Sing it most years in the seat. When you see the holy city, it's Jerusalem. Isaiah 60 verse 14 says it's the city of the Lord. Zion, the Zion of the holy one of Israel. Ezekiel 48 verse 35 says that city will be called, the Lord is there. It's talking about the future, Jerusalem. The city will be called, the Lord is there. And in Zechariah 8 and verse 3, it's called the city of truth. And then you also see it, you know, mentioned in the New Testament many times. Matthew 4 verse 5 says the holy city. In Matthew 5 verse 35, it's called the city of the great king. So I think we would all recognize those things, but throughout the Bible, you know, much of history and much of prophecy focuses around Jerusalem. Certainly the Olivet prophecy will focus around Jerusalem and what will happen at that time. And as we get into chapter 22 here of Isaiah, we're going to see some of those same terms here in Isaiah 22 that Christ used in his Olivet prophecy and other places in his words.

So, you know, with that, you know, let's go back to chapter 22 here.

And it says, okay, the prophecy against Jerusalem. What ails you now that you have all gone up to the housetops. Now, when you hear housetops, it might make you stop and think of another verse that it has to do with prophecy and Jerusalem and end times. You know, when you look at, you know, the commentaries will say in a time of war, in a time of panic, in a time of alarm, you remember and you probably heard that the Jewish houses were flat. People would go up onto the housetops. That would protect them from being on the ground, but it would also give them a view of what's going on. Kind of the watchman thing. What is happening? Who's coming? What's going on out there as they went up on their on their housetops. What ails you now that you have all gone up to the housetops? They didn't go up there just to do a little sunbathing like we might do today. They went up there because there's something going on, something they didn't expect. There's some alarm in the air and people would go up to their housetops. Now, if we go forward to Matthew, Matthew 24, we see Christ use that same term when he's talking about housetops and talking about a time when people should flee because there's calamity. There's something going on in Matthew 24, verse 17. Now, let's pick it up in verse 15. Verse 15 of Matthew 24 says, Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, we know where that is, whoever reads, it says, let him understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Jerusalem, that area of Judea, let them flee to the mountains. We've talked about the mountains before. We'll be talking about Petra, what is going on over in that with these outcaps. And let him who was on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.

Now, he's up there. God says, don't go back and pack up your belongings and your photographs and your jewelry. Get out of it. The time is now to go. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. Says the same thing in Luke 17 verse 31 in Luke's version of the Olivet prophecy. But here in chapter 22 of Isaiah, we have that same situation. What ails you, Jerusalem, that you have all gone up to the housetops? What's going on in your city?

You who are full of noise, verse 2. A tumultuous city. A joyous city? You can kind of see the consternation, the changing atmosphere of Jerusalem. At one point there would be noise. That would indicate there's merriment going on. It's a joyous city and what's going on. Another time a tumultuous city. All sorts of trouble going on with it. And a joyous city. It is something that is constantly changing. There's not one definition of what Jerusalem is like. And here they are on their housetops. In verse 2 it says, your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor are they dead in battle. Now here, you know, again, when you're looking at the Bible from ancient times, if you were going to die in battle, it was an honor to die in battle. That was an honorable death. You didn't want to be killed running from the battle. You wanted to be killed in battle in order for your reputation to stand. And so it says, your slain men are not slain with the sword. They're running. There's something going on there that they're afraid. Your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor are they dead in battle. There's terror going on in Jerusalem. They are fleeing for their lives. You know, you've got Joel 2 that talks about an army that comes in, and people flee from before them. So this is a, you know, I use the word a lot tonight, a calamitous situation in Jerusalem. Your people are leaving. Verse 3, all your rulers have fled together. They are captured by the archers. Even the leaders aren't standing and trying to, you know, go down with the ship, they say. They are running as well. Just get out of here. Your rulers have fled together. They're captured by the archers. All who are found in you are bound together. They have fled from afar. It's a time, it's a time of terror for Jerusalem, the time of terror for Judea. It's a time, like we read about for the time of Jacob and Jeremiah 30, where it says, everyone is just scared to death. They don't know what's happened to them. They didn't see this coming. They were taken by surprise. They had no idea this was going to come upon them. This, this much. This is great terror. Now, this is probably what happened in Jerusalem fell to Babylon.

Certainly, certainly at the end times, you know, we have the clear comparison, you know, to what is going on that Christ was talking about in his Olivet prophecy as well. And but God, you know, in verse four, you see God's heart. You know, here it is. God's people haven't listened to him. You know, he's warned them. He's warned them, just like he warned you and me, come back to me, follow me. You know, I'm your savior. Follow, live your way, live the way of life in exactly the way I have shown you to do, do the things that I say. And God sent prophets to Israel. God sent prophets to Jerusalem, but they just didn't listen to him. They kept doing their own thing. But God doesn't take joy in seeing the people suffer. And that's what he says here in verse four. Therefore, I said, look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don't labor to come. Don't try to console me about what's going on here. I take no pleasure in seeing my people hurt. I say no pleasure. I take no pleasure in that. Don't try to make me stop crying, if you will. You know, last week I talked a little bit about Jesus Christ and how even though he knew he was going to bring Lazarus of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, that family, even though he was going to bring him back to physical life when he died, when he saw the pain and the anguish that Mary and Martha and the others were going through, he wept to. Even though he knew he was going to turn their sorrow to joy, he wept to because he could empathize with them. And this is what we're seeing here. Don't try to comfort me. What's going on? I hate to see. It has to happen because the people haven't listened. And I want to give them everything that they want, but they have to learn the hard way. Don't labor to comfort me because of the plundering of the daughter of my people. It has to happen because the people have rejected that God will not follow him. Verse 5 does ring a bell with Jeremiah 30 verses 4 through 7 in that area where it talks about a day of trouble. It is a day of trouble and trotting down and perplexity. Ah, what's going on in Jerusalem is just there is just nothing. There's just nothing good to say about it. It's a day of trouble, just like it says in about the time of Jacob when the day of trouble comes upon them and everyone is just in complete fear. It's a day of trouble and treading down, walking all over them, and perplexity. There's confusion that's going on. What happened? How did these things happen so quickly? It's as if the people have been asleep. They should have seen the signs coming. It isn't that they haven't been warned. It's not that they haven't been warned, but how did this all happen? We go back to Daniel 5 and Babylon, when they were conquered, and they were confused. Whoa, here we are, feasting and making merry and doing all those things that we wanted to do. Whoa, here's the Medes. Here's the Persians. They're in our city. We're doomed, and they're confused and perplexed. How did this all happen? But they know the end is there, and they are conquered. It's a day of trouble and treading down, and they have treading down a perplexity. You know, it's the day that Jesus Christ said, when you see the armies surrounding Jerusalem flee to the mountains, right? It's flee to the mountains. Now, he'll talk about that here at the end of verse 5.

It's a day of trouble, treading down a perplexity by the Lord God of hosts. He's brought it upon them. They've earned it, if we can use that term. They brought it upon themselves by what they sow, what you sow you will reap. It is a day of trouble by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls. We have all these people who have now come into Jerusalem. They're there at the abomination of desolation. It's as if in the old times when the walls of Jerusalem were broken down that had to be restored when Ezra and Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple and the walls. It's all been broken down. There's foreigners, there's invaders that were there in Jerusalem. It's a day of breaking down the walls and of prying to the mountain when you let those in Judea flee to the mountains. I don't know if I wrote down any of the verses here. I think we're in Matthew 24. That we just read when you're Jerusalem, you know, flee to the mountains. And that, you know, it has this all of that prophecy feel to it as you read through these verses of Jerusalem. It says, "'Elam bore the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and CUR uncovered the shield.'" You look at the commentaries and you look at the UCG Bible commentary, and it'll say that Elam and CUR are Medes and Persians. That's what they will say. So the question is here, is God going to use Medes and Persians again as part of what's going on? Now, we have talked in the past about where, you know, the Syrians have migrated up to and some others. And so I'm not going to go into that tonight. I may bring that back next week. I have a handout on that. Not a handout, but a little thing to put up. But let me think about that more because I've been contemplating what that verse means. I don't really want to go into that tonight. But it might be that this is showing the future that the Medes and Persians of those people will be part of who is there in Jerusalem at that time when the people will flee to the mountains. And verse 7 then, it says, "'It shall become the past that your choice is valid.'" These are the rich places, right? The places that you would go to. The rich, you know, we could compare them to the rich cities of America, the Malabus, the San Francisco's, the New York, the Miracle Mile in Chicago. "'It shall come to pass that your choice's valley shall be full of chariots, full of war, invading armies that are there, and the horsemen shall set themselves an array at the gate.'" They will be there. And this would indicate that there will be no escaping at that point. They will be there to guard the city and the people that are there, the people that are there will be there. Kinders up the time, kinders up the thoughts about, you know, when it's time to flee, flee. You know, we'll get to that a little bit later here. And verse 8 says how the protection of, you know, it says God. Verse 8, God removed the protection of Judah. You know, one thing we all have to remember is God gives blessings. He wants to give blessings to people who obey Him, honor Him, and give Him credit for what goes on in their lives.

But when people consistently move from God, when nations move away from God, when they start adopting practices that are just absolutely contrary to God, and heinous and evil, God removes those blessings. He did it to ancient Israel. He removed the blessings from Judah. He will remove the blessings from modern-day Israel because they move further and further away from God. And there is a point that those blessings will disappear completely, and the nations will fall exactly as God, you know, prophesies. He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the house of the forest.

You know, here in the next few verses, and we'll finish up here, and we get to...

I'm going to read through 9, 10, 11. We'll come back to that again next week, too. But here what God is saying is, you know, He removes the protection of Judah. And what the people did is they began to look at what they could do again. How can we protect ourselves? You know, we'll talk a little bit about Hezekiah next week because he did make, you know, he was a man... we talked about him last week... who took his concerns to God. You remember the letter that the king of Assyria sent him, and he laid it out before God. He praised this beautiful prayer, God, I don't even know what to do. I don't even know what to do. We can't possibly beat this nation. They are too powerful. They are too cruel. There's no way we can win against them. It's a beautiful example of how we, you know, how we come before God when we simply have...

we have no power in ourselves. We learn to trust in God. And what God is saying here, these next few verses that we'll come back to next week again, you looked in that day to the armor of the house of the forest. You know, you went over there because you thought I could... I could get armaments from them. That will help me against these enemies that are moving it on me. You saw the damage to the city of David, that it was great. And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. We'll talk next week about Hezekiah, that he actually had done some of this. You numbered the houses of Jerusalem and the houses you broke down to fortify the wall. You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. You did all these things, you know, and we'll look in 2 Chronicles 32 where Hezekiah did all those things. But he says, but she didn't look to its maker, nor did you have respect for him who fashioned it long ago.

Now, the people, as they were doing those things, we're going to see, you know, they they may have been looking to those things. I will do all those things. We'll keep the Assyrians out, etc., etc., etc. Hezekiah was doing those things because Hezekiah, you do make ready. When there is trouble, you don't just sit back and do nothing. You go ahead and you make your preparations, but you always remember it's God. You always remember it's God who is going to deliver. It is never going to be by our power or our might. It's always going to be Him who delivers. And God said, you did all these things. And as we read next week about what Hezekiah did and how they did these things, God never condemned that. But some of the people there were looking to that that they were going to offset the king of Assyria. God says, don't do that. Always look. You know, people always want to do these things, but they don't look to Hezekiah, or they don't look to God. We're going to talk about something else with Hezekiah and another part of his personal life, you know, where he looked to God as well. But God also showed Him we have to do some things for ourselves to bring His deliverance about. It is all about God. He always delivers. But there are things that we do as well. We'll pick that up there next week. We've got 8.15.

Let me just, any questions, comments, any conversation on any of this tonight?

Mr. Shavey, I just have a quick comment. Isaiah 22 verse 4, he's talked about, you know, look away from me. It came to my mind about Matthew 23, when Christ says, Joe, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you know, you stone the prophets, and how often I wanted to just gather you like chicks, you know, like chickens. And it just really, to me, it shows just how much God really loves Jerusalem and how much He really cares for His people. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. Even what He knew Jerusalem was going to put Him through. He still loved that city and the people. Yeah, excellent. If I could add a verse to that, it's one of my favorites, but it's the NIV version in Isaiah 30, 18. Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you. He rises to show you compassion. And I think this just speaks to God's heart and the care that we can't really even comprehend how much He loves us. I think that's a beautiful verse, and it fits in well with the one that He just said. Yeah, that is a beautiful verse. Very good. Very good.

Anything else? Go ahead. Sir, I noticed a couple of places that mentioned the forests of Arabia.

Maybe my concept is a sku, but I think of Arabia as being thousands of acres of sand dunes. Hm. So, okay, so, oh, go ahead. Could be a translation error, perhaps? I don't know. Okay, well, tell me what verse you're looking at.

Okay, let me look here. In the forest in Arabia? Is that where you're looking? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to look up. When I read that, I thought I meant to go back and see exactly what forests in Arabia meant. Now, remember that perhaps at that time it was not the wilderness that it is today, but I'm gonna make a note of that. We'll come back to that next week and see what that means. Sometimes it can mean something else. So, thank you, sir. Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, now I'm looking. I'm on my laptop tonight instead of my desktop, so now I see hands that are there. Edgardo. Edgardo. Hey, Mr. Shami. The question we were, or the comment we were making about chapter 22 and verse 6. Yes. I think I once heard that the modern-day descendants of the Persians are probably the Iranian people or the people that are in that region. So, I don't know how that would make come to play in what you were talking about, that you said you're gonna discuss more. Okay, okay. Yeah, let me mark that for us in Arabia here, too. Okay.

Yeah, very good. Yeah, I think there is something. See, I just want to... I didn't have the time to go through everything in our Bible commentary that I wanted to do, then look at some...

Get into that too much until I know what I'm talking about here a little bit. So...

Okay, Raymond. Raymond, if you're talking, you're muted.

Okay, how about Al-Uzagan? Yeah, Pastor Shebih. I just have some thoughts. I have some thoughts on Isaiah chapter 22 verse 4. Okay. Don't you think that could also refer to the effect of the vision on Isaiah? You know, seeing the magnitude of the killings, perhaps he is a... I'm just thinking maybe he's the one saying that if we should look away from him, I should not comfort him because of the effect of the vision on him. Could he be Isaiah, too? I would agree with that. Even the vision troubled him when he saw what the prophecy was. Yes, I think you're right on that. Okay, thank you. Hey, Raymond, I'll get your hand up if you're still there. I'm ready. Okay, I have a comment that I saw this about two years ago, Revelation 16, chapter verse 13, and it's about the three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, beast, and the false prophet. And I wondered for years, is it actually a frog? I thought, no, it's not. It's actually symbolic. In my thinking, you can let me know what you think about this, that it's symbolic of the false religion, the false gods of Babylon. They worship various creatures, and coming out of the mouth of the false prophet, the beast, and the dragon, is actually speaking the religion of Babylon, the mystery of religion. So that's what we'll be doing.

Okay, I don't know. I don't have a comment on that right now. Okay, it's all right.

Some of these things I'd rather think about rather than make a comment and just lead anyone. It's an interesting thought, so very good. Hey, Thomas. Thomas Stoller?

Hey, it was actually a comment, too, I think it's Willard, about the trees. I don't know that this correlates with something I thought was really interesting. I was looking into the different types of trees that have gone extinct in that land. It's actually in that Arabia set where it's mostly dunes. But there's a whole section of trees that no longer grow. One of them is a type of date that they actually have been able to get refertilized and grow the type of date tree that existed and grew out there so many years. They say it's a million years or something, but it's an extinct species of trees. I wonder how many of those are out there in the Arabia area and maybe it was a forest. I thought that was kind of neat. Yeah, that is interesting.

We don't know what it was like back several 1,500 years ago. I took a quick look at Google. They had a couple of pictures of some fairly lush areas in the mountains of Saudi Arabia. The Arabian government of the southeast planned to plant 10 billion trees. In the forest in Arabia, you will travel in companies of the U.N.ites. There you go. That may be exactly what it is. It's just talking about an actual forest of trees and nothing no symbolism there. Very good. Okay, anything else? Anyone?

Okay, well then let's go ahead. We'll sign off for tonight. We'll be back next Wednesday, same time, same station. We will not be sure exactly where we'll be, but I'm pretty sure we're going to be in Orlando this week. So those of you in Orlando, we'll look forward to seeing you in Orlando. If we are someplace else, we'll see you for sure in Orlando, the following Sabbath. So take care, everyone, and we will see you soon. If we don't see you this Sabbath, have a good Sabbath, everyone, and we'll see you next week. Okay? Bye! Thank you! Bye!