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Welcome to our ancient future story , navigating

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Scripture through the Eyes of Family , where

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I share with you biblical stories like

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a family member would share a story around

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a dinner table . As children of God

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, we are a part of God's family and His

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family story has a lot of history

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. Each week , we will take one story

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and talk about it the cultural , historical

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, geographical and sociological impacts

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. We will be looking at these stories

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through the perspective of our ancestors

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, through the lens of ancient times

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, in hopes of learning more about

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our family . This is our

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ancient future story . Welcome

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back to our ancient future story . I'm

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Vic and I am so excited to continue

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our series on the most recited verses

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in Scripture Psalms 23

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. Just like the last few times

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, we dive into verse number

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4 and breaking it down and finding

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this amazing history behind this

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famous Psalm , psalm 23.4,

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. Even though I walk through the valley of

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the shadow of death , I will fear no evil

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, for you are with me , your

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rod and your staff . They comfort

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me . So sit back , grab your cup

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of coffee or something to drink and let's

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get ready to dive into Psalms 23.4

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. If

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you grew up in church , you probably have heard

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this Psalm many , many times

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. You probably memorized it , or

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even if you didn't grow up in church , you have

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probably heard this a few times . But there

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are a few things that I think are interesting and will

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help shape the context of this

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story . First location

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Our story takes place in and

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around the valley of the shadow of death . Some

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translations will say darkest valley

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or death valley , but the Hebrew

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really translates closest to darkest

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valley or dark shadows . Most

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scholars agree that the valley David is referring

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to here is the Wadi Quilt . This

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is a real place , a canyon that

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connects Jerusalem to Jericho . It

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gets its name because the canyon is so deep

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that sunlight cannot be seen inside

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, except for when the sun is directly overhead

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, which fits the name of the valley

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of dark shadows . There's more

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on that in a moment . Last episode

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we talked about the stanza shift

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between him to your

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. The first stanza is solely

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talking about Yahweh , whereas

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here in this stanza , david

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is talking to Yahweh , and

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this is an important shift , because his

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psalm turns into his prayer . Now

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you may be asking why would David do that

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? Why shift the focus of the psalm

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? It was a perfectly good psalm

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about a sheep and a shepherd . Well

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, many scholars suggest that when David was

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writing the psalm , he was literally

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traveling through the Wadi Qwalt

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, or the valley of the shadow of death

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. Okay , let me explain . We talked

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about how David wrote this psalm sometime

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during his kingship . So by this

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point David has killed Goliath

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, became king of Israel , taken

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advantage of Bathsheba , killed

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her husband , uriah the Hittite

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, and God tells David , through the prophet

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Nathan , that I will rise up evil

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against you from your own house . And

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this is where we picked up our story in 2

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Samuel 15 . David's

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son , absalom , attempts to

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take over the crown . Absalom is so

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aggressive that David has to flee Jerusalem

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to save his own life . And when he flees

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, he comes to the Wadi Qwalt . It

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is a very interesting story and I highly

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recommend you go read it . But the reason

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so many scholars believe this was the

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place that David was talking about is because

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of the verb walk . Okay , go

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with me on this grammar lesson really quick . The

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word walk , or halech in

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Hebrew , in this passage

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is in the imperfect first person

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singular , which is to tell

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us that it is continuous or incomplete

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. So we get this idea that David is saying

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that he is in the middle of actively

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walking through the valley of death . He

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is literally talking about walking through

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this valley , the Wadi Qwalt

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, because he is standing in it . So

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back to the reason as to why there is

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a shift in tone from the first

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stanza and the second stanza , as we

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talked about in the last episode . The

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first stanza is about a

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good shepherd and his sheep , and

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David intimately knows that

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relationship between his shepherd and

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his sheep . But in the second stanza

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we get this shift and for the rest of

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this Psalm we're going to see David reminding

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himself of the character of Yahweh , who

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has seen him through every step

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of the way , even though he finds himself

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in this predicament running for his life

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through the valley of shadow of death . Yahweh

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is still with him and he does not

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need to fear . Now it is important

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for us to note a couple things in

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addition to how David is now

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viewing Yahweh in this Psalm , specifically

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with the valley of the shadow of death . So

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this valley was very dangerous

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in and of itself . Travelers would

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have to tread very carefully for fear

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of falling , as the path was very

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steep . Even to this day , the path

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gets very narrow and steep at parts

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. Travelers must also look out for

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wild animals and , of course , thieves

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. Because of the dark shadows , thieves

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would hide in many caves and attack

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travelers as they made their way through

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the 15 mile canyon . This

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is the location Jesus used when he

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tells the parable of the Good Samaritan

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talking about a man walking down

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the Jericho road . That is this

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place , the Wadi Kelt . The other thing

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to note is , if you remember a few episodes

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ago we said a shepherd would never

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, ever , typically bring their

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sheep to a wadi , preferred

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the flash floods that would wipe

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out the sheep and the whole flock . So

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why would David mention taking sheep through

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the valley of the shadow of death ? Well

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, possibly for a couple reasons . One

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could be the coolness that the

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valley provides the Wadi Kailat

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is actually so deep that it would offer

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shepherds and their flock were preved from the

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daunting summer desert sun . And

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the other reason shepherds would lead their

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flock through this valley because at

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the bottom of the canyon was a desert oasis

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that had water and green pastures

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that the sheep could eat and drink from and

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rest in the cool temperatures . The

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most part of the verse is I will fear no

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evil , for you are with me . The

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other thing we must note about sheep going

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through the valley of the shadow of death is

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that sheep aren't aware of the concept

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of death , but they are aware of the concept

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of darkness and danger . As

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we mentioned a few weeks ago , sheep are incredibly

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skittish . If a little babbling

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brook can send them running , what do you

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think deep darkness of the Wadi Kailat

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would do to them ? But they trust their

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shepherd . In the Wadi Kailat , the shepherd

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takes on even more responsibility for

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the sheep , not just keeping the flock

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on the path so that no one falls down

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, but also warding off wild animals

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that could harm the sheep , protecting

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them from thieves that could want to hurt

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them as well . The sheep do not

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fear while walking through this deep darkness

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because their shepherd is guiding

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them . But , unlike on the mountainside , a

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shepherd doesn't lead by just his voice

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. Instead , he uses his tools

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, his rod and his staff , which leads

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us to the last part of the verse your rod

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and your staff . They comfort me . A

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shepherd will carry both a rod and

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a staff as they walk through the Wadi Kailat

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. We sometimes think of these things as the

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same thing , but they actually

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have different uses . A shepherd's rod

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is their weapon against wild beasts . It's

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how they protect their flock . It shows

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their power and authority , but it can

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also be used to discipline

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. However , the shepherd's staff is used

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to guide . The staff is used exclusively

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on the sheep . It is intended to

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be used to bring back a sheep that has stepped

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off course and needs to be brought back into

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the fold . The curve on the staff is

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used to loop around the sheep's neck and gently

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guide them back on course . This

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is an example of grace . The

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shepherd could use the rod and discipline

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the sheep for stepping out of line , but instead

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the shepherd will most often use

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the staff displaying grace

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to the sheep by not giving the sheep

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what they deserve , but rather

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what they don't deserve , and letting them

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back in . In this verse , david says that

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both the rod and the staff

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comforts me , meaning both the discipline

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of God and the grace of God comforts

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him . Let me say that again Both

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the discipline of God and

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the grace of God comforts

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him . David is literally

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on the run from his son Absalom

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because of his actions with Bathsheba . God

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is disciplining him , but God

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is also showing him grace by

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guiding him back to where he is supposed to be

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. David knew that God was disciplining

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him for his actions , but he did not

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fear the valley nor the man chasing

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him , because he knew that Yahweh was

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with him and while on the run , he also

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was comforted by the actions that Yahweh

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did not take . God could have stripped

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David of his kingship , just as he had

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with Saul , but instead Yahweh acted

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out of grace and gently guided David

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back into the fold . So how does all

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of this point to Jesus as our shepherd

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? Even in this moment that feels

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like the darkest valley , he is

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with us and we don't have to be

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afraid . He is leading us and

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comforting us . But what I love most about

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the Wadi Kelt is that Jesus took

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this road . He often made this

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trip between Jericho and Jerusalem

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. The Jericho road that Jesus

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talks about is this canyon

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, the Wadi Kelt . And , just

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as we have said every episode

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, jesus is our shepherd and

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we can trust him to lead us through

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even the darkest valley . His

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discipline and his grace

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both comfort us in

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these dark moments , and we trust

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the shepherd because we know that he

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is good . So , before we go

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, I want to close our time together by reading

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the scripture in Psalms 23 . And

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I hope that , as we listen to all that we

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have talked about , that this passage

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will be illuminated for you . Let's

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read the Lord is my

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shepherd . I shall not want . He

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makes me lie down in green pastures

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. He leads me beside still

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waters . He restores my

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soul . He leads me in the paths

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of righteousness for his namesake

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. Even though I walk through the valley of

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the shadow of death , I will fear no

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evil , for you are with me , your

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rod and your staff . They comfort

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me . Thank

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you for listening to today's episode of

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our H&Future Story . I hope that

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you really enjoyed it . This episode

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was written and produced by me , vic Hartman

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. Music is embarking on an adventure

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by Evan McDonald . Please support the

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show by subscribing and rating us , and

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if you want more info or want to dive

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deeper , check out our website at

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our ancientfuturestorycom . See

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you next time . Bye , music

11:26

tief paining you

11:58

, you

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, you

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.