Good Christadelphian Talks Extended Bible Class

Leen Ritmeyer - Class 4: Women in the Line of Christ - Bathsheba

March 31, 2020 1h 7m

Class 4 from Bro. Leen Ritmeyer’s series on “Women in the Line of Chist”.

Class 1 from this series was used for GCT Episode 047.

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Scripture references

Also referenced: 46 more passages

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Transcript 100 sections, automatically transcribed

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

0:00
Good evening and I welcome each and every one of you tonight to our brethren, sisters, and young people to our Wednesday night Bible class. We'll open our class this evening by singing together hymn 101 followed by prayer.
0:30
I'd also like to welcome Brother John and Aunty Sharon King back from overseas, is that correct? Welcome. We have missed you. Welcome to tonight. I guess we'll open our class by reading together 1 Kings chapter 1 verses 1 to 31 and I call upon our brother Tim Badger to read that for us.
0:54
Brother Tim. Reading together from the first book of the Kings, chapter 1 verses 1 to 31. 1 Kings chapter 1. Now King David was old and stricken in years and they covered him with clothes but he got no heat. 1 Kings chapter 1. 1 Kings chapter 1. He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest and they following Adonijah helped him.
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But Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Rehi and the mighty men which belonged to David were not with Adonijah. 2 Kings chapter 1. Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggai and David our Lord knoweth it not? Now therefore come, let me, I pray, that thou mayest save thine own life and the life of thy son Solomon.
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Go and get thee in unto king David and say unto him, didst thou not my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly, surely Solomon thy son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then doth Adonijah reign? Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee and confirm thy words.
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And Bathsheba went in unto the king, into the chamber, and the king was very old. And Abishag the Shunammite ministered unto the king. And Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance unto the king. And the king said, what wouldst thou? And she said unto him, my lord, thou swearest by the lord thy God unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly, Solomon thy son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne.
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And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth. And now, my lord, the king, thou knowest it not. And he hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance. And hath called all the sons of the king. And Abiathar the priest. And Joab the captain of the host. But Solomon thy servant hath he not called.
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And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord, the king, after him. Otherwise, it shall come to pass, when my lord, the king, shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
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And lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in. And they told the king, saying, Behold, Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?
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For he has gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king's sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest, and behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah. But me, even me thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not called?
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Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou hast not showed it unto thy servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? Then king David answered and said, Call me Bathsheba. And she came into the king's presence and stood before the king. And the king sware, and said, As the lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even as I swear unto thee by the lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead, even so will I certainly do this day.
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Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord, King David, live forever. Thank you, Brother Tim. We now look forward, brothers and sisters, to hearing from our brother, Lane Rittmeyer, who will lead us in tonight's Bible class to the title, Women in the Lion of Christ, Bathsheba.
7:09
Brother Lane. Thank you, Brother Conn and Brother Tim, for reading. Tonight's subject is Bathsheba, the fourth woman that is mentioned in Matthew chapter 1, those women especially mentioned in the line of Jesus. Bathsheba falls in the same category as those previous women whom we have studied, Tamar and Rahab and Ruth. Because all these women got their promised seed, not by a first husband, but by the second or a subsequent one.
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I believe this establishes the principle of election by God. It's amazing to think how God has worked in the lives of these women to provide a seed, a seed of the woman, to overcome the seed of the serpent. And all these women are, of course, a type of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was betrothed to Joseph, but the seed didn't come from him.
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It came from God himself. Bathsheba was a woman with an extramarital relationship, and we would like to say by no fault of hers. Although, I was once reading in a lexicon, Parker's lexicon, an old one which John Thomas also used, and I was in a sense shocked to read that he called her in that lexicon an adulteress, which, of course, she was.
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If you go to Deuteronomy chapter 22, we just read these two verses. There's a bit of a distressing chapter to read. It all starts with if, and God willing that would never happen among one of us. In verse 23 we read, If a damsel, that is a virgin, be betrothed unto a husband, and in God's eyes it is as good as being married one to another, and a man find her in the city and lie with her, then you shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones that they die.
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The damsel, because she cried not, being in the city, and the man, because she has humbled his neighbor's wife, so shall thou put away evil from among you, because the thing that happened happened in a city. And if Bathsheba would have shouted aloud and cried out, she would have had helped, and perhaps that would not have happened, which we know well what happened between David and Bathsheba.
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But then, who could argue with a king? Who could resist a king? And perhaps how did she feel about being called by the king? It's an honor, isn't it, to be called by the king? But then, did King David really need another wife? He had already six wives. Why do you need the seventh one?
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If you go to 1 Samuel chapter 18, we can read how he got his first wife. David's first wife in 1 Samuel chapter 18. Well, I mean, actually, it's not verse 2. We're verse 17. It's after David had overcome Goliath, and they Saul said unto David, that is 1 Samuel 18 and verse 17, Behold, my elder daughter Merah, who will I give thee to wife?
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Only be thou valiant for me, and fight Yahweh's battles. And Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. But it came to pass in verse 19, at a time when Merah, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel, the maholasite, the wife.
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And Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. And Saul said, What a way, brethren and sisters, to give your daughter away to her husband, so that she may be a snare unto her. It's not a very good start for a marriage, is it? Because David did buy her, actually, for those 204 skins of the Philistines.
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But, brethren and sisters, it's not a good beginning to a marriage. He knew that his daughter, Michal, was more loyal to him than to David. He knew that beforehand. When you read through these chapters, she is always referred to as Saul's daughter, hardly ever as David's wife. Her character is very soon revealed in the next chapter, in chapter 19.
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When David, when Saul, in verse 10, sought to smite David, even to the wall was the javelin, but he slipped away. And verse 11 says, Saul also sent messengers unto David's house to watch him and to slay him in the morning. And Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, If thou savest not thy life tonight, tomorrow thou shalt be slain.
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And so Michal let David down through a window, and he went and fled and escaped. And Michal took, it says here, an image, the word, and he was teraphim, just like Rachel had a teraphim, and laid him in the bed and put a pillow of goat's hair for his bolster and covered it with a cloth.
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And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. And begs the question, brethren and sisters, how strong was this marriage? David had to flee. But why did she stay behind? Why didn't she go with him? Husband to wife, she'll go through everything together, through good times and through bad times.
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But we know later on, when David brought in the ark, she despised him in her heart. It's not a good marriage, brethren and sisters, if your loyalty is not completely with your husband, but rather with the old house of Israel, the father Saul, more so than with David. If you go to 2 Samuel chapter 3, we can read that David had many more wives.
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In 2 Samuel chapter 3 and verse 2, we read, Unto David were sons born in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon of Ahinoam, the Jeschilites. So she was wife number two. And his second, Kiliab, which elsewhere is called Daniel, of Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite. The third, Absalom, the son of Maaca, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur.
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The fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggit. And the fifth, Shephetiah, son of Abital. And the sixth, Ithrium, by Eklah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron. We would have thought, brothers and sisters, I'm sure you would have thought the same, that the promised seed would have come from this wonderful woman, Abigail, who prevented David from shedding innocent blood.
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But that was not the case. Yahweh apparently didn't choose him. Because we don't know anything much about the character of Kiliab. And maybe he was not suitable. And maybe he died early. We just don't know. So when he came to Jerusalem, after this time in Hebron, David chose yet another wife, the seventh.
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And the way she became his wife was highly unusual, to say the least. If you go to the 11th chapter of 2 Samuel, and it is sad to read this.
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In verse 1, it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. Why was he not with his men in the field, where a king ought to have been?
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And all what happens next could have been prevented. Verse 2, It came to pass in the eventide, that David rose up from off his bed. What was he doing on his bed in the evening, at six o'clock at night? Kings shouldn't be asleep or lying on his bed. They should be active and working.
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He walked upon the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman washing herself. You may say, well, he couldn't help that. But why did he keep looking? Because he said, the woman was very beautiful to look upon. We can't always help that we see things which we are not supposed to look at.
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But if you keep looking at those things, brothers and sisters, then the situation becomes very difficult. And David sent, and inquired after the woman. And he said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam? And he was the son of Ahithophel, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. And David sent messengers and took her.
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And she came in unto him, and he lay with her. For she was purified from her uncleanness. And she returned unto her house. We don't know how David could see her. Her house was apparently below his house. If you know the city of David, the palace of David has recently been found. It's right on the top of the mountain.
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But then you get a very steep slope going down to the Kedon Valley. And the houses are built in terraces, one below another. So it's not difficult if you stand on the roof and you look down. You can look down onto the roof or most likely into the courtyard of the house that was below his palace.
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And that's where she must have been. She had to make elaborate preparations for her purification. If you would read in Leviticus chapter 15, it says that even her bed had to be cleansed. And all this may have attracted, of course, David's attention.
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There may be something positive to learn, actually, from this, because she became the wife of the king. And she was attractive to him because she was purified from her uncleanness. Interestingly, that chapter Leviticus 16, which we've been talking about quite recently, frequently, the Day of Atonement, comes after chapter Leviticus 15, where we are told how do we need to cleanse themselves after their uncleanness.
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It doesn't tell us, brothers and sisters, that we need to cleanse ourselves before we can go to the Day of Atonement and get atonement by the blood of Christ. The Spirit is telling us that we all, men and women, need to be cleansed. In God's eyes, we need to be purified before we can become the bride of the king.
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And all these things are only shadows of the real things. If you go to Matthew chapter 15, we can see how Christ explains some of those matters of uncleanness. In Matthew 15,
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in verse 18, there's after the disciples had eaten bread and they didn't wash their hands. And he says there in verse 17, Do you not yet understand that whatsoever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man.
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For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defile us not a man. We are all created with the natural functions of our bodies. And that's the way God has created us. There's nothing wrong with them.
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But they are used as types to show what comes out of us are all these unclean things. And we need to cleanse ourselves from all these things, brothers and sisters. So the literal is only a type of the spiritual. But nevertheless, what David did displeased Jawa. And he sent Nathan, the prophet, to him.
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It's the following message if you go to chapter 12. Jawa sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him and said unto him, There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing save one little hulam, which he had bought and nourished up.
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And it grew up together with him and with his children. It had eaten of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter. He is obviously talking about Uriah and Bathsheba. Of course, if Bathsheba was like a daughter unto Uriah, then Uriah may have been a bit of an older man who may have had children from a previous marriage.
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But then in verse 4 it says, There came a traveller unto the rich man. And that is how sin comes to us, brothers and sisters. It's just like a traveller. He's on your doorstep before you know it. But do we open up the door for him and let him in? Or do we send those travellers away?
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But this traveller came unto the rich man and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him. But he took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was coming to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man because David had a great sense of justice.
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Because it's easier to judge somebody else than to judge yourselves. And we all fall in the same category, brothers and sisters. We can so easily see the mistake in other people, but do we see the mistakes in ourselves? So his anger was rightly greatly kindled against the man and he said to Nathan, As Yahweh with the man that has done this thing shall surely die.
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And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. And that's the awful thing. And Nathan said to David, Thou art that man. And of course, then he goes on to say all the goodness that God had given to David, anointed him, made him king, gave him a house in Israel and all these things.
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But then, why have you done this? It says in verse 12, Thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Son. All our sins, brothers and sisters, will be revealed. If not in this life, then at the judgment seat. We cannot get away from them. But how do we react?
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Do you remember Adam, when God said, why did you eat of the tree? Oh, the woman has given it to me. The woman says, oh, the serpent has given it to me. But not David. What does she say? In verse 13, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Yahweh.
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And that's wonderful. Because if we confess our sins, they can be forgiven. If we hide them, they won't be forgiven. And therefore, Nathan said to David, Yahweh has also put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. And have we got the courage by the sisters when we are confronted with a misdeed, with a sin, a transgression against God's commandment?
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Are we courageous enough to say, I have sinned? It changed David forever. If you go to Psalm 51, there's a psalm which David said when David the prophet came into him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. And David was never the same again, brothers and sisters. Because he says, Have mercy upon me, Elohim, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from my iniquities, and cleanse me from my sin.
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For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightst be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou art judged. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
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Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me, or sin me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones that thou hast broken may rejoice.
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Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create me a clean heart, Alavim, and renew a right, or a constant spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation. How could you ever be joyful again after having done this evil thing?
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Not just taken a man's wife, but killed her husband also. But, brothers and sisters, we may not have killed, we may not have committed adultery, but we've all sinned before God. If we only are willing to confess our sins, like it says in the first epistle of John, in chapter 1 and verse 9, I read it for you, you know it so well.
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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write tell unto you that ye sin not.
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But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. So if we confess our sins, then they can be forgiven. Just like David was not too proud to forgive him, to ask for forgiveness and to say that he had sinned. But that doesn't mean to say that he was going off scot-free.
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He had judged that that man that took that poor lamb from the poor man to pay fourfold. And David paid fourfold because the baby of Ashiba died. Amnon died. Absalom, his son, died. And Adonijah, we read about in chapter 1 of Kings, mercifully after David's death, he also died. So we confess our sins, they can be forgiven, but there is always a consequence because God is righteous.
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But then if you go to 2 Samuel chapter 12, then it's wonderful because we would have written him off, wouldn't we, Renegade sisters? We would never have a man like that in our meeting or a woman for that matter. Just like we wouldn't have Tamar in our meeting or Rahab or the Gentile Ruth.
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But in chapter 12, if you go to verse 24, it says, And David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and went in unto her and lay with her and she bare a son and he called his name Solomon and Yahweh loved him. Isn't it amazing, brothers and sisters, that God has chosen that union to bring forth the promised son?
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We would never have done that, would we? After all, what had happened between David and Bathsheba? And then he, verse 25, that is, Yahweh, sent by the hand of Nathan, the prophet, and he called his name Yoditya, beloved of Yah. So God says, I can work with that boy, with Solomon. Never mind what happened before.
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The sins have been forgiven, blotted out. I won't remember them anymore. And I can work with this boy. I can work with David, who has repented, and with Bathsheba. He called his name Yoditya, beloved of Yah, because of Yahweh. And that is the key phrase, brothers and sisters, in this verse. Because of Yahweh.
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Ba'avur Yahweh in Hebrew. A very important and special phrase. Look how it is used, for example, in Exodus chapter 9. Because of Yahweh. In chapter 9 of Exodus, in chapter 16, God is speaking to Pharaoh.
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After Moses had said that he was going to stretch out his hand, in verse 15, that he might smite thee and thy people with pestilence, that shall be cut off from the earth. Then he says, and in very deed, for this cause have I raised thee up. For to show in thee my power, that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
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For this cause, the same phrase as in 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 15. Ba'avur Zeh, because of this, I have raised thee up. If you go to Romans chapter 15, Romans chapter 9, you can see how that is explained. In Romans chapter 9, the apostle picks this up. And he says, in verse 15,
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after it explained that in Isaac shall thy seed be called and not in Ishmael. Verse 15 says, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And that's God's prerogative. And I will have compassion on him whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
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For the scripture says unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, have I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee, that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. That is the phrase. For this same purpose. So God works with his purpose. and he can choose who fits in that purpose.
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Who is going to be used? Pharaoh is going to be used so that his name be declared in all the earth. And Solomon is going to be used because of Yahweh to show that it is his special election. And there's nothing that you can say about it, either for or against. And that is something we need to learn.
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Because it's God that has called all of us together. We're all brethren and sisters. We haven't chosen each other. But God has called us. God has elected us. And therefore you must have mercy on each other as well. Because God has had mercy on us. So the principle of Ba'avu Yahweh because of Yahweh shows the principle of election.
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That was employed in the choosing of Solomon. And God knew all this long before hand-bread and sisters. Because if you go to 1 Chronicles chapter 22 there's a parallel chapter to 2 Samuel chapter 7 when David expressed to Solomon his early desire to build a temple in verse 8 or verse 7 for connection.
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David said to Solomon my son as for me it was in my mind to build a house unto the name of Yahweh my Elohim. But the word of Yahweh came to me saying thou hast shed ! blood abundantly and hast made great wars thou shalt not build a house unto my name because thou shalt much blood upon the earth in my sight.
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That's what he said when you first came to Jerusalem. Behold a son shall be born through thee who shall be a man of rest and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about for his name shall be Solomon. God has given him a name long before he was born so God knew what was going to happen and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days he shall build a house for my name he shall be my son and I will be his father and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.
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A wonderful promise that God gave to David that he will get a son who's going to be called Solomon. And then that second boy was called and Nathan had came to David and then that was decided that God had said that he is going to be the son of whom going to be sit upon his throne.
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And later in chapter 28 David again says it 1 Chronicles chapter 28 and verse 5 Solomon is speaking here and of all David's sons for Yahweh has given me many sons as David he has chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh over Israel and he said to me Solomon thy son he shall build a house and my courts and I have chosen him to be my son and I will be his father moreover I will establish his kingdom forever if he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments as at this day so there was a condition attached to it if he be constant now therefore in the sight of all Israel the congregation of Yahweh and in the ordinance of our king keep and seek for all the commandments of Yahweh your Elohim that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you forever and thou Solomon my son know thou the Elohim of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind for Yahweh searches all hearts and understands all the imagination of the thoughts if thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off forever so he was called upon to serve him forever and take heed now he says in verse 10 for Yahweh has chosen to build a house for the sanctuary be strong and do it we all are engaged by the sisters in the work of building the house of Yahweh and we need to be strong
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and do it but of course ultimately this promise is fulfilled in Christ because Solomon was also just a man with all the weaknesses which we are also encumbered with so that was the beginning of Bathsheba how David took her and how the first son died but how God has chosen the second son at the end of the life of David a dangerous situation arose for Bathsheba which might have costed her her life in a chapter his brother Tim read for us we see that her life was in danger and Bathsheba like the other women before her found herself in a similar situation because Tamar was going to die also she was going to be burned if she didn't have that pledge which is a type of the Holy Spirit word of God if Rehob didn't have that scarlet thread she was going to be destroyed with the inhabitants of Jericho and Ruth would have remained childless if Boaz the Redeemer would not have redeemed her and now we're going to see that Bathsheba also needed something to save her life in that time of course we're speaking of his rebellion of Adonijah who wanted to usurp the kingdom because he was the oldest son wasn't he before the death of David let's go back then to 1 Kings chapter 1 so read read again these few verses verse 11 therefore Nathan spake unto Bathsheba the mother of Solomon saying has thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Hagid does reign and David our lord knows it not now therefore come let me I pray give thee counsel that thou mayest save thine own life
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and the life of thy son Solomon go and get thee in unto king David and say unto him didst not thou my lord O king swear unto thy handmaid saying surely Solomon thy son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne why then does Adonijah reign how did Nathan know that David had sworn this to Bathsheba we are told in the bible when that happened but while you keep your finger in one king let's go back to that second Samuel chapter 15 second Samuel 12 excuse me and those verses 24 and 25 after David comforted Bathsheba his wife he went into her and she bare a son and called his name Solomon Yahweh loved him and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet and called his name Yuditya beloved of Yahweh because of Yahweh do you think that he only had a little card with him so congratulations on the birth of your son and please call him Yuditya and that's all if it says because of Yahweh that must have been a very serious meeting and I suggest that Nathan was witness here to David swearing to Bathsheba that her son will sit on the throne because that phrase because of Yahweh is so important and Nathan remembered it and Bathsheba remembered it Nathan but more than Bathsheba because now at the end of her life she needed that oath her name is called Bathsheba that means the daughter of the oath and she could only save her life by appealing to the oath she was the daughter of the oath because if you go back in Kings chapter
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1 then King David did remember can you imagine if he wouldn't verse 28 it says King David answered and said call me Bathsheba and she came into the king's presence and stood before the king and the king sware said as Yahweh liveth it has redeemed my soul out of all distress even as I swear unto thee by Yahweh of Israel and I believe that happened when Nathan the prophet
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Solomon thy son shall reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne in my head even so will I certainly do this day and that word swear of an oath occurs about four times in this chapter and then verse 31 but she bowed with her face to the earth and did reverence and said let my lord king David live forever so at the end of her life of David's life at least and she must have been about the same age but slightly younger than David she had to have something to save her life she had to appeal to the oath that David made to her and so we also need to make sure that we have something to appeal to when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ because we also are the children of the oath but she was the daughter of the oath but we also have an oath and we need to appeal to that in order to save our lives let's go to Hebrews chapter 6 that's where our oath comes in the one we have got to appeal to it speaks about those at the end of verse 12 who through faith and patience inherit the promises what about those promises it says in verse 13 for when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater God swear by himself saying surely blessing I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee even so after he had patiently endured he obtained the promise for men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife
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wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation with flat for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us and hope is embedded in the promises which God has given to Abraham by an oath and that hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast which enters into that within the veil where the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek so brothers and sisters he is speaking there about the oath which God made to Abraham that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven as the sand which is upon the seashore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice so let's remember then the requirements we need to have something to save our lives whether it's the pledge of Tamar a
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the scarlet thread is the color of blood God has made the covenant of blood with us through the blood of Jesus Christ to save us and we have a redeemer just like Ruth had Boaz but we don't have a redeemer yet we don't see him yet and until we see him we have this oath which God made by which he confirmed the promises which is the anchor of our soul that great hope that is not let go of that brothers and sisters if we want to save our lives but what else do we know about Bathsheba what do we know about her character what do we know about how she brought up her son Solomon David seems to be very occupied if you read those following chapters with Absalom more than with Solomon what kind of advice did she give to the future king because she believed that Solomon was going to be the next king and I have a suggestion that there's actually one chapter in the Bible which contains her words the words that Bathsheba wrote for Solomon the advice which she gives if you think of the book of Proverbs the book of Proverbs is made of several sections isn't it we know the first nine chapters we have their God as it were speaking to his son from chapter 10 to 24 we got all the Proverbs which Solomon wrote up to chapter 29 we got the Proverbs which were copied by Hezekiah's men you go to chapter 30 it's a very different chapter so we go to Proverbs chapter 30 and suddenly we got somebody else coming on the scene
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says the words of Eger the son of Yake even the prophecy the man spoken to Ithiel even to Ithiel and Uchal and we get a whole prophecy or a burden rather for this particular man we don't know who Eger is we don't know his ! we don't know who Ithiel is we don't know who Uchal is so what's the point in writing all this down but in Hebrew all words have a meaning you could translate it like this the words of the gatherer he that gathers the son of obedience because that word to obey in verse 17 is the same word the man or the mighty man spake unto ETL God is with me even to ETL God is with me and Uchal I will be able so here is something wonderful that the man who wants together believers he spake to somebody ETL God is with me anyway I want to really talk about chapter 31 because there we got another prophecy or rather a burden these are the words of King Lemuel the prophecy or the burden that his mother taught him now we don't know who Lemuel is we know that Solomon is the author of the book of Proverbs there's no king mentioned by the name of Lemuel a Jewish king or a Gentile king but the name Lemuel means God is for him or God is with him and you remember that God was with Solomon all the time that Solomon was with him so I believe that king Lemuel is actually king Solomon and the burden is what his mother taught him who was the mother of Solomon was it
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not Bathsheba so do we have here then the words the encouraging words the guiding words of Bathsheba for her son Solomon the one who God was with we usually focus on verses 10 to 31 it's all about the virtuous woman but there's no point starting to talk about the virtuous woman if you don't take the first nine verses into consideration because all that Bathsheba has gone through would have qualified her to teach her son so these are the words of king Lammuel the burden which his mother taught him how wonderful to have you the advice I believe from Bathsheba the daughter of the oath to her son Solomon it says in Romans chapter 8 if God be for us who can be against her so it applies to us as well the time that God was with Solomon nothing was against him because when his wife turned away his heart from God then God forsook him and raised up an adversary the burden of course which Bathsheba instructed Solomon was how to find and to recognize a virtuous woman she had to be fit to be a good wife to him and a queen for people as well she had to lead by example in the absence of her husband which is quite frequent a king has got a lot of business to do to educate her children in the truth and did she do it first of all if you read through these verses you can see that her son who should have been the prospective husband of this virtuous woman had to be worthy !
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of her he needed instruction first of all we brethren we men need instruction to become worthy of such a woman and how does she start off in verse 2 she says what my son she doesn't use the word ben which is son she uses the word bar which also means pure and clean and that is what a son of God should be what my son and what the son of my womb why did she call him the son of her womb well he had the same nature as she had and she knew the weakness of the flesh didn't she because it means the womb the belly itself and so Christ also was composed about with our infirmities he partook of flesh and blood just like all the seed of Abraham and then she says and what the son of my vows her name is the daughter of the oath she called her son the son of my vows which vow did she make to be able to call him the son of my vows I can just imagine the scenario which we talked about earlier that at the time when Nathan the prophet came to him and called him because of Yahweh it was such an awesome and such a solemn occasion that Bathsheba may have reciprocated by vowing Solomon to Yahweh just like Jephthah vowed his daughter who probably served all her life as a single sister in the tabernacle educating little Samuel who was dedicated to Yahweh by Hannah his mother so she may have dedicated him and paid special attention to this boy and tried to bring him up to become the
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future king of Israel and also instruct him how to be worthy of a woman of valer so what was her instruction there are three actually two negatives and one positive the negative influence in our lives mainly for brothers but also for sisters can be women and drink but a positive one is knowing how to judge and how to speak because what does he say in verse three give not thy strength unto women nor thy ways to that which destroy us kings and you think of Solomon he didn't heed his advice of his mother he had a thousand wives 300 wives and 700 concubines and it destroyed him in the end if we don't live a life of high moral principles we also are going to be destroyed but then she says
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it's not for kings to drink wine nor for princes strong drink well you may say there's nothing wrong having a little glass of wine but the temptation is to drink more and more and so we lose our senses because what happens next is verse five lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted why does she say that did she have experience of
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men were fighting in Rabat Amon but he was before it was dark he was lying on his bed why did she say lest they drink and forget the law they forgot the law didn't he and he perverted the judgment of the afflicted he killed Euragia and took his wife so if we drink too much brothers and sisters then we get our head be cloudy we can't judge properly let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more and some see those people that drink far too much they are in misery and they try to forget it all but it doesn't give them happiness but it can cloud our judgment as David's judgment was clouded in a very delicate situation with Bathsheba now we get a positive advice from Bathsheba for Solomon open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction open thy mouth that's what the king needs to do open his mouth and judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor and needy that's what the king needs to do and if we want to be kings and queens in the kingdom of God then we also need to judge righteously to plead the cause of the poor and of the needy well God certainly Solomon certainly took this to heart didn't he because in 1 kings chapter 3 and keep your hands in proverbs here in 1 kings chapter 3 in verse 9 in verse 5 says and gibbon yow appeared to Solomon and dreamed by night and he said ask what I shall give thee and what did he ask
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for in verse 9 give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this so great a people and the speech pleased Yahweh that Solomon had asked this thing and God said unto him because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked for thyself long life not as as riches for thyself nor as the life of thine enemies but as for understanding to discern judgment because I have done according to thy words
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shall any arise like unto thee and Solomon had a wise heart that's the advice which he received from his mother from Bathsheba because he could open his mouth in judgment remember that woman those two women arguing about the baby and all that he said bring a sword who can judge like that only the wisdom of God and he pleaded the cause of the poor and needy but did he find the right woman his first wife was the daughter of Pharaoh was that a wise choice or was it a political agreement see in the book of ecclesiastes chapter 7 Solomon very sadly says this in ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 27 and verse up to verse 29 he says behold this have I found says the preacher counting one by one to find out the account but yet my soul seeketh but I find none one man among a thousand have I found but a woman among all those have I not found though this have I found that God has made men upright but they sought out many inventions the only woman Solomon had a spiritual relationship I believe was not one of his many wives but the queen of Sheba who was black but comely but Jesus will find his virtuous woman and how do we long to belong to that multitudinous bride and then we go back to Proverbs chapter 31 to those wonderful verses starting from verse 10 to 31 who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies now these verses from 10 to 31 are set in alphabetical order and you may later on won't have a look
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at this if you know Elizabeth of Hebrew this always hangs up in the kitchen of my wife it is not a virtuous woman it's a woman of valor the start with the ! second verse starts with a so you get a whole alphabet until the last letter you can look at this later on so this is set in alphabetical order for brothers and sisters to learn this by heart if we want to be the bride of Christ now who is this woman who can find a woman of value is she a woman that always cooks !
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a meal absolutely perfectly ! no dust on the ledges and the children are always nicely dressed never dirty laundry around is that a virtuous woman is that what we should look for in our sisters brethren who is this woman it says her price is far above rubies now that occurs elsewhere in the scriptures if you go to Job chapter 28 the same phrase is used we need to compare scripture with scripture to find out the importance of these phrases in chapter 28 where Job speaks about all the wonderful treasures you can dig out from the earth in a deep mine shaft which men have cut through the earth but verse 12 he says but where shall wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding man know is not the price thereof now is it found in the land of the living and he goes on to say you can't find in the depth it can be valued for the gold of Ophir and then it says in verse 18 no mention shall be made of coral or pearls for the price of wisdom is above rubies the price of a virtuous woman is above rubies in chapter 20 of Proverbs and more problems like that in Proverbs chapter 20 verse 15 it says there's gold and a multitude of rubies but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel so the lips of knowledge are more precious than a multitude of rubies so wisdom brothers and sisters and these faithful lips lips of knowledge that is the true wife which you look for so an eshet chael is wisdom the lips of knowledge
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of equally high value in the sight of God the apostle Peter puts it like this is the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible of a meek and quiet spirit which in the sight of God is of great price above rubies and in Psalm 45 you know that the king's daughter is all glorious within there's only one woman in the scripture who is called a virtuous woman and that of course is Ruth and in the context of our study of those women in the line of Christ those specially chosen women who had all their difficulties who were ready to lay down their life but were saved because they had something to preserve their life well can these women be found in this beautiful description of the virtuous woman !
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We like to concentrate on how did these done by these four women manifested the qualities of these virtuous women and if we want to be the bride of Christ brethren and sisters then we got to be like this woman Ruth is in the first verse who can find a virtuous woman well that was in the book of Ruth all people know that thou !
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a virtuous woman the only woman in the whole bible that is called an eshed chael a woman of valley and Bathsheba understood what it meant to be a virtuous woman she had a terrible time in her life as married to an older husband he was killed by David made pregnant by him and all the things he suffered and must have given her so much time to think and reflect on the mercy of God that she wanted to be a virtuous woman and the end of her life she could give this advice to her son Ruth is also in verse 15 in verse 15 of Proverbs 31 it says she rises also while it is yet night and gives meat to her household and a portion to her maidens remember Ruth she went out early in the morning to glean in the field of Boaz and what she had gleaned she shared in her household which only consisted of her mother-in-law Naomi in verse 23 it says her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land she had an important husband because Boaz her husband was known in the gate of Bethlehem and in verse 26 she opens her mouth in wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness she showed great kindness to both Naomi and Boaz a much older man than she was and Boaz recognized it in verse 28 said her children also rise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praises her Rehab is also throughout many verses I'd like to concentrate just on verse 13 where it says she seeketh wool
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and flax and worketh willingly with her hands now she grew flax and what you need to do is flax we once went to a museum of natural history and there was an exhibition there of how you turn flax into fine linen but the instrument they used would look like medieval torture instrument because first of all the bundles of flax were laid out on the ground and let the frost come down and the hail and the snow they drove with carts over it and they took those bundles and they shredded them through instruments of sharp metal spikes and they beat it and beat it to pulp and I think for out of 100 kilos of flax you only get about 100 grams of fine linen that's amazing to have seen that and that was what she was engaged in because she was a grower of flax she was ready through all this hard work to bring forth the fine white linen which she knows is a type of the righteousness of the saints and she used these raw materials to protect the two spies one of them Salman later becoming her husband and there's Tamar well she's there in the last two verses it says favor is deceitful and beauty vain but the woman that fears Yahweh she shall be praised well did not her own works praise her in the gate did she not fear Yahweh more than Judah and the reproach of men so that Judah had to say she is more righteous than I and did she know the only thing that would allow her to continue the tradition of mankind by being
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saved in the child bearing of that promised seed of the woman and the last verse did not her own work praise her in the gates give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates let's go to Ruth chapter 4 there we got this other valiant woman in the book of Ruth let's read in verse 9 from verse 9 it says in Boaz said unto the elders and to all the people ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Gileon's and Maglon's of the hand of Naomi moreover Ruth the Moabitess the wife of Maglon have I purchased to be my wife to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place ye are witnesses this day and all the people that were in the gate and the elders said we are witnesses Yahweh make the woman that has come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah which too did build the house of Israel and do thou worthily in Ephrata and be thou famous in Bethlehem and let thy house be like the house of Phares whom Tamar bear unto Judah of the seed which Yahweh shall give thee of this
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in the gate of Bethlehem that last verse in Proverbs chapter 31 give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates and so she was finally vindicated because even brothers and sisters find it difficult to study the book of Tamar and not to blame her for that awful thing which she did and if you can't see that act of faith that she was ready to
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lay down her own lives for our friends she said no man has greater love than this that a man lay down his life for his brethren Solomon sadly did not find this virtuous woman because he didn't listen to the good advice of his mother we also need to listen brothers and sisters to the word of God to change ourselves first of all as a king not to give our strength to women not to we need to spend our lifetime preparing since our baptism we need to cleanse ourselves from all unrighteousness we've all got different qualities we're all different people we all find ourselves into different circumstances but all of us have the opportunity to show our faith and no one of us can exactly do the same as one another neither should we try copy one another we all stand alone before the judgment seat of Christ one thing is certain by the commendation by God these four women will form part of the bride they will be there those four and let us then be with them there after we have studied their lives and shown what is important we should show the same faith in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves so that finally if you go to psalm chapter 45 we all the bride all part of the bride we all like their daughter in psalm 45 and verse 10 who needs to consider and incline our ears to open our ears to the word of God hearken verse 10 oh daughter and consider and incline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy father's house like all these women did
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so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy lord and worship thou him ! and he is for a c b m heritage college heritage college we'll close tonight's bible class with a singing of hymn 351 followed by prayer ! to to to

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047: Leen Ritmeyer - Women in the Line of Christ: Tamar Main show

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