1 Samuel 6-10: How's That Working Out For Ya? (LSFAB S13E80)

[TEASER - 0:00]
The average person is not grown up enough to handle obligations and responsibilities, I guess.

[INTRO S13E080 - 0:14]
It's the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, it's me, your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we're reading through the entire Bible in a year. Do you have all your Christmas shopping done?

This is History Tuesday, and we're going to read 1 Samuel 6 through 10. I'm calling today's episode, "How's That Working Out For Ya?"

And today we'll have Christmas question number 20.

Before we read, let's pray.

[OPENING PRAYER - 0:42]
Our gracious heavenly Father, how we thank you for this time around your word. We pray that you bless our time and that you would speak to our hearts. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, let's begin.

[1 SAMUEL 6 (CEV) - 0:55]
1 Samuel, chapter 6.

(1) After the sacred chest had been in Philistia for seven months, (2) the Philistines called in their priests and fortunetellers, and asked, “What should we do with this sacred chest? Tell us how to send it back where it belongs!”

(3) “Don't send it back without a gift,” the priests and fortunetellers answered. “Send along something to Israel's God to make up for taking the chest in the first place. Then you will be healed, and you will find out why the Lord was causing you so much trouble.”

(4) “What should we send?” the Philistines asked.

The priests and fortunetellers answered:

There are five Philistine rulers, and they all have the same disease that you have. (5) So make five gold models of the sores and five gold models of the rats that are wiping out your crops. If you honor the God of Israel with this gift, maybe he will stop causing trouble for you and your gods and your crops. (6) Don't be like the Egyptians and their king. They were stubborn, but when Israel's God was finished with them, they had to let Israel go.

(7) Get a new cart and two cows that have young calves and that have never pulled a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take the calves back to their barn. (8) Then put the chest on their cart. Put the gold rats and sores into a bag and put it on the cart next to the chest. Then send it on its way.
(9) Watch to see if the chest goes on up the road to the Israelite town of Beth-Shemesh. If it goes back to its own country, you will know that it was the Lord who made us suffer so badly. But if the chest doesn't go back to its own country, then the Lord had nothing to do with the disease that hit us—it was simply bad luck.

(10) The Philistines followed their advice. They hitched up the two cows to the cart, but they kept their calves in a barn. (11) Then they put the chest on the cart, along with the bag that had the gold rats and sores in it.

(12) The cows went straight up the road toward Beth-Shemesh, mooing as they went. The Philistine rulers followed them until they got close to Beth-Shemesh.

(13) The people of Beth-Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the chest, they were so happy that they stopped working and started celebrating.

(14-15) The cows left the road and pulled the cart into a field that belonged to Joshua from Beth-Shemesh, and they stopped beside a huge rock. Some men from the tribe of Levi were there. So they took the chest off the cart and placed it on the rock, and then they did the same thing with the bag of gold rats and sores. A few other people chopped up the cart and made a fire. They killed the cows and burned them as sacrifices to the Lord. After that, they offered more sacrifices.

(16) When the five rulers of the Philistines saw what had happened, they went back to Ekron that same day.

(17) That is how the Philistines sent gifts to the Lord to make up for taking the sacred chest. They sent five gold sores, one each for their towns of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. (18) They also sent one gold rat for each walled town and for every village that the five Philistine rulers controlled. The huge stone where the Levites set the chest is still there in Joshua's field as a reminder of what happened.

(19) Some of the men of Beth-Shemesh looked inside the sacred chest, and the Lord God killed 70 of them. This made the people of Beth-Shemesh very sad, (20) and they started saying, “No other God is like the Lord! Who can go near him and stay alive? We'll have to send the chest away from here. But where can we send it?”

(21) They sent messengers to tell the people of Kiriath-Jearim, “The Philistines have sent back the sacred chest. Why don't you take it and keep it there with you?”

[1 SAMUEL 7 (CEV) - 4:29]
1 Samuel, chapter 7.

(1) The people of Kiriath-Jearim got the chest and took it to Abinadab's house, which was on a hill in their town. They chose his son Eleazar to take care of it, (2) and it stayed there for 20 years.

During this time everyone in Israel was very sad and begged the Lord for help.

(3) One day, Samuel told all the people of Israel, “If you really want to turn back to the Lord, then prove it. Get rid of your foreign idols, including the ones of the goddess Astarte. Turn to the Lord with all your heart and worship only him. Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.”

(4) The people got rid of their idols of Baal and Astarte and began worshiping only the Lord.

(5) Then Samuel said, “Tell everyone in Israel to meet together at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.”

(6) The Israelites met together at Mizpah with Samuel as their leader. They drew water from the well and poured it out as an offering to the Lord. On that same day they went without eating to show their sorrow, and they confessed they had been unfaithful to the Lord.

(7) When the Philistine rulers found out about the meeting at Mizpah, they sent an army there to attack the people of Israel.

The Israelites were afraid when they heard that the Philistines were coming. (8) “Don't stop praying!” they told Samuel. “Ask the Lord our God to rescue us.”

(9-10) Samuel begged the Lord to rescue Israel, then he sacrificed a young lamb to the Lord. Samuel had not even finished offering the sacrifice when the Philistines started to attack. But the Lord answered his prayer and made thunder crash all around them. The Philistines panicked and ran away. (11) The men of Israel left Mizpah and went after them as far as the hillside below Beth-Car, killing every enemy soldier they caught.

(12-13) The Philistines were so badly beaten that it was quite a while before they attacked Israel again. After the battle, Samuel set up a monument between Mizpah and the rocky cliffs. He named it “Help Monument” to remind Israel how much the Lord had helped them.

For as long as Samuel lived, the Lord helped Israel fight the Philistines. (14) The Israelites were even able to recapture their towns and territory between Ekron and Gath.

Israel was also at peace with the Amorites.

(15) Samuel was a leader in Israel all his life. (16) Every year he would go around to the towns of Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah where he served as judge for the people. (17) Then he would go back to his home in Ramah and do the same thing there. He also had an altar built for the Lord at Ramah. 

[1 SAMUEL 8 (CEV) - 7:00]
1 Samuel, chapter 8.

(1-2) Samuel had two sons. The older one was Joel, and the younger one was Abijah. When Samuel was getting old, he let them be leaders at Beersheba. (3) But they were not like their father. They were dishonest and accepted bribes to give unfair decisions.

(4) One day the nation's leaders came to Samuel at Ramah (5) and said, “You are an old man. You set a good example for your sons, but they haven't followed it. Now we want a king to be our leader, just like all the other nations. Choose one for us!”

(6) Samuel was upset to hear the leaders say they wanted a king, so he prayed about it. (7) The Lord answered:

Samuel, do everything they want you to do. I am really the one they have rejected as their king. (8) Ever since the day I rescued my people from Egypt, they have turned from me to worship idols. Now they are turning away from you. (9) Do everything they ask, but warn them and tell them how a king will treat them.

(10) Samuel told the people who were asking for a king what the Lord had said:

(11) If you have a king, this is how he will treat you. He will force your sons to join his army. Some of them will ride in his chariots, some will serve in the cavalry, and others will run ahead of his own chariot. (12) Some of them will be officers in charge of 1,000 soldiers, and others will be in charge of 50. Still others will have to farm the king's land and harvest his crops, or make weapons and parts for his chariots. (13) Your daughters will have to make perfume or do his cooking and baking.

(14) The king will take your best fields, as well as your vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his own officials. (15) He will also take a tenth of your grain and grapes and give it to his officers and officials.

(16) The king will take your slaves and your best young men and your donkeys and make them do his work. (17) He will also take a tenth of your sheep and goats. You will become the king's slaves, (18) and you will finally cry out for the Lord to save you from the king you wanted. But the Lord won't answer your prayers.

(19-20) The people would not listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want to be like other nations. We want a king to rule us and lead us in battle.”

(21) Samuel listened to them and then told the Lord exactly what they had said. (22) “Do what they want,” the Lord answered. “Give them a king.”

Samuel told the people to go back to their homes.

[1 SAMUEL 9 (NKJV) - 9:26]
1 Samuel, chapter 9.

(1) There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. (2) And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

(3) Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, “Please take one of the servants with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” (4) So he passed through the mountains of Ephraim and through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them.

(5) When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, let us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us.”

(6) And he said to him, “Look now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man; all that he says surely comes to pass. So let us go there; perhaps he can show us the way that we should go.”

(7) Then Saul said to his servant, “But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessels is all gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

(8) And the servant answered Saul again and said, “Look, I have here at hand one-fourth of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.” (9) (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)

(10) Then Saul said to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

(11) As they went up the hill to the city, they met some young women going out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?”

(12) And they answered them and said, “Yes, there he is, just ahead of you. Hurry now; for today he came to this city, because there is a sacrifice of the people today on the high place. (13) As soon as you come into the city, you will surely find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now therefore, go up, for about this time you will find him.” (14) So they went up to the city. As they were coming into the city, there was Samuel, coming out toward them on his way up to the high place.

(15) Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, (16) “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”

(17) So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people.” (18) Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, “Please tell me, where is the seer’s house?”

(19) Samuel answered Saul and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart. (20) But as for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not be anxious about them, for they have been found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on you and on all your father’s house?”

(21) And Saul answered and said, “Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak like this to me?”

(22) Now Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the hall, and had them sit in the place of honor among those who were invited; there were about thirty persons. (23) And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Set it apart.’” (24) So the cook took up the thigh with its upper part and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, “Here it is, what was kept back. It was set apart for you. Eat; for until this time it has been kept for you, since I said I invited the people.” So Saul ate with Solomon that day.

(25) When they had come down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul on the top of the house. (26) They arose early; and it was about the dawning of the day that Samuel called to Saul on the top of the house, saying, “Get up, that I may send you on your way.” And Saul arose, and both of them went outside, he and Samuel.

(27) As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” And he went on. “But you stand here awhile, that I may announce to you the word of God.”

[1 SAMUEL 10 (NKJV) - 14:25]
1 Samuel, chapter 10.

(1) Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: “Is it not because the Lord has anointed you commander over His inheritance? (2) When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found. And now your father has ceased caring about the donkeys and is worrying about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ (3) Then you shall go on forward from there and come to the terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. (4) And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands. (5) After that you shall come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is. And it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. (6) Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. (7) And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you. (8) You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do.”

(9) So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. (10) When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. (11) And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” (12) Then a man from there answered and said, “But who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (13) And when he had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

(14) Then Saul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?”

So he said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel.”

(15) And Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me, please, what Samuel said to you.”

(16) So Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, he did not tell him what Samuel had said.

(17) Then Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah, (18) and said to the children of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who oppressed you.’ (19) But you have today rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your adversaries and your tribulations; and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’ Now therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”

(20) And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. (21) When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was chosen. And Saul the son of Kish was chosen. But when they sought him, he could not be found. (22) Therefore they inquired of the Lord further, “Has the man come here yet?”

And the Lord answered, “There he is, hidden among the equipment.”

(23) So they ran and brought him from there; and when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. (24) And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?”

So all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!”

(25) Then Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. (26) And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched. (27) But some rebels said, “How can this man save us?” So they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace.

[COMMENTARY- 18:56]
In my comments, today, Beloved, I'm going to do something just a little bit different. I'm going to play for you the commentary I wrote in 2020 on 1 Samuel, chapter 8. That commentary in itself was different, and you'll hear what made it different in a minute or two as you listen. And then after I play that, I'll play what I said last year as a follow-up to that. I know it might seem strange to do this, but I think it'll make sense once you hear it. Now the first section was written on September 6, 2020. Six months before this, much of the world began the 15 days to slow the spread of COVID-19. And two months after that commentary was written, the United States would have a presidential election. So let's take a listen.

[COMMENTARY FROM SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 - 19:45]
Today, I'd like to talk to you about 1 Samuel, chapter 8. In this chapter, we see once more that there is nothing new under the sun.

God rescued the children of Israel out of Egypt and God looked out for them, cared for them, and supplied their needs. He gave them the Promised Land, enabling them to defeat their enemies. But time and time and time again, they forsook God and began to worship the false gods of heathen nations. Each time he forgave them, and for a time they'd follow him, but in the end, they would forsake him again.

Now, in 1 Samuel, they put a different spin on things by saying that they no longer wanted a judge, a man chosen by God to whom they would be accountable. No, they wanted a king like the other nations had. But as God told Samuel, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me.

Think about it. The people had a tremendous amount of freedom. They had land, they could do what they wanted to do. And as long as they followed God's laws, they would enjoy his blessings.

But they fell for the lie that by giving up their freedom, they would have a better life.

Samuel warned them. He told them what living under a king would be like. The king would take them into forced labor. He would take their land. He would take their property, conscript their sons into his army, and he would tax them and he would take their daughters.

But no, they wanted a king.

Does any of this sound familiar? Is there a lie floating around, right now? Free education, free health care, social justice, freedom from some perceived systemic racism, freedom from God?

Please, Beloved, bear with me.

I believe that we are in a spiritual battle such as only comes around maybe once in a generation if that. Yes, at its heart this is a spiritual battle. But it's in the form of a political battle. In just under two months, the United States of America will make a decision. That decision will be between two very different forms of government. On one hand, we have a government that acknowledges God and the inalienable rights he has given to every person. On the other hand, there's a proposed government that rejected the idea of including God in its platform, and would remove by legislation, our God-given rights. In exchange, they promised the freebies I listed a minute ago.

The Democrat Party has already demonstrated that they are for limiting free speech and freedom of religion. They deny life to the not-yet-born, and in doing so, they deny the notion that each person is fearfully and wonderfully made by God himself. The riots and destruction we see in many of our cities is the evidence of what happens when groups of people deny the existence of God.

This and more is what is in store for America if we choose this "king."

Beloved, I'm well aware that the government we have right now is far from perfect. It has its flaws. It's made up of people. But the way to fix it is not to utterly reject it for a system that has proven that it fails every time it's been tried. Because, yes, the Democrat Party has been taken over by socialists.

And we must not fall for the lies that we're being told by the media. They are compromised. They're not reliable.

America is a good country, despite its flaws. Still in all America is worth saving. God was in the founding of this nation. God has blessed this nation and its people. And I believe that if we will humble ourselves and pray and seek God's face, and turn from our wicked ways, then God will hear from heaven, and he will forgive our sin, and he will heal our land.

I do not believe that it is too late, Beloved. I have hope for America. Let us not choose this new king.

[COMMENTARY FROM NOVEMBER 22, 2021 - 24:05]
So, Beloved, how well has this commentary aged in your opinion? Are we better off with this new "king?" In my opinion, the more power you give to any king or president or prime minister or government in general, the fewer freedoms you'll have. Dennis Prager is a man I respect immensely. One of his teachings, if you want to call it a teaching, one of... one of his opinions is "The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen." By the way, I'll have a link to an article he wrote with that title on the show notes page. I think that we're seeing the truth of this statement around the world right now, don't you?

Now contrast Dennis Prager's thought with the former governor of my state, California. "No, screw your freedom." You may have heard that sound bite but do you know what he said right after that? "No, screw your freedom because with freedom comes obligations and...ah...responsibilities."

People who believe that government should restrict freedoms think that the average citizen or the average person is not grown up enough to handle obligations and responsibilities, I guess. So is that working? Are we better off now that the governments of the world are wresting more and more control over nearly every aspect of our lives?

I'll let you decide for yourself.

My opinion is that we are *not* better off. I still believe that we must do as God said in 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Beloved, all of us, no matter where in the world you live, must pray for people to turn back to God. We must look to him. He is our only hope. There is no government, no politician of any stripe that can save us. America became great and, yes, an exceptional nation because it was founded on a devotion to God. John Winthrop was an early Puritan leader who served many terms as governor of Massachusetts. He wrote a sermon in 1630 while aboard the ship that would take him from his home in England to his new home in the New World in which these ideas were beautifully expressed. I encourage you to read the entire sermon. I'll have a link on the show notes page. But I would like to share a few paragraphs with you now. Here's what he wrote:

"We have hereupon besought God of favor and blessing. Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath He ratified this covenant and sealed our commission, and will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it; but if we shall neglect the observation of these articles which are the ends which we have propounded, and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, and be revenged of such a people, and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant.

"Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, 'may the Lord make it like that of New England.' For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God’s sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.

"And to shut this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord, in his last farewell to Israel in Deuteronomy 30. 'Beloved, there is now set before us life and death, good and evil,' in that we are commanded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his ordinance and his laws, and the articles of our Covenant with Him, that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go to possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.

"Therefore let us choose life,
that we and our seed may live,
by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him,
for He is our life and our prosperity."

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE - 30:27]
Well, what do you think, Beloved? Does it make sense now, even though the COVID restrictions have been lifted in most areas of the world, I believe the world is in worse shape now overall than even a year ago. The need for a return to God is even greater than it was in my opinion. 

What's your opinion? Call the Lifespring Family Hotline and tell me, +1-951-732-8511. Of course, you can comment at comment.lifespringmedia.com or you can even send me an email at steve@lifespringmedia.com.

Tomorrow is Psalms Wednesday. Our reading will be chapters 33 through 35. And being Wednesday, we'll have a time of prayer requests and praises. Call yours in at +1-951-732-8511, or go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

[SUPPORT THE SHOW - 31:21]
Today's Executive Producer is John who sent in his monthly $50 donation. John, thank you so much, Brother, for your monthly support. I appreciate you. God bless you.

[BOOSTAGRAM ANNOUNCER - 31:31]
Boost. Boostagram.

[SUPPORT THE SHOW (CONT'D) - 31:35]
A 500 sat boost came in today from @user601277-blabity-blabity-blabity.  They sent it in while listening to the "Genesis 44-47: Which Way?" episode and thank you for the boost.

And by the way, that did come in from the Fountain app. And for you Fountain users if you'd like to make it so that your boosts show something other than that long number as an identifier if you'd like to show some sort of name that makes a bit more sense, here's how you do that. You open the Fountain app and at the bottom of your screen, you should see the profile icon. Tap on that. Then tap on "Edit Profile" and then you'll see a box in there where you can put in a unique user name. Mine's easy. It's just @stevewebb. Just something to think about. 

And speaking of donations, Scott Snider has said that he's willing to donate time and talent to help create some of the album art for the show. Yay! I'm so thankful for that, Scott. God bless you. Take a look at today's art. That's Scott's first offering. Not bad, huh? And Scott has told me that he has a big project coming up at work after the first of the year, so he'll have limited time. So I still need others to step up to help out. If you've got Photoshop, or Illustrator or GIMP, or some other graphics tools at your disposal, let me know. The art does not have to be complicated. And as a matter of fact, simpler is better when it comes to podcast art because it has to be legible when it's viewed on a small screen. You know, when you look at new episodes in your podcast app, and it shows the listing there, the art there on that screen is very, very small. So complicated, and detailed art really doesn't work too well there. So we want something that's simple, but identifiable as the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. So if you'd like to help me out with this, let me know at steve@lifespringmedia.com. And if you'd like to see some examples of what I need, take a look at lifespringmedia.com/art. And if you can't help out with time and talent, but you do want to support the show with treasure, this is where to go: 

[JINGLE SINGERS - 33:37]
lifespringmedia.com/support.

[SUPPORT THE SHOW (CONT'D) - 33:41]
I will thank you and I do believe that God will bless you. And I said that. I do believe God will bless you.

[CHRISTMAS QUESTION - 33:49]
For Christmas question number 20, it's the Lovely Lady LeeAnn again.

[LEEANN WEBB - 33:53]
"Good morning, my love and James and all the Lifespring family. One more question for James. Just wondering if poinsettias were used mainly just because they were a prevalent flower during the winter, or is there some significance? I love them. So I just want to see what the value to Christmas and poinsettias are. Take care. Everybody have a wonderful Christmas. Bye, bye. 

[JAMES COOPER ANSWERS - 34:16]  
Well, it's really nice to hear LeeAnn's voice, and let's get to her question. Well, poinsettias, yes, they're red and they flower at Christmas time, well, in the winter, so that made them a popular Christmas decoration.

They're really native to Central America and to an area of southern Mexico known as Taxco del Alarcon, and they flower during the winter. The Aztecs called them something which I am not going to attempt to pronounce, but if you go to my website, you can see it and try for yourself. The Aztecs also used the flowers - Well they're not really flowers. They're special types of leaves known as bracts - to make purple dye for their clothes and the milky white sap that they exude was made into medicine to treat fevers.

The poinsettia was widely known because of a man called Joel Roberts Poinsett, and that's where we get the name from. He was the first ambassador from the USA to Mexico in 1825. He had some greenhouses on plantations in South Carolina. And while visiting the Taxco area in 1828, he became interested in the plants and thought he tried growing them.

So he shipped some back to South Carolina and started sending the plants and seeds out to friends and other botanical gardens. One of the friends he sent them to was John Bartram in Philadelphia. And at the first Philadelphia Flower Show, Robert Buist, a plantsman from Pennsylvania saw the flower and he was probably the first person to have sold poinsettias under their botanical or Latin name, Euphorbia pulcherrima which means "the most beautiful Euphorbia."

And they were first sold as cut flowers. It was only from the early 1900s that they were sold as whole plants which we normally have them today. The first people to sell them as whole plants was the Ecke family from Southern California, and they're still the biggest name and producer of the plants in the USA today. So apart from being in flower during the winter and at Christmas, they don't really have a specific connection to Christmas. 

Although there is a nice legend that goes to it. There was once a poor Mexican girl called Pepita who had no present to give the Baby Jesus at the Christmas Eve service. So as Pepita walked to the chapel, her cousin tried to cheer her up. He said, "I'm sure that even the smallest gift given by someone who loves him will make Jesus happy." Pepita didn't know what she could give. So she picked a handful of weeds at the side of the road and made them into a small bouquet. She felt embarrassed because she could only give this small present. And as she walked through the chapel to the altar, she remembered what Pedro had said. She began to feel better knelt down and put the flowers at the bottom of the Nativity scene. Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into bright red flowers. And everyone who saw them thought that they were the best thing they'd ever seen and a miracle. And from that day on the bright red flowers were known as the "Flores de Noche Buena" or the "Flowers of the Holy Night."

It's also thought that the shape of the poinsettia flowers and leaves could represent the Star of Bethlehem, and the red color leaves could represent the blood of Jesus and the white leaves represent his purity. So that's your brief, potted, sorry, history of poinsettias. 

[CHRISTMAS QUESTION (CONT'D) - 37:14]  
LeeAnn loves poinsettias. Every year she's got them on our front porch and scattered throughout the house. Thank you, James, for all that info on the poinsettia. I'll have a link from James with more poinsettia information on the show notes page at lifespringmedia.com/s13e080.

And there is still time to send in your Christmas question. There's just a few days left before Christmas and you don't want to miss out on your chance to be one of the ticket winners to see the movie "Jesus Revolution" that's coming out in February of 2023. I'll be giving away two pairs of two tickets to see the movie. Plus we'll have another drawing for a signed copy of my book "Webb's Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide" on the Christmas Day episode. So send your questions into steve@lifespringmedia.com and put "Christmas question" in the subject line.

[SEND IN YOUR PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISES - 38:04]  
Remember that tomorrow is prayer request and praise Wednesday. Call your prayer request in at +1-951-732-8511. or go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. Just give me whatever information you want me to have. And if you want to remain anonymous, that's not a problem. I will pray for you in my personal quiet time and we'll pray together on the show.

[OUTRO S13E080 - 38:33]
For today's music, I'm going to go back to Cat Jahnke. I told you about her on the December 3 episode, "Matthew 23-25: Look Up." I played her version of "Rise Up, Shepherd and Follow." Remember? Well, today is going to be "What Child Is This?"

And until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thank you for making me a part of your day. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

[CAT JAHNKE SINGS "WHAT CHILD IS THIS? - 38:57] 
What child is this, who laid to rest
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ, the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

Why lies he in such mean estate,
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear: for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.

Nails, spear shall pierce him through,
the cross be borne for me, for you;
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
the babe, the son of Mary!

So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh;
come, peasant, king, to own him.
The King of kings salvation brings;
let loving hearts enthrone him.

Raise, raise the song on high,
the virgin sings her lullaby;
joy, joy, for Christ is born,
the babe, the son of Mary!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai