The No Names of Scripture

Transcript

we I have a this this class came out of um actually brothers brother's class um yes uh Wednesday where you know we um we did the readings after we had some dinner and it was what was it John nine Jim is that what it is yeah John chapter n and and one of the things and we we may get into this today you know the major topic really the whole chapter is about the blind man the UN and he has no name but he showed tremendous faith and um you know he even spoke out against the leaders of that of that time the scribes and Pharisees like went after them about their hypocrisy but we don't know his name but he showed this tremendous love of God and so I thought that you know just kind of thinking about it it's like how many other noname individuals in scripture um are there where an individual does something or is mentioned in the Bible whether good or bad right we're going to look at people that have no names and they did really great things and people that have no names did some really wicked things and so you know I think there's a lot of lessons in in involved in looking at these people the no names of scripture right um who were these people why are they in scripture why are their actions in scripture but not their names um you know why why did God in his wisdom you know have have their actions recorded but you know not their names we may not know that but I just think it's it's interesting um and so you know the question is are there lessons from their lives that we can apply to our lives of course there are right the answer is yes that's the whole purpose of the Bible is looking at uh commands and statements but also looking at the events of men and women of Faith evil men and women right back in uh the Old Testament and the New Testament as well so um with that said let's uh let's take a look at some of these things so we go way way back right what we got for time okay when we go Way Way Back Into Genesis um there's a lot of people that are not mentioned that obviously played an important part in the spreading of people across uh across the world let's just look at uh take a take a look at Genesis the fth chapter here

um you know like for instance verse four of the fifth chapter of Genesis and the days of Adam after he begat Seth were 800 years and he begat sons and daughters so some people are mentioned like Seth of course Cain and Abel are mentioned uh Enoch is mentioned as well um and this you know Cain and our mention but I always found it interesting you know beat Sons and Daughters right the they they're unnamed people that were born other children that were born to Adam and Eve other other people through the generations that you know lived and died who are these people right you know from a historical point of view there's always in the back of my mind you want to know more like we always want to know more we always want more information and you know knowledge and that's really was was the thing you know for Adam and Eve they wanted you know they wanted to have that knowledge of Good and Evil it's always been this kind of you know this this struggle to gain more knowledge you know human beings just the way that we are constituted we can never just accept reality as it is we're always looking for something else and this is where invention comes in this is where we do you know we do experiments and we figure things out you know just for instance um you know like the whole SpaceX thing right if you remember like five years ago they were trying to you know have you know make this rocket hover and land and all this kind of stuff and now in 2024 they got this massive rocket coming down it hovers a little bit and comes down and they they grab it with two you know the the the Chopsticks right so this is this is our mentality there's always something more to

know and that's that can be a good thing but it's it also can be a bad thing right you know go uh what does Solomon say God has made man upright but he has sought out many

inventions and that's that that can be a struggle sometimes all right so anyway so Sons and Daughters of of Adam and Eve and the rest of them in Genesis 5 no names given to them but obviously they existed uh you know they had children so on and so forth and you know one of the reasons why I think too is you know we go further and further back in time like you know for like genesis 5 there's certain people that are mentioned right that I think were probably kept in the minds of Israelites you know the major people and they told these stories orally um and then eventually you know they were written down God's hand being in obviously involved in this um but the further and further you go back in time and it's even true today the less information you have just the way it is we lose things human beings love to tell stories and to tell information but sometimes you know things are lost now we have everything that we need obviously for salvation but I'd love to know a little more information about what was going on before the flood right what was going on before the flood because um you know we have a lot of unanswered questions even from archaeology you know we there's a lot of things that people don't know in fact um you know they keep on finding these civilizations that they didn't know existed like there's a massive civilization they just found in ancient turkey you know go go Becky Tey you know whe I don't want to get into it but anyways they it's a massive complex that they didn't even know existed until they found it like in I think 1990 they found it and they've been digging um and trying to figure out exactly who these people were so anyways um Noah is mentioned of course but Noah's wife not mentioned all right

um You we're going to find to brothers and sisters and this may be a cultural thing early on but you know a lot of the women are not going to be mentioned okay and that isn't obviously that it God didn't care about women but in a cultural sense the man and the man's name was as far as genealogies are concerned that's where the line is passed through but it is interesting according to Jewish um tradition that uh you know you are not a Jew unless your mother is a Jew all right is that correct Jason thank

you all

right uh so the line uh of uh you know you know the bloodline for Jewish people go goes through the mother all right let's take a look at um you know lots L uh lot in uh his wife because Jesus is going to mention the uh Lot's wife again do we do we know her name we do not know her name but she is the foundation of um a teaching of Jesus as we're going to see um so Genesis 19 I you know we know the story uh but it's good to kind of recollect things

um Abraham and lot uh were nephew and uncle and uh they were having trouble because they were so wealthy and so prosperous because of God's grace and goodness that there was

Strife uh fighting between the Shepherds of lot and the Shepherds of Abraham for pasture and for watering you know for Wells and that type of thing and so Abraham's like look you know I don't want fighting this is craziness you pick the land where you wanted to go and scripture tells us that lot looked right he saw and saw it was well watered the plains where Sodom and Gomorrah was so he turned his attention to there and that's where he went Abraham went in the other direction and so lot slowly gets sucked in

into the the Sodom and Gomorrah because it says that he pitched his tent toward Sodom and then he what he was sitting in the gate of Sodom so he had a position of authority within the city of Sodom and it was a slow process and so here here he is him and his family in a in a wicked and detestable City and we know from second Peter uh the second chapter that it grieved him right it upset him every single day to see everything that was going on and we wonder brothers and sisters what was going through um you know lot's mind you know with his children you know his daughters that type of thing what type of environment it wasn't a great environment at all to kind of you know uh raise a family in the gospel raise a family in the truth wasn't great and we find out that unfortunately the thinking of Sodom infected his family and so these individuals are not mentioned we don't know the names of Lot's wife but Jesus what does Jesus say in uh Luke 17:28 let's look at the context of that because it's important in uh Luke 17 in um verse 28 well we can we can um start in verse 26 as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be also in the days of the son of man they did eat they drank they married wise they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all likewise also as it was in the days of lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they build it but the same day that lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all and so uh it goes down in verse 32 remember Lot's wife whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it so Lot's wife we don't know her name but it is a she is a cautionary tale that Jesus uses about turning back turning back to wickedness away from the things of God turning back from

salvation and that's what lot Lot's wife turned back she couldn't leave those things for whatever reason her whole life was there she had friends her family was there right uh a lot of her family was still there and they fled but she in her heart her heart was still in Sodom and so that I think that's an important Le lesson right where where's our heart there our heart every single day are we turning back to the things of the world to the corruption that we see in the world

godlessness in the world God has no place in a lot of people's minds in society and we can see it there is not a

foundation uh of of God God is Not not the foundation of people unfortunately particularly in this area you know I was just looking at some stats and you know it's like 50 to 60% of people uh about 40% of people in New England are not sure whether God exists or not okay like that is the that is a baseline that's not a great Baseline okay in other parts of the country obviously it's a lot more but that's this is the area that we live in okay we're not a very religious people in New England we used to be but we're becoming much much more SE

and um and that that brings along with it a host of issues that we have to just just be mindful of they're not Guided by God people of Sodom and Gomorrah were not B uh Guided by Yahweh they weren't by their own lust their own deviance drove them in their lack of love for the less fortunate because if we look at uh Ezekiel along with the sexual immorality there was also um

an oppression of the poor and needy because Ezekiel said neither did you give bread to the poor and needy in other words you didn't care about the less fortunate you were concerned about yourself your own lusts and desires and that's why Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed um and then along with that story without getting into it lot's daughters you when we talk about you know sexual immorality well it it rubbed off unfortunately on lot's daughters didn't it and you know there's there's obviously you know more you know lessons than that but lot we don't know the names of Lot's daughters do we we don't cautionary tail right a lesson from God to us hey these people don't have names but look at their behavior what did they

do uh you know were they followers after God or did they do other things in this case lot and lot's daughters tragedy very tragic that what happened a lot just because really of one of one

decision you know a well wanted area you know he was just looking at the surface and on the surface he was a th% correct I'm going to do very well in this area and he did do very well but at the cost of his family his family was destroyed right um

so so that you know that's an example right that's an example of what I'm talking about is we don't have the names of these individuals but we have their actions we have their thought process and here's the thing in this case we have the outcome outcome is not good okay we can definitely apply the events of lot and Sodom and gomorra and Lot's wife and lot's daughters absolutely to our lives uh Jesus talks about you know the end you know be in the days of Noah people went on with their lives as if nothing was happening with lot people with went on with their lives as if everything was going to continue on as it

was until the Reigns came and until the fire and brimstone came and destroyed Sodom so questions comments will we go on yes

Bob hold on we got a mic for you we got a microphone yeah this is Big Time Around Here Bob all

right do not have names yes but uh when you stop and think all these people had a father and a mother yes and the father and the mother must have named their children yes so they have names but God in his wisdom

uh hid the name

prevented you and me from knowing these individuals right now I I absolutely agree with that Bob and you know um we don't have the names but they did have a name as you said right the names were very important in the Bible they had specific meaning a lot of times so I guess that's what kind of got me thinking names are so important even the name of the Lord Yahweh is very important it represents something more so why you know why are these people nameless in scripture I don't know but I just find it interesting but they absolutely had names yes oh I got text coming in hold on

oh got it all right um let's let's switch gears for a little bit here um we don't have to turn turn to it in Genesis 39 what do we got for time beep up beep up um all right part of 's wife we don't know who what what her name was another cautionary tale another lesson in scripture for all of us um resisting

temptation being put into situations that we may have trouble getting out

of thankfully Joseph did get out of it but um yeah Piper's wife is going to change the whole

trajectory of of Joseph's life right it's almost you know he was uh you know his whole life he's taken and he sold by his own Brothers despite the fact that he was wailing and weeping don't do this to me sent them down anyways as luck would have it and as the hand of God would have it he's got a pretty good gig in P Piper's house he's running the show he's the head servant um

and you know it's like it's almost like hey this is the perfect job this is a perfect situation doing very well but you know things can change in a moment and this is what happens because of his position he's going to he's going to you know the eye of Piper's wife is going to be upon him and he did the right thing but he was punished for

it he ran away from that situation but he was still punished for it and so you know often times we can that can be a tough thing right you in your mind you know we've done everything you know what you're supposed to do but the outcome doesn't match what you wanted it to be God has other plans for us you know Joseph on Joseph had to suffer he had to go through that struggle being in jail for you know a couple years as an innocent man as an innocent man falsely Accused by this woman

unnamed cautionary tale right about and also just perseverance through struggle perseverance through life's

challenges remaining faithful to God not

despairing Joseph never despaired even though he had every right to he always hoped in God his salvation his Rock his Fortress and eventually he's brought out of prison and brought to Pharaoh he is Redeemed by God himself and brought up um to pharaoh and being second in command so again this whole thing happened with Piper's wife don't know who she is but she's part of the story isn't she about Redemption and also she's part of the story of God saving his people by bringing them down into Egypt from the famine so I just find a lot of that stuff really really interesting um and then along those lines you know even Pharaoh right the Pharaoh in The Exodus we're not we're not told who he is now historians have tried to put together you know who this was the you know and most historians say tentatively that it was probably Ramsey II but we you know we're not told like for instance Pharaoh Nico we're told about phoh noo right he's the one that killed Josiah okay he has a name uh Pharaoh Shack he came up against rone remember so they have names but not not a name for the Pharaoh of The Exodus number one but also Pharaoh's daughter we don't know who Pharaoh's daughter is okay she's not given a name but here's something interesting let's look at this so in Exodus 2 Pharaoh's daughter draws Moses out of one of the tributaries of uh or one of the canals of the Nile draws them out she he is adopted into the Royal household which is incredible wow but let's take a look at this um in first chonicles the 4th chapter now fourth the fourth uh chapter here first Chronicles uh you know we have a lot of

genealogies

um again there's a lot of history in genealogies that sometimes we can Overlook but any anyways this is interesting fourth chapter of first chonicles we're talking about the sons of Judah

now and in the 18th

chapter uh 18th verse for is this it right here yeah in the 18th verse of the fourth chapter of first corini uh

Chronicles his wife je I'm not going to read all these names but go on okay and these are the sons of biia

the daughter of pharaoh which mired

took

beia the daughter of pharaoh

now is this Phar is this daughter here is it referring back to the the daughter of pharaoh here of exus I I don't know but it it seems to indicate that the daughter of pharaoh biia

has children with

Israelites in that 18th verse

Bia is it the same daughter of Egypt uh daughter of pharaoh don't know I just find it extremely

interesting right and um you know it is that is Pharaoh's daughter mentioned here in 1 Chronicles uh part of the story of Mo Moses and how does that all fit in how does that fit in with um you know we're talking about CA you know the Caleb and Judah these are the descendants of these individuals and and it looks like the Royal they married into the Royal household of pharaoh or something whatever that process was I don't know but she's mentioned viia daughter of pharaoh same Pharaoh same daughter Pharaoh's daughter of Moses don't know very interesting stuff though all

right Brady how we doing buddy all

right

okay um few other people Jeff's daughter don't know her name incredible amount of

Faith right she gave up her life and gave up um you know having children and a family and all that because of the oath that Jeff the took um you know this is kind of like one of these deals where what happened to Jeff Jeff's daughter you know was she was she uh burnt literally as a sacrifice I I don't believe so that was abhorent to God it would be abhorent to ancient Israel as well I believe she became part one of the uh the the Tabernacle women who um who helped with the Tabernacle who uh some of the you know the female um the female attendants that were part of it if you remember with Eli and his and his sons what were they doing sexual immorality with the female workers of the

Tabernacle and so some have suggested that jeepa Jeep's daughter would have consecrated herself to service to God at the Tabernacle in some capacity and there there is a connection as well around this time where Samuel is going to be born and some have suggested that um Jeff's daughter unnamed was one of the women that would have help you know would have raised uh Samuel in this area so something to think about a woman of great faith who um put her own life's ambition on the back burner because of her faith in God don't know her name tremendous woman of Faith

though the witched Endor you don't know her name

um but obviously plays an important part with Saul and Samuel towards the end obviously of Saul's life God was not answering Saul through the traditional means right through prayer Visions the urum and the thorum that type of thing had withdrawn himself from Saul because he refused to listen it was always it was always Saul was always always doing something extra right or he wasn't doing enough uh I feel for all I really I really do but anyways um and so you know he he's like I got to find out what's going on this is important you know remember the massive um massive Army of Philistines are coming and um you know he goes to the witch of Endor and he's scared out of his mind right because Samuel does a vision of Samuel appears and everyone's freaked out uh and unfortunately him and his sons die on Mount gilboa during this time and a connection um you know this this this uh the Philistines are really just kind of driving uh kind of SP trying to split Israel into two that's why the battle happened up in Gilbo which up which is up in the north they were trying to kind of split Israel into two and you know make it you know just kind of wither wither it away you know um but anyways um here here's something something interesting in First Kings the 13th chapter the whole chapter is about two unnamed

guys the man of God and the prophet don't know their names let's take a look at

it uh First Kings

13 this is in the time of riobo and

Jobo

um verse 1 13th chapter first king K and behold there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto bethl and Jobo stood by the altar to burn incense and he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord and said oh altar altar thus saith the Lord Behold a child shall be born unto the House of David Josiah by name and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee and men's bone shall be PR on thee he goes on Behold The Altar shall be rent and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out so this man of God don't know his name passes judgment upon uh Jobo and the northern tribes because of their false worship of Yahweh they worshiped Yahweh brothers and sisters but they worshiped them in their own in their own way and they worship other gods as well okay so when we think they had their own Temple and everything in

Samaria um but you know know it says that Jobo took people from the base you know the basis of the people and made them priests and changed the location of worship allowed high places to go on didn't allow the Levites to be part of um part of service which was commanded by God in other words he made up his own religion the name was still the same they still worship Yahweh but in their own way right it's another cautionary tale by an unnamed individual right man of God Comes This altar is going to be destroyed by Josiah he's mentioned by name so very important prophecy by this man of God there's another individual that he comes in contact with called The

Prophet um let's

see yeah answer the king the god uh yeah in verse 11 remember he's told not he's he's told not to stop anywhere you got to just boom you got to go do your job and then go but this in verse 11 now there dwelt an old prophet in bethl another unnamed guy but this Prophet is going to lie to the man of God's face and say no no no God said to come on in let's let's enjoy a meal together you know this Prophet wanted the blessing from this man of God okay it was very important to get a blessing um and so he lied to this guy and this the man of God is going to end up being um killed by a lion I believe right he's going to be killed um so anyways there's a whole chapter in scripture about two guys that have we don't know their

names the whole chapter the man of God and the and the old Prophet okay lot of lessons in this in this chapter though isn't there even though we don't know the names of these two individuals lot of lessons life lessons for us

okay um oh this is a good one this is one I like here in uh 2 Samuel uh

20 yeah this is a real good one people all right yeah and um so this is this is all unfortunately during the time of upheaval and chaos and Rebellion this is David right right after the rebellion of Absalom where really all Israel turned on David towards his son um Absalom but after that war after Absalom is killed and that kind of settles down there's another upheaval too this guy named uh this uh individual named uh he was a man of bile Sheba all right he was a Tribe of Benjamin right there's that connection with the house of Saul right the house of Saul is still kind of myth that David kind of took over everything and so there's still individual uals from the house of Saul from The Tribe of Benjamin that are interested in getting power back so everything was not all hunky dory in in um in David's Kingdom as we know there's a lot of ups and downs

anyways

um in where's this chapter here yeah this is where like a Mesa am Mesa was given uh control of the army by David because of what joab did he didn't listen to David to you know spear Absalom Jo's like nah and he ends up killing you know puts three dots in him and then sends his body God onto Absalom attack him to death um anyways he goes up to amesa right amesa has been given the captain ship um of the army of Israel joab wants it back so he goes up to amesa right are you in health my brother are you doing good how you how's your health sow right got the right under the fifth rib and just the treachery of joab right we know these guys names we don't know this wise woman though of AEL I was looking at it

uh where is

this yeah in verse

15 and they came and besieged in Abel this is where Sheba goes he goes and he kind of to this place uh unto Abel into Beth Maya

and so he's hiding out here it was a fortress City it had a tower it was it was a fortress City and it was fortified and so in order to get Sheba out of there they were going to have to go through this very long

Siege okay it was going to take time people were going to starve to death people were going to get killed all right so one woman again we don't know her name gave wise advice to joab okay verse

16 yeah in verse 15 and they cast up a bank against the city and it stood in the trench and all the people that were with joah battered the wall to throw it down all right this is it's getting real they dug trenches fortifications they're slamming you know they're trying to slam the walls down with battering rams it's it's not good verse 16 then tried a wise

woman out of the city and pretty much without getting into it she says are you going to destroy to joab you going to destroy everybody in this in this city you going to wipe everybody out and joab's like no no no I don't I don't want to do that I don't want to swallow up everybody I don't want to destroy everyone Abel was a very it was a respected city as well okay it was a city that um that was respect respected within the community of Israelites I'm not 100% sure on why that is but it was an important city and so what she said was is

um uh yeah in verse 18 they were want to speak in Old Times saying they shall surely ask counsel at Abel and so they ended the matter in other words Abel was a place where they would go to um to mediate big problems okay it was a kind of like a I don't know like a sacred city or a City where people would come that everyone knew we're going to try to mediate problems before it turned violent okay and Abel was one of those cities um and

so yeah in verse 19 I am one of them that are Peaceable and faithful in Israel thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel why will thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord so she's speaking really for all the innocent people in the city I'm faithful I I haven't turned on David all these people are faithful we're Peaceable people why do you want to destroy us just to get to this one guy and joab agrees because I don't want to do that at all and so the woman says hey I'll take care of it and then the next

day sheba's head gets tossed over the wall so again great you know great little story here

not mention what her name was a wise woman I if I if I was in scripture as a wise man I'd take it right but I still I still want to know like what's what's This Woman's name what's her backstory she's a wise woman that's what God calls her and she gave wise advice to joab along the same lines Brothers and Sisters of the wise advice that um Abigail gave David remember kind of the same a little same situation David's all like he's he was disrespected by nabal and all this and he's like that's it I'm going to I'm wiping everything out right and um you know Abigail's like whoa whoa whoa whoa hey take it easy we know Abigail's name but very similar this wise woman gave a lot of very similar advice right let's calm things down let's let's think about this there's got to be a better solution and I think when we have to be ready to listen to good advice this was good advice and joab took that advice and so for all of joab's faults and there were a

lot he he usually made the right decision when it came to battle okay and this was the right decision he knew this was going to be a long drawn out Affair a lot of people were going to get killed it was it was going to be brutal and he he made the right decision and he says I just want the guy I just want Shea that's all I want and that's and that's what happened thanks to um the wise woman of Abel not knowing don't know her name but she did a great job in in saving a lot of innocent people in able all

right where we got all right uh this will be our last uh our last slide so it's going to be a two-parter then it's a two-parter I think all right the last two here the Queen of

Sheba uh now extra biblical

sources particularly the Ethiopian Christian Church uh has a whole history with uh the queen of shebra and Solomon it's really fascinating I'm going to give you the cliff

notes the Queen of Sheba goes up to see Solomon in all his glory

okay

um they are intimate with each

other and from that Union uh she Shea gives birth to a line of kings that started there and goes all the way up to Holly kassi I think his name is and and that's a modern he was a modern you know if you guys know about like ree music and Bob Molly and stuff like that um this is where a lot of this comes comes from is they they believe that the descendants of Solomon and sheba are the Messiah okay this family Ethiopian royal family Bob Molly talks about a lot of that kind you know um and that's really was like part of his kind of spiritual religious Outlook was you know we're going to we're going to bring this this Messiah to the world from Ethiopia right so

anyways R say again rosarian correct thank you Jim yes um now last one we're going to take a look at and this is kind of this is one of my favorites I think because it's so you know and it it involves you know a lot of different people that is interesting what do we got okay yeah I'm GNA do this quick in Second Kings the 5th

chapter uh Second Kings 5 Cino all right so let's take a look at these uh couple verses here in verse one now Naaman captain of the host of the king of Syria first of all that's that's a very powerful position this guy was the general of all the forces of Syria okay no joke very powerful guy was a great man with his master and honorable because by him the Lord had given Deliverance unto Syria he was also a mighty man in Valor but he was a

leper just as an aside he's not going to be the only leper Commander that history knows about during the Middle Ages um King Baldwin who was a king in Jerusalem the C the the Europeans are going to control Jerusalem for about a 100 years there's going to be one king his name's King Baldwin he's only going to live to like be 25 he had leprosy if you ever seen King the movie Kingdom of Heaven uh he's the he's the king that wears kind of like a silver mask uh in order to kind of cover up the the lesions and so forth on his face true story he was a leper great king very respected but he had leprosy and it's going to end up killing him same with Naaman he's a great man but he's got leprosy and we all know leprosy is and I often think about this how could he do his

job right he's got leprosy but he's he's leading a bunch of men to battle maybe he it was just you know he maybe he had just gotten it or it wasn't like Advanced leprosy you're not doing anything you're in constant pain it's awful

awful

anyways um verse two I'll take a look at this in the syrians okay non non's um

soldiers and the syrians had gone out by companies raiding parties and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid and she waited on naaman's wife a little maid from

Israel don't know her name and not only don't do we not know her name she was forcibly

taken from her family and her country and her

people to serve syrians to serve non's

wife as a female slave she was a female slave okay live now listen this there were different types of slave categories all right this was a pretty this was a very nice job okay you're in a very wealthy home um waiting on the Mistress of the house they were a lot worse slave jobs but just think about that

mentality what type of like mindset would we have where your enemy the head enemy of your people has leprosy the enemy that took you from your own family to live up in Syria what would your mindset be well let's see what this little Maid does oh here's my opportunity I'm gonna Stick it to this guy he's got it coming all right here's this verse three and she said unto her mistress would go God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his

leprosy

wow she she's actually concerned about non and about you know the leprosy that I think just manifested itself I think the leprosy really just kind of just manifested itself and so they're trying to figure out well how how are we going to how are we going to deal with this situation and so this little girl no name has the faith in the wherewithal to say Hey you know there's a guy in Samaria a prophet of God he would absolutely heal you of your leprosy little

girl that was taken away to her enemy but still has this faith in God that God can help help my enemy this

Syrian we don't know her name but is because of her faith and really her her love and care for her fellow human being even

though they had caused such upset in her life still has the wherewithal on the faith to say go go see go go see the prophet in Samaria and because of that naan is going to be healed he's going to be healed of his leprosy um and I think that's a great example of an unnamed named

individual making the right decision showing

love uh having faith in God despite their

circumstances um and so like you know these these types of things just kind of make me think you know and they

um and I love stories like this because you know we don't we're not given all the information but we're given enough information to have it work on ourselves to have it work on our hearts so we can apply these lessons good and bad to our lives forever in these uh types of

situations so we'll stop there uh we next week Lord woman we'll look at some of the unnamed people in the New Testament pretty good

Transcript

we we had been talking about uh last

Sunday about important people or important stories in scripture um particularly in the Old Testament we looked at the Old Testament we have these wonderful stories and these wonderful examples of Hope and Faith and love but there's no names associated with some of these people and you know it's always something that I've you know I've wondered about people that maybe are just cursorily me mentioned or not mentioned at all as far as their names I'm always interested in their backstory like what's what's the story how did they get to this position why is scripture um giving this to us why is God saying to us this is important I want you to know this and so um you know I think it's thought-provoking sometimes as you know far as far as why did God you know tell us the name of a certain somebody but not the name of somebody else right um and so just just some that I kind of you know looked at that were interesting to me um was like Lot's wife we don't know lot's wife's name but Jesus refers to her as a warning about turning back about looking back once you've left something turning back to the wickedness of Sodom and gomorah Jesus says remember Lot's wife not her name but her actions um lot's daughters as well we don't know lot's daughters but we know kind of the immorality that came from that as well pifer's wife played an important role in the story of Joseph was really the Catalyst for the story of Joseph um don't know her name but but you know was part of kind of the Redemption of God's people which is interesting and then Pharaoh's daughter as well we don't know her name but again she Drew Moses out of the water and started that whole process as well so I always find it fascinating and interesting the way that God uses certain people to bring about his plan no name people we don't know who their names are but God is using these people to ultimately bring about his The Plan of Salvation for his people Israel and also for the whole world as well um couple others that we we talked about very briefly Jeff's daughter right remember that you know jeffa made that very rash

um vow to God whoever was the first person to come out and greet me I'm going to sacrifice you know it to to the Lord and um unfortunately that was jeffa now Jeff there isn't going to go didn't go and burn or human you know the human sacrifice of his daughter what happened most likely was is that Jeff's daughter um became one of the temple women or the Tabernacle women that were there to help kind kind of um you know help things along and and if you remember with the story of Eli and his sons what was Eli what was Eli's Sons doing half n and Phineas they were being immoral right with the uh with the with the temple women with the Tabernacle women that that were there and so Jeff's daughter most likely was part of that not part of the immorality obviously but some have suggested as well that Jeff's daughter even though we don't have a name for her um was instrumental in bringing up Samuel during this time right so Samuel was there he was a little boy and he would have been you know around you know a lot of the corruption but you know if it is true that Jeff's daughter was there he would have seen you know the faith and the commitment and the devotion as well which would obviously M make an impact on him um we talked about the wise woman of Abel where uh you know Israel was um uh joab had surrounded this town or this city and this one woman we don't know her name really saved the whole city by saying hey who are you looking for oh yeah we got we got this guy and you know th threw his head over the wall so anyways and then the last one that I think kind of pro promoted you know this kind of talk and looking at it is um the slave girl that saved Naaman from leprosy from a life of leprosy remember naam um was a Syrian he was the captain of the Syrian host a direct enemy to the people of Israel in fact that scripture in second Kings chapter 5 that we looked at tells us that he had sent raiding parties into the North of Israel and one one of the prizes or one of the captives that he brought back was what this this little Jewish slave girl and despite her situation she actually speaks up and says hey um you know I know a prophet that could probably you know heal heal um you know you know Naaman and so um you know it's just it's just interesting the faith that this little girl had we don't know her name but she still had Faith despite her s situation she still had hope she still remembered uh the religion and and uh the religion and the beliefs of her ancestors as well even though she had been taken from her country so it's uh definitely food for thought any questions comments before we move on to the New

Testament okay so um you know we this is not a um you know comprehensive or complete list of no-name people these are things that I'm just I was I'm interested in him personally and um that's why we're talking about it all right so the first thing in Matthew Chapter 2 we can take a look at this um the wise men right the wise men you know go on this and Incredible Journey uh in Matthew Chapter

2 we're told that they they saw the star in the sky and they had been they were most likely from the Babylonian area and um you know they could there's a lot of you know people are really interested or have been interested in the in the origin of the wise men they were most likely um you know they they they certainly could have been Jewish you we know that they they lived there for a long period of time for 70 years not all of them came back a lot of them stayed there in Babylon in fact there was up until the Middle Ages really up until the modern state of Israel in 1930s and 40s there was a sizable Jewish Community inside of Baghdad in fact one of one of the O you know the oral teachings that they have the talmid there's one called the Babylonian talmid which was put together in Babylon so a sizable I'm talking about hundreds 200,000 Jews that lived in Iraq what's modern day Iraq in Babylon unfortunately once the modern state of Israel was um incorporated or they announced that hey Israel has 1948 we're an independent country all of the Jews in Baghdad and other Arab countries were kicked out they kicked them out um and a lot of them ended up obviously in Israel because they had no place so you went from a pretty sizable portion of Jewish people living in Arab countries up until 194 up until 1948 and then right around that time they kicked them out in the political thing so you you had generations of Jewish people living in places like Baghdad Cairo

Alexandria uh a lot of these other Arab uh uh cities they were all kicked out all of them so um but anyways so the they were part of the diaspora and they see this you know they see a a a star in the sky and there's been a lot of writing about that as well but if we take a look at Matthew 2 um verse one now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold there came wise men from the East so that's the information that we given wise men from the East where is he that is born King of the Jews for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him so they were very interested in the movement of celestial stars and um movement of planets that type of thing um and obviously that it must have they were looking for a certain type of sign and they saw this sign up in the heavens uh what this star was there's been a lot of speculation on that as well well but they took this incredibly long journey to go and to see the king of the Jews right and Herod herod's like what there's another king hold on a minute and this is unfortunately what happens is the wise men also kind of trick Herod saying yeah we'll definitely come back to you and give you all the information about the king of the Jews so you too can worship right remember Herod said that was the thing like well tell me the information I I too would like to worship the king of the Jews knowing of course that he just wanted to kill him because you know was obviously a rival to the throne and we know that unfortunately that's exactly what happened right um Rachel weeping for her children right the the slaughter of the Innocents in be in Bethlehem two years old and under slaughtered by by herod's uh men okay awful situation but again this is a situation where we don't know the names of these individuals but just just think for a minute brothers and sisters the faith that it would take for you know three individuals most likely wealthy you know they had some you know they had some wealth to them given you know gold frankincense and myr they were not cheap items all right um and so just think about the faith and the fact that they were looking for this sign they were looking for the sign of the Messiah and so that you know that's that's an interesting question for us to kind of look at our own s are we looking for the Messiah is that how we're living our lives are we living our lives in anticipation of the return of Jesus Christ or do we kind of lose track of things during the during our days right Jesus kind of gets you know pushed out not that that we don't want Jesus you know God in our lives but it's just you know the everyday stuff just kind of drowns Jesus out sometimes certainly in my life and so I think we have to make a conscious effort to always be looking for for Christ right is he is he the foundation of Our Lives the foundation of our days certainly the Magi were looking for something and they saw that sign let's see and he took them and he was there until the death of Herod okay yeah in verse 12 of the second chapter of Matthew they presented unto him Gifts of gold Frankin and myr and being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed into their country another way right

so you know there's a lot of St lot of lot of interesting stuff with this story but you know Herod is conniving right he's he's looking for a way he's using the magy he gets this information information seems about right yep we conduct yep the star is exactly where it should be and he's scheming to kill this PO to kill Jesus but God's involved right God's involved and Herod thinks he can he can manipulate everything but God is involved we have to remember that in our lives too sometimes we can be in situations where we think that um you know we're the only ones that are controlling the situation right it's because of us because of our minds because of our strength and the fact of the matter is God is in control and this is a perfect example of that Herod had all kinds of plans to keep his power but God had other plans and he is going to use everything in his disposal to bring about his purpose in fact you know GE um Jesus Mary and Joseph they had to flee down into Egypt as well you know they were they they were they were going to be killed as well and that's why they they ended up going down into Egypt so anyways um along those same lines in Luke Chapter

2 obviously about the same time uh around the same time anyways uh in Luke the 2 chapter great chapter by the way lot of wonderful

um lot of wonderful statements of Faith there so in Luke Chapter 2 um what are we looking at yeah the the

shephards so Luke Chapter 2 and they were in uh in in the town of Bethlehem obviously

verse seven she brought for forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in a swad in swaddling clothes and laid him in a major because there was no room for them in the end everyone's got to go back to their hometowns to be taxed right the Romans were taxed they wanted make sure they were getting all of their money and so boom here we are um and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and loow the Angel of the Lord Came Upon them and the glory of the Lord Shone round about them and they were sore afraid and the angel said unto them fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people and so uh in verse 14 as well there so there was one angel that came and speaking he's speaking to them but then what does verse 13 say and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest on Earth peace Good Will towards men so um you know these Shepherds have no names they're just out there they're doing their jobs and they had the privilege of seeing an angel first right the angel announces that um the savior of the world has been born to these lowly Shepherds and they're sore afraid right they're very afraid they're scared to death if you see a Heavenly being we would be scared to death as well okay and that's actually very common um reaction to seeing an angel a he Heavenly um you know Heavenly being and so um here's three individuals that are forever tied to the not three well the three three wise men doesn't necessarily say three but people make the connection with there's you know there's three gifts that were given three wise men but scripture doesn't say specifically that they were three wise men tradition does say that but anyways so the you know these shepherds are out there and so they're tied in with the story of the Messiah with the birth of Jesus and they go in and they want to go they they see they go and see the child um and so again they're very human people obviously you know they're sore afraid at the angel they see the Glorious light it's dark

outside you have light everywhere it must have been incredible um and they're moved by this obviously to go and to see the Messiah to see to see Jesus Christ um and that's what they do and so who knows what their names are God it's not necessarily important to know their names I guess is what God is saying right I think I think in today's society where the individual is put like it's you know like you hear you hear on TV sometimes you know I'm on my journey right it's my journey Butchie hey Butchie I'm speaking my truth you know it's like you know speaking your speaking your truth well there is the truth there is the gospel of hope that's the Baseline and so everything sometimes and I'm I'm not saying a general statement right we are so concerned about us the individual feelings my feelings my emot and they're important but when they consume us right when we become our own Gods when we become our own leaders that's where the problem comes in and so you can see the humility of these Shepherds right don't be puffed up with our own pride and with our own with our own thinking right we need to be more like these humble Shepherds who were sore afraid at the glory of God and then they were motivated to go and see Christ don't know who they are their names but they showed incredible commitment incredible Faith uh and they wanted to see the Messiah and that's what they did and so we have to emulate that regardless if we know their names or not all right we're not going to look this up but um we we know the story uh herodias his daughter um you know she was part of kind of again we're talking about manipulation again Herod tries to manipulate the wise men man well what do we have here herodias now part of kind of the Jewish L um the Jewish ruling class here uh you know they hate John the Baptist because what what did John the Baptist do well he spoke out against this marriage right because Herod had married his brother's wife Philip's Philip's wife herodias by the way and herodias hated John because of this and you can imagine right Herod had a relationship with John the Baptist they actually talked there seemed to see be some type of friendship that was um because it it bothered him like it was really it really upset him when herodias uh manipulated Herod you know it's interesting Herod is so busy manipulating other people he got manipulated himself um and so these are the type of people unfortunately that Jesus had to deal with and John the Baptist had to deal with but it didn't stop John the Baptist from speaking out even though it eventually cost his life so John the Baptist is bold he's speaking to Herod they had a relationship he was you know it was one of these things with Kings and Prophets there's that relationship in the Old Testament that dynamic between a prophet and a king Hezekiah and um Isaiah comes to mind Jeremiah and the different uh in Jeremiah zedekiah those types of things Josiah in the prophetes uh Her Name Escapes me right now um so anyways you know Elijah and Ahab there's that Dynamic John the Baptist and Herod and here we here we are um herodias his daughter goes and you know the whole scene is is kind of like just decadent that's what I think of of this like scene decadent and like immorality like they're having some kind of big banquet right the Wine's flowing there's probably drunkenness or whatever yeah bring her out I want to hear a dance and that's you know that's what happens you know and so boom

he and so you know unfortunately you know the kind of the scheming of of mankind you know and just some of the corruption that took place this is a perfect example brothers and sisters of what Isaiah speaking of Isaiah and Jeremiah the the corruption you know Hosea talks about it Amos all all of the prophets talks about this type of corruption in the ruling classes of the Jewish people it were perfect example right the Injustice of what happened to John the Baptist he's imprisoned and then killed and then they bring this holy man's

head on a platter like what's this there's a sickness there isn't there like a there's an obsession with control with power with pride that's all they cared about personal political power

so personal political power

alliteration uh cyof phenician woman in um in Mark the 7th chapter uh yeah let's I I'll I'll read a section to it again great story of faith we don't know who this person was this individual we don't know her name but she was a woman of great faith

um yeah Mark chapter

7 25 thank you yeah so he's um and from then he arose it says and went into the borders of Ty and siden so Ty and siden that's way up North that's up near where the well tyr and siden are pH Ian

cities they're they're Pagan cities they worship Baal and uh completely different culturally from the Jews in fact the Jews always looked at the Phoenicians with the with you know you look at it um look at ezekiel's prophecies against Ty and the king of Ty that type of thing uh very very wealthy very rich the Phoenicians as we've talked about went everywhere by ship okay they were the Great ancient Sailors of the world uh some have said that they've gotten they got up to um you know Great Britain that area certainly they made it all the way to India and some said that they went around the horn uh of Africa as well which is quite a feet did they who knows but anyways um the syrop phenician woman was a pagan she she should not have been associating with the Jewish people particularly holy a holy man like Jesus Jesus okay so he's up in the north now remember as well brothers and sisters just like from a spiritual point of view the North in Jewish thinking okay was always where evil came from the north destruction always came from the north and that's true right the where did the Assyrians come from came from the north where did the Babylonians come from came from the north okay later on where is Antiochus epiphan is going to come he's going to come down from the north and actually uh destroy parts of Jerusalem takes about 30,000 Jews captive okay where did the Romans come from when they destroyed uh Jerusalem in ad70 from the north they came and they they landed up in the Galilee and they wanted to take care of the Galilee first first because that's where um a lot of the you know the upheaval was they totally just wiped out the Galilee for the most part it was a Slaughter and then they moved down into Jerusalem so the north was always where destruction in evil came from and we we can understand that that's where all the great armies came to destroy Israel Andor Judah um throughout their history okay Jesus goes up north he's going actually into into the area of

wickedness the area of Darkness the area of sin he's up there now in this area and he comes across the syrop phenician woman right verse 25 he entered into a house and would have no man know it but he could not be hid news got around like this Jesus is here he's up in tyr and siden Gentile land whooo for a certain woman whose young daughter had an unclean Spirit heard of him and came and fell at his feet the woman was a Greek a syrop phenician by nation and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter so just a comment about this there's there's two nationalities that are mentioned here and I think they mentioned on purpose a Greek right so she was a combination of a Greek in a cyof

Phoenician so Syria and Phoenicia and for good measure she was also pot Greek as well so a gentile of the Gentiles right Paul says he was you know he was a he was a Jew of the Jews right he was of the line of Benjamin I was a Pharisee she was a gentile of the Gentiles because this area was taken over by the Greeks after Alexander the Great we may know from history that they were two main two main kind of combatants two Greek generals com you know fought each other one was the solids who were up north and down south in Egypt were the tommies okay so they had taken over this area as Pagan as can be Gods everywhere Greek gods Phoenician Gods Syrian Gods okay this is the area Jesus is in a house in this IA and so here comes this woman don't know her name a gentile of the Gentiles um would cast forth the devil but Jesus said unto her let the children first be filled for it is not right to take the children's bread and to cast it unto dogs right so that's an interesting

response it's an interesting response by Jesus Jesus doesn't immediately say you know

yes absolutely your daughter is I will absolutely do that he makes the statement that my first goal is to what to the Lost tribe you know to the to the lost in Israel the lost sheep in Israel and he says and it's he kind of you know some people say like Jesus was belittling this woman like I and that that isn't the case it's not a it's it's not a case of Jesus belittling anybody but he's using it as

a an example that Jesus's first spiritual job was to God's people to God's people and he uses the example of you know afterward you give it to other people okay and so this woman understands this he she understands the concept of what Jesus is saying the context excuse me

right um and she answered and said unto him yes I agree with Lord yes the children should be

first yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's

crumbs so there's a there's like a two-pot process here you know the parent right gives food to the

children and then the children eat and they're eating kind of messily and there's crumbs falling down so look at the just think of this imagery the father or the mother gives it to the child the child because the way he's eating allows crumbs to fall on the floor a little extra food for the

animals and so the syrop phenician woman says yes Lord you know what I I agree you should be going to the lost sheep of the tribes of Israel but I'm here give me a

crumb I just want a crumb

and so it was that

response um and he said unto her for this saying go thy way the devil has gone out of thy daughter and when she was come to her house she found the devil gone and her daughter laid upon the bed another account I think um in Matthew says that Jesus said I have not found so great faith not in all of

Israel it was a gentile woman that Jesus labeled as one of the most faithful in all of Israel they weren't even in Israel he wasn't in Israel he was up in Phoenicia important Lesson by this woman this great woman of Faith No Name don't know her don't know her name but she is forever in the gospels because of her faith

um yes

Buie okay

yeah

yes woman yes father's know is a woman and the angel goes to the woman right and he and I think it was manoah with the father's and he's praying come to me and the angel still shows up it was it was a type of you know Samson was a seed of the woman yes right it was going he was going to be delivered uh Born By God's will not man's will yes and the other example is I think barabus he's the type of natural man he's the seed of the serpent his name means son of his father yet we don't know who the father is right because he's a type and then we don't know whatever happens to barabus after he's freed from prison where did he go did he go back to his old ways or did he change right and every man has to make that decision so he represents you know the seed of the serpent that decision that needs to be made uh so just yeah know it's it's great Barabas it's a great name son of his father yeah very it's a very nebulous you know that's that's right it is all of us for sure right he was crucified that's right we're all Barabas um hey yes so without we we'll go through these and then uh this this will be it um the father and son right the father who comes to Jesus because his son

uh throws himself into the

fire right tries to drown himself imagine imagine you know dealing with a with a child that with this type of you know ailment or you know the situation awful and you can see just

um the the the

despair the despair of the father like Lord I believe can you help my unbelief I'm trying the best I can here this is this is the amount of faith that I have you you need to help me um and Jesus sees this you know he sees he sees the struggle of this of this father and you know the condition of the son and he's filled with compassion right and uh in in nine and Mark N9 you don't have to turn to it

um yeah he in verse 20 he tear him the spirit tears him and he fell on the ground and wallowed

foing and Jesus asked him a question how long is it ago since this came of him and he he said of a child he's had it his whole life and oftimes it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him but if thou cast do anything have compassion on us and help

us Jesus said unto him if you believe all things are possible he said Lord I believe help mine

unbelief and so um you know Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose and so that's how it ends you know Jesus Takes the hand of this child don't know his name don't know the father's name but it's one of these one of these great interactions with Jesus and people that were struggling like really you know bad you know the father's at his Wit's End he's been dealing with this boy you know imagine you know

just out of nowhere throws himself into the fire throws himself into the water to drown awful

awful and then lastly you know we can um you know verse 29 his disciples said in verse 28 you

know how come we couldn't cast him out Jesus had an interesting answer this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting

um I sometimes think about that too like there's certain problems in our lives that are going to acquire going to

require more spiritual

ammunition more prayer more discipline like fasting fasting is a discipline you discipline your body you bring your body under subjection to focus your mind on prayer with God on whatever issue you're you're dealing with and so that's I think that's what Jesus was saying like there's certain issues in our lives that are going to require um

significant spiritual

focus and I and in this

world it can be very difficult sometimes to focus on spiritual things but that's just what Jesus is saying like there's going to be things in your life that you're going to have to focus spiritually really hard prayer and fasting discipline it's going to take a while isn't just going to

happen uh and so I think that's an important lesson in our walk in the truth there's going to be times when we're going to and we have to turn to Christ prayer and fasting and that's that's it just to focus uh there's no other way out through prayer and

fasting

um woman with the Ishu of blood right great story crawling on the ground touches the Hem of Jesus's garment right the blue that he had in the end righteousness of God touches it great faith don't know her name but it's the faith right the self-sacrificing nature of these individuals they put everything on the line for Christ they turn to

Christ for help

and that's what we need to emulate in our lives regardless if we know their names or not what is the behavior what was the action of these

individuals um and that's what God wants us to remember and to emulate woman at the well woman taken in adultery you don't know right everyone was ready to Stone her right and I think we talked about this too it's kind of like a setup right the the scribes and the Pharisees and the operatives the religious operatives um you know we often think of the scribes and Pharisees as a this little group and that's true they were a group but all of these guys had guys you know this crew of SC the scribes and the fares and the Sadducees they all had their groups of lackes right they their workers they this is their job their job was to do the bidding of these people and so this is where all of the scheming came in to try to get Jesus to discredit Christ and every time he always did the right he always asked a nice follow-up question right that they couldn't answer render to Caesar the things that are Caesars no that that's not the answer we wanted um so anyways and then lastly we talked about this um and it was kind of the Catalyst for this little class anyways uh was the man born blind right from John nine

don't know his name but man oh man that's a great chapter and just look at look at the faith of this individual no name blind from the time he was born in the great faith of this man and the way that he speaks about Christ he obviously was a very smart spiritual man he had listened he didn't have his eyes but he listened just think about how powerful his he is were right because that's that what happen we lose a if we lose our sight or our hearing

our other senses kind of try its best to still get that

information um and so our other senses kind of take over some of obviously you can't see with your ears but you really get in tune to people's voices and what they're saying for sure so all right that's it for me brother Chris in the

back typically every Sunday and uh when Jesus says it is he that dipe his hand in the dish and they said one by one is it I is it I is it I and of course over the years at different times in your discipleship you'd say why do we have to read that every Sunday but uh to ask ourselves yeah is it I yeah for sure thank you Chris anything

else all right well thanks for listening uh brother brother Jim Sullivan are you up next I