Welcome to Day 2882 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2882 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 135:8-14 Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2882 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2882 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.<#0.5#> The Title for Today’s Wisdom-Trek is: The Sovereign of History – Dismantling the Rebel Giant Kings<#0.5#> In our previous stop along this grand, poetic landscape, we explored the opening movement of Psalm One Hundred Thirty-Five, where we witnessed a magnificent temple liturgy that unmasked the false gods of the nations. We watched as Yahweh effortlessly demonstrated His total, seamless mastery over nature—commanding the clouds, directing the lightning, and releasing the wind from His royal celestial storehouses. We saw how the psalmist executed a brilliant, razor-sharp polemical attack against Baal, stripping the Canaanite storm god of his fraudulent resume. We discovered the comforting truth that Israel is Yahweh’s segullah—His private, prized, and treasured possession, chosen out of the chaotic landscape of a disinherited world.<#0.5#> Today, the temple liturgy takes a powerful, dramatic turn. The psalmist shifts his focus away from Yahweh’s absolute sovereignty over nature, and directs our eyes to His absolute, undeniable sovereignty over human history and spiritual geography. He takes the traveling assembly on a historical tour, demonstrating that the True King doesn’t just manage the weather; He systematically dismantles the greatest earthly emp’res, and violently crushes the giant rebel kings who attempt to block the expansion of His kingdom. We are exploring Psalm One Hundred Thirty-Five, verses eight through fourteen, in the New Living Translation. Let us step onto the trail, adjust our cosmic lenses, and watch the Righteous Judge execute justice against the principalities of darkness.<#0.5#> The First Segment is: The Judgment of Egypt’s Incarnate Gods<#0.5#> Psalm One Hundred Thirty-Five: verses eight and nine.<#0.5#> He destroyed the firstborn in each Egyptian home, both people and animals. He performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his people.<#0.5#> The historical narrative begins in the dark, oppressive brick-kilns of Egypt, tracing the opening lines of Israel’s great cosmic liberation. “He destroyed the firstborn in each Egyptian home, both people and animals. He performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his people.”<#0.5#> To fully comprehend the sheer scale of the spiritual warfare embedded in these familiar words, we must look past our modern, secular history books, and view the Exodus through the profound lens of the Ancient Israelite divine council worldview, as masterfully taught by Doctor Michael S. Heiser. In the book of Exodus, chapter twelve, verse twelve, Yahweh explicitly declares the ultimate, underlying purpose of the plagues. He states, “Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am Yahweh.” <#0.5#> The Exodus was not merely a political dispute over human labor; it was an open, aggressive courtroom trial, and a declaration of war against the corrupt, territorial elohim of the Nile. Egypt was the premier superpower of the ancient world, operating under the direct spiritual inspiration of powerful, rebellious members of the heavenly host. Pharaoh himself was not viewed merely as a human politician; he was worshiped as an incarnate god—the living proxy, and the supreme avatar, of the rebel spiritual principalities. When Pharaoh oppressed the chosen family of God, he was acting as the mouthpiece for the cosmic rebellion.<#0.5#> Therefore, when Yahweh unleashed His miraculous signs and wonders, He was systematically target-shooting the Egyptian pantheon. He turned the Nile into blood to humiliate the river gods; He blocked out the sun to blind the sun god, Ra; and He paralyzed the land with darkness. <#0.5#> The terrifying, ultimate climax of this cosmic execution occurred when the Lord destroyed the firstborn of both people and animals. In the ancient Near East, the firstborn son represented the strength, the legal inheritance, and the future legacy of the household. By striking down the firstborn—including the firstborn son of Pharaoh himself—Yahweh permanently broke the spiritual back of the empire. He demonstrated that the gods of Egypt were utterly helpless, completely unable to protect their own biological and spiritual lineages from the superior authority of the Creator. The proud, arrogant principalities of the Nile were weighed in the celestial balances, found wanting, and publicly stripped of their power.<#0.5#> The Second Segment is: Dismantling the Gatekeepers of the Underworld<#0.5#> Psalm One Hundred Thirty-Five: verses ten through twelve.<#0.5#> He struck down great nations and slaughtered mighty kings— Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the rulers of Canaan. He gave their land as an inheritance, a special possession to his people Israel.<#0.5#> The historical tour moves from the waters of the Red Sea, to the rugged, bloody battlefields on the eastern side of the Jordan River. “He struck down great nations and slaughtered mighty kings—Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the rulers of Canaan. He gave their land as an inheritance, a special possession to his people Israel.”<#0.5#> To the casual reader, the names Sihon and Og might seem like obscure, boring footnotes from ancient military history. But to the ancient Israelite pilgrim singing this song, these two names triggered a profound sense of awe, and holy terror. These were not ordinary human kings; they were the terrifying, giant gatekeepers of the cosmic rebellion. <#0.5#> Let us unpack the spiritual geography of these territories through Doctor Heiser's research. In the book of Deuteronomy, we discover that Og, the king of Bashan, was a literal remnant of the giant Rephaim. His massive iron bedstead was over thirteen feet long! In the ancient Near Eastern mindset, the Rephaim were not just tall people; their lineage was directly connected to the Nephilim—the hybrid offspring resulting from the spiritual corruption of the Watchers recorded in Genesis chapter six. They were the physical, and spiritual, anomalies produced by the rebel gods to contaminate the human race, and block the redemptive plans of Yahweh.<#0.5#> Furthermore, the region of Bashan was universally recognized as the geographic and spiritual epicenter of darkness. Located at the foot of Mount Hermon—the exact site where the rebel angels originally staged their mutiny—Bashan was poetically referred to as the "place of the serpent," and the literal "gate of the underworld." Sihon and Og ruled over this demonic stronghold, acting as a massive, supernatural wall designed to intimidate Israel, and prevent them from ever entering the Promised Land.<#0.5#> When Yahweh struck down great nations, and slaughtered these mighty giant kings, He was not just clearing a physical highway for Israel. He was executing a spectacular, cosmic cleansing of the geography. The Divine Warrior marched into the very territory of the dead, confronted the most terrifying, monstrous proxies of the rebel council, and completely obliterated them from the face of the earth. He proved that giant stature, demonic lineages, and ancient spiritual fortresses are absolutely nothing but dust in the presence of the Almighty.<#0.5#> And look at the ultimate, glorious result of this victory in verse twelve: “He gave their land as an inheritance, a special possession to his people Israel.” <#0.5#> This is the beautiful, geographic reversal of the Tower of Babel. At Babel, humanity was disinherited, and handed over to the rule of the lesser elohim. But here, Yahweh violently reclaims the land from the rebels, completely evicts the demonic tenants, and hands the territory over to His segullah—His special possession. The Promised Land becomes a restored beachhead of Eden, a sacred space where the cosmic order, truth, and righteousness of the true King can finally flourish.<#0.5#> The Third Segment is: The Eternal Courtroom Verdict<#0.5#> Psalm One Hundred Thirty-Five: verses thirteen and fourteen.<#0.5#> Your name, O Lord, endures forever; your fame, O Lord, is known to every generation. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.<#0.5#> Having demonstrated Yahweh’s absolute mastery over history, the psalmist transitions into a magnificent, courtroom declaration of praise, drawing a sharp contrast between the mortality