September 2023
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 50
N E H E M I A H 1
The Torah (instruction for righteous living), given by God to Moses, contains a command that those instructions were to be read in full to the assembly of the people every seven years at the time they gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. (Deuteronomy 31:10-13). Ezra had declared his intent, on returning to the land, to engage in teaching the people the commandments of the LORD. (Ezra 7:10).
Zerubbabel had begun the work of rebuilding the temple which king Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed about 50 years earlier. The work proceeded slowly, and the prophet Haggai did what he could (Haggai 1:7,8) to expedite the process. It evidently was a poor sight compared to the one destroyed, but it had a functioning priesthood and the daily sacrifices were observed. Nehemiah had secured the walls of the city, so ensuring that the people were once again living in the land with a degree of normality. Ezra was making his presence felt with a determination to lead the people back to the righteous living required by God. On the first day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar (The Feast of Trumpets), the people assembled in the square just below the temple compound. Ezra was asked to read the Torah Scroll. This had not happened for more than 140 years prior to this, so no-one present had witnessed this before. Ezra stood on a wooden platform so he could be seen and heard by all. In full view of everyone he opened the Scroll. Seven men stood on each side of him. Their purpose was to “read, explain, give meaning to, and help the understanding of the people close to them”. When Ezra began to read the Scroll, the whole congregation stood to their feet. From morning to mid-day Ezra read. And as the book was being read, “the people wept”.
We need to understand exactly what was happening here. It provides a timely lesson for us all. These people were well aware of their identity as citizens of Judah. It is evident that the vast majority had never lived in the land previously, or if they had, they were very old. (One might imagine, for example, a young Jewish child today being told for the first time about their parents or grandparents experience during the holocaust). They listened as they heard about their ancestors deprivation as slaves in Egypt. About the cruel Pharaoh. About Moses. About the exodus from Egypt. The way the LORD fed and protected the people on their journey to the land. The LORD giving Moses the words to which they were now listening. The covenant that was made by their ancestors, and the conditional nature of God’s promise for their occupation of the land from which their recent relatives had been exiled. Imagine, if you can, the shock of hearing these detailed instructions for living righteously and suddenly being aware of the lifestyle they knew, and had been engaged in themselves, and which had caused the expulsion of their forebears from the land. (My personal experience ? I remember so well the day I heard Billy Graham tell me that ‘I was weighed in the balances and found wanting’. And I remember how I wept bitterly!) In my heart, I think I understand why these people wept so much and had to be comforted by the Levites who attended to them. Then they were encouraged with the words “This day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength”. Then they understood the words that had been declared to them. But, the celebrations, and their understanding was just beginning. Ezra was a good teacher. The festivals which began with the feast of trumpets, were followed by the remembrance of the Day of Atonement 10 days later. Then on the 14th day of that same month the joyful celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, which ended 8 days later with “Simchat Torah” (rejoicing in the Torah, the beginning of the new reading cycle).
The effect of these festival celebrations impacted them greatly. Just two days later, as a sign of great mourning they gathered again, dressed in sackcloth, ashes on their heads. The Israelites separated themselves from the non Jews. “They stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for one fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God”. What an experience ! And what a lesson.
The Levites who were present encouraged them by repeating the story of their ancestors. Those who had been the survivors of the exodus from Egypt and had actually been with Joshua and Caleb when they crossed the Jordan to take residence in the land. Read it. (chapter 9:5-38). It does not ‘pull and punches’. It is a faithful account, in brief, of the sure goodness of God and the frailty of the people, of whom they said “Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against You, cast Your Law behind their backs and killed Your prophets, who testified against them to turn them to Yourself …. And after they had rest, they again did evil against You”.
But the last word comes from the hearts of these people, who in sincerity arising from guilt, shame and thanksgiving. Ezra and his close associates must have been overjoyed when they witnessed the result. “All those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding … entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given to Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and to do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes.” A lesson in renewal of vows.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 49
N E H E M I A H 1
Zerubbabel led the first wave of returnees to the land in about 538 BCE. He was accompanied by a different Nehemiah to the one we are ‘reflecting’ on today. Ezra the scribe/priest/historian, who led the second wave of returnees about 448 BCE is considered by most scholars to also be the writer of the book which bears the name of Nehemiah, the kings cup-bearer, who led the third wave of returnees to the land about in about 445 BCE. (It may be of interest to recall that the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah were made about 20 years after the first wave of returnees under Zerubbabel, and the prophecies of Malachi and possibly Joel were made about 15 years after Nehemiah returned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem).
Hanani, a brother of Nehemiah, had some distressing news about those who had left Babylon and returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Ezra, which he shared with Nehemiah. For many days Nehemiah wept, fasted and prayed for his fellow Jews as follows “You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants , and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned before You …. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.” That was a brave and honest confession, a good lesson for any seeking the forgiveness of the LORD. Nehemiah continued as he then reminded God of His word which said “If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments, and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name”.
It would seem that Nehemiah was normally a cheerful sort of fellow. So when a few months later he was attending on the king looking rather glum, the king took notice and asked him the reason. In paraphrase he said “I would like to go to Jerusalem to help my countrymen build the walls of the city.” It was an answer to his prayer. The king not only agreed that he should go, but made provision for building materials to assist with the work. A few days after Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem he surveyed the city to assess what needed to be done. When he shared his thoughts with his friends they agreed to start building. BUT, three local officials, Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, who were probably part of the group who had falsely offered to help Zerubbabel many years earlier, again mounted opposition to frustrate the work. Very soon building was in full swing with many people joining enthusiastically in the project. At a point approximately half way through the work, Sanballat, Tobias and Geshem conspired together attack the walls and cause confusion. But Nehemiah was ahead of them, and although it slowed the building work, he arranged for the men to work in shifts of building and standing guard. Sanballat and his group tried many deceitful ways to cause Nehemiah to halt the building works. But each time, the LORD was able to alert Nehemiah to the deception and so it was that the walls were completed in fifty two days. It was then that the opponents to the wall construction conceded that “this work was done by the LORD God of Israel”.
With Sanballat, Tobias, and Geshem and their co-conspirators thoroughly put to shame, and the wall completed, many others who had ‘sat on their hands’ rejoiced that the city was again secure. The city in Nehemiah’s time was described as ‘large and spacious’, but there were not many houses yet reconstructed, hence few residents. Nehemiah handed control of security to his brother Hanani , with Hananiah the leader of the citadel (the effective guard [pasted-image.tiff] compound for the temple guards) organising the guards. (In the illustration, the area on the bottom right corner shows the ‘city of David’ with the square open space above it being the main residential part, plus the temple mount area. The large outer area shows the location of the walls of what is known as “the old city” today.).
Nehemiah then tells us that “the LORD put it into my heart to gather the nobles, (ones who did not put their shoulder to the work of the LORD ‘see ch 3:5’ ) the rulers, and the people, that they might be registered bu genealogy.” Evidently, this was done by Zerubbabel when he first led people back to the land almost 100 years earlier. Why was this important ? We know from our reading that there was a mixed group of returnees. Many were Jewish. But there were also non Jews, like the Nethinim. The answer may be found a little later when the read “So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the Nethinim, and all Israel dwelt in their (own) cities.” Some tribal order was restored.
Looking to the future, there will be a time when God will make a new, unbreakable covenant with “the house of Israel and the house of Judah”. It seems that such a demarkation is important to God.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
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REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 48
E Z R A 1
There is a significant time interval between chapters 6 and 7 in the book of Ezra. The events described here took place about 60 years after Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Ezra was a well respected, knowledgeable, and faithful servant of the LORD. He was a gifted scribe in the law of Moses. Additionally, being a descendant of Aaron, in the priestly line. He left Babylon to travel to Jerusalem with the full approval of king Artaxerxes. The journey took four months “according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel”. A great lesson for us there. It is much easier to teach something of which one is well acquainted by knowledge, practice, and conviction. And Ezra “had prepared his heart” for the task. Well might we ponder how he did that.
The letter which king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra is recorded for us(Ezra 7: 12-26) Please read it carefully. And indeed Ezra’s response to it. “So I was encouraged” he said “as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered up leading men of Israel to go up (to Jerusalem) with me”. Clearly, the influence of having the Judean exiles living among the Babylonians for 70 years including such giants of faith as Daniel and his friends, had hugely impressed those in the highest ranks of authority. It might also be observed today, that when God chose this nation (Israel) to be “His special treasure”, and entrusted to them the role of being a blessing to others, often in ways not recognised by ‘the world’, His choice was well founded, notwithstanding the often fickle ways many of them have been distracted as they have assimilated into other cultures. There has always been ‘a faithful remnant’, even as there was in Babylon. And the role of that remnant has always been to demonstrate their trust in God and to attempt to live according to his commandments, statutes, and precepts. Just like Ezra did.
But Ezra, checking who had voluntarily chosen to return to Judah with him, discovered that there were NO Levites among them. The Levites were a very important group because they were the only ones allowed to serve in the temple. David had organised the various Levites into 24 ‘divisions’ of priests who would serve in the temple for a period of two weeks each year. So Ezra instructed his close associate, Iddo, to search for those who could serve in the temple. They found 38 Levite volunteers and 200 Nethinim (persons of Gibeonite heritage who performed non priestly service in the temple.) These were allocated in their ‘divisions’ in order that the temple could function in a regular manner when they returned to Jerusalem. When all was ready for the journey, Ezra proclaimed a fast for the assembly as he prayed for the LORD’s divine guidance and protection for that long journey. It is a measure of the stature of the man that he walked so closely with the LORD, seeking His guidance in relation to every detail of the task he had undertaken. Another lesson. We are told that they were safely protected all the way.
BUT, shock horror ! Ezra was soon informed that those priests who had returned to Judah with Zubbabel decades earlier, had again committed the same disobedient indiscretion of intermarriage with the local pagan peoples which was one of the causes of their being expelled form the land over 100 years earlier. To say that Ezra was ‘distressed’ would be an understatement. “He tore his garment” (an outward sign of grieving). Then humbled himself before God in shame, possibly fearing that God might again exercise judgment on the people with exile from the land. But while. Ezra was praying, confessing the sin, weeping and bowing down, a very large number of men women and children gathered around him, also weeping in repentance. One of the men, Shechaniah by name, spoke up. “Let us make a covenant with our God to put away these wives and those who had been born to them, according to the advice of my master (Ezra) and those who tremble at the commandment of our God; … be of good courage, and do it”.
Ezra, still burdened with the guilt of this transgression, required them to swear an oath that they would do as he would tell them. They did. So he called an assembly at Jerusalem for three days later, cautioning that any who did not present themselves would have their property confiscated, and be expelled from their community. When they assembled, Ezra rose before them and said “You have transgressed and have taken pagan wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. Now therefore make confession to the LORD God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the pagan wives” (Deuteronomy 7:2,3). They agreed. But it took another 3 months to investigate the matter fully. The reading of our Scripture today ends with a long list of 113 names of those who had taken pagan wives, some of whom also had children.
We cannot leave this situation without acknowledgment of a dilemma which arises from this event. The prophet Malachi clearly tells us that “God hates divorce” (Malachi 2:16), and yet that is what Ezra required of those who had married pagan wives. The alternative, unchecked, would also go against God’s commandment (Deut, 7:2,3) which was there for a very good reason. A further option would have been to kill them all, as was done on an earlier occasion (Numbers 25:1-9). So in this instance, we might conclude that Ezra was wise in his judgement, in that the divorced wives were, presumably, properly provided for, since the guilty men were clearly repentant for their actions.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 47
E Z R a Return from captivity 1
In the Hebrew Bible, Ezra/Nehemiah is presented as a single book, which follows on the history of the Israelite and Judean kings recorded in the books of the Chronicles, and the calamitous exile of Judah to Babylon. The LORD also used the prophet Jeremiah to emphasise that, in spite of the shame of their exile from the land, there is a glorious return of the Israelite peoples of the world to the land of God’s promise. It started 70 years after that exile, which we will ‘reflect’ upon today, but it is incomplete. “The days are coming, says the LORD, that it shall no more be said ‘the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, ‘the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land the north and from all the lands where He had driven them’. For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.” (Jeremiah 16:14,15) A prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes this very day.
The book of Ezra opens with the words with which Chronicles ended. “The LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia." This is suggestive of the authorship of Chronicles being Ezra the Scribe/Priest/Historian. Students of Scripture will note that there were two separate phases of the return of people from Babylon to Jerusalem. The first is dealt with in the first 6 chapters of the book of Ezra, led by the brave Zerubbabel, whose role was to rebuild the temple. And a second phase, much later, led by Ezra, to rebuild the spiritual condition of those who had returned. Between these two phases it is notable that Esther reigned as queen of Persia, and that Babylon (situated in modern day Iraq) was captured by Persia (modern day Iran). We would be unwise if we ignored the possibility of Daniel also playing a part in the Jews receiving favour from king Cyrus, since, according to the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, he was prime minister at the time. (See Daniel 6:28 and Isaiah 44:28).
There were 42,360 Jews, and 7,337 male and female servants who made the journey with Zerubbabel back to Judah. They settled in the towns from which they had left, but in the seventh month, they assembled in Jerusalem, where Zerubbabel and the priests had re-built the altar of sacrifice. For the first time in 70 years they again began to celebrate the festivals as required by the LORD (Leviticus 23:24-43). So it was that Zerubbabel got them off to a good start on their return to the land, even though the temple, destroyed by king Nebuchadnezzer, was still in ruins. By the second month of the second year after their return, they began to re-build that temple. Mixed emotions were laid bare when the foundations were completed. Those who had seen the splendour of Solomon’s temple were distressed, probably because it could not match that splendour, but also because they knew that the Ark, symbolic of the presence of the LORD was not there. On the other hand, there were others who were overjoyed at seeing the restoration take shape.
Then ‘the enemies’ of Judah came to offer help in the rebuilding of the temple. They would be the ones who had replaced the Israelites when the Assyrians exiled them from the land almost 200 years earlier, and had possibly occupied Judah as well during the 70 years of their exile to Babylon. Brave Zerubbabel said “You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God. We alone will build to the LORD God of Israel”. The reaction, as expected, was that the ‘enemies’ did all they could to frustrate and hinder the building of the temple. Does that sound familiar to you, as it does to me? One of the clear indications of the return to this earth of our Messiah Yeshua today will be the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. Amongst other things, it will herald the beginning of the end for Satan. It will expose the identity of “the beast”, often referred to as Antichrist (which he is). And it was no different in the days of Zerubbabel. Satan was then, and is today, terrified of the God of Israel.
As it happened, the ‘enemies’ were successful in causing a halt to the reconstruction by appealing to Darius, who had ascended to the throne of Persia by this time. Darius ordered a search of the archives to verify that Cyrus had indeed not only commissioned the re-building work, but had specified the construction details. The building work was continued, greatly encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. The temple was finished in the sixth year of Darius’ reign and was dedicated with great joy and multiple sacrifices to God. Then the various officers and priests were assigned their divisions of service according to the law of Moses.
The culmination of all this work and preparation was the celebration of the Passover at the prescribed time. It must have been a huge relief to those who had for so long been unable to celebrate the birth of their nation in this manner. The priests were purified in the prescribed manner (sprinkled with the ashes of a red Heifer) and then they ate together of the passover lamb and kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with great relief and joy. They were back in the land God had promised them.
Now for many Christians today, these things may seem trivial. But the people in Jerusalem at that time were those who longed to serve God with all their heart … and to do it HIS way. They were just a small remnant of the ones who had ben exiled (cast out of the land for crass disobedience). Amongst other things they recognised the faithfulness of God in keeping His covenant. And at this point in their lives, they were intent on keeping theirs.
Something to think about.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 46
K I n g s .. THE DIVIDED KINGDOMs
Judah defeated by Nebuchadnezzar
Jews exiled from the land 1
About 35 years after the Assyrians expelled the 10 tribes from the northern kingdom, Israel, and caused that land to be occupied by ‘foreigners’, the faithful king of Judah, Hezekiah, died. He was replaced by his 12 year old son Manasseh. Of him it is written, “he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel”. (See Deuteronomy 18:9-12) The text of today’s ‘reflection’ continues as an expression of the anger, frustration, and sorrow of YHWH ELOHIM, in contemplation of what now had to be done to turn His beloved people back to Himself. (I am mindful of the millions of gullible people who have been so treacherously misled by a large number of shameless present day “kings” of TV evangelism, who wittingly damage the reputation of the LORD by their self enriching actions, and who are dismissive of God’s displeasure at those who plunder the “would be” faithful.) I also note, and this is a massive lesson, that in the text today, whilst the ‘bad kings’ bear primary responsibility for the misleading, the individual is just as culpable for the deliberate act of breaking the covenant they had made, and all suffer the same judgment. In this case, exile from the land. “So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies, because they have done evil in My sight.” Says the LORD. (For a closer understanding of the lesson, and the principle at work here, just turn to what Paul said in his longest letter .. Romans 11:21)
Mannasseh died and was succeeded by his 22 year old son Amon. He was no better than his dad, but no worse. “He forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and did not walk in the ways of the LORD”. After just two years, his servants rebelled against him and murdered him. However, that displeased the people, so they in turn put all those servants to death and installed Amon’s 8 year old son Josiah as king. Obviously, he was well led by his mother Jedidah, Amon’s widow. After 18 years, Josiah decided to take some action regarding the repairs to the temple, which had been started during the reign of the child king Joash under the tutelage of the High Priest Jehoiada. At that time a ‘temple tax’ had been organised to pay the workmen, and it seems likely that the tax was still gathered, but there was little paid work done. Joash sought to remedy that. As that work got underway, the High Priest Hilkiah discovered the Torah Scroll (I assume it was among some rubble, but evidently not used very much). The Scroll was given to the Scribe, who first read it and then dutifully took it to the king and began to read it to him. The young king Josiah was absolutely shocked by what he heard, because it became abundantly clear that the people were ignoring the very clear instructions God had specified for their lifestyle. (Much like today!) In anguish, he tore his clothes, and commanded those officials close to him to “enquire of the LORD concerning the words of this book which has been found”. The result of his enquiry was that the LORD assured him that because of his reaction and genuine concern, he would be spared the experience of seeing “the calamity which I will bring on this place (Judah)”. And therein lies another possible lesson for us. Our lives are in His hands. He chooses when we arrive and when we depart this earth. His time is perfect. The faithful Josiah would be taken before the ‘calamity’ arrived .. and that surely was a blessing for him. (On a VERY personal note, when my wife died 5 years ago, I did not fully understand why, even though I knew the cause. More recent events have given me an appreciation of the grace of God, who has spared her, what I now know would have been an extremely stressful experience).
Then Josiah assembled all the people, elders, priests, prophets, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the temple. There he read to them “ALL THE WORDS OF THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT”. Then “he made a covenant to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant”. Following this, he destroyed all the idolatrous paraphernalia which had been set up in both Judah and Samaria, including Bethel. A complete new start. And a few short years later, Josiah died at the hand of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho at Meggido and was taken back to Jerusalem to be buried. His son Jehoahaz was made king for 3 months and was then imprisoned by the Pharaoh who had killed his father. Eliakim, another son of Josiah then became king, but he was taken to Egypt by Pharaoh Necho. He was followed by Jehoiachin, who was taken off to Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar, as were several other very important officers on the realm. Finally Zedekiah became king and he, like all who succeeded Josiah, “did evil in the sight of the LORD”.
It was while Zedekiah reigned that the calamity prophesied to Josiah came about. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon had seized the city of Jerusalem, carried of many prominent citizens, including Daniel and his friends, until there was very little fight left in them. The final straw was the destruction of the temple by fire, and the capture and removal of all the sacred furniture and treasures. It was a most sad day in the history of Israel. After many warnings, spanning centuries of history, God had finally said “ENOUGH”.
We are living in days when many are seeing significant signs that God is again approaching the next “ENOUGH”. The Scriptures implore us to ‘watch and pray”. SELAH !!
Shabbat Shalom
RS