BROAD SWEEP OF HISTORY:
Nehemiah stays in Jerusalem for 12 years and then goes back to his day job serving King Artaxerexes (the ruler of Persia and conqueror of Babylon). After an absence of one short year, he returns to the Promised Land to find everything in shambles ... Temple, Sabbath, intermarriage (again!). He works to correct the problems. Meanwhile, God sends two prophets, (Malachi followed later by Joel) to underscore his anger at their apostasy and to provide instruction, again, on how to live rightly.
Key thought: "Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” (Malachi 3:7b) Compare to similar language in James.
The end of the Old Testament!
Blessings,
Steve
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We’re reading The One Year Chronological Bible, New Living Translation (Tyndale). It’s best with your own copy. Or, copy and paste this link to the daily reading schedule:
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This week's highlights:
Ezra weighs in on "Inter-marriage." Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem ("watch and pray"). For the first time in decades, the Law is read aloud to the people. The Prophet Malachi. The Prophet Joel (and the promise of the Holy Spirit!).
September 17th - Ezra 9:1-2 - It was not the intermarriage, by itself, that was the problem. If they had been able to marry the non-Jews and those non-jewish spouses had adopted the Jewish religion and rejected their previous religious practices, God would have accepted the situation. The problem was —as God predicted— these intermarriages resulted in just the opposite: God's people adopting the “detestable practices" of the non-Jewish people they married.
September 17th (Nehemiah 1:5-2:5) First, he prays ... then he acts.
September 18th - Watch and Pray! - Nehemiah 4:1-23 (especially “But we prayed to our God and appointed guards to watch for them day and night.” Nehemiah 4:9). The famous song based (partly) on this passage was originally penned by clergyman Philip Doddridge in 1755. Listen to how the Edwin Hawkins Singers updated it over two centuries later!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfGDvDGE7zk&app=desktop
September 19th - Nehemiah 8:9-12 - "Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!" They are weeping after hearing the words of the Law for the first time in a long time, possibly ever. Nehemiah, Ezra, and the priests encourage them to, instead, celebrate! And to "... share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared." And they did just that!
September 20th - God sent His Spirit to instruct them and warn them! (Nehemiah 9:20 and 30)
September 21st - Lists of those who returned, where they settled, and their jobs.
September 22nd - Nehemiah 13:4-31 - After an absence of 12 years, Nehemiah returns to his real job, Cupbearer to King Artaxerxes at Susa. But after only a year, he asks permission to journey, once again, to Jerusalem to check on things.
Smart guy ... things definitely needed checking on!
September 22nd (Malachi 1:1 - 2:9) on the heels of the apostasy that set in during Nehemiah's absence (see above), God sends the Prophet Malachi with some warnings to the religious leaders and some reminders to the people. They profaned the Temple, violated the Sabbath, and married foreigners (who did not worship God)!
Nehemiah was only gone for one year!
September 23rd - Famous scripture, often quoted out of context - “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10)
September 23rd - JOHN THE BAPTIST! (x-ref Matthew 11:11-15) - “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” (Malachi 4:5-6)
September 23rd - PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT! (x-ref Acts 2:14-26 Peter's sermon at Pentecost) - “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.” (Joel 2:28-32)
September 23rd - God's call to war in the last days includes: “Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, “I am strong!”” (Joel 3:10)
Contrast the above scripture to Isaiah Chapter 2: “In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.” (Isaiah 2:2-5)
What do you think God is doing with this prophecy in Joel?
From last week - Fun with Esther:
Haman was the villain of the Esther story. For centuries, now, Jewish people have been celebrating Purim in honor of Esther's victory over the evil Haman. The main food for that festival is the Hamantashen, a triangular pastry supposedly shaped like the villain's hat. Here is a photo of some we found in the Granville Island Market in Vancouver, British:
Next week:
A packed week! Mark! Matthew! Luke! The birth and childhood of Jesus. John the Baptist. Temptation of Jesus. Calling of the first disciples. Wedding reception at Cana. Jesus clears the Temple! Nicodemus makes a night move. Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus teaching and preaching. Miracles: healings, demons cast out. The calling of Matthew. What about fasting?
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