I feel like the book of Ezra could end right now at chapter 6. Except for the minor detail that Ezra himself hasn't stepped into the picture yet. : \ This amuses me.
This chapter really does have a stereotypical "happy ending" for the children of Israel.
The kings beyond the river tattled to King Darius about the Israelite's rebuilding the temple to God in chapter 5. Tattenai and Shethar-Boznai asked Darius to check the records to see if Cyrus had indeed given the Israelite's permission.
I imagine that Darius must have been a little annoyed by these two guys bothering him about details like this because after he found in the records that Cyrus had indeed given the Israelite's permission, he decreed that their tax money be what paid for the rebuilding of the temple! He also decreed that if the Israelite's needed anything, the two guys from beyond the river were to provide it! And on top of that, if anyone did not go along with this a "timber" from his house was to be removed for the purpose of hanging him. Intense!
Oh, wait, and I love the ending of the decree: "And may the God who causes His name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this house of God which is in Jerusalem. I Darius issue a decree; let it be done diligently," 6:12.
The Bible doesn't record how Tattenai and Shethar-Boznai reacted except that they "diligently did according to what King Darius had sent" 6:13b.
So the temple was finished and the money was supplied by the enemies and the people rejoiced and celebrated during the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread "for the LORD made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel" 6:22b.
What a great ending . . . in the middle of the book! haha . . . I think Ezra enters the picture tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to finally reading about him!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Was I Ever Right!
I was right when I wrote in my first blog post about Ezra that "I'm probably just not an experienced enough Bible scholar yet to understand the intricacies of this magnificent work of historical documentary!" Haha! (Not that I am now . . . but the book has drastically risen on my interest level!)
It's day number 5 (chapter 5 as well) and Ezra has turned around. But not just in chapter 5 . . . this turnaround is retrospective of the previous 4 chapters I've read. Especially the rather "dry" chapter no. 1.
Let me see if I can explain it well. ; )
In chapter 4 the enemies sent a letter to the king basically tattling about what the Israelite's were doing. The same thing happened again in chapter 5. First, however, the enemies (Tattenai and Shethar-Boznai) tried to stop the progress but were unable so they sent the a letter to King Darius in hopes that just as in the past (chapter 4) they could get a king to stop the progress. (Just so you know these weren't the same letter writers from chapter 4.)
The King's response comes tomorrow so I'm not sure what's going to happen . . . but I did find some other interesting things out. ; )
This whole time in Ezra, Ezra hasn't shown up yet. This is probably why I haven't found the book too exhilarating when compared with Nehemiah. In Nehemiah, he was in the picture from the very beginning . . . so there was no waiting for the main character to arrive.
This whole time I'm thinking, this is why the first GYC Eboard mentions wanting to be like Nehemiah in their mission statement and not Ezra! haha.
However, now in chapter 5 of Ezra I realize that the first main character of this book might not be the namesake, but rather a guy named Sheshbazzar, who wasn't just any guy, but a prince of Judah who was in Persia. He was the guy that King Cyrus, sent back with the temple articles which Nebuchadnezzar had confiscated. From chapter 1 you would think that he was the guy in charge of the whole mission back to Jerusalem. But then >BAM< he's not mentioned again, and in chapter 2 this guy Zerubbabel is named as the one people are leaving Persia with. I totally missed all this the first time around . . . I was too board reading all the names of the people leaving! Bible names . . . yeah. (I didn't even blog that day.)
So anyway . . . I get to chapter 5, still plodding along finding little things here and there that are interesting when I read, " . . . King Cyrus issued a decree to build this house of God. Also, the gold and silver articles . . . were given to one named Sheshbazzar, whom he [Cyrus] had made governor" 5:13, 14.
Not overly thrilling, but being one that likes finding out the meaning of names (with my amazing little concordance that I bought at the ABC for 5 cents during the campmeeting sidewalk sale one year), I looked it up . . . but there was NO meaning! Just the reference to where I could find it in the Bible! So I tried Google. This is where I realized I'd read the name at the beginning of the book (they also had references listed) and that it might be a synonym for Zerubbabel. Other sources stated that Zerubbabel might also be a relative of Sheshbazzar and that Sheshbazzar started the work but Zerubbabel finished it. Whatever the case, I was intrigued.
But it doesn't end there.Through checking out the different references for Zerubbabel, discovered that the whole book of Haggai is the prophesy for this event—the building of the temple by Zerubbabel. So . . . that might be my next read.
I think that's it for now . . . and Sheshbazzar (according to birthvillage.com) means: joy in tribulation; joy of the vintage. And according to my concordance, Zerubbable means: scattered in Babylon.
I'll see tomorrow how King Darius responded to those tattle tales! haha. ; )
It's day number 5 (chapter 5 as well) and Ezra has turned around. But not just in chapter 5 . . . this turnaround is retrospective of the previous 4 chapters I've read. Especially the rather "dry" chapter no. 1.
Let me see if I can explain it well. ; )
In chapter 4 the enemies sent a letter to the king basically tattling about what the Israelite's were doing. The same thing happened again in chapter 5. First, however, the enemies (Tattenai and Shethar-Boznai) tried to stop the progress but were unable so they sent the a letter to King Darius in hopes that just as in the past (chapter 4) they could get a king to stop the progress. (Just so you know these weren't the same letter writers from chapter 4.)
The King's response comes tomorrow so I'm not sure what's going to happen . . . but I did find some other interesting things out. ; )
This whole time in Ezra, Ezra hasn't shown up yet. This is probably why I haven't found the book too exhilarating when compared with Nehemiah. In Nehemiah, he was in the picture from the very beginning . . . so there was no waiting for the main character to arrive.
This whole time I'm thinking, this is why the first GYC Eboard mentions wanting to be like Nehemiah in their mission statement and not Ezra! haha.
However, now in chapter 5 of Ezra I realize that the first main character of this book might not be the namesake, but rather a guy named Sheshbazzar, who wasn't just any guy, but a prince of Judah who was in Persia. He was the guy that King Cyrus, sent back with the temple articles which Nebuchadnezzar had confiscated. From chapter 1 you would think that he was the guy in charge of the whole mission back to Jerusalem. But then >BAM< he's not mentioned again, and in chapter 2 this guy Zerubbabel is named as the one people are leaving Persia with. I totally missed all this the first time around . . . I was too board reading all the names of the people leaving! Bible names . . . yeah. (I didn't even blog that day.)
So anyway . . . I get to chapter 5, still plodding along finding little things here and there that are interesting when I read, " . . . King Cyrus issued a decree to build this house of God. Also, the gold and silver articles . . . were given to one named Sheshbazzar, whom he [Cyrus] had made governor" 5:13, 14.
Not overly thrilling, but being one that likes finding out the meaning of names (with my amazing little concordance that I bought at the ABC for 5 cents during the campmeeting sidewalk sale one year), I looked it up . . . but there was NO meaning! Just the reference to where I could find it in the Bible! So I tried Google. This is where I realized I'd read the name at the beginning of the book (they also had references listed) and that it might be a synonym for Zerubbabel. Other sources stated that Zerubbabel might also be a relative of Sheshbazzar and that Sheshbazzar started the work but Zerubbabel finished it. Whatever the case, I was intrigued.
But it doesn't end there.Through checking out the different references for Zerubbabel, discovered that the whole book of Haggai is the prophesy for this event—the building of the temple by Zerubbabel. So . . . that might be my next read.
I think that's it for now . . . and Sheshbazzar (according to birthvillage.com) means: joy in tribulation; joy of the vintage. And according to my concordance, Zerubbable means: scattered in Babylon.
I'll see tomorrow how King Darius responded to those tattle tales! haha. ; )
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
A Grand Halt (and probably a boring post)
Avery Johnson, coach for the New Jersey Nets, writes in his book Aspire Higher that you have to distance yourself from people who are losers—who don't want to see you succeed and will try to sabotage you.
That's exactly what happened to the Israelite's as they were trying to rebuild their temple and wall in chapter 4 of Ezra. The people around them tried to sabotage their mission. The enemies of Judah and Benjamin came and said, "Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here."
But the Israelite leaders said 'no.' The surrounding nations couldn't help. In response to that no, the enemies started trying to discourage them. 'Hey, if we can't be part of this, then you better not be able to finish!'
It really stinks because all through the rest of Cyrus' reign and the reign of Darius (which I really don't know how long that whole time was—but it sounds like a long time : \ ) this sort of discouragement was going on. Finally when king Artaxerxes came into power the enemies sent him a letter and persuaded him to have the progress halted on reason's that the people would stop paying taxes to the king if the work was finished and their city was reestablished.
Now, I'm not sure how the whole time line is laid out, but apparently the work was halted until the second year of Darius' reign . . . but I'm not sure if that's the same Darius that was mentioned earlier . . . I'd assume that it is . . . but anyway . . . the writing on that point was a bit out of sync.
So, over all . . . this book is getting better! : )
That's exactly what happened to the Israelite's as they were trying to rebuild their temple and wall in chapter 4 of Ezra. The people around them tried to sabotage their mission. The enemies of Judah and Benjamin came and said, "Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here."
But the Israelite leaders said 'no.' The surrounding nations couldn't help. In response to that no, the enemies started trying to discourage them. 'Hey, if we can't be part of this, then you better not be able to finish!'
It really stinks because all through the rest of Cyrus' reign and the reign of Darius (which I really don't know how long that whole time was—but it sounds like a long time : \ ) this sort of discouragement was going on. Finally when king Artaxerxes came into power the enemies sent him a letter and persuaded him to have the progress halted on reason's that the people would stop paying taxes to the king if the work was finished and their city was reestablished.
Now, I'm not sure how the whole time line is laid out, but apparently the work was halted until the second year of Darius' reign . . . but I'm not sure if that's the same Darius that was mentioned earlier . . . I'd assume that it is . . . but anyway . . . the writing on that point was a bit out of sync.
So, over all . . . this book is getting better! : )
Monday, May 23, 2011
Laughter & Tears Mingled Together
Ezra is slowly getting better. LOL. No, it's good, I'm just slowly getting into it. ; ) haha.
Here is something I thought was pretty humorous (not to be sacrilegious—it was just interesting trying to imagine what happened, you know—the scene) from the end of chapter three.
" . . . old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off" 3:12,13.
I was trying to imagine what that would have been like; all these older people crying with disappointment while all the younger people were thrilled with the progress—and the whole time the difference of the two distinct emotions could not be distinguished from the collective sound of the crowd.
P.S. I think the title makes this entry sound more philosophical than it really is.
: o
Here is something I thought was pretty humorous (not to be sacrilegious—it was just interesting trying to imagine what happened, you know—the scene) from the end of chapter three.
" . . . old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off" 3:12,13.
I was trying to imagine what that would have been like; all these older people crying with disappointment while all the younger people were thrilled with the progress—and the whole time the difference of the two distinct emotions could not be distinguished from the collective sound of the crowd.
P.S. I think the title makes this entry sound more philosophical than it really is.
: o
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Ezra . . . the adventure begins . . . I hope there's an adventure!
Since I enjoyed Nehemiah sooo much, I decided to stay close by and check out Ezra. I'm moving backward with the whole chain of events to when the Israelite's were told by King Cyrus that they could go back and rebuild their temple. It was a bit odd at first since with Nehemiah I was reading past this part in their history.
So, anyway, yes, as my title evokes, I wasn't too excited about the book. Chapter 1 was a bit dry to me this morning . . . (I'm probably just not an experienced enough Bible scholar yet to understand the intricacies of this magnificent work of historical documentary—lol) but I'm sure it will get better. : )
My favorite part was reading about King Cyrus, who declared that he was commanded by God to build Him a "house in at Jerusalem" 1:2. He sent the Children of Israel back with the temple items which King Nebuchadnezzar had taken when he conquered them.
I thought it was really cool that a Pagan king would declare this. I don't know much about King Cyrus but according to my Bible's "What's it mean" blurb about him, he allowed the nations he conquered to continue worshiping their own gods. I was also sad to read (also in that section) that he died in battle. I thought he deserved to have a more peaceful death. Plus since he seemed so congenial, the world seemed to be a better place with him during that time.
So, anyway, yes, as my title evokes, I wasn't too excited about the book. Chapter 1 was a bit dry to me this morning . . . (I'm probably just not an experienced enough Bible scholar yet to understand the intricacies of this magnificent work of historical documentary—lol) but I'm sure it will get better. : )
My favorite part was reading about King Cyrus, who declared that he was commanded by God to build Him a "house in at Jerusalem" 1:2. He sent the Children of Israel back with the temple items which King Nebuchadnezzar had taken when he conquered them.
I thought it was really cool that a Pagan king would declare this. I don't know much about King Cyrus but according to my Bible's "What's it mean" blurb about him, he allowed the nations he conquered to continue worshiping their own gods. I was also sad to read (also in that section) that he died in battle. I thought he deserved to have a more peaceful death. Plus since he seemed so congenial, the world seemed to be a better place with him during that time.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Good-bye, Nehemiah
Today was the last day . . . not forever hopefully, but for a while at least. I'm moving on to another book (not sure which one yet). It was a good last day in the book of Nehemiah, however.
Nehemiah ended up going back to his post as the King's cupbearer in Shushan but when he returned for a visit to Jerusalem he found the people almost back to where they were before. That was the sad part. Yet he didn't give up on them. He fought back in the name of the Lord and cleaned up the city again. This guy was dedicated to something much more than just his own ambitions.
There were merchants selling on the Sabbath, the priest weren't getting their allotted living stipends, and someone had actually moved into the temple to live there. Mercy!
He threw out the merchants, locked the gates from Friday evening to Sabbath evening, and when they camped outside the gates over Sabbath he knew what to do.
"Then I warned them, and said to them, "Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!" 13:21.
They never returned on the Sabbath again.
Very much a no-nonsense kind of guy who wasn't afraid to stand up and fight for what he believed in.
That's what's up!
Nehemiah ended up going back to his post as the King's cupbearer in Shushan but when he returned for a visit to Jerusalem he found the people almost back to where they were before. That was the sad part. Yet he didn't give up on them. He fought back in the name of the Lord and cleaned up the city again. This guy was dedicated to something much more than just his own ambitions.
There were merchants selling on the Sabbath, the priest weren't getting their allotted living stipends, and someone had actually moved into the temple to live there. Mercy!
He threw out the merchants, locked the gates from Friday evening to Sabbath evening, and when they camped outside the gates over Sabbath he knew what to do.
"Then I warned them, and said to them, "Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!" 13:21.
They never returned on the Sabbath again.
Very much a no-nonsense kind of guy who wasn't afraid to stand up and fight for what he believed in.
That's what's up!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Nehemiah . . . this guy!
Tomorrow is my last day in the book of Nehemiah. I've been reading through it this month and have grown to really love it. I've also grown to admire Nehemiah's leadership (I'm sure somewhere out there is a book about leadership based on this guy . . . or at least there should be!).
Nehemiah was fearless and strong. But not on his own. He was clear about the fact that it was through God that he was fearless.
He had to deal with prophets/secret informants (who were really hired by the enemy) who attempted to get him to sin before God by telling him a false prophesy. As well as neighboring kingdoms who tried to sabotage the rebuilding of the wall by attempting to trick him come to a "meeting" with them where they were planning to hurt him. Then they tried to intimidate him by making up and spreading rumors about him. Pretty intense stuff.
But the whole time, Nehemiah was calm, cool, and collected—because he chose to trust and obey God and stay focused on the work he was doing. He wasn't running around trying to win any popularity contests. He knew he had a job to do and he was going to accomplish it! And do an A+ job at it too!
On top of all of it, he had to be social justice reformer, cleaning up the corruption within the leaders in Jerusalem and relieving the people from their oppression. But he did it without shrinking back. And he succeeded!
Here are some of my favorite verses from Nehemiah (along with some notes I wrote in the margins ; )
Random side note I just thought of: A really cool thing about the book of Nehemiah is that he wrote it kinda like a journal.
"O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer" 1:11.
—Ok so I didn't actually write this note in my Bible's margin but I did think about this, and that is, I can really relate to Nehemiah's prayer here. I love how he says, "be attentive to the prayer of Your servant . . . who desire to fear Your name." That's me, I have this desire but my actions don't always follow suit. And so I think it's really cool how he prays in such an honest yet humble manner. He's not ashamed to go before God even if he doesn't have it all together. He's just going to choose to trust and rely on God anyway. I think that's awesome.
I also had a big interview for a project I'm working on around the time I read this, so the end of his prayer really spoke to me too, "I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."
~~
". . . the people had a mind to work" 4:6b. I just love that line! That's all.
~~
"And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, "Each of you is exacting usury from his brother." So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, "According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?" Then they were silenced and found nothing to say" 5:6-8.
He went on to tell them that this what they were doing was wrong [this was when the people came to him about the oppression they were experiences from the leaders] and what he was doing to help the people. He was very strong with them about what they needed to do. They listened and followed his example and he was promoted to governor over Judah.
~~
"Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me" 6:12, 13.
[The note from my margin]: God will never require you to sin to save your life. //
Also, God does not use fear to motivate us, which is what these false prophets were attempting to use against Nehemiah.
~~
"My God remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid" 6:14.
Same thought at up there ^: God will never use fear to motivate us. Fear is a torture technique for the mind and that's not really what He's into.
[Note from my margin]: Never let anyone cause you to be afraid. //
~~
"So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in the fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God" 6:15, 16.
[Note from my margin]: Wow! How powerful is that?! When you persevere despite the odds people will attribute [your success] to God!
~~
There's more, but that's all for now.
Suzanne Ocsai
Nehemiah was fearless and strong. But not on his own. He was clear about the fact that it was through God that he was fearless.
He had to deal with prophets/secret informants (who were really hired by the enemy) who attempted to get him to sin before God by telling him a false prophesy. As well as neighboring kingdoms who tried to sabotage the rebuilding of the wall by attempting to trick him come to a "meeting" with them where they were planning to hurt him. Then they tried to intimidate him by making up and spreading rumors about him. Pretty intense stuff.
But the whole time, Nehemiah was calm, cool, and collected—because he chose to trust and obey God and stay focused on the work he was doing. He wasn't running around trying to win any popularity contests. He knew he had a job to do and he was going to accomplish it! And do an A+ job at it too!
On top of all of it, he had to be social justice reformer, cleaning up the corruption within the leaders in Jerusalem and relieving the people from their oppression. But he did it without shrinking back. And he succeeded!
Here are some of my favorite verses from Nehemiah (along with some notes I wrote in the margins ; )
Random side note I just thought of: A really cool thing about the book of Nehemiah is that he wrote it kinda like a journal.
"O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer" 1:11.
—Ok so I didn't actually write this note in my Bible's margin but I did think about this, and that is, I can really relate to Nehemiah's prayer here. I love how he says, "be attentive to the prayer of Your servant . . . who desire to fear Your name." That's me, I have this desire but my actions don't always follow suit. And so I think it's really cool how he prays in such an honest yet humble manner. He's not ashamed to go before God even if he doesn't have it all together. He's just going to choose to trust and rely on God anyway. I think that's awesome.
I also had a big interview for a project I'm working on around the time I read this, so the end of his prayer really spoke to me too, "I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."
~~
". . . the people had a mind to work" 4:6b. I just love that line! That's all.
~~
"And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, "Each of you is exacting usury from his brother." So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, "According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?" Then they were silenced and found nothing to say" 5:6-8.
He went on to tell them that this what they were doing was wrong [this was when the people came to him about the oppression they were experiences from the leaders] and what he was doing to help the people. He was very strong with them about what they needed to do. They listened and followed his example and he was promoted to governor over Judah.
~~
"Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me" 6:12, 13.
[The note from my margin]: God will never require you to sin to save your life. //
Also, God does not use fear to motivate us, which is what these false prophets were attempting to use against Nehemiah.
~~
"My God remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid" 6:14.
Same thought at up there ^: God will never use fear to motivate us. Fear is a torture technique for the mind and that's not really what He's into.
[Note from my margin]: Never let anyone cause you to be afraid. //
~~
"So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in the fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God" 6:15, 16.
[Note from my margin]: Wow! How powerful is that?! When you persevere despite the odds people will attribute [your success] to God!
~~
There's more, but that's all for now.
Suzanne Ocsai
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