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When Ezra came to Judea to bring the Law of Moses the first thing that happened was that he heard a report of rampant sin… the intermarrying of Jews with the gentile people. He immediately dropped down to pray and to seek guidance on how to remedy the problem.
When Nehemiah heard a bad report about the people and Jerusalem, he also dropped down in prayer and resolved to remedy the situation by rebuilding the wall.
God was with Zerubbabel and King Darius and God was also with Nehemiah and King Artaxerxes. However, King Darius was much more active at protecting the Jews than King Artaxerxes was.
King Darius warned and threatened the surrounding governors with punishments like “impalement” while in King Artaxerxes time the surrounding Governors were given a free hand to intimidate and persecute the Jews. A discrepancy it seems.
Ezra was ashamed to ask King Artaxerxes for troops and protection on the trip to Jerusalem. But King Artaxerxes provided officers of the army and horsemen to accompany Nehemiah. Maybe because Nehemiah was an official of the court and Ezra was just a Jew?
Ezra (and others) successfully got the Jews to commit to only marrying other Jews and to get rid of their Gentile wives and children. You might think with that great cleansing of sin that God would make them prosper but alas it was not so.
Nehemiah came along and found that the Jews were again intermarrying with the Gentile girls and in addition found that the rich Jews were oppressing the poor Jews… charging them interest on loans, confiscating their properties and enslaving their children. Nehemiah was successful in correcting those sins and again you might expect with this turn to righteousness that the yoke of Persian domination might be cast off and Israel might be free and prosperous once again but alas… not so.
Ezra and Nehemiah were acting on the premise (faulty) that God was going to restore Israel to its former prominence and throw off the yoke of foreign domination and give them a King like King David. Their actions were to accomplish that goal. But it was never to be.
No one, including Ezra and Nehemiah, understood the great “mystery” that God was going to reveal. That there would be no earthly kingdom, there would be no earthly King and they would always be under the domination of foreign powers regardless of how “pure” (racially and spiritually) they were.
In the future they could marry whoever they wanted to. They could eat whatever they wanted to and they could worship wherever they wanted to (to name a few things). True freedom.
It becomes easier to understand the backlash against Jesus Christ and the Jews disappointment when you understand those deeply ingrained beliefs based on the Law of Moses… it’s blessings and its curses.
We all are depressed when our expectations come up short but must be resilient enough to change as God reveals new information to us and our understanding is clarified.
Ezra’s prayer (in part) from Ezra 9:6-15.
“I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors until now, our guilt has been great…
…Shall we then break your commands again and intermarry with the peoples who commit such detestable practices? Would you not be angry enough with us to destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor?”
The question arises about this prayer whether or not it was inspired by God or was it just a historical recounting of a prayer from Ezra’s heart?
Ezra prays this prayer to validate Shecaniah’s suggestion that they make a covenant with God to correct the sin of the holy race who had inter-married with the pagan peoples of the land. (Exodus 34. Deut. 7)
In the prayer Ezra suggests that if they don’t divide these families then God would destroy Israel totally not leaving any survivors.
That was a false conclusion and could not have been inspired by God. God had guaranteed a remnant that the Messiah would come from and it would occur during the reign of the Roman Empire and nothing Ezra did or had left undone could change God’s plan.
Ezra didn’t understand that and his prayer reflects his misunderstanding.
That begs the question was Shecaniah’s proposal to divide families to correct the sin of marrying outside of their race his idea or was it inspired from God?
Nothing in the text suggests that it came from God… Shecaniah wasn’t filled with the Holy Spirit and he didn’t have a dream from God. It seems that his proposal came from his own reasoning.
Both Ezra and Shechaniah were righteous men well versed in the Law of Moses and may have drawn conclusions from their study based on their own reasoning and not from the direct inspiration of God.
For your consideration.
Julie and I were eating at a restaurant and preparing to go to our grand daughter's Choir event when I got a text from Ray Torno that his youngest son Steven had passed. Apparently he had laid down to take a nap and when his son went to wake him up he was gone. His son found him.
In my old age I find myself increasingly emotional and when we got that news I didn’t feel much like eating and got a little teary in the middle of a restaurant surrounded by strangers. Steven was about a year older than my son and we watched him grow up at church. He frequently spent the night at our house and was almost like a part of our family.
I’ve lost a father and a brother and I guess if you asked me which hurt the most I guess I would say losing my brother. I think about him and miss him every day. But I’ve never lost a child or a wife and don’t know that pain. I could only imagine getting a phone call with the news that I had lost my son.
During the choir concert while I listened to the singing I started texting all those that I could think of who the Torno family was important to. Among those were Kollin and Leslie Stone and then I got this text from Kollin…
"I’m so sorry to hear about Steven’s passing. He was too young. Thank you for letting me know. I’ll lift up his family in my prayers tonight. I was thinking about reaching out to you earlier today before hearing about Steven.
I’ll try to keep this short, but won’t be able to: the 2 year old, 85 lb lab/pit mix we rescued as a stray puppy attacked Leslea last night. No warning, 2 years of being a sweet dog. Came out of nowhere. They were sitting on the couch watching tv. I was in the room & pulled the dog off her.
She had facial reconstruction surgery this morning. It is bad but could have been worse. Her eyes are undamaged. Several lines of sutures on forehead, around nose & on cheek. Cadaver skin on nose, where damage was worst - exposed cartilage. Lots of puncture wounds on left hand & face. Maybe some nerve damage.
I’ve stayed with her @ the hospital. She’s recovering & may require additional surgery. She’s being very well taken care of - this is an excellent hospital. She’s actually in the burn unit where they specialize in injuries like this.
We put the dog down this morning. It was our son Sawyer’s dog, so he’s had a really difficult time blaming himself, then having to put his good ‘friend,’ down. He’s a mommas boy & they are very close.
I’ve been praying, among other things that she heals to the extent that she is not self conscious about her appearance and gets depressed. Sawyer has left the church but is a believer. The church is already coming to our side & I’m hoping he’ll reconsider his negative attitude towards ‘all those hypocrites.’
Leslea is being discharged tomorrow.
Thanks for all you let the Lord do through you, Rob.
Of course any prayers for Leslea’s recovery would be greatly appreciated. For Sawyer, too.
Take care my brother”
Kollin asked me to share that with the congregation. Leslea Martin Stone grew up with Steven Torno and the families were very close until they moved off. That was a double whammy.
I was scheduled to do announcements at Church yesterday and dreaded doing it because I knew I would lose my composure… I just didn’t know how bad it would be. I saved Stevens announcement for the very end but in the middle of the announcements I shared the news about Leslea and surprise, surprise, surprise... I choked up. I didn’t anticipate that.
At the very end, while saying a few things about Steven, I couldn’t look at the audience and I had to stop a few times and gather myself but I got through it without openly sobbing (that had happened already on the way to church).
In retrospect I’m glad that the announcement fell on me because it needed to be an announcement with feeling for the families sake.
Today is my birthday and its a sad one.
No Church News article today. I’m just not feeling it.
Rob
Ezra the scribe came from Babylon to Judea to restore the Law of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) to the people.
Although not specifically stated his obvious goal was to rebuild the people so that God would bless them and restore the Nation as it was in the days of King David and King Solomon. He was motivated.
He honed in on Exodus 34 and Deuteronomy 7. The people, among other things, had violated the commandment not to intermarry with the peoples of the land (Canaanites, etc.) which led to idolatry and which led to their destruction and captivity.
Then Ezra hears the report that even now the people are repeating the exact same sin of intermarriage and he had a visceral and demonstrable negative reaction.
Keep in mind that the King of the Persian Empire had empowered Ezra to be a Judge and to punish offenders of the Law of Moses and the Persian Law with Death, Banishment, Confiscation and Imprisonment (Ezra 7). And the text sites in the case of intermarriage with gentiles that he threatened those punishments Ezra 10).
The violators responded by vowing to put away their Gentile wives and their half jewish children. Keep in mind that God did not command them to do this, they chose to do this of their own volition.
It looks like Ezra was a book, chapter, verse guy. The Holy Text said no intermarriage and the text didn’t provide any exceptions. It was clear and to the point and that’s the Law that Ezra taught and would impose.
Here are some things to consider…
- Pretty soon after entering the promised land an exception is made for Rahab the Harlot.
- Deuteronomy 10 says that if you are fighting the enemy and capture a beautiful woman you could, under certain conditions, keep her for a wife. Hmmm.
- The scriptures are replete with examples of Jews/Israelites who married non-jewish women and most of them were not seduced to worship Idols.
- No pre-exilic prophet ever condemned the practice of intermarriage. Not even during the day of one of the most prominent violators… Solomon.
- Deuteronomy 23 states that if you make a vow before the Lord God almighty and violate that vow then you are guilty of sin. Presumably that includes a marriage vow made to God and your spouse.
Jesus Christ had 3-4 Gentile women in his lineage.
I respect Ezra for wanting to correct the behaviors of the people but I don’t think he stated the whole case to them (of course I wasn’t there).
I don’t know the motivations of the Jewish men who got rid of their wives and children. It may have been a heart felt conviction but in the back of my head I wonder if they had any concern that Ezra could punish them with death, banishment, confiscation or imprisonment… because if Ezra didn’t then he would have been violating the command of the King of Persia who was inspired by God to restore the people of God.
Ezra is frequently described as the Second Moses because as Moses brought the Law to the Israelites after the Egyptian captivity… Ezra brought the Law back to God’s people after the Babylonian captivity.
In Ezra 7:10-11. Ezra self describes his method.
First he set his “heart” to study the Law.
This is important because with just the brain and not the heart we could just be robotic in our understanding of God’s Law… reciting God’s Law and teaching God’s Law intellectually and without feeling.
Secondly as a teacher Ezra needed to know his material and he “studied” it.
You could spend your life “reading” the holy scriptures and might achieve some superficial understanding of it but true depth of understanding comes with “study”. Reading and thinking. Turning it over in your brain and examining it from all angles.
Thirdly, Ezra “practiced” and lived what he studied.
Some have said that experience is the greatest teacher. A teacher without experience is a pretender. Depth is achieved through a lifetime of putting scriptures into practice. A teacher who has never been married or raised children (for example) is scarcely qualified to teach on those subjects.
Fourthly, with his heart in the right place and with knowledge achieved through study and having practiced what he learned then and only then was Ezra equipped to teach.
Ezra was said to have studied the Commandments (Mitzvot), the Statutes (Chukkim) and the Ordinances (Mishpattim).
The superficial reader of the holy record might conclude that those are all the same thing… They are not.
The “commandments” are God’s Law found in the first five books of the Bible.
The “statutes” are a a subdivision of the Law that are commandments which defy human logic… like not mixing wool and linen.
The “ordinances” (Exodus 21-24) are a subdivision of the Law that contain civil and religious laws.
Although Ezra would have been familiar with the historical books, the Psalms and Prophets and the other Writings. His emphasis in rebuilding God’s people was the first 5 books of God’s word… Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy… The Torah or Pentateuch.
Of course in todays world all of those commands are greatly simplified in Jesus Christ. But still as teachers we need to not only know Jesus Christ but also all of the other writings God inspired men to write that culminated in Jesus coming into the world.
Ezra was a great teacher. Let’s consider and follow his method… having our hearts right, studying God’s Word, living what we learned and then sharing with others.
I’ve never had sheep but I have had chickens. When we first got chickens I thought my fence was good enough… it wasn’t. Some coyotes got in and slaughtered all our chickens. It was a crime scene. So I did a lot of work and built a much better fence. Of course the fence stopped the dogs and coyotes but could not stop the Bobcats and Hawks.
We had not had a problem for about 20 years and then two dogs found an imperfection in my fence the other day. They squeezed through and started slaughtering our chickens. They killed 7 of them. They wouldn’t leave when I waved my arms and hollered at them but they did leave when I started shooting at them.
Dogs are different than coyotes… they kill for fun not for food. I’m sure if I was a dog that chasing and killing chickens would be a lot funner than chasing a thrown ball in the back yard for instance.
That night we could only find three live chickens in our pen. I figured that some must be in hiding. One of the first chickens killed was a crippled (from birth) rooster named Willie. He was born to be a victim because he couldn’t run. Our other rooster was Woody a large and beautiful bird and I suppose he was my favorite and he was among the missing. Woody and Willie.
It was so traumatizing to Julie and I that we decided we wanted to get out of the chicken business.
We knew that we wouldn’t get an accurate count of the survivors until the next evening when they came in to roost. That next evening 13 of them came back including Woody the rooster. But they were terrified and wouldn’t leave the roost for two days. Over the next three days three of the wounded hens died.
What to do… what to do… Of course I could protect our chickens if I locked them up all the time but that wouldn’t be much of a life for them it would be like being in prison. The chickens like to free range during the day and they make more nutritious eggs scratching for insects and eating vegetation.
In the end we decided to continue with our chickens. I apologized to them for not making them safer.
The church and its leaders have been compared to a flock of sheep with shepherds. The shepherds have been warned about wolves slaughtering and scattering the flock and to be careful and be watchful.
Shepherds can be so careful with the flock that the flock are like chickens… confined to a jail cell instead of being able to be free and productive in society. Shepherds can also be so lackadaisical that they allow any and every improvisation into the assembly that poisons the flock from within and slowly strangles it.
Shepherds have a responsibility to have a healthy productive flock and not be so restrictive that the flock withers on the vine… so to speak. That’s requires great judgment and great patience and great confidence in the Lord God almighty.
In our flock of chickens the ones we lost were the oldest and the crippled (Willie). Let’s do our best as shepherds to make all of our members so spiritually strong that they are immune to the attack of Satan. Of course that’s impossible because churches are dynamic. Always taking in the weak and building them up.
I like to think that Woody the rooster fought for his hens. I did think he was dead because we found a lot of his tail feathers but he survived to fight again. Fight as he might have he was no match for a German Shepherd… but I was and the Lord's Shepherds are more than a match for German Shepherds.
As a Veterinarian I am tasked with euthanizing the beloved pets of our clients. I do it several times a day. At first I would be affected by the emotions of my clients but then as time went by I became more immune to it. I have witnessed the silent sorrow of some and on the other end have seen the bitter wails and crying of others. I’ve seen it all.
The other day I had a pet presented for euthanasia and I started crying and had to leave the room… unusual for me. An old lady came in with a 16 year old poodle which had lived far beyond its life expectancy and had all the symptoms of advanced age… blindness, deafness, arthritis and dementia. The woman loved “Coco” and was reluctant to put her “to sleep”. She explained that she and her husband had moved into assisted care living and that her husband had told her to put Coco to sleep… and she couldn’t she just couldn’t do it.
Now her husband had developed kidney failure and she was over whelmed with caring for him and exhausted and didn’t have enough time to care for Coco. She had thought of placing Coco with someone else but she wasn’t sure of the care Coco might get from someone who had not loved Coco like she had.
I told her that I understood. That my dad had developed cancer and my own mother was overwhelmed with his care and then I started crying and had to leave the room. I came back later when I had composed myself and helped Coco pass on. The old lady hugged me and thanked me.
I think my employees think I don’t care when I put a pet to sleep because I am emotionally solid because euthanasia is something I do every day. But every once in a while I surprise them and myself when some unexpected connection is made that they can’t see and I didn’t anticipate.
I understood that woman because she looked like my mother to me and my mother’s emotions were my own emotions. I feel them exquisitely.
My guess is that our Lord God almighty feels our emotions just like we feel them. And that when we feel pain it’s like he feels it… as if it were his own pain. Imagine that kind of love.
Oh to be like him and I hope and pray that I can be.
