May 16, 2010 Finish Ezra read Nehemiah 1

The book of Ezra is like a personal journal. It isn't very long, but it is direct. In chapter 8 a listing of the family heads returning with Ezra is given. What follows is a personal account of the experience, including the confession of shame that they asked for help from men after proclaiming that God would protect them. They fasted and prayed and God answered their prayer. They brought with them the gold and silver articles and when they got to the temple they were weighed and an accounting was made. Then they made burnt offerings to God.

In Deuteronomy 4:7 (Feb 25) we read that God had warned the children of Israel not to intermarry because the ungodly customs of those who weren't Israelites would cause them to move away from God. It was left to Ezra to uphold the law which Moses had taught them. The leaders came to him and told him that the mingling of outsiders with the "holy race" had occurred and he tore his clothes, pulled hair out of his head and sat down appalled. He sat that way for a while. When he was ready, he got up and knelt down and lifted his hands and prayed. He thanked God that there was still a remnant of them left, but he was sorry that they were so compelled to do what God had strictly forbidden them from doing. Soon everyone was crying, because they knew what they had done and that it would hurt to undo it. Ezra gave them 3 days to come forward so that their cases could be heard and a decision made about their futures. In all 113 men were married to foreign women (according to a footnote in my bible.)

Nehemiah begins with a prayer which is his response to news from back home about the remnant of Judah and the trouble they were in. He prayed to confess that they had sinned and to ask God to forgive them. He asked God to remember his promise that if they turned their hearts to Him, that He would gather them back together (Deut. 30:1-5.) Then he writes, "I was cupbearer to the king." He was cupbearer to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, which was a big deal - he was highly trusted, and well paid.

Tomorrow read Nehemiah 2-5