Day 274: Two announcements

So, we’ve jumped 400 years. The Greeks have been replaced by the Romans, and the Jews are still the Jews.
Prefaces to synoptic gospels
Matthew 1:1, Mark 1:1, Luke 1:1-4
Preface to John’s gospel
John 1:1-5
Rome the world power 63BC-AD 476
Two genealogies of Jesus Christ
Matthew 1:2-17, Luke 3:23-28
Birth of John the Baptist announced
Luke 1:5-25
Birth of Jesus Christ announced
Luke 1:26-38

The gospels all begin in such different ways - you can tell what they’re going to be like from the start. Matthew starts off by announcing Jesus’ pedigree, Mark plunges straight into the action, Luke is orderly and discursive and John is, John is, out there somewhere.
Then we have the two genealogies. Apart from the fact that they are different. it’s hard to tell much about them. Matthew’s is more stylised and neat - splitting everything up into 14 generations times 3. So the three phases of Jewish life: the Patriarchs, the Kingdom, and the Exile are given equal weight. Luke goes all the way back to God, passing through David and Abraham on the way, and not giving us any additional information either. Matthew points out four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, all of whom have interesting stories and who (in some people’s eyes) might not have been the right sort of people to have in your ancestry. The other significant fact is that both point out Jesus is descended from David - the kingly line - so he is a possible candidate for Messiah.
Then we move to two angelic announcements. Gabriel finds Mary more willing than Zechariah to accept the part that they are offered in his plan, but both are suitably prepared for their famous children. Nowhere else in the Bible do we have such interest shown in people’s birth - at least, not since Isaac, who was born so late and after so much uncertainty to Abraham and Sarah. There is definitely a sense of something new stirring.

Day 273: Malachi’s prophecy

A momentous day - the end of the Old Testament!
Intermarriage rebuked
Nehemiah 13:23-29
Priesthood cleansed
Nehemiah 13:30-31
The Lord’s love for Israel
Malachi 1:1-5
The Lord reprimands the priests
Malachi 1:6-14, 2:1-9
The people’s unfaithfulness
Malachi 2:10-16
The Lord will judge His people
Malachi 2:17, 3:1-5
The payment of tithes
Malachi 3:6-12
God’s promise of mercy
Malachi 3:13-18
Greece the world power 333-63BC
Coming Day of the Lord
Malachi 4:1-6

Nehemiah is fierce to the end. When he comes across priests who have married foreigners, who should have known better, his rage is fearsome. He manhandles them, kicks them out of office, and will not tolerate impurity among the people’s leaders.
And so the baton passes to Malachi. He’s an uncompromising person as well. He attacks the priests for their lack of faith, offering second rate animals as sacrifices, rather than giving God the best. He also criticises the people for mixed marriages.
His warning is that God will come suddenly and surprisingly, and he will not spare the wicked, but will cleanse Israel from top to bottom. That will be a great and fearful day - wonderful but terrible, and he wants the people to be ready.
So leader and prophet together urge the people to a new standard of faithfulness. God has given Israel a new chance - they don’t want the people to blow it.
We have to look outside the Bible to find what happens next. In books that I have been brought up to call the Apocrypha, the story of the next 400 years is told. I’m wondering about reading these books next year. But for now, tomorrow brings the start of the New Testament.
Bring it on!

Day 272 Nehemiah’s final reforms

I was a bit unfair to Psalm 119 yesterday - it really is a thing of beauty.
Prayer for deliverance 
Psalm 119: 81-88 
Faith in God’s law 
Psalm 119: 89-96 
Love for it 
Psalm 119: 97-112 
Safety in it 
Psalm 119: 113-128 
Desire to obey it 
Psalm 119: 129-136 
Its justice 
Psalm 119: 137-144 
A plea for help 
Psalm 119: 145-176
 True happiness 
Psalm 1 
Tithing and worship re-established 
Nehemiah 13:10-14 
Sabbath keeping violated 
Nehemiah 13:15-22

 Blessed are those who are blameless by following your law ... how can a young man be pure? By following the law ...teach me your decrees, may your unfailing love come to me...you are my portion, Lord...do good to your servant...your hands fashioned and made me...my heart faints with longing for your salvation...your word is eternal, Lord, it stands in the heavens...your word is a lamp for my feet...your statutes are wonderful...you are righteous, Lord and your laws are right...answer me Lord,I call with all my heart...look on my suffering and deliver me...may my cry come before you, Lord...seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands. These are extracts from Psalm 119, and show us that it breathes love and devotion. It is a prayer of the heart, not a dry heaping up of superlatives. Whoever steeps themselves in God’s law, “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers.” (Psalm 1:3) We turn from this beautiful longing for the Law back to the fierce righteousness of Nehemiah - rebuking the slackers and calling to account those who do not keep the sabbath. Here is the law put into practice, and Nehemiah gets the whole city humming.

Day 271: The law of the Lord

At last it comes! The longest Psalm in the book.
A call to praise God
Psalm 148
Hymns of praise
Psalms 149, 150
Tobiah expelled from the Temple
Nehemiah 13:4-9
Temple order restored
Nehemiah 12:44-47
Separation from foreigners
Nehemiah 13:1-3
The law of the Lord
Psalm 119: 1-8
Obedience to it
Psalm 119: 9-24
Determination to obey
Psalm 119: 25-32
A prayer for understanding
Psalm 119: 33-40
Trusting God’s law
Psalm 119: 41-56
Devotion to it
Psalm 119: 57-64
The value and justice of it
Psalm 119: 65-80

A Psalm fest today. Some wonderful, majestic, exuberant Psalms of praise - fitting to celebrate the renewal of Israel. “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.” (150:6)
Nehemiah is determined to see a flowering of worship like the times of David and Solomon, so he ensures that musicians are provided for. Psalms like these must have gladdened his heart.
The mighty Psalm 119 might have been more to Ezra’s taste - a prolonged eulogy to the law - every section beginning with a different letter of the alphabet. It’s a tour de force, as well as a prodigious exercise in saying the same things in as many different ways as possible. It could have been a one liner - “Oh God, your law is really really good.”  But it isn’t.

Day 270: The covenant

Here’s a word we haven’t heard for a while - a covenant. This is clearly a serious moment
God’s goodness and mercy remembered
Nehemiah 9:32-37
Covenant made
Nehemiah 9:38
The people sign the covenant
Nehemiah 10:1-27
The covenant
Nehemiah 10:28-39
The dedication of the wall
Nehemiah 12:27-43
In praise of God the Almighty
Psalm 147

God has previously taken the initiative, entering into a covenant with the people. Now, they acknowledge that he kept his side of the bargain throughout, and they were the ones who broke the deal, and sign up once again.
The terms of the covenant are spelled out: no foreign wives or husbands, keeping of the sabbaths, regular taxes for the Temple and other offerings to God. It’s all good, but is it me, or are we lacking something? It’s expressed in monetary terms, but there’s nothing about hearts and minds. There’s no promise to love God and worship him exclusively. The concluding line is “We will not neglect the house of our God.” (10:39) We’ll keep his house tidy, but we don’t necessarily promise to pay any attention to him.
The dedication of the wall brings great celebration - another sign of Nehemiah’s good leadership. Once something is achieved, he encourages people to celebrate it. Psalm 147 expresses their joy - God has called them back, given them a new start. “He has done this for no other nation.” (Ps 147:20)

Day 269: The Law is read

The walls are built, now it’s time to remind the people who they are, and to whom they belong.
The priests
Nehemiah 11:10-14
The Levites
Nehemiah 11:15-18
The gatekeepers
Nehemiah 11:19
Further distribution of the people
Nehemiah 11:20-36
Ezra reads the Law
Nehemiah 7:73, 8:1-12
Feast of Tabernacles
Nehemiah 8:13-18
The people confess their sins
Nehemiah 9:1-4
God’s goodness remembered
Nehemiah 9:5-31

People are moving back into Jerusalem and the surrounding towns and villages. After a while, Ezra and Nehemiah call them up to Jerusalem to remind them what it’s all about.
Ezra embarks on a Bible reading marathon of his own, as he starts to read aloud from the Law to al the people, gathered in the town square. It was an emotional time, and the two leaders are keen not to let that emotion get out of hand. They want to channel it, to ensure that the people’s understanding is complete. So they have the Levites teaching and guiding people, telling them how to respond. “Don’t weep, this isn’t a sad day, don’t stand out here all day, you’ll get tired.” Sensible advice. These days, the emotion of a crowd sweeps us away, and we don’t feel able to take charge and direct things. Think of big crowd-led events, such as Princess Diana’s funeral, and you can see that no one was trying to lead or shape the people’s response, we were all followers. Ezra and Nehemiah weren’t scared to lead.
Together they celebrate the feast of Tabernacles, and at the end of the feast, again the Levites are talking to the people, explaining to them what has happened to their nation and why, reminding them that although they have sinned against God, he is merciful and has brought them back. So they tell each other the story that defines them as a nation.

Day 268: Rebuilding campaign completed

I've said it before, you wouldn't mess with Nehemiah. Here's more reasons why.

Nehemiah’s unselfishness
Nehemiah 5:15-19
Plots against Nehemiah
Nehemiah 6:1-14
Rebuilding completed
Nehemiah 6:15-19
Hanahi and Hananiah to protect Jerusalem
Nehemiah 7:1-3
The first return
1 Chronicles 9:2-9
The priests
1 Chronicles 9:10-13
The Levites
1 Chronicles 9:14-16
The gatekeepers
1 Chronicles 9:17-27
Other tasks of the Levites
1 Chronicles 9:28-34
The inhabitants of Jerusalem
Nehemiah 11:1-9

Nehemiah stands firm in the face of opposition and intimidation, and the work is completed. Jerusalem is properly ready for occupation, and the people are counted back in. No doubt Ezra was there with his scroll recording all the names, and Nehemiah tells us that so many people wanted to live in Jerusalem they had to decide by drawing lots who got the privilege. That’s pretty impressive, considering that the enemies are still trying to undermine them, and threatening them with attacks sand violence, and dire retribution from King Xerxes.
Nehemiah appoints his brother and a trustworthy general to guard the city, and the details of people’s duties have more to do with defence than worship. Jerusalem is being refounded as a military citadel, occupying what has become enemy territory, and claiming back the land. It’s not yet a peaceful and secure place.

Day 267: Rebuilding the walls

No messing. Nehemiah gets everyone hard at work. You wouldn’t say no to Nehemiah.
Nehemiah’s encouragement to rebuild
Nehemiah 2:17-18
The contempt of Sanballat and others
Nehemiah 2:19-20
List of builders
Nehemiah 3:1-16
The Levites
Nehemiah 3:17-21
The priests
Nehemiah 3:22-26
Other builders
Nehemiah 3:27-32
Nehemiah overcomes ridicule
Nehemiah 4:1-6
The conspiracy
Nehemiah 4:7-15
Nehemiah’s precautions
Nehemiah 4:16-23
The people’s complaint
Nehemiah 5:1-5
Nehemiah’s rebuke
Nehemiah 5:6-11
The restitution
Nehemiah 5:12-13


Goldsmiths, perfume makers, Levites, priests ... Nehemiah gets some unlikely brickies and carpenters organised to do the work of rebuilding the wall. Clearly he is an effective leader, he organises ans inspires people to work, even in the face of ridicule and opposition.
One thing I love about Nehemiah - while he is working, he is continually offering up prayers to God. Even his writing is the same: in chapter 4, verses 1-3 describe the insults of Israel’s enemies, and 4-6 are Nehemiah’s muttered prayers against them.
The opposition only makes Nehemiah more determined. He organises the men defensively: half are building, half are guarding the work. They even work with one hand, and carry their weapon in the other. And Nehemiah isn’t afraid to bang heads together - he sorts out their financial crisis whereby in the midst of famine they couldn’t pay taxes. He’s a formidable man - when he confronts people who are doing wrong, they can’t say a word against him.

Day 266: Ezra & Nehemiah

Just what is Israel’s attitude to other nations? Ezra has strong views on this.  
Ezra plans national gathering
Ezra 10:1-8
He preaches and the people repent
Ezra 10:9-15
Foreign wives divorced
Ezra 10:16-44
Nehemiah’s grief
Nehemiah 1:1
His prayer
Nehemiah 1:5-11-4
Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem 437BC
His request
Nehemiah 2:1-6
Nehemiah appointed governor
Nehemiah 5:14
Letters and escort provided
Nehemiah 2:6-9
Sanballat and Tobiah’s indignation
Nehemiah 2:10
Nehemiah’s arrival in Jerusalem
Nehemiah 2:11-16

It’s hard to understand why Ezra saw this as such a great sin. Since the exile, Israel has moved away from seeing God as just their tribal god, and understood him to be God of heaven and earth. They’ve realised that he is in charge of all nations, not just their own, so why is he so bothered that they should be pure? What about Ruth, that ancient example of a foreigner who was accepted into Israel, and even became an ancestor of David?
I think the answer is something to do with how they respond to God’s holiness. During the time of David, when Jerusalem was being built, he had difficulty dealing with the ark of the covenant, and his first attempt to bring it into the city failed. Nobody fully understands God, and they are super-cautious around him. Everything that comes anywhere near him must be super pure and holy. Marrying foreigners doesn’t equate with being holy, and notoriously, it led to Solomon slipping away from God, and other foreign wives like Jezebel led Israel into their worst episodes of idolatry. So in their new fervour to be faithful to God, foreign wives just reminds them of all their previous failures, and becomes a complete no-no.
Meanwhile, Nehemiah manages to get himself sent back to Jerusalem to help. Ezra is a scholar and a priest, but not a practical man. When he got in a lather over foreign wives, he summoned the people and preached at them, but it was pouring with rain and they just got miserable. He had to accept advice to solve the problem a different way. Now he needs a strong practical leader to organise the people and help them repair the ruined city. The first and greatest need is to rebuild its defensive wall. Nehemiah asks Artaxerxes if he can go and help - very nervously, because the king is notoriously difficult to please. But - the queen is sitting beside him ((2:6) and perhaps Esther’s influence is sufficient to get Nehemiah released. Good work, my lady.

Day 265: The return to Jerusalem

On the crest of a wave, Ezra heads back to Jerusalem.

Artaxerxes’ decree
Ezra 7:21-26
Ezra’s thanksgiving
Ezra 7:27-28
The exiles who returned with Ezra
Ezra 8:1-14
Ezra returns to Jerusalem 458BC
The camp site
Ezra 7:9, 8:15
Ezra finds Levites
Ezra 8:16-20
Prayer and fasting
Ezra 8:21-23
The Temple treasures
Ezra 8:24-30
Journey begins
Ezra 8:31
Ezra’s arrival at Jerusalem
Ezra 7:6-8,10, 8:32-36
Ezra’s grief
Ezra 9:104
His prayer
Ezra 9:5-15

Ezra has the king’s favour upon him (as well as God’s) and he uses it to organise a return to Jerusalem for a large number of exiles. He travels with large quantities of gold and silver, but no armed guard, because he told the king that God will keep them safe on their journey.
So, after a while, he stops and gets the people to pray that they will indeed be safe, and God protects them until they arrive. So far, so good.
Ezra finds a few priests and Levites who can trace their family line far enough back to be legitimate. and who have kept themselves faithful to God, and he plans to use them to re institute Temple worship. But when he reaches the land, and fins the condition of the people who remain there, he is appalled.
They are barely Jewish - they have intermarried with all the other peoples jumbled around - because this had been the Babylonian empire’s policy, to destroy the identity of conquered peoples by mixing them up. Ezra’s response is not to blame the Babylonians, but to blame the people. Not by being angry with them, but by crying out to God in sorrow and penitence for this sin. They haven’t kept themselves holy, and how can an unholy people have a holy God in their midst. It seems like Ezra fears that the whole project will fail.

Day 264: The Jews triumph

The victory of the Jews is complete. And they all lived happily ever after.
The king’s edict
Esther 8:1-14
The Jews rejoice
Esther 8:15-17
Their revenge and triumph
Esther 9:1-15
Days of rejoicing
Esther 9:16-10
The Feast of Purim
Esther 9:20-27
Its perpetual celebration
Esther 9:28-32
Mordecai’s promotion
Esther 10:1-3
Ezra’s commission
Ezra 7:11-20

Fortunes are neatly reversed - Mordecai inherits Haman’s lands, he is given the king’s signet ring, which previously had been give to Haman, and with it comes the authority to issue commands in the king’s name. Mordecai uses it to rescind Haman’s decree to destroy Jews, and gives them legal protection instead. Suddenly, Jews are able to come into the open, and their rejoicing an new found confidence inspires many people to join them. This is an interesting detail, which I’ve never seen before -  “many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.” (8:17) Nowhere before in Jewish history have I noticed other nationalities actually becoming Jews.
Esther’s story becomes a national festival in Israel - kept to this day - in which Jews remember the way they got one over evil Haman and swayed the King of Persia to show them favour. This is the last story of the exile, and that sorry episode in Israel’s history ends with joy and optimism.

Day 263: The tables are turned

Once upon a time in the West ... God does it again and rescues his people from evil.

The command to annihilate all Jews
Esther 3:12-15
Mordecai enlists Esther’s help
Esther 4:1-17
Esther’s invitation
Esther 5:1-8
Haman’s rage against Mordecai
Esther 5:9-14
The king’s sleepless night
Esther 6:1-3
Mordecai honoured
Esther 6:4-14
Haman accused
Esther 7:1-6
Haman hanged
Esther 7:7-10

Esther is now thoroughly an insider. She doesn’t even hear about the decree to kill all Jews. In fact, no one knows she is a Jew. She only hears about it because she discovers that Mordecai is distressed about something.
Mordecai’s faith in God, despite his distress, is impressive. “ if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (4:14) Understandable that he should say, “well my girl, this is why God has got you into this privileged position - it’s all down to you.” But he also tells her that if she doesn’t act, God will find another way of saving Israel. That’s faith.
Esther puts a plan into action. First of all, she has to approach the king without being asked. This is risky, and could lead to her immediate execution, but the king is in a good mood and receives her. She asks for a banquet and that Haman is given a place of honour.
Meanwhile, God is at work too. Xerxes is reminded of Mordecai’s good service, and decides it’s high time the man was rewarded. With delicious irony, he asks Haman to think of a suitable reward. Haman, thinking it’s for him, names something very tasty indeed, and then gets the task of doing it all to Mordecai, through very gritted teeth, I’m sure.
At the banquet, Esther gets her chance to speak, and exposes Haman’s plot. Things go from bad to worse for Haman, who ends up impaled on the spike he intended for Mordecai. He’s a pantomime villain, and he dies a pantomime death.
This is a gorgeous story, but surely it has been polished. It happens with such silky smoothness that it must have been tweaked from what actually happened. That doesn’t matter, we can enjoy it for what it is, but I for one don’t feel the need to pretend that this is historically accurate.

Day 262: A beauty contest

And so we come to Esther. The only book in the Bible not to mention God or prayer.
Xerxes’ feast
Esther 1:1-8
Vashti’s rebellion
Esther 1:9-12
Her dethronement
Esther 1:13-22
New queen sought
Esther 2:1-4
Esther brought to Shushan
Esther 2:5, 7-11
Esther made queen
Esther 2:12-17
Feast in honour of Esther
Esther 2:18-20
Mordecai save the king’s life
Esther 2:21-23
Haman’s plot
Esther 3:1-7
Haman gains the king’s support
Esther 3:8-11

The book of Esther is much loved by Jews today. It tells a story about faithfulness during a time of oppression and discrimination, when the very future of Israel was in doubt. The reason it is not explicit about God is because of the situation it comes from - the very heart of the Persian empire.
This is a story about the peccadilloes of a powerful and spoilt man, Xerxes King of Persia. He has every luxury he could wish for, his slightest whim is law, and a clever courtier can twist him round a little finger. Haman is such a person - an ambitious and conceited man, who cannot tolerate the fact that there is a group of people in the empire who have another loyalty.
Even though a Jewish girl has been selected to be Xerxes’ consort, Haman believes he can persuade the king to eliminate all Jews. There are echoes of Daniel, refusing to bow the knee to Darius, and the trap that jealous courtiers sprung on him. But Jews seem even more underground in this story, and we wonder whether there is space for God to work a saving miracle.

The story of everything

Thanks to Jonny Baker, who posted this video, telling the story of the Bible in five acts.

Helps me fit all my readings into the overall pattern.

Day 261: Israel’s deliverance

What is Zechariah on about? I’m not sure I know.
The Lord promises deliverance
Zechariah 10:1-12
Destruction to come
Zechariah 11:1-3
The two shepherds
Zechariah 11:4-17
Punishment of Israel’s enemies
Zechariah 12:1-9
Israel’s repentance and sorrow
Zechariah 12:10-14
Israel’s cleansing
Zechariah 13:1-6
The command to kill God’s shepherd
Zechariah 13:7-9
Jerusalem and the nations
Zechariah 14:1-15
Israel’s restoration
Zechariah 14:16-21

We read the rest of the words of Zechariah today, and they are puzzling. Most of what he has said so far has been promises of hope for Israel, and judgement on her enemies. But today, he seems to be losing the plot a little. It’s becoming incoherent, like a radio station plagued by interference. We can’t make out a clear message. There are words of hope again, there are messages of judgement and promises of the destruction of enemies , but Israel seems threatened too in the disjointed dreams and visions he presents.
Zechariah himself seems to be weary of his task as prophet. Being a leader is thankless, and he would give it up if he could. He talks about shepherds who do not care leading the flock, he talks about losing faith in his calling. Like the waves of a stormy sea, he seems to see simmering destruction boiling around Jerusalem, but the city itself remains safe, protected by God.
This is very much a vision of Israel as a righteous remnant, the faithful few, protected by God and holding on to the truth, while the rest of the world can go hang. It’s a vision of a man who’s tired of life, who doesn’t care about the rest of humanity so long as the centre of his hopes remains safe.
Whatever the future holds for Israel, if Zechariah has seen it right, it’s not going to be a steady upwards march to glory, that’s for sure.