Month: September 2017

The Bible in a Year – 10 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

10 September. Nehemiah chapter 9-11

Chapter 9 consists mainly of a recital of the “history of salvation” up to this time – the promise to Abraham, the Exodus and subsequent rebellions and corresponding repentance. Chapter 10 is a covenant of the leaders of the people to follow the Law previously given.  And chapter 11 consists of the individuals and groups of men who were to live in the reconstructed city of Jerusalem.  But I am going to concentrate on one verse from the start of this reading:

“Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.” (Nehemiah 9:2).

This verse sounds worrying at a time when Britain is going through a national crisis about immigration. “Separating oneself from all foreigners” reads as at best a nationalist sentiment, at worst a policy of xenophobia and racism.  Even allowing for the commandment to avoid intermarriage (and therefore prevent the dilution of Jewish teaching) there should be no need to “separate oneself” from those who are different.  The Christian understanding of God’s love for humanity is that it is without borders, and all that matters is faith in God and a desire to live in peace with other people. So how does this statement belong in the Bible?

The nation of Israel was rebuilding itself in and around Jerusalem after several generations, during which gentiles had occupied the holy city.  They felt a need to assert their historic rights to live there.  The newly rediscovered Law was also something fragile, that could be easily forgotten if it was not preserved and reinforced until it had once again been established in people’s hearts.

So this verse seems to be appropriate for the time of its setting.  But that does not mean it is appropriate in 21st century Britain, where practising Christians (or Jews) are as likely to have come from other parts of the world as to have been born here; and where ‘mixed’ marriages can be very successful.

The Bible in a Year – 9 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

9 September. Nehemiah chapters 7-8

In chapter 7 the city gates have been completed although few houses have yet been rebuilt.  The reconstruction of a city after war is both a difficult challenge, and also an opportunity to make a new start in the way the city is built. It is also an opportunity to rethink how it is governed.  The city is put in charge of two men – Hanani the brother of Nehemiah (who presumably was, like him, an administrator by profession), and Hananiah the commander of the citadel, i.e. a military leader (7:2). This latter was chosen because he “feared God more than most people”, and therefore would be a man of integrity. These two between them could make a good go of this challenging situation.

Chapter 8 records the reading of the law to the people.  There had been several generations without a functioning civil society. Levels of literacy would have been low, and the younger people would have no knowledge of the traditions of the Temple and its laws. So they have to be taught.  Ezra and thirteen other men carry out this task over the course of a week. The picture this passage gives of the assembled crowd bowing down together in response to the reading of the scripture is remarkably similar to how Islam is still practised.

Many people wept when they heard the Law being read.  Presumably that was when they realised that some of their actions and habits were in fact contrary to the religious laws, the penalties for which were often harsh.  But Ezra and Nehemiah – the civil and religious leaders – told people not to weep, but to rejoice.  They understood, as many people still do not, that the purpose of religious laws is not really to punish people, but to guide them.  Having scripture as a guide for life is actually something to be thankful for and happy about.  As Nehemiah put it, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (8:10). And so the people celebrated with feasting and joy “because they now understood the words that had been made known to them”.

The Bible in a Year – 8 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

8 September. Nehemiah chapters 4-6

The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem may have been good news for the Jews, but it aroused strong opposition from the people of many other national groups who had come to live in the area following the removal of the Jewish leaders a century earlier.  The basis of nationalism – that one particular group of humans identified by ties of blood, political or religious allegiance, “owns” part of the planet – has been the cause of most conflicts down the centuries, and persists today in many places, not least in Israel/Palestine.

As I suggested yesterday, a “prayer/work balance” is a good thing.  And so the response of the Jews to the threats for the Arabs and others is “we prayed to our God, and set a guard as a protection against them day and night” (4:9).  The working men were also divided, half as builders and half as guards.

In chapter 5, Nehemiah confronts the leaders in Jerusalem who were taking tithes from, and lending money at interest to, the poor people on the surrounding countryside who had remained during the time of the exile.   He challenges them with their attitude of being superior to these common and hard-working people, and forces them to stop these practices and recognise all the Jewish people inside and outside the city as one community.

After that, Nehemiah calls himself Governor, and emphasises that he did not want to use that position to profit from or dominate the people, but only to lead them. It is not clear whether that was an official appointment by the emperor in distance Persia, but possibly not, as his enemies including Tobiah use it to threaten to report him to the emperor as leading a rebellion. Nehemiah has to emphasise that his intent is not to rebel, simply to restore Jerusalem as a working city and place of worship.

The completion of the rebuilding of the wall (but not its gates) in 52 days, using reclaimed stone and volunteer labour, was quite a triumph, enough to silence their enemies, at least for the time being.

The Bible in a Year – 7 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

7 September. Nehemiah chapters 1-3

Whereas the book of Ezra (which I have just read and commented on) focuses on the rebuilding of the Temple, Nehemiah was more concerned with the rebuilding of the walls and gates (i.e. the defences) of the city.  In the Jewish tradition they form a single “writing” so they are certainly not to be regarded as distinct books.

Both approaches (rebuilding of the walls and the Temple) were needed; the work of the two men was complementary.   It’s difficult to say whether they were working at the same time, or if not, which came first: a Wikipedia article suggests that either could have come first, given that there were two kings called Artaxerxes.  From a practical viewpoint, it would have been more logical to repair the walls first as Nehemiah seems to have wanted, while from a religious viewpoint the restoration of sacrifice was what mattered most (to Ezra).

Although Nehemiah seems to have been an effective “project manager” in his organisation of financing, materials and labour, it is interesting to note that it is he, and not Ezra, who is recorded as praying extensively both before and during the work.  This attitude that “work is prayer and prayer is work” informed the later Christian monastic movements, and is a good approach for anyone to take who believes that God is interested in the practicalities of our lives as well as the state of our souls.

 

The Bible in a Year – 6 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

Please excuse the delay in publishing the notes for the end of Daniel and all of Ezra, with only brief comments, as I was on holiday for a week and only making short notes to be typed up later.

6 September . Ezra chapters 8-10

In the last couple of chapters of this book, the issue of intermarriage comes into focus.  It was seen as such a terrible thing that it was acceptable for men to put away their wives and children when challenged, leaving them with little or no means of support.  What is so bad about mixed marriage that it can justify this breaking apart of families?  Most of us will know couples of different religions, or where only one is religious at all, who seem perfectly happy.   But religious leaders are always worried that having a non-believing spouse will tempt people to fall away from practice of their own religion, cease to attend public worship, start seeing things from a secular or pagan perspective.

But note that it is only men who were seen as guilty’ here – presumably Jewish women also married gentile men, but did not come in for the same criticism.  Perhaps it is that they were not permitted to initiate divorce proceedings, or perhaps because Jewish identity traditionally passes through the female line, it mattered less if the father of the household was not a circumcised Jew.

The book seems to end strangely with this issue of intermarriage, rather than with something to do with the Temple that has been the subject of most of the book.  Maybe there was more, which has been lost.

The Bible in a Year – 5 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

Please excuse the delay in publishing the notes for the end of Daniel and all of Ezra, with only brief comments, as I was on holiday for a week and only making short notes to be typed up later.

5 September. Ezra chapters 6-7

The account of Darius’ search for the records of the reign of Cyrus is a fascinating one.  Remember, this is at a time when the people of Britain did not even have a written language by which subsequent generations could record their activities.  The Persians must have had a very good ‘civil service’ to have kept such records.

When the Temple was finally rebuilt, the Passover was celebrated, presumably for the first time since the Exile nearly a century earlier.  The Persian king Artaxerxes also gave gold and silver, blessed the rebuilding and even allowed Ezra to appoint local judges (7:25) as well as to organise the Temple worship.  In return the Jews were asked to pray for the king, an arrangement perhaps similar to the medieval chantry chapels where a priest was employed in return for promising to pray for the king while he lived and for his soul after his death.

This idea that the role of religion is to act as a stabilising force in society, connected to the justice system, and that the state should pay for the clergy in return,  is largely absent from our western ‘liberal democracies’ today, except for example in Germany and some other northern European countries where there is a “church tax” on an opt-out rather than opt-in basis, and in England where the national Church is still tied up constitutionally with the state (although church members do now have to pay for their priests, at Diocesan level).

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 4 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

Please excuse the delay in publishing the notes for the end of Daniel and all of Ezra, with only brief comments, as I was on holiday for a week and only making short notes to be typed up later.

4 September. Ezra chapters 3-5

The first thing the Jews did on returning to Jerusalem was to build an altar (in the open air, presumably) on which to make sacrifice.  While the idea of sacrificing animals has virtually disappeared from world religions today, the ideas remain that it is important to give thanks to God for the good things that happen to us, and that having a place in which to conduct worship according to whatever we may consider to be appropriate rites is important to a religious community. The location of our worship, and our attitude in conducting it, are always more important than the building (if any).

In chapter 4, the opponents of the rebuilding of the Temple offered to help but it was refused. Not all ‘help’ is welcome, and it is difficult to know from this one-sided account whether the offer of help was a genuine attempt to build bridges, or an attempt to infiltrate a organisation.  Probably the latter, as their letter to Artaxerxes is disingenuous, using the fear of difference and past examples as a way of stirring up present hatred.  Only with a new king (Darius) did the Jews resume the attempt to rebuild the Temple, with an appeal to Cyrus’s previous permission.  Presumably they had feared that Artaxerxes would not take note of what Cyrus had said and done, or even regarded it as a reason to persecute them all over again.

 

The Bible in a Year – 3 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

Please excuse the delay in publishing the notes for the end of Daniel and all of Ezra, with only brief comments, as I was on holiday for a week and only making short notes to be typed up later.

3 September. Ezra chapters 1-2

The book of Ezra starts with the first return of the Jews from exile under Cyrus of Persia.  Note that he did not forcibly return them to Judah as his predecessor had forcible removed them, but he permits and assists them – “voluntary assisted deportation” as we might now say. Not only did he give them back the looted Temple treasure, but encouraged his own people to assist those who wished to return with practical help as well as money and valuables.

This is a challenge to us. If immigrants have been living in our country for several generations we cannot expect those born here to want to live in the country of their ancestors, and should regard them as free to stay or leave.  But if they do wish to leave, or even if changes in the political situation (such as Brexit) lead to compulsory  deportation of certain groups, would we be willing to be so generous with our own possessions in giving them a good send-off?

The Bible in a Year – 2 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

2 September. Daniel chapters 11-12

Please excuse the delay in publishing the notes for the end of Daniel and all of Ezra, with only brief comments, as I was on holiday for a week and only making short notes to be typed up later.

In these last two chapters of Daniel, there is much prophecy of what would happen with wars between various kings of the “North” and “South”.  The actual territories involved are not identified, except for mention of the Temple indicating that Jerusalem is among the area being disputed. I will not comment further on this other than to note that there has rarely been a time of peace in this part of the world.

Chapter 12 contains elements of apocalyptic (end-of-the-age prophecy) that find echoes in Jesus’ teaching: the end of the system of Temple sacrifices (11:31); persecution of the Jews (12:1); resurrection of the faithful from death for final judgement (12:2). Even Daniel who received these prophecies was told not to worry “how or when” these would be fulfilled, all that mattered was to trust God.

Jesus would of course have known all this, and the fact that he said much the same merely confirms that the fulfilment of these prophecies still lay in the future in his day.   The Temple system ended within 50 years after that; the resurrection is yet to happen, and the persecution of the Jews has continued intermittently throughout history.  For us, too, all that matters is to trust in God and leave him to look after the timing.

The Bible in a Year – 1 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

1 September. Daniel chapters 9-10

The prayer of Daniel in chapter 9, following the revelation that the Jewish exile would last seventy years, resembles those of King David or one of the other prophets.  It is a prayer of penitence not so much on his own behalf as on behalf of the nation. It is dated in the reign of Ahasuereus (who according to the commentaries is probably not the ruler of the same name in the story of Esther).

It is interesting that this intense prayer of penitence is followed by the appearance of the archangel Gabriel, while in chapter 10 three weeks of fasting is followed by an even greater epiphany.  Whether it is the laying aside of self-centredness in such religious practices, or the physical changes in the body due to emotion or hunger, that make someone open to such spiritual experiences, is difficult to say. But the association is a strong one.

The second appearance is of a shining figure who inspires both worship and fear. Christians might identify him as the Christ, or (since it seems this figure was not all-powerful against the ‘prince’ or guardian spirit of Persia without the aid of the archangel Michael) it might be another archangel.  But since the classification of spiritual beings is at best a subjective matter, let us just call him an angel (messenger) of God.

I will not attempt to analyse or explain the “prophecy of seventy weeks” in Chapter 9 as much greater Biblical scholars have failed in the attempt (just google it!)  I will just pick on one phrase, the “abomination that desolates” (9:27).  This too has had numerous explanations, most of which relate to the “desecration” of the Temple in Jerusalem.  This does not necessarily mean physical destruction – desecration is an extreme form of disrespect.

I refer you to an essay by the late Isaac Asimov titled “Pompey and Circumstance”.  There is a copy of it online. Read it and see what you think.