Recap

So far in Ezra-Nehemiah, we've read as the people returned to Jerusalem, rebuilt the temple, separated themselves from their foreign wives, and start work on the walls. King Cyrus of Persia defeats Babylon and is compelled by God to send some of the exiles back to Jerusalem. As the people left, they were given gifts of silver and gold by their Babylon neighbours, much like the Israelites when they left Egypt.

Zerubbabel rose up to lead the people. Along with Jeshua, he reestablished the offerings, feasts, and festivals of the people realigning the people with God. They reappointed the Levites and started work on rebuilding the temple. There was a massive celebration, but some of the older folk who knew what the old temple looked like wept. This new temple wasn't as good as the one they remembered, or the one that Ezekiel prophesied about.

As the people were rebuilding the temple, the locals, Israelites who weren't exiled and others who had come to live in the land, came to offer their help. We got a sense of God reuniting his kingdom. But rather than accept their help, the exiles rejected it, leading to conflict.

Ezra returned to Jerusalem with a second wave of Jews, hoping to teach the people the Torah and recommit them back to God. Our hope was raised again. But upon returning to Jerusalem, leaders complained to Ezra that many of the people had married foreign women and had children with them. Rather than encourage these men to lead their foreign wives in worship to God, Ezra insists they divorce them and send them away.

Meanwhile, in Susa, the capital city of Persia, Nehemiah heard that the walls were still destroyed. He was sent to Jerusalem by king Artaxerxes. He assessed the walls and then encouraged the Jews to rebuild them. But we saw that these walls were less about protection and more about keeping unwanted people out. Jerusalem was not becoming the welcoming, open city that it seemed God spoke about. The place where all people could come and worship God.

We read as the Jews rebuilt the wall, while protecting themselves from enemy attack. Nehemiah also found out the people were oppressing one another with heavy debts and interest rates, and many of the people were being sold into slavery to pay debts. Nehemiah put an end to this while also dodging attempts on his life. The walls were finished and Nehemiah made sure the gates were closed as long as possible to keep people out.

But then the people called Ezra to read the Torah to them. They worshipped, repented of their sins, and recommitted themselves to God. Maybe this was the turning point we were looking for.

Nehemiah 10-13

As we've become familiar with in Ezra and Nehemiah, we start with a list of names. These were all the people that signed to commit themselves to this new covenant. Then comes the contents of the covenant. The people commit to living lives of obedience to God's word. They commit to no longer intermarrying with people from other nations who might lead them astray with foreign gods.

They agree to once again view the sabbath as a rest day, and not to farm their lands on the sabbath year (every seventh year). The people then recommit themselves to their tithes and offerings, making sure they give out of their earnings every year to support the upkeep of the temple.

This is what we've been hoping for since the Jews returned to Jerusalem. A sign that the people were genuinely repentant and were willing to commit themselves to being faithful before God once again.

The people then began to add order to their society. With plenty of land to go around, most people wanted to live outside the city. But they also recognised that they needed people to live in the city and maintain it, so that if they were ever attacked again, the people could retreat into the city and live in there. They cast lots, with 10% of the Jews living inside the city so that the other 90% could enjoy their land.

Then again, we get a list of the names. First of the families that would live in the city and those that would live outside the city. With the wall built, and the Jews having recommitted themselves to God, life is pretty much ready to go back to normal. The people are able to enjoy living in their land once again.

We open to a list of all the Levites and priests that have returned from exile, and the people decide to dedicate the walls they have built to God. They gather all the musicians and singers together, and all the Levites and priest ritually purify themselves.

Nehemiah split the singers into two groups, and each group walked around the opposite side of the city, singing God's praise. They then joined back up at the temple to offer praise and sacrifices to God.

After that Nehemiah points men to be in charge of the temple store cupboards, to manage all the offerings and to encourage people regularly to make their offerings. It looks like the people are fully committed to God again. They've made their commitments, sung God's praise, and offered sacrifices.

But it doesn't last long. In a moment of eager zeal, they decide to not only remove any foreigners from their community, but also anyone who was a fellow Israelite but had come from foreign descent. Only pure Israelites could be part of the community. This isn't the unity that God prophesied about through his prophets. And it goes downhill from here.

Nehemiah returned to king Artaxerxes for a bit. When he came back, he found that one of his opponents, Tobiah, who had tried to prevent Jerusalem from being restored to its former glory, had claimed for himself a room in the temple. He had taken a space that had been purified for God and was using it as his own personal office, dishonouring God. Nehemiah was furious and threw Tobiah out along with his furniture and ordered the room be purified.

Then he found out that the people had stopped giving their tithes and offerings, and the Levites and priests were no longer being provided for. He challenged the officials over the city on how they had let this happen. Go on a little further and Nehemiah sees that people are ignoring the sabbath, working like they would any other day.

In the evening, when he ordered the city gates to be closed, many people were choosing to set up camp outside the city walls so they could continue to trade. They no longer cared about these walls that Nehemiah had them build.

Finally, the people had also decided to remarry foreign women, but this time was worse than before. Not only had there been no attempt to incorporate these women into the Jewish way of living and worshipping God, these women couldn't even speak the Jewish language.

These women would continue to be a source of temptation to Jerusalem to lead them to behave like the other nations. Everything that Ezra and Nehemiah had worked for had been undone. Nehemiah cries out to God to remember him, and the books ends.

So what are we meant to do with that? Time after time, we were given a sense of hope that the Jews were coming back to God and things would be okay. And every single time, our hopes were met with disappointment. Why read this book at all? Well, it teaches us an important lesson.

People can't be changed with good intentions and determination. They might change for a little while but, more often than not, they will go back to how they were living before. If the Jews are ever going to return fully to God and live according to his ways, they need what God spoke about through his prophet Ezekiel when he said, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26).

So as we finish this book we recognise, as Daniel prophesied, that while the people have come back to the land, thing still aren’t alright. We continue to look forward in hope that one day God will give his people a new heart and a new spirit so they can live for him.

Psalm 53

The psalm is attribtued to king David and can fall into the category of a wisdom psalm. In most ways this psalm is a copy of Psalm 14 with a couple of slight variations. Where Psalm 14 uses Lord (Yahweh), Psalm 53 uses God (elohim). This is pretty common for the psalms in book 2 of the psalms (Psalm 42-72).

Because of this, what we said of Psalm 14 is also largely true of Psalm 53.

Psalm 53:1 - The foolish

Psalm 53:2-3 - Are there any who are wise?

Psalm 53:4 - Why do they attack my people?

Psalm 53:5 - God scatters the wicked

Psalm 53:6 - Hope for salvation

The psalm opens on a problem that foolish, corrupt people exist. And there seem to be a lot of them. These foolish people do not believe in God, and they do wicked things.

In response, God searches the earth for those who aren’t foolish. Those who have understanding and who seek God. But all have them have allowed themselves to become foolish.This is hyperbole (over-exaggeration) as we’ll see there are still those who are innocent and righteous.

Turning back to the foolish, the psalmist notes how they oppress and consume ‘my people’. Who is the person talking? As the psalm is attributed to King David, this could be from the point of the king. But it is perhaps more likely that the psalmist is talking from the point of lady wisdom.

Lady wisdom is a character that appears in a lot of wisdom literature, who is the embodiment of wisdom. Her people are those who seek after and live by wisdom.

This is where Psalm 53 changes focus a little from Psalm 14. In Psalm 14, the focus is on how God protects the righteous and the poor. Psalm 53 focuses on the terror God will bring on the wicked. He will scatter them and shame them.

And then Psalm 53 picks back up with Psalm 14. Lady wisdom looks forward to the day where there will be no more wicked. Where God restores the good fortunes to his people. This will be a day of celebration.

We learn much the same lessons as we did from Psalm 14, but with that slightly different focus. While Psalm 14 is an encouragement to the righteous in a world that seems wicked, Psalm 53 is a warning to the wicked. If you don’t learn your lesson, it will not end well for you.