Introduction: As God restores His people to the land, He does not put them on a fast track. The process has many blessed moments, and a number of setbacks. This book of Nehemiah begins in the middle of one such setback. The Text: The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to …
Ezra Nehemiah 11
Introduction: Repentance may be felt (and usually is felt) at a deep emotional level. But this does not remove the need to be careful and deliberate in how things are set right. The Text: Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there …
Ezra Nehemiah 10
Introduction: Times of reformation are not times when sin goes away, when no recurring temptations present themselves. Rather, history reveals periods of reformation as those times when the sin was dealt with as it should have been, often at great cost. Reformation is not like a figure skater gliding smoothly across the ice; it is …
Ezra Nehemiah 8
Introduction: God moves in history through His appointed means. But although some of His means are inscrutable to us (Dt. 29:29), in many other cases, He describes for us what it is like when He is working. In this instance, we see how God determined to give favor to the Jews by placing favor upon …
Ezra Nehemiah 8
Introduction As we study the narratives of Scripture, one of the things we have to learn to watch for are the narratival patterns. And one of those patterns is captured by our expression “hoist on his own petard.” Most take this to be some form of hanging, but a petard was actually a medieval hand …
Ezra Nehemiah 6
Introduction As we have already noted, the parallels between the post-exilic Jews in Jerusalem and our situation are many, and sometimes uncanny. And just like some of our tussles seem to go on and on, so did their legal wrangles go on and on. The Text: Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the …
Ezra Nehemiah 2
Introduction: The world is a messy place. Part of the mess for believers is learning to tell the difference between situations that call for martyrdom and situations that call for godly acquiescence. One of the more common set-ups where such wisdom is required is when pagan empires are in control. To what extent are we …