August 8, 2024: Thursday Bible Study on the Old Testament book of Nehemiah 9:38 – 10:29
Good morning and Blessings for your entire day.
Please remember that some of our members have been in difficult storm circumstances while others of us have had little rain this monsoon season. This means that our homeless community members may be facing some really difficult times with the weather. So please be aware of those who are seeking your help on street corners and medians as you travel around town. I know that our blessing bag supply is out here at church, so please remember to pick up some of those small shampoos and soap, as well as washcloths, tissues, and other kinds of self-care items. When we have a supply of them, we will get more blessing bags packed. Please pray for Annette who had her MRI for her issues with joints and pain, and for our Joshua and Shannon who came home from visiting family in the Carolinas and found covid on their trip, and also pray for Joshua as he interviews for hire as a children's presenter on environmental issues like recycling and water use for the city of Ft. Collins. Josh is a former high school teacher here in Tucson. Please pray for Nancy who has found summer heat very difficult to manage especially as she deals with Parkinson's. Please continue praying for Kandice as she continues her battle with cancer, for Jeff, who has found some improvement for his quality of life, through the cancer will not be completely eradicated. Pray for peace in the Middle East where the people of God are ready to harm and destroy one another. Pray for God's wisdom to be your guide for how you make your personal decision in the coming election in our nation.
Today in our passage from Nehemiah we find one of those massive lists of people (exclusively men) who have committed to restoring their commitments to the One True God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember that included removing any and all family members who had any part of the genetics of outsiders. i.e., They were not Judahites. We can only imagine the chaos that this brought as husbands or wives, extended families including children born to those ethnically mixed marriages, were dismissed and sent away. Obviously the Judahites, and Nehemiah were looking to establish ethnic purity. If all of this is any clue for those of us who live in the modern world, we should know the kind of hatred this establishes between God's children. We have it today in the Gaza Strip, and on the border of the West Bank, along with Israel's border with Lebanon. It doesn't matter who starts such an action like this, the result will be that there will be mass disregard for the sanctity of life. And of course, we must always ask ourselves with some degree of guilt for the wars our nation has fought, both those which were of our own making, and those into which our nation was drawn into for its sense of self-defense, but where does it ever come to a halt? How do we justify the deaths of 35000 people as the price for the killing of 1300? Would we choose to do anything different? Nehemiah made a choice too. What this scripture claims is the only way to restore the purity of faith and life, those who are different must go! In the Old Testament, this seems to be the way that writers, both theologians and people like Nehemiah justify their actions to create community purity. Is this really what God wants? If we listen to Jesus, it is pretty clear that the policies of obliteration of those who are the other, are completely unacceptable to God. Such approaches of clearing out the widow and orphan, the resident alien, and doing worship in the controlling people's style which was to prove their superiority in all things, are what brought Israel to its knees before God, and it will happen again in the early years of the first century, and it may well be coming again for the Jews as they once again work to expel their own Arab and Moslem brothers and sisters who also have the fullness of God's promise in their own heritage.
I hope your will take a few minutes to look over this list of the people who Nehemiah names as the ones who will reestablish their right relationship with God. If you ever thought that the list of usable Biblical names was pretty much used up, read this list! I have read this list, and I took the time to challenge myself to pronounce each one. Some are easy, and some I must admit I have to struggle with.
What is happening in this passage is the commitment that shows that each of these named men are stating that they are committed to the Torah to the commandments of God. This will be the inward sign of that outward promise. Of course, the outward sign for these men is circumcision, and the example of their lives. A piece of this which is different for us is this word curse used in the context of the promise to be obedient to the Torah. This is their appeal to God that if they do not keep their pledge and commitment to the Law, then they ask God to take an action of some kind 0f punishment against them. Both the pledge and the curse are a part of their prayer of commitment. IS it really any wonder that God sent His only Begotten Son to come and bear the sin burden of all people, and of the very creation itself, because this promise in Nehemiah cannot, and will not, be kept. One of the great things about having the opportunity to study this time period for the Judahites, is that you and I are able to grow in our understanding of God's Grace and Love for all of us. Please note that what is all around this is what you and I name as faith. It is their faith and ours which falters and always falls short of the Glory of God.
Next week - a list of the things that constitute the promise made.
In the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim
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