Nehemiah 1:7 — A thousand years after Moses, Nehemiah is still aware of the consequences of forsaking the Law and the promise for obedience to the Law (Nehemiah 1:8).
Nehemiah 2:4 — One of the shortest prayers recorded in the Bible!
Book of Nehemiah Chapter 2
Nehemiah 2:18 — The energy within the crowd is intense! “Let us rise up and build!” God’s work should result in an enthusiastic response!
Nehemiah 3:1 — Nehemiah motivated the pilgrims of Israel to follow through on the burden that God shared with Nehemiah to rebuild the city.
1 Corinthians 7:1 — Paul uses the Corinthian sin as a teaching opportunity. Having chastised the Corinthians for tolerating incest, he now backs up and shows the biblical practice of sexual morality:
Exclusivity (1 Corinthians 7:1)
Monogamy (1 Corinthians 7:2)
Sexuality (1 Corinthians 7:3)
Submissiveness (1 Corinthians 7:4)
1 Corinthians 7:19 — Paul reiterates that circumcision is not valuable in God’s economy (see Romans 4:9-12).
Psalm 31:20 — The psalmist knows personally the blessing of the LORD because it was the LORD that hid him safely away from his enemies! Because God has been so good, the psalmist has to shout (Psalm 31:19, Psalm 31:21, Psalm 31:23-24).
The plowing of the wicked.–i.e., their work, all they do; for it is not done to please God but themselves; nor carried on in His strength, but in reliance upon their own, and therefore it is “sin,” not pleasing to Him.
Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.
Ezra 10:3 — Is God ordering mass divorce? In today’s culture we are told “love is love,” but Luke 10:27 reminds us that the first commandment is to love God, then to love our neighbor. Sometimes following God will cause family division (Matthew 10:35). Joshua had warned the people of the curse following a religious intermarriage (Joshua 23:12-13). Ezra is hyper-sensitive to violations of the Law because this is a precedent setting time! Ezra is establishing patterns that will be followed for the next 500+ years until the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. He is afraid that if the people fail at the start, how can the nation continue? Notice also that animals died for this sin (Ezra 10:19).
First, the wives in the Old Testament were not just “unbelievers” who were “willing” to be “sanctified” by the believing husband (1 Corinthians 7:14). They were “pagans,” that is, they were probably Babylonian idol worshipers (cf. Nehemiah 13:25–26), who were having a pagan influence on their husbands. – DefendingInerrancy.com
… there are heart-breaking temporal consequences associated with wrongdoing, to say nothing of the potential eternal penalty. – ChristianCourier.com
… the special instructions to divorce non-believers in Ezra 10 must be understood from an exceptional, nationalistic circumstance during a most critical time under Jewish law and should not be looked at as objective moral law especially when considering the totality of the Bible (See: 1 Corinthians 7:12ff; 1 Peter 3:1ff). – Kevin Pendergrass
At present, in the United States, agreements to arbitrate a dispute before a religious tribunal are generally enforceable in civil courts, as are awards made by religious arbitral tribunals … A Boston town in 1635 laid down an ordinance that no congregation members could litigate unless there had been a prior effort at arbitration.
1 Corinthians 6:7 — Paul says that even though we have a right to “religious arbitration,” can we be willing to suffer temporally because we shall inherit the Kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9)?
1 Corinthians 6:11 — The encouragement following a list of convicting sins – such were some of you!
1 Corinthians 6:15-16 — Paul might have been thinking about the sins of Ezra’s day just 500 years prior. How can a follower of the LORD unite with someone following another god? Our bodies are not our own (1 Corinthians 6:19)!
Psalm 31:9 — The miserable man makes much of mercy because he trusts in God (Psalm 31:14).
Proverbs 21:3 — Samuel has stated this before (1 Samuel 15:22). God does not believe that it is better to ask forgiveness than permission.
Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.
Ezra 8:22 — Ezra was faced with a dilemma: accept the gracious offer of the king to provide protection, or allow God to protect them as they traveled with over $100 million in gold (that’s not counting the silver – see Ezra 8:26). Hudson Taylor once refused to wear a life jacket on a boat because he thought it showed his faith in God. Should we refuse to wear life jackets as well? How are we to balance keeping our faith in God and exercising reasonable care?
FIRST note that Ezra fasted and prayed about this decision (Ezra 8:23). Keep in mind that this was someone that God was willing to be entreated of (Psalm 66:18). If we’re not living for the LORD, we should be hesitant to claim we heard a command from the LORD.
SECOND note that Ezra learned the lesson of Hezekiah and Sennacherib in 2 Kings 18:15 – trust God first or soldiers won’t help you (Psalm 127:1). His decision was a response to a specific problem in Israelite history, not a general disregard of human precautions. God blessed this decision (Ezra 8:31).
THIRD note how Ezra was demonstrating his trust in God (see today’s reading in Psalm 31), and how he took every human precaution when auditing the treasure. Not because the transport team was untrustworthy, but to a) protect their reputation, b) deter temptation, and c) ensure they focused on the goal for the team instead of personal enrichment, Ezra employed the service of the Levites to transport the treasure. This is similar to a church treasurer who completes a deposit slip with the rest of the finance team, and then is dispatched to the bank to deposit the money. The church auditor then reconciles the deposit slip with the deposit receipt to make sure nothing happened to the money enroute. Ezra found trustworthy men (Ezra 8:24), weighed the gold (Ezra 8:25), documented the weights (Ezra 8:26-27), charged the trustworthy men with the sacred trust (Ezra 8:28), and then scheduled an audit in Jerusalem (Ezra 8:29). While today’s treasurer might pocket some loose change enroute, the big danger in times past was debasement. Roman emperors would reduce the silver content of coins thinking people wouldn’t notice. Archimedes famously developed a test to ensure the gold in the crown wasn’t diluted. Here, the chapter concludes with the auditing in Ezra 8:33-34.
Later he realized that was wrong thinking and wrote, “The use of means ought not to lessen our faith in God; and our faith in God ought not to hinder whatever means He has given us for the accomplishment of His own purposes … When in medical or surgical charge of any case, I have never thought of neglecting to ask God’s guidance and blessing in the use of appropriate means … to me it would appear presumptuous and wrong to neglect the use of those measures which He Himself has put within our reach, as to neglect to take daily food, and suppose that life and health might be maintained by prayer alone” (p. 99). He was later said to be “a man of prayer, but it was prayer associated with action … He prayed about things as if everything depended upon the praying … but he worked also, as if everything depended upon the working” (p. 329).
Excerpt comes from pg. 329 of It Is Not Death to Die: A New Biography of Hudson Taylor by Jim Cromarty
Ezra 9:1-2 — Ezra, whose father was executed by a pagan king in a pagan land as part of God’s judgment on the sins of Israel, knew sin could not be tolerated. They were commanded not to defile themselves with the Canaanites and their practices (Leviticus 18:24). They were commanded not to associate with them but to drive them out (Deuteronomy 7:1). They were not to show any mercy.
Ezra 9:6 — Ezra’s prayer of contrition; he recognizes his lowly position (Psalm 40:17) and the vastness of his sins (Psalm 51:3). He cites the very command they have broken (Ezra 9:11-12, Deuteronomy 7:3). Ezra refuses to allow people to make the same mistake Solomon made (1 Kings 11:1-2).
1 Corinthians 5:1 — Speaking of sin in the camp, Paul commands a harsh penalty (1 Corinthians 5:5) for sinful activity in the local church, and God’s disapproval of those who tolerated it (1 Corinthians 5:2, 1 Corinthians 5:6, 1 Corinthians 5:9).
1 Corinthians 5:10-12 — We’re not to avoid those who sin. We must confront those who claim to be washed of their sin in the blood of the Lamb and yet persist in the sin that nailed the Lamb to the Cross! God will take care of sinners; we must take care of our so-called brothers.
Psalm 31:1 — The psalmist is declaring what Ezra believed: we can trust in the LORD and be delivered! He has delivered us from our enemies!
Proverbs 21:1 — The Lord changed the heart of the king from Ezra 4:21 to Ezra 6:7. God can still change hearts even today!
Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.
Ezra 7:1 — Don’t gloss over this genealogy! Who is Seraiah? The last high priest of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:18, Jeremiah 52:24). The priests were executed as vanquished leaders (2 Kings 25:21, Jeremiah 52:27) by the Babylonians. God exercised judgment on the Babylonians and put the Persians in charge. They have a much different attitude toward Ezra than toward his father.
Ezra 7:5 — Remember Phinehas the Bold? Yes, we have his descendant with us. Ezra the scribe was birthed to be high priest, he descended from the valiant, he was studied in the Law, and he was ultimately favored by the king.
Ezra 7:9 — Ezra was in a 4-month-long wagon train with thousands of his kinfolk, and we complain about rush hour traffic, delays boarding our seat on a plane, or flying international in just economy!
Ezra 7:10 — Great verse to memorize and to apply!
Seek it (2 Kings 22:8-10 – Josiah did so upon discovering the Law)
Do it (James 1:22 – Doers of the Word and not hearers only)
Teach it (1 Timothy 4:11 – These things command and teach)
Ezra 7:15 — Five surprising things in the Royal Letter:
The king is giving to the God of Israel silver and gold (Ezra 7:15)
The king is not specifying what can be purchased (Ezra 7:18)
The king is giving a blank check (Ezra 7:20, Ezra 7:22)
The king is giving tax exemption (Ezra 7:24)
The king is establishing a theocracy (Ezra 7:26)
1 Corinthians 4:7 — ”What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” Everything we have is from God – why are we boasting in what we have and comparing ourselves?
1 Corinthians 4:10 — What does Christian love entail (John 13:34)? Appearing foolish, appearing weak, being despised, hungering, thirsting, being naked, being beaten, being homeless, earning your own pay, being reviled, being persecuted, and giving your best (1 Corinthians 4:17). This is the result of the love their spiritual father, Paul, had for them (1 Corinthians 4:15).
Ezra 5:11 — “Who said you could build this?” Interesting the response back – “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth.” Servants of not just a regional territorial god, but the God of all that is on earth and all that is above the earth!
Ezra 6:7 — The Israelis knew they had:
authority from God (Ezra 5:11)
atonement for their fathers (Ezra 5:12), and the
auspice of Cyrus to build!
God used the researchers of Babylon (Ezra 6:1-2) to find the records and confirm His will!
Darius —
protected them from interference (Ezra 6:7)
provided the resources needed, and
preferred the sacrifices
Was he a devout believer? No! He had enough issues without ticking off whoever this “God of heaven” was!
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 — Just as God was the confidence of the Israelis, He is the giver of increase to the Christian. Our enemy is not Team Apollos or Team Paul, but the world, the flesh, and the devil. Apollos and Paul are “laborers together” (1 Corinthians 3:9).
1 Corinthians 3:13 — The Bema Seat that we read about in Romans 14:10 is discussed here. What will be revealed is what has been done in the Christian life. Christians will be judged, not on the economy and not on the politics of this world, but on what has been built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ! Rewards and losses will be measured out as the fire tests our work.
Psalm 29 — Notice the structure of the Psalm – 2X the expression “give unto the LORD” is used, 3X the expression “voice of the LORD” is used, there’s a center keynote, then 3X the expression “voice of the LORD” appears, followed by two descriptions of the LORD (a modified chiasm). In vv. 1-2, we give strength to Him; in vv. 10-11, He gives strength to us! What an amazing God we serve!
Proverbs 20:26 — For those wanting to keep religion out of politics, we need some good leaders who will follow the teaching of Proverbs. The good ruler does not let the wicked take over his city. You may not be a ruler of a city, but if you are a leader in your family, do not let the wicked take over your family!
Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.
