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Nehemiah 7-9
Today we get:
Nehemiah 7
1 Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
I did this... cuz I'm so great.
2 That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
I... put MY brother in charge. Because HE must have been good, because he was MY brother.
Meanwhile, Nehemiah decides that he's going to count the people.
5 And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,
Didn't David get in lots of trouble for counting the people?
Yes he did, back in 2 Samuel 24 (later retold in 1 Chronicles 21).
Oh well, apparently Nehemiah wanted to know who everyone was, and how they were related, so he set out to count them all.
The list from Nehemiah 7:43 to 60 is of people who were Levites. The list is basically only people who can PROVE that they are legitimate levites. All of these a AKC certified pure 100% jew.
61 And these were they which went up also from Telmelah, Telharesha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer: but they could not shew their father's house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel.
If people weren't exactly sure of their pedigree it wasn't too much of a problem.
64 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.
If a person claimed to be a Levite, but couldn't prove it, they were removed from the priesthood or from whatever levite office they held.
Nice word there, POLLUTED. Anyone who wasn't purebred from the line of Aaron was removed. Ich bin ein berliner!
65 And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.
The Tirshatha was a word for governor. Nehemiah was the governor. Urim and Thummim was used to PROVE if someone was or wasn't POLLUTED. All the people who had questionable ancestry were proved to be jew or not; levite or not based on a 50/50 pick between two rocks.
66 The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,
All that remained in Israel was 42,360.
Nehemiah 8
1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.
Ezra? Ezra went to Jerusalem in 457. Nehemiah was in the 440's so he could still be alive and kicking.
Kind of odd how Nehemiah hasn't mentioned Ezra yet. Ezra should have been one of the main temple guys during Nehemiah's stay in Jerusalem, but he just doesn't seem to get around to mentioning him.
2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.
So Ezra starts reading to the people. What happens when the law is read to the people? REVIVAL!
6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
In addition to Ezra reading the law to the people, he had levites walking around in the crowd to answer any questions on the law that might arise. Leave it to a joo to have questions about do or don't do laws.
7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.
Ezra had the levites working the crowd, so that he wouldn't be interrupted while reading the law.
14 And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:
So the people went out and cut down branches and built themselves tents.
Horray, it's a jooish camping party. I wonder if they all sat around outside with flashlights telling ghost stories (my favorite, of course, is when the witch of endor brought Samuel back to life to taunt Saul).
18 Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.
Ah the festival of booths, the jewish holiday that requires a trip to Bass Outlet Shoppes.
Nehemiah 9
1 Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
How is it every time people go camping they wind up dirty?
After camping, the people started to praise God. They covered most of their history.
6 Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
From Day 1 to Abraham.
7 Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;
to Egypt
9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;
several verses about the wilderness
19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. (led them through the desert for 40 years, for a trip that took Israel and his boys only a couple of days to get to)
to the taking of the promised land
23 Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
life in the promised land to the rejection of the LORD
27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
to this current day.
36 Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:
So the people made a covenant to follow the LORD.
38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.
Which I'm sure they follow just as much as every other covenant they had.
So what did we learn today.
1. Mehemiah doesn't get in trouble for counting the people.
2. Urim and Thummim were used to determine if a person who claimed to be a Levite or Jew, was what they claimed. If a person claimed to be a Levite, the person picking the stone would have to pick the Urim. They would ask, "Is this man a Levite" then pick the rock, if it came back Urim, he was a levite, if it came back Thummim, he wasn't.
3. The festival of booths is like a hebrew slumber party where everyone sleeps in tents in their back yards. (except they didn't have backyards but slept on their roofs).
YIC
V
Today we get:
- The numbers of Nehemiah
- Ezra reads to the people
- The next festival of booths
- A nice little rundown of Jewish history up to this point
Nehemiah 7
1 Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
I did this... cuz I'm so great.
2 That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
I... put MY brother in charge. Because HE must have been good, because he was MY brother.
Meanwhile, Nehemiah decides that he's going to count the people.
5 And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,
Didn't David get in lots of trouble for counting the people?
Yes he did, back in 2 Samuel 24 (later retold in 1 Chronicles 21).
Oh well, apparently Nehemiah wanted to know who everyone was, and how they were related, so he set out to count them all.
The list from Nehemiah 7:43 to 60 is of people who were Levites. The list is basically only people who can PROVE that they are legitimate levites. All of these a AKC certified pure 100% jew.
61 And these were they which went up also from Telmelah, Telharesha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer: but they could not shew their father's house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel.
If people weren't exactly sure of their pedigree it wasn't too much of a problem.
64 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.
If a person claimed to be a Levite, but couldn't prove it, they were removed from the priesthood or from whatever levite office they held.
Nice word there, POLLUTED. Anyone who wasn't purebred from the line of Aaron was removed. Ich bin ein berliner!
65 And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.
The Tirshatha was a word for governor. Nehemiah was the governor. Urim and Thummim was used to PROVE if someone was or wasn't POLLUTED. All the people who had questionable ancestry were proved to be jew or not; levite or not based on a 50/50 pick between two rocks.
66 The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,
All that remained in Israel was 42,360.
Nehemiah 8
1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.
Ezra? Ezra went to Jerusalem in 457. Nehemiah was in the 440's so he could still be alive and kicking.
Kind of odd how Nehemiah hasn't mentioned Ezra yet. Ezra should have been one of the main temple guys during Nehemiah's stay in Jerusalem, but he just doesn't seem to get around to mentioning him.
2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.
So Ezra starts reading to the people. What happens when the law is read to the people? REVIVAL!
6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
In addition to Ezra reading the law to the people, he had levites walking around in the crowd to answer any questions on the law that might arise. Leave it to a joo to have questions about do or don't do laws.
7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.
Ezra had the levites working the crowd, so that he wouldn't be interrupted while reading the law.
14 And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:
So the people went out and cut down branches and built themselves tents.
Horray, it's a jooish camping party. I wonder if they all sat around outside with flashlights telling ghost stories (my favorite, of course, is when the witch of endor brought Samuel back to life to taunt Saul).
18 Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.
Ah the festival of booths, the jewish holiday that requires a trip to Bass Outlet Shoppes.
Nehemiah 9
1 Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
How is it every time people go camping they wind up dirty?
After camping, the people started to praise God. They covered most of their history.
6 Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
From Day 1 to Abraham.
7 Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;
to Egypt
9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;
several verses about the wilderness
19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. (led them through the desert for 40 years, for a trip that took Israel and his boys only a couple of days to get to)
to the taking of the promised land
23 Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
life in the promised land to the rejection of the LORD
27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
to this current day.
36 Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:
So the people made a covenant to follow the LORD.
38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.
Which I'm sure they follow just as much as every other covenant they had.
So what did we learn today.
1. Mehemiah doesn't get in trouble for counting the people.
2. Urim and Thummim were used to determine if a person who claimed to be a Levite or Jew, was what they claimed. If a person claimed to be a Levite, the person picking the stone would have to pick the Urim. They would ask, "Is this man a Levite" then pick the rock, if it came back Urim, he was a levite, if it came back Thummim, he wasn't.
3. The festival of booths is like a hebrew slumber party where everyone sleeps in tents in their back yards. (except they didn't have backyards but slept on their roofs).
YIC
V
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