Today's Reading
Today's Nehemiah reading begins with the grandeur of the wall dedication service. I can almost see it and rejoice with them. Then the account turns to difficulty. Nehemiah had returned to Persia (Babylon had been conquered by the Persians) and stayed there for a time. When he returned again to Jerusalem, he found the signs of spiritual erosion already taking hold, like rust beginning to oxidize on metal. Specifically, Tobiah (the constant enemy in this book) was actually using God's Temple for his own purposes and he was the enemy of the God of Israel! Also, the people had stopped bringing their promised financial support to the Temple, they were again forgetting the Sabbath and they were allowing intermarriage with non-Jews. What a mess!
1 Corinthians. So, what do you think of the custom women keeping their hair long? I think it was just that -- a cultural custom. While God has a unique design for men and a unique design for women, I don't think their hair length idea was meant to be taken as a permanent law. We can celebrate the differences in how God made us or fight them. The problem is that sin has so warped the perspective of our culture that we sound insensitive or insane when we honor God's pattern.
Psalms. David's example seems to be that of praying for his enemies well-being and, when they keep coming after him, praying that God would judge them. I think it's a pretty good plan. How about you?
Proverbs. It is always best to humble ourselves before God. He will take care of us.
Your insights? Any questions today?
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I have such a hard time understanding the harsh response Nehemiah had for those who had intermarried and had children. I get why the Lord commanded His people to not intermarry - because of the temptation to trade their devotion for the Lord in for the worship of false gods - but it's just difficult to read about how Nehemiah handled it.
ReplyDeleteI think it has much to do with cultural context, Ranelle. I remember a few years ago when a controversy arose in our Dominican partnership. Pastor Manolo asked for my advice on how to handle it. I responded the way I would in our culture by giving him input, then leaving the decision up to him. He got back with me and wanted a more direct response; I still didn't "get it." Finally, he said, "Answer me like a father would to his son." In other words, he wanted me to tell him what to do. I remembered then that I had seen Manolo do exactly that with pastors he leads in the DR. He just tells them what to do and they do it. That experience taught me much about the nuances of culture.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think Nehemiah was probably pretty normal in his cultural context.