I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
The passage starts with a continuation of the descriptions of which groups were working to repair which portions of the wall. When the account of who was rebuilding which portion the wall was complete, we are told that Sanballat and Tobiah came to view the work and were furious that the Jews were doing this. Sanballat mocked the work that was being done and Tobiah chimed in saying that the wall would collapse if even a fox walked on top of it. When Nehemiah heard their mockery, he prayed to God, asking God to hold them accountable for their attempt to belittle the builders and make them feel worthless. Nehemiah called such behavior a sin (and I would agree with him). Even so, before long the people had rebuilt the wall to half its height all the way around the city.
When Sanballat, Tobiah and other leaders of surrounding peoples learned that they were making such progress on the wall, they made plans to attack the Jews at Jerusalem in order to disrupt the work. Jews who lived near those plotting to attack Jerusalem brought news to those working in Jerusalem of the planned attack. This news arrived just as those working on the rebuilding were becoming overwhelmed at the amount of work yet to be done in order to complete the wall. Nehemiah stationed armed guards at the weakest points in the walls and assigned some of the people to stand guard according to their families. Nehemiah called together the nobles, other leaders, and all of the people and told them not to be disheartened, God would stand with them. He encouraged them to stand and fight in defense of their families and neighbors. from that time forward, only half of Nehemiah’s men worked while the other half stood guard. In addition to this, those who worked on the wall made sure that they had weapons nearby. Nehemiah kept a trumpeter by his side at all times. He instructed the people that, since the work was spread out, they would need to rush to the sounds of battle to reinforce those who met any initial assault. Finally, he asked those who lived outside of Jerusalem who were working on the wall to move into the city until work was completed, so that they could help stand guard. When their enemies, those plotting to attack Jerusalem, learned that they were aware of the plans, they abandoned the idea of a sneak attack (probably in part because they would now likely be held accountable by the Persian king for such an attack). Nehemiah and those directly accountable to him remained at all times after the plot was revealed.
In the middle of all of this, some of the men came to Nehemiah complaining of their financial hardship and how the leaders and aristocrats were exacerbating their troubles. One of the problems was that some of them were forced to sell their children into slavery in order to meet their living expenses. When Nehemiah heard their complaints he was angry. Nehemiah called together the nobles and wealthy among the Jews and confronted them over what they were doing. He pointed out that, as a group, they were attempting to buy out of slavery all the Jews they could find who were enslaved by pagans, yet some of the same people who were part of that group were selling Jews into slavery to pagans!
Nehemiah admitted that he, and his brothers, and some of his men, had been lending money to people in order for the people to buy grain. Nehemiah then declared that he and those answerable to him would stop charging interest on the money they lent to their fellow Jews. He demanded the same of the other wealthy people among the Jews. They all agreed with that he was right and vowed that they would return the property they had obtained as interest for the money they had lent to other Jews. Nehemiah then called the priests and had all of those involved swear an oath before God to do as they had agreed. “And the people did as they had promised.”
This passage reminds me of a lesson my father taught me about the Church. He once told me that there was nothing inherently wrong with a Christian being a millionaire (or billionaire) and there was nothing inherently wrong with a Christian being on welfare. However, if any congregation had a member (or members) who was a millionaire and a member (or members) who was on welfare, then there was something very wrong with that congregation. He was very clear that where the fault lay would need to be determined on a case by case basis. The fault might not even belong to either the wealthy person or the person on welfare, but lie somewhere else. But, there was clearly a violation of biblical teaching for such a disparity to exist in a body of believers who all knew each other and worshiped together. (I think that perhaps I need to do a blog on this subject some day soon).
Paul continues his discussion about sexuality and marriage. He starts off this section by saying that what he is about to say is not a command from the Lord. Rather it is merely what is in his judgment wise advice. Paul tells them that he thinks that those believers who are unmarried would be wise to remain unmarried. He emphasizes that those who are married should remain married and make no attempt to end their marriage (this is a message that not enough congregations emphasize). Paul advises that those who are not married should remain unmarried, but that if they do get married, it is not a sin.
Paul says that because we are living in troubled times, it would be better to remain unmarried so that we can focus on doing the Lord’s work and not have to think about meeting the needs and desires of a spouse. However, he tempers this advice by saying that those who struggle with sexual temptation would be well advised to get married and thus blunt that temptation by giving those desires a legitimate outlet. Paul expresses the opinion that in general it would be better for those who are single to remain single, but he acknowledges that not everyone is gifted by God to live in that fashion.
The psalmist tells us that joy abounds for those whose sin has been forgiven. He tells us that as long as we refuse to confess our sins, as long as we deny that we are sinners, our sins will eat away at us. They will cause our bodies to waste away and our strength to drain from us. Our unconfessed sins will destroy our ability to reason and bring suffering upon us. However, if we confess our sins and repent of them, God will forgive us.
And you forgave me!
I don’t know about you, but I read great joy in that last phrase, “And you forgave me!” Perhaps a little surprise as well. I know that joy. I remember when I first felt God’s forgiveness for my sins. How it lifted a burden from my heart. The psalmist goes on and tells us that God will guide along the best pathway for our lives. He advises us not to be like a horse, which needs a bit and bridle to direct it in the path it should take. The wicked will experience much sorrow and suffering, but if we listen to the Lord and take His advice, obeying His commands, we will be surrounded by God’s unfailing love and experience joy in all of our life.
Careful planning and hard work are the path to financial security, attempting to follow “get-rich-quick” schemes is the path to poverty. Gaining wealth by lies or evil violence will lead to trouble for those who employ such means and the wealth will not last.