They celebrated for seven days, and on the eighth day there was a closing ceremony, as required in the Law.
Little by little the Law becomes god (Matthew 27:6).
“Through the sea you made a path for your people and led them through on dry ground.”
Make a path for us once again, Lord (Isaiah 42:16)!
Through forty years in the desert
you provided all that they needed;
their clothing never wore out,
and their feet were not swollen with pain.
You have done that for me all these many years in Morocco, Father. I bear witness. Thank you.
“What the land produces goes to the kings
that you put over us because we sinned.
They do as they please with us and our livestock,
and we are in deep distress!”
That must be terrible, working, toiling, soley for the benefit of others.
…we will live according to God’s Law, which God gave through his servant Moses; that we will obey all that the Lord, our Lord, commands us; and that we will keep all his laws and requirements.
The farther one goes down the road to implement rules, the more those rules take the place of God: un cul de sac (Matthew 23:23-24).
Pethahiah… represented the people of Israel at the Persian court.
Something new! The Persians really were very advanced in their thinking (Daniel 6:15).
The priests and the Levites performed ritual purification for… the gates, and the city wall.
Ritual purification for gates and walls? What would that even look like? And why would you do it? There is so much of that world I just don’t get…
When the Law of Moses was being read aloud to the people, they came to the passage that said that no Ammonite or Moabite was ever to be permitted to join God’s people. This was because the people of Ammon and Moab did not give food and water to the Israelites on their way out of Egypt. Instead, they paid money to Balaam to curse Israel, but our God turned the curse into a blessing. When the people of Israel heard this law read, they excluded all foreigners from the community.
Along with 2 Samuel 21:2, the classic example of zeal without knowledge (Romans 10:2). Mark 11:17.
I purified the people from everything foreign…
Ouch. No distinction is made between practice and race. This will be clarified (Acts 10:15).