Wow. My brain hurts. I just finished reading the end of 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemia, Esther, and now almost half of Job in what seems like a very short time. Talk about a lesson in making sure to keep up with reading on a daily basis! I feel it is necessary to talk about what parts of this scripture reading moved me. It seems hardly worth while to read the Word of God and blog about it if I just post things like, "I caught up with the reading. Talk to you later!" On the other hand, I think this section covers thousands of years of Jewish history, plus tens of references I would want you to read yourself and experience their power. So, I will try my best to get through as many as I possibly can before 11:50PM tonight.
Starting with 2 Chronicles. In Chapter 19, Jesoshaphat appoints Judges (judges who are also military officers) over Israel. He commissions them with high expectations. "Judge carefully, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery" (2 Chr. 19:7). "You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the LORD" (2 Chr. 19:9). Another cool part is, after being established as king, Jehoshaphat prays publically saying, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you" (2 Chr. 20:12). Then rest of 2 Chronicles was not that interesting to me, and it did not move me spiritually, really.
Ezra and Nehemiah were apparently one book at one time until relatively recently when they were split. It makes sense then that Ezra blends into Nehemia like Twilight into New Moon. That's right. I just put a Twilight reference in a Bible reading blog. Deal with it. Anyway!!! These books were all about the work of Ezra and Nehemiah (priests of the temple of God), and how they led Israel to restore the walls of Jerusalem, return items of the LORD's temple to their proper place, and generally revive Israel. Ezra was cool to read because it contains a lot of letters within the text, written between kings and rulers issuing decrees allowing the Israelites safety and permission to worship, giving them full access to materials as they needed. It is cool to see how God moved these rulers to sustain His people. Awesome! It seems to revolve around the theme of setting the holy apart from the profane. God's people were His holy presence embodied in the world. Through His providence, they were able to be set apart and protected and revived. Many of the same themes came up in Nehemiah. Nehemiah was interesting because it contained details of the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. Sections were portioned off to different "construction crews" per se. These crews were groups of people that lived around that section of the wall. What I found interesting was the mix of socioeconomic, gender, and class of people that worked together on the wall all at the same time. High priests (Neh. 3:1), the "men of Jerico" (Neh. 3:2), goldsmiths (Neh. 3:8), perfume-makers (Neh. 3:8), a half-district ruler and his daughters (Neh. 3:12), etc. The wall symbolized the reuniting of Israel, all people were under the rule of God. District ruler and perfume-makers alike, none were above God, and all served Him together. At some point, people start to oppose the building of the wall. Then Ezra reads the entire law in front of the whole of Israel. The people repent and recommit themselves to the LORD.
Esther was a very interesting book. Fun fact: God is never referenced, but He is completely present in the narrative, because I could see how trivial events led to justice and righteousness prevailing. I will try to summarize. King Xerxes had a Queen Vashti. She was beautiful, and he wanted to show her off to some friends. She refused. Pretty gutsy move to stand up to the ruler of the known world. Anyway, Xerxes is irked, talks to his bros, and they all tell him he should discipline her, lest all their wives stand up to them. lol. Later, Xerxes sends out a call for beautiful virgins because he was creepy like that. Enter Esther, the most beautiful woman in the land. She had a cousin who raised her named Mordecai (or Marty, as I like to call him). Esther was taken into Xerxes' palace, but Marty stayed just outside the palace grounds keeping an eye on the woman he raised. Xerxes really like Esther, so he made her Queen. Now, Marty happen to overhear some disgruntled palace guards plotting to assassinate Xerxes. Marty summoned Esther and told her so that Xerxes would know. The two guards were then hanged. After this, Xerxes decided to make some guy named Haman a really big deal. Everyone was supposed to kneel down and worship Haman. Well, Marty did not. Haman got angry. So, he decided the best way to deal with his anger was to kill all of the Jews, because Marty was a Jew. He builds a huge gallows to hang Marty. Marty gets worried and talks to Esther. Apparently, the only thing she could try to do was to talk to Xerxes directly, but that was risky. If someone came into his presence, and he did not hold out his scepter to them, that meant they were to be executed on the spot. I do not know how this guy made any friends. Well, Esther, being beautiful was given favour by Xerxes. She told Xerxes about the plot to kill him, and asked that the Jews not be harmed. Xerxes granted her request, and he ordered Haman to be hanged on the gallows he built for Marty because Haman wanted to kill the man who foiled the plot to kill Xerxes. Sounds like a soap opera, but trust me, it is actually pretty interesting. Read Esther. God really is present in the book.
And finally... Job. This is the most poetic book I have encountered. Where I was once reading lists of genealogies and procedures on how to process sacrificed animals, I am now reading about the existential and spiritual agony of a man who lost everything he owned and loved in a test of his faith in God. The whole premise of this book seems to be built on the problem of evil; that is, if God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, how come evil (suffering of the innocent, specifically) exists? Either God is impotent, incompetent, or malevolent; or so the reasoning goes, according to Mackey. Well, a narrative is constructed in Job to account for that. Either by Divine revelation or by narrative story-telling, the book of Job centres around a cosmic wager of sorts.
Satan (literally, the accuser, a figure who stands for the one who brings evil into the world, becoming the fifth premise if the problem of evil as it were) goes to meet God after "roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it" (Job 1:7). God initiates the conversation by taking pride in Job's righteousness. Job was wealthy, blameless, upright, and he feared God. Satan takes on God by saying that Job only follows God because God has blessed him. If God took away his blessings, then Job would turn his back on him. According to my study Bible, this is the ultimate challenge. "For if the godliness of the most righteous man in whom God delights can be shown to be the worst of all sins, then a chasm of alienation stands between them that cannot be bridged. Then even redemption is unthinkable, for the godliest of men will be shown to be the most ungodly. God's whole enterprise in creation and derdemption will be shown to be radically flawed, and God can only sweep it all away in awful judgement" (The NIV Study Bible: New International Version: Zondervan Bible Publishers, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 732). This is the ultimate theological showdown.
Job had everything, and in an instant lost it all. I encourage you to read Job. It is fascinating. Job describes his suffering, sorrow, and pain, but never once curses God. He repeatedly wishes that he had never been born, that there had never been light, that the universe had never started so that he would end up suffering. He wanted to undo creation, to descend into chaos before the definiteness of his suffering became a crushing reality. He becomes preoccupied with death and wanting to be buried so he can be free from his pain. Yet, he praises the LORD and turns to Him for help. What a man! Though his friends reason otherwise, Job knows he is innocent. His friends repeatedly argue with him telling him that only the wicked are punished by God, and since he is being punished, Job must have committed some evil in his life that he has not sought remittance for. But Job knows that he has been faithful and righteous, so again, he cries out to God for help and mercy.
Job lost everything, suffered pain and anguish I have never known, and yet he never cursed God. Instead he pursued God. He petitioned God. He never stopped chasing after God trying to figure out why God was doing this to him. If only I had such faith.
I look forward to reading the rest of Job. So far, Job has been one of my favourite books. I love the poetry and the imagery. Some of it is dark and infernal, and some is profound and important.
1196 pages to go!
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