Читать книгу The Divine Mandates - Morris A. Inch - Страница 6

From the beginning. Scripture begins with the solemn affirmation, “In the beginning God” (Gen. 1:1). We are thus alerted to the fact that at the outset God stands alone in solitary splendor. There is no rival. No, not one!

The religious pantheon was a later addition, meant to serve human caprice. Along the line of human fiction

Initially, the earth was formless and void. Resembling the amorphous clay cast by a potter, before fashioning a vessel—both functional and aesthetically pleasing. It was a barren landscape, lacking life. Now the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, in anticipation of the task that lay ahead.

“Let there be light,” God declared, “and there was light.” And God was that it was good. Then in other regards, concluding with the observation: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”

“By way of implications, man was born free, with the intent that he should remain free. Not free from obligation, which is license, but free to cultivate a relationship with God and one another.”12 So things would have remained had he abided by God’s instructions.

Instead, he ate from the forbidden fruit. Our choices either open new opportunities, or further restrict those we previously enjoyed. This proved to be no exception. Life took a decided turn for the worse, for the original couple and their posterity. For instance, Adam was informed: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:17).

Worthy of note, even small changes in original conditions are calculated to have disproportionate results. Moreover, this was a defection of major proportions. Leaving the impression that Life was radically altered.

By way of a reality check, Eve gave birth to two sons: Cain and Abel. In the course of time, Abel offered fat portions from the firstborn of his flock to the Lord, as one would honor a distinguished guest. While Cain offered a token alternative. Consequently, God Looked with favor on Abel’s offering, but with manifest disfavor on his brother’s sacrifice.

“Why are you angry?” the Lord inquired of Cain. “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” (Gen. 4:6–7). Sin is thus depicted as a predatory animal, waiting to devour its victim. If not vanquished, it will succeed.

Cain nonetheless proposed to his brother, “Let’s go out to the field.” Arriving at a secluded place, he attacked and killed Abel. And then refused to assume responsibility for his despicable behavior.

“What have you done?” God exclaimed. “Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” “It was believed that uncovered human blood cried out for vengeance against the murderer. If no one heard the cry, God was obligated to redress the wrong.”13

Some time later, Lamech informed his wives: “I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times” (Gen. 4:23–24). Thus revealing the swift progress of sin, by way of contrasting the impulsive behavior of Cain with the calculated retaliation of his vengeful successor.

Matters continued to deteriorate. Now the Lord saw how great the wickedness of man had become, how “that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:15). One could hardly imagine a more scathing indictment.

So the Lord determined to bring a flood upon the earth, as if to cleanse it from its contamination. As might a potter, when he sees that his work in progress I compromised, starts over. With the prospect of better success.

Even so, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. He “was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” So the Lord warned him of the impending disaster, and instructed him to build an ark for the deliverance of his family and perpetuation of the human race.

In retrospect, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Heb. 11:7). As illustrative of the thesis, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (v 1).

Once the waters had receded, God covenanted with Noah. Recalling the earlier discussion of its features. By way of exploring the character of the divine mandates.

Now the whole world had a common language. As men moved eastward, they found an inviting plain in Shinar and settled there. “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly,” they admonished one another. “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11:3–4)

“The elements of the story are timelessly characteristic of the spirit of the world. The project is typically grandiose; men describe it excitedly to one another as if it were the ultimate achievement—very much as modern man glorifies in his space projects.”14 Their expressed purpose being to make a name for ourselves, and provide security within the confines of their habitation.

Appraising the situation, the Lord decided to confuse their language, so as to discourage their presumption. This resulted in their aborting the effort, and being scattered throughout the world. Recalling the observation, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:26–27).

With the patriarchs. It was said of the patriarchs that while they were men of faith, they were not always faithful. It is perhaps for this reason that it seems so easy to identify with them. In any case, they constituted a new phase in salvation history.

The Lord instructed Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). The prospect was not inviting on two counts. First, he was to take leave of familiar surroundings, and the security and sense of belonging associated wit his people and father’s household. Second, he would be thrust into an alien environ, along with uncertainties and potential risks these involved.

Conversely, “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” He would be blessed in the process, protected from his adversaries, and become the means of universal blessing.

“So Abram left,” in obedience to God’s directive. He “traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.” This was presumably a sacred tree, in keeping with the practice of traditional people—in this instance, the Canaanite.

The Lord appeared to Abram, and informed him: “To your offspring I will give this land.” So Abram erected an altar at that location. After which, he continued on to Bethel, and again built an altar. Thus laying claim to God’s promise.

The word of the Lord subsequently came to the patriarch, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward” (Gen. 15:1). “The negative imperative appears here and on other occasions, as with Isaac (26:24) and Jacob (46:3). With the passing of time, it came to serve as formula for encouragement, having been tested and not found wanting. As elaborated the shield implies his protection, and great reward his provision.15

Some time later God again addressed Abraham (Abram). “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah,” the Lord instructed him. “Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (Gen. 22;2). In retrospect, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death” (Heb. 11:19).

As the patriarch reached for his knife to slay his son, an angel protested: “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son. Your only son.” Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. Accordingly, he sacrificed the ram instead of his prized offspring.

“So Abraham called the place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’” In anticipation that God would make provision for those who put their trust in him.

Now Isaac’s wife Rebekah gave birth to twin boys: Esau and Jacob. The former became a skilled hunter, while the latter was more retiring. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, his brother came in from the open country. “Quick, let me have some of that red stew!” he exclaimed. “I’m famished!” (Gen. 25:30).

Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “The firstborn received a larger portion of the inheritance; according to Deuteronomy 21:17, the firstborn received a double share. Jacob, the master manipulator, perceived that Esau was too exhausted to value something as abstract as birthright over tangible food at the moment.”16 Moreover, one gets the impression that he had been anticipating such an opportunity.

“Look, I am about to die.” Isaac protested. “What good is the birthright to me?” So he sold his birthright under oath to his sibling. Soliciting the critical comment, “So Esau despised his birthright.”

Fearing for his life, Jacob fled to his uncle Laban. When he had reached a certain place, he stopped for the night. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and angels ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, who declared: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendents the land on which you are lying. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land” (Gen. 28:13, 15).

So the patriarchal period continued to run its course. Employing manifestly imperfect means to achieve God’s redemptive purposes. While in different circumstances, drawing from a righteous resolve.

With the exodus. Now the Israelites fled famine to Egypt, where they remained for an extended time. A new king, unfamiliar with Joseph, who enjoyed a cordial relationship with those in authority, ascended the throne. So that he was less amenable to their tenuous situation. “Look,” he alerted the populace, “we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country” (Exod. 1:9–10).

So he put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. Then the ruler instructed some helping Hebrew women who gave birth to kill the male offspring. But the midwives feared God, and excused their failure to comply. Then Pharaoh set forth a public proclamation, insisting; “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” With the intention that the latter would be assimilated. Which amounted to genocide.

“Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months” (Exod. 2:1–2). When she could hide him no longer, she placed the child in a papyrus basket and put it among the reeds. His sister stood at a distance to see what would transpire.

When Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, she saw the basket and had one of her servants retrieve it. Seeing the crying child, she felt sorry for him. Enlisting the help of his sister to recruit a Hebrew woman (His mother) to nurse the child, she adopted him when older. She named him Moses, derived from the verb meaning to pull out.

One day, when Moses had matured, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his own people. Assuring himself that there was no one watching, he killed the oppressor and hid his body in the sand. When Pharaoh heard of this, he determined to have Moses killed. But the he fled to Midian to escape Pharaoh’s wrath.

There he married and was tending the flock of his father-in-law when he saw a burning bush that was not consumed. “What actually did Moses see: Was it a supernatural vision or was it an actual physical phenomenon? If the latter, did he see a bramble bush literally blazing in the desert; or the shrub called ‘burning bush’, in brilliant flower; or the sunset light falling full on a thorn bush and producing the effect of flames?17 All of these alternatives have been suggested.

In any case, he heard a voice from the bush cautioning him: “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then the voice continued, “I am the Lord the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exod. 3:5–6). In other words, the God the patriarchs.

The Lord then assured him, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with mild and honey.” Hence, ideal from a pastoral perspective. “So, now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

When Moses protested his lack of credentials, God assured him: “I will be with you. And this will be a sign that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Initially, this recalls the saying: “One with God is in the majority.” Subsequently, “The proof of the pudding is in its eating.”

Afterward, Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh, and informed him: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert’” (Exod. 5:1). Consequently, even rulers are subject to God’s sovereign authority.

“Why are you taking the people away from their labor?” Pharaoh indignantly replied. Then he instructed his slave drivers, “Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.” Which incited Moses to complain to the Lord for worsening the situation, with no relief in sight.

The stage was set for a series of plagues to descent on Egypt. Some “have suggested that a sequence of natural occurrences can explain the plagues, all originating from an overflooding of (the Nile). Those who maintain such a position will still sometimes admit to the miraculous nature of the plagues in terms of timing, discrimination between Egyptians and Israelites, prior announcement and severity.”18 With the exception of the tenth plague, concerning the death of the firstborn. Not that we lack answers, but seen at a loss to ask the appropriate questions.

Pharaoh finally relented, only to have a change of mind. Pursuing the Israelites, his forces perished when the waters which parted to let the Israelites pass, returned to engulf their pursuers. An event perhaps associated with volcanic activity in the Aegean region.

So it was that the Israelites were able to covenant with God in the wilderness. Since we explored this topic earlier, we need not expand on it further. They remained to possess the promised land.

With the conquest. “See, the Lord your God has given you the land,” Moses declared to the populace. “Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deut. 1:21). But the people were reluctant to comply, and asked that spies be sent ahead, to bring back word as to what they might expect. The suggestion seemed to have merit, and so Moses did as they requested.

The spies subsequently reported that it was indeed a good land. However, “The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.” The Anakim were said to be giants. So that the people refused to lay hold of God’s promise and possess the land. “We have sinned against the Lord,” the Israelites eventually concluded. “We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.”

It was too late, because God had withdrawn his approval from this generation. Nonetheless, the people insisted, and were soundly defeated. It remains for “every generation of God’s people to avoid such a chain reaction: you were unwilling . . . you rebelled . . . you were afraid . . . you saw but . . . you did not trust . . . you thought it easy . . . you would not listen . . . you rebelled . . . you came back . . . you wept . . . you stayed.”19

The midbar (wilderness) was an uninviting prospect. Life was exceedingly difficult, and survival threatened. The people complained. The food was not to their liking. They questioned the wisdom of their leaders. They were inclined to blame others for their misfortune. One generation passed and a new generation replaced it.

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua: “Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses” (Josh. 1:2–30. “God points Joshua and the tribes toward the potential gift, the Fertile Crescent, the part of the Middle East that reaches across the northern Syrian Desert and extents from the Nile Valley to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The tribes will need to wait until the reign of David to achieve anything near to those borders.”20

Joshua subsequently instructed the populace, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, who are the Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it” (Josh. 3:3). After which, he admonished them: “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” Although the Jordan River was at flood stage, when the priests’ feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing—allowing the Israelites to pass over into the promised land.

“From a geographical perspective, the Jordan River Valley lies at the juncture of tectonic plates that create an unstable region. Earthquakes occur and have been known to block the flow of the river.”21 However explained, this qualified as one of the amazing things they were to witness.

Another consisted in the collapse of the walls of Jericho. The people were instructed to march around the city’s wall once for six days. “On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you have them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout: then the all of the city will collapse and the people will go up” (Josh. 6:4–5). So it came to pass, providing a foothold for the Israelites within the promised land.

The struggle intensified. Sometimes with favorable results, and on other occasions with disaster. Consequently, the Israelites were able to settle in the land, while many of its inhabitants yet remained. This was in keeping with the promise that they would possess every place you set your foot.

With the monarchy. The turbulent time of the judges served as a transition into the era of the monarchy. It consisted of a predictable pattern: the people would succumb to sin, call out to God in their desperation, be delivered, enjoy peace for a time, only to fall back into their sinful ways. “The type of leadership that judges provided was unique to the ancient Near East. They were charismatic figures, divinely raised up in times of crises from outside the traditional power circles to meet a specific threat, namely, oppression.”22 An exception did not prove to be the rule.

Now when Samuel was well advanced in years, he appointed his sons as judges. However, they “did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice” (1 Sam. 8:3). So all the elders protested: “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” While their concern was justified, looking to all the other nations as a model suggests that they hoped to embrace a contemporary cultural pattern rather than seeking God’s will. “The unreconciled ambiguity found in the attitude toward kingship throughout its somewhat questionable history is reflected. On the one hand, kingship could be seen as a rejection of God’s own kingship. On the other hand, it was a gift from God, a model and a channel through which God’s relationship with Israel could be illustrated and strengthened.”23

Consequently, God counseled Samuel: “Now listen to them, but warm them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.” In greater detail, “He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and others of fifties, and others plow the ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war.”

But the elders insisted, “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” Without regard for their unique calling as the chosen people, and in this capacity, to serve as a light to the Gentiles.

Samuel subsequently summoned the people of Israel before the Lord at Mizpah, to anoint a ruler over them. “We cannot be sure how the lottery took place. But the indication of God’s choice through the drawing of lots is fairly common throughout Scripture and various, sometimes now obscure, methods being used. The king is appointed from among the people and, whatever powers he might be assigned, he remains one of them.”24

In any case, Saul appears as a likely candidate. He was from the relatively small tribe of Benjamin, and so should not fuel controversy among the major clans. He was also “an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the others” (1 Sam. 9:2), and appealingly humble (9:21, 10:22). As a matter of record, the rulers of the united monarchy had an auspicious beginning, while falling away with the passing of time. David’s record would remain the least tarnished, due in large measure to his deep sense of contrition.

The monarchy consisted of an intricate system of checks and balances. There was the king. Qualifications aside, if he observed the covenant stipulations, the people would prosper. If not, they would suffer along with him. In brief, like ruler, like people.

There were the prophets. Whose monumental task was to fine-tune the people to their covenant commitment. “What manner of man is the prophet?” Abraham Heschel rhetorically inquires. “To us a single act of injustice—cheating in business, exploitation of the poor—is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence; to us, an episode, to the, a catastrophe, a threat to the world.”25

There were the priests. Such provided meaningful ritual for worship purposes. While accenting God’s holiness and righteous resolve. As a reminder of the human proclivity to sin, and as a summons to repentance and faith.

There were the sages. Who were more perceptive than the general populace. As a result, more skilled in engaging life. Some of whom acted in an official capacity to lend guidance to royalty. Others qualified as an elder. In ideal terms, as extended to parents in their privileged role in guiding their offspring.

Finally, there were the people. Without their consent, the efforts of those in authority would be fruitless. Without their participation, the task would be impossible, recalling the sage advice, “One for all, and all for one.”

David was subsequently informed “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever (2 Sam. 7:16). Forever would evolve into the anticipation of a Messiah, from the lineage of David.

“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord!” David exclaims. There is no one like you, and there is no God but you. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself. You have established your people forever, and you, o lord, have become their God.”

The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and invited him: “Ask whatever you want me to give you” (1 Kings 3:5).

“Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David,” Solomon allowed. “But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.?

This greatly pleased the Lord, so that he replied: “I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor.” And so it came to pass, only to have Solomon violate his covenant obligations. Along with the ominous warning that this would eventuate with the division of the kingdom.

With the exile. So it was that Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon, and fled to Egypt until the latter’s demise. He then, along with the whole assembly of Israel, approached Rehoboam with the observation: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve your” (1 Kings 12:4).

Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders who had served his father, in favor of young men of his age. “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it heavier,” he stridently replied. “My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”

When all Israel saw that the king refused to heed their request, they inquired: “What share do we have in David, what part is Jesse’s son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!” And so the kingdom was rent in two.

With little exception, Israel would remain impervious to the pleas of the prophets. It plunged headlong into destruction, which eventuated in the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians. As if caught in a tight spiral, from which there was not recovery.

The Southern Kingdom fared better, benefitting from periodic spiritual renewals. For instance, Josiah “went up to the temple of the Lord with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all of the people from the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord” (2 Kings 23:2). For the purpose of renewing the covenant. “then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.”

His efforts notwithstanding, Judah’s days were numbered. Jehoahaz did evil in the eyes of the Lord (cf. 23:32), as did Jehoiakim (cf. 24:9), and Zedekiah (cf. 24:19). As an evil legacy passed on from one reign to the next. So it came to pass that the Babylonians lay siege to Jerusalem. Then the city wall was broken through. Every important building was burned to the ground. Including the temple and palace. And so the people were taken a way into captivity, leaving behind some of the poorest people to work the vineyards and fields.

Resulting in an imaginative reconstruction: “The caravan had made its way up the slopes of the Trans-Jordan Plateau. From there it would travel along the King’s Highway toward Damascus and eventually Babylon. The column paused long enough to look back toward Jerusalem. The torched city was bellowing smoke into the air.”26 The captives wondered what the future held with the City of the Great King devastated, and the temple complex destroyed.

As for apt commentary, “Almost all the old symbol systems had been rendered useless. Almost all the old institutions no longer functioned. What kind of future was possible for a people who had so alienated their God that categorical rejection was his necessary response?”27

“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion,” the experience of exile is painfully recalled (Psa. 137:1). “Our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” How indeed!

“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.” As for the Edomites, who applauded the efforts of the Babylonians, recall their transgression. As for the Babylonians, retribution awaits.

The prophets, who had warned of impending judgment, now turned their attention to comforting the exiles with the prospect of their return. With such in mind, Cyrus issued a proclamation which read: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1”2–3). While urging their neighbors to contribute the means to accomplish this demanding enterprise. Thus the exile draws to a close.

With “the second exodus.” The return from exile has been graphically described as the second exodus. Since those returning anticipated reclaiming the land of promise. Along with a renewal of their covenant, eventuating in God’s blessing.

“When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem. Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices” (Ezra 3:1, 3). Their common cause providing encouragement in spite of opposition.

When the foundation of the temple was laid, the priests and Levites sang: “He is good; his love for Israel endures forever.” “But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise.” While not comparable to the splendor of the former edifice, it marked a significant beginning.

Although delayed, the temple was completed. “Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy” (Ezra 6:16). Extensive sacrifices were offered. They also installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God, and celebrated the Passover.

It was brought to Ezra’s attention that the “people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices” (Ezra 9:1). Upon hearing this, he tore his tunic and cloak, pulled hair from his head and beard, and sat down appalled at the situation. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel joined him.

A proclamation was subsequently sent throughout Judah for all the exiles to assemble in Jerusalem. “Anyone who failed to appear within three days would forfeit all his property, in accordance with he decision of the officials and elders, and would himself be expelled from the assembly of the exiles” (Ezra 10:8). It was a decisive action meant to deal with a critical issue.

When the people assembled, Ezra declared: “You have been unfaithful; you have married foreign women, adding to Israel’s guilt. Now make confession to the Lord, the God your fathers, and do his will.” Rather than heartily embracing their role as a chosen people, set apart for God’s service.

“You are right!” the people exclaimed. “We must do as you say.” Opposition was minimal (cf. v. 15).

“Comparatively few had availed themselves of the opportunity either then or on later occasions, and sixty years later large numbers of Jews remained in the eastern half of the Persian empire, many in the great imperial cities of Persia itself.”28 While little is known of them, the text of Esther provides an interesting insight.

“Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen” (Esther 2:17). He was not aware of her Israelite identity, nor did she volunteer the information.

Given the opportunity to intercede on behalf of her oppressed people, she made the most of it. “On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them” (Esther 9:10). Culminating in the annual celebration of Purim. And providing a convenient place to take leave of the entries that comprise the Old Testament, in anticipation of what would follow.

12. Inch, Scripture as Story, 18.

13. Hartley, Genesis, 83.

14. Derek Kidner, Genesis, 109.

15. Inch, Scripture as Story, 26.

16. Hartley, Genesis, 237.

17. Cole, Exodus, 64.

18. Walton and Matthews, Genesis-Deuteronomy, 91–92.

19. Wright, Deuteronomy, 52.

20. Harris et al., Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 18.

21. Hess, Joshua, 104–105.

22. Harris et al., Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 123.

23. Evans, 1 and 2 Samuel, 41–42.

24. Ibid., 50.

25. Heschel, The Prophets, 4.

26. Inch, Scripture as Story, 85.

27. Klein, Israel in Exile, 3.

28. Baldwin, Esther, 17.