Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php
http://twitter.com/#!/jamesmcnaught
http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Nehemiah 13:23–31, “In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives? And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business; And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.”
Israel’s first obligation was to the Lord their God. They were to have no other gods and they were not to reduce the status of their God by making images of Him. For example, if someone made an image of the Lord God then, in time, people would come to believe that the Lord was the same size as the image and, thus, the Lord God would be reduced from being Absolute and Almighty into something that was less than this. On the other hand, Israel was told to remain separate from the other nations. When children are growing up, they accept what they are told without question. This means that a person who is brought up to believe in a god who is less than absolute and almighty will find it hard to accept that God is both Almighty and Absolute when he are grown up. When a couple are married one will think that her way is right while the other will think that his way is right. After all, that’s the way that it has always been. What will the children be taught to believe? Will they believe that there is one Sovereign God or will they believe in something less than that? This was the problem faced by the returnees: they had come back to the Land that the Lord had given them many years earlier but they needed to retain their faith in the One True Sovereign God of heaven and earth. If this didn’t happen then they may well lose their tenure of the Land again. Nehemiah understood this problem and worked hard to make sure that every one of the returnees was dedicated to the One True Sovereign God of heaven and earth. This meant separating from people who gave allegiance to other Gods. As we have seen before, this didn’t meant deserting their responsibilities, it just meant that God came first and family second.
http://www.booksthataregood.com/Reference_Books.php
http://twitter.com/#!/jamesmcnaught
http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Nehemiah 13:23–31, “In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives? And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business; And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.”
Israel’s first obligation was to the Lord their God. They were to have no other gods and they were not to reduce the status of their God by making images of Him. For example, if someone made an image of the Lord God then, in time, people would come to believe that the Lord was the same size as the image and, thus, the Lord God would be reduced from being Absolute and Almighty into something that was less than this. On the other hand, Israel was told to remain separate from the other nations. When children are growing up, they accept what they are told without question. This means that a person who is brought up to believe in a god who is less than absolute and almighty will find it hard to accept that God is both Almighty and Absolute when he are grown up. When a couple are married one will think that her way is right while the other will think that his way is right. After all, that’s the way that it has always been. What will the children be taught to believe? Will they believe that there is one Sovereign God or will they believe in something less than that? This was the problem faced by the returnees: they had come back to the Land that the Lord had given them many years earlier but they needed to retain their faith in the One True Sovereign God of heaven and earth. If this didn’t happen then they may well lose their tenure of the Land again. Nehemiah understood this problem and worked hard to make sure that every one of the returnees was dedicated to the One True Sovereign God of heaven and earth. This meant separating from people who gave allegiance to other Gods. As we have seen before, this didn’t meant deserting their responsibilities, it just meant that God came first and family second.
No comments:
Post a Comment