1. Reread the post entitled "Assignment for March 21st."
2. Look up the meaning of the names: Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes, Ezra and Nehemiah.
3. Read Ezra 1-3.
Discoveries made at our last class:
Studying does not always result in a clear understanding. Sometimes we have more questions than answers. When this happens we should just put that information aside for a season until God gives us more insight.
The meanings of peoples names are not always clearly defined. We found some common answers:
Cyrus- far sighted; young
Darius- to possess good
Artaxerxes- righteous ruler
Ezra- help
Nehemiah- comforted by Yahweh (God)
We spoke about how these meanings were seen in how they lived their lives.
We remarked about the incredible number (over 5,000) of articles that had been taken from the temple in Jerusalem. They were some of the finest pieces ever made. They were still intact and were ALL returned to the Jews.
I shared a scripture that I "happen" to come across in my daily Bible reading (some of which is out loud 😊). Isa. 44:28 speaks of Cyrus and gives us more insight into his life. I was simply reading, not studying, when I found this. As you are faithful to read your Bible each day, you will experience this on a regular basis. Through your reading God will show you things that go along with your studying. Through reading, God has connected some dots between the book of Isaiah and Ezra that we did not have a week ago.
We noticed the excellence of the genealogical record keeping of the Jews.
We learned how to "read between the lines."
In Ezra 1:11 it says, "... the exiles came up from Babylon to Jerusalem." This is a short statement but if we ask some simple questions we gain huge insight.
How far is it from Babylon to Jerusalem? About 900 miles. (use Bible map)
How many people went on this journey? About 50,000 (see 2:64-65)
How long would a journey like this take? About 4 months (see study Bible notes)
This gives us quite a picture.
What was God doing among them during these months of travel? He was molding them into a united group. 3:1 says that they assembled in Jerusalem as one man.
We spoke of how God is not just interested in the destination. He is just as interested in the journey that gets us there.
The first thing that was rebuilt was the altar. Why 1st? It reestablished the sacrificial system where the blood of innocent animals covered the sins of the people. The Bible says, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." (can you find the verse?) This is the foundation of all true worship and pointed to the blood of Jesus.
Next, they rebuilt the foundation of the temple. There was a huge celebration over this but this celebration had 2 different emotions present. The older ones who had seen the original temple were mourning its' loss because they saw that new one would be never look as grand. The younger people were rejoicing at being given the opportunity to truly live out their faith for the 1st time. Both groups were making loud cries and you couldn't distinguish between them. God made both groups into one sound. He brought healing through mourning to the 1st group and healing through rejoicing to the 2nd. And in a way that only God can do, He healed both simultaneously.
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Assignment for March 21st
1. Re-read the blog entitled "Assignment for 3/14/18" and the new blog posted on March 17th containing additional thoughts about reading.
2. Read the book of Ezra.
We briefly looked at the book of Nehemiah last time and saw the need to go back to Ezra to understand the bigger picture. Ezra and Nehemiah go together as one continuous story.
3. The focus this week will be on discovering the historical setting.
Take note of all the names of the Kings listed. Not understanding a proper timeline can make things confusing. This is where study of your Bible will help. Instead of being intimidated by all the names and becoming confused, why not dig in and find facts that will bring understanding? Using your study Bibles or other resources you have, look up each King. Note where they ruled, when they ruled and a couple of main achievements of their reign. Note if their rules overlapped with other kings mentioned in the book.
4. What was happening before the book of Ezra? (We already know what happens after it- the story of Nehemiah.)
5. Where were the people of Israel at during this time and why were they there?
6. Ezra does not show up in the book until chapter 7. Why?
7. Surprise us with other discoveries you make. 😊
Discoveries from our discussion:
1. Ezra and Nehemiah are one continuous story.
2. Larger context for the books of Ezra and Nehemiah:
a. The Jews had been promised the land of Israel as a a permanent possession. However, they chose to sin greatly and turn from God. Deuteronomy 28 told them what would happen if they did so: defeat and deportation would come upon the nation. (Deut. 28:36)
b. They were exiled into Babylon. Babylon was defeated by the Persians whom God used to help send the Jews back to their land. They remained in exile for 70 years (Daniel 9:2).
3. Three Persian kings were used by God to rebuild the nation.
a. Cyrus 550-530 BC
b. Darius 521-486 BC
c. Artaxerxes I 464-423 BC
d. We noted the fact that God used ungodly secular Kings to rebuild Jerusalem was a BIG DEAL! It shows us the overall sovereignty of God in the affairs of men and gives us great comfort as we look upon the events of our world today.
4. The people were sent in three groups.
5. The first group was sent by King Cyrus to rebuild the temple and reestablish the faith. This is found in Ezra 1-6. The Jews were led by Zerubbabel and Joshua.
b. They first rebuilt the altar to establish the sacrificial system. Then the foundation of the temple and finally the temple itself.
c. Opposition arose which caused them to stop the building of the temple for 16 years. A letter was written to King Darius who reaffirmed that they had permission to build and the building began again and was finished.
6. The second group was sent by King Artaxerxes I to teach the people the Bible. Ezra, who was a priest, in the line of Aaron, and a scribe was sent to do this. This is found in Ezra 7-10
7. The third group was also sent by King Artaxerxes I to rebuild the wall. This is the account we find in the Book of Nehemiah.
8. We discovered, by looking at the footnote from Ezra 4:6, that King Xerxes is really King Ahasuerus from the book of Esther. Xerxes is the Persian word and Ahasuerus is the Hebrew word. The story of Esther fits in between the 1st and 2nd returns.
9. In Ezra 5:1 we found the names of Haggai and Zechariah. These are the same men who wrote the books of Haggai and Zechariah found in the last part of the Old testament which is called the minor prophets. They prophesied during this time.
10. So, by doing some digging, we connected the dots with 6 different books of the Bible. Part of Daniel (who prayed so the 1st group could be sent), Ezra, Nehemiah, Ruth, Haggai and Zechariah. This will give us great understanding as we read those books in the future.
11. We were encouraged by the fact that once we have discovered these facts, we will not have to discover them again.The next time we read these books we will have that information as part of our foundation and God will build on that foundation to teach us more.
2. Read the book of Ezra.
We briefly looked at the book of Nehemiah last time and saw the need to go back to Ezra to understand the bigger picture. Ezra and Nehemiah go together as one continuous story.
3. The focus this week will be on discovering the historical setting.
Take note of all the names of the Kings listed. Not understanding a proper timeline can make things confusing. This is where study of your Bible will help. Instead of being intimidated by all the names and becoming confused, why not dig in and find facts that will bring understanding? Using your study Bibles or other resources you have, look up each King. Note where they ruled, when they ruled and a couple of main achievements of their reign. Note if their rules overlapped with other kings mentioned in the book.
4. What was happening before the book of Ezra? (We already know what happens after it- the story of Nehemiah.)
5. Where were the people of Israel at during this time and why were they there?
6. Ezra does not show up in the book until chapter 7. Why?
7. Surprise us with other discoveries you make. 😊
Discoveries from our discussion:
1. Ezra and Nehemiah are one continuous story.
2. Larger context for the books of Ezra and Nehemiah:
a. The Jews had been promised the land of Israel as a a permanent possession. However, they chose to sin greatly and turn from God. Deuteronomy 28 told them what would happen if they did so: defeat and deportation would come upon the nation. (Deut. 28:36)
b. They were exiled into Babylon. Babylon was defeated by the Persians whom God used to help send the Jews back to their land. They remained in exile for 70 years (Daniel 9:2).
3. Three Persian kings were used by God to rebuild the nation.
a. Cyrus 550-530 BC
b. Darius 521-486 BC
c. Artaxerxes I 464-423 BC
d. We noted the fact that God used ungodly secular Kings to rebuild Jerusalem was a BIG DEAL! It shows us the overall sovereignty of God in the affairs of men and gives us great comfort as we look upon the events of our world today.
4. The people were sent in three groups.
5. The first group was sent by King Cyrus to rebuild the temple and reestablish the faith. This is found in Ezra 1-6. The Jews were led by Zerubbabel and Joshua.
b. They first rebuilt the altar to establish the sacrificial system. Then the foundation of the temple and finally the temple itself.
c. Opposition arose which caused them to stop the building of the temple for 16 years. A letter was written to King Darius who reaffirmed that they had permission to build and the building began again and was finished.
6. The second group was sent by King Artaxerxes I to teach the people the Bible. Ezra, who was a priest, in the line of Aaron, and a scribe was sent to do this. This is found in Ezra 7-10
7. The third group was also sent by King Artaxerxes I to rebuild the wall. This is the account we find in the Book of Nehemiah.
8. We discovered, by looking at the footnote from Ezra 4:6, that King Xerxes is really King Ahasuerus from the book of Esther. Xerxes is the Persian word and Ahasuerus is the Hebrew word. The story of Esther fits in between the 1st and 2nd returns.
9. In Ezra 5:1 we found the names of Haggai and Zechariah. These are the same men who wrote the books of Haggai and Zechariah found in the last part of the Old testament which is called the minor prophets. They prophesied during this time.
10. So, by doing some digging, we connected the dots with 6 different books of the Bible. Part of Daniel (who prayed so the 1st group could be sent), Ezra, Nehemiah, Ruth, Haggai and Zechariah. This will give us great understanding as we read those books in the future.
11. We were encouraged by the fact that once we have discovered these facts, we will not have to discover them again.The next time we read these books we will have that information as part of our foundation and God will build on that foundation to teach us more.
The Goal of Bible Study- Part 1 Information- Reading- addition comment
We have discussed the importance of doing all 6 steps that we will be discussing in order to reach the Goal of Bible Study. I guarantee you will grow in your faith if you DO all 6 steps. So far, we have discussed reading and studying. So, are your reading the Bible every day? Are you reading part of it out loud each day? Here is another helpful tip to get the most out of your reading: Read the Bible as if you are in love with the author. Enjoy it!
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Assignment for 3/14/18
1. Read the prayers of Nehemiah out loud.
2. Time how long it takes you to read them. You will find them in the following verses:
Nehemiah 1:4-11
4:4-5
5:19
6:9
6:14
13:14
13:22
13:29
3. Pick one prayer to study and write down something that God shows you personally.
Discoveries we made through our discussion:
1. The first prayer takes only 2 minutes to pray. The reminder take less then 1 minute each. Conclusions: We do not have to pray long prayers for God to hear us and act on our behalf. We asked, "Why were these prayers so effective?" The answer was found in 1:4- He had a habit of regular daily time with God in prayer and the Word. It was out of this consistency that he was able to give extra time and passion in praying for this need. Because he was always "prayed up," he could offer up short "popcorn prayers" that moved mountains. We can do the same if we daily read the Bible and pray.
2. We noticed that in every prayer the word "remember" was used. This is an example of the Bible Study method of looking for repeated words. The question we asked each time was, "What was he asking God to remember and why?"
3. It was pointed out that we could not understand the prayers by just reading them alone. We had to read the chapter in order to understand the context. Very good observation!!
4. We also noted a softening of his attitude as the prayers progressed in the book.
5. What other things did you notice?
2. Time how long it takes you to read them. You will find them in the following verses:
Nehemiah 1:4-11
4:4-5
5:19
6:9
6:14
13:14
13:22
13:29
3. Pick one prayer to study and write down something that God shows you personally.
Discoveries we made through our discussion:
1. The first prayer takes only 2 minutes to pray. The reminder take less then 1 minute each. Conclusions: We do not have to pray long prayers for God to hear us and act on our behalf. We asked, "Why were these prayers so effective?" The answer was found in 1:4- He had a habit of regular daily time with God in prayer and the Word. It was out of this consistency that he was able to give extra time and passion in praying for this need. Because he was always "prayed up," he could offer up short "popcorn prayers" that moved mountains. We can do the same if we daily read the Bible and pray.
2. We noticed that in every prayer the word "remember" was used. This is an example of the Bible Study method of looking for repeated words. The question we asked each time was, "What was he asking God to remember and why?"
3. It was pointed out that we could not understand the prayers by just reading them alone. We had to read the chapter in order to understand the context. Very good observation!!
4. We also noted a softening of his attitude as the prayers progressed in the book.
5. What other things did you notice?
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Word Conference Next Week March 4-10
We won't be having our study next week. I encourage you to attend part of the conference. Even just one meeting will be helpful to you. Don't worry about not attending them in the proper sequence. Each session will have something just for you. Here is the daily schedule:
Monday - Friday
Classes 9:00 & 11:30 AM
Free lunch provided
2:30 & 7:00 PM
If you would like more specific information of the classes that will be taught here is a link:
http://www.whcc.net/the-word-conference/
Scroll down a bit and you will find a description of the classes and the schedule for each of them. Blessings as you learn your Bible!
Monday - Friday
Classes 9:00 & 11:30 AM
Free lunch provided
2:30 & 7:00 PM
If you would like more specific information of the classes that will be taught here is a link:
http://www.whcc.net/the-word-conference/
Scroll down a bit and you will find a description of the classes and the schedule for each of them. Blessings as you learn your Bible!
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