Assignment for June 27, 2018

History tidbit from last weeks discussion:

1. Review Assignment for June 13, 2018.
2.  Read Ezra 10:1-44
3. Answer these questions:

-10:1- Was Ezra trying to gather a crowd around himself?
           Why did the people come?
           Can 1 person's example influence an entire group?
            Are there examples in your life where you had to "stand alone" and do what was right?
           What was the outcome?
- 10:2- Shecaniah admits to the guilt of the people. His lineage is listed here. Why isn't his name found in 10:26?
-10:3-8- An agreement over what has to be done is reached. 
            The only thing left to figure out was how to do it.  
            Ezra continues with a total fast (no food or water) for 3 more days. 
            What was the 1st step taken?
-10:9-15- Why is the rain mentioned? (vs. 9, 13)
                What was the next step taken?
                What are the 2 parts of repentance found in vs. 11?                 
-10:16-17- How long did it take for the task to be completed?
-10:18-44- How many men are listed?

Assignment for June 13, 2018

From Tom:

1.  Re-read the Assignment for June 6th that now has the answers from our discussions in blue.

2.  Read Ezra 8:32-9:15

3.  Answer these questions:

-8:32-36  What four things did the exiles do in these verses?

1.  Rested 3 days.

2.  Counted and weighed out the articles that they brought with them.

3.  Offered sacrifices to the LORD.

4.  Delivered the King's orders to the local authorities.

-9:1-4-  Do you see any similar names in Exodus 3:8-10?

             Why was it wrong for the Israelite's to intermarry with these other nations?

-We need to ask why the Canaanites and all the other "ites" people groups were off limits to Israel. Here is something to dig into 😉:

-Genesis 6:4- "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown."

-Before the flood, angels came down and produced hybrid offspring with human women. These offspring were called Nephilim or Giants. They had put "evil DNA" into the human bloodline. They were destroyed in the flood but the same thing happened after the flood- see the bold above in the scripture. Hybrid beings were again introduced into the human race. They were called giants. Goliath is a descendant of this line. These giants were primarily associated with the "ite" peoples. A couple of other references:

Numbers 13:32-33- And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” 

Deut. 2:10- "(The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites."

God did not want His people intermingling their blood with any giant blood. The Messiah was to be born through the bloodline of Israel and it had to be pure. Israel did not eradicate these nations when they entered the Promised Land as the Lord had commanded and they caused constant trouble to them.

9:5-15- Prayer of repentance

Look up, in an English dictionary these 3 words and add any extra insight these definitions give you:

vs. 2- mingled

vs. 3- appalled

vs. 5- self-abasement

vs. 7- There has been a repetitive theme throughout the history of Israel. 

Deuteronomy 28:36-37 speaks to this. If they disobey God, specific bad things will happen to them. 

Ezra is broken because of what the people are now doing. It is one of the specific things that sent them to Babylon to begin with. 

Yet, Ezra still sees hope in the mercy of God. How is this hope expressed in these verses?

9:8

9:9

9:13

9:15

Assignment for June 6, 2018

1. Review the assignment from May 16th.
2.  Read Ezra 8
3. Answer these questions:

- Does it seem like the events of chapter 8 happened before chapter 7?

Yes! sequence of events is not the method of writing in Ezra, themes are.

  As we have noticed in Ezra, keeping an uneven timeline is a usual occurrence.
Recording a story in this way is hard for us westerners to understand. We want things to be precise and in order. This was not a priority for Ezra and was obviously unnecessary to communicate the message God intended through this book. We don't want to miss the message because it comes to us in a writing style that we do not prefer. 

Are there ares in your life where God may be speaking to you but you aren't hearing Him because He is coming at you in a different way than you have known before? Ask to see EVERYTHING through His eyes- Lord give me eyes to see- and then look with expectancy each day for His communication to you. 

- From verses 2-14, how many total men were registered?  1496
- Why was it important that these men be registered?  so they could participate in the religious observances

- vs. 15- Where, in a general sense, is the "canal at Ahava?"  near Babylon
               Why was it important for them to have Levites in the group?  only Levites could handle the precious articles of God

- vss. 18-20- More men were added. How many? 258 What is the new total? 1754
What is important to realize here is that only refers to the men. Women and children need to be added to get the total number. If we add one woman and one child to each man we get over 5,000 people and this would be a low estimate.

- vs. 21- What is the 1st thing Ezra did after all the people were present? proclaim a fast

- vs. 22- Why was Ezra reluctant to ask the King for military protection? Because he had already told the King of his confidence in the protection of the God of Israel.

Have there been times in your lives when you turned to man for help when God didn't want you to?  What happened?

- vss. 26-27- What is weight, in pounds, of all the items being brought with them? 
   65,019 lbs. Over 32 tons!65,019
                      (Yeah, I know, lots of math. But it has a purpose. 😊)
The picture we need to capture here is that this was no small group. 5,000 people carrying 32 tons of treasure, plus there own belongings, for a four month trip through dangerous territory.

-vs. 31- As was pointed by one of our students last week, there is a discrepancy between this verse and 7:8-9 as to the exact date that they left. How can we reconcile these different dates using the new information we have in chapter 8?
They did leave Babylon on the 1st day of the first month- 7:9. However, they immediately went to the Ahava canal which is northwest of Babylon. There they gathered all the  people, all the temple treasures and fasted. Then they left Ahava on the 12th day of the 1st month. There is no contradiction. It just took some digging to bring understanding.