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