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.