Reading for April 14th

 Read 6.19-22. In 6.19-22: The first Passover in the rebuilt Temple. The shift back to Hebrew from Aramaic draws attention to just as Israel was not a physical nation until they could worship God following their escape from Egypt, celebrated in the Passover, so the exilic community could not be considered a nation until the house of God was fully functioning. With the Temple in place, the Passover celebration had a renewed importance for the community as a sign of their coming into a new status. The author skillfully connects this with the physical separation of the community from the physical separation of the community from the surrounding peoples, a point that Ezra will hammer on as the center piece of his reforms. On verse 20: The priests and the Levites had purified themselves: Following the return from exile, there was a new emphasis on the purity regulations of the Pentateuch and on extending the areas of life they affected. Before undertaking the Passover, the ritual purity of the priests and Levites had to be assured. In verse 21: The people of Israel who had returned from exile, and ... all who had joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the nations: As a celebration of God's miraculous deliverance and the formation of the people into a nation,Passover was a powerful symbol of identity.Those who had been exiled and returned clearly would be recognized as part of Israel. The population that remained behind joined the exile community by separating from the surrounding peoples. Pollutions: a term normally reserved for severe violations of the sacral order. It was because of their pollutions, according to some parts of the hebrew Bible, that God removed the Canaanites from the land (Lev20.22-24). In verse 22: Had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them so that he aided them in the work: An echo of Ezra 1.1-4. The use of the title king of Assyria is unclear, though the Persian king did not adopt this title since the former Assyrian territory was under his rule. It may be a deliberate reference to King Esarhaddon of Assyria (Ezra 4.2); some of the peoples he transported to the territory north of Jerusalem had indeed "come over" to the side of the returning exiles in opposition to their fellow countryfolk, who opposed the Temple. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 13th

 Read Ezra 6.13-18. Artaxerxes of Persia: In a literal historial reading this makes no sense, since the physical Temple was completed in the reign of Darius, and Artaxerxes had nothing to do with it. However, the formation of the "house of God" involved not only rebuilding the Temple, but also rebuilding the city and separating the community from the surrounding peoples by prohibiting intermarriage. The later steps, under the reformers Ezra and Nehemiah, occurred in the time of Artaxerxes. In verse 15: The third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius: 515 BCE. Some believe the day was originally the twenty-third day of Adat, which would have put the completed rebuilding near the celebration of the completion of the original Temple (2 Chr 7.10) and approximately 70 years after the destruction of that Temple. In verse  17: As a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel: Without a functioning Temple, it was not possible for the priesthood to maintain regular purification offering for the nation. The offering may be indebted to the vision of a renewed Temple by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 43.22-27) in which the sin offing purifies the Temple from the pollutions of Israel's past. In verse 18: As it is written in the book of Moses: In 1 Chr 23-26 it is David who sets up the courses of the priests and Levites for the worship in the Temple. There is no prescription for these orders as described in the Pentateuch, normally what the author mean by the book of Moses, With the arrangements for the offerings and who would be responsible for them, the Temple is now fully functioning. Comments or Questions.. 

Reading for April 12th

Reading for Ezra 6.1-12. In verse 2: Ecbatana, the capital of the province of Media: The search began in Babylon since important royal decrees would be archived there. Ecbatana, at a higher elevation than the main capital of Persepolis, was the location of  the Persian king's summer palace. In verse 4: Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury: Cyrus' detailed specifications of the size and form of construction, limit how much the rebuilding would cost, since imperial finds were paying for it. In verse 10: So they offer pleasing sacrifices ... and pray for the life of the king and his children: Persian imperial support for local religious centers is well attested. It was part of a larger policy of bringing local customs into the framework of loyalty to the empire. Darius probably did not worship Israel's God, but that did not prevent him from seeking to convince those who did that Israel's God was concerned with the king's well-being. Comments or Questions.. 

Reading for April 11th

 Read Ezra 5.6-17. In verse 6: The copy of the letter: The author offers extracts from official memoranda to fill out the story line. While there can be no certainty, it appears the author was working from actual documents, which may have been modified slightly to fit the narrative. In verse 12; But because our ancestors had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand hand of King Nebuchadnezzar: The case for rebuilding the Temple depends in part on the assertion that the Temple was destroyed not because the southern kingdom rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, an imperial king, but because God was angry. In verse 13: King Cyrus ... made a decree: See 1.1-4. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 10th

 Read Ezra 5.1-5. In 5.1-6.18: Overcoming opposition and rebuilding the Temple. This section of the book highlights the continued commitment of the community to rebuilding the house of God, understood as both the physical Temple and the renewed city of Jerusalem. The section is in Aramaic and, as in the earlier sections, carries that narrative forward by extensive quotation from various official documents. In 5.1: Haggai and Zechariah: The section opens at the end of the sixth century, where ch. 4 ended, with mention of two prophets who, along with Zerubbabel the governor Joshua the high priest, directed a new effort to rebuild the Temple. There are probably the prophets behind the canonical books bearing their names. In verse 3: Who gave you a decree: the officials who are inquiring about imperial permission may not be opposing the rebuilding of the Temple as much as showing concern that all is being done in accord with imperial sanction Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 9th

Read Ezra  4.17-24. In verse 19: I made a decree, and someone searched: The command was to investigate the charge that Jerusalem had a history of rebellion. Brief accounts of major events were kept for Administrative purposes, such as the Babylonian Chronicles, which record the successive revolts of Jerusalem against Babylonian empire until the city's destruction. In verse 20: Jerusalem has had mighty kings who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River: This would seem to to refer to either David or Solomon, who exercised control over a large territory. This makes sense, however, either in the context or in the kinds of records available to the Persian monarch. The same wording could be translated, "Moreover, there have been powerful kings over Jerusalem who also ruled over the whole province ..., placing Artaxerxes in a series of imperial rulers who had successfully controlled Jerusalem and Beyond the River. In verse 21: This city not be rebuilt, until I make a decree : By stopping the rebuilding, Artaxerxes was not making a permanent decision. A future royal decree is exactly what the narrative concerning Nehemiah envisions. In verse 23: By force and power made them cease: The prompt response that may refer to infantry and cavalry units whos presence would have underscore the imperial concern over the rebuilding effort. In verse 24: At that time the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped: If read as a historical narrative, the phrase at that time makes little sense. Artaxerxes I makes the decision to have the work halted sometime after 465 BCE, but later the note until the second year of the reign of King Darius have to be 521 BCE. Either the author is hopelessly confused regarding chronology, or the purpose of the narrative is not historical by thematic. The notation here returns the narrative to the issue of rebuilding the Temple, bringing it back to v. 5. Comments or Questions..

Reading for April 8th

 Read Ezra 4.7-16. In verse 7: And in the days of Artaxerxes: He came to the throne in 465 BCE and remained in power until 423 BCE. The names of the officials sending the memo are Aramaic and Persian. The letter was written in Aramaic: The normal language for conducting official business in the Persian empire was Aramaic. By making note of this detail, the author affirms the seriousness of this exchange. It was translated so that the Jerusalem community could understand it. The footnote points out that the Hebrew text goes on to read in Aramaic, indicating that the author is quoting from the Aramaic original as opposed to the translation. From this point until 6.18: the narrative is in Aramaic. In verse 8: Wrote a letter against Jerusalem identifies the city with the house of God. In verse 10; The rest of the nations ... deported and settled refers to vv. 1-2, where the deportees settled to the north of Jerusalem were the "adversaries" seeking to join in the rebuilding the Temple. Here, they oppose the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls. Osnapper is a variant name for the Assyrian king Asshurbanipal (669-633 BCE). Beyond the River was the official name of the administrative unit of Syria-Palestine (In Aramaic,"Abarnahara"). From the perspective of Mesopotamia and Persia, the territories of Syria-Palestine were across or "beyond" the river Jordan, terminating at the coast of the Mediterranean.In verse 12: They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city: The neighboring peoples charge that Jerusalem, with its history of rebellion against empires, should not be rebuilt. Persian imperial practice was to decentralize populations. Only where security or economic concerns were of central importance were cities rebuilt. In verse 13: if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute: A renewed and refortified Jerusalem will follow its earlier history and will revolt against the taxes and dues that provided the economic lifeblood of the empire. In verse 14: We share the salt of the place: An expression, exact meaning unclear, perhaps saying that the writers are paid in part directly by the palace in the form of salt, a more valued commodity in antiquity than now. In verse 16: You will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River: With Hyperbole (exaggeration to make the point) the opponents imply that Jerusalem's revolt would lead to the loss of the whole province. Comments or Questions..