Ne. 13: Nehemiah's High Horse

Nehemiah 13:14 "Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services."

I don't know the timeline of when chapter 13 occured in relation to chapter 12, but I imagine it could be a huge holy buzzkill. Just as the people are celebrating and thinking pretty highly of themselves, Nehemiah comes along and points out all their faults. In a way, I love his direct approach, including but not limited to pulling the hair out of men who married foreign chicks. You have to get attention somehow. And these things the people did were expressly forbidden. Dozens (probably) of times in scripture alone. Never mind the examples of what happened to revered forefathers of Israel when they hooked up with foreign broads (Solomon?). 

But another way to react, as I did, was to bristle at how Nehemiah treated the people. He didn't sugarcoat his judgment on the people. He didn't try to reason with them. Straight up he was with the people he knew were blowing it. This was no milquetoast believer. I don't respond so well to direct hostility. Chances are, I know when I'm a screwup, and personally, I'd need someone to show me how to change.

And I don't mean to suggest that these violations were minor. Eliashib allowing Tobiah (yeah, that Tobiah who aided in spreading rumors and impeding wall construction) to use a room in the temple was pretty out of line. In fact, the whole temple situation was in disarray, with people not at their posts (out farming, because people weren't giving the priestly portions with their offerings) and people working on the Sabbath. Lets not forget how important rest is to the LORD.

So Nehemiah does a lot of purificatin', and does his best to implant reforms that will get things right again. These are the things Nehemiah wants to be remembered for, and I think he is.

1 Ki. 9: Never Leave You

1 Kings 9:7 "then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples."

After Solomon recovers from his big national party, God meets with him. He actually appeared to Solomon previously at Gibeon. So, this was still a novel thing for Solomon. He was the king. God's anointed, and this was only the second time the LORD appeared to him. This isn't some social call. This isn't a pat on the back, its a sobering challenge. Again God tells Israel's leader to obey His commands and decrees. And I love that God says He Himself has consecrated the temple. God's presence in itself is reward. What a thought. Do you think that today? A reward? For what?

But along with all the nasty terrible stuff that could happen to Israel, like famine and war and death, God introduces a new concept.

He says that Israel will become a byword and an object of ridicule. How horrible that must have been to hear for Solomon. No one wants to believe that at some point their nation could be a joke, forgotten. It doesn't take a deep history scholar to realize that happened eventually, so someone somewhere along the line didn't get the memo, or refused to heed it. Currently, and I haven't seen the news lately, but there doesn't appear to be a descendant of the line of David on the throne in Israel.

In other news, Solomon, as a reward to Hiram, the King of Tyre who hooked him up with a bunch of cedar and stuff, gives him twenty cities. These apparently aren't good cities. Biblical ghettoes, as it were. Hiram knew what was going on, these cities were junk, and he named them as such. Even so, he still sent men with Solomon's to sea to get some gold for some reason.

Solomon continues building up the city, using laborers conscripted from remnants of the HACPHAJ, which Israel couldn't or wouldn't drive out.

Jos. 3: Crossing Jordan

Joshua 3:16 "The water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho."

Well, it's finally time to go. Israel is going into the promised land. Joshua gives the orders, and the people listen, because God gave Joshua the same gravitas that He gave to Moses with the people. Joshua prepared his people to move out in three days. "Watch the ark, but don't go near it," was the command. In fact, people had to stay 1000 yards away...which is a little over half a mile.

OK, so the three days go by, and Joshua goes to the river, and as he stands there, he tells everyone to watch, because this is gonna be sweet, and that God will drive out the HACPHAJ. What is the HACPHAJ you may ask? It's my mnemonic device used to remember the Usual Suspects that God stands against in regard to Israel. Hivites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hittites And Jebusites. It would be HACPHAG (Girgashites) in some translations, so lets go with this.

Anyway, and this is amazing...as soon as the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the Jordan River, the water flowing downstream cut off and "stood up in a heep." Can you imagine what that would have looked like? Can you imagine seeing that take place. And I love how the Bible sort of predicts what skeptics would say..."Minor miracle, it was the narrowest part of the river..." No, it was at flood stage. I wish I could have seen this. I'm sure the parting of the Red Sea was amazing too. This dividing of the waters at the Jordan River is just as amazing. Yet, I think we look on it as, eh...not as cool as the Red Sea.

And the whole nation crossed on dry ground. Including the 2.5 tribes who were staying on the east side of the Jordan.