Nehemiah 5

In this chapter, Nehemiah speaks against usury and demonstrates his own generosity.

First, he was horrified to see people selling their own children in order to buy food, and weighed down by interest payments to their fellow Jews. Then it's revealed that though he was entitled to tax the people for his livelihood, he decided instead to feed his household out of his own pocket.

Review: THE KINGDOM OF THE CULTS by Walter Martin

I had  an older copy of this, but never sat down and read it. Instead, I dipped into it here and there, using it like a reference book, because I thought that's what it was. I was wrong.

The copy I have now is the most recent edition, and reading it straight through shows that that's how it is supposed to be read. It covers only a few major cults, but covers them very thoroughly.

This is not a reference book, but it is a good look at the major pseudo-Christian religions. I recommend it; it contains a lot of information that is good for Christians to know.

Nehemiah 4

Nehemiah knew that God would fight the Jews' battles, but he also knew they needed to be ready to defend themselves. That's why he prayed and trusted God even as he established a system to protect the workers. 

Having God on your doesn't mean you get to be lazy.

Review: THE PRINCE by Niccolo Machiavelli

This is one of the most infamous books of all time. If you look at successful politicians today, you can still see its precepts in action. Unfortunately, while it's a timeless manual for politics, it's a timeless manual for evil as well.

According to Machiavelli, the main skill a ruler must have is the ability to lie convincingly. Lying,, theft, murdrer ... all of these are tools an adept ruler may use to gain or retain power. Whatever works is permitted.

It may sound strange for me to recommend this short book, but I do. I'm sorry to say that we live in Machiavelli's world, where anything goes as long as you don't get caught. If we are to fulfill the call to be wise as serpents, we would do well to read the Enemy's handbook.

Nehemiah 3

From our New Testament perspective, we're used to thinking of the Jews in opposition to God. They were Jesus' main antagonists, after all.

But it's important to remember that the Jews who returned to the Promised Land were the faithful ones who trusted God to keep his promises. They weren't against rebuilding the wall. They just needed to be reminded.

XVIII. The family

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. 

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Nehemiah 2

Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem for one reason: to make sure the wall and gates were rebuilt. He did it right too. He got the king's permission, a letter explaining his mission to the governor, and his materials, all before he left the capital.

Best of all, though, he was doing God's will.

Review: SILENCE by Shisaku Endo

This is a novel about very early missionaries to Japan. It is also considered by many to be one of the greatest novels ever written in Japanese. Those things said, this isn't a happy book. It's mostly about hardship. Torture and apostasy happen. It is a difficult book, but a worthwhile one.

I don't recommend this book simply because it's hard. I do it because it teaches important lessons, especially that God is worth whatever we have to endure for him.

Nehemiah 1

Rather than pointing fingers, Nehemiah took responsibility.

He knew the state of Jerusalem wasn't right, and that sin was the cause. Instead of worrying about o other people's sin, he confessed his own. Nehemiah knew he couldn't control anyone else, but he could control Nehemiah.

Love equals action

"If you love me, obey my commandments."

Jesus said that.

Notice he didn't say, "if you love me, say it a lot" or "If you love me, hold your hands up when you sing."

"If you love me, obey my commandments."

Not, "If you love me, obey my suggestions," or "If you love me, obey my good ideas." He said, "If you love me, obey my commandments." Jesus said things and he wanted them done. They weren't options. They were commandments.

We need to get away from the idea that love is a feeling or caused by our glands. Love isn't something that happens to us. It's volitional. It's something you do.

When God wanted the Israelites to know he loved them, he didn't just tell them. He also showed them, and he wants us to do the same.

If you love him, you know what to do. 

Ezra 10

Actions have consequences.

The men who married Canaanites, even though the law said not to, chose to act a certain way. Now they were dealing with the fallout from those actions. It was as true then as it is now: you get to choose your actions, but not the consequences of those actions.

Review: THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN by Laurence Sterne

As one reviewer put it, this book "contains precious little of his life, and nothing of his opinions." The titular hero doesn't even manage to get born until far in. Widely regarded as the first comic novel in English, this book is an exercise in distraction. It's also very funny.

There's only one caveat: this book was written in the 1700s, and it reads like it. It takes some time and effort to get into, but if you can read a King James Bible (or Authorised, for them dang Brits), you can read this. It just takes some getting used to.

Except for that, I recommend this wholeheartedly. It takes a little work, but it's worth it.

Ezra 9

Why was intermarriage a sin? Why would God even care who his people married? Because they were meant to be different. They were meant to be separate. In short, they were meant to be his.

So are Christians better than everyone else? No, but we are different.

Review: YOU AND ME TOGETHER by Francis and Lisa Chan

Francis Chan has written several books, but this is both his first about marriage and the first crediting his wife Lisa as co-author. I've enjoyed and learned from his books since the first one, Crazy Love, but I was worried about this one. My minor was in Chrisian counseling (also known as a minor in Wasting My Time) and I've read a good many ostensibly Christian books on marriage, most of which weren't very good. I shouldn't have worried.

The Chans aren't afraid to talk about their relationship, but seem to keep the focus on God as much as on themselves. The book is well-written and bibical, as you might expect, and is easily the best book on marriage I've ever read. I definitely recommend it.

Ezra 8

Ezra writes that he was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers because he had claimed that God would protect the returnees.

But are we not worse? We also make extravagant claims, but instead of being ashamed to rely on temporal power, we revel in it. The disconnect between what we say and what we do is disturbing, but it's worth considering.

XVII. Religious liberty

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it. Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.

Ezra 7

Jerusalem was a four-month journey from Babylon, and that was making good time. If you don't believe me, look at verse 9, which says he left Babylon the first day of the first month and got to Jerusalem the first day of the fifth month, "because the hand of God was with him."

That says a little about how big the Persian Empire was.

Review: SCHOPENHAUER IN 90 MINUTES by Paul Strathern

By now you know the drill. I liked this book, and if you like philosophy and sarcasm, you probably would too.

Ezra 6

Again, Tattenai wasn't a bad guy.

Once he got his answer, he shut up and got out of the way. The rest of the chapter tells about the dedication of the temple and what it was used for.

The curse(?) of wealth

All my life I've seen wealth as a gift from God. After all, Abraham was rich, as were Isaac and Jacob. I don't know if the Bible ever comes out and says that Joseph and Moses were wealthy, but it's strongly implied. Solomon was famously rich, and it's hard to imagine that any of the kings of Israel or Judah was thought of as poor by his neighbors. Becoming wealthy (or wealthier) was a sign of God's favor.

One thing I always overlooked, though, was that these were all Old Testament examples. Under the New Covenant, things were different.

None of the apostles lived like a rich man, or was known for having a lot of money. Jesus himself, though he had been instrumental in creating the entire universe, had to borrow a coin for his "render unto Caesar" statement. He told one rich person to give away all he had, taught people to depend on God rather than money, and said it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Maybe my imagination is just too limited, but I can only think of one way to get a camel to through the eye of a needle, and it doesn't leave you with a functional camel when you're done.

What I get from what Jesus said is that money will keep you out of Heaven. It's far easier to trust money you can see over a God you can't, after all. Unfortunately, we aren't immortal yet., so Heaven is one of only two eternal destinations. The other is Hell.

Things that keep you out of Heaven and send you to Hell are not blessings, no matter how much fun they are now. If you think you've been blessed like that, please be sure you're right.