Ezra 10:1-44 ~ 1 Corinthians 6:1-20 ~ Psalm 31:9-18 ~ Proverbs 21:3
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Old Testament - Powerful readings in Ezra chapter 10 today, as we read about people publicly confessing their sin! An image is below for verses 10 through 12 - "Then Ezra the priest stood and said to them: "You have sinned, for you have married pagan women. Now we are even more deeply under condemnation than we were before. Confess your sin to the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do what he demands. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from these pagan women." Then the whole assembly raised their voices and answered, "Yes, you are right; we must do as you say!"
New Testament - Today in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 we will read: "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside their body, but you who sins sexually sins against your own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." These are powerful verses. And verses that seem to fly in the face of much of what we are sold in today's culture. Reflect on these verses. Do you believe that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? Do you believe that you are not your own? Do you realize that you were bought at a price by Jesus on the cross? If you see sexual immorality heading your way, do you flee from it? Will you flee from it? What are the consequences if you do not flee from sexual immorality? Do you believe that sexual immorality is a sin you commit against your very own body? (self-abuse, if you will – though, I strongly believe others around you suffer from this sin against your own body as well. Nobody sins in a vacuum. It affects everyone we interact with. It affects everyone in our community. Think that sin is a selfish act?) Do you realize that when you sin sexually, you are sinning against a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells? Will you flee from sexual immorality? Please - literally - flee from it.
Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in First Corinthians titled "Courting Sin" is at this link and "The Relationship between Spirituality and Sexual Morality" is at this link.
Psalms - Have you ever felt like Psalm 31 verse 10.... "I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Misery has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within." Do you believe that God can rescue you from this? Will you pray to God to save you from this? Earlier this year I read C.S. Lewis' book A Grief Observed. Has anyone read this? It is a very short book. But, wow, it is a powerful short book! It is a memoir C.S. Lewis wrote after the death of his wife and it is so incredibly thoughtful and moving as C.S. Lewis works through his grief and his questions for and about God. This verse kind of reminds me of this book.... though not really... it seems like C.S. Lewis didn't quite get as down as the level of this verse. Anyhow - great book I think for any Christian who has lost a loved one. Let me know reviews in the Comments section below if you've read A Grief Observed, or know others who have? Has it been consoling for you during a time of loss?
Proverbs - Proverbs 21 verse 3 is powerful today - "The LORD is more pleased when we do what is just and right than when we give him sacrifices." Have you ever had a stage in your life where you got this Proverb backwards? Have you ever been so focused on "giving sacrifices" to God that you forgot to simply do what is just and right? This reminds me of the Pharisees in Jesus' day. They were focused on their religious duties - on giving proper sacrifices to God on the proper days and times. But in the meantime they forgot to simply do what was just and right to those around them. And Jesus called them out on it. And if we're not careful, Jesus can call us out on it too. Which is good. A rebuke can be good to bring us back into a loving relationship with God and other people. Today in your life, are you more focused on simply doing what is just and right before God and people, or are you perhaps more focused these days on "giving sacrifices" to God? Which do you think is more pleasing to God? Perhaps this painting of "The Good Samaritan" by the English Victorian painter George Frederic Watts from the year 1852 is helpful for us to reflect upon, along with this Proverb:
YouTube: Today's Proverb and this painting above reminded me of Casting Crowns song "If We are the Body." Here's a great live version of this song:
Are you part of the Body? Click here to join God's Body!
Comments from You & Questions of the Day: What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings? Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!
God bless,
Mike
Ezra 10
What happened to women and children.
"Send away" in NIV and "put away" KJV means divorce.
Did some checking.
In Judaic Law of OT the "Bill of Divorce" must be written up before authorities. I suppose those were men selected by Ezra in verse 16.
If the man gave a dowry the family could keep it. If, as in the cases with some Gentiles, a dowry was given to man - it was returned.
An income was negotiated for wives and children.
Additional expenses (usually for children) could be added in the "bill of divorce" (but this may have been a later addition to the Law).
The main important point of the bill was to - maintain the woman was separated and eligible to marry again.
[Note: does all this sound familiar?]
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI., 1979, p. 975
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It seems most commentators that care to mention it - and there are not many - believe the children were considered part of a (conceptually)illegitimate marriage and would go with the mother. But I have no actual reliable Judaic sources for this comment.
Posted by: John | August 09, 2007 at 04:50 PM
1Chronicles6
Lawsuits
Interesting thoughts: especially in light of America's litigious society.
Why bring lawsuits between Christians before unbelievers. Not only does it give them a chance to blaspheme God (by ridiculing Christians, and thus Christ)- but -
Do you know who you are? You will judge the world and angels in your "glorified state". The "judging here is "krinos" usually reserved for God.
There is argument here whether we are delegated to judge by God, or as "one in Christ", perfectly glorified in heaven, through Jesus' judgment we are also involved. Regardless, the notion is we will be an integral part of the process.
If that is true can we not judge (different greek word) small, trivial, insignificant cases within the body? Can you not adjudicate these cases without involving the outside world.
[note: I don't think Paul is referring to capital cases, but civil cases.]
In small things, why even go to any trial? Why not as Jesus said in Matt 18? We should be looking for reconciliation and restoration with each other - not justice (to see someone punished.)We do not want to ask God for justice when wronged - if we got Justice (in God's view) none of us would be saved.
Why even do it in the first place? Why not submit to the wrong? Ref: 2peter. Christ's crucifixion was the ultimate wrong and he submitted - are you better than Jesus? If you look closely there are probably things you do to other Christians that are wrong. Why this quibbling over trivial matters. Again - go for reconciling and restoration.
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I do not think Paul's list is exhaustive in verse 9, but representative of what was going on in Corinth.
For some of the Christians were like those on the list, but....
"...you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." NIV
Paul is pounding the table here - getting their attention. The pronoun "you" is generally denoted by verb form in Greek, but here Paul includes the verb form and the pronoun. This is for EXTRA emphasis. And the Action is in aorist tense to denote completed acts. Paul is emphatically saying - this is what you are - implying - now act like it.
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"Everything is permissible for me"— Paul is quoting the philosophy of Corinth. It is a hedonist philosophy. The Greek thought the spirit was everything, and the body nothing. Therefore, they can do anything they want with the body - for after death it is the spirit that counts.
It may be permissable in Corinth, but it is not beneficial or good to be mastered by the flesh for a Christian. Just because it is legal in Corinth, Christians are not to live a life of hedonism. We are held to a higher standard.
We are to flee form "porneia" - "illicit sex". Paul is not just talking about prostitution here, but illicit sex in general (to be addressed later). However prostitution may be the bigest offense going in Corinth with 1,000 temple prostitutes at Venus' temple.
"Fleeing" is an ongoing command in the Greek. When you sin here it is more vile to the body because of God's commands about marriage and "cleaving" to each other as one.
For we are a "temple" of the Holy Spirit. Greek for temple is "naos" the "Holy of Holies" - the inner sanctum. Earlier in Corinthians Paul said the Church body was this temple, and now it is refined down to each of us.
We were bought with a price. We are God's servants - therfore honor God and give glory to Him.
Posted by: John | August 09, 2007 at 04:52 PM
Ezra 10:1-44
I have a question. If the people had not seen an weeping Ezra throw himself down on the ground in front of the Temple, would they have ever confessed their sin? Very rarely will we confess our sins on our own. Either the effects of what we have done which makes us ashamed or someone we admire confronts us or someone who loves us dearly takes courage and risks the relationship by telling us the truth about ourselves.
I’m assuming, perhaps wrongly, that the review of each person’s circumstance and family situation took about three months because the leadership wanted to see if those who intermarried had been converted by their wives or were their wives converted to worship the God of Israel. My assumption stems from the knowledge that several prominent Jewish men, David specifically, had a non-Jew in their lineage. Ruth, who is honored by and in the Old Testament book of the same name, was the great-grandmother of David was a Moabite by birth. However, I belive the day she told her mother-in-law, Naomi, these words,
"Stop urging me to abandon you! For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will become my people, and your God will become my God. (Rth 1:16 NET.)
Ruth no longer was a Moabite by belief, but a Jew.
I Corinthians 6:1-20
Flee from “sexual sin.” Why don’t we? I think we confuse this command to flee with what James wrote (4:7) telling us to resist, but we have it wrong. The “fleeing” is not from the devil nor is lust a product of the devil, the lust belongs to us. James says to submit to God, resist the devil and he (the devil) will flee, not our lusts. I like how the 18th verse of I Corinthians 6:18 reads:
Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. (1Co 6:18 AMP).
While we stand around in the bar, at the party, in the club trying to “resist” our lusts when we should be fleeing, we succumb to the passions that are hidden deep within us that is why we find it difficult to stop having sex, viewing pornography, etc. While we stand around “resisting” the images, the assault on our mind is being fed.
From James:
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. (Jam 1:13-15 NET.)
It also may be helpful and give greater understanding when we know that the word translated “sexual sin” in the NLT, and fornication in KJ, in the 18th verse is Greek root where we get, pornography. But there is more the words also means idolatry. Sexual sin and/or fornication is the physical representation or act of a spiritual violation, idolatry.
G4202 (Stong’s Number)
πορνεία
porneia
por-ni'-ah
From G4203; harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively idolatry: - fornication.
Psalm 31:9-18
Many are they that rise up against me …but my trusting is in God. O, if I could walk that walk daily, hourly, minute by minute, second by second. If I put away my fears and turned not to the left or right but truly relied on God and His Word, I would be invincible.
Proverbs 21:3
The LORD is more pleased when we do what is just and right than when we give him sacrifices.
Reading Mike’s comments I am struck by the backwardness of us folk. We would rather give the sacrifice then stop the sinning because we love the sin. It is just that easy and uncomplicated. What we hate is the consequences of the sin, which is why we offer up sacrifices. But we offer them up not because we are truly sorry, godly sorrow, but because we are trying to appease God so that He will get rid of the consequences.
A sacrifice is something we do when we have not obeyed. Our sin is an out and out act of rebellion against God. I am about to make a statement that may get “parents” angry with me, but I’m a parent too so I am indicting myself because I have said this to my children,
“I’m sacrificing so that you can have a better life,”
or some such variation on the theme. If we are sacrificing so that our progeny can go to a better school, have nice things and the list goes on, then we are calling our children a product of our sin, yikes. Moses implemented sacrifices and offerings. For many of us, myself included, our children are products of illicit sexual activities; however, they should no be saddled with the guilt of our disobedience and manipulated to behave a certain way because we have to go “sacrifice,” they did not ask to be born.
Posted by: R | August 09, 2007 at 04:52 PM
Ezra 10: 10 -12
"Then Ezra the priest stood and said to them: "You have sinned, for you have married pagan women.
==> Now we are even more deeply under condemnation than we were before.
MY COMMENT:
This makes me think of the passage in Lamentation where the Father says through Jeremiah
(Amplified):
Lamentations 3:22-28
22
It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not.(A)
23
They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.
24
The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.(C)
25
The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God's word].
26
It is good that one should hope in and wait quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord.
27
It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke [of divine disciplinary dealings] in his youth.
28
Let him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent [in hope], because [God] has laid [the yoke] upon him [for his benefit].
THANK GOD His mercies are new every morning!! For the passaage in Ezra seems to indicate that there are seasons in our lives where we can STOP receiving God's grace.
GRACE comes to us in different ways depending on our season (in part). The sins in our lives place us in the requirement of NEEDING his Mercy EVERY morning!
In one sense, God’s GRACE (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense) are ALWAYS available ALL THE TIME. Yet, God must sometimes discipline us if we are hard hearted, or God can freely give us His GRACE and give us RESPONSIBILITY because He knows we are FAITHFUL!
1 Corinthians 6:18-20
"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside their body, but you who sins sexually sins against your own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
MY COMMENT:
When I think of sexual sin, I do not so much think of “sinning against the body” (unless one gets a disease in the body because of sexual immorality—regardless of whether heterosexual or homosexual). I usually think of the person sinning against HIS OR HER OWN SOUL, his or her own being.
But it makes me think of the reality that our bodies are vessels of the glory of God as in
2 Corinthians 4(Amplified)
6
For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
7
However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.
==> These verses make the case that we are broken vessels, and that brokenness is what allows the glory to shine through us. Why? Because it is clearly ONLY GOD Who is doing His will, and NOT US! So, when I harden my heart, THAT is blocks the glory of God!
So… if I keep my heart tender towards God NO MATTER HOW I FEEL OR how I have behaved, my brokenness CAN BE THE TOOL that the Loving Father uses to bring healing into my life. Also… to display Christ to others!
Psalm 31:9-18
I like this commentary on this passage:
In this faith and confidence he prays that the Lord would save him for his mercies's sake, and not for any merit of his own.
He prophesies the silencing of those that reproach and speak evil of the people of God. There is a day coming, when the Lord will execute judgment upon them.
In the mean time, we should engage ourselves by well-doing, if possible, to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
MY COMMENT:
I thank God that our confidence is in HIS mercy—His absolute faithfulness to His covenant—and therefore it is the absolute, certain, guaranteed hope of glory and of God fulfilling HIS Word! I also thank God that, whatever trouble God allows to come to us, His GOODNESS and GLORY is available IN THIS LIFE. Though it is EXCELLENT to rejoice in LOOKING for heaven in the next life, and REJOICING in that… I short change myself if I do not choose to receive what God has for me IN THIS LIFE.
And is this blessing IN THIS LIFE just for me? Of course not! If we have the faith of Abraham, and are children of Abraham through faith in Christ (Galatians 3), then we are part of his covenant with God: We are “blessed TO BE A BLESSING!”
That is why I really like the next verses coming in
Psalm 31 (NIV):
19
How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you,
which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.
20
In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from the intrigues of men;
in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues.
Proverbs 21:3
"The LORD is more pleased when we do what is just and right than when we give him sacrifices."
This makes me think of Proverbs 16:6 (Amplified):
6
By mercy and love, truth and fidelity [to God and man--not by sacrificial offerings], iniquity is purged out of the heart, and by the reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord men depart from and avoid evil.
Vance
Posted by: Vance | August 09, 2007 at 04:52 PM
The thing that stood out to me in the reading of Ezra chapter 10 was the leadership that came from the “common” people. While the high priest Ezra was praying and mourning, it was Shekaniah son of Jehiel who came up with the suggestion to discard the foreign wives and make a new covenant with God (10:2-4). There were three classifications of people that were released from exile to return to Jerusalem: the priest to offer up prayers and burned sacrifices, the Levites to tend to the needs of the temple, and then additional Israelites that made up the general workforce to take care of everything else such as tending the livestock, etc. Shekaniah was not from the family of a priest or Levite but instead from the family of one of the other Israelites (10:25) and his father Jehiel was listed as one who had taken a foreign wife (10:26).
Many times we “common folk” feel that our role in the Christian community is less important than the role played by our ministers, teachers and other officials in our churches, but God has a role for each one of us. He has an important purpose for our life and each of us are important in the eyes of God.
God Bless!
Pat
Posted by: Pat | August 10, 2007 at 02:40 AM
Well, I guess I'll play devil's advocate. Does it seem to anyone else that although the men were wrong to intermarry, that another wrong (divorce and putting away your family) does not seem to make it right? Kind of like the abortion debate? Sex outside of marriage is not right, but we don't make that right by having an abortion to take care of the wrong! Anyhow, I know the Israelites sinned in the first place, but they have to divorce and I guess in their laws this was justification. Sure glad I don't live under the law, but under Grace! Great song - "If we are the Body". It's one of my favorites and actually my ringtone. The video was powerful. Thanks Mike!
Posted by: Beth | August 10, 2007 at 06:44 AM
"Have you ever felt like Psalm 31 verse 10.... "I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Misery has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within." Do you believe that God can rescue you from this? Will you pray to God to save you from this?"
Some years ago I fell into a severe depression and in 5 months lost 50 lbs. I could hardly eat or drink. My family thought I was going to die because I looked so sick. Some of my friends even thought I was anorexic. I seemed to fall deeper and deeper into depression.
Depression is a totally diabolical state. It’s like your enemy is in control of you thoughts. Telling you- you have no value. You are nothing. Slowly you feel you are disappearing.
I believed I was going to die. I was going to leave my loved ones. I wanted to die. I would tell God every morning –“why don’t you take me today”? I was weak and pitiful. Filled with anger and despair. I felt alone in this world.
During all this time I knew God was near. I just did not know how to reach Him. But He was carrying me the whole time. He was my only hope. I was drowning in a dark whole and He was the only rope I had to hold on to. He kept me from letting go. I would read His psalms. Only they would comfort me.
I would cry in my bible and beg the Lord to take this sorrow away and help me. I knew I would not survive much longer.
Everyone looked at me as if I was a ghost or at least I felt that way. My family was in anguish to see me in that condition.
Then one day, my sisters prayed over me and asked God to take that sorrow away. To heal me and give me back the joy of my salvation.
That night God also used a friend who reminded me of a passage in the bible I had read hundreds of times.
Mathew 14:29-31
“… Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "
She proceeded to tell me that Peter walked on water while his eyes were on Christ. When he started to put his eyes on the wind and water which (in this case) were his circumstances, he started to sink.
She said: “Carmen-put your eyes on Jesus. LOOK UP! Don’t look down. If you do this you will be cured”. All of a sudden it dawned on me: "All I did was think about my circumstances and problems." So now I knew I must think only about Him and His word.
The next day, it was gone. I woke up and knew I was cured. The despair and sorrow had left me. I was free! God had done a miracle. He had cured me.
"I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Misery has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within." THAT IS EXACTLY THE WAY I FELT.
Do you believe that God can rescue you from this? YES!
Will you pray to God to save you from this?"
I PRAYED ON MAY OCCASIONS... BUT UNTIL I REALIZED MY SIN (which was self centeredness)
AND REPENTED...I WAS NOT CURED.
WE NEED TO STOP THINKING SO MUCH ABOUT OURSELVES AND PUT OUR THOUGHTS ON JESUS. HE IS OUR ONLY MEANS OF BECOMING CURED FROM SADNESS,DESPAIR AND DEPRESSION.
I AM CONVINCED THAT DEPRESSION IS A TOTALLY DIABOLICAL STATE OF MIND. THE DEVIL CONTROLS YOUR THOUGHTS (at that moment) SO THAT YOU WILL LINGER IN SOLITUDE AND AN OVERWHELMING FEELING OF SORROW. WHEN IN REALITY THE ONLY TRUE SORROW IS TO BE ETERNALLY SEPARATED FROM OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
THE DEVIL DOES NOT WANT US TO BE VICTORIOUS IN CHRIST. HE WANTS TO DO TO US WHAT HE DID TO JOB. GOD IS OUR ONLY HOPE AS IT WAS FOR JOB.
WHEN I READ THE PSALMS THERE ARE TIMES I THINK DAVID SUFFERED FROM DEPRESSION. HE SEEMED MANY TIMES TO BE FILLED WITH SORROW AND DESPAIR. HE SEEMS TO SOMETIMES FEEL HOPELESS. BUT ALMOST ALWAYS AT THE END OF THOSE PSALMS WERE HE SEEMS DEPRESSED HE ENDS WITH VICTORY. PRAISING GOD FOR HIS MERCIES AND GREAT POWER. HE AFFIRMS HIS FAITH OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND COMES TO THE REALIZATION THAT GOD LOVES HIM AND CARES FOR HIM. THAT GOD WILL RESCUE HIM FROM THE PIT.
WE SHOULD TRY TO MORE LIKE DAVID!
Posted by: Carmen | August 10, 2007 at 01:16 PM
****THANK YOU***** TO the upkeepers of this website. I happen to pass by and I learnt something wise!
Posted by: jone | August 10, 2008 at 03:36 PM
To carmen, Like God used your fried to save you... YOU save dmme tonight. Your message post hit me right through my heart. Like an arrow. The passage you used was the same passage I was reading this morning but I never really understood it until this minute. Thank You and I know that The LORD is truly with you. AND THAT is the best feeling forever. as the scriptures say. what good is it to earn the entire world but lose your eternal life in his Kingdom. I hope this post helps someone else like Carmen did to me.
Posted by: Jonahgirl | August 10, 2008 at 03:40 PM