Reading the Bible (11) | Ezra/Nehemiah/Esther

The last book mentioned that at the end of Chronicles, it was written that the Israelites whose country was destroyed and their homes were destroyed, because of the "grace" of Persian King Cyrus, they could return to Jerusalem to rebuild their homes. These three people and their "records" written today are the three people who brought the people back to Jehovah during the rebuilding of the "holy city".

Beginning with Chronicles, biblical stories have gradually developed a civilizational context. For example, "Babylon", one of the four ancient civilizations we all know, showed its prominence in "2 Chronicles", but it is a pity that "Old Testament" It is still the story of the Israelites, so Babylon and the subsequent Persian Empire can only serve as supporting roles for the Israelites, with very little or even a brushstroke.

However, there is less drama, but it is finally possible to say "Ah, I learned it in the history books", thus establishing some vague connection between the Bible and reality.

• Ezra

Ezra is a descendant of Aaron. Remember Aaron? It was the first priest who, along with Moses, drove the flock to the borders of Canaan, but ultimately could not get in. Ezra, probably because of heredity or some other mysterious reason, knew the Mosaic Law and was deeply loved by Jehovah. Jehovah provoked the Persian king Artaxerxes to answer Ezra’s request, so the latter, of course, assumed the leadership of the rebuilding of the temple.

It is said that the reconstruction work began as early as the period of King Cyrus in the first year of the Persian Empire, but the so-called good things are difficult, because "there are always treacherous officials who want to harm me", and slandered the king of Persia, which led to the reconstruction of the temple in the years of Artaxerxes. Work was forced to stop, and it was not restarted until the new king Darius two years later, and four years later, the temple was finally completed.

The timeline in "Ezra" is a bit messy. According to the logic of the bold words above, Artaxerxes should be earlier than Darius, but when Ezra appeared, the temple had been built, and his era was the same During the years of Daxerxes, I was at a loss, and I never really understood who came first.

There is another inconsistency in this book, that is, King Cyrus, who was called King of Persia at the beginning, and was called King of Babylon at one point in the middle. Of course, it's easy to figure out this google, he is the founding emperor of Persia, the so-called king of Babylon should be a typo.

Speaking of Ezra, after the completion of the temple, he "determined to study the law of the LORD, and to teach the statutes and statutes to the children of Israel." For me, one of the things worth mentioning is Ezra's means of ending intermarriage .

After the fall of Israel, the Israelites were scattered all over the place, and many married local aliens and gave birth to offspring. This is a very valuable exchange in modern civilization. However, at that time, it was a crime. Therefore, in order to maintain the pure blood of the Israelites, Ezra showed his loyalty to Jehovah and used thunderous tactics to separate the husband, wife, father, son, mother and daughter. This matter is really inhumane. Fortunately, there was no Weibo in those days. Otherwise, those tragedies in the world would be more depressed than the current Shanghai.

• Nehemiah

Nehemiah was the governor of Judah. He led the people to rebuild the city wall, and then, together with Ezra, reorganized the law and brought the Israelites back to the door of the Lord. He and Ezra had the feeling of Moses and Aaron. They also worked together to lay a solid foundation for the realization of the great cause of Israel's founding.

I seem to have seen the word " Amen " for the first time in the book of Nehemiah. I also googled the meaning of the word for the first time when I was so old. It turned out to be the Hebrew word for "sincere The meaning of "really", in free translation, should mean "yes, indeed".

In the limited number of services I attended, the preachers spoke for half a day, and then asked, "Amen?" The believers answered, "Amen." At that time, I was a little confused. Now I find that there is nothing mysterious, but it is just like the "Wu Baiyi" that Taiwanese people say, and I am too lazy to translate it.

• Esther

Esther was from Judah, but she concealed her identity, became Queen of Persia, and along with her cousin/stepfather Mordecai, won the battle against Judah's enemies and consolidated the gains of reconstruction.

But there is actually a problem, that is, the problem of interracial marriage. King Ahasuerus, whom Esther married, was definitely not an Israelite. In "Ezra" and "Nehemiah", the interracial marriages have been eliminated and the alien segregation policy has been clarified. The matter of Esther and Mordecai is like knowing the law and breaking the law.

Of course, maybe the alien races that people say are not divided by race, but by faith, then there is nothing to say. However, when the husband and wife were separated, they didn't know whether they gave those aliens a chance to "rehabilitate".

The relationship between Esther and Mordecai is also very interesting. She is his cousin by blood. Maybe the age difference is relatively large, he raised her, and later recognized the righteous daughter, and turned into a father-daughter relationship. In ancient times, it was common for close relatives to marry, but this is the first time I saw that I gave myself an elder out of thin air.

Geez, you ancients are so messed up!

In this part, the expressions of some months also caught my attention, so I did some homework, and it turned out to be the Hebrew calendar. So, at the end of this article, let us learn a useless knowledge, the Hebrew calendar!