Day 40 ~ Behemoth & Leviathan: dinosaurs?

I read as scheduled, but didn't do the blog yesterday because my comments were so brief. I guess that was God's timing, because in church this morning Ed Moore launched the service with a passage from Job chapter 37 about God and how he miraculously controls nature through the weather. It was nice for him to have used the challenge, and I knew exactly what he was talking about - it put a nice meaningful spin to my worship today.

• Job Chapter 40:15 - Could Behemoth have been a dinosaur? Visit Answers In Genesis for their take: http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i2/behemoth.asp
• Job 41:1 - Could Leviathon be a sea monster or dragon or dinosaur? Visit Answers in Genesis for their take: http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i2/behemoth.asp
• Note that there is no closing comments with God and Satan as there were opening comments at the beginning of Job.

Job completed! Now, are we beginning the "hymnbook of the second temple" described by Ezra? My brief recordings as I breeze through these poems

• Ps 1 - choose your path: Godly or ungodly
• Ps 2 - quoted in Acts 4, Hebrews 1:5, 5:5; 2:6 - Messianic
• Ps 3 - David flees from Absalom when this is written. What is a Selah? A transition? Interlude? Musical direction? We know that David established the music troops for the temple and that he played instruments well - that is how he got in front of King Saul - he could sooth his troubled spirit.
• Ps 4 - Man rules over beasts

Day 39 ~ Why not blame Satan?

Job and his "friend" continue to debate back and forth about what has brought Job's disasters. They all talk about God, but why do none of them talk about this coming from Satan?

Day 38 ~ With friends like Job's, who needs enemies?

I've mentioned before that I'm not much into poetry. Plus, Job is one tidbit after another, almost like proverbs. I'm just reading through.

Job does mention Rahab, which makes me believe that he would have been chronologically after Rahab.

Job's "friends" have many reasons why God must be punishing Job - Job must have done something wrong, but Job insists he is innocent, and appeals to God to show him his sin. He tells his friend they are pitiful encouragers, and he would encourage them if they were in his situation. Job knows his only redemption can come from God. He continues to contend he is innocent. There are some good comebacks to mouthy idiots.

My shortest blog ever!

Day 37a ~ Cliff Notes Revisited

As I was sitting eating my breakfast this morning and getting a start on my reading for today, I was using the NKJV Bible with the study helps that I normally use, but did not use yesterday, nor for Ezra or Nehemiah. I reviewed the study helps and have the following to add to my comments about the empires that oppressed Judah and Israel.

• King Josiah of Judah fought against King Necho of Egypt back in II Chronicles 35. Apparently King Necho was on his way north not to fight Judah, but to help the Assyrians in an attack against the Babylonians. The delay of Necho to battle King Josiah resulted in the the fall of the Assyrian city of Haran in 609BC.
• Ezra wasn't in the first round of Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. There were three major waves of Jews who returned to Jerusalem after King Cyrus gave the green light. Cyrus, if you remember, was one of the first kings of Persia after they defeated the Babylonians bringing that empire to an end. The study helps say that Ezra returned in the second wave, about 458BC, and that Nehemiah was in the third wave, about 444BC. I don't have my handy Old Testament Chronology CD to check that against.
• Apparently the Cyrus of Ezra was not the first Cyrus in the Persian empire. The Chart that I referred to only starts with the line of empire where they overtook the previous empire who ruled over the Jews.
• The study helps in this Bible place the chronology of Esther before Ezra and Nehemiah. It attributes Xerxes I as king Ahasuerus in Esther 1:1, with his reign from 486BC to 465BC.
• The study helps in this Bible place both Ezra and Nehemiah under the rule of Artaxerxes I Longimanus (464-424BC). So Ezra wouldn't have been an old man when Nehemiah came, because I was assuming that Ezra was in the first wave of Jews who started the temple reconstruction before it was halted, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

No, I didn't read any new material yet!

Day 37 ~ Cliff Notes on Assyria/Babylon/Persia timeline

Okay, you know I've got this thing about the timeline, right. To me, all these clues, in context with other historical documents, especially of other cultures, solidifies even more the accuracy fo the Bible.

It would seem that Ezra, Nehemiah and the book of Esther would be during similar time periods. In my handy chronology of the kings of the divided kingdom, states that in 536BC the temple reconstruction instructed by Cyrus is started, and it is concluded in 516BC. Ezra and Nehemiah were obviously contemporaries, as Ezra reads the book of the Law in Nehemiah's presence in front of the people. And Ezra would have arrived in Jerusalem before Nehemiah and begun the temple reconstruction, then Nehemiah began the wall reconstruction. The king in Esther, Ahasuerus (also identified as Xerxes in some texts), is also named in Ezra (4:6). The same name is also used in Daniel as the father of the king when Daniel was in Babylon. But Nehemiah worked under King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1). So, maybe Esther was before Ezra, and the king who replaced Ahasuerus/Xerxes was Cyrus. I'm having enough trouble with keeping the kings of Israel straight, I should avoid trying to place the kings of Assyria in chronological order.

But, I can't. You knew that.

Guess what? There's another great timeline in my book "The Chronology of the Old Testament" by Floyd Jones, and it gives the chronology and helps with the Assyria/Babylon question. Here's the Cliff Notes:

• Israel, under king Hoshea, falls to Sargon II, king of Assyria, in 721BC (II Kings 18:9-11)
• Assyria begins to fall apart - Ninevah falls in 612BC, followed by city of Haran, followed by a failed counter-attack against the Babylonians, then the fall of a final city and they are defeated by Babylonians by 605BC. We'll hear more about this in Ezekiel 1 and Jeremiah 25.
• "The Servitude" of the Babylonians against the southern kingdom of Judah begins within a year of the Babylonians defeating the Assyrians - the Babylonians were waging wars on more than one front. See jeremiah 25:1, 46:2.
• The reign of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began shortly after this oppression began - Jehoiakim was king of Judah (2 Kings 23:36, 2 Chronicles 36:5). The captivity comes nine years into Nebuchadnezzar's reign, he made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah. (2 Kings 24:17-19, 2 Chronicles 36:11, Jeremiah 39:1,2). Zedekiah "ruled" as a puppet of Neb in Jerusalem for 11 years, but many are taken captive to Babylon at the beginning of Zedekiah's reign (about 597bc).
• Jerusalem is burned 586BC. 2 Kings 25:1-4, 8-10. Jeremiah 52:12. I assume it's abandoned.
• Thus begins 70 years of no temple in Jerusalem. We'll hear about that in Jeremiah and Daniel. But apparently the reconstruction of the temple begins during the end of this 70 years, and the 70 years is complete when the temple is complete.
• About 65 years after Nebuchadnezzar becomes king of Babylon, and about 4 kings later in Babylon, it falls to Darius the Meade (2 Chronicles 36:21-23, Ezra 1:1,2). What is a Meade? According to 2 Chronicles 36:20 "And those who escaped from the sword he [Nebuchadnezzer] carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia". Darius is Persian. Didn't I wonder about that yesterday? Is Persia Assyria? I thought maybe it was, but now we know that Assyria was defeated by Babylon who was defeated by Persia, which became a huge empire, and will be the empire that 200 years later is ruled by Alexander the Great.
• Now, you know how names are used over and over again? Same thing in the Persian empire, too. In 13 listed kings of Persia, starting with Darius then followed by Cyrus (from Ezra, who instructed the rebuilding of the temple), there are three king Darius, two Xerxes, and three Artaxerxes. You try to figure out which Darius is from Daniel and which Xerxes is from Esther. I can't.
• The chart doesn't give a timeline for when Esther's story takes place. If I had to guess, I would say the second or third Xerxes. The Jews don't seem to be oppressed and are spread out among the huge empire.
• The timeline places the completion of the temple in the second Darius' rule. All of the three Xerxes reigns' occur after the temple is completed (the first is 30 years after the temple is complete).
• The Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 2, according to this chart, would have been at least 45 years after the completion of the temple. Ezra would have been an old man when he read the law before the people in the presence of Nehemiah.
• I'm likin' this Floyd Jones guy. Aren't you glad we got this out of the way before we get to Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel? 'Cause you know it's gonna come up again.

So, what happened to the tribes of the northern kingdom? All we heard about in Ezra and Nehemiah were from the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the tribe of Levi. Are the northern tribes lost forever?

Now, to the history via the book of Esther

• The king's empire is vast - 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia, and I would presume that includes the territory that Judah formerly occupied, as well as the former land of the northern tribes who formed the country of Israel. This would have been a world power at the time, and the people of Judah would have been but a cog in the wheel.
• Apparently the "Assyria's Next Top Model/Queen" contast to replace the dethroned Vashti required a 12 month preparation period of eligible virgins.
• Esther has many admirable qualities - humility, beauty, bravery, boldness, respect, pride, patience, loyalty...
• Esther finally gets her chance in front of the king. This was an overnight stay, by the way; my guess is that she was no longer a virgin. She is not sent to the second harem of concubines, but is made queen right away. Note that the beauties are surrounded by Eunuchs, who didn't have the "equipment" to interfere with the ladies, if you know what I mean.
• Why did Mordecai tell Esther not to say she was Jewish? It appears the oppression of the Jews was started by Haman because Mordecai would not bow to him and it bruised his oversized ego. I'm assuming this time frame is after the Jews were allowed to go back to Jerusalem.
• 3:14 - if you knew the time of your slaughter, wouldn't you get lost? I guess it would be hard to get away if the decree is given to 127 provinces that on the 13th day of the 12th month your race was to be wiped out.
• 4:14 - Mordecai to Esther - "Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this"
• Pride goeth before the fall. Haman is a great example of this. The king can't sleep, so he reads a bit of the history of his reign and recounts Mordecai providing information that had saved the life of the king. He wants to know how Mordecai was rewarded for the information, and when he finds out that he wasn't rewarded, the king wants to honor him immediately. Haman must have been embarassed that the man he came to the king to ask to be killed by his hand on the gallows he had already constructed was now the man that he had to lead around for all to cheer. Haman's own family and friends had told Haman that his pride was going to cause him problem if he didn't keep it in check.
• Esther's well-devised plan results in Haman's death on his own gallows, and the property and position he held went to Mordecai.
• You can't revoke the kings original decree to all the killing of the jews for one day, but Mordecai is given the approval and power to give it the old college try to come up with a way to avoid the disaster. His king-approved decree was that the Jews could actively defend themselves, and even attack, on this one day and take plunder from those they defeat. The Jews take advantage and kill 75,000 throughout the provinces, but leave the plunder.
• 8:17 - many people become Jews because of this proclaimation.
• Have you heard of the Jewish Purim. This is where it comes from. See 9:22.
• Want to celebrate Purim or learn more - http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday9.htm

Okay. I finished Esther at lunch today, and have been working on this blog for 2 hours. I have 8 chapters to read in Job tonight to keep on track.

17 books completed. I think I got lost somewhere, but I counted it out tonight. Books of Law (5) - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Books of History (12) - Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Now on to the books of Wisdom: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. hey, I remembered that from memory, at 11:27pm.

I'm not even going to try to figure out when Job occurs. I don't think anyone knows. He was into sacrificing, so maybe it was during one of the few moments when Israel was on track. So it was after the exodus, and likely before the temple, since they don't mention the temple in his sacrifices.

You know the story of Job. God allows Satan to try to get Job to defy God. He takes away his family, his health, his friends and wife mock him. Job curses the day he was born, he asks God to let him die. His friends tell him he must have sinned and should appeal to God.

The rest...tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this explanation of the timeline of Assyria/Babylon/Persia.

Day 36 ~ Walls of Jerusalem rebuilt

• Chapter 4 - Nehemiah's wall is defended against enemies who taunt them, but the people have a mind to work. The enemies try to get them off focus of the task at hand - rebuilding the wall, and nearly do, but they devise a plan for shifts to construct and defend - one hand working, one holding a weapon.
• Chapter 5 - more obstacles to stying on focus occur - shortage of food, infighting, taxes, slavery.
• Apparently when the king of Assyria sent Nehemiah, he must have appointed him as governor, his length of time to be gone from Assyria looks like it was 12 years.
• Chapter 6 - when he returns to Assyria, Nehemiah gives charge of Jerusalem to his brother, who was a faithful man and feared God more than many. But apparently not good enough, because we see later in chapter 13 that while Nehemiah is gone, the people quickly sway from the covenant that they sign in chapters 9 & 10.
• Chapter 7 - I wondered in Ezra why the people that had returned to Jerusalem were only listed as Levites, or from Judah or Benjamin, then I remembered that they are the tribes that were carried off to Babylon, while the other 10 tribes had been carted off to Assyria. So I decided to look on a map where Babylon and Assyria were, and basically the maps show that Assyria encompasses Babylon. Now I'm more confused. At any rate, they were two segments of a kingdom if not two separate kingdoms. There is a long list of people who returned to Jerusalem with Nehemiah. I assume that the northern tribe and the southern tribe were not held together.
• Ezra had arrived earlier and rebuilt the temple. Now Nehemiah rebuilds the walls, and it is time to fill the city.
• A new currency is listed in vs. 71 - drachmas, minas (also listed in Ezra).
• Chapter 8 - Ezra (scribe) and Nehemiah (governor) work together to read the Law and celebrate the feast of tabernacles. They helped people to understand the Law. They had not celebrated this feast of tabernacles (booths) since the time of Joshua.
• Chapter 9 - the people confess their sin, recall the history of their people, and make a covenant which many of them sign - and it includes not to marry foreigners, no work or sales on the Sabbath, rest the land every 7 years, support the temple and give of their firsts to the Lord.
• Chapter 10 - list of people who signed the covenant - there were many. You would think it would be enough to keep each other accountable, but it isn't
• Chapter 12 - a big choir stands on the wall. More architectural descriptions given.
• Chapter 13 - Nehemiah is back in the capital in the 32nd year of the kings reign, and comes back to Jerusalem to visit. The people in charge had become corrupted and had broken the covenant on several counts. Nehemiah gives new assignments to more reliable men. (We'll see how they fare).
• The downfall of Solomon is given as an example of why not to marry outside of the Hebrews.

Day 35 ~ Temple and walls rebuilt

• Ezra Chapter 1 - Cyrus, king of Persia, is instructed by God to send the Israelites who have been captive in Assyria back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the temple. He gathers up the stuff that had been stolen to return with the captives.
• Chapter 2 - the Israelites who return are listed.
• Chapter 3 - worship is restored in Jerusalem. Temple reconstruction is started. Some really loud shouting.
• Chapter 4 - Resistance and opposition to the rebuilding of the temple is intense. A letter writing campaign from the advesaries of Judah delays and tries to stops the temple reconstruction.
• Chapter 5 - I guess Persia is Babylon, because verse 13 lists Cyrus king of Babylon. King Darius is asked to check the archives to see if the letter from Cyrus really exists that instructs that the Jews could rebuild the temple. And it was found, and it even says that Persia will pay for the project. And, whomever alters the edict is to be destroyed. So Darius lets them complete the temple.
• Chapter 6 - Haggai and Zechariah are prophets in this rebuilding time.
• Temple is completed in the sixth year of Darius reign.
• Passover is celebrated.
• Chapter 7 - Ezra is introduced as a great scribe of God, come from Babylon with king Artaxerxes blessing to Jerusalem to teach. It appears that the Assyrians/Persians still reign over the Jews in Jerusalem, but support their religious ways. Ezra is to choose the judges in the land "beyond the river"
• Chapter 8 - The families who went with Ezra to Jerusalem are listed.
• Ezra and those with him camp near a river and send for Levites from Jerusalem to help fast and pray for protection as they move to Jerusalem.
• Chapter 9 - it is brought to Ezra's attention that the people are intermarrying with the pagan tribes again, especially those in leadership positions. "So when I [Ezra] heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard, and sat down astonished" vs. 3. Had he not read any of the history of the people? This shouldn't have surprised him too awfully much!
• Chapter 10 - those willing to turn away their pagan wives and children were to report to Ezra within 3 days or loose their property and be separated. They ask for more time and a scheduled arrangment, which they get. The guilty parties are listed.

That's the end of Ezra. What did I learn? Ezra used fasting and prayer effectively. God used a powerful king to whom the Jews would listen to prepare a new temple for His Glory. The Israelites won't listen to their own prophets, but apparently will listen to a foreign king holding them captive.

15 books down, 51 to go.

• Nehemiah Chapter 1 - In the twentieth year of what? Is this before the temple is rebuilt? Or has there been more damage to the temple?

I've done a lot of reading of this challenge online using www.Biblegateway.com, reading from the New King James Version, because that's the hard copy version I started with. I've found two typographical errors so far. One is in Nehemiah chapter 1, verse 3. Can you find it?

• Apparently Nehemiah has read Deuteronomy, because he is quoting it. Maybe it wasn't in that form, but he knew it.
• Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer. Which king?
• Chapter 2 - king Artaxerxes. When the king inquires why he looks sad, Nehemiah says he wants to return home to help restore the burned city and the burial places of his family. The king says he can go, but he is to return at an assigned time. Nehemiah is bold enough to ask for a traveling safety pass and for people to supply him with what he needs for the rebuilding projects.
• Hey, I remember this guy - he rebuilds the wall - Pastor Barry gave a sermon from Nehemiah that I remember.
• Reference to the Refuse Gate and the Valley Gate and the Fountain Gate in Jerusalem as Nehemiah checks out the damage at night.
• Chapter 3 - Repairs or building of: Sheep Gate, Fish Gate, Old Gate, Refuse Gate, Eastern Gate, Horse Gate. Many people got into the action of repairing the walls and gates: the men of power, perfumers, daughters, goldsmiths...

Important archaelogical references - the gates that Nehemiah refers to are probabaly long gone - either destroyed by the Romans, or covered up and built over. However a reference is made to the "stairs that go down from the City of David" and a man-made pool - I think those were discovered on the south side of the temple mound when some excavation was done within the last few decades. Visitors to the Jewish Quarter of the old city of Jerusalem can see a portion of the wall that was rebuilt by Nehemiah. Is the East Gate mentioned in 3:29 the closed up gate that can be viewed today? Some sources say that the masonry at the base dates from the time of Nehemiah. It's more likely that the Golden Gate was erected on the same site of the Gate that Nehemiah erected.

Here are a couple of interesting sites about the temple mount: http://www.templemount.org/visittemp.html and the southern stairs http://community.gospelcom.net/Brix?pageID=5015

Other than referring to the tribe of Levi, it seems Ezra and Nehemiah don't really pay attention to the tribes much. They list by heads of families.