Tag Archives: Boundaries

Bible Studies, Meekness, Nehemiah

Nehemiah Chapter 9 – Putting Up with Weird Uncle Harold

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Uncle Buck

Black olives on fingers and up noses, check. Butter fights, check. Squirt cousin Mark with mom’s perfume, check. Twilight Zone marathon, check. Stick brother Chris with the little kids, check. Wait, what’s that sound? Uh oh, I hear the Voice, and it’s getting louder, closer. Prattling on about porridge and Donald, Queen Victoria, and all manner of boring insignificance. Oh no, here she comes. Right for the kids’ Thanksgiving Day card table. Rats!

I’m pretty sure you’re in Heaven, grandma, I just hope you’re busy and don’t read this; and sincere apologies to any real Uncle Harolds, living or dead….

Like most American families of an earlier time, we gathered each year to celebrate Thanksgiving and other holidays to see people we seldom saw at other times. Holidays are good for that.

Most holidays are a time to remember one thing or another. How often would we otherwise remind ourselves of our country’s founding? Or a man’s fight to win freedom and change attitudes based on the color of their skin? We need these reminders. We are, as humans, impulsive, and quick to forget the hard lessons we learned. Blood bought. If we do not, we must re-learn them, and that always is expensive.

Some lessons are painful. Did I say some? Most are. Our nation was divided over the question of whether one man could own another. Over whether we would be governed by a far away tyranny, over victory in securing liberty in Europe and Japan.

And not just remember the lessons, but passing the lesson along to our kids, so they could learn without the loss of treasure, freedom, and blood.

Ezra and Nehemiah understood this. So does God. They knew, and He knows, how important these remembrances are. They keep us from straying, of seeing ourselves as we really are, and honoring the valiant for their sacrifice, especially the most valiant, King Jesus, who set the captives, us, free from our sin.

World War 2 Memorial Infogram

Memorials impel us to action to keep us from falling into a trap of an enemy, be it a foreign invader, a war inside our own national borders, or the snare of sin.

The Jews needed a memorial to help them come back to God. Ezra read that reminder, the Bible, to them. And it has been said, over and over, “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” We do too. Just ask yourself: Would you rather fight in a far away country protect our freedom, or put up with Uncle Harold’s shaggy dog stories for a few hours over pumpkin pie and a reading about the first Thanksgiving?

Summary / Thoughts

Nehemiah 9:1-4 Fasting, sackcloth and dirt. These were used as signs of mourning throughout the Jews and also other nations round about them. The sackcloth was often black goat’s hair, and often worn close to the skin. Compare sack cloth with the robes of righteousness of Gen 3:21, Job 29:14, Romans 13:14, Rev 19:8 for insight to righteousness robed.

 

They separated partially during the time of Ezra, but needed to re-iterate this act, complete it. (Ezra 10:1-17)The church meetin’ was 3 hours of Bible, and 3 of worship and confession.
Nehemiah 9:5-8 After the worship was a call to praise. Worship is bowing low and humbling one self before God; acknowledging who we are compared to who God is. Praise is rejoicing for what He has done. Worship undoes us, we empty ourselves of ourselves. Here He is praised for His creation, its goodness, and the Abrahamic Covenant.

 

Giving the covenant – Recall this Covenant is an agreement between Abram and God, but only God bound Himself to requirements, not Abram. See Gen 12:1 ff
Nehemiah 9:9-15 Coming out of Egypt – God glorified Himself and was true to His Word about keeping the Abrahamic Covenant. His fame spread down through out the ages (Joshua 2;8-11) not to mention the others they met in the desert,  records the testimony of Rahab about the fear the locals had concerning the God of the Hebrews. through the Bible.

 

Giving the Law or  “Getting to know You.” – Throughout this time, the people had lost the personal picture of Yahweh Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob enjoyed. Thus, it was necessary to form a relationship with an entire people group, and establish order and a path to fellowship. This was accomplished through the giving of the Law.

 

Until the New Covenant, this is how God chose to reveal Himself.
Nehemiah 9:16-25 Stiff neck syndrome – Now the reasoning for memorials becomes apparent. But aren’t we just as knuckle-headed as they?

 

We have completely forgotten the good measure and favor granted us by God Almighty, who once honored and blessed us in days past, until we began our turn away from him in the late 1950’s and later.We need a return like what God brought in Nehemiah’s day.

 

The kindness and mercy of Yahweh compared to choke artist Israel
Nehemiah 9:26-31 I can' t hear you“I can’t hear I can’t hear you, Killing the prophets ended that very uncomfortable never popular message of repentance.

 

Israel time out pt 1 – God had said that He would bless or curse the Jews based on an agreement He spoke through Moses in Deu 28:1-ft.

 

Sometimes called a suzerainty, it consisted of a preamble, an historical background, provisions, rewards and punishments, and so on. The people here are recalling how they had not measured up to the covenant, and had suffered the consequences.Sometimes, not following through on such a just and healthy agreement makes the one who has to administer correction the big meanie. The difficult but vital act that party must insist on is following up on consequences. God certainly did, pout of love. If He had not, and not righteously corrected His covenant people, they would have grown into even worse, spoilt, uncaring, and wicked people who thought that either God didn’t follow up on His promises, or was unable, or did not care.

 

If you love someone, this boundary setting is vital.
Nehemiah 9:32-38 Owning Their Sin – The people acknowledged that they had reaped what the sowed. That they were in a wretched place, and called on God.

Memory Verse – “You are just in all that has come upon us;
For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly. Nehemiah 9:33 

Application – Remember what God has done for you and rescued you from. 

Bible Studies, Nehemiah

Nehemiah Chapter 6 – Boundaries!

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Boundaries, the book
Boundaries

Aside from the Bible, the most transforming book I have ever read is Boundaries, by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. You see, I was a nice guy. If you wanted something I knew was wrong or harmful, especially in my BC (before Christ) days. That behavior put me close to addiction, in jail, (overnight is still in jail) in the court system, broke, and a host of other idiotic things I still shudder over and avoid talking to my kids about.

But I couldn’t say no, it would hurt someone else (so I thought) and I really needed to be liked and accepted. I did not know what great harm those motivations caused me when exercised without wisdom or restraint. I didn’t know how to keep the bad things of my life out, and allow in the good things. In short, I had no boundaries.

Enter Cloud and Townsend. They had obviously studied me personally and intimately. They recognized the destructive patterns I had developed, and shone a light forward out of my no-boundary life, to one with healthy boundaries, allowing love and other good things to flow, while protecting myself (and others) from harmful things, manipulation, threats, physical harm, and so on. The few days needed to read and apply its Biblical principals have liberated me, and millions of others.

Walls are boundaries. But sometimes people misunderstand your intent when you build a boundary, and they feel shut out. They accuse you of building a separation between people. They accuse with charges of discrimination, elitism. Sometimes these folks are ignorant of walls, sometimes, like Sanballat, Tobiah, and their cadre, they seek to manipulate, control, abad even destroy.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Although implementing boundaries, as Nehemiah did in our study, was vastly unpopular, it was vital to maintain the integrity of the Jewish people, to allow the good in, and keep the harmful away, be that people, actions, culture, food, virtually anything.

Like the Jews, we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood 1 Peter 2:7, set apart, a good definition of holiness.

Yes, we are holy, with the help of boundaries.

An excellent commentary on this subject by Kevin L. Moore

Distract, Defame, Deceive

Nehemiah 6:1-9 Our enemies will pull us away from God, and doing God’s work. The enticement, like the ones Nehemiah received were  sometimes sly, easy to say yes to, with the added power of threat and harm.

What are these enticements? There are three, given  throughout the Book, in Genesis in the Garden of Eden, here in Nehemiah, and many places elsewhere. Even Jesus was tempted by Satan in the Gospels. John culminates and explains these threats in his first letter:

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” 1 John 2:16.

The open letter was not so much a public document like what we are used to, such as an open letter to a high official in a newspaper (remember them?). Letters sent to people of note were rolled in a scroll and sealed with wax or clay and imprinted with a distinctive seal, often a signet ring.

This was for privacy and respect. On the other hand, to send the same letter to the same person unsealed was an often sign of contempt. This was an occasion of the latter. Source: New Manners and Customs of the Bible Nehemiah 6:5.

The contents of the letter can be seen at biblestudytools.com

The inclusion of Gashmu was not a mere aside., no ordinary bloke. He is referred to even outside the Bible as an Arabian nobleman who, like other Arabians, had the ear of the Persian kings because of their alliance dating back to 520 BC. Geshem was, in fact, the king of Kedar! Curiously, his name means “rain maker”, someone who could make things happen. This is not someone you wanted on his bad side, unless God Himself would hold it back.

Obviously, the idea was to sabotage by threat and intimidation.
Nehemiah 6:10-14 Having been defeated in this feint, Sanballat and Tobiah, now he resorts to intimidation and deceit. Shemaiah, a priest compromised by Sanballat and Tobiah via the marriage of his oldest daughter to the son of the high priest member of the priesthood. (Neh 13:28)So what? Who cares? Had Nehemiah gone through with Shemaiah’s suggestion, Nehemiah would have violated the directive in Numbers 18:7 not to enter that part of the Temple, which was to be habited only by priests. His integrity would have been compromised in the eyes of the priests (a powerful political force) and the faithful followers of God, who took Him at His word.Noahdiah: A false prophetess. And only a false prhetess, but for hire to intimidate Nehemiah and stir up the people against him. The New Testament Book of Jude as well offers an apt description, comparing them to Baalam, the erroneous prophet!  Their fate is eternal black darkness. Our response is to:“…Remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, ‘In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’” Jude 17-18

Know your enemy: Does this prophet/prophecy in accordance with the Bible? Has it come to pass with 100% accuracy? A no answer to either question tells us to run, don’t walk for the exits.
Nehemiah 6:15-19 The wall was completed on Sep 21, 444 BC, 52 days after it’s beginning, a powerful testament that God rebuilt this wall.Nehemiah’s enemies, proxies for Satan, like Satan, fled when resisted. James 4:7. Tobiah’s wife and daughter-in-law had influence with the influential. Nehemiah had dissent even in his own ranks!Tobiah’s wife and daughter-in-law had influence with the influential. Nehemiah had dissent even in his own ranks!