Today the people observe the Feast of Tabernacles which they learn about from the reading of the Book of the Law. “So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God.”

The Feast of Tabernacles has been celebrated since the days of Joshua (1 Kings 8:2, 1 Kings 8:65-66, Ezra 3:4) but not with such zeal for God’s Word. In the Conquest Era, when Joshua led the people in conquering the promised land, the people were celebrating being settled into the land, much like the celebration in Jerusalem that Nehemiah is describing. The remnant has returned from captivity in Babylon and are celebrating their renewed life with the Lord in their homeland.

“Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” Then the Levites tell the magnificent Story of the Lord to the children of Israel, beginning with the Exodus Era, through where they are at this point in the Return Era: “You saw the affliction of our

fathers in Egypt…And You divided the sea before them…You came down also on Mount Sinai…and gave them just ordinances and true laws…And told them to possess the land which You had sworn to give them…they refused to obey…they made a molded calf for themselves…Yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness…Forty years You sustained them…You gave them kingdoms and nations…You also multiplied their children…And brought them into the land…Nevertheless they were disobedient…You delivered them into the hands of their enemies…You gave them deliverers who saved them…Yet they would not listen…You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; For You are God, gracious and merciful.”

We end the reading with the people agreeing to walk with the Lord and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord.

Tomorrow we read about the growing population in Jerusalem as well as the priests and Levites who will minister to the people, so keep reading.

(Nehemiah 8:13-10:39)

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After the wall is completed, the Lord puts it in Nehemiah’s heart to register the people according to genealogy. At the end of the list of genealogy, Nehemiah says that all the people then dwelt in their cities.

Now that the people are physically secure, Nehemiah and Ezra decide it is time to make sure the people are spiritually secure. So the people gather in the open square and Ezra brings the Book of the Law of Moses and reads “from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.”

“And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.’” The Levites encourage the people who are weeping over their sin to be joyful bc of the renewed relationship with the Lord. “And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them.”

See, it’s one thing to read or hear God’s Word, but to read or hear God’s Word with understanding brings great joy and blessings! So keep reading! 📖 🙌

(Nehemiah 7:4-8:12)

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The people are hard at work rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. “Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiath, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.”

So Nehemiah goes to battle in prayer and tells the people to trust the Lord. “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” So the people prepare to fight. “And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work.”

Nehemiah then goes to bat for the poor, hungry, enslaved, and oppressed. He calls on the leaders to free their debts and release the people. “And all the assembly said, ‘Amen!’ and praised the Lord.” And the people do as Nehemiah requests.

Lastly we read that the enemies have not given up on distracting the Jews from completing the work of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. However, Nehemiah never gives in to Sanballat’s threats bc Nehemiah fully trusts in the Lord. “So the wall was finished…in fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God.” And they are right bc God is awesome and as Iva May likes to say, “That‘s how He rolls!” 🙌

Keep reading!

(Nehemiah3:1-7:3)

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When Ezra returns to Jerusalem he learns that the people of Judah, including leaders, have intermarried with the women of the nations around them who worship false gods. Since historically intermarriage with someone who practices pagan worship leads the people away from the Lord, this news is very upsetting to Ezra who has a heart for the Lord and for the people to follow Him.

Ezra prays a prayer of repentance for the remnant that God saved by grace and says, “Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!” Then the people mourn greatly over their sin against God and a leader speaks on their behalf saying, “We have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land, yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this.” He asks Ezra to lead them in putting away their pagan wives and in renewing the covenant with their God. So over a period of time, Ezra helps the people dissolve these marriages and return to the Lord.

Next we meet Nehemiah, a Jew in exile who has risen to power in the Persian Empire. He hears that the people in Judah are in distress and that the wall of Jerusalem is broken down. “So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, ’If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.’” So Nehemiah leads the 3rd and final wave of captives back to Jerusalem and says, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build.”

Tomorrow they begin rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem but once again are faced with opposition. Keep reading to see what happens.

(Ezra 9:1-10:44, Nehemiah 1:1-2:20)

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Artaxerxes, the son of Ahasuerus, is now the king of Persia and he receives a letter from some men opposing Jerusalem. The letter says the Jews “are building the rebellious and evil city, and are finishing its walls and repairing the foundations… if this city is built and the walls completed, they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom, and the king’s treasury will be diminished.” King Artaxerxes responds by telling the Jews to cease the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

In the 7th year of King Artaxerxes’s reign, Ezra, “a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses” and a descendant of Aaron (Moses’s brother), is given permission to lead a second wave of captives back to Jerusalem. “For Ezra has prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

Not only does King Artaxerxes allow the people to return but he also sends silver, gold, and anything else they need for the rebuilding of the house of God. In addition, he now makes a new decree that says it is unlawful to impose a tax on the servants of the house of God and “whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgement be executed speedily on him.”

Ezra praises God for King Artaxerxes’s change of heart. “Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem…”

Tomorrow Ezra addresses intermarriage between the Jews and the people of the surrounding nations. Also, the 3rd and final wave of people return to Jerusalem with Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall. Keep reading.

(Ezra 4:7-23, Ezra 7:1-8:36)

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King Ahasuerus welcomes Esther into the court. She then requests for the king and Haman to attend a feast that day. At the feast she asks if they would join her again the next night for a banquet where she will present her request.

Haman goes home and brags to his wife and friends about his riches, his promotion, and his position in the kingdom. However, Haman can’t enjoy all of his success bc his eye is still on that one person, Mordecai, who refuses to bow down to him. So Haman’s wife and friends come up with an idea to have gallows built for Mordecai to be hanged on it.

Little does Haman know that the king is up late reviewing the book of the records that same night. This is when the king realizes that Mordecai was never rewarded for the time he saved his life. So the next day the king asks Haman, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” Haman, thinking the king was talking about him, suggests letting the man to be honored wear the royal robe and parade him around the city on the king’s horse. And as Haman suggested, Mordecai is paraded around the city in the king’s robe and on the king’s horse by…guess who??…yep, Haman! 😬

Then that evening, at the banquet, Esther tells the king of Haman’s evil plot to kill her and her people. When King Ahasuerus hears this he has Haman hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai and Mordecai is given Haman’s position in the kingdom. Wow, quite the turn of events in lives of Haman and Mordecai. Haman, who had it all, wrecked his life all because he couldn’t let go of the one person who wouldn’t bow down to him. And Mordecai, who remained faithful to the Lord, is honored and elevated.

Well now that Mordecai is in power, he orchestrates a new decree that goes out permitting the Jews “to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them.” So the Jews are joyful and “many people of the land became Jews because fear of the Jews fell upon them.”

The Jews have great victory over their enemies and Mordecai writes letters to all the province of King Ahasuerus saying “they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, as the days on which the Jews have rest from their enemies, as the mark which was turned from sorrow to joy for them…” and this annual celebration is called Purim, after the name Pur which means lots (Haman cast lots to decide the day to destroy the Jews).

Tomorrow Ezra leads the second wave of captives home to Jerusalem. Keep reading.

(Esther 5:1-10:3)

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The rebuilding of the temple is complete! 🎉 The people celebrate joyously and they keep the Passover.

Over in Persia, King Ahasuerus is having a massive 7 day drunken party and on the 7th day, when he is all liquored up, he asks for the beautiful Queen Vashti to come to him so he can show her off to everyone. But she refuses to come and partake in that nonsense, which doesn’t please King Ahasuerus, so he has her removed from the position of queen.

Now the hunt for a new queen is on! This is when we meet Mordecai, a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, who was born in captivity in Babylon. Mordecai raised his brother’s beautiful daughter, Esther, who was an orphan. Because of Esther’s beauty, she is taken to the King’s palace and ends up becoming the new queen. However, Mordecai asks her to keep her heritage a secret.

Mordecai is faithful to the king. So when he hears of a plot against the king’s life, he tells Esther “and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name,” resulting in the king being spared and the men plotting against him being killed.

Mordecai is also faithful to the Lord. Therefore he refuses to bow down to Haman, King Ahasuerus’s #1 man. This really gets under proud Haman’s skin. So, for retaliation, Haman has the king sign a decree to totally annihilate all of the Jews, Mordecai’s and Esther’s people. 😱

The Jews go into great mourning and Mordecai sends a request to Esther to intercede for her people. Esther is hesitant bc she could be killed if she approaches the king without the king requesting her. But Mordecai responds, “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther replies, “And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” 💪

The Lord is never mentioned in the Book of Esther but He is clearly active. Keep reading to see how God is working behind the scenes for the good of His people.

(Ezra 6:14-22, Ezra 4:6, Esther 1:1-4:17)

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Today Zechariah prophesies about our coming Savior. “Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey…He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.’”

Jesus will partly fulfill this prophesy later in the Story when He will triumphantly ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Matthew 21:1-11) and a week later be crucified and defeat death with His resurrection by providing salvation for those who put their trust in Him. But He won’t come as the conquering king the Jews were expecting, who would take down the Roman Empire. He won’t totally fulfill this prophesy until His second coming when He will defeat all enemies and bring peace to the ends of the earth.

“It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” Later in the Story when Jesus is hanging on a cross a solider will pierce his side with a sword and John will say, “For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled…’They will look on him whom they have pierced’” (John 19:36-37).

The Lord says when the Good Shepherd is struck that the sheep will scatter and it will be a time of testing and trials for the people. Many will perish but the Lord will bring His people through the fire and “refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

The Book of Zechariah ends with hope for the future. “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming.” The Lord will fight a great battle and have victory. “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.”

Tomorrow there is a dedication to the new temple 🎉 and we meet a lady named Esther. Keep reading.

(Zechariah 9:1-14:21)

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Today we see another prophesy of the coming Messiah. The Lord has Zechariah make an elaborate crown and place it on the head of Joshua, the high priest, and say, “Behold, the Man whose name is the Branch…He shall build the temple of the Lord…He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” Jesus Christ is this coming branch and through His life and death we can be grafted into the Kingdom of God.

So another attempt is made today to stop the rebuilding of the temple when Tattenai, “the governor of the region beyond the River,” and others ask the Jews, “Who commanded you to build this temple and finish this wall?” “But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so that they would not make them cease till a report could go to Darius.”

King Darius responds to Tattenai by saying, “Keep yourselves far from there. Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.” King Darius also tells Tattenai to pay the cost of rebuilding the temple from taxes on the region beyond the River and to give the Jews anything else that they need day by day without fail.

We end the reading with the people asking if they should still fast now that the exile is over and the temple is almost complete. The Lord tells the people that fasting for show or self-pity accomplishes nothing. The purpose of fasting is to bring humility and repentance which leads to righteousness. God promises to restore His people and to turn their fast into “joy and gladness and cheerful feasts” which will result in the multiplication of His people. “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

The Lord is restoring His people through His plan of sending the Branch, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins and give us new life. Therefore, we should walk in the newness of life so that our lives will draw others into the fellowship of Christ.

Zechariah speaks more about the coming Savior tomorrow so keep reading.

(Zechariah 6:1-15, Ezra 5:3-6:13, Zechariah 7:1-8:23)

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Today the Lord tells Haggai to encourage the people to get back to rebuilding the temple. “‘Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’”

About a month into the rebuilding, Haggai tells the people that “The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former” so they are not to worry about comparing it to the old temple. The outside structure is not what makes something great, it is the Lord’s presence.

God calls the people to consider their current situation since they resumed rebuilding the temple. Although it has been a tough road the Lord says, “But from this day I will bless you.” The Lord promises an abundant harvest for His people who are now walking in obedience.

We also hear from Zechariah, a priest who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. We read 7 visions that the Lord gave Zechariah, which all communicate that the Lord is restoring His people. In the 4th vision, Joshua, the high priest, is standing before the angel in filthy clothes and Satan is there to oppose him. The Lord rebukes Satan and says to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” The Lord goes on to say, “For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.” Jesus Christ is the Servant who is coming to die for us so that we too will be clean, washed white as snow, before the Lord. As illustrated in the last vision, our sins will be taken away and the Lord’s people will be freed from their sin so they can faithfully serve Him.

Tomorrow another attempt is made to shut down the rebuilding. Keep reading to see if the opposers succeed.

(Haggai 2:1-9, Zechariah 1:1-6, Haggai 2:10-19, Ezra 5:2, Haggai 2:20-23, Zechariah 1:7-5:11)

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