Bible In One Year Day 278 (Nehemiah 10, Esther 8, 16, Proverbs 21: 13-16)

 You may subscribe yourself at the Ascension site here and receive notifications in your email, or just follow along on my blog.  Bible in One Year Readings Index 

Day 278:  Power in Weakness 

/center>Agape Bible Study 
Nehemiah 10 

Nehemiah 10:1-27 ~ A Record of the Names of The Men Who Made a Solemn Oath to Yahweh

Nehemiah 10:1/9:38-10:39 attaches their admission of past failures to their new pledges with the words, 1 In view of all this we make a firm agreement, in writing. Nehemiah's first-person singular account will not begin again until 12:3 and 13:6-31.

The priests' names in 10:2-8 are clan names rather than the names of individuals. Many of the laymen's names in 10:14-27 correspond to Ezra Chapter 2 and Nehemiah 7, suggesting that individuals signed as leaders of their families. The list of those who signed the document marked with Governor Nehemiah's seal included:

1. Nehemiah the Governor and Zedekiah (probably his secretary).
2. he names of twenty-one priests
3. The names of seventeen Levites
4. The names of forty-four leaders of the people

All these swore to refrain from marriages with pagans and gave their sworn oath to observe God's laws and statutes. Notice that Ezra's name is missing from the list which suggests, as Josephus testified, he had already died by this time.

Nehemiah 10:29-40c* ~ Articles of the Oath

In 10:29-40, the people pledge to keep not just the Law of the Pentateuch in general, but also the right interpretations of the Law according to the religious hierarchy. In verse 29, "the rest of the people" do not sign the covenant document that their leaders signed for them, but they do take the oath to keep the Law as interpreted by the religious authorities.

Question: What is the rule today for the right interpretation of Scripture? See Mt 16:18-19; 2 Pt 1:20-21 and CCC 84-85.
Answer: The Kingdom of the Church founded by Jesus Christ has the ultimate authority to interpret Scripture. Individuals may read and discern Scripture, but if their understanding differs from that of the teachings of the Church, they are in error.

Question: What promises did God make to those who kept His commandments and prohibitions? See Lev 26:3-13 and Dt 28:1-14.

Answer: If the Israelites lived according to His Laws and commandments, God promised agricultural prosperity, peace, and protection from enemies and wild animals, victory over foreign armies, many offspring, and a continuation of the Sinai covenant with God's presence dwelling among His people.

Queen Esther (1879) by Edwin Long

+++

A Daily Defense 

DAY 278 “Lest Any Man Should Boast”

CHALLENGE: “Doesn’t Paul’s statement that we are saved ‘not because of works, lest any man should boast’ (Eph. 2:9) show he teaches justification by ‘faith alone’?” 

DEFENSE: This misunderstands the kind of boasting in question.

Paul never uses the phrase “faith alone,” and we elsewhere cover how the context of this passage shows it’s about the Jewish-Gentile question found elsewhere in Paul’s writings, meaning the “works” are actions done to obey the Law of Moses (see Days 63, 136, and 204).

This is also indicated when, in the next verse, Paul praises “good works” as part of the Christian life, in contrast to the “works” he says don’t save us. It would be awkward to pivot from the non necessity of “works” to the importance of “good works” if they were the same thing. (Indeed, Paul stresses their importance greatly, saying we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”; Eph. 2:10.) It is more natural to take “works” and “good works” as different things, with “works” being works of the Mosaic Law, as elsewhere in Paul.

The reference to boasting doesn’t show the “works” belong to the moral sphere. The word translated “boast” (Greek, kauchaomai) also means “glory,” “rejoice,” and Paul frequently uses it to refer to things other than boasting about one’s own accomplishments.

Specifically: He speaks of both Jews and Christians “boasting” in an evangelistic sense before non-believers. Thus he speaks of Jews boasting “in God” (Rom. 2:17) and “in the Law” (Rom. 2:23). Using the same Greek word, he also speaks of Christians boasting “in our hope” (Rom. 5:2) and “in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:11).

Non-Christian Jews thus aren’t boasting of their moral accomplishments, but telling pagan Gentiles of God and how they have a special relationship with him through the Law. Christians, similarly, aren’t boasting of their moral accomplishments, but telling unbelievers of God and how they have a special relationship with him through Christ. 

Read in context, Paul’s saying salvation is “not because of works, lest any man should boast” means neither Jew nor Gentile can boast of having a special, saving relationship with God in preference to the other: Both are saved through faith in Christ.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist