Bible In One Year Day 280 (Nehemiah 12, Esther 10-12, Proverbs 21: 21-24)

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Agape Bible Study 
Nehemiah 12 

The Register of the Priests and Levites and the Dedication of the Wall (12:1-47)

Nehemiah 12:1-10 ~ Priests and Levites Who Returned Under Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the Genealogical List of High Priests

The Ezra in verse 2 is the head of a priestly family who returned from the exile in the first group with Zerubbabel and Jeshua and then became the first high priest after the exile.

In 12:10-11, the inspired writer lists the high priests from 520 BC during the reign of Darius I to about 405 BC during the reign of Persian King Darius II.

1. Jeshua/Joshua* was the high priest during the time of the first return from exile when Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel were governors (Ezra 5:2; Hag 1:1; Zech 6:11).
2. Joiakim son of Jeshua* was the high priest during the time of Ezra (Neh 12:10, 12, 26).
3. Eliashib son of Joiakim was the high priest during the time of Nehemiah (Neh 3:1, 20; 12:22, 23; 13:4, 7, 28).
4. Joiada succeeded his father Eliashib.
5. Johanan succeeded his father Joiada.
6. Jaddua succeeded his father Johanan.

*Jeshua in Hebrew is the same name as the Aramaic form of Joshua (see Hag 2:2, 4), and Joiakim is the shortened form of Jehoiakim.  Josephus recorded that both Ezra and Joiakim died before Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 12:12-26 ~ Priests and Levites in the Time of the High Priest Joiakim and Ezra

The list of chief priests and Levites in 12:12-26 is during the time of Ezra’s mission to Judah when Joiakim was the high priest.  Verse 13 names a priest called Ezra who was the head of a priestly family during the first return (Neh 12:1); he is not Ezra the priestly scribe who arrived to initiate religious reforms thirteen years before Nehemiah’s mission.  

Nehemiah 12:27-43 ~ The Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem

After the national assembly of repentance and covenant renewal, it was time to dedicate the rebuilt wall of the city of Jerusalem.  Verse 27 describes the musical instruments used in the ceremony.  Musical instruments like cymbals were part of court life and religious ceremonies (1 Chron 16:42; 25:1; 2 Chron 5:12; 29:25) as were harps (1 Sam 10:5; Ps 105:3) and lyres (1 Chron 15:16; Dan 3:5).

Verses 31-43 describe Nehemiah’s first-person account of the ceremony.  The people observed two groups that started at the same place and processed along the walkway at the top of the wall in opposite directions.  Each procession had a delegation of lay leaders or priests, and a Levitical choir and musicians with the vocalists in front and the instruments in the rear.  Nehemiah was the leader of one group with the city’s administrative officials, and the High Priest, Eliashib (not Ezra), must have led the second group.  Notice that Ezra the scribe is not named in the procession in 12:33-35.

As mentioned earlier, before King David’s liturgical reforms, instrumental and vocal music were not part of the liturgy of worship.  David was not only a warrior and the King of a united Israel but also a poet (2 Sam 1:19-27; 3:33-34) who loved liturgy (2 Sam 6:5, 15-16) wrote many of the psalms (Pss 3-41 and 51-72) and a gifted musician (1 Sam 16:16-23; Amos 6:5).  He introduced music into the liturgy of worship with cantors, Levitical choirs under the direction of Asaph and his sons as choir directors, and introduced instrumental music (1 Chron 25:1-31).

The ceremony concluded at the Temple where the two groups came together at the end of their processions.  At the Temple, the people offered multiple sacrifices on Yahweh’s sacrificial altar (Neh 12:43) with the rejoicing of the men, women, and children of Jerusalem with such enthusiasm that their shouts of joy “could be heard from far away.”    

Nehemiah 12:44-47 ~ The Management of the Contributions for the Temple and its Clergy

Nehemiah appointed supervisors to collect the tithes of produce and animals awarded by the Law to support the clergy and provide for the communal sacrifices like the twice-daily sacrifice of two unblemished Tamid lambs (see Ex 29:38-42; Num 28:3-8 and the e-book, “Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice” at Books at Agape Bible Study).

David established the reformed liturgy of worship for the House of Yahweh built by his son Solomon.  And it was David who appointed Asaph and his family as the leaders of the Levitical choirs that led the people in hymns of praise and thanksgiving during the twice-daily worship services, for the Sabbath services, and during the annual feasts.

Verse 47 testifies that from the time of the first returnees to the time of Nehemiah the people regularly provided what was needed to support the singers, gatekeepers and the clergy.  

The Church Fathers, an 11th-century Kievan Rus' miniature from Svyatoslav's Miscellany

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 280

The Role of the Church Fathers

CHALLENGE: “Why should I care about the Church Fathers? They aren’t inspired like the New Testament authors.”

DEFENSE: The Church Fathers were writers in the early centuries who were notable for their holiness and soundness of teaching. They are important for a number of reasons.

First, they were closer in time and in culture to the New Testament authors, and their writings provide context needed to understand aspects of the New Testament. The writings of the Church Fathers—together with ancient Jewish sources—are the two most important groups of writings for this purpose. Ancient Jewish sources shed light on the ideas that flowed into the writing of Scripture, and the Church Fathers shed light on the teachings that flowed from Christ and the apostles. Indeed, the earliest Fathers were taught directly by apostles and eyewitnesses of Christ’s ministry.

Second, from the perspective of faith, Jesus said he would be with his Church forever (Matt. 28:20). He promised to send his Church the Holy Spirit “to be with you forever,” to “teach you all things,” and to “guide you into all the truth” (John 14:16, 26, 16:13). The Holy Spirit’s ministry began in a special way on Pentecost (Acts 2) and has continued throughout the Church age. The New Testament indicates that the Church is “the pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15) and “the gates of hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).

All this indicates providential care and guidance extending throughout the Christian age and including the age of the Church Fathers. Consequently, we would be foolish to ignore the writings of this period.

Third, the age of the Fathers was one in which supremely important questions were worked out, including the divinity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity.

Fourth, the Fathers were the bearers of the apostolic Tradition that allowed the canon of Scripture to be discerned (see Day 247). Without them, we wouldn’t even know the canon.

Although no one Father, individually, may be relied upon the way the inspired authors of the New Testament can be, the Fathers as a group represent an indispensable witness to the Christian faith.

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

Bible In One Year Day 279 (Nehemiah 11, Esther 9-11, Proverbs 21: 17-20)

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Day 279:  Blessings and Burdens 

Agape Bible Study 
Nehemiah 11 

The outline of chapters 11-13:

1. Obedience to the Covenant (11:1-13:31)
   1. Resettlement of the Citizens (11:1-36)
   2. Register of the Priests and Levites (12:1-26)
   3. Dedication of Jerusalem’s Wall (12:27-47)
   4. Spiritual Restoration of the Covenant People (13:1-31)

Resettlement of the Citizens of Judah (11:1-36)

Nehemiah 11:1-3 ~ Nehemiah’s Method of Repopulating Jerusalem
Nehemiah’s memoirs resume only to be interrupted again at 11:3 by several lists.  Nehemiah Chapter 11 has two different literary additions.  Verses 1-2, 20, 25a, and 36 are included by the Chronicler using the Memoires of Nehemiah, but a later editor has inserted the lists of verses 4-19 and 25b-35 that he must have discovered among the documents in the Jerusalem achieves.  He introduced them by the heading in verse 4 and added the notes of verses 21-24.

Despite its status as Yahweh’s “holy city” where His “name dwells” among His people, Jerusalem had not attracted re-settlement by the returned exiles because of the attacks and threats of destruction against the city by its Gentile neighbors (Neh 7:1-4).  However, now that its protective walls and gates are in place, it is time to repopulate the city.  Flavius Josephus wrote, “Nehemiah seeing that the city had a small population, urged the priests and Levites to leave the countryside and move to the city and remain there, for he had prepared houses for them at his own expense” (Antiquities of the Jews, 11.5.8).

Nehemiah accomplishes the re-settlement by a lot system.  A “tithe” of a tenth of the returned exiles will live in Jerusalem (verse 1).

Nehemiah 11:4-19 ~ The Jewish Population Resettled in Jerusalem

Jerusalem was on the border between the territories of Benjamin and Judah but belonged to the tribal lands of Benjamin (Josh 27-28), and this may be the reason for the large number of Benjaminites who settled in the city.  The list of names and occupations in 11:4-24 of those chosen to live in Jerusalem:

1. The leaders of the tribe of Judah from the clan of Perez were 468 men (verse 4, 6)
2. One Judahite man from the clan of Shelah (verses 5).
3. The leaders who claimed lineage from the tribe of Benjamin* from the clans of Sallu and his brothers were 928 men (verses 7-9).
4. Priests from the line of Zadok the descendant of Eleazar son of Aaron were 822 men (verses 10-12a).
5. Priests from the line of Aaron’s son Ithamar were 242 men (verse 12b-13a).
6. Priests who could not prove their lineage from Aaron and his sons numbered 128 men (verses 13b-14).
7. The Levitical leaders responsible for work outside the Temple (verses 15-16).
8. The Levites who led the praise and thanksgiving prayers in the liturgy of worship (verse 17), and the total number of Levites was 284 men (verse 18).
9. The gatekeepers were 172 men (verse 19).
10. Temple servants (verse 21)

Nehemiah 11:21-24 ~ Supplementary Notes

The Temple slaves/servants were the descendants of Gentiles David liberated from the fierce Amalekites (1 Sam 30:20).  The liberated Gentiles developed a relationship with David and his heirs, with the best of their fighting men serving as his bodyguard (2 Sam 8:18; 1 Kng 1:38; 1 Chron 18:17).  Since they, and other Gentiles who converted and entered David’s service, could not own land in Israel, David gave them and their descendants an occupation that could support their families as servants in his palace and the Temple.

The Ophel is the southeastern ridge of Jerusalem and the site of the original City of David.  Nehemiah repaired the walls of Ophel (Neh 3:26-27).  Ziha and Gishpa were the family leaders of the Temple servants.  Their families returned from the exile with Sheshbazzar and the first group of returnees (Ezra 2:43; Neh 7:46).

Uzzi was the official in charge of the Levitical choir and a descendant of Asaph, a Levite from the time of King David.  Like David, Asaph wrote many of the Psalms (cf., Psalm 50, 73-83).  David was not only a warrior-king but also a poet and musician.  Before David, there was no music to accompany the liturgy of worship.  David appointed Asaph to oversee the order of music in worship, the “royal orders” in verse 23 (1 Chron 6:39), and he (or his son) sang at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple (2 Chron 9:15).

The sons of Zerah were the descendants of Judah from Tamar’s son Zerah, the twin of Perez.  This verse suggests Nehemiah has returned to Persia and Petahiah was a Persian governor who served after Nehemiah. 

Nehemiah 11:20, 25-35 ~ The Jewish Population Outside Jerusalem

The towns resettled in Judah:

1. Verse 25: Kiriath-Abra, “city of the four” (also known as Hebron) was a city associated with Abraham (Gen 23:2; 35:27; Josh 14:15; 15:13, 54; 20:7; 21:11; Judg 1:10), and after the conquest became a Levitical city of refuge (Josh 20:7; 21:13) in the territory of Judah assigned to the Gentile convert and hero of the Conquest, Caleb (Josh 15:13-17).  The people of Hebron were strong supporters of David who ruled at Hebron for seven years before the other tribes urged him to become the king of a united Israel (1 Sam 30:26-31; 2 Sam 2:4, 11; 5:1-5; 1 Chron 11:1-3).  See the list of towns and lands allotted to the tribe of Judah in Joshua 15:1-63 and those assigned to the clans of Benjamin in Joshua 18:11-28.
2. Verse 26a: Dibon was an important town located on the trade route known as the King’s Highway (from Egypt running along the east side of the Jordan River into Mesopotamia), thirteen miles east of the Dead Sea and three miles north of the Arnon River whose water flows from the east into the Dead Sea. Jekabzeel was apparently a town in the southern part of Judah whose exact location is unknown.
3. Verses 26-27: Jeshua, Moladah, Beth-Pelet, Hazar-Shual, and Beersheba were towns in the northern Negev desert, in the territory once assigned to the tribe of Simeon (Josh 19:2) that had been absorbed by the larger tribe of Judah.  These cities were lost to the Edomites in the late seventh century BC but were temporarily regained during the governorship of Nehemiah.
4. Verse 28: Ziklag and Meconah were towns in the Negev west and south of the Dead Sea.  Ziklag was David’s military base for a time when he was an outlaw (1 Sam 27:5-12).
5. Verses 29-30: En-Rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth, 30 Zanoah, Adullam and their villages were fifteen miles west of Jerusalem.
6. Verse 30b: Lachish and its lands, and Azekah and its dependencies were in the foothills of Judah.  Lachish was the second largest fortified city in Judah, located about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem and fifteen miles west of Hebron.

Esther Denouncing Haman by Ernest Normand

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 279 Does Mary’s Perpetual Virginity Matter?

CHALLENGE; “What difference does it make if Mary remained a virgin? Couldn’t God have continued Jesus’ mission if she had other children?”

DEFENSE: God is omnipotent and can do anything he chooses, but this doesn’t mean his choices are arbitrary.

This objection is a subcase of a broader one: Why should Mary be a virgin in the first place? Couldn’t God’s Son be born of a woman who wasn’t a virgin? He could have. Being omnipotent, God could do that. He even could have had his Son born of a prostitute if he chose.

It isn’t intrinsically required that Mary be any special kind of woman to be Jesus’ mother—just that she be a woman. However, this doesn’t mean it wasn’t appropriate for God to give Mary certain qualities to make her a more fitting mother for his Son.

This applies, in the first place, to the virginal conception itself. The fact that Jesus was conceived without a human father is striking, arresting. It naturally raises the question: “What does this mean?”

One could say, “It makes a difference because God had prophesied in advance that his Son would be born of a virgin” (see Days 253 and 254). But this only raises the question: “Why did God prophecy that? What difference did it make that his Son be virgin-born?”

The answer is that, if Jesus doesn’t have a human father, his father must be looked for outside of the human realm. Jesus’ Father is not on earth but in heaven: His Father is God. This is the fundamental point underscored by the Virgin Birth.

It is also the fundamental reason for Mary’s perpetual virginity (see Day 188). Consider: If Joseph and Mary later had children, it would raise doubts about the Virgin Birth itself. Jesus was conceived when Mary was already legally married to Joseph, but before their time of cohabitation began (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:26–34). If the two had gone on to have other children, it would have been all the easier to say, “Jesus wasn’t literally the Son of God. His parents just had sex sooner than they let on.”

The fact that Mary remained a virgin even after Jesus’ birth thus underscores the fact that he is God’s Son, the same way the Virgin Birth itself does.

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

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

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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

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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 

Bible In One Year Day 277 (Nehemiah 9, Esther 15, 6-7, Proverbs 21: 9-12)

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Day 277:  Such a Time as This 

Agape Bible Study 
Nehemiah 9 

Chapter 9: The Ceremony of Expiation and Review of the History Israel's Collective Sins in a Covenant Renewal Ceremony

Nehemiah 6:15 ~ The wall was finished within fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.
It was early in the month of Nisan (March) in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes in 2:1 when Nehemiah presented his petition to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city's walls to Persian King Artaxerxes. His trip to probably took not more than three or four months since he traveled with a small group by horseback, which would mean he arrived in Jerusalem after the change of the Persian year in the twenty-first year of King Artaxerxes I (still 445 BC by our modern calendar). The Persian new year began on the spring equinox in March 20^th/21^st. The month of Elul when Nehemiah finished the wall is the sixth month in the liturgical calendar with the end of the month equating to our September. Therefore, it was in the early fall of the twenty-first year of King Artaxerxes's reign when Nehemiah's workers completed the wall four days before the end of the month (Elul had 29 days).

Nehemiah 9:1-5 ~ The Assembly of the People Confesses Their Sins

The question is, "which month"? Is it still the historical review and the last day of the national assembly on Tishri the 22^nd (Neh 8:18)? No; that is unlikely. It is more likely that the narrative has returned to Nehemiah's time. His workers completed the walls on the 25^th of Elul just four days before the end of the month of 29 days and the beginning of the seventh month of Tishri. Then, he had to direct his attention to the rebuilding of the city's gate systems that probably took at least three weeks, which brings us to the 24th of Tishri.

During the time of threats from their neighboring provinces, the people of Jerusalem were unable to celebrate the annual festivals without a wall and gates to protect them. At the time the walls were completed the gates were not in place soon enough to allow for the celebration of the festivals of Trumpets on the 1^st of Tishri, Atonement on the 10^th or Shelters on the 15^th to the twenty-first, with the sacred assembly on the 22^nd. Therefore, when the walls and gates finally made Jerusalem secure, Nehemiah was then able to bring the many necessary animal sacrifices into the city and to proclaim a national assembly for repentance, communal atonement, and covenant renewal on the 24^th of Tishri. His assembly of national repentance and covenant renewal recalls similar ceremonies held by Davidic kings Hezekiah and Josiah (2 Kng 23:1-3; 2 Chron 29:5-10; 34:29-33). Notice that there is no mention of Ezra in the narrative, affirming Josephus' account that he was dead by the time of Nehemiah's mission.

Mourning rituals were commonly held in association with penitence to express being like the dead (dead in their sins). Therefore, the people performed rituals of fasting from food, wearing sackcloth like the shrouds of the dead, and putting earth on their heads as if they were buried. The people did not fast during the joyous annual feasts like they did during penitential ceremonies (see Neh 8:10-12).

Separation from foreigners refers to divorcing pagan wives that took place in Ezra Chapters 9-10 to preserve the covenant peoples' religious identity. The exiles viewed their return to the Promised Land as a re-conquest of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants, and, as in the first conquest, it was necessary to drive out all pagan influence (Dt 7:1-6; Judg 3:5-6). Foreigners could not own the land, but they could live in it so long as they kept the Law (Num 15:15). Foreigners could even attend the religious festivals but could not worship within the inner courts of the Temple or eat the sacred meals unless they converted, and the males underwent the covenant ritual of circumcision (Ex 12:43-51; Dt 16:14).

Nehemiah 9:5b-15 ~ Confessing the Sins of the Exodus Generation

In verses 5-37, the Levites summon the people to "Stand up and bless Yahweh, your God" (9:5a). Therefore, it is necessary that the assembly's prayer begins by addressing God with "Blessed are you, Yahweh our God," as it does in verse 5b. The prayer has a dual dimension: gratitude to God for His blessings and a petition for forgiveness, which should always be present in our prayers on this side of salvation history.

The theme of the prayer is a historical review of Israel apostasy from their covenant with Yahweh throughout their generations. However, the prayer also recounts God's divine blessings (9:6-15) which continued despite the covenant people's repeated acts of disobedience to God's commandments (9:16-25), and rebellions despite divine intervention (9:26-31). The prayer concludes with an appeal for deliverance from the domination of foreigners, a reference to the Persians (9:32-37), with the plea, count as no small thing this misery which has befallen us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, and all your people from the times of the Assyrian kings to the present day (9:32).

The historical review in 9:7-15:

• Verse 9:7 recalls Abraham's divine call and Yahweh's promises to him (Gen 11:31-12:3).
• Verse 8 recounts God's covenant with Abraham and His promise concerning the land of Canaan (Gen Chapter 15).
• Verses 9-12 list the events of the Egyptian liberation and the exodus out of Egypt, including the ten plagues (Ex Chpt. 5-13), the parting of the Sea of Reeds and the destruction of Pharaoh's army (Ex Chpt. 14), and the visible presence of God in the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex 3:7; 13:21; 14:10, 21-23; Dt 4:34).
• Verses 13-14 recall the Theophany at Mt. Sinai, the giving of the Ten Commandments, and the other articles of the Law (Ex Chpts. 19-23).
• Verse 15 mentions the miracles of the manna and the water from a rock (Ex 16:4; 17:6; Num 20:6-13).

The historical review begins with a reminder God's call to Abram to come out of the city of Ur and into Canaan. 9:8 ~ Finding his heart was faithful to you, you made a covenant with him, to give the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites to him and his descendants. The Abrahamic covenant included God's promise to give his descendants the land of Canaan.²

Nehemiah 9:16-21 ~ The Ancestors' Arrogance and Ingratitude

The Hebrew word hesed has the unique meaning of faithful, covenant love and appears twice in the confession of repentance (i.e., 9:17, 32).

Verses 16-21 contain a confession of the covenant people's sins during the Exodus journey and wilderness years. The prayer recounts a list of when they were persistent in resisting Yahweh's commands despite God's continuing acts of mercy:

• Verse 17a recalls the Israelites' ingratitude for God saving them from Egyptian slavery and vengeance. It also refers to the accusation they made that God took them out of Egypt to destroy them and their request to return to slavery where they had plenty to eat (Ex 16:1-3).
• Verses 17b-20 praise God for His mercy, forgiveness, and faithful covenant love [hesed] despite their sins; even when they made the image of the golden calf and worshipped it (Ex 32:4, 14).

In 18b-21, the prayer lists the ways God continued to care for the Israelites despite their sins:

1. He led them on their journey with a physical manifestation of His presence in the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex 13:21-22; 33:9-10; Num 12:5; 14:14; Dt 31:15).
2. He blessed Moses and the elders with His spirit to instruct them (Ex 33:9-11; Num 11:17).
3. Yahweh fed them with bread from Heaven that they called "manna" (Ex 16:4-36; Josh 5:12) and gave them water from a rock to quench their thirst (Ex 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13).
4. God saw to their physical and material needs for the forty years in the wilderness: their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen (Dt 2:7; 8:4).

Nehemiah 9:22-25 ~ The Continuing Review of Israel's History up to the Conquest of Canaan

Verse 22 recounts the territory God gave the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan, including the lands of the Ammonites on the east side of the Jordan River (Num 21:32-35; Dt 2:24-3:11).

Verse 23 acknowledges that God kept the promises from His covenant with Abraham for land and many descendants (Gen 12:1-3; 15:4-6, 18-21; 22:17), and verses 24-25 summarize Israel's successful conquest of Canaan in the Book of Joshua.

Nehemiah 9:26-37 ~ The Historical Review from the Assyrian and Babylonian Conquests to the Return from Exile

The historical review continues with the people's confession that after Yahweh kept His promise to give the Israelites a land of their own and His continued protection and blessings as long as they were obedient to His commands and prohibitions (Lev 26:1-13; Dt 28:1-14), the Israelites again became disobedient and rebellious. They murdered God's prophets and committed monstrous acts of impiety (verse 26). In response to their sins, Yahweh withdrew His blessings and protection, and they suffered at the hands of their enemies (verse 27a). When the people repented and turned back to their covenant relationship with God, He heard their pleas, took them back as His covenant people and rescued them from their enemies (verse 28b). These failures in obedience followed by judgment and repentance became a continuing cycle until the day of the covenant renewal in the time of Nehemiah (verses 29-31).

Queen Esther 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 277 The Jewish People and the Old Testament Canon

CHALLENGE: “Scripture says that the Jews were ‘entrusted with the oracles of God’ (Rom. 3:2), so we should look to them for the Old Testament canon. They reject the deuterocanonicals, and so should we.”

DEFENSE: There are multiple problems with this argument.

First, not all Jewish people have the same canon. Falashas (Ethiopian Jews) have a canon including deuterocanonical books. It was rabbinic Jews that Protestants were familiar with in the 1500s, and their canon that the Reformers borrowed.

Second, as we cover elsewhere (see Day 255), there were multiple canonical traditions in the first century. The Pharisee tradition, which gave rise to the canon used by rabbinic Judaism, was only one tradition.

Third, first-century Christians did not use the Pharisee canonical tradition. They used the Septuagint tradition, which they passed on to the early Church (see Day 273).

Fourth, the Pharisee canonical tradition continued to be debated after the split with Christianity. According to now outdated scholarship, the Pharisee/rabbinical canon was settled around A.D. 90 at the “Council of Jamnia” (“Jabneh,” “Yavneh”). However, there was no such council. Christians held councils to settle issues; Jews did not. This “council” was actually a Jewish school set up in Yavneh after the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, and it did not settle the canon of Scripture.

The so-called Council of Jamnia was more in the nature of a school or an academy that sat in Jamnia between the years 75 and 117. There is no evidence of a decision drawing up a list of books. It seems that the canon of the Jewish Scriptures was not definitively fixed before the end of the second century. Scholarly discussion on the status of certain books continued into the third century (Pontifical Biblical Commission, “The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures,” fn. 33).

Although the Jewish people were “entrusted with the oracles of God,” they had not reached a conclusion in Jesus’ day on what books counted as Scripture, and Christians should look to the decision of the Church on this matter—not that of a particular Jewish school, whose canon only solidified later in the Christian age.

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

Bible In One Year Day 276 (Nehemiah 8, Esther 4, 14, Proverbs 21: 5-8)

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Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Priest Ezra Reads the Law During the Feast of Shelters

Nehemiah 7:72b-8:1-8 ~ Ezra Reads from the Book of the Law

Ezra and the caravan of returning Judahites left Babylon on the first day of the first month of Abib (March/April), in the seventh year of the reign of King Artaxerxes. 

The Divine Name appears twenty-one times in the Book of Nehemiah. The Water Gate was on the east side of the city outside the Temple complex. The Book of the Law of Moses probably refers to the Book of Deuteronomy that contained the last of the precepts of the Law in Yahweh's final instructions that Moses conveyed to the new generation of Israelites on the east side of the Jordan River before the beginning of the conquest of the Promised Land.

It is the first day of Tishri and the prescribed date under the Law for the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Ha-Shanah (Lev 23:23-25; Num 29:1-6) that was also the feast of the new moon for that month (Num 29:11-14). The Feast of Trumpets was the beginning of the civil new year (Passover was the beginning of the Liturgical year). The seventh month in 7:72b is two months after Ezra arrived in Jerusalem (see Ezra 7:6).

The people listened to Ezra read the Law for six hours from dawn to noon, the sixth-hour Jewish time. Women did not participate in most meetings but were included with older children in Sacred Assemblies because they were full members of the covenant with Yahweh (cf. Dt 31:12-13; Josh 8:35; Neh 10:28; 12:43).

In reading from the Book of the Law to an assembly of the covenant people, Ezra is reenacting the ratification of the covenant with Yahweh at Mt. Sinai and the last renewal of the Law and the covenant during the reign of King Josiah.

Sukkot

Nehemiah 8:9-12 ~ Ezra Encourages the People

The people mourned and wept in repentance for having failed in their obedience to the Law in the past, but their leaders and the Levites encouraged them not to feel sad but to celebrate the sacred day of covenant renewal.

Ezra 8:13-18 ~ The People Study the Words of the Law
The next day after the Feast of Trumpets, the clan leaders came together with the priests, Levites, and Ezra to study the Law. It is then that they discover the requirements for the third annual feast in the month of Tishri, the Feast of Shelters/Booths/Tabernacles, Sukkot in Hebrew, that required the people to live in temporary shelters to relive the experience of the Exodus generation when they first received the Law at Mt. Sinai. 

According to the observance of the Feast of Shelters/Booths/Tabernacles, the people were to live in shelters for a week from the 15^th of Tishri to the 21^st and then hold a sacred assembly on the eighth day. It was also the third pilgrim feast of the year (Dt 16:16), memorializing the giving of the Law and the gift of the Tabernacle at Mt. Sinai, and took place during the time of the fruit harvest:

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 276 Who Is the Greatest?

CHALLENGE: “During the Last Supper the apostles argued over who was the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus shamed them, indicating that none of them was the greatest—not even Peter.”

DEFENSE: This misreads the text. Jesus gives a threefold response indicating that Peter was the disciples’ leader.

Responding to the dispute, Jesus says three things. These form a single, continuous quotation of Jesus (they aren’t even interrupted by breaks like “then he said”). It’s all one block, indicating all three parts form his answer to the dispute about greatness.

First, he tells them the principle of servant leadership, which they are all to employ: “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and those in authority over them are called  benefactors. But not so with you; rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For which is the greater, one who sits at table, or one who serves? Is it not the one who sits at table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:25 27).

Second, he assures them they will all have a prominent place in his kingdom: “You are those who have continued with me in my trials; and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28–30).

Third, he singles out Peter and charges him with a special pastoral task with respect to the other disciples: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:31–32).

Jesus’ reply begins with a general principle and is progressively more specific. It indicates the disciples have been thinking about the question the wrong way around. Leadership is not about personal greatness but serving others. And there is still a leader—Peter—but he is told “strengthen your brethren,” not “exercise lordship over them.”

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

Bible In One Year Day 275 (Nehemiah 6-7, Esther 3, 13, Proverbs 21: 1-4)

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Day 275: Esther Becomes Queen 

Agape Bible Study 
Nehemiah 6 - 7 

Nehemiah 6:1-14 ~ The Intrigues of Nehemiah's Enemies

Nehemiah's enemies employ three successive plans to eliminate him:

1. They tried to lure him to a remote site far from Jerusalem where they could assassinate him (verse 2).
2. They made a second attempt to convince him to meet with them outside Jerusalem by threatening to inform the Persian king that Nehemiah intends to make himself King of Judah, an act of treason (verses 5-7).
3. When they saw that Nehemiah couldn't be coaxed to leave Jerusalem, they hired a false prophet to warn him that his life was in danger and to come with him into the Temple's Holy Place in violation of the Law for a layperson (verses 10-14).

Scripture mentions eleven prophetesses in the Old and New Testaments: nine are true, and two are false:

Prophetess	Scripture Reference
Old Testament Prophetesses
Miriam, sister of Moses	Exodus 15:20
Deborah Judge and Prophetess	Judges 4:4
Hulda	2 Kings 22:14; 2 Chronicles 34:22
Isaiah's wife	Isaiah 8:3
Noadiah, the false prophetess	Nehemiah 6:14
New Testament Prophetesses
Anna	Luke 2:36
Philip's four daughters	Acts 21:9
"Jezebel" the false prophetess	Revelation 2:20

Nehemiah 6:15-19 ~ Completion of the Wall but Opposition Continues

The last date Nehemiah gave us was six months earlier (as we count). It was early in the month of Nisan (March) in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes in 2:1 when he presented his petition to King Artaxerxes. His trip to Jerusalem probably took not more than three months since he traveled with a small group by horseback, which would mean he arrived in Jerusalem after the change of the Persian year in the twenty-first year of King Artaxerxes I (still 445 BC by our modern calendar). The Persian new year began on the spring equinox in March 20^th/21st. The month of Elul is the sixth month in the liturgical calendar with the end of the month equating to our September. Therefore, it was in the early fall of the twenty-first year of King Artaxerxes's reign when Nehemiah's workers completed the wall.

It may seem unreasonable that Nehemiah's work teams could have completed the walls within fifty-two days; however:

1. The foundation of the old walls was still in place.
2. He limited the circumference of the walls to the time of King Solomon.
3. Ezra started some restoration of the walls thirteen years earlier.

The foundations were already there, and Nehemiah only rebuilt the walls from the time of King Solomon's tenth century BC city that was much smaller than the area covered by Jerusalem when the Babylonians destroyed the city in 587/6 BC. Also, Ezra had started some of the restoration thirteen years earlier until Sangallat was able to bring pressure on him to end the work (Ezra 4:6-23).

Nehemiah Part One Continued:
Reorganization of Jerusalem (7:1-3)
Registration of citizens of Jerusalem (7:4-73)

Nehemiah 7:1-3 ~ The Reorganization of Jerusalem and the Temple

Now that the city is secure with its protective walls and gates, Nehemiah turns his attention to the administration of Jerusalem and makes a series of appointments:

1. gatekeepers
2. Levites to assist the chief priests in the Temple's liturgy of worship and other Temple duties
3. Temple singers
4. A city administrator and commander of the guard

He appoints Hanani as Jerusalem's chief administrator and a man named Hananiah as the commander of the citadel or fortress of the guard. The guard commander had the duty to oversee the city's security measures like organizing the night patrols, assigning men as watchkeepers in the city's towers, and commanding the defensive forces if they came under attack. 

Hanani is Nehemiah's brother who brought him the news concerning Jerusalem's plight without walls to protect the city in Nehemiah 1:2. Some Biblical scholars think Nehemiah's brother Hanani is the same person as Hananiah since the name Hanani is the shortened form of Hananiah. However, it is just as likely that these are two different men with the same name appointed to two different positions of authority and Nehemiah uses the shortened form for his brother to distinguish between the two.

PART TWO OF THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH

1. The end of Chapter 7 concludes Part One of the Book of Nehemiah
2. Nehemiah Part Two (7:6-13:31)
1. Historical Review and Obedience to the Covenant Through Restoration of the Law (7:6-9:37)
   1. A review of the list of the first exiles to return with Sheshbazzar (7:6-72)
   2. Ezra's reading and interpretation of the Law (8:1-18)
2. Nehemiah's Reaffirmation of the Covenant (9:1-10:39)
3. Obedience to the Covenant (11:1-13:31)
1. Resettlement of the Citizens (11:1-36)
2. Register of the Priests and Levites (12:1-26)
3. Dedication of Jerusalem's Wall (12:27-47)
4. Spiritual Restoration of the Covenant People (13:1-31)
3. 
   
   
   
   

1. The three returns of exiles mentioned in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah:
   1. Sheshbazzar's group of exiles set out soon after King Cyrus's Edict of Return in 539 BC, arriving in Jerusalem not later than about 538/7 BC.
   2. Ezra's group left Babylon for Jerusalem the 7^th year of King Artaxerxes in 458 BC.
   3. Nehemiah's group made the journey in the 20^th year of King Artaxerxes in 445 BC.

Everything recorded in Chapters 7-8 pertains to events after the first return of the exiles, ninety-two years before Nehemiah found in Ezra Chapter 2. Nehemiah's personal narrative ends and does not resume until 12:31. The inspired writer offers a historical review, recounting the mission of Ezra thirteen years earlier to show that Ezra and Nehemiah's missions were two halves of God's plan to redeem the covenant people spiritually and physically.

Nehemiah 7:6-68 ~ The List of the First Exiles to Make the Journey with Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel from Babylon in 538/7 BC

Nehemiah will take a census of the people to prepare for the repopulating of the city in 11:4-24, but in the meantime, he discovers a list of the exiles who returned to Judah and Jerusalem with Davidic princes Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel in about 538 BC. It is a list recorded in the Book of Ezra 2:1-67. The old list will be useful for Nehemiah in establishing which families of pure Jewish descent are eligible for residence in Jerusalem.

Question: What could account for the numbers being slightly different for the people and some of the names different? Note: Sheshbazzar's registry listed in Ezra Chapter 2 was before the journey to Jerusalem.
Answer: The differences in numbers may be because of deaths or births on the journey, with Ezra's list naming the families that left on the journey and Nehemiah's list of those who arrived in Jerusalem. Name differences may be because of spelling variations, some heads of families died, and others became leaders of their groups.

Nehemiah's list does not include the mounts of the wealthy: horses and mules. It could be because Nehemiah's focus is always on the ordinary person and not the elites.

Nehemiah 7:69-72 ~ Record of the First Group of Exiles' in Jerusalem

"His Excellency," the Tirshatha, in verse 69 again refers to Sheshbazzar, the first Persian governor of Judah (verse is a repeat from Ezra 2:63).
The governor, clan leaders, and the people made generous gifts toward the fund to rebuild the Temple that was already built 137 years before Nehemiah returned.

69 b His Excellency contributed one thousand gold drachmas, fifty bowls, and thirty priestly robes to the fund = 19 pounds (about 8.5 kilograms) of what should probably read Persian darics. A drachma is a Greek coin.

70 And heads of families gave twenty thousand gold drachmas and two thousand two hundred silver minas to the work fund = 375 pounds (about 170 kilograms) and 1 and 1/3 tons (about 1.2 metric tons) of silver.

71 The gifts made by the rest of the people amounted to twenty thousand gold drachmas, two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly robes = 1 and ¼ tons (about 1.1 metric tons).

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 275 Between Two Robbers?

CHALLENGE : The Gospels say that Jesus was crucified between two robbers (Matt. 27:38; Mark 15:27), but this is inaccurate. We know that the ancient Romans only crucified people who committed acts of rebellion.”

DEFENSE: Romans did crucify robbers, but these two were likely rebels.

Robbery isn’t the same as theft. Theft is taking someone’s property, but robbery is taking it by force. There’s an inherent element of violence in robbery that differentiates it from theft. When robbery is committed on water, it’s called piracy. Pirates are robbers who travel by water, and we know the Romans sometimes crucified pirates. For example, as a young man and before he was a political leader, Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates and held for ransom on an island. “But after his ransom had come from Miletus and he had paid it and was set free, he immediately manned vessels and put to sea from the harbour of Miletus against the robbers. He caught them . . . and crucified them all, just as he had often warned them on the island that he would do, when they thought he was joking” (Plutarch, Life of Julius Caesar 2:5–7).

Because of the violence inherent in robbery, it often blended into rebellion. Gangs of robbers would hide in the countryside, taking valuables from both locals and travelers by force, and the political authorities would send men to battle them. Alternately, political revolutionaries would hide out in the countryside, taking what they needed from others by force, and the political authorities would pursue them.

Either way, robbery was associated with battling the political authorities, and thus there was a single Greek word to describe a person who did these things: lēstēs. It can be translated either “robber, highwayman, bandit” or “revolutionary, insurrectionist, guerrilla” (Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Early Christian Literature, s.v. lēstēs).

This is the word used for the two “robbers” crucified with Jesus. It’s also used to describe Barabbas (John 18:40), “who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city, and for murder” (Luke 23:19; cf. Mark 15:7).

Scholars have suggested that, as a “notorious prisoner” (Matt. 27:16), Barabbas led the insurrection and the two “robbers” were his followers. Originally, Barabbas their leader would have been crucified between them, but Jesus took his place.

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

Bible In One Year Day 274 (Nehemiah 4-5, Esther 1-2, Proverbs 20: 27-30)

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/center>Agape Bible 
Nehemiah 4 - 5 

Part One of the Book of Nehemiah Continues:

• Opposition to the Reconstruction (4:1-6:14)
• Completion of the Reconstruction (6:15-19)

Chapter 4: Plots to Disrupt the Rebuilding

Nehemiah 4:1-7 or 4:7-13 ~ The Plots of Jerusalem's Enemies

At the end of last week's lesson, in 3:36-38 (in some translations 4:4-6), Nehemiah petitioned Yahweh to punish Judah's enemies. His prayer is an imprecation (curse) on enemies similar to Psalm 35 and 58:6-9.

The territories of Nehemiah's enemies:

1. Sanballat's Samaritans were north of Judah, occupying what had been the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
2. Tobiah's Ammonites held lands to the east of Judah across the Jordan River.
3. Geshem's Arabs controlled territory south of Judah in the Negev (north of Egypt) and southeast across the Jordan River.
4. The Ashdodites were from Ashdod, one of the Philistine cities southwest of Judah on the Mediterranean coast (see Josh 13:3).

Enemies surrounded the covenant people of Judah and God was their only protection. It is the continuing plight of the modern-day nation of Israel.

While the Samaritans were outraged that they were denied a part in rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple and a say in its organization, the main reasons Sanballat, Tobias, and Geshem opposed Nehemiah were political rather than religious. Nehemiah's success in rebuilding Jerusalem threatened Sanballat's authority as the governor of Samaria (cf., Neh 5:14), and Geshem was probably afraid revitalization under Nehemiah would challenge his lucrative trade enterprise. Before Jerusalem's destruction by the Babylonians, the city was a major trading center in the region.

Question: Nehemiah responded in what two ways to the threat of invasion and a planned massacre of the city?
Answer:

1. He had the people pray to God for protection.
2. He organized a twenty-four-hour guard on the walls.

Nehemiah 4:8-17 or 4:14-23 ~ Nehemiah's Plan

Nehemiah addresses the people's fears by encouraging them to trust in their "awe-inspiring" God, recalling to them the might works of God on their behalf in the past, and to have the courage to fight for their countrymen and women, their sons, daughters, wives, and homes (verse 8). Fortunately, when the enemy saw they could not take Jerusalem by surprise, they withdrew. Notice that Nehemiah continues to give credit for their protection and the withdrawal of the enemy to God who "had thwarted their plan" (verse 9) as he has in Nehemiah 1:8; 4:3.

Chapter 5: The Social Problems Plaguing Judah and Jerusalem

Nehemiah 5:1-11 ~ The Poor of Jerusalem Cry Out for Mercy and Justice

Nehemiah not only had to deal with the threats of enemies outside the city but also from within from caused by food shortages and the religious and civic leaders who opposed him. Food shortages led to massive debt. It is likely that Jerusalem's enemies were interfering with food supplies transported to Jerusalem from outlying areas since there is no mention of a famine. The people also had the burden of paying the Persian king's tax: the levy imposed on the province of Judah by the central Persian government.

Question: How did Nehemiah confront those taking advantage of the poor? How did they respond to his accusations?
Answer:

1. He told the wealthy who were causing the poor to pledge their children by giving them as slaves that they were no better than the foreigners who captured their people and took them into slavery who were
2. He told them what they were doing was morally wrong.
3. He accused them of having no fear of offending God and contributing to the disdain of their enemies.

They did not respond because they realized he spoke the truth.

Nehemiah even honestly admitted that he, members of his family, and his retainers lent money and grain to those in need. He told the assembly that the solution is to cancel all pledges and return the land, vineyards, olive groves, houses, and family members to the debtors while at the same time invalidating any claims on money, grain, wine, and olive oil that was lent to them (verses 10-11). In effect, he is proclaiming a Jubilee Year liberation in which all debts are forgiven, Hebrew slaves liberated, and ancestral lands returned to the original owner (see Lev Chapter 25; Dt 15:1-18).

Nehemiah 5:12-13 ~ Nehemiah Convinces the Priests and Rulers to Lighten Their Burden on the People

Question: What response do the wealthy pledge holders give in verse 12a?
Answer: They agree to Nehemiah's suggestion.

It was not easy for the landowners and nobles to accept Nehemiah's plan even though they had to realize that the situation could not continue indefinitely without the whole economy of the city collapsing. Also, the costs involved in maintaining the Temple were mostly met by the wealthy in the community, which meant they had the backing of the chief priests.

Nehemiah immediately followed up by summoning the priests and cleverly makes them swear an oath in Yahweh's name to do as they had promised, to which he adds a curse for failing to keep their oath. "Shaking out the fold of my garment" refers to turning out the pockets sewn in the folds of his garment, suggesting that as he empties his pockets, so will the possessions of anyone who fails to keep the oath be shaken out and left empty.

Nehemiah 5:14-19 ~ Nehemiah Vindicates His Administration

Nehemiah testifies that for the twelves years he served as the royal Persian governor of Judah that he never took advantage of the people. According to historians, the Persians collected about 20 million darics (c. 100 million dollars) annually in taxes from their provinces. As the governor, Nehemiah was entitled to levy a subsistence allowance from the people, but he and his brothers who served in governmental offices did not take advantage of this privilege, unlike other governors who served before him.

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 274 Justification in James 2

CHALLENGE: “Catholics misunderstand James 2. When James talks about faith, he’s referring to dead faith, and when he talks about justification, he’s referring to justification before men.”

DEFENSE: This isn’t supported by a careful reading of James 2.

James says “faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26), but it does not follow from this that he is talking about “dead faith.” Read the passage and substitute the phrase “dead faith” where James says “faith.” This will result in absurdities. Thus James 2:18b would read, “I by my works will show you my dead faith,” and 2:22a would read, “You see that dead faith was active along with his works.” 

James doesn’t see anything wrong with the faith he is discussing. It’s just limited to intellectual assent (the kind of belief in God even demons have; see below). What makes that intellectual assent alive or dead, he says, is whether it is accompanied by works.

Further, James isn’t referring to “justification before men.” This phrase is understood to mean an outward demonstration of justification before God, the thought being that if you are right with God, it will manifest in actions men can see and know of your justification before God.

It’s true that those who are justified before God will naturally perform visible good works (Eph. 2:10), but we can’t limit the justification James is talking about to “justification before men.” This phrase doesn’t appear in the text, which indicates James has justification before God in mind.

Thus he begins by asking, “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?” (James 2:14).

The reference to salvation indicates he’s concerned with justification before God. That’s the context in which he says, “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:17), meaning dead before God, not merely before men.

James similarly raises the issue of eternal salvation when he notes, “Even the demons believe and shudder” at the prospect of God’s wrath (James 2:19). By implication, if the audience has only the intellectual belief that demons do, then they, too, will not be saved. James thus once more indicates justification before God is under discussion. For more on the interpretation of this passage, see Day 222.

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