Chapter 32 - The Restoration

I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Third Isaiah, Ruth, Jonah... this might be a big chapter!

Even though they were free to return home, many stayed because of the prosperity of Babylon.

Life in the new Jerusalem: exclusive and nationalistic - how horrible.

The P version of history began while in exile.

Read and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah in the following sequence:

1. Ezra 1, 2:1-70 6. Neh 1:1-7:5

2. Neh 7:6-73a 7. Neh 11-13

3. Ezra 3:1-4:6 8. Neh 9:38-10:39

4. Ezra 4:24-6:22 9. Ezra 7-10

5. Ezra 4:7-23 10. Neh 8:1-9:37

Second Isaiah -> Cyrus "the annointed"
Haggai -> Zerubbabel, the Messiah
Apocalyptic Literature -> Messiah mysterious "a role no historical figure could possibly fill"
Zechariah -> Joshua receives the crown of the Messiah. Originally the name was almost certianly Zerubbabel. Not apocalyptic.

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Isaiah 58 - Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Horrible text from Isaiah 63: I [YWHW] trampled them [Edomites] in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.

One of my favorite images: The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD. (Isaiah 65)

"The Jews to whom Third Isaiah was addressed might not have perceived an inconsistency between bloody triumphalism and a vision of peace" <- sounds like today's Israel, eh?

I keep seeing hints that the difference between Israelites and Gentiles must disappear in the fullness of Israel and yet it seem that, with the flourish of fundamentalism, the perceived differences between all peoples is being underlined. God help us all.

Isaiah 61: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

Luke 4: Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Damn! This one gets me into trouble, eh? [Ezra] "You have been unfaithful; you have married foreign women, adding to Israel's guilt. Now make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and from your foreign wives." ... " All these had married foreign women, and some of them had children by these wives." I guess my name would have been on that list.

Is "narrowness of purpose" and "exclusiveness" acceptable (justifiable) if it saves the faith from syncretism?

Voices lamenting the exclusiveness: Ruth and Jonah