Neh. 6:1-14, Good Government (3)

I have said in these posts, don’t expect good things to continue.  It doesn’t work like that.  The bigger point is: don’t put your trust in kings and presidents and public servants (Ps. 146:3-5).  The amazing thing about living under the New Covenant is that by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God we can live as Christ under chaotic, tyrannical or righteous governments. 

·       6:1-4: A good leader is one who understands the nature of “greatness.”  In our world, there is a lot of greatness in a “summit.”  In the cold war they were rare.  We were all agog when Nixon and Khrushchev met.  Now it seems like every month there’s a gathering of world leaders somewhere.  Nehemiah’s greatness came from doing the thing God had laid on his heart, governing the people of Jerusalem and Judea so they could get the wall rebuilt.

·       6:5-9: A good leader does not cave in to false accusation.  Wow!  Does this happen in our nation!  False accusation can involve a lie.  Or it can involve a charge against someone for doing something the one making the charge has also done but who wants to use it to bring down the “competition.”  It is nothing more or less than “gossip.”  You think that is only for the ladies club?  Wrong!  It is going on in the corridors of power.  It’s everywhere.  When you hear the words “it is reported” (v6) you can expect that nobody said anything.  The question is, will the leader under attack be willing to abide by the truth and integrity of his life and not be brought down by his enemies.  Standing under that pressure is a sign of real strength.  Nehemiah stood tall by just giving it to the Lord (v9b).

·       6:10-14: A good leader is not ruled by fear.  He is not easily shaken.  In the case of Nehemiah, fear would have led him to seek protection not afforded to the average citizen.  We see this often in our country (and it’s true everywhere; again, “there’s nothing new under the sun”).  Governmental leaders or workers with benefits not afforded the common citizen.  Again, this goes against the leader as a “shepherd.”  Nehemiah was a governor who did not “lead” but who “shepherded” the flock. 

I hope these things are helpful.  Again, let us be clear: if we do not have good leaders we are not in a hopeless situation.  As followers of Christ, we are well-equipped to fulfill our calling in any situation.  Our calling has to do with living and proclaiming the gospel of Christ.  Our bottom line is to pray for our governmental leaders so they will rule in such a way as to keep peace in our neighborhood so we can do our gospel work (1 Tim. 2:1-7).

Neh. 5:14-19, Good Government (2)

As we jump back in to Nehemiah, let me say concerning the final paragraph in the previous post.  If, in fact, the rich are doing good things for the country, thank the Lord, but don’t expect it to last.  The innate sinfulness of man won’t allow for it.  Later in Nehemiah he will establish the care for the temple service, but by the end of the book will find that he had to address the matter again.  Nehemiah also had to deal with the intermarriage of Jews with the nations (Ch. 13), something Ezra had dealt with earlier (Ezra 9-10).  “Vanity of vanities” and “there is nothing new under the sun.”  Those are still the ruling principles of this fallen world.

·       5:14-19: Nehemiah was a great illustration of what governmental leaders must be when at their best.  They are “shepherds.”  They have a flock and they must care for that flock.  He was not about making himself rich and powerful.  From the beginning (read Neh. 1) he was in this because he cared, not just for people but for the glory of God. 

o   In God’s system all leaders are “shepherds:” pastors and elders, kings, governors, bosses and supervisors, and on and on.  Read Ezek. 34:1-10 for the things a good shepherd should do, but which the wicked shepherds (leaders) of Israel were not doing.  Instead of caring for the flock they were making themselves rich and fat.  To have no king is to live in chaos (Jud. 21:25).  To have a bad king is to be oppressed. 

o   And while we are at it, there’s a lot of things being said about government workers these days, how lazy they are (large numbers are still “working” at home) and so forth.  But of course they are.  Again, this is the world in which we live.  There was a time when the rich were oppressing the workers who made them rich.  Unions helped bring an end to this oppression.  But then the same “unions,” needing a reason to continue to exist, made it their purpose to increase the wealth and decrease the workload of workers.  The workers like that, and the unions continue to exist. 

o   And if you think I’m picking on “unions,” I’m not.  This is how it is.  Insurance helped people through hard times.  But then insurance became the “law of the land” and thus it could be taken advantage of, resulting in astronomical prices for medical care, body work on your car, and so forth.  Government loans for college education became the “law of the land” which resulted in massive increases in the cost of education as well as graduates being under the oppression of debt.  And we can talk about the “bureau of Indian affairs,” “health and human services,” “affirmative action” and almost every other governmental agency.  This is what we get when we no longer hold people accountable to their conscience.  And it is what we get in a fallen world, full of people with consciences that are defective.

Psalm 30

This is a Psalm that records an experience in David’s life that is a “must” for everyone.  It records a time in David’s life when as a young man he fancied himself capable of handling whatever life would send his way.  He says, “In my prosperity I said, ‘I shall never be moved.’”  But in the end he had learned that strength for life comes only from the favor of the LORD (v6-7).

The title over this Psalm says it was “A Song at the dedication of the house of David.”  This is interesting but can be a bit confusing.  If David meant it was sung at the dedication of his own home when it was built it could make sense, although there is no reference to the home.  Nor is there a reference to the future “house of the LORD”. But, as Spurgeon says, it was “David’s joy to lay by in store” (from the introduction to this Psalm in The Treasury of David).  Since David’s primary provision for the future temple was the purchase of the threshing floor of Ornan to make sacrifice for David’s sin in numbering the people (1 Chron. 21).

To me this latter idea makes sense that it was sung in connection with all David’s preparations for the temple his son Solomon would eventually build.  But still, one would think David had learned this lesson much earlier in his life.  One would certainly hope that each of us would come to understand this today, lest we waste any more of our brief lives on this earth with the thought that we, in our own strength, are sufficient for what each day brings.

The progress of the Song is easy to see, built around the key thought of v5:

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life;

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

·         v1-3: David gives an overview in expressing his praise to the LORD.  He has been lifted up, healed, and kept from certain death.

·         v4-5: David calls all to give praise and thanks with him for God’s “favor”.  This is perhaps the key term in the Psalm.  This is not checed, the term for lovingkindness.  It rather implies delight or satisfaction.  The term is used several times in the law in reference to God’s acceptance of offerings done in a proper way (e.g. Lev. 22:19-21; 23:11).  If this is David’s prayer after the sin of the census and accompanying plague this would certainly fit.  God did not find delight in David’s sinful actions.  He did delight to withdraw His judgment after David offered sacrifice on that threshing floor that would become the site of the temple.  God deals favorably with His people because He delights in them.  But He does not delight in their sin but longs for them to be holy as He is holy.  Thus His delight in them is never apart from an acceptable sacrifice for sin. 

·         v6-7: Here is the correction David had experienced.  In his youth, or perhaps even to the time later in life in the census, David had thought he was sufficient for life.  But after a brief time of God hiding His face from David, David realized that life was only lived out of God’s favor.

·         v8-10: Thus David had cried out to the LORD.  He longed to have life that he might praise God.  But his life would be gone without help from the LORD.  So he cried, “have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper!”

·         v11-12: The LORD answered David.  Notice that the LORD removed David’s sackcloth of mourning.  David had come in humility, confessing his sin.  God then clothed David with gladness.  For that, David was thankful.

Let us consider this.  This is the lesson of James when we boast about tomorrow (James 4:13-17).  “All such boasting is evil.”  We do not have a claim on the next moment, much less the next day.  We live only out of the favor of God.

And how much better to consider it in the days of youth.  As Jeremiah said in the Lamentations 3:26-27: “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.  It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.”  And the Preacher in Ecclesiastes: “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come…” (Ecc. 12:1).  We tend to feel invincible in our youth, that nothing will ever shake us, that we have everything under control.  And who like David might have had those thoughts with all the success he experienced as a young man.  Yet there came a time when he was in sackcloth, humbled by life’s difficulties, until God answered his cry and brought morning joy!  How much better to humble ourselves today, for the glory of God.

If we have not learned this to this day, may it be counted true of us from this day forward!

Neh. 5:1-13, Good Government (1)

Donald Trump is in the process of selecting people to be part of his government (Dec. 2024).  Nehemiah gives us good reminders in how he governed Israel under the Persians, in the “times of the gentiles” (i.e. in the times in which we live, not as a descendent of David) and he did it right.  If you want to see how, as a governmental leader (“shepherd”), to tackle a big problem, study Neh. 1-3.

·       Ch. 4: Nehemiah had to deal with enemies from without.  A key to this was an armed citizenry (v16-17).  It was not just the 2^nd amendment, the right to bear arms.  It was the responsibility to protect family and neighbors.

·       5:1-13: It would be nice if all the citizens treated all the other citizens in love and as friends.  But given the sinfulness of men, leaders must take action.  The problems were: they were, or had been, in a famine situation (v3), were taxed by the Persians even when their lands and vineyards were not productive (v4), and were now being charged interest on loans they had taken out (v5).  Nothing much could be done about the famine or taxation of Persia.  But the loans were local, so Nehemiah tackled this part of it.  He,

o   …gave it serious thought (v7).

o   …rebuked the rich for collecting interest (v7-8). The term “usery” indicates over-charging but the Heb. word just means “interest.” In the Law of Moses people of Israel were not to charge interest at all when loaning to fellow-Israelites who had fallen on hard times, Ex. 22:25. (This shows us how the Israelites were to apply the Mosaic Law while under the Gentile government: do what you can; later in Nehemiah, when they set up provision for the priests and Levites they again applied what Moses said needed to be done but in a way consistent with being under Persia and not under an Israelite king.)  The point is: Nehemiah, as governor, could not just make a law.  He wasn’t the “king.”  But he did need to correct the problem lest the building of the wall be hindered.  What he did was to appeal to the rich on the basis of what God was doing in bringing them back to the land.  Enough with trying to “legislate morality” (as we often hear).  Appeal to people’s conscience.

o   …set the example (v10).  Nehemiah had been lending people money AND GRAIN.  They needed to eat, but he did it with compassion: no interest!

o   …then commanded the rich with what they “should” do (v11).  What they were to do would allow the poor to continue to be responsible for their own care, working their own land, etc. 

I hope this is what Trump, Musk, Ramaswamy, Bezos and Zuckerberg (these names have all come up as Trump is filling government positions) are doing. The wealthy in the USA have always been willing to put massive injections of money into liberal philosophy; why not giving to fulfill a just and wise philosophy?  For Nehemiah it was government involving the individual’s government of conscience.

Isaiah 9:1-7; John 1:12-18, The Man Christ Jesus (4)

·       The PURPOSE of His humanity.

o   The Son of God came to reveal God, John 1:14,18; Heb. 1:1-3.  God revealed Himself through the prophets in Old Testament times.  But the greatest revelation of God for mankind was when He sent His Son, God the Son, so we could see God up close and personal.

o   The Son of God came to be our merciful and faithful High Priest, Heb. 2:16-18.  If humanity is to have an effective Priest who can provide an atonement (a covering) for sin, that Priest must be one of us (Heb. 5:1).  That is always the case.  Further, He must have an effective sacrifice, one that works.  What good is it if we die for our own sins, which we will if we reject God’s provision through His Son?  We needed one of “us” who had no sin of His own (Heb. 10:12).

o   The Son of God came to destroy Satan’s power of death, Heb. 2:14f.  This required that the Son become Man, so He could die, so He could then by His resurrection defeat death and bring eternal life to all who believe.

o   The Son of God came to be preeminent over creation and the new creation (the Church), Col. 1:18.

o   The Son of God came to rule from David’s throne, Isa. 9:6-7; Luke. 1:30-33.  He had to become Man in order to be of the house and lineage of David.

o   The Son of God came to be our Kinsman-Redeemer, Gal. 4:4; Rom. 8:1-4; Heb. 2:15; Ruth 1-4.  The story of Ruth and Boaz reveals what this is about.  Naomi had taken Ruth, her daughter in law, under her care.  Boaz, a near kin of Naomi’s (and thus of Ruth) bought her out of (redeemed her from) her pitiable situation.  The story if doubly powerful in that Boaz was of the house and lineage of David.  For Jesus to be our Kinsman-Redeemer He had to be: 1) next of kin, in other words, one of “us,” the ones needing redemption; 2) able to pay the price of redemption, which in His case was a perfect life, not having to pay for His own sins; 3) and willing to pay, which He was because He took on the form of a servant and submitted Himself to the will of His Father.

My friend, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, has done this for you!  Why do you remain in your sin?  Why do you remain subject to the deadly authority of Satan?  Receive Jesus as your Savior, your Kinsman-Redeemer, now.  Re-read the passage from John in today’s reading.  Receive Christ, believe in His name and be born again by a work of God as miraculous as what He did in the Incarnation.  You will become a child of God!