Will Vaus

Pierre Paul Prudhon, Crucifixion “God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them. He creates the universe, already foreseeing - or should we say "seeing"? there are no tenses in God--the buzzing cloud of flies about the cross, the flayed back pressed against the uneven stake, the nails driven through the mesial nerves, the repeated incipient suffocation as the body droops, the repeated torture of back and arms as it is time after time, for breath's sake, hitched up. If I may dare the biological image, God is a "host" who deliberately creates His own parasites; causes us to be that we may exploit and "take advantage of" Him. Herein is love. This is the diagram of Love Himself, the inventor of all loves.” C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Today we begin a study of a new book, one of the most unusual in the Hebrew Scriptures. Here is Lawrence Boadt’s perspective on it…. The Book of Esther contains a thrilling tale of escape from mortal danger for the Jews. It is set in the Persian period under King Xerxes, who ruled from 486 to 465, and tells the story of a beautiful young Jewish maiden, Esther, who is chosen to be the queen when he becomes angry with his first queen and divorces her. Esther brings along her cousin and guardian, Mordecai, but soon he has enraged the Persian prime minister, Haman, by refusing him the proper signs or respect. In anger, Haman convinces the king that he should destroy all the Jews in a day of slaughter because they follow their own religion and do not worship as the Persians do. In this crisis, Mordecai convinces Esther to go before the king and change his mind. The king is won over when he realizes Haman’s intentions, and he instead orders the prime minister to be sla...

The closing chapters of Nehemiah contain material that may, at one time, have been part of the book of Ezra. Chapter 9 contains a long prayer purportedly made by Ezra at a sacred assembly of the Jews. In this prayer, Ezra recites the most significant points in the history of Israel, starting with creation, then Abraham, the Exodus, the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, and so on. This type of recounting of the history of Israel is not unique to Ezra. We see another example in the New Testament in the form of a sermon given by Stephen in Acts 6 and 7. Whether or not Ezra actually prayed such a prayer, this recounting of Israel’s history serves the point of giving a summary of the story of Israel up to this stage for the reader. The key thing in all of this is that the Jewish people serve a great and mighty and awesome God who keeps covenant with them and shows them his steadfast love forever (Nehemiah 9:32). Beginning with Nehemiah 9:38 and on to the end of chapte...

You may be wondering by this time: how do the narratives in Ezra and Nehemiah fit together? The two men are mentioned together in Nehemiah 8, but how do the rest of the narratives in these two books coincide? Lawrence Boadt addresses that question in this way: We know the dates for Nehemiah’s terms as governor were 445-433 B.C. and 430 or 429 down to perhaps 417 at the most (that is, two twelve-year terms). But we are not sure about Ezra. If he had come before Nehemiah in 458, as has traditionally been believed, why did Nehemiah have to do the same reforms all over again? Many scholars solve this question by suggesting that Ezra really came after Nehemiah, in the year 398 B.C. They base this on the reference to the “seventh year of King Artaxerxes” in Ezra 7:7 for the beginning of Ezra’s ministry in Jerusalem. But in fact there were two kings of Persia named Artaxerxes: Artaxerxes I ruled from 464 to 423, and Artaxerxes II from 404 to 358. Ezra 7:1 simply reads...

Lawrence Boadt offers this introduction to the book of Nehemiah…. Nehemiah began his work in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes I, i.e., about 445 B.C. He was a high official in the court despite the lowly-sounding title he bore, “royal cupbearer.” Nehemiah was a Jew, and had received a heartbreaking letter from his own brother in Palestine describing the terrible conditions that existed there. Since he was an advisor of the King, he had no difficulty in getting the king’s ear. He persuaded Artaxerxes to make Judah an independent province, name him its governor, and allow him to rebuild the city walls of Jerusalem. He was skilled enough in political matters to foresee that he would face great obstacles from local officials who did not want any change in the power structure. Nehemiah quickly surveyed the situation and made preparations to start on the walls shortly after his arrival. But as soon as the project became public, Sanballat, the governor of Samaria...

The closing chapters of Ezra focus on the dilemma of the returning male Jewish exiles having intermarried with women of the various surrounding nations: Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites (Ezra 9:1). The list is intriguing since it does not include any Babylonians, the people with whom one would expect the Jews to have intermarried during their seventy years in captivity. Rather, the list reflects the traditional Jewish enemies of long-standing. We have read similar lists of enemies going all the way back to the Torah. Thus, it raises the question whether this list accurately represents those with whom the Jews actually intermarried during the exile or post-exilic period. Ezra’s response is to tear his garments, pull at his hair, and sit appalled—traditional actions of lament. Then, at the time of the evening sacrifice, Ezra prays to the Lord about the matter, making confession of the sins of his people. One ...

Matthew Vine’s book, God and the Gay Christian , faces in a very straightforward manner an important issue in the Church and in our culture today that simply will not go away. Whether we like it or not, many states in the USA and our nation as a whole are changing course on the issue of gay marriage. As we all know, even many Christian denominations have come to embrace the LGBT community in one way or another. What Vine’s book does is to deal with the issue of homosexuality from a biblical perspective, while at the same time giving a biblical argument for same-sex marriage. Whether the reader agrees in the end with Vine’s argument, I believe every reflective Christian needs to hear both sides of this story. Many, if not all evangelical Christians today, have heard the biblical argument against homosexual practice and same-sex marriage in particular. Now we have the opportunity to hear the other side, from a winsome young gay man, who also happens to be an evangelical...

These chapters in the book of Ezra reveal a dream becoming reality. The dream was one of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. It was the dream of the Jewish exiles returning from captivity in Babylon. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah played the role of encouraging the Jews to fulfill the vision given to them by God. Zerubbabel and Shealtiel led the people in actually doing the work. This shows us that fulfilling God’s plan for his kingdom always requires a team, and each member of the team plays a different role, using unique gifts. However, as Bruce Wilkinson writes in his book, The Dream Giver , there are always border bullies waiting to check us and stop us when we are on the verge of entering God's territory and fulfilling a God-given dream. In this case, the border bullies are Tattenai the governor, Shetharbozenai, and their associates. They come to the Jews and ask, “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” How do we ha...

We have not checked in with Lawrence Boadt for a while. Now that we are beginning a brief study of our next book of the Bible, Ezra, let us see what Boadt offers as an introduction…. Ezra can be divided into two major parts: chapters 1-6 and 7-10. Ezra 1-6 gives us some valuable information about the first two groups of returning exiles—those under Sheshbazzar, and those under Zerubbabel…. This first part of the Book of Ezra reaches a climax in the rebuilding of the temple in 516. The scene shifts to many years later in chapters 7-10. Under the Persian king Artaxerxes, Ezra, a priest of the highest rank, a descendant of Aaron and Zadok, is sent from Persia to restore the practice of Israelite faith according to the instructions in the “law of God” (see Ezr 7:10, 14, 25-26). Ezra faces two major problems. Many Israelites have married Gentiles, and this prevents them from keeping the law. Secondly, there was a general disregard for the regulations about sacrifice...

After spending more time telling about the kings of Judah than the Book of Kings does, the Chronicler comes to a relatively swift conclusion. He spends four chapters on the last kings of Judah, whereas Kings spends five. Chapter 33 focuses on Manasseh and Amon. The Chronicler agrees with the Book of Kings that Manasseh did evil things. Yet, once again, the Chronicler tells us something that Kings does not, namely that Manasseh repented. Chronicles tells us that the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against Manasseh as a punishment. These commanders took Manasseh bound to Babylon. (Kings does not mention this either.) It was at this point that Manasseh changed his attitude: While he was in distress he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty, heard his plea, and restored him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh ...