Neh 8-11 - a short note on short-term housing

The readings - Days 147-148 - Nehemiah 8-11

Short post today.

A lot of people complain about sermons in church, and I suspect that that's been the case for quite some time. Maybe that's why it's so striking to me that the people of the newly-rebuilt Jerusalem call Ezra in to do nothing but read and comment on ("translate" according to the NASB) the books of the law - for days on end.

I also like the fact that so much significance is placed on the Feast of Booths. People essentially go camping on their rooftops in booths that the made themselves, and just live there instead of at home.

I'm not really a back-to-the-land-and-eschew-all-this-newfangled-technology-crap-dagnabbit type of people, but it is interesting that there seems to be something lastingly important about the temporary/transient nature of Israel's formation as a nation. Starting as a nomadic, desert-wandering tribe seems like it's foundational, and I can't help but notice that a lot more problems showed up when they got a king and a temple, etc, than when those things weren't actually there...

Told you it'd be a short post.

Neh 7 - Not (personally) interested

The readings - day 146 - Nehemiah 7

The thing is, when a census is released in Canada, I'm actually genuinely interested in the data. This time around, I was working on writing something up for my day job that allowed me to pore over the details with a nerdy, yet, useful/productive glee. I find it fascinating to look at the zoomed-out version of day-to-day life in Canada - who lives where, who left where, how many of whom stay where, etc.

See? I have nothing against the collection/publication of census data.

Census data collected and published from thousands of years ago in the ancient near-east, however...

Neh. 1-6 - From a certain point of view

The readings - Days 144 & 145 - Nehemiah 1-6

This is pretty cool. I knew the basic story/history surrounding Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, but I don't know that I've spent much time actually reading it, as is the case with large swaths of the rest of the OT. I like it.

For starters, despite the fact that the nation of Israel and the People of God could, at this point, as near as makes no difference not possibly get any worse off (they've been divided, then conquered, then exiled, and everything they held most dear - Jerusalem and the Temple of God - have been absolutely laid waste by the invading Babylonian and then Persian hordes), the book strikes a decidedly hopeful, optimistic and - I hesitate to use a word like this when talking about anything other that fruits/veggies - fresh tone.