Welcome to the podcast! Today Pastor Rob Ayer is preaching on the unsung settlers that repopulated Jerusalem.I am emotionally bi-polar about moving: I love it and I hate it.
I loved moving across the country 22 years ago to begin a new adventure with my
family here in BC. I hated that our one and only vehicle and all our household
possessions showed up a week later. I loved that we had a place to stay. I hated that it
was empty. I loved that our travel went so smoothly. I hated that we left the car seat
for our three year old sitting outside on the sidewalk at one of the departure gates at
Toronto International Airport at the wee hours of that morning!
I love the idea of purging accumulated stuffs – because I am a soft-core minimalist.
I love the notion of living and travelling lightly. I love the prospect of a new and fresh
beginning.
I hate packing. I hate the torture of debating what to keep, what to sell, what to
donate, what to throw away. I hate the emotional stress it creates when one of us
thinks something should stay and the other thinks it should go. And I hate the
emotional and physical exhaustion of the moving day itself.
The best and first thing our movers did when they unloaded the truck for our move
from Chilliwack to Langley 2 years ago was – they built our beds!
The best and first thing we did for them that day was – buy them Tim Horton's coffee
and muffins!
I'd say – win-win!
In Chapter 10 of the book of Nehemiah - Nehemiah, Ezra, and their fellow Israelites
had settled their spiritual lives with a sealed covenant before God and one another -
to live separately from the culture around them for the sake of the law of God.
Now – in Chapter 11 – they needed to settle into the city of Jerusalem.
They needed to move. But who would want to?
The returning exiles – in the city - were few in number – compared to the population -
around the city.
The suburbs were packed but the city was sparsely populated.
And maybe for good reasons…The non-Jewish community around them attached a stigma to Jerusalem residents –
often excluding them from trade because of their religious beliefs – the heart of which
would've been represented by the temple in the center of the city.
It was a city – to that point – unprotected – without walls – for 160 years. They had
spent 70 years- had Israel - in captivity – then an additional 90 years passed before
Nehemiah came on the scene. So – for more than 160 years – Jerusalem was little
more than a scattered pile of debris – a dumping ground for garbage.
Moving into the city, then, would have meant clearing the trash, rebuilding their homes
and reestablishing their businesses – which would have required a major investment of
time and money.
And maybe – since it seems they had been a little bit spiritually wayward to this point –
they might not have wanted to deal with the perceived or real social pressure of stricter
obedience to God's word that would come with living in such close proximity to the
temple.
What do real estate agents always say? Location. Location. Location.
But Nehemiah needed people from the outlying areas to move inside the city walls to
keep large areas of the city from being vacant.
What would he do?
It's a Chuck Swindoll comically pictures…
"Remember that little couplet we used to say as kids when we folded our hands
together? Here's the church, and here's the steeple; Open the door and see all the
people!
I suppose a similar couplet could have been sung over the main entrance to Jerusalem:
Here's the wall, and here's the city; Open the gates; my, what a pity!"
