Ezra 9:1-4 Ezra notes that by marrying foreigners they have “mingled the holy race.” I don’t recall references to Israel as “the holy race.” Is this phrasing used elsewhere in scripture? It sounds like it has uncomfortable parallels with the Germans wanting to maintain “the master race.” How is this different?
The NIV choice of “race” as a translation is an unfortunate one since neither the Jews nor the Aryans constitute a race in anthropological terms. In Hebrew, the word is “seed” and is usually translated as “descendants” or “offspring.” The issue of genealogy first comes up in Ezra in 2:59, where some people could not prove their Jewish background. Unlike the Nazis, the issue was not so much to avoid physical contamination of the bloodline as it was to avoid spiritual contamination from the other nations (see Ezra 9:1 with its mention of their “detestable practices”).
The actual phrase “holy seed” only appears in one other place in the Old Testament: Isaiah 6:13. There God states that even in exile there would be a chosen remnant. He compares them to a burnt tree where “the holy seed is its stump.”
Of course, the concept of the Jews as a chosen people (holy seed) stems from God's promise to Abraham:
“By your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves.” (Gen. 22:18)
“All the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.” (Gen. 28:14)
This constitutes the major difference between the Nazis and the Jews. The Jews were set apart (made “holy”) in order to eventually bless all the people of the world. This is the exact opposite of the xenophobic Nazis. So the adjective “holy” actually connotes the service the Jews will do for mankind. This is quite different from the use of the adjective “master,” which indicates that those not in the group will serve them as slaves.
The actual nature of the blessing from the Jews is spelled out by Peter in Acts 3:17-26 when he quotes from the Abrahamic promise and argues that “offspring” in the Genesis passages is singular, not plural, and refers to Christ. Thus, Peter can later state that all believers in Christ, both Jew and Gentile, constitute “a chosen race” (I Peter 2:9). So if we are concerned with the Jews being called a holy race, we should be equally concerned with the equivalent title the Scriptures apply to us.
Nehemiah 6:10 Why was Shemaiah confined to his house?
Here are some possible options.
He was apparently under house arrest because he was suspected of helping the enemies.
He was in seclusion in a supposed prophetic trance.
He was holed up in his house pretending to be afraid of the approaching enemy.
He was ceremonially unclean.
This was an acted-out prophecy indicating that Nehemiah should similarly seclude himself.
Finally, it may be an indication that he expected Nehemiah to come to him rather than him seeking Nehemiah out (a form of gamesmanship putting Nehemiah in an inferior position).
In summary, no one really knows.
Nehemiah 6:11 What does Nehemiah mean when he calls himself “a man like me?”
The whole whole verse reads like this:
“But I said, 'Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the temple to save my life?'”
A leader of the people best fits Nehemiah's first statement. In other words, he would lose face with the people if he demonstrated fear. After a customer satisfaction survey in our church conducted by an outside business consultant, it was determined that what we most desired out of the church was Excellence, especially no hitches in the Sunday morning service. I have known pastors who felt they needed to be a perfectionist and exhibit no weaknesses for their congregation to see. We should not place our leaders on a pedestal so that we lose faith if they do not meet our expectations.
But the fact that Nehemiah was a layman excluded him from inner parts of temple, and he may have actually been a eunuch fits the second statement. Deuteronomy 23:1 barred eunuchs from the religious activities of the people.
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