Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
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Aug 23, 2022 12:58:00 PM
The best way to make sure we respond positively to the opportunities God provides us is to prepare ahead of time for them. But how do we anticipate those moments? The Lord has shown us how.
(Photo: Scribe copying the Scriptures. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
At the end of the exile, God moved the heart of the pagan King Artaxerxes to allow Ezra — a scribe and priest — to return to Jerusalem in 458 BC. Fourteen years before Nehemiah returned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, Ezra returned to rebuild the people. He did it by calling them to return to the Word of God.
Ezra shows us both how to prepare for the opportunities God provides and how to protect ourselves from what threatens them.
The best-known verse in the book of Ezra serves well as Ezra’s life verse:
Ezra had determined to study and obey the Law of the LORD and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel. —Ezra 7:10
Ezra’s threefold passion models a priority for all of God’s people. Each part is essential, as is the order in which they occur:
One of the recorded instances in which Ezra taught the people occurred at Jerusalem’s Water Gate.
The location of the Water Gate in the City of David is still debated. But archaeologist Leen Ritmeyer believes, with credibility, that it likely lay near the Gihon Spring — perhaps as a distribution point for water. If so, the location where Ezra read the Law — near Jerusalem’s only source of fresh water — provides in itself a powerful metaphor.
He faced the square just inside the Water Gate from early morning until noon and read aloud to everyone who could understand. All the people listened closely to the Book of the Law. —Neh. 8:3 NLT
(Photo: Water Gate excavated by Eilat Mazar. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
When Ezra first stepped on the scene years earlier, the post-exilic Jews struggled with weak spiritual lives (Ezra 9:1-4; 10:2, 10). But Ezra’s teaching of the Word of God — combined with a life that modeled the Scriptures — assisted the people to reignite their devotion to the Lord.
So, it’s no surprise why the people requested Ezra read them the Bible that day at the Water Gate. Ezra had whetted their appetite for truth for years.
In our lives, we need to remember that guarding our intake of God’s Word is as essential as walling off our only source of water.
Take your time at the Water Gate.
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Tell me what you think: Do you have a Water Gate where God’s Word regularly channels its life-giving truth in your heart? To leave a comment, just click here.
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