Tuesday, September 22, 2009

September 23

Period of Restoration - First Return to Jerusalem - Ezra 1:1-11, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 2:1-70, 3:1-13, 4:1-5


Lots of lists in today's reading. The list of temple articles returned to Jerusalem by Cyrus the Great. One thousand silver dishes? We have a list of the returning exiles. Of Senaah 3,630? A list of the temple gatekeepers and temple servants and singers and descendants of the servants of Solomon. Why? It's as if the Bible is some divine scrapbook with bits and pieces of laws and accounting and stories and songs and four accounts of the same scene, even a sex guide. Why, the mosaic of information of God? The puzzle pieces set together but not fitting entirely from our human perspective. Is it because of our ever-shortening attention span, our need for variety? Or is it the only way the story can be told to help a human being understand the depth and complexity and masterpiece that is the love of God for us?

Lord knows.

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