Dusting and Reconciling
Nehemiah 5:1-13 - New International Version (NIV)
1 Now the men
and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews. 2 Some
were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to
eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”
3 Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards
and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
4 Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the
king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. 5 Although we are of
the same flesh and blood as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good
as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of
our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our
fields and our vineyards belong to others.”
6 When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. 7 I
pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told
them, “You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large
meeting to deal with them 8 and said: “As far as possible, we
have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling
your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because
they could find nothing to say.
9 So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you
walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? 10 I
and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let
us stop charging interest! 11 Give back to them immediately
their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are
charging them—one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.”
12 “We will give it back,” they said. “And we will not demand
anything more from them. We will do as you say.”
Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take
an oath to do what they had promised. 13 I also shook out the
folds of my robe and said, “In this way may God shake out of their house and
possessions anyone who does not keep this promise. So may such a person be
shaken out and emptied!”
At this the whole assembly said, “Amen,” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had
promised.
Who did the “men
and their wives” raise a great
outcry against (verse 1)?
What were they
doing “to get grain during the famine” (verses 2 and 3)?
How were they
paying “the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards” (verse 4)?
Why were they
powerless over their sons and daughters slavery (verse 5)?
How did
Nehemiah respond to the outcry and charges (verse 6)?
In your
opinion, why did Nehemiah “ponder them” in his mind before accusing the
nobles and officials (verse 7)?
What did the
nobles and officials have to say (verse 8)?
How does
Nehemiah say the Israelites should walk (verse 9)?
In your
opinion, why does Nehemiah say it is okay to lend but not to charge interest
(verse 10)?
What were the nobles
and officials to give back (verse 11)?
In your
opinion, why did Nehemiah make the nobles and officials “take an oath to do
what they had promised” (verse 12)?
What does
Nehemiah want the people who do not keep their promise to be like (verse 13)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 6:6b-13 - New
International Version (NIV)
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling
the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority
over impure spirits.
8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except
a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear
sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house,
stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will
not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your
feet as a testimony against them.”
12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They
drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
What did Jesus
do when He went “from village to village” (verse 6)?
Who did Jesus
give the Twelve authority over when He sent them out “two by two” (verse
7)?
In your
opinion, why were the Twelve to “take nothing for the journey except a
staff-no bread, no bag, no money in your belts” (verse 8)?
Where were the
Twelve to stay when they entered a town (verse 10)?
Why were the
Twelve to “shake the dust off” their feet if a place did not welcome
them (verse 11)?
What did the
Twelve preach (verse 12)?
How did the
Twelve treat the sick people (verse 13)?
In your opinion, how is Nehemiah’s shaking out
the folds of his robe in Nehemiah 5:1-13 different from the Twelve shaking the
dust off their feet in Mark 6:6b-13? How
are they similar?
17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus
for the elders of the church. 18 When they arrived, he said
to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first
day I came into the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with great
humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my
Jewish opponents. 20 You know that I have not hesitated
to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly
and from house to house. 21 I have declared
to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith
in our Lord Jesus.
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not
knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in
every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However,
I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and
complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the
good news of God’s grace.
25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about
preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I
declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27 For
I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 Keep
watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own
blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in
among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own
number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples
after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three
years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
Who did Paul send for (verse 17)?
What was Paul in the
midst of when he “served the Lord with great humility and with tears” (verse
19)?
Where did Paul teach them (verse 20)?
What was Paul’s declaration to “both the Jews and Greeks”
(verse 21)?
Why is Paul going to Jerusalem (verse 22)?
What was Paul being warned of by the Holy Spirit “in
every city” (verse 23)?
What task did the Lord Jesus give Paul (verse 24)?
In your opinion, how could Paul know that “none of you
among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again” (verse
25)?
Why does Paul declare that he is “innocent of the blood
of any of you” (verses 26 and 27)?
How did God purchase the “church of God” (verse 28)?
Who will come in and “not spare the flock” when Paul
leaves (verse 29)?
What will men of their own number do to draw away disciples
(verse 30)?
How long had Paul been warning them (verse 31)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is Nehemiah’s shaking out his robe in
Nehemiah 5:1-13 similar to Paul saying that he “is innocent of the blood” of
any of them in Acts 20:17-31?
In your opinion, how is what the Twelve preached in Mark
6:6b-13 different from what Paul preached in Acts 20:17-30?
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth
and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision”
(which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at
that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel
and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in
the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far
away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and
has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by
setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His
purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making
peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile
both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and
peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have
access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but
fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as
the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined
together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And
in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives
by his Spirit.
In your opinion, why would “those who call
themselves “the circumcision” call the Gentiles the uncircumcised (verse 11)?
What were the
Gentiles without when they were “separate from Christ” (verse 12)?
How were they “brought
near” (verse 13)?
Who has “destroyed
the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (verse 14)?
What was Jesus’s
purpose (verse 15)?
Who did Jesus
want to reconcile “to God through the cross” (verse 16)?
What did Jesus
preach to those who were far away and those who were near (verse 17)?
Who do “both”
have access to (verse 18)?
What happened
to the people who were “foreigners and strangers” (verse 19)?
What is Christ
Jesus (verse 20)?
How is “the
whole building” joined together (verse 21)?
Who is “being
built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (verse
22)?
In your opinion,
what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is the repentance that Jesus sent the
Twelve out to preach in Mark 6:6b-13 related to the reconciliation with God
that Paul writes about in Ephesians 2:11-22?
In your
opinion, what do you think that Paul, who declared in Acts 20:17-31 that “savage
wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock”, knew that
caused him to write Ephesians 2:11-22 to the Christians in Ephesus?
In your
opinion, what do these passages from Nehemiah, Mark, Acts and Ephesians teach
us about how to honor Paul’s instruction to be on guard against savage wolves,
but still be reconciled to those who once were foreigners and strangers but are
now fellow members of God’s household?
In your
opinion, how do we know when to “shake the dust off” and when to
reconcile?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
