MVTClass.com

Today’s lesson scripture could be viewed as simply an introduction – a setup for this week’s lesson on Sunday.  I mean, it’s just four verses that start with Nehemiah telling us that for the first time he was sad in the king’s presence, that the king noticed and remarked on this and that after Nehemiah [...]

Today’s lesson scripture opens our week of study of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was one of those Jews who had done well and prospered under the Persian kings.  His brother, Hanani, came back from a visit to Jerusalem and told Nehemiah how the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and its gates destroyed.  In these opening verses [...]

Despite defeat, exile and hardship on their return to Judea, the Jewish people persevered in faith to God.  The expression of this faith is found in today’s lesson scripture: 1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her [...]

It’s hard to overestimate the importance of today’s lesson scripture – it’s about scripture after all.  The Word of God was first delivered to Israel in the Wilderness – then it was virtually lost during the First Temple Kingdom before being re-discovered during the reign of King Josiah.  During the exile that followed, the law [...]

Think about what travel was like at the time Ezra and the others journeyed back to Jerusalem.  It wasn’t just the lack of good roads and faster means of transportation such as we enjoy today.  It wasn’t just that there was no way of communicating with the Persian king for help if things went awry.   [...]

Today’s lesson scripture contains the concluding words of Artaxerxes’ instructions to Ezra: 25 ”And you, Ezra, according to the God-given wisdom you possess, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River who know the laws of your God; and you shall teach those who do not know them. [...]

In today’s lesson scripture we learn of Ezra’s motivation in returning to Israel – to not only study the law of God, but to live it and to teach it.  Study for himself, live (obey) it for God, and teach it for others.  We also learn that Ezra led others, lay people as well as [...]

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally considered one and were separated by Origen and Jerome in the 3rd and 4th centuries (not for another 1200 years were they separated in the Hebrew Bible).  In the first six chapters of the book that bears Ezra’s name we are provided a history of the return [...]

I had occasion recently to talk with a friend and college room-mate who is now a family practioner in Florida.  He takes a whole person and spiritual approach to medicine and to some his methods may even seem unconventional.  One of the comments he made while we were talking about the power of faith to heal, [...]

Today’s lesson scripture begins to tell a story that will be retold throughout the history of Israel – indeed, throughout the history of the world: 1 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 The hand of Midian prevailed [...]