Alastair's Adversaria - Biblical Reading and Reflections: July 15th (Ezra 3 & Titus 1)

Episode Date: July 14, 2021

Laying the foundation of the restored temple. The virtues of a faithful overseer. My reflections are searchable by Bible chapter here: https://audio.alastairadversaria.com/explore/. If you are interested in supporting this project, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (https://bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or buying books for my research on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/36WVSWCK4X33O?ref_=wl_share). You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035?mt=2.

Ezra chapter 3. When the seventh month came and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem, then arose Jeshu, the son of Josadac, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbable the son of Sheel-Tel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it has written in the law of Moses, the man of God. They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord. burnt offerings, morning and evening. And they kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required.

And after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon, and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a free will offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid, so they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food drink and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus, King of Persia. Now in the second year after they're coming to the House of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubububal, the son of Shiel, and Jesua, the son of Jodak, made a beginning, together with the rest

of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. they appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to supervise the work of the house of the Lord. And Jesua with his sons and his brothers, and Cadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Hennedad, and the Levites, their sons and brothers. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests and their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with symbols to praise the Lord,

according to the directions of David King of Israel, and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of Father's houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid. though many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not distinguish

the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping for the people shouted with a great shout and the sound was heard far away after a number of them had returned from exile to Jerusalem the people sought to re-establish the true worship of the Lord and to rebuild the temple

in Ezra chapter 3 we read of the first stage of this and also receive some foreboding of the opposition that the returnes would face in the future. Jerusalem had been the centre of Israel's life, and at the centre of Jerusalem had been the temple, and focal to all of the worship practices of the people, was the altar. Rebuilding the altar, re-consecrating it for worship, and then doing the same for the temple, were matters of the utmost importance if Israel was to re-establish its life as the worshippers of the Lord. As Israel and then Judah had fallen to foreign invaders, the Israelites had been sent off into captivity, and the land had

been occupied by their enemies, Israel as a people and a nation had unraveled in many ways. On their return, the challenge was to pick up the threads that had been dropped, and to mend that which had frayed. On their return to the land, they re-established settlement again. In verse one, they are described as the children of Israel, terminology that is reminiscent of the Exodus. After having made a solid start to resettling the land, the next task was to re-establish Jerusalem at the heart of Israel's worship. The necessity of a central site of worship that drew together all the people of the land was one of the commands in the Book of Deuteronomy. This commandment, among other things, was to ensure that Israel did not develop a multitude of different competing

cults, each with their own regional forms of worship of the Lord. Such a situation had existed during the period of the judges. After the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had also set up false cultic centres. to compete with Jerusalem to ensure that the people of his land did not join with the people in Jerusalem in a way that might empower the Kingdom of Judah against him. The possession of a unified cult and worship, especially at the pilgrimage feasts, the feasts of unleavened bread, weeks and tabernacles, was one of the most powerful nation-building forces, bringing together groups from many different tribes and many different regions of the land as one single people. Consequently, the re-establishment

of worship in this way was a very-establishment of worship in this way was a group of the people. a means by which Israel would return to itself once more, even while many of them were still scattered in various parts of the Persian Empire, a central site of worship would give them a focal point as a people, a way of conceiving of their identity and their unity once more. Unsurprisingly, given this fact, the re-establishment of central worship and of the temple building would be a cause of opposition from the surrounding peoples, who would be concerned seeing this as a reassertion of Israel's people and nationhood. same would be the case for the rebuilding of Jerusalem in its walls. The exile had snapped a number

of threads of Israel's identity, chief among them, things such as their dwelling in the land, they're having a king, they're having a central site of worship in Jerusalem, and also their possession of a fortified capital city. Now the task of the return-ease was to re-establish these things. In Ezra Chapter 3 we get a sense of how mindful they were, of the importance of doing these things properly. One of the ways that we see this is in the many recollections of the building of the First Temple. All the people gather together. They are led by the priest, Jeshua, the son of Josadak, and by a descendant of David, Zerububable, the son of Sheel-Tel. Just as David and his son Solomon who presided over the building of the First Temple,

now a son of David, Zerububable, is going to be involved in the overseeing of the process. While a son of David, Zerubable seems to have had a complicated genealogy. In the book of Jeremiah, his ancestor, Jechanai or Jehoekin, was cursed in chapter 22, verses 28 to 30, with having no children. However elsewhere we see that he had a son, Shealteel, through whom Zerubavuble came, it seems that the curse was relieved, and through Sheelteel, an adopted son, he had heirs. Matters might be further complicated if Zerubavable is the same man mentioned in First Chronicles chapter 3 verse 19, there spoken of as the son of Padaya. Some commentators such as James Bejohn have suggested that what we see here is evidence of a lever at marriage. Jechaniah and his sons are cut off from inheriting the throne as a result of the curse. However, Jechaniah's adopted son, Sheelteal, raises up seed for the dead son, Pediah.

Zerububable then, along with Israel returned off the exile, is his life from the dead. With the curse upon Jechaniah or Jehoikin, it seems as if that line of the family had been wiped out, but the Lord raises it up again through adoption and lever at marriage. Jeshu and Zerubbabel lead the rebuilding of the altar. It is made clear that it is done according to the law of Moses. The altar is made according to Moses's specifications and is placed where the altar was supposed to be placed in Jerusalem. With the rebuilding of the altar,

many of the sacrifices and other practices associated with the temple and the altar there could be re-established too. The morning and evening burnt offerings are reintroduced. The offerings at the new moon and the appointed feasts are also started. All of this is done in the seventh month, the month where most of Israel's feasts were to be found. In particular, it's the time of the feast of tabernacles. The seventh month was also often time of covenant renewal, so it was an apt time to pick things up again. Much as King Solomon in building the first temple had sought resources from the Sidonians and the Tyrians,

so the people of Israel in rebuilding the temple looked to them once again. King Solomon had received foreign support in building the temple from Hiram of Tyre. Cyrus the King of Persia is the great Gentile sponsor of the project on this occasion. In the second year after they're coming to the House of God in Jerusalem and in the second month they start the process of rebuilding the temple. It's an auspicious time to do so. In 1 Kings chapter 6 verse 1, it was in the second month that Solomon began the building of the first temple.

In 1 Chronicles chapter 23, the Levites from the age of 20 were set apart for the service of the Lord. The returnees follow David's pattern here, and the whole process of rebuilding the house of God is overseen by the priests. They were well trained in the law, and they knew the specifications that it must meet. The dedication of the First Temple is described in Second Chronicles chapter 5 verses 11 to 14. And when the priests came out of the holy place, for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves. without regard to their divisions. And all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heiman, and Juduthan, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen with symbols, harps and liars, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters. And it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make

themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. And when the song was raised, with trumpets and symbols and other musical instruments in praise to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. The house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. The ceremony surrounding the beginning of the foundation of the temple here recalls that earlier ceremony for the dedication of the completed Solomonic temple. Once again, the people under Jesua and Zerubbable are carefully following the pattern given to them by Solomon. However, while they are following the pattern of Solomon's activity in many respects,

the temple that they are building pales in comparison with his. Solomon's temple had been destroyed about 50 years previously, and some of the oldest among the people who had returned still remembered its glories. Versus 12 and 13 describe a poignant mix of emotions, people shouting with the greatest joy as they see the prospect of the worship of the Lord being established once more in its fullness. and on the other hand people reflecting upon the great glories that had been lost as a result of Israel's sin. Weeping and joyful shouting mingle together in a great and indistinguishable noise.

A question to consider, can you think of any reasons why the Feast of Booth's would be an especially apt festival for the re-establishment of the worship of the people? Titus chapter 1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect, and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God who never lies promised before the ages began,

and at the proper time manifested in His word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Saviour. To Titus, my true child in a common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you,

if anyone is above reproached, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers, and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, or a drunkard or violent, or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught,

so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also able to rebuke those who contradict it. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy glutton's. This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.

They are detestable, disobedient, unfit, for any good work. The Book of Titus is one of Paul's three pastoral epistles, along with the books of First and Second Timothy. The dating of the Book of Titus, like the other pastoral epistles, is difficult. Perhaps it was written during Paul's third missionary journey during his time in Ephesus. The status of verse 5 that Paul left Titus on Crete need not imply that Paul was actually on Crete himself. However, in this letter he does indicate a knowledge of the situation there. Crete doesn't appear in the Book of Acts until Acts chapter 27, when Paul and his companions go by Crete on their way to Rome. Crete had a bad reputation as a culture of sexual licensed debauchery, lying, and gluttony, all things referenced later in this first chapter.

As in the other pastoral epistles, Paul has opponents very clearly in mind. Titus's opponents on Crete seem to have had a Jewish Christian background, and there may have also been some ascetic elements within the mix. Of Titus himself, we do not know a great deal. He is referenced in the book of Galatians as a Gentile, Galatians chapter 2, verse 3, but even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Titus is mentioned on several occasions in the book of 2 Corinthians as an emissary of Paul to the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 23, as for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. Like the other pastoral epistles, the Pauline authorship of the Book of Titus has been disputed. However, when these arguments against authenticity are examined more closely, they are not at all as strong as they might first appear. Paul begins the letter by describing himself and his ministry.

Here he speaks of himself as a servant of God, language that he does not use elsewhere. Speaking of himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul proceeds to articulate the purpose and the basis of his ministry. Its purpose is the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth. The faith of God's elect refers to the belief of the church. God has chosen his people and brought them into participation in the life of his son, and he wants them to be built up in the faith. The intention is that they rise to their full maturity. One of Paul's fullest statements of what this means is found in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 to 16, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry,

for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. The truth into which Paul is guiding the church is one that accords with godliness, or one that leads to godliness, most likely

the former. Godliness is the measure and a defining characteristic of the maturity into which Paul is guiding the people of God. This is the goal. The basis is the hope of eternal life. Paul situates his message and his ministry within an eschatological frame. The hope of eternal life was promised before the ages began, and now in the fullness of time it has been manifested through the preaching concerning Jesus Christ. Paul's own ministry is an expression of this. He addresses Titus as his true child in a common faith. It is possible that this implies that it was through the ministry of the Apostle Paul that Titus was converted. However, the sonship of Titus, like the sonship of Timothy, might refer more to the way that he is functioning as an apostolic

emissary for Paul. Paul had left Titus on Crete. It is not clear that Paul himself had been on Crete, but he had commissioned Titus with his charge there. There already seemed to be several churches on the island of Crete, and Titus's duty was to put them in some sort of order. Here, as we also see in 1 Timothy chapter 3, the task of the Apostles' representative seems to involve in large measure the establishment of a new structure of church government. There are clear parallels to observe between verses 6 to 9 and 1 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 to 7. The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respect to

hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, he must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. The task of Titus is that of appointing elders in every town. This is most likely the task of establishing a leader of each town church, rather than lots of isolated household churches, each with their own elders, pull wishes to establish an elder

or an overseer within each town. This figure would presumably have been one of the leaders of the existing house churches. It is imperative that candidates for such an office be a very good reputation, above any reproach. They are to be judged by their households. First of all, candidates for such a position have to be husbands of one wife. Perhaps this is designed to exclude converted polygamists. However, it might just be a way of saying

that the suitable candidate for such an office must be a one-woman man, a man who is absolutely faithful to his wife. He needs to have a family whose behaviour conforms with the gospel. In a deeply perverse and pagan society like Cretes, his household needs to be a model house, If his children are given to the ways of the surrounding culture, he will not be able to give the sort of example that is needed. Likewise, if his children do not respect his authority, if they are insubordinate, his ability to lead the church will be compromised, and it may also be an indication of a failure on his part, that he is the sort of head of a household who provokes his children to anger, or perhaps that he is too weak or lacks sufficient moral character to set a household in order. The overseer is called to act.

act as God's steward in his household. While teaching is an essential part of this role, the task of the overseer does not narrowly focus upon that act of teaching. It is better thought of as the task of a guardian or steward. He needs to manage and oversee the running of the household of God. To fulfill such a role, besides being above reproach, he needs to be a humble man who is able to exercise control over his passions, his temper and his appetites. He must not be given to anger or given to much wine, with which violence can often come. He must not be a greedy man, a man who is driven by the love of money. Rather, he must be characterized by a series of positive traits. Hospitality is mentioned first. Hospitality was absolutely essential to the early

church's life, well, the patrons and hosts would allow the church to meet in their homes. They would support missionaries. They would provide a place for missionaries and other Christian ministers who are passing through to stay. The overseer also needs to be someone who loves what is good. He needs to be self-controlled, someone who acts with restraint and a well-ordered will, a man of prudence, sobriety and moderation. He must be morally upright, wholly given to the things of God, and disciplined someone who has a reign upon his appetites and lusts. From these aspects of the fitting overseer's character, Paul turns to the duties of the overseer. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, he needs to be a man of backbone resolve of commitment and conviction the overseer needs to function as the immune system and the backbone of the church in which he serves if the overseer is weak and compromising everyone else is weakened by him if he however holds firm he makes it so much easier for everyone else to do so

his holding firm in the trustworthy word is taught is expressed both in clear and accurate teaching of the truth to those under his instruction and also in his ability forthrighted and effectively to rebuke those who go against it. Such traits of the overseer were clearly needed on the island of Crete. On Crete there seemed to have been many people, particularly among the Jews professing Christ, who were not submitting to the church or the proper teaching, and were spreading empty and lying doctrines. Strong overseers in each town would be far better situated

to silence the false teachers. Their practice seems to have been to subvert the teaching of churches on the household level. Perhaps we have an indication of such teachers in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 6 and 7, for among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. The false teachers were seemingly mercenaries,

using their false teaching as a means of getting wealth for themselves. In verse 12, Paul makes a surprising statement, one of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy glutton's. This statement may be a quotation from Epimedes in the 5th or 6th century BC, the argument of Clement and Jerome. Alternatively, it may be Calamacus from the 3rd century BC in his hymn to Zeus. Crete had a long-lasting reputation as a society of debauchery,

of ungoverned appetites, and of lies and religious falsehoods. In such a wicked society, Christians were supposed to stand out, but Paul here characterises the false teachers as people acting entirely in terms of the regional stereotype. Several commentators note the Liars paradox in verse 13, a Cretan's statement that Cretans are always liars, is declared to be true. Paul, however, does not seem to be playing upon that paradox here. His point is rather to highlight the fact that this Cretan stereotype is not just one given by outsiders, honored figures within Cretan society itself have confirmed and validated it.

The false teachers here seem to be similar to those described in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. Paul wrote in that passage, As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus, so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations, rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. It is likely that these Jewish teachers were working with certain Jewish deuteroconical texts and various pseudepographical literature built upon imaginations and speculations concerning ancient figures.

Such fanciful, fictional and speculative literature was taking the place of the clear word of God. Along with this, certain ascetic practices seem to have been adopted. Paul's teaching here conforms with what he says in Romans chapter 14 verse 20, do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is not food that makes someone clean or unclean. Cleanness or uncleanness comes ultimately from the heart.

Jesus makes the same point in Luke chapter 11 verses 39 to 41. And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools. did not he who made the outside make the inside also, but give as arms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

And then also in Mark chapter 7 verses 18 to 23, and he said to them, then are you also without understanding, do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled? Thus he declared all foods clean, and he said,

What comes out of a person is what defiles him? him, for from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. Among other things, the false teachers and Crete seem to have been trying to manage the uncleanness of the heart, merely by the regulation of external objects, treating those foods as if they were the source of uncleanness, rather than the sinful heart itself. Yet Paul here describes them as detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work. Despite this extreme condemnation, though,

Paul presents Titus's duty as that of rebuking them, with the hope that they might be sound in the faith. For all of his harsh words, Paul has not given up on the possibility of these false teachers being turned around. A question to consider, how might Paul's teaching concerning the overseer here and elsewhere, help us in our understanding of the proper role and the suitable persons for the office of the pastor.