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A Bible Teaching Ministry of Galyn Wiemers
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![Daily Devotions, Evening and Morning Devotional](../images/Reps&Sets-banner-815LG-devotionTitle.jpg)
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![Sunrise on Temple Mount in Jerusalem; Back to Previous Devotion](../images/sunrise-previous.jpg)
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May 9 - Evening
"While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children— gathered around him. They too wept bitterly.
Then Shekaniah...said to Ezra,
'We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying
foreign women from the peoples around us.
But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel.
Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear
the commands of our God. Let it be done according
to the Law. Rise up; this matter is in your hands.
We will support you, so take courage and do it.'
So Ezra rose up and put the leading priests and Levites and all Israel under oath to do what had been suggested. And they took the oath."
- Ezra 10:1-5 |
![Sunset on the Sea of Galilee; Click to go to next devotion](../images/sunset-previous.jpg) |
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The Foreign Wives and the Children Sent Away |
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When the Jews returned from Babylonian exile they moved back into Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. But, there were already people living in the land. Many of the people in the land were Samaritans which were a people with a mixed linage of Jew and Gentile. During the eighty years between the return of the Jews until Ezra the scribe arrived (538-458 BC) the Jews had intermarried with the Samaritans and were corrupting the linage of Abraham’s covenant people.
The main issue was that the pagans, or, in most of the cases in Ezra day (458 BC), the Samaritans, had other gods and pagan cultures that did not honor or recognize the Lord. The social problem that had been created was that many of the Jewish men had already married and had children with a pagan Samaritan wife. A resolution had to be found and it would be drastic.
A list was compiled of those who had intermarried with the Samaritans, and the list of priests with foreign families is found in Ezra 10:18-44. An oath was taken "to send away all the foreign wives and their children." (Ezra 10:2-7) |
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![Christian Quote from Church History](../images/quote-box.jpg) |
“I have read, in Greek and Latin, scores of myths but I did not find the slightest flavor of myth here.”
– E.M. Blaiklock commenting on the New Testament |
![Something to Ponder??](../images/ponder-box.jpg) |
Almost half the Psalms are complaints! They are songs of sorrow, loss, disappointments and calls for help. We would most likely play them in minor chords or sing them as the blues. Yet, within these songs of grief there is hope expressed in God. The complaints are common among men, but the distinguishing factor was the hope expressed in a living god when the psalmists was willing to wait for God. |
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![Personal Prayer](../images/personal-prayer-box.jpg) |
![Church Prayer Item](../images/church-prayer-box.jpg) |
![National Prayer Concerns](../images/nation-prayer-box.jpg) |
![World Prayer Concerns](../images/world-prayer-box.jpg) |
Godly character and words |
Generosity |
Judiciary decisions |
Djibouti |
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Reps & Sets is a daily Bible devotional for Christians from Generation Word Bible Teaching used each morning and evening. |
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