The Political And Political Characters Of Israel In The Book Of Ezra

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were seen as people who failed to listen to God’s commandments. Despite knowing beforehand that they would be punished for their disobedience, they still continued to commit sin. God tried to deter their misbehavior by promising them many blessings, but it worked to no avail. Due to the insubordination of the Israelites, He made sure that the promises He made to them would be withheld and that they would face consequences.

After conquering northern Israel in 722 B.C.E., the Assyrians engendered centuries of political intrigue and laid the foundation for future unscrupulous kingdoms and idolatrous people.1 Once the Babylonian empire overthrew Josiah, the King of Judah, Habakkuk began to compose a prophetic book, questioning the ways of God. Above all, Habakkuk could not comprehend why “the evil circumvented the just”2; he thought that the impiety of the world did not correlate with a supposedly just God.3 Throughout his narrative, this biblical prophet came to understand that “the just man, because of his faith, shall live” (Hb 2,4). Eventually discovering that righteousness and faith in God lead to justice, Habakkuk cried out to the people of Judah through

During the time of Samuel, the people of Israel desire a king. God had promised to provide for the Israelites and in return God asked for obedience and love. Throughout the Old Testament God always provided for the Israelites yet God’s people regularly rejected him.

First, the earlier form of government was the confederation of the Israelite tribes. The Israelites believe that they could what they believe was right and worship just Yahweh. “11Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Elohim and worshiped the Baals; 12and they abandoned the Elohim, the Yahweh of their ancestors, who brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them, and bowed down to them; and they provoked the Elohim to anger. (Judges2:11- 12n)” When they acted in such a disobedience way, the following three things followed in a divine punishment, which led to repentance and finally deliverance . The Judge was involved in the process of deliverance.

After Moses and Joshua died, the people of Israel were governed by a series of judges and priests. This was an effective system only if the leaders (e.g., the judges) and people were committed to following the Lord. The book of Judges in the Old Testament records the failure of the people and leaders under this system.God had predicted this failure (Deuteronomy 17:14-15) and knew that eventually Israel would be ruled by a king. Just before 1051 BC, the year Saul became king, the people of Israel demanded that Samuel (the prophet) select a king to rule over them. Samuel’s sons were dishonest judges and thereby disqualified for the job.

Ezra and Nehemiah played a significant role in the formation of Jewish religious traditions and reconstruction of Jerusalem. As a result, Ezra is commonly considered the “Father of Judaism” due to his efforts to assist the post exile Jews with differentiating their religion from their forefathers, the ancient Israelites (Tullock & McEntire, 2006, p. 201-202). Therefore, Ezra initiated the renewal of the Jews covenant with God and instituted several important religious rituals to ensure the people were reminded of God’s laws, repented for their sins, and remembered the hardships and errors of their ancestors. Furthermore, Ezra called for the elimination of marriage to non-Jews, which resulted in the divorce and subsequent banishing of all non-Jewish

God chose the nation of Israel as an act of Sovereign Grace. God did not choose them because they deserved it or because they were special group of people but simple because of His sovereign Grace. (Routledge page 261). God selects prophets to warn His people of their fate if they continue to stray away from God. The pre-exilic prophets warned the Israelite nation of their impending judgement due to their apostasy (Routledge, page 263). Amos prophecies to the Northern Kingdom and warns them of the disaster coming because of their social sins of oppression and corrupt justice (Routledge, page 264).

At this crucial point in history, the Hebrews adopted Yahweh as their national and primary God and officially became a monotheistic religion. Organization of this religion inspired new intellectual leadership of prophets and prophetic writers. These new ideas were a culture shock for a society that still practiced polytheism and resulted in turmoil between Hebrews that believed in Yahweh as their one and only God and Hebrews that believed in Yahweh as their most important of many gods. It is at this point in Hebrew history when the Jewish people created a new form of religion where new ideas of Yahweh were taught, and the Torah became the most important and pure law for the Hebrews. (http://www.us-israel.org).

The nation of Israel was set apart as holy to the LORD. But they When the children of Israel demanded a king, they did so to be like the other nations. The first three kings were Saul, (outwardly tall, handsome and strong—a seemingly good choice for a king, but inwardly arrogant, proud and unrepentant—not God’s choice), David (a man after God’s own heart who repented of his sins and as such was God’s choice), and Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived, but because of covenant disobedience became the catalyst for the division and ultimate exile of Israel.

In ancient Jewish culture, prophets were a part of every-day life. They proclaimed what they understood to be God's word, and lived according to it. In times of crisis, prophets were even more present, to warn and give consolation to the people. One time period in which there were many prophets was the Babylonian Exile, where the people of Judah were taken and deported to live in Babylon. Of the books of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, Isaiah 63:7-64:12 and Jeremiah 29:4-23 will be examined together.

It is known that king Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Jews to Babylon, after his conquest of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. This traumatic event for the Jews could be understood in terms of Yahweh's judgment of His people. The Jews felt abandoned and more importantly, the question of why had the God of Israel let foreigners destroy them? God’s use of Gentiles and their gods to punish

The people of Israel had slowly removed themselves from the type of leadership and organization that was seen when Moses and Aaron were leading them. God was present with Israel during the days of Moses and Aaron and actively organizing Israel as a whole, but Israel always struggled with foreign and cultural gods within their nation (Leviticus 10; Numbers 2). God had to address their polygamous desire for gods multiple times (Genesis 35:2; Deuteronomy 32:6; Joshua 24:20; 1 Samuel 7:3). Although Israel needed governed, instead of choosing to be led by God’s voice, laws, and values in a prophetic community, they chose to have a king rule over them rather than God. This paper will discuss the different administrations of leaders throughout the book of 1 Samuel. First, Eli will show us Israel’s ethical state during his leadership, then Samuel’s reign as the prophet over Israel. Thirdly, Saul’s rule will be found as a failure to launch as Israel’s first king, and last up we’ll discuss David, the type of king that God needed for Israel to ruin themselves.

The year of approximately 1051 B.C. of the United Kingdom Period of Israel was a significant year in that it was marked by a shift in the Hebrew view of God and his position over their nation (Hindson and Yates, 2010). For centuries prior to this date, the Hebrew people not only dwelled under the theocratic institutes of Yahweh, but for a time, also viewed him as their supreme leader and judge (Johnson, 2012). By around 1051 B.C., however, the Hebrew mindset had altered, and desiring to imitate the surrounding nations, the Hebrews demanded that a monarchy be established over them (Hindson and Yates, 2010). The ultimate result was the founding of the Hebraic monarchy under the first three kings of Israel: Saul, David, and Solomon. Tragically,

After the failure of the Judges, “Israel desired a king, so they could be like all other nations.” (1Sam 5:8 paraphrased) Creating a United Monarchy meant many changes would have to take place. At the time Israel had been theocracy and God was their King, however the elders had a different plan. They wanted a king, even if it meant rejecting God. God told Samuel to listen to the people, appoint them a king, but make sure they understand what the king who reigns over them will do Samuel explained to the people that their sons would be part of the army, their children would have to work for the king, they also would have to pay high taxes. The people refused to listen to Samuel. So God gave them a king.”The LORD replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.” (1 Sam 8:22 NLT) Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home. God was rejected and a human monarchy would now rule Israel.

During the years of the Old Testament, the prophets kept teaching and prophesizing against the people that committed idolatry. From Abraham to Malachi, the prophets would try to make the people of Israel understand what