Lesson 47: “Let Us Rise Up and Build”
Ezra
Nehemiah
Haggai
Purpose: To encourage class members to help build Zion and to show Christlike love to those who oppose the work of the Lord.
Lesson Development
1. King Cyrus allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
2. Ezra leads another group of Jews back to Jerusalem.
3. Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem and leads the people in rebuilding the walls to protect the city.
4. The people rejoice as Ezra reads the scriptures to them.
1. The work is great and large and we are separated”
2. “Temples are for eternal covenants”
[Draw timeline on the board as discussion progresses.]
Let’s start today with a quick review of the history of Judah in Babylonian captivity. The dates on the timeline aren’t especially important, but it may help to organize the bits of history that you may or may not have in your mind about this part of the Bible.
605-586 – Babylonians conquer Judah, taking its people into Babylon in successive waves, and eventually tearing down the walls of Jerusalem, destroying its temple, and carrying away anything of value. A few people escape capture, and eventually intermarry with the people that the Babylonians send to occupy the land. The children of these part Israel/part stranger marriages become the Samaritans of the New Testament.
What are some of the changes that happen to the culture and religion of the Jews while they’re in Babylonian captivity? [Aramiac becomes the common language, and only a few priests continue to read Hebrew; the religious emphasis changes from sacrifice at the temple to knowledge of the scriptures and obedience to the parts of the law that are transportable to captivity away from Jerusalem.]
539 – Babylon is captured by Cyrus, leader of a coalition of Medes and Persians. Cyrus enters the capital city without bloodshed and destruction. Where Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had ruled by fear and oppression, Cyrus ruled by tolerance.
538 – Within a short time after beginning his rule over Babylon, Cyrus allows the people conquered by Babylon to return to their native lands. A record that survives from Babylon reads:
… I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon … When I entered Babylon I a peaceful manner, I took up my lordly reign in the royal palace amidst rejoicing and happiness … I returned the [images of] the gods to the sacred centers [on the other side of] the Tigris whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time, and I let them dwell in eternal abodes I gathered all their inhabitants and returned [to them] their dwellings.
Our Old Testament records a version of this decree that refers specifically to the kingdom of Judah:
Ezra 1:1-3, 7
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
…
7 ¶Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;
There are a couple of points I find interesting in this passage. First is that Cyrus, although not a Jew himself, not a worshiper of the God of Israel, could have his spirit “stirred up” to bring about the will of the Lord in returning the Jews to Jerusalem. I think we sometimes have the idea that God speaks only to his prophets, or that only those who have accepted the gospel are influenced by the spirit of God. But what does this event have to say about that?
Can you think of other times, at any period of history, when you think of people who were not members of the Church, not prophets in the normal sense, have received inspiration from God and acted on it?
This decree of Cyrus, as recorded in the Old Testament, is directed particularly toward the Jews and their God, and Jerusalem, and the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem. The decree of Cyrus as found by archaeologists isn’t limited to Judah, but extends to all the captive peoples – he sent them all home, with their “images” – or idols – to return to their own ways of living and worship. If Cyrus was acting under the influence of God, as the Old Testament assures us he was, then what does this suggest about God’s feelings for all his captive children, not just those of Judah?
We’re probably not much different from the ancient Israelites, in that we see God’s hand in our own lives, and recognize when he acts for the good of our families or Church or nation. If we try, though, can we identify ways in which God blesses his children who do not know Him in the same way we do?
530 – Zerubbabel is named governor of the land of Judah. He leads a group of Jews back to Jerusalem. Only a very small proportion of the people decide to go with him from Babylon back to Judah.
Why do you suppose only a few, and not most, of the Jews decided to go?
Hypothetical: If the Church suddenly announced that it wanted a lot of Church members to move back to western Missouri, so many that most of us would have trouble finding housing, or jobs, what are some of the hesitations that YOU might have about making that sudden change? Can you really go back to a place where you have never lived? What reasons might you have for moving there?
One obstacle to moving “back” somewhere en masse is that the land usually isn’t empty. Just as the Jews leaving Babylon found the Samaritans living around Jerusalem, Church members moving today to settle somewhere would likely find many other people already living there. Let’s suppose that the purpose of sending large numbers of Church members to western Missouri was announced as being to build the great temple of the New Jerusalem as prophesied by Joseph Smith. Many of the people who already live in that area believe Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the great temple will one day be built. How would you feel if these people showed up expecting to have a hand in designing the temple, and also in using it once it was built?
Let’s read what the Samaritans said to the returning Jews 2500 years ago.
Ezra 4:1-2
1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel;
2 Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither.
The Jews responded to the Samaritans just about the same way we just said we’d respond to outsiders who wanted to share in the operation of our temple:
Ezra 1:3
3 But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.
The Samaritan response is recorded in Ezra 4:4-5
4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
5 And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Can you imagine something similar happening in Missouri? What form might it take?
So people are people, and human nature doesn’t change all that much over time … Work on the temple ceased for a time due to the opposition of the Samaritans. The returning Jews turned away from the temple and worked on rebuilding their own houses and workshops. But the Lord didn’t forget his temple. He spoke to a new prophet, Haggai:
Haggai 1:3-4
3 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?
Working on their own private projects is not ever going to be profitable, the Lord tells Haggai.
Haggai 1:5-11
5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7 ¶Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.
9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
This is not one of the passages that we quote frequently, but it’s one I love. When I am not prospering – whether that’s economically or otherwise – should I not “consider my ways” and see whether or not I am meeting my obligations to the Lord?
So the governor and the high priest called on the people of Judah to do what God had sent them to do – to rebuild his temple at Jerusalem.
Haggai 1:12-14
12 ¶Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord.
13 Then spake Haggai the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.
14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,
516 – Temple is completed.
How do you think the people felt about their completed temple?
By this time, there may have been no one remaining alive who remembered the grandeur of Solomon’s temple. But a few years earlier, when the foundation of this new temple was begun, there were still a few very old men and women who did remember the earlier building.
Ezra 3:11-13
11 And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever 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.
12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:
13 So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.
Why might these elderly people have had the mixed reaction they display here?
458 – Ezra, a high priest, leads another group of Jews from Babylon back to Jerusalem. By this time, Cyrus has been succeeded by his son, Artaxerxes, who ruled in the same manner as his father. He not only invited former captives to return to their own countries, but he gave the Jews gold and silver to help them reestablish themselves in their new/old land, and to ornament their house of God.
[If time is running short, read 13, 15-16, 27-28]
Ezra 7:11-28
11 ¶Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of his statutes to Israel.
12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time.
13 I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
14 Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand;
15 And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,
16 And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem:
17 That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
18 And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.
19 The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem.
20 And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king’s treasure house.
21 And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,
22 Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
24 Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them.
25 And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not.
26 And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
27 ¶Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem:
28 And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.
This is an extraordinary example of a government that did not know our God behaving in a way to bless the people of God. Can you suggest other times when governments have treated God’s people well? Sometimes only the spirit of God can move unbelievers – but can you suggest ways that we might behave that could encourage government leaders’ hearts to support us as believers?
445 – Still later – 85 years after Cyrus first invited the Jews to return to Jerusalem – they are still straggling back. In this year Nehemiah, an official in the Persian government, and also a Jew, learns that the Jews are still struggling in Jerusalem, and he asks the Persian king for permission to go to Jerusalem. The king sends Nehemiah to Jerusalem as governor, along with a military force to protect Jerusalem.
Nehemiah rallies his people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem for their own protection. One of the ways he did this was by feeding himself and his men without taxing the people for their support. Another encouragement he gave to the people was that he went out to work on the walls himself. We know this in part because when enemies of the Jews, seeking to lure Nehemiah to a place where they could do him harm, ask Nehemiah to meet with them, he is too busy.
Nehemiah 6:3
3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
When the walls had been rebuilt and the gates rehung, so that the people of Jerusalem could live in relative safely, their attention turned again to the law of the Lord. They asked Ezra, the high priest, to read the law to them.
Nehemiah 8:1-2
1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.
2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.
Ezra caused a wooden pulpit to be built, where he could stand and read the scriptures, with the help of other men, where everyone could hear.
Who does that remind you of?
In verses 7-8, we read that other scribes stood with Ezra, and “caused the people to understand the law; and the people stood in their place.
8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
We’ve mentioned this in recent weeks, that the reason the Jews needed scribes to “give the sense, and cause them to understand” was not just that they were unfamiliar with the commandments, but for another reason – do you recall what that reason was? [The Jews had adopted the Aramaic language, and no longer understood the Hebrew in which the scriptures were written – they needed translation and basic understanding before they could grasp the spiritual meaning of the scriptures.]
Do you ever feel that way about the scriptures? What makes the scriptures sometimes difficult for us to understand? Where do you find help in understanding the words, not just the message, but the language itself?
Hearing the words of God, being able to understand them for perhaps the first time in their lives, caused the people to weep with joy.
Nehemiah 8:9-11
9 ¶And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.
10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
11 So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved.
12 And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.
Conclusion
It took several different kinds of leaders – political leaders, spiritual leaders, leaders who could design and build in practical ways – to restore Jerusalem and the ancient worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It took the willingness of ordinary people to leave a land where they had built new and successful lives, and return to a place where they were not wanted, where they had to build their city and temple from the ground up. They did rebuild their city, and their temple, and I’m sure they took great pride and joy in that. But what moved these people to their greatest joy was hearing again the word of God in a language they could understand.
As we take the gospel to “every nation, kindred, TONGUE, and people,” we make it possible for millions of people to have the same blessing – to hear the word of God, and to understand it. But this blessing isn’t reserved only for those who are learning of the gospel for the first time. We can claim this blessing for ourselves, by making the effort to study the scriptures, to use the helps that are available “to read the law of God distinctly, to give the sense, and to understand the reading.”
[Bear testimony to the value of *studying*, not merely reading the scriptures, not merely relying on a lifetime of having heard the stories to think we understand them, but of actual study. We are building the Kingdom of God as surely as the returning Jews built Jerusalem, but the building isn’t only the practical work of Kingdom building – it is claiming the scriptures as our own, and understanding them, and finding joy in them, as surely as these ancient Jews found joy in having the scriptures opened to them.]
Thanks to Benjamin the Scribe for very useful historical background incorporated into this lesson.
A note on the history of the Jews’ interaction with the Samaritans: The Samaritans considered (and still consider) themselves to be direct descendants of the people of the Northern Kingdom. When the Jews came back to to Jerusalem the Samaritans were happy to help because they were helping their cousins. That is until Ezra came to town and told the Samaritans to take a hike. Also keep in mind that the Jews (from the Southern Kingdom) never really considered the people from the Northern Kingdom to follow the “true Church”. So the Jews thought that just about anyone from the North was apostate even before the Jews came back from Babylon.
So the first Jews who came back to Jerusalem got there and were like, “Great! More Israelites to help us!” But Ezra shows up and says, “But they are from the apostate North. And they can’t prove their lineage so we are just going to assume that they intermarried with other people and are therefore not ‘pure blooded’ Israelites.” The standard thing that is usually taught in our Sunday School classes, Institute and Seminary, is that the Samaritans were people brought in by the Assyrians or Babylonians who may have intermarried with any remnant Israelites who survived. That is the rumor started by the Jews to explain Ezra’s expulsion of the Samaritans from the temple project, but may have no basis in fact.
The Samaritans on the other hand held that the Jews themselves who came back were not pure blooded Israelites since they intermarried with Babylonians (as evidence they would point to the Jews who had Babylonian sounding names). So accusations of infidelity and interbreeding abounded and in the end the Samaritans were kicked out off of the temple project. The Samaritans responded by going north to Mount Gezirim (you know the one where Joshua put the tabernacle after they crossed over the Jordan, except the Jews went back and edited Deuteronomy to have him putting it on a different mountain, but the Dead Sea Scrolls agree with the Samaritans on this one), and built their own temple. This one was larger and more impressive than the one in Jerusalem and got more patronage and monetary support from the Persians (also something that the Jews don’t mention. They don’t like people to know that Artaxerxes spent more money building the temple on Mount Gezirim than the one in Jerusalem. Also they don’t like people knowing that a Jewish/Israelite governor was also appointed in Samaria and also resettled Jews there.)
The Jews were a little jealous of the larger and more spectacular temple in Samaria and thus it was rather scandalous when the eldest son of the high priest (i.e. the next high priest) was persuaded by the Samaritan governor to come be the high priest for the temple in Samaria (keep in mind that priesthood authority was transmitted father to son so this would have been viewed as a legitimate transfer of authority from the temple in Jerusalem to the one on Mount Gezirim. Ezra and Nehemiah were quite upset and promptly excommunicated him (and anyone else associated with him). So the Jews (and Ezra and Nehemiah) were trying to establish their legitimacy in Jerusalem while many Jews stayed in Babylon (“We’ll just stay put until you get your priesthood authority issues worked out.”).
The Jews considered themselves to be vindicated when Alexander the Great came through and destroyed the city of Samaria (but not the temple on Mount Gezirim), but left Jerusalem untouched. Afterwards the Jews rebelled against the Greeks and fought a few wars with them (cf. Maccabees). The Maccabees were upset that the Samaritans were getting along with the Greeks and sort of formed a tenuous alliance with a bunch of upstart warmongers from a city that no one had ever heard of called Rome. In the process the independent Jewish king took it out on the Samaritans and destroyed their temple and killed a bunch of them (like a non insignificant part of their population). They (the Samaritans) were rather upset and never forgave the Jews. So when the Romans came tromping through a few years later looking to be paid for helping the Jews out against the Greeks, the Samaritans gleefully supported the Romans and helped bolster the new “independent” and “Jewish” king named Harod, for which the Jews never forgave them.
So when Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well (literally at the foot of Mount Gezirim), “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain [Gezirim], nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.” He meant that it didn’t matter who was right or wrong in the Ezra-Samaritan dispute because by then neither one (Jew or Samaritan) was in the right or had the authority.
So the story of Ezra is perhaps one of the more under appreciated and historically messy stories from the Bible. It is a story about priesthood authority and how that authority is transmitted correctly.
Sorry for the long essay Ardis, I just thought some people might be interested.
“the Samaritans were people brought in by the Assyrians or Babylonians who may have intermarried with any remnant Israelites who survived. That is the rumor started by the Jews to explain Ezra’s expulsion of the Samaritans from the temple project, but may have no basis in fact.”
That Assyrian practice was to resettle conquered peoples in other parts of the empire is not solely based on Biblical sources, and it’s inaccurate to suggest that it was merely biased rumor.
It’s certainly true that the Babylonian Jews were likely to have intermarried as well, and the Bible is neither entirely consistent nor monolithic on this or other points.
There seemed to be more interest today in talking about the history and thinking about the Jews of that day as real people who share the same human nature we see in ourselves — several questions about why this, why that, and discussion about why they behaved as they did.
This is a great section of the Bible, but this outline is kind of hard to read since every time I see “Zerubbabel” I think Zerubbabel Snow, the early Utah judge, and I’m off thinking of court cases and adopted Indian children. (Look, a bird!)
By the way, I saw quantum’s comment first and then didn’t see Ben’s until I refreshed the post later, but I could have put money on Ben showing up to clarify some point. (Oh man. I’ve been up since the wee hours of the morning and am getting loopy and finding small things awfully funny. Thanks for the laugh, guys.)
And, back to the post, is it possible to read “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down” and not hear it in a German accent?
Warped minds think alike, Amy — I told the class I had practiced to say “Zerubbabel” out loud and got some smiles, but I’d be surprised if anyone knew who I meant when I mentioned that was the name of a Utah judge.
: )
By the way, despite the giggles earlier, I do appreciate Ben’s insights into the scriptures, and I enjoyed reading quantum’s explanation about the Samaritans. And, as always, I appreciate you sharing your lessons, Ardis.
Thanks Ben for pointing that out. I remember writing that sentence and thinking, “No that’s not right. I’ll have to rewrite that because it is not quite correct.” But I didn’t have time to go back and edit.
The city of Samaria (capitol of the Northern Kingdom) was largely depopulated by the Assyrians. We don’t really have a good idea on how the surrounding towns and villages were affected. I have seen articles saying that the entire north was depopulated and others say that there is no break in the archaeological record in some of the Israelite towns around that time. From what I have read there may have been a non insignificant population of real, true blooded, Israelites still living in the north when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. There was also a significant population of refugees from the north living in Jerusalem at the time (as in, Lehi and his family were from that population of refugees. Either Lehi’s grandfather or great-grandfather were among the original refugees from the north.)
The Assyrians also brought in other people to populate the city of Samaria and it is with these people the remainder of the Israelites in the north may have mixed. So the Israelites/Samaritans who wanted to help build the temple may have been pure blooded Israelites, mixed blood Israelites or even non Israelites. For the pure blooded Israelites (or even those who thought they were pure blooded, because we all know how sometimes we just don’t talk about (great-)grandpa’s second, or third wife or uncle Bob who married….her) to have Ezra then come in and say “Y’all aint real Israelites.” would have been perceived as “He’s just spreading rumors to cut us out of the work being done on the temple.” (Read: He’s giving preferential treatment to his family and business cronies for all that cash flowing in from Persia).
So from stuff that I’ve read the Samaritans perceived it as a smear campaign based on baseless rumors (“Because, like who are they to talk. I mean, they’re all the ones coming in with their Babylonian (and Chaldean! Scandalous!) wives and dirty half breed children. Our linage is pure I assure you.”) History sure is a mess. And even more so when you hear every side to the story.
For anyone who is interested:
Who Were the Samaritans? by Taylor Halverson.
The Dating of the First Phase of the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim in Light of the Archaeological Evidence, by Yitzhak Magen, found in Judah and the Judeans in the Fourth Century B.C.E.
Thanks for this, quantum.
I’m Sunday School president these days, and late Friday night I received a call from this week’s teacher that he had just discovered that his son’s university graduation ceremonies were not only this Saturday, as he thought them to be, but also on Sunday. Therefore, I was teaching this lesson also, and I realize now that one element I highlighted was influenced by Keepapitchinin. I highlighted the telling of the story in Ezra 4-6 through letters. I compared it to the later chapters of Alma where everyone is writing letters (Moroni and Ammoron to each other, Helaman to Moroni, Moroni and Pahoran to each other) as if there had been some new development in Nephite office technology that made them available to Mormon. The phrase “Nephite office technology” probably would not have entered my mind were I not a Keepapitchinin reader.
Ha ha! 😀 I’ve made my mark through you, John!
But seriously, I think recognizing these details and using them to tell the story could very well make the scriptures feel more real to class members, if only because if we see the ancients doing one thing that we do, maybe we can see them doing other things like we do, or vice versa. Nice.