The Priests Served Us
Open Your Bible
Nehemiah 11:22-36, Nehemiah 12:1-26, Isaiah 48:1-11, Philippians 3:18-20
BY Guest Writer
Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 11:22-36, Nehemiah 12:1-26, Isaiah 48:1-11, Philippians 3:18-20
As a child in elementary school, I was always scared to read aloud in class. It wasn’t because I was a bad reader. In fact, I always read a bit faster than everyone else, skipping ahead to read a paragraph or two before the rest of the class. But even still, I was constantly nervous I would say something wrong or lose my place in the reading, and as a result, make a fool of myself if called on by the teacher.
It’s easy to get lost in this passage from Nehemiah 11 and 12, because it’s full of the names of people and places that are hard to read and even harder to pronounce. It’s also easy to acknowledge that there are a lot of names, decide they’re too difficult to pronounce, and then skip ahead to the more interesting part of the story.
But names are important. The names in this passage are the names of the priests who came back to live in Jerusalem. At the time, Jerusalem wasn’t exactly the hip, new place to live. It was dangerous to the point that the people had to cast lots to see who would go back and build their lives there. The names of these priests listed in Nehemiah 11 and 12 are the priests who took the risk, voluntarily or not, because the people moving to Jerusalem needed priests too.
These lists tell us more than just who these people were; they tell us where they came from, their history. There is a lot of interest nowadays in finding out more about your ancestry. You send in a sample of your DNA, and some laboratory sends you back a full report of your global ancestry. Human nature leans toward wanting more knowledge, more information, which is probably why these kinds of tests have become so popular. We just want to know what we want to know.
These lists of priests serve a similar purpose: to help future generations of priests know where they came from. When we know where we come from, it’s easier to know what we’re moving toward, to take a glimpse at the bigger picture. But our full understanding of where we come from lies in the knowledge and belief of this truth: our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).
Our most important family name is the one given to us as children of God. We are His sons and daughters, and He is our Father. We belong to Him. He is our ancestry. He is our past, present, and future. Our citizenship and our family name rests fully with Him, and Him alone.
Ellen Taylor was born and raised in sweet home Alabama, but has called Nashville home since 2013. When she’s not working as the editorial assistant at She Reads Truth, you can find her enjoying good food and good conversation with her friends and family. She is a lover of iced coffee, ugly dogs, and the Oxford comma.
45 thoughts on "The Priests Served Us"
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Does anyone else struggle with the Philippians passage, ….setting my mind on earthly things? It makes me wince when I think of putting my mind to get through nursing school and other goals. I would love to get some feedback. Thank you! I think I may be mixing up apples and oranges but I promise you I have struggled here.
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Deb, there is a contrast made in these verses between ‘the enemies of the cross and how they live’ and the citizens of heaven – the children of God. Our mission is to bring glory to God. That whatever we do in word or deed may be done for the glory of God. In doing this, we are laying up treasures in heaven. Going through nursing school with a heart of obedience is laying up treasure in heaven.
Knowing God’s Word and obeying it is laying up treasure in heaven.
These treasures are a result of obedience because of God’s love.
Jesus said, if you love me, obey my commands. The two greatest commands are “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” In keeping these two commands, we fulfill all of God’s commands. Just focus on these two and everything will fall into place.
Since we are citizens of heaven, we are sojourners here which means we should always be looking up to our home going. It gives us a heavenly perspective while living here and keeps us on the right path in our journey.
May God bless you as you learn how to give nursing care in the love of Jesus.-
Thank you for your gracious response!
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I have also thought a lot about what should fill my mind and drive my goals as I pursue a life spent following God. Another passage that helps me make sense of this one in Philippians is Colossians 3. In verse 2 Paul talks about setting your mind “above, not on earthly things.” Then he goes on to list things that mark our “earthly nature” in verse 5: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed. Fortunately, he goes on to give us the opposite of these things in verse 12, which also happen to be the antidotes: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and so on. This list sounds very similar to the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, where my Bible has the heading “The Spirit Versus The Flesh” over verses 16-26. So, to make sense of Philippians, I find it more beneficial not to think in terms of “earthly vs. heavenly,” but of “spirit vs. flesh.” Are the pursuits we undertake on earth done with a mind full of the spirit (to promote love, joy, peace, etc…) or to promote desires of the flesh? I see no reason why your pursuit of a nursing degree (and other goals that might initially seem “earthly) cannot help feed the Spirit inside you as you use your talents to show God’s love to the world. Hope this helps!
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Yes it does! I will think over these answers. Thank you!
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Also, I like to look at it like this. As Christs disciples her on earth he uses us as his hand’s feet and mouth
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Sorry hit the button to soon. Anyway, I believe he has gifted us with certain talents that he will use for his kingdom. We are of use in ways we can’t imagine but I’m sure he will use you for amazing things as a nurse! He needs his people everywhere. Not to mention as a nurse you tend to see people when they are most vulnerable, and that is when people realize their need and are more receptive to Christ! Be the Light wherever he plants you!
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Thank you again for the reminder of how important all of the lists of names are in the Bible. These are the chapters that pastors always skip over when doing studies, but I love how y’all have made these chapters so relevant!!! Knowing the importance of something helps you appreciate it so much more.
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Many times, I have stopped reading the Bible because I just couldn’t focus long enough to read the names, places, and ages. Thank you for the reminder that these names are just as important as the rest of God’s word!
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In the middle of the list of names, one thing (the main thing) rises to the surface: praise. In verses 8 and 24 we read about songs of thanksgiving and praise – the words and melodies bouncing back and forth between the priestly choirs standing opposite each other. I can imagine the emotion. Living in our overseas, “restricted” Muslim context, corporate worship looks like a handful of us singing along to recorded praise music in an apartment living room. When we have the opportunity to freely, openly sing and worship with other believers (at a conference or when visiting the States), I am always overwhelmed the first few times – unable to sing through my years of joy and thanksgiving. This is what I picture here, but on an even grander scale. As a people, and as individuals, they have finally returned. They can finally worship freely and corporately in the place God gave them.
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This is beautiful, thank you for reminding those of us who never have to worry about our freedom to worship of what a gift it is.
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Praise God we belong to him. And from here in out change our ansestry of our future kids and grands to know they came from God and belong to Him.
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I can’t help but thinking of the song from the musical Hamilton- What’s your name man? I too tend at times to skip over names and genealogies, but gosh how important those really are. Especially when you look at the genealogy of Jesus and you see the vastly different types of people that were in his line. Tho he is God’s son the perfect one, these people are still listed in his genealogy. Where we came from is all part of who we are today and is Gods perfect plan and timing. Each has a purpose- it’s in our future our past and our present. We all matter.
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Amen!
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I use the YouVersion Bible app to read aloud to me these portions with the many names I can’t pronounce. In doing this, I am better able to read them whenever I come across them elsewhere.
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Thanks Nancy
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What a great idea! Thanks Nancy- I’m going to try that!
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That’s a good idea!
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Thank you for that tip! It makes all the difference in reading through that list of difficult names.
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“Our most important family name is the one given to us as children of God. We are His sons and daughters, and He is our Father. We belong to Him. He is our ancestry. He is our past, present, and future. Our citizenship and our family name rests fully with Him, and Him alone.”
I needed this so much. I just recently found out some horrible things about my ancestors, and the atrocities they committed within my family. It’s been laying heavy on my heart, these dark secrets my family has kept covered up for so long. Reading this has really helped ease that heartache. Thank you. ♥
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