Today Our Daily Bread Nehemiah 12 & 2 Cor 2:14

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

Nehemiah 12

The Priests and Levites

1 Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, 3 Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 Iddo, Ginnethoi,[a] Abijah, 5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, 6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, 7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah.These were the heads of the priests and their brethren in the days of Jeshua.
8 Moreover the Levites (Levi = joined) were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who led the thanksgiving psalms, he and his brethren. 9 Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, stood across from them in their duties. 10 Jeshua begot Joiakim, Joiakim begot Eliashib, Eliashib begot Joiada, 11 Joiada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua.
12 Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the heads of the fathers’ houses were:
of Seraiah, Meraiah;
of Jeremiah, Hananiah; 13
of Ezra, Meshullam;
of Amariah, Jehohanan; 14
of Melichu,[b] Jonathan;
of Shebaniah,[c] Joseph; 15
of Harim,[d] Adna;
of Meraioth,[e] Helkai; 16
of Iddo, Zechariah;
of Ginnethon, Meshullam; 17
of Abijah, Zichri; the son of Minjamin;[f]
of Moadiah,[g] Piltai; 18
of Bilgah, Shammua;
of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; 19
of Joiarib, Mattenai;
of Jedaiah, Uzzi; 20
of Sallai,[h] Kallai;
of Amok, Eber; 21
of Hilkiah, Hashabiah;
and of Jedaiah, Nethanel. 22 During the reign of Darius the Persian, a record was also kept of the Levites and priests who had been heads of their fathers’ houses in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua. 23 The sons of Levi, the heads of the fathers’ houses until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib, were written in the book of the chronicles. 24 And the heads of the Levites ( Levi=joined) were
Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel,
with their brothers across from them, to praise and give thanks, group alternating with group, according to the command of David the man of God.
25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping the watch at the storerooms of the gates. 26 These lived in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak,[i] and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.

Nehemiah Dedicates the Wall
27 Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings and singing, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps. 28 And the sons of the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites, 29 from the house of Gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem. 30 Then the priests and Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, the gates, and the wall. 31 So I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs. One went to the right hand on the wall toward the Refuse Gate. 32 After them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah, 33 and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, 34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, 35 and some of the priests’ sons with trumpets—Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, 36 and his brethren, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them. 37 By the Fountain Gate, in front of them, they went up the stairs of the City of David, on the stairway of the wall, beyond the house of David, as far as the Water Gate eastward. 38 The other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way, and I was behind them with half of the people on the wall, going past the Tower of the Ovens as far as the Broad Wall, 39 and above the Gate of Ephraim, above the Old Gate, above the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate; and they stopped by the Gate of the Prison. 40 So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, likewise I and the half of the rulers with me; 41 and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Minjamin,[j] Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; 42 also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers sang loudly with Jezrahiah the director. 43 Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off.

Temple Responsibilities
44 And at the same time some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offerings, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered. 45 Both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God and the charge of the purification, according to the command of David and Solomon his son. 46 For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chiefs of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. They also consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron.

Footnotes:
Nehemiah 12:4 Or Ginnethon (compare verse 16)
Nehemiah 12:14 Or Malluch (compare verse 2)
Nehemiah 12:14 Or Shechaniah (compare verse 3)
Nehemiah 12:15 Or Rehum (compare verse 3)
Nehemiah 12:15 Or Meremoth (compare verse 3)
Nehemiah 12:17 Or Mijamin (compare verse 5)
Nehemiah 12:17 Or Maadiah (compare verse 5)
Nehemiah 12:20 Or Sallu (compare verse 7)
Nehemiah 12:26 Spelled Jehozadak in 1 Chronicles 6:14
Nehemiah 12:41 Or Mijamin (compare verse 5)
~Lena’s Journalin’~
Many times we just pass over scripture that goes on and on with names upon names upon names, but if we look closely we may see a few notable things.
I’ve underlined and made bold some of the key words that cause this group of people to be noted here. We see the setting as- the house of God and of God’s people and as one who came into God’s kingdom on my own as a teenager. I sense the idea of being alone and then being brought into a great Big family. In fact to me that was significant because my natural family was broken as many are, and it was hard to see god in that brokenness, yet the brokenness brought a desire for me to become whole by God’s presence and seek a place in life, a family.
God is a family God, this is why we call Him Father and Jesus Son, the church is the bride or mother, etc., because God is the ultimate family “man”.
If our own natural families are what society calls dysfunctional, we have a marred image of family, and when we come into the church, which is made up of human people who fail, we sometimes become unable to see this ultimate family picture. We desire to see it, but we find it hard to see it. Yet inside of the BIG family of God we form ideas of our Father God and of His fathering spirit over us as individuals and as a body of believers.
I noticed throughout these passages that the family structure is noted and encouraged even inside of the church structure. God places people as “heads” of this and that, just as he is the head of His body. He sets it up to be a model of His heart and a picture of who He is, a family God. Some of the scriptures call the leaders and members – brothers and sons and gives them positional names and responsibilities.
It is important where one comes from, BUT one must realize that even though they were naturally born of sinful and maybe even unavailable parents, they literally came from God. They belong in God’s family and God is looking for heads for His household, he is looking for brothers to come together, unify and work at presenting this model to the world who so desperately needs family. He desires sons who will do the Father’s will, people who will be responsible to God’s spirit and His call in the earth to model Him as the ultimate Father and He is looking for Fathers, ones who will mature and lead households of faith, all over the earth. One’s who will love and lead others into the definition of family like never before.
What do these “fathers” do? They come to God, then they lead others there, they stand against God’s enemy, they praise and give thanks, they are gatekeepers and watchmen on God’s mighty wall of protection, and they LIVE for Jesus- not for themselves and all that self life calls them to. Family is meant for nurturing and protection, for the reflecting of God’s praise, to cover the earth with the reflective sound of His praise.
I love when the word goes into intricate detail about instruments, about rules and laws etc. Why? Because it shows me that God is interested in all of me, in all of the intricate detail of the world and al its peoples. It tells me that he can use each one of us no matter how different we are. Instruments represent people. He wants me to bring cymbals, harps, lutes etc into the house of God for the praise of God in the earth. That means- in an expression some know- red and yellow, black and white…..anyone and all peoples are welcomed into God’s family and can give Him exuberant praise by the mere reflection of Him in their everyday lives. He can and will use any life that will give itself to His will. That life could be one who had no family at all, or of one who has a family, but it was broken in two, or another that had the “perfect” family! It does not matter who we are or were when we came, what matters is we came and when we did, what He made of us! Amen! We could have come in with no natural model, no father no natural mother, no brothers or sisters ever, except those in an orphanage, but God would set that very same person as a head of a household (even a Pastor), as a family man in His house, as a son in the spirit, as a brother in the faith.
I’m so feeling that we as believers in the house of God must begin to intercede for our families as never before. It is time to arise with the promises of god He has given us and believe Him for our natural households as well as his spiritual household. There is a promise we have to stand on, that as we believe, our whole households will be saved! (Acts16:31) If there is anything worth standing on, it would be that. No matter what your family looks life, it’s time to ask God for miracles.


(daily repetitive verse)
2 Corinthians 2:14
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.