The Message: A Romance in the Days of Ezra

By John Thatcher

Finally, a book about Noadiah - the final prophet of the Old Testament history books. Her story compels us to see the days of Ezra and Nehemiah from a new perspective.
They were desolate days in Jerusalem.
The Jews had killed the beloved prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, but Ezra the scribe and Nehemiah the Persian appointed Governor of Judea, omitted it from their glorious records reverberating with Jewish lineage and self-praise.
It took the coming of Jesus, the light to the Gentiles, to illuminate the dark acts of the Jews -
"Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’...upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar." Matthew 23:29-35
We need to see the history of the Jews through the lens of Jesus. When Nehemiah recorded that Noadiah and all the prophets were trying to intimidate him, were his actions right, or was it Noadiah and the other prophets who were right to oppose him?
John Thatcher combines a lifetime of Bible study with great insight, to present the closing acts of the Old Testament as a warning to perceive that the things that are of God, and the things that are of men.
Robin Jones

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781471680298

Book preview

A Romance in the Days of Ezra

John Thatcher

Illustrations Robin Jones

Published June 2022

Copyright © 2022 by John Thatcher. All rights reserved.

ISBN:  978-1-471-680298

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John’s blog -

https://reneweddayafterday.home.blog/

Published by Robin Jones

Email: [e-mail]

PROLOGUE

This book presents a new way of seeing the last events of the Old Testament.

Whilst many believe that Ezra was doing God’s will in forcing men to divorce their foreign wives, and Nehemiah to be righteous to exclude foreigners from worship, there is another way of understanding the record.

It is there to show us what not to do. How to avoid the trap of taking passages at face value and failing to apply mercy over Law. How to avoid our table becoming a snare.

Few seem to realise that the prophet Malachi was contemporary with Ezra and Nehemiah. The writings of Malachi are scathing of their actions.  ‘God hates divorce’ – written while they were divorcing their foreign wives. God accusing Judah of being unfaithful to Him, while Jewish leaders were accusing those married to foreigners of being unfaithful to God. God rejecting their offerings while Nehemiah was lighting fires on the altar -

Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! Mal. 2:2

Malachi ends with the prophecy that Elijah will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, because the fathers were sending away their own children with their foreign wives. God also said he would send Elijah to turn the hearts of people to their neighbours (See Septuagint version), meaning those from every nation, not just fellow Jews.

This book is an eye-opening read.

Robin Jones

CHAPTER 1

Josh’s face hit the dirt. His mouth was half open as he slid into the sandy clay. Small pebbles and sand covered the left side of this face and mouth. Thankfully his eyes were shut as he landed. He lay motionless.

He didn’t want to spit, in case of noise. He lay there for what seemed an eternity. Then he slowly raised his head, just a fraction and let saliva run from his mouth in a feeble attempt to rid it of the sand. He could feel the burn of gravel rash on his bare left arm.

He hadn’t expected to see a soldier here. Who was it?

He slowly raised his head to just the level required to see over the ridge he lay behind. There was a guy there all right. Josh dropped his head again. What was the guy doing? He didn’t seem to be walking – or moving. Josh slowly raised his head yet again. The guy seemed to be in amongst some shrubbery. Josh got a better look.

A grunt. A foot soldier. Josh could tell. He saw that the clip holding the tunic was leather. In an officer it would have been metal. The beard was square cut but not curled. A commoner – low class.

He seemed to be squatting in some sparse bush, pulling up his tunic.

‘Oh’ Josh whispered to himself. ‘The guy’s taking a pee or something.’

Josh’s hand tightened on the staff by his side. He could be up, cover the twenty or so paces to the guy in less than four seconds, all while the guy has his tunic knotted about his waste, he could smash his brains in. But why? That would drop this guy’s armed forces from one hundred thousand to a mere ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine; and he would leave a trail. They’d hunt him down.

No – better leave him be.

He would have expected a Persian soldier, but this guy looked Assyrian. Josh wondered what an Assyrian was doing here. They had been defeated a couple of hundred years ago, first in Nineveh and then at Harran. The conquering Babylonians hadn’t fared much better, having fallen to the Medes a handful of decades later. Now his beloved Judea was ruled by Persians. He figured that the Assyrians must be surveying Samaria for a possible tilt at re-establishing their former glory. Maybe the inhabitants of Samaria were trying to make a connection with the few remaining Assyrians to challenge Persia. Fat chance. One of the proverbs of ‘The Preacher’ came to his mind and he added an ironic ending of his own. ‘… the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…but that’s the way to bet!’ He didn’t think the Assyrians had much of a chance. Anyway, this one could live another day.

As he lay in the sand, waiting for the Assyrian to leave, his mind flew to the words of one of their holy prophets, Isaiah who has said ‘Egypt are my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.’ What was that all about?