Nehemiah
Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 11:06 pm
2 Maccabees 18
Since we shall be celebrating the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev, we thought it right to inform you, that you too may celebrate the feast of Booths and of the fire that appeared when Nehemiah, the builder of the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.
19
For when our ancestors were being led into captivity in Persia, devout priests at the time took some of the fire from the altar and hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry cistern, making sure that the place would be unknown to anyone.
20
Many years later, when it so pleased God, Nehemiah, commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to look for it.
22
Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle the wood and what lay on it with the liquid.
This was done, and when at length the sun, which had been clouded over, began to shine, a great fire blazed up, so that everyone marveled.
1. Captivity in Persia
2. Nehemiah, builder of the temple.
3. Zoroastrian Fire
Nehemiah
1.1; Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah (נחמיה בן־חכליה)
1.11; For I was the king's cupbearer (אני הייתי משקה למלך)
2.1; I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king
How did Nehemiah become the King's cupbearer, a very high Persian honor.
Herodotus 3.34
Prexaspes, whom he held in particular honor, who brought him all his messages, whose son held the very honorable office of Cambyses' cup-bearer
The Spartans had a very close relationship with Persian Kings.
Herodotus 7.3
While Darius delayed making his decision, it chanced that at this time Demaratus son of Ariston had come up to Susa, in voluntary exile from Lacedaemonia after he had lost the kingship of Sparta. Learning of the contention between the sons of Darius, this man, as the story goes, came and advised Xerxes to add this to what he said: that he had been born when Darius was already king and ruler of Persia, but Artobazanes when Darius was yet a subject; therefore it was neither reasonable nor just that anyone should have the royal privilege before him. At Sparta too (advised Demaratus) it was customary that if sons were born before their father became king, and another son born later when the father was king, the succession to the kingship belongs to the later-born. Xerxes followed Demaratus advice, and Darius judged his plea to be just and declared him king. But to my thinking Xerxes would have been made king even without this advice, for Atossa held complete sway.
Herodotus 7.104
To this Demaratus answered, “O king I knew from the first that the truth would be unwelcome to you. But since you compelled me to speak as truly as I could, I have told you how it stands with the Spartans. You yourself best know what love I bear them: they have robbed me of my office and the privileges of my house, and made me a cityless exile; your father received me and gave me a house and the means to live on.
Herodotus 7.237
Achaemenes,” Xerxes answered, “I think that you speak well, and I will do as you counsel. Despite the fact that your advice is better than his, Demaratus does say what he supposes to be most serviceable to me, for assuredly I will never believe that he is no friend to my cause. I believe this of him because of all that he has already said and by what is the truth, namely, that if one citizen prospers, another citizen is jealous of him and shows his enmity by silence, and no one, (except if he has attained the height of excellence; and such are seldom seen) if his own townsman asks for counsel, will give him what he thinks to be the best advice. If one stranger prospers, however, another stranger is beyond all men his well-wisher and will, if he is asked, impart to him the best counsel he has. It is for this reason that I bid you all to refrain from maligning Demaratus, seeing that he is a stranger and a friend.”
Genesis 17:8
I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger
Genesis 23:4
I am a stranger and a sojourner with you
Leviticus 19:34
But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 10:19
Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Psalm 39:12
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
Psalm 69:8
I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.
Psalm 119:19
I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
Obadiah 1:12
But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger;
Λάκαιναν χώρην : Laconian land
Demetrius > Procles > Nehemiah
οἰκός τοῦ Δημητρίου : אפרתה בית לחם
Since we shall be celebrating the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev, we thought it right to inform you, that you too may celebrate the feast of Booths and of the fire that appeared when Nehemiah, the builder of the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.
19
For when our ancestors were being led into captivity in Persia, devout priests at the time took some of the fire from the altar and hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry cistern, making sure that the place would be unknown to anyone.
20
Many years later, when it so pleased God, Nehemiah, commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to look for it.
22
Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle the wood and what lay on it with the liquid.
This was done, and when at length the sun, which had been clouded over, began to shine, a great fire blazed up, so that everyone marveled.
1. Captivity in Persia
2. Nehemiah, builder of the temple.
3. Zoroastrian Fire
Nehemiah
1.1; Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah (נחמיה בן־חכליה)
1.11; For I was the king's cupbearer (אני הייתי משקה למלך)
2.1; I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king
How did Nehemiah become the King's cupbearer, a very high Persian honor.
Herodotus 3.34
Prexaspes, whom he held in particular honor, who brought him all his messages, whose son held the very honorable office of Cambyses' cup-bearer
The Spartans had a very close relationship with Persian Kings.
Herodotus 7.3
While Darius delayed making his decision, it chanced that at this time Demaratus son of Ariston had come up to Susa, in voluntary exile from Lacedaemonia after he had lost the kingship of Sparta. Learning of the contention between the sons of Darius, this man, as the story goes, came and advised Xerxes to add this to what he said: that he had been born when Darius was already king and ruler of Persia, but Artobazanes when Darius was yet a subject; therefore it was neither reasonable nor just that anyone should have the royal privilege before him. At Sparta too (advised Demaratus) it was customary that if sons were born before their father became king, and another son born later when the father was king, the succession to the kingship belongs to the later-born. Xerxes followed Demaratus advice, and Darius judged his plea to be just and declared him king. But to my thinking Xerxes would have been made king even without this advice, for Atossa held complete sway.
Herodotus 7.104
To this Demaratus answered, “O king I knew from the first that the truth would be unwelcome to you. But since you compelled me to speak as truly as I could, I have told you how it stands with the Spartans. You yourself best know what love I bear them: they have robbed me of my office and the privileges of my house, and made me a cityless exile; your father received me and gave me a house and the means to live on.
Herodotus 7.237
Achaemenes,” Xerxes answered, “I think that you speak well, and I will do as you counsel. Despite the fact that your advice is better than his, Demaratus does say what he supposes to be most serviceable to me, for assuredly I will never believe that he is no friend to my cause. I believe this of him because of all that he has already said and by what is the truth, namely, that if one citizen prospers, another citizen is jealous of him and shows his enmity by silence, and no one, (except if he has attained the height of excellence; and such are seldom seen) if his own townsman asks for counsel, will give him what he thinks to be the best advice. If one stranger prospers, however, another stranger is beyond all men his well-wisher and will, if he is asked, impart to him the best counsel he has. It is for this reason that I bid you all to refrain from maligning Demaratus, seeing that he is a stranger and a friend.”
Genesis 17:8
I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger
Genesis 23:4
I am a stranger and a sojourner with you
Leviticus 19:34
But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 10:19
Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Psalm 39:12
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
Psalm 69:8
I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.
Psalm 119:19
I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
Obadiah 1:12
But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger;
Λάκαιναν χώρην : Laconian land
Demetrius > Procles > Nehemiah
οἰκός τοῦ Δημητρίου : אפרתה בית לחם