Wisdom from Jonathan and Jahzeiah

Scripture Verse that caught my attention today: Ezra 10:15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levites supported them.

Observation: For some reason I think that Jonathan and Tikvah and Meshullam and Shabbethai make good sense.

Application: This is another one of those somewhat perplexing and even troubling sections of Scripture. The Israelites had intermarried with the people of the land and that was believed to be both against God’s will and a potential cause for God’s punishment. The solution, according to Ezra and the leaders, was to send the wives from these marriages away, along with the accompanying children. And, in fact, that it what was done.

Four people, however, opposed this matter: Jonathan and Jahzeiah with the support of Meshullam and Shabbethai. We never really hear from them again, and clearly their opinion did not hold sway. But I think they were on to something.

Here’s the deal (in my opinion!). The Israelites and the leaders (and I’m not really blaming them, cause they weren’t doing it intentionally…it’s just how their thought process worked) believed the blame should be placed on foreign women and, therefore, the solution was to simply get rid of them. But in reality, all of humanity has a sinful nature. And so it’s not quite as simple as proclaiming that some people (others) are bad and other people (ourselves) are, if not good, at least better!

I think that Jonathan and Jahzeiah realized the folly of such views—or at least had enough compassion to see that just sending women and children off on their own was not the ultimate solution. I can’t help but wonder if this is a case where the prevailing view was to find the quickest and easiest way to ease their guilty consciences, rather than to roll up their sleeves and really deal with the complexities of the situation in which they had placed themselves. And I think they could have taken a cue from the Lord on this. Remember the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. They were told that if they ate of one particular tree that they would die. That’s pretty clear cut. But in reality, once their sinful deed had become known, the Lord dealt with the complexity of the situation and let them live (albeit not in the garden). It’s like when parents have a daughter that gets pregnant out of wedlock. Sure, it’s not the ideal situation; it’s not what most people hope for and it may present a challenging predicament. But it’s a situation that can be worked through and from which much good can come.

I wish Jonathan and Jahzeiah’s views would have somehow prevailed.

Prayer: Lord, you know the ancient situations better than I. Same goes for life in the present. If my muttering makes any sense, well and good. If not, so be it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Scripture Readings today included: Ezra 9-10, Psalm 131, and Luke 21)