“[These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Joshua]…
…Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,
Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah and Jedaiah.
These were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the days of Joshua.”
Nehemiah 12:6-7
Last time we looked into priests’ names and reminded ourselves opportunities to suffer with joy are, too, from the Right Hand of our powerful Abba. Today we finish with the names of the priests in this section.
We have seen Shemaih recently enough, so I want to begin with Joiarib. It means “the LORD contends,” from Yah and rib: to strive, contend, argue, complain, find fault, judge, plead your case, quarrel, reprimanded, adversary, chide, debate, ever, lay wait, plea, grapple, wrangle.
When I think of that word wrangle, I picture a cowboy’s rope around a calf, then wrestling the writhing animal to the ground. And we all know what it’s like to feel as though someone were lying in wait to find fault with or debate us. So picturing these definitions in the context of Yahweh contending are difficult to reconcile.
Our small group talked about love and justice last week in exploring Ephesians 2. When writing how Christ broke down the wall of hostility, Paul was referring to an actual wall with a warning of death for Gentiles who attempted to worship beyond a certain point in Temple.
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,
and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.“
Ephesians 2:14-18
When Paul wrote this to the church of Ephesus, that wall still remained. And, according to the struggles he addressed in his letters, the hostility between Jewish and Gentile believers remained as well. So why write as if it had been destroyed? As if the two groups had already been made one?
One group member pointed out how Paul was calling the church out in this way. That because of what Jesus did, the wall of hostility among them should have been torn down. Seems a relevant topic to our current day, no?
The opportunity for dividing walls abound. And if social media is our indicator, hostility is evident. So what do we think this has to do with Yah contending?
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s daughter, Bernice King, is one of my favorite Twitter follows. I think we sometimes picture Dr. King and the civil rights movement as from a completely separate time. But, no, his daughter is tweeting regularly, reminding others of justice.
She has said, “Justice is love applied to systems and cultures.” As in, the two are not separate. One of my favorite illustrations of this is imagining if a society is throwing babies into a river streaming toward a cliff. Love would be pulling babies out of the water before the current rushed them down the waterfall. Justice would be backing up river and figuring out why society is throwing babies in the first place. Then fixing the problem.
I think this is the type of contending which comes from Yah. It seems that way when looking at Old Testament prophets, angry with those attending religious ceremonies but ignoring the poor, orphan, and widowed. Allowing unbalanced scales in the marketplace to take advantage of others.
And it looks that way in Paul’s letters when he challenges the wall of hostility still in place. When those considered other are not allowed, in our minds, to come near to God. In situations like these, we must back up the river and figure out why.
The problem is when we, as fallible humans, attempt the “strive, contend, plead a case, grapple, or wrangle” part of our definition of rib, it quickly turns to, “argue, complain, find fault, judge, quarrel, adversary, chide, lay wait” section. (I am talking to myself here.)
But the good news is, we are not the Good News. It does not turn that way with God. When we watch God walking around as a Man on earth in the Gospels, He balances this perfectly. When he finds fault, judges, and chides His adversaries, it is with sinless authority and perfection. And in complete love and sublime justice.
When we attempt this, in our brokenness, we often cannot wait – we lie in wait – to blast our adversaries in a spirit of self-righteousness and even hate. It should not be so.
One of the ways we will be able to back up the river is moving forward in finding our identity in Christ, and what He took on in His flesh to tear down that wall of hostility. As we do this, in imperfection, we find less of a need to quarrel and turn others into adversaries, while still compelled to plead the case and contend for justice in love.
This often looks like our Savior, laying down our lives on behalf of those we desire to plead our case before. Like Paul, we can
“…rejoice in what [we] suffer…for you, and…fill up in [our] flesh
what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.”
Colossians 1:24
This one is tricky, because it seems like Paul thinks Christ’s afflictions are lacking – or not enough – for His Church. But it is more likely the incarnational witness that was lacking in the church. They did not know how to apply Christ’s afflictions among themselves, so Paul celebrated that Jesus could show them, in real time, what that suffering could look like.
And it does not look like hostility, self-righteous judgment, or lying in wait to prove others wrong. It looks like dying to ourselves and loving our neighbors as ourselves. All our neighbors.
We have seen Jedaiah and Sallu in the last several months, so let’s move on with Amok. His name comes from amoq: to be deep, seek depth, be profound. Interesting name, right? Unfortunately, when we seek to be deep or profound, it can easily become about us. However, if we seek His depth, His wisdom, it can glorify our Savior.
We’ve seen Hilkiah recently enough, but his name meaning is delightful to end with. It means “my portion is Yah” from cheleq: portion, territory, farm land, inheritance, legacy, property, reward, flattery, smoothness of tongue.
I’m so grateful that, whatever else is swirling around, He is our Shield and Very Great Reward. Our plans may fail, but He is our portion. I am disappointed in this result, but He is my portion. I disappoint you, but He is your portion. The Church can be messy, but it is His Body, and He is our Portion. The only inheritance that matters.
Our verses for today end with, “These were the leaders (rosh – heads) and associates (ach – brothers) in the days of Joshua.” Joshua means “the LORD saves,” and these leaders and brothers all had names which pointed to Him.
May all our lives point to what we could never do on our own, but what He has done for us.