chased

March 2, 2017

Being pursued (Lam 4:19-4:19)

Qoph

“Our pursuers

Were swifter

Than the eagles

In the heavens.

They chased us

On the mountains.

They lay in wait

For us

In the wilderness.”

Continuing with the first person plural, the people of Jerusalem and this author believed that they were being pursued by their enemies that were faster than the eagles in the sky. Their foes chased them into the mountains and lay waiting to ambush them in the desert wilderness, since their enemies were all around them. This verse starts with the Hebrew consonant letter Qoph in this acrostic poem.

February 16, 2015

The defiled priest (Neh 13:28-13:29)

“One of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore, I chased him from me.

‘Remember them,

O my God,

Because they have defiled the priesthood

The covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.’”

Nehemiah specifically chased the son of Jehoiada, the grandson of the high priest Eliashib, because he had married a non-Jewish person. It does not say if he inflicted physical punishment on him. Certainly, he had defiled the priesthood. Once again, he has a little prayer to God to remember the covenant about the defilement of the priesthood.