God’s Family

 Nehemiah 7-8; Acts 1

“The following came up from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer, but they could not show that their families were descended from Israel: the descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda: 642.”

Nehemiah 7:61, 62

It could have been during Xerxes’ edict, allowing the Jews to attack their enemies, that Tobiah and his family intermarried with Jews. Mordecai joined Nehemiah’s group in returning to Jerusalem from the Persian city of Susa. The fear of the Jews, which Mordecai’s actions produced, meant there was a mixture in the group of returning exiles. The only way to define Jewish identity was to prove Jewish lineage. Tobiah, who married into a Jewish family, opposed and ridiculed the rebuilding efforts of Nehemiah because he was less concerned with the welfare of the Jews than he was about his own welfare. 

In the new covenant community of the Church, Paul also warned of a mixture. There are those who are focused on their own interests, not those of Christ. If our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, we, too, share his DNA. The family of God has been purchased by the blood of Christ and we willingly lay down our lives for him.

“Lord Jesus, my life is yours and your interests are my focus, for your glory.”