Nehemiah’s Holy Sacrifice

Synopsis     2Maccabees 1:17-35     3/17/2021 

This is part of a letter exhorting Egyptian Jews to celebrate the Feast of Booths. In it, they were also encouraged to celebrate the purification of the temple. 

As a part of this celebration, the Egyptians were reminded of the way Nehemiah recovered the fire from the first temple.  

As it is written, when the eastern people invaded and destroyed the temple, some of the priests preserved fire from the alter in a dry cistern. In the cistern, the remnant of fire turned into a fluid.  

So, then, when Nehemiah returned to rebuild the temple, this fluid was rediscovered and placed on the sacrifice. By the light of the sun, the fluid burst into flames and consumed the sacrifice.  

This was reported to the King of Persia. As a result, the king declared the spot a holy place. 

God Made Nehemiah’s Sacrifice Holy 

In Solomon’s Temple, God brought fire from the sky and consumed the sacrifices that were offered there. So then, in the second temple, God preserved some of the fire from the first temple and used it to continue the sacrifice in the second.  

So, the people brought their offerings. But, God alone made the sacrifice holy. 

God Makes the Sacrifice Holy 

Just like the ancients, I bring what I have to offer. Of course, nothing I bring could be worthy before the Holy God of all creation.  

But if I bring the thing most cherished, God can work with that. If I bring a broken and contrite heart, then He can turn brokenness into a pleasing sacrifice.  

“My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.” Psa 51:19