Ezra 2:65 & 2:70

65 besides their 7,337 menservants and maidservants; and they also had 200 men and women singers...70 The priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.

The Levites were the one tribe of the Children of Israel who did not receive a portion of land as their inheritance. Instead, their inheritance was service to the LORD as priests and musicians in the tabernacle and temple. But they did need a place to live–the tabernacle and temple didn't have enough rooms for the 23,000 Levites! So the LORD commanded Moses to give the Levites towns and pastureland from the inheritance Israel would possess, and Joshua carried out this promise after the conquest of the land of Canaan.

Joshua 21 records the towns that were given to the descendants of the three sons of Levi:

For the descendants of Kohath:

• descendants of Aaron were allotted 13 towns from the tribes of Judah and Simeon
  

1. Kiriath Arba (aka Hebron-city of refuge), with its surrounding pastureland, in the hill country of Judah
2. Libnah
3. Jattir
4. Eshtemoa
5. Holon
6. Debir
7. Ain
8. Juttah
9. Beth Shemesh

• and Benjamin

1. Gibeon
2. Geba
3. Anathoth
4. Almon

• the rest of Kohath's descendants were allotted 10 towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, (4 towns)
  

1. Shechem (city of refuge)
2. Gezer
3. Kibzaim
4. Beth Horon
   

• Dan (4 towns)
  

1. Eltekeh
2. Gibbethon
3. Aijalon
4. Gath Rimmon
   

• and half the tribe of Manasseh (2 towns)
  

1. Taanach
2. Gath Rimmon
   

For the descendants of Gershon:

• 13 towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan

For the descendants of Merari:

• 12 towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun
  

Ezra 2:41

41 The singers:
the descendants of Asaph 128

Kind of a strange passage about singing, isn't it? At first glance it doesn't seem to tell us much, but when you read it in context, it becomes a passage full of hope and God's grace.

In the years 588-586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried into exile a remnant of the Children of Israel whom he had not yet killed. Nebuchadnezzar also

"carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD's temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God's temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there." (2 Chron. 36:18-19)

The remnant was taken to Babylon as servants and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power–about 49 years later.

In the first year that Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, reigned over Babylon (he captured it in Oct. 539 BC), the LORD (Yahweh, the God of the Promise) moved the heart of Cyrus to rebuild the temple and let the Children of Israel return to their homeland (March 538 BC). What follows in Ezra 2 is the list of exiles who returned. Out of the 42,360 exiles who returned to Jerusalem, 128 of them were male descendants of Asaph–a musician, the chief minister before the ark of the LORD, a cymbal player, a seer, a recorder for King Hezekiah, the keeper of the king's forest, and the author of Psalm 50 and Psalms 73-83 .

This gives comfort and hope.

1. The singing hadn't stopped when they were in exile, even though it was hard to sing praise to God when the Babylonians forced them to sing, as Psalm 137 records.
2. There were many male descendants of Asaph after 49 years, showing that God still blessed the remnant, even in exile.
3. The singing would continue–God brought the leaders of singing back to the rebuilding of his temple.
   

Traveling Choir's First Sunday-10/14/07

The WLA Traveling Choir sings this Sunday for the first time this school year at two of the farthest southern WLA association congregations: (9:00 AM) St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, 308 Herman St., Iron Ridge, WI and (10:30 AM) Zum Kripplein Christi Lutheran

Schedule (10/14/07)
6:45 AM Students who need a bus ride should be dressed in TC outfits and inside WLA at Door #1
7:00 AM A chartered bus will leave WLA for St. Matthew's, Iron Ridge


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8:00 AM Students traveling by car should be at St. Matthew's Church dressed in TC outfits
8:00-8:45 AM Warmups in front of church. Sing through all five pieces.
8:45 AM Donuts & Juice in church basement

9:00 AM Service at St. Matthew's
10:00 AM Board bus and cars and drive to Zum Kripplein Christi Lutheran Church

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10:30 AM Service at ZKC

11:30 AM-12:00 PM Potluck lunch at ZKC for TC students and parents

12:00 PM Board bus to return to WLA
1:00 PM Bus returns to WLA

Music for this Sunday:

Before the Sermon, in place of the Hymn of the Day:
This Is My Word (Pepper Choplin)
This Little Light of Mine (arr. Dale Witte)
O Christ the Same (Craig Courtney)

After the Benediction, in place of the Final Hymn:
Witness (arr. Jack Halloran)
O Love of God, How Strong and True (arr. Michael McCarthy)

AK Prepares for Choralfest

2 Chronicles 29:27-28

27 Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the LORD began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.

2 Chronicles 23:18

18 Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the LORD in the hands of the priests, who were Levites, to whom David had made assignments in the temple, to present the burnt offerings of the LORD as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing, as David had ordered.

2 Chronicles 23:13

13 She looked, and there was the king, standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and singers with musical instruments were leading the praises. Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted, "Treason! Treason!"

She–Athaliah (queen mother/regent)
the king–

This section of God's Word reads like a soap opera. To get a little background to today's verse, go back a chapter and read 2 Chron. 22:10-12.

Athaliah and Joash

10 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah's sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. 12 He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.