Preservation

THE STORY
7 And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. 8 And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him. 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
THE KING
21 “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence…23 Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.
EZRA
27 Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, 28 and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

MY THOUGHTS
A long line of Persian kings have remembered the priestly history of the exiled people and the dramatic intervention of the “God of heaven” in their past.  What is remarkable is all those kings, who’ve revered many gods have kept a fearful reverence for the power of this God to act on behalf of His people in the present…and…Finally we meet Ezra himself.  Ezra is a descendent of Aaron the first High Priest and the son of the last High Priest before captivity. He was born in captivity.  That history has been the bookends of his life.  He has never personally experienced worship in a place filled with God’s presence but he’s “set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” and the king has given him legal authority to act on God’s behalf.

Ezra’s heart is generous to the king.  “Blessed be the Lord, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers.”

The king’s generosity has seen the value of his support for “the people of Israel” as the preservation of his kingdom.  “Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.”

Ezra stands “before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers” knowing “the good hand of his God” is revealing God’s steadfast love and power that manages the heart even of a pagan king — for the preservation of His people.