Category Archives: Ezra

Preservation

Posted on June 25, 2023 | Leave a comment

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.

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Divided Hearts

Posted on June 18, 2023 | Leave a comment

1 Then Darius the king made a decree…
2 And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written:…
3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained…
4 with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.
5 And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God…be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place.
…11 Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.
12 May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.”

Preparation:
The exile’s return created a conflict of territorial, cultural and religious rights between them and the people who occupied the land in their absence. Frustration, intimidation and fear have resulted in a years-long delay of building and divided hearts in the people of God.

Proof:
God has chosen the prophet’s words to overcome the fear and intimidation of His people by their adversaries and prepare their divided hearts to resume rebuilding the temple.
AND the the long-awaited letter from Darius the King has arrived with full details of how the project is to to be funded, orders giving the Jews full territorial rights to this spot: to proceed rebuilding the house of God without the interference of the cultural opposition to the project and the promise to return the stolen religious treasures from the original temple.

Provision:
The most interesting truth of this story is it’s about God’s provision for divided hearts to accomplish His plan.  He used the challenging words of Haggaia so His own people could recognize their hearts were divided by circumstances.   And there was Godly preparation for the divided heart of a Persian king to acknowledge that despite territorial, cultural and religious disputes with those same people he would issue a dramatic decree of accountability to a God he did not really know…”May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

a Haggai

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Posted in Ezra, Haggai, Light, Old Testament, Sunday

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Not Yet Finished

Posted on June 11, 2023 | Leave a comment

Excerpts: 5:3 At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?”…5 But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it. 6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River…sent to Darius the king…8 Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. 9 Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’…13…in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. 14 And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; 15 and he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” 16 Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is not yet finished.’ 17 Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”

Stop! That was the order from the local authority of “Beyond the River” that brought the rebuilding of the temple to a halt. Beyond the River was the name given by Persian rulers to their province that included Judah and Israel.  The local authority was foreign people, aka “samaritans,” brought into this land by the Assyrians to replace the exiled tribes after the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. During the years of exile they have become the controlling presence in the land and are determined to protest the Jews right to rebuild the temple.  They have no legitimate connection with Jerusalem, but they see themselves as heirs of the Northern Kingdom. They’re not a bit confused about the legality of what the people of God are doing but they’ve found a loophole to explore using the only bureaucratic tool they’ve got.

The letter to the King details good things about the work on the project using all the right words and then taints the truth of their words by asking King Darius to verify certain things for them. Did Cyrus really issue such an edict and does it limit the Jews in any way? Just asking. Is this letter a veiled warning to the King that he “let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem.” Is this persistent building of the Jews only the first phase of a larger plan to take over the whole city and undermine the king’s authority, and theirs? What has prompted my question is their odd phrasing in the last half of verse 16…“from that time until now it has been in building, and it is not yet finished.’”

The Jews are acting as “the servants of the God of heaven and earth” and they have faith in the legality of the edict of King Cyrus that gave them permission and support to rebuild the temple on it’s former site in Jerusalem. Their confidence in those two things has encouraged them to resume building “the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is not yet finished.” The Altar has been repaired √, the foundation completed √ — and now under the watchful “eye of their God” there will be a new temple “and it is not yet finished.” Stay tuned, there’s drama to come.

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The Big Restoration

Posted on June 4, 2023 | Leave a comment

4:1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”  4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.  6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

Seventy years have passed in exile and now the “people of Israel” who have lived through the punishment of exile and years of slowly being assimilated into a foreign culture are finally “home.”  By the good grace of a king, Cyrus, they can rebuild the temple and once again be able to offer the sacrifices of their heart to God in His dedicated house.  Now they’re faced with a new problem; who are the foreigners here?  The “people of the land,” the who have occupied this place for 70 years are accusing them of being the foreigners and disputing the edict of the king that made their homecoming possible. The years of exile have resulted in the loss of their identity as “the people of Israel” in the eyes of their adversaries.  Now they are only “the people of Judah.”  That’s a subtle and discouraging slur.

Some who still remember witnessing the destruction of that first Holy temple have returned with hope that rebuilding this temple will restore God’s glory to all Israel while others born during the time of exile have only heard the stories of that historical glory and have come longing to finally experience God’s glory for themselves in a proper place of worship.  They’re “home” now but discouraged, outnumbered and surrounded by occupiers on all sides.

It’s true, they’ve  returned to rebuild the temple, but the big restoration God has planned for them is more than a new building on this holy site.  It’s purpose is greater than walls that identify their territorial rights as the “people of Israel.”  God has restored these exiles to establish this new temple as a visible sign to the people of the land that the glory of God is made visible through their efforts to reveal their true identity as the “people of  the Lord, the God of Israel.”

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A New Beginning

Posted on May 28, 2023 | Leave a comment


“Scripture Quotes,” [My Cliff Notes] and [ESV] Cross References
Ezra 3:1”When the seventh month came,” [the Jews celebrated the Day of Atonement, the Feasts of Trumpets, it’s called RoshHashanah today, and Tabernacles , now Yom Kippur.  It was ten days known as the Days of Awe when people contemplated their position before God.]
[A] Nehemiah 8:1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.

Ezra 3:2 “Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.” [the altar was placed on its base found where the ruined temple had stood.]
[D] Deuteronomy 12:5 & 6 …you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock

Ezra 3:3 “They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord,” [they recognized the first priority for their safety, before any act of dedication to God, was to place the altar to provide the people a place of atonement for their sins AND be a visible sign to the faithless people of the area of their intent to rebuild what had been destroyed.]
[F] Ezra 4:4…the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build.

Ezra 3:4 “And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required,” [This feast celebrated how God had brought them out of Egypt long ago.  Being forced to live once again in temporary shelters to celebrate this feast in a desolate place was a reminder of the faithfulness of God in the past and His active presence in their future.]
[H] Zechariah 14:16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.

Ezra 3:6 “From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.” [The walls of the temple needed a foundation but without the altar in place there, it could never be the house of God.]

Ezra 3:8 “Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. “
[R] 1 Chronicles 23:24 These were the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses, the heads of fathers’ houses as they were listed according to the number of the names of the individuals from twenty years old and upward who were to do the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
[S] 1 Chronicles 23:4 “Twenty-four thousand of these,” David said, “shall have charge of the work in the house of the Lord,

Ezra 3:10 “And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel.” [It was a grand ceremonial dedication of thanks for restoration to their homeland and the opportunity to rebuild the house of God.]
[W] 1 Chronicles 6:31 These are the men whom David put in charge of the service of song in the house of the Lord after the ark rested there

 Ezra 3:11 “And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.” [This time standing amid the still desolated site with no ark of the covenant and no walls, they ‘made a beginning together,’ offering the best of what they had to God.]
[X] 1 Chronicles 16:34 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Ezra 3:12 &13 “But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.” [Many years had passed. Some who were old enough to have seen the first temple, wept tears of grief over the irreplaceable things of glory that had been lost forgetting the sin that had led to their exile. Others who were young, never knowing anything other than exile and longing for a proper place of worship, rejoiced over the promised glory of God in this “new” foundation.]
Zechariah 8:7 & 8 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.”

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Good News!

Posted on May 21, 2023 | Leave a comment

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:  2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”  5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 

My Cliff Notes:
That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.  He made a proclamation and also put it in writing:  Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him.  Let him go up to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel.  Then rose up everyone whose spirit God had stirred and all who were about them aided them with all that was freely offered.  Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem.

Interesting things I learned:
God used one pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, to punish the Jews and another, Cyrus, to return the exiled people to Jerusalem to restore their temple. It’s an odd bit of Good News that the success of Godless men does not affect the Sovereignty of God’s complete authority over all men despite their manipulative intent, despite hostile power grabs and despite distance and time. 

God returned His people to the very place His son must be born and to His Temple in the city where Jesus would come in order to accomplish His plans for the salvation of many.   Thanks to a small footnoteª I read these words, also from Jeremiah 29:10, “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.”  It was curiosity that ‘stirred up’ my spirit to see a new connection between Old Testament history and the only verse I could quote from Jeremiah; the very next one after the one Ezra 1 references. It’s just one additional verse but it confirms the centuries old desire from the heart of God to His people that is still true today.  You probably know it too. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  That one more verse makes Ezra more than history, it’s Good News for today!

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