Ezra 10 - The matter is dealt with

10:1-4

Ezra made quite a show of his repentance, and a large crowd gathered. They too wept bitterly. Shekinah led the people and suggested that they send their foreign wives away and make a promise to the Lord. He encouraged Ezra to lead the people in this way.

10:5-44

Ezra agreed to this and led the people accordingly. Ezra continued fasting. A proclamation was sent out through all Israel calling them to assemble in Jerusalem. There were quite severe penalties for not obeying this call. All the people of Benjamin and Judah gathered. It was raining and all the people were distressed, perhaps having some idea of why they had been summoned.Ezra told the people how they had sinned.The people agreed, except for a few people. We then get a list of all those who had intermarried.

ezra 9:1-15 - wrong relationships

9:1-15

The leaders became aware that the people, even including the priest and the Levites  had taken foreign women as their wives. This was against the Law of Moses, we also see why. The foreign nations followed detestable practices, and would tend to lead the Israelites astray. In response they told Ezra. Ezra was distraught. He was appalled and was supported by other Israelites who feared the Lord. Ezra then prayed to the Lord. Note that he does not go with an attitude of self-righteousness, and refers to “our sins” rather than “their sins”. He repented on behalf of the nation.

Ezra 8 - protection on the return

8:1-36

We now get a list of the family heads who came up with Ezra from Babylon. Ezra organised people so that the temple duties could be carried out properly. Ezra proclaimed a fast for protection on part of the journey, He had told the king that God would protect them, and wanted the name of the Lord to be honoured.

They were indeed protected on their journey

Ezra 7 - The king supports the Law of God

7:1-10

We now get the first mention of Ezra, and various details about him.. The key thing is that he was well versed in the Law of Moses. The journey from Babylon took about four months. We are told that the Lord was with him, and that this was because  he had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord. So he was qualified to be a teacher of the Law.

7:11-28

Ezra had a letter from Artaxerxes. The king was concerned that Ezra should ensure that the people are following the Law properly. He was also to take silver and gold artefacts, and to make proper sacrifices. It is interesting that the pagan king was so keen that the Law of God be properly implemented. The king's attitude encouraged Ezra. We are used to our governments being anti-God, or at best lukewarm.  We should not be afraid to pray for a change of heart in our leaders.

Ezra 6:1-22 - Building work completed

6:1-7

Darius issued an order for the archives to be searched, and it was discovered that Darius had indeed issued a decree. So Tattenai and Shethar-Bozenai and other officials were told to stay away  and not to interfere with the work.The Jews were to be allowed to get on with the work.

6:8-22

Moreover they were to ensure that the JEws were supplied with all that they needed. There were to be severe consequences for disobeying the order. This was a decree of King Darius. The decree was carried out with diligence, So the work carried on, the ministry of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah continued to be important,and the work was completed.The Passover was then completed, and there was great celebration.

Ezra 5:1-17 - The work continues and a letter is sent to King Darius

5:1-17

Haggai and Zechariah are now mentioned. Their prophetic ministries played an important role in the rebuilding work. Zerubbabel and Joshua seem to have led the rebuilding work, and the two prophets supported them. Tattenai and Shethar-Bozenai went to see what was happening, but the work was not stopped. They wrote to King Darius and suggested that a search be made of the archivist to see if indeed Cyrus had decreed the rebuilding work. The Jews had told them that they were doing the work of God, and that Cyrus had decreed it, and had ordered the return of various artefacts.

Ezra Chapter 4 - Opposition and the work comes to a halt

4:1,2

There was opposition to the rebuilding, as Nehemaih also found when he set about rebuilding the walls. So there was opposition to their setting up a place of worship, and to their setting up defences. The enemies adopted subterfuge, pretending to be wanting to help worship the Lord. As Jesus said in Matt 7:21, “not everyone who says Lord, Lord....” We need to beware of those who claim to follow the Lord, but in reality do not.

4:3-8

Zerubbabel and Joshua were wise, and knew that these people were not really followers of the Lord. However, the enemies bribed officials  to frustrate the work. We can expect opposition, and of a harassing nature. When Xerxes succeeded Cyrus they took a more direct approach, lodging an accusation against Judah and Jerusalem.. In the days of Artazerxes they sent him a letter, written in Aramaic.

4:9-16

The letter claimed that the rebuild was part of a rebellious act. Israel has always suffered false accusations, as we have today in the October 7th war. The enemies claimed there would be no more taxes for the king. They urged the king to search the records to see how rebellious Judah was.

4:17-24

The king made a search and seemed to agree that Judah had a troublesome history, so he ordered the work to stop. So the rebuilding work came to a standstill.

Ezra Chapter 3 - rebuilding begins

3:1:1-6

The people first got settled in their towns, then they assembled in Jerusalem. Joshua and Zerubbabel began to build the altar of God. Sacrifices would be offered here in accordance with the Law of Moses. They lived in fear of the surrounding people, but continued to offer the sacrifices. Then they celebrated the festival of Tabernacles. Everything was done in accordance with the Law of Moses. We can perhaps appreciate why, in Jesus’ time, so much importance was attached to the Law of Moses. The temple had not been rebuilt at this stage, indeed work had not even started on it.

3:7-13

After the sacrifices had been put in order, work began on rebuilding the temple. Money was given to the masons and carpenters. Levites were appointed to manage the work. Praise was given to the Lord. All the people gave a great shout when the foundation stone was laid. There were some who remembered the original temple, and the situation was particularly emotional for them, and they wept aloud. There was a lot of noise.

Ezra chapter 2 0 Lists!

2:1-70

We now get back to my favourite lists, in this case lists of returnees, this list parallels that in Neh 7:6-73. There are differences, particularly in the numbers, probably due to copying errors. The “province” is probably Judah. Joshua is the same Joshua as in Hag 1:1. The Nehemiah is  probably not the Nehemiah of the book. “Parosh” in 2:3 means “flea”, it was common for Israelites to be named after insects and animals. From 2:36 onwards the names are grouped by temple function.

Ezra - Chapter 1 - The return

 1:1-4

The beginning of Ezra is almost identical to 2 Chron 36:22,23. The emphasis is that Cyrus’ decree was to fulfil the word of the Lord, the Lord is sovereign over the nations. The decree of Cyrus fulfilled the word given through Jeremiah.  So the Jews were to be allowed to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, and they were to be provided with silver, gold, goods and livestock for the temple. Cyrus acknowledges who the Lord is.

1:5-7

Not everyone returned, but only those whose hearts God had moved. Their neighbours assisted them in providing them  with various goods. In the time before the exile, and after the defeat, various temple artefacts had been sent to, or taken to, Babylon. Cyrus arranged for these items to be sent back to Jerusalem.

1:8-11

It was common practice for Assyrian and Babylononian conquerors carried off plunder that kept a careful inventory. The list in v9,10 adds up to 2499. V11 refers to 5400 articles, it may be that the list given just includes the larger items.

Ezra - Introduction

Ezra - Introduction

2 Chronicles ends with Cyrus conquering Babylon, Ezra and Nehemiah deal with the return.The two books, Ezra and Nehemiah, were combined into one at an early stage. Indeed the Septuagint treats them as a single book.Origen (AD 185-253) is the first writer to consider them as separate books.. Many consider that the author of Ezra and Nehemiah was also the author of 1 & 2 Chronicles. Indeed the end of 2 Chronicles and the start of Ezra are very similar. Nehemiah is focused on the rebuilding work, while Ezra is more concerned with the religious rebuilding.

The TNIV study Bible lists the major  themes as:

• The restoration of Israel from exile. Sending  them into exile was a sovereign act of God, Babylon could not have defeated Judah unless God was against them. The restoration was also a sovereign act of God.

• The restoration was complete, although there was much work to be done in terms of rebuilding and restoring proper covenant worship.

• The restoration evoked opposition.

• The people needed to be taught, rebuked and corrected.

We can see parallels with Christian salvation. The work of Christ is complete (justification, sending of the Spirit) but there is much corrective work to be done (sanctification). There will be opposition, we need to be  taught rebuked and corrected.

Ezra 8:15-9:15 - Ezra returns

Ezra and his people set off on the way back to Jerusalem. There was a shortage of Levites. It is possible that during the exile many of the Levites had found alternative means of employment. 

Ezra put his trust in the Lord. He also declared his reliance on the Lord to the king, and got the people to pray and fast. A consequence of this trust in the Lord was that they could not have soldiers to protect them. It appears that this caused some anxiety to Ezra, but he kept to his word and continued in faith. 

They had received a vast sum form the nation and it was entrusted to the priests.

God proved faithful and they arrived safely in Jerusalem, where they rested after the long journey.

On arriving in Jerusalem Ezra discovered that many of the people had intermarried with other nations, something forbidden by the Law. Moreover, this unfaithfulness are led by the leaders and officials. All of us who are saved will have tainted ourselves in some way while we lived in the world, indeed this will increasingly become the case given the general moral decline of the nation. 

Ezra was deeply hurt by the disobedience. He prays to God, confessing the sins of the people. Note that there is no attempt to excuse the sin. The best response to sin is to openly confess it, repent and believe.

Ezra 8:1-14 - Ezra and Calvinism

We now get a list of those who returned with Ezra. It amounted to about 1500 men and included 40 Levites. We need to realise how few of the Israelites actually returned to Jerusalem in total (approx 50 000). God had opened up the way of "salvation" but few chose to take it. In a sense it is no different today. On the cross Jesus made the way of salvation, but still few choose to take it.

Can I go on a wee aside here on Calvanism. Calvanism is often summarised by the acronym TULIP. The L stands for limited atonement, this means that Christ died on the cross not for the sins of all but for the sins of the elect. (This is just a rather crude summary, please accept all its imperfections, there isn't time to go into the whole doctrine of Calvinism!) The strengths of the arguments for this view are mainly twofold. The first is that it stresses the personal aspect of Christ's sacrifice. It wasn't just a general thing, Christ really did die for you and for me, personally. We weren't just included in a general collection. It was a deliberate act of love. In fact, it would be far better for "limited atonement" to be replaced by "specific atonement". Limited atonement paints God as mean and nasty, that is most definitely not what the doctrine is saying. It is stressing the particular, the personal, and the effectiveness of Christ's death and resurrection. However, TUSIP doesn't have the same ring as TULIP, so we are stuck with limited.

The second aspect is the effectiveness of the cross. Under an Arminian view the cross provided the means or the way of salvation, but it doesn't actually save (again apology for deficiencies in this summary). Calvinism stresses the effectiveness, Christ's death on the cross actually did win my salvation, not just the possibility of my salvation.

So what has all this got to do with Ezra? You may well ask! Well I find many aspects of Calvinism attractive and true to the Bible, but here, in Scripture, we see that God has made a way of salvation but few have chosen it, and there was much urging and persuading trying to get people to take up the way (see Zechariah 2, also remember Jesus' parable on the banquet). So the Arminian perspective is not as unbiblical as Calvinists sometimes seek to make out! 

It seems to me that both are declaring part of the truth, and they cannot see how if their part is true the other bit can be true as well. Or, rather, if the other bit is true, how can their bit be true. So we have the "war" between Arminianism and Calvinism. Can we square the circle? Well maybe we can, a little. God knows the beginning from the end, so when Christ died on the cross He knew who He was dying for (by the way, I am not going into Molenism here). Yet from our perspective we hadn't made the decision yet. You see part of the problem is eternity. God is eternal (and that means much more than just going on forever), we are temporal. We see one event happening after another, God sees them all at once. Now I am fully aware that there are holes in what I have just said, but it us 6.30am in the morning and I have to go to work (what a wonderful way to start the day, thinking about the cross!). But what I am confident of is that some of the contradictions are not real. Eternity and all its consequences are too big for us to understand, and we need to remember the limited perspective from which we see things (1 Cor 13:12). We need to be absolutely  bold about what we do see, but we also need to beware of thinking that we see everything.

Back to Ezra proper tomorrow!

Ezra 7:1-10 - Ezra arrives

While this is called the book of Ezra, it is chapter 7 before he appears on the scene. We then get the genealogy of Ezra, and it goes right back to Aaron. Now note first of all that genealogy is not complete, they were not given to be a complete family tree, but to draw attention to particular points. So if there are two genealogies for a particular person (eg Jesus!) and there are some differences it does not mean the genealogies are wrong, what it means is that the different writers wanted to emphasise different points. The key point with Ezra is that he is a descendant of Aaron. The land needed a priest, and Ezra is providing the priestly leadership. In Christ we have our great high priest.

Being a priest did not mean he just performed religious ceremonies, for he was also a teacher. In 1 and 2 Timothy one of the qualities of an elder is the ability to teach the gospel. We need preaching, proclamation, prophecy and teaching. Teaching is one of the gifts that sets people free. 

It had taken Ezra four months to travel from Babylon to Jerusalem. Note that God's hand of favour was on him because he studied and observed the Law. We need to be both hearers and doers of the word (James 1:22).

See also the parallels with Jesus. As I have already mentioned, He is our great high priest (Heb 4:14-16). Jesus is the fulfilment of the Law (Matt 5:17), and He is our teacher (John 13:13).

Ezra 5,6 - Work recommences and is completed

Notice the close tying in of the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah with the actual building work. Prophecy and action are meant to go together, and prophecy has a key role to play in the practical fulfilment of the Great Commission. Haggai and Zechariah essentially urged them to get on with it. 

There was still opposition to the recommencement of the rebuilding work. However, God was watching over them and it was not actually stopped at that point. The Jewish leaders reminded Tattenai of the history and in particular of Cyrus' decree that set things in motion. They urged Darius to confirm that there version of history was accurate.

Darius carried out a search of the archives and found that the Jews' version of history was actually correct. So Darius issued a decree that rebuilding get going again, and that support for the work be provided.

So the work recommenced and the temple was completed. 

Then there was a great celebration of the Passover to mark the completion.

So if we look at this there are three essential elements to the completion of the work:

• The role of prophets in supporting the work
• Working within the political and legal framework of the time.
• The leaders keeping a clear and calm approach to things.

It is the integration of all three that is crucial to success.

Ezra 4 - Opposition

The work of God is always opposed, and when we get involved in God's work we too will be opposed. As Jesus said, because they hate Me they will hate you also (John 15:18-25). Too often we have this silly notion that the world likes Jesus and should like us. At present so-called same-sex-marriage is being promoted in much the West and there are many in the church who say we need to accept that the world has changed and we need to change with it if we are to have an impact. Such people are fools. Jesus and the gospel have an impact because they are going in a completely different direction to the world. The world's problem is that it is in rebellion against God. So if we are to say anything useful to the world we are inevitably going to be in opposition to the world and will face opposition.

First the enemies of Judah seek to infiltrate. They claim they are working in the same direction as the Jews. They may actually have believed this. There are many who believe that because they are working for a "good cause" they are trying to achieve the same things as the church. Now some of the things they are doing may well be good, but the gospel is about ending man's rebellion against God, and the world is not seeking to achieve that. 

Zerubabbel and Joshua recognised the truth and that they were not working towards the same goal. If only more leaders in today's church had the same degree of wisdom. So the next tactic was to seek to discourage the people and to infiltrate Judah.

Opposition continued after Cyrus had gone and now included false accusations. Jesus suffered false accusations, the apostles did, and the church today does. They sought to claim that Jerusalem would be a source of rebellion and Persia would no longer receive taxes.

So an order was issued for the work to stop, and it did indeed stop until the time Darius, which we read about in Haggai and Zechariah.

Ezra 3 - Rebuilding begins

After they had settled down the people met "with one accord". This reminds me of the disciples meeting together on the Day of Pentecost. Apparently it is quite a miracle for Jews to meet together "with one accord"! Joshua and Zerubbabel began to rebuild the altar for the sacrifices. For there to be restoration there needs to be sacrifice. In Christ we have the once for all sacrifice, and if there needs to be restoration, whether it be in an individual or a church or a nation, we will need to return to the cross. 

They did this despite their fear of the peoples around them. It is perfectly normal for the world around us to oppose the worship of God, as we experience in our society today, and is experienced in violent forms in many countries. Sometimes we think that we need to get rid of the fear, but actually the most important thing is to not let the fear deter us from obeying God. 

So sacrifices and festivals were celebrated in accordance with the Law of Moses.

Next they gave money to the craftsmen and to the people of Tyre and Sidon for cedar logs. Work began on rebuilding the temple. As it happens this was the same month that Solomon had begun work on the original temple.

Worship was also an important part of the restoration.

There was a mixture of rejoicing and weeping on the day the foundation stone was laid. For some of the older people remembered the former temple. Maybe they were weeping with joy at the rebuilding, or perhaps thinking that it would never be like the former temple (Hag 2:3).

Ezra 2 - The numbers returning

We might have hoped that having gone through Chronicles we were done with lists, but I am afraid not. The list is very nearly repeated in Nehemiah chapter 7 as well, so something for you to look forward to!

The mention of place names indicates that people still maintained an affinity with their homeland. By the way, Parosh means "flea". 

The total number of returnees is given in verse 64 as 42 360 plus 7 337 slaves, so about fifty thousand in total. The figure of 42,360 does not tally with the totals in Ezra (29,818), Nehemiah (31089) or 1 Esdras (32 600). The extra 10 000 or so may be women and children, or people who were not of the tribes of Judah or Benjamin.

The people settled in the towns they originated from, though later on Nehemiah moved more people to Jerusalem in order to increase the population there.

So we have the land being repopulated and the start of the re-establishment of worship in the land can begin.

Ezra 1 - Start of the return

Jeremiah 25:11,12 said the exile would last for seventy years. Isaiah had also prophesied about these things (eg Is 41:2,5) and had mentioned Cyrus specifically (44:28). These prophecies were now being fulfilled. A key feature of Isaiah's prophecy was that the Lord could foretell the future and His ability to do so was a sign of His power. 

Cyrus gave a decree commanding the Jews to go back and rebuild the temple. Moreover, others were to provide them with what they needed. Cyrus also declares that it was the Lord who had given him his power. Now Cyrus was not a Jew, so why is he saying he did these things in the name of the Lord? There are at least two possibilities. One is that it is a genuine acknowledgement of the Lord. In Daniel the Lord communicated with Nebuchadnezzar. The Lord is Lord of all, not just Israel, and He communicates with those outside His immediate people. Remember He also sent a dream to Pilate's wife, and went word to Nineveh to save them. So it is possible that it was a genuine acknowledgement. A second possibility is that it is just a pragmatic use of words. Cyrus had a general policy of sending the various peoples back to their lands, so maybe he tailored his declarations to the particular people group.

So various people of Judah and Benjamin got ready to go and received silver and gold from their neighbours. Remember that the Israelites also received goods when they left Egypt. 

Cyrus also ensured that articles taken from the temple were returned.

Ezra - Introduction

When we were last in the history books we had got to the end of 2 Chronicles and Judah had been defeated with many carried off to Babylon. We now come to the return of the Jews to Judah and Jerusalem after captivity. The Babylonian invasion had led to the destruction of the temple (586 BC). So rebuilding of the temple, and the city as a whole, is an overriding theme of Ezra and Nehemiah. These events are also accompanied by the last three Minor Prophets. Haggai, whom we have just looked at, being one of them.

The return happened after Cyrus the Persian had conquered Babylon. Cyrus issued decrees that various peoples should return to their homelands (539 BC). Isaiah prophesied all this. They were also encouraged to reestablish their religious observances. 

We should also get the return in perspective. It is estimated that there were about 2 million Jews in the pagan kingdoms, of these only about 50 000 returned. The chance to return was there, but only a small percentage took advantage of it. One can see a parallel with the Cross here. The cross provides the means of salvation, but most choose to ignore it, preferring to live in captivity.

Ezra came to Judah in 458 BC. He came with a mandate to establish God's Law as the official law. While Ezra was concerned mostly with the Law, Nehemiah was focused more on the rebuilding. Both were needed.