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.

Haggai 2:20-23 - A whole lot of shaking

This final message was given on the same day as the previous one. It is addressed to Zerubbabel, the Governor. God is about to shake the heavens and the earth. We live in a world where there are both human and spiritual powers. We like to neglect the spiritual powers and view life as purely human, but this is not the case. Christ is Lord of both the heavens and the earth, and what happens in the heavenly realms affects what happens here on earth.

Many powerful kingdoms would be overthrown. The language of v22 is reminiscent of language used elsewhere in the OT when talking of the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt and other nations. It is the Lord who overthrows kingdoms.

So why does God tell Zerubbabel this? What was the immediate context and what was it a foretaste of?

The reign of Darius involved much upheaval, but Zerubbabel was no messiah. So what is going on? Is Zerubbabel one of the many who looked forward without receiving what was promised (Heb 11:13)? However, Zerubbabel is thought very highly of by later generations (eg Ecclesiasticus 49:11). Maybe he is representative of the nation, and maybe he is a type of Christ.

Haggai 2:10-19 - The root of prosperity

Another precise dating of the next message, the date is actually 18th December, 520 BC. 

Haggai gives this message in terms of a riddle or a parable. First he asks what happens in consecrated meat touches normal food. Now the garment the meat was wrapped in would become holy (Lev 6:27), but the everyday food would not.

Then Haggai asks what happens if a person who has been defiled by touching a dead body touches the food, does the food become defiled? The answer this time is yes, for anything that touched by an unclean person becomes defiled (Num 19:11-13, 22).

Then the Lord declares that the people are like the defiled man, anything they do becomes defiled. So even though they were back in Israel, in Jerusalem, that did not make them clean. They needed a change of heart. Without Christ we are defiled and no matter what we do, we will defile it.

Now that they had started to rebuild the temple things would change. Up until that point nothing had worked properly, nothing had borne proper fruit. Now it would, now things would change, for "From this day on I will bless you". 

So let me reiterate a point I made a post or two ago. The success of what we do is dependent upon God. Now some prosperity teaching is wrong and dangerous, and I have made comments on this on various occasions, but it is true that our turning to God, and a nation's attitude towards God, are the crucial factors in determining well being and true prosperity. If we adopt a simplistic approach to this we will be frustrated (see the book of Job!), but nevertheless, this nation will prosper if it turns to God. If it persists in its rebellion then the nation will suffer. The way we are carrying on just now means that we as a nation are ripe for judgement.

Haggai 2:1-9 - A greater glory

We now come to the second message, and again the precise date is given. Just as a reminder that the chapter and verse numbers were not part of the original, the second half of Chapter 1 verse 15 seems to belong more logically to Chapter 2 verse 1. Perhaps those who originally assigned verse numbers thought the King Darius bit belonged to the date that work restarted.

The people had been told to restart the building of the temple, but this must have seemed like a daunting task. How could they ever restore things to their former glory? Sin and the consequent judgement had devastated the land and the people. 

God reassures the leaders. Leading is difficult, it means carrying on in the face of difficulties, overcoming all sorts of obstacles. The people also need to be encouraged. God reassures them that He is with them. This is what we need to know above all, that God is with us. His plan had not changed, He goes right back to the time He took them out of Egypt. All sorts of things happen but God's plans do not change. Moreover, His Spirit remained among the people. So they did not need to fear. There will be many things that causes us to fear, but we should not be intimidated.

God also has greater plans. He is going to shake the heavens and the earth. He is doing things among the nations. Note that He says that the "what is desired by the nations will come". Today we see secular governments getting what they want, an increasingly godless society. We should not despair when we see this happening for at the same time God "will fill this house with glory". At the same time as darkness covers the earth, light will shine from the house of the Lord.

The whole world belongs to the Lord, not to the nations. This is a fundamental truth. So the glory of the present house would be greater than that of the former. God's plans are going forward, not backwards. It is in His house that we will find peace.

Haggai 1 - Work resumes, and God does actually cause droughts

Chapter 1 contains the first message of Haggai, giving the precise date. He directed his message to Zerubbabel, the governor, and to Joshua the high priest. The civic and religious authorities were meant to work together. It is popular today to say that state and church should be separated. There is reason in this, but it is wrong to say that the church should have no influence on the state. A successful state needs a godly church speaking both to it and to the nation.

The people had abandoned the temple building in the face of opposition and were devoting themselves to cultivating the land and building their own houses. This is entirely understandable, but it is also wrong. We need to beware of the same temptation in our own lives. Time and time again we will be tempted to give up on the church, or to neglect the church, so we can focus on our own lives. 

We need to beware of this temptation. God then gives a very practical reason why such a course is foolish, it doesn't work!  You see, we think that the ground just yields its harvest, we subconsciously adopt a materialistic view of life, thinking that things just happen automatically. This is not so, and this is not a Biblical perspective. It is God who causes the land to yield a harvest. So we need to devote ourselves to God first.

So God commands the people to go and get timber for His house.  Verses 7-11 make it abundantly clear that the reason the people were suffering, never getting enough, was because they had neglected the Lord, and it was the Lord who caused the drought. We need to take much more seriously God's continual intervention in the world.

The people responded properly by obeying the word of the Lord. 

In return Haggai gave a simple message to the people "I am with you". It makes all the difference to us when we know that the Lord is with us. The spirit of the leaders and the people were stirred up to begin the work of the Lord, and so work on the temple resumed. Note the action of God in stirring people up.

The people are both held responsible, they took a decision to obey the Lord, yet at the same time the Lord was stirring them up to do so. We make a mistake when we choose to look at things from only one perspective. Ie just the human perspective, or just God's perspective.