Ezra: Jesus the Restorer
Chp. 1-6 Rebuilding the temple
Chp. 7-10 Rebuilding the people
Second Chronicles covered 433 years and two temples; Solomon’s to the time of the building of Zerubbabel’s. The book of Ezra covers a little over 80 years although 58 years of that is not recorded in Ezra instead it is the story of Esther recorded where the majority of the nation still resided in Persia.
Ezra tells the story of two of the three 900 mile returns of the nation back to repatriate the land of promise after the Babylonian captivity at the decree of Cyrus king of Persia to rebuild the temple. The third return will be the source of the 12 chapters of Nehemiah as he comes back with the focus to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem.
The final verse in 2 Chronicles and the first verse of Ezra are identical which suggests that it is the same author. Something that is supported by internal evidence as well as the author often writes in the first person. All of this as well as Jewish traditions points to the authorship being Ezra who is the main focus of the 2nd half of the book chapters 7-10. Originally Ezra and Nehemiah were bound up in the same scroll with the title of “God helps” or Ezra. The book is divided between the two out of three recorded exoduses from the Babylonian captivity.
- Chapters 1-6 cover the return of almost 50,000 led by a descendent of David Zerubbabel (a Babylonian name) to rebuild the temple and to establish the nation as one that has the worship of God at the center of their life.
- Chapters 7-10 cover the return of almost 2,000 led by Ezra the priest, a descendant of Aaron to rebuild the people into a nation after God’s heart.
Interestingly enough the time when Ezra wrote of Israel’s return from the Babylonian captivity coincided with the time of Gautama Buddha in India, Confucius in China, and Socrates in Greece.
Chp. 1-6 Rebuilding the temple
In Jeremiah 25:11-14 the Lord said with regards to Israel that the “whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.
So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. (For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)”
Though the completed exile lasted only 50 years their deportation began 20 years earlier thus fulfilling the 70 years of captivity. Then in Jeremiah 29:10-14 the very familiar verses are first given the context “For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.”
It is after this that the Lord continues with what we all know in verses 11-14 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.”
So in October of 539 BC Cyrus the Persian (who was actually an Elamite) over through the Babylonians and in 538 issues a decree allowing the Jews to return to the land of promise to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1).
Now all of this was foretold by Isaiah 200 years earlier as recorded for us in 44:28 as God even mentions his name saying, “Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” With a total population of around 3 million in captivity only just under 50,000 decided to travel the 900 miles back to Jerusalem most of the nation chose rather to stay in captivity as they had become prosperous.
So what captivity to the Babylonians didn’t accomplish the prosperity of the Persians did. Oh dear one we often have more bondage in our seeming blessings than we do in our seeming poverty.
According to the first 2 chapters, only the most committed believers were willing to go from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi as well as some others from the remaining 10 tribes, which if you add it all together came to 49,897. And they came according to 2:68 “when they came to the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God, to erect it in its place”.
Zerubbabel was a prince of Judah and a direct descendant of David. His priorities were to first restore the altar and the religious feasts. We are told in verse 2 that they “arose and 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.” But doing so was not without having to overcome fear as we are told in verse 3 that , “Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings.”
Dear ones the way we come back after we have been taken captive by the things of this world is to reestablish worship by setting “the altar on its bases” no matter what those folks around you may think. Now I remind you that this very action is going to require a sacrifice from you.
Next we are told also in Ezra 3:10 that “the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel.”
Dear ones do you not find it interesting that the restoration first required “sacrifice” then it required “worship”? Friends it is always worship that is the foundation of a restored relationship with God. Look at Ezra 3:11-13 as we are told that, “they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.”
Why the mixture of joy with weeping? Well the rejoicing over what God has done with the regret over what was lost because we chose not to walk in His love.
Chapter four introduces the fact of opposition as the construction will cease for 14 years due to “adversaries” to the remnant who want to worship God at the very foundation of their lives.
Friend, do you have “adversaries” that seek to delay your worship? Well, praise the Lord as it means that you have returned from captivity. Notice how they conducted their opposition in chapter 4 as we are told:
- Compromise: In verse 2 that they first came to Zerubbabel saying, “Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” The opposition to complete surrender will always start with compromise; “Oh sure go ahead and worship, let us help you we’ve been doing it a long time”. You don’t need to die or sacrifice anything to worship the Lord just keep doing what you’ve been doing!
- Discouragement: Then in verse 4 we read when that didn’t work the opposition “tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building”. They even went so far we are told in verse 5 as to hire professional counselors. Oh, have you never noticed that the enemy has a “professional” he employs to keep us from worshiping at God’s altar?
There are professional worriers, doubters, and time consumers. They all have the same purpose to keep us from growing in His grace.
Accusers: Finally we are told in verse 6 that “They wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.” The content of this accusation is found in verse 12-15 they “are building the rebellious and evil city, and are finishing its walls and repairing the foundations…if this city is built and the walls completed, they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom, and the king’s treasury will be diminished….this city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, and that they have incited sedition within the city in former times, for which cause this city was destroyed.”
It’s a wicked city, its going to cost you and it has a past! Now based upon verse 21 these accusations appear to have succeeded as we are told that the kings wrote “give the command to make these men cease, that this city may not be built until the command is given by me.”
In chapter 5 we are told that God sent His prophets Haggai to them to encourage them. Dear ones if we ever have opposition to our worship due to compromise, discouragement, or accusations we can always find the answers we need to continue in the Word of God to keep going.
In verse 3-4 we are told that they had a tattletale in a Governor named Tattenai who wrote down names of those who kept building but look at verse 5 as we are told that “the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so that they could not make them cease till a report could go to Darius. Then a written answer was returned concerning this matter.”
And in the 6th chapter not only do they find the original decree written by Cyrus but the new king Darius writes in verses 3-12 Ezra 6:6-12 “
Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the region …keep yourselves far from there…. Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site…. what you shall do for the elders of these Jews, for the building of this house of God: Let the cost be paid at the king’s expense from taxes on the region beyond the River…. whatever they need…..let it be given them day by day without fail…that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons….whoever alters this edict, let a timber be pulled from his house and erected, and let him be hanged on it; and let his house be made a refuse heap because of this.”
And so the temple is completed taking 21 years to build although it was delayed for 14 years thus it took only 7 years to complete it. Oh how often this is true in our own lives as often the delay is necessary for the preparation of the hearts of those who were building.
Chp. 7-10 Rebuilding the people
Eighty-one years after the first return from the Babylonian captivity Ezra returns with under 2,000 men with many gifts to rebuild the people spiritually and morally. There is a gap of 58 years between chapter 6 and chapter 7 And the people in the land of promise fall into a confused spiritual state. In 7:10 we are told that “Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”
And with him came a letter from yet another king Artaxerxes providing everything necessary for the worship of God by the people of God. So Ezra blessed the Lord and was encouraged that the hand of the Lord was upon the work. And boy would he need that encouragement as we are told that when he got there in 8:15 as Ezra “looked among the people and the priests, and found none of the sons of Levi there.” The harvest was plentiful but the workers were few, said Ezra!
So in verse 21 Ezra “proclaimed a fast ….that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.” The Levites couldn’t do the work of the Lord for lack of support but God had provided what was necessary through the king.
Next Ezra found that many of the remnant had inter-married being both married with God and yet united with the world and it broke his heart in 9:3. As we hear Ezra’s prayer in verse 6 “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.”
And in verse 8 he says, “Now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage.”
Then in verses 13-15 Ezra says, “And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this, should we again break Your commandments, and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant or survivor?
O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!” The 10th chapter records for us that those who had inter-married put away their foreign wives and children.
Dear ones we will never be restored until we put away the things of this world that we have become entangled with and the offspring produced by this union. Far too many have chosen the “Goods of this world, at the expense of the goodness of God”. And if you have done so you will have neither!!! The work of the faith can never be mingled with the work of the flesh, are you ready to divorce yourself from anything that will come between or hinder your growth and purity towards the Lord?