09/02/2023
The Faithfulness of God Ezra 1-3 Sept 3, 2023
I want to begin with a brief history lesson to provide a setting and background for the Book of Ezra. After Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai where God gave them the Ten Commandments and established His covenant with them (Exodus-Deuteronomy), Joshua led them across the Jordan River to the "land flowing with milk and honey" which God had promised Abraham would be the home of his descendants. They conquered the land (Joshua) and divided it among Jacob's twelve sons (the 12 tribes of Israel). In their early days in the land the people were ruled by Judges, scattered local authorities across the land. God's desire had been for Israel to be a theocracy ruled directly by Him. But the people wanted a king like the nations around them so God sent a reluctant Samuel the prophet to anoint Saul to be the first king of Israel. Saul did not prove to be a good king and in 1010 BC was replaced by David the former shepherd boy, killer of the giant Goliath and composer of many of the Psalms Israel used in worship. David reigned over the southern tribes Judah and Benjamin until 1002 when he was crowned king of the entire nation composed of all twelve tribes and made Jerusalem the capital of the nation. David ruled until his death in 970 BC when his son Solomon builder of the great temple in Jerusalem where all male Israelites were commanded by the Law of Moses to present themselves 3 times a year for the holy observances and feasts that commemorated God's provision for them during the exodus from Egypt and their time in the wilderness. When Solomon died in 931 BC his son succeeded him but his reign over Israel was short lived. The ten northern tribes rebelled against him and chose a new king for their nation which they called Israel. They named Samaria as the capital of their new nation and even built their own temple so they would not have to come to Jerusalem to worship. The southern kingdom which remained loyal to the house of David was known as Judah and for the next two hundred years the nations coexisted, each having a series of kings, some bad and some good (Samuel-Chronicles). God sent prophet after prophet to both nations warning them to repent and return to Him and honor the covenant their forefathers made with him. In 722 BC the Assyrians swept down and attacked the Northern Kingdom and destroyed the nations, killing many and taking captive those who survived and transplanting them to other places in the empire. They never returned from the places to which they were scattered and became known as the 10 lost tribes of Israel. Judah, the Southern Kingdom fared no better. God sent prophets to them as well, one being Jeremiah who warned if the nation did not repent it would suffer the same fate as Israel. He foretold that the Babylonians would carry them away in captivity but gave them a promise from God "that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you , and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place." II Chronicles 36: 15- 23 tells the story of God's dealings with them: And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending ; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets , until the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, till there was no remedy. Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young men or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age, He gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house Of God , great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king , and of his princes, all these were brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem , and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon , where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia. To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath to fulfill three score and ten years. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom , and put it also in writing saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among all of you of all His people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.
To connect the two books, Ezra begins with the same verses which end II Chronicles. Cyrus not only allows but encourages people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. So some of the heads of families of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and the Levites -everyone whose spirit God has stirred - got ready to go up to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Their neighbors who did not choose to return gave them silver and gold and livestock and other gifts and Cyrus brought out the vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple 70 years before and gave them to the group returning to Jerusalem.
Remember 70 years have passed. Many of the captives brought to Babylon have passed away and many of those returning were born in Babylon and know nothing about Jerusalem or the temple or the place that once was their home except what they have been told by those who had lived there. Many who were born and raised in Babylon were content to remain there. But there were those who were stirred by God to return, that had a vision of bringing the place that had once been their home to life again, to live in the home of their ancestors and worship God again in the temple. God had put a desire in their hearts to reclaim the land that had been promised to their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to reestablish themselves as God's people according to the covenant their forebears made with Him at Mount Sinai. And they were prepared to leave all the comforts of Babylon to go to a place that most of them had never seen, a place that lay in ruins, and to start the long process of rebuilding the place that had once been home.
At this point I am going to take a strong exception to a couple things that were in the lesson commentary. The writer says the story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. the temple, and the city walls is "not exactly riveting" and "may not grab the reader's interest" as though this were some lesser and unimportant part of the Scripture. But there are some very important reasons the books of Ezra and Nehemiah exist, and some important lessons for our own time we can learn from them. First of all the return of the exiles is a critical part of God's redemption plan for us all. The prophet Micah foretold that the birth of the Messiah would take place in Bethlehem, and the city of Jerusalem and the temple both play significant roles in the earthly ministry of Jesus. The exiles had to return and rebuild the city for the events of the New Testament to take place.
The time in exile reminds us that even though the Jews were God's chosen people, He was not willing to deal with their unfaithfulness to Him and the covenant forever. He caused their homeland, and even the glorious temple to be destroyed because they refused to heed the words of the many prophets He sent to them to warn them of the consequences of their sin and unfaithfulness. We too need to remember God is loving, but God is holy and just and will not allow His people to disobey Him without retribution. We need to be in constant prayer for our country and our world. But in spite of the unfaithfulness of His people, this period is also a wonderful story of God's faithfulness. God promised them that their punishment would not last forever, but that He would have mercy on them and at the end of 70 years He would return them to their homeland and give them the opportunity to rebuild it.
This is also a story of great faith and trust in God and His promises. At the end of 70 years God kept His promise and His people were allowed to go home. And God out it in the hearts of some to do that, not a large number. The 42,000+ that returned were only about a third of the Jews living in Babylon. Even the silver and gold they were given and the number of servants and horses and cattle they took with them are important details because they tell us these people were no longer destitute exiles or servants who had nothing to lose by returning to Jerusalem. They had prospered in Babylon, built lives and homes for themselves in the most advanced city of their day. And they were leaving all that behind to go and live in the ruins of Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Why would they do that? Because they had been told all the stories of God's faithfulness to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They had been told how God had used Moses to bring them out of slavery in Egypt. They knew the story of the conquest of Canaan. They knew of God's faithfulness in the past and they believed in His faithfulness to keep all His promises. So they were willing to leave the life they knew to answer the call of God to return to Jerusalem.
Ezra gives us no details of the journey back, only a list of those who were part of it. The story picks up in the seventh month when those who have returned gather together in Jerusalem with Jeshua and the other priests and Zerubbabel and rebuild the altar of God. The exiles have not returned to a hearty welcome from their neighbors. The people around them were used to Israel being a sort of no man's land with a relatively small number of inhabitants and did not want Israel to become a nation again. During the rebuilding process they would attack during the night to tear down what was being built. To protect their work, the people of Jerusalem had to post a night watch to protect their work. In spite of that, Zerubbabel and Jeshua and their helpers succeeded in rebuilding the altar as commanded by the Law of Moses and offered burnt offerings to God in the morning and the evening.
In the second month of the second year after their return from Babylon they began working on the foundation of the temple. When the foundation was laid, the priests gathered with their trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals as King David had directed their ancestors to do and they sang responsively giving thanks to the Lord:
For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever towards Israel.
And all the people responded with a great shout because the temple foundation had been lain. Many of the older folks who had seen and remembered Solomon's temple wept when they saw this one, but many shouted for joy so people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from the weeping.
It has been suggested by some Bible scholars that the older folks wept because this new temple was going to be smaller and much less grand than the previous one. Others believe they were weeping with joy that the temple was going to be rebuilt. No doubt there were memories of the former temple and the days before the exile. There was sorrow for those lost days and regret that their disobedience had caused the destruction of the temple. But there were also tears of repentance for the past and tears of thanks to God for his faithfulness along with the joy of a new beginning, a new day and the joy of hope for the future through God's faithfulness and mercy and His steadfast and unfailing love.
This is a wonderful story that reminds us that even when the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon as a result of their sin and disobedience, God did not forget them but continued to care for them and give them hope through His great promise of rescue, redemption and restoration. In our darkest hours and those times we have gone astray God is there with us, offering us the same hope in His son Jesus Christ through whom we have redemption, forgiveness and restoration. It shows us God is faithful to keep His promises to us, and they are designed as Jeremiah said, "to give us a future and a hope." And it reminds us that sometimes like the Israelites who left the comfort of Babylon to return to their burned out homeland, we have to make changes or give up some things to answer God's call on our lives. Sometimes doing what God is calling us to do will not be smooth sailing, we will face obstacles and opposition. But like the Israelites we remember that He who called us is faithful to do all that He has said and promised.
And finally we are reminded of the joy of seeing our work in the Lord come to fruition. The Israelites shouted and wept and carried on such that they could be heard from a great distance away. Their job was not complete. only the foundation of the temple had been lain. There would be much more time and labor involved in finishing the job and more opposition from their neighbors, but they had laid a strong foundation resting on God's faithfulness on which to build a new future where God would be in His rightful place at the center of their lives and their community.
