Ezra – Rebuilding the Temple

 

The Old Testament is made up of a number of different books, 39 to be exact, and these books are categorized according to overall content.  You have the Law, the first five books of the bible often called the Pentateuch. There are the Historical books, Poetical, and Prophetical with both Minor and Major prophets.  Ezra is what is considered a historical book.  

 

 

 

 

The book of Ezra is divided into two parts –

 

Chapters 1-6, deal with the first post-exilic return of Israel to Jerusalem from Babylon, and subsequent reconstruction of the temple led by Zerubbabel. This happened in 538 B.C. 

 

The Babylonian captivity of Judah was approximately 605 B.C. This captivity took place about 117 years after the northern ten tribes were taken captive by Assyria. This was also the time that Daniel and his friends were taken captive and brought to Babylon. 

 

Due to Israel’s continued rebellion and disregard of the LORD’s messengers, He fulfilled the word which He spoke through Jeremiah the Prophet in chapter 25—

 

“The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 

 

“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land which the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever; and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’ Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the LORD, “in order that you might provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

 

“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”

Jeremiah 25:1-11

 

And here we are – 70 years later and Israel returns to Jerusalem. 

 

The temple was completed in 516 B.C. at the end of chapter 6.  Then there is a 58-year gap between chapters 6 and 7.  It’s in this 58-year gap that the book of Esther takes place. At the end of that 58-year gap, in 458 B.C. there is the second post-exilic return led by Ezra.  This is the beginning of chapter 7.

 

The latter chapters in this book deal with the second return and the reforms that take place under Ezra. 

 

Contemporaries:

 

Daniel – dies shortly after the first return.

 

Haggai and Zechariah – both prophesying towards the end of the rebuilding of the temple and before the second return.  When the building stops because Israel is threated by surrounding nations God sends His messengers to stir them up to complete and finish the work. 

 

“And the elders of the Jews were successful in building through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo.” Ezra 6:14

 

Esther – after the joy and victory of rebuilding the temple, Satan tries once again to destroy this people through a man named Haman – he was a descendent from the Amalekites, who if you remember were those that Saul in his disobedience refused to completely destroy.  Look what far reaching consequences his sin had.  Satan uses this man in an attempt to put an end to Israel and therefore thwart God’s redemptive plan.  

 

Knowing this beforehand God raises up Esther and Mordechai. 

 

This is a common theme you see all throughout scripture.  

 

Again, and again you see this attempted thwarting of God’s plan and people – several times in this book alone – but God always provides. In His perfect omnipotence He works and prepares men and woman to be the right people at exactly the right time.  He provides salvation and encouragement for such a time when it’s needed.  

 

I don’t know about you, but that is a great comfort to me.  I can’t know what I will face tomorrow, but I can know that God is already preparing a means of salvation.  He’s already set into action a plan to strengthen and encourage me. 

 

Only an omnipotent hand can do this.

 

 

One of the prevailing themes of this book is –

 

The sovereignty of God over the hearts and affairs of man.  God can and will accomplish His purpose. He is completely omnipotent over the events of human history. Nothing will stand in the way of God fulfilling His word.

 

From the very first verse you see this –

 

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia…”

 

The LORD’s hand was at work.

 

This verse really sets the tone for the whole book. 

 

I want to consider briefly the man who wrote it.

 

Who was Ezra?

 

Ezra was a scribe and a priest.  He was a Levite, a descendant from Aaron. He lists his genealogy in the beginning of chapter 7. It’s widely believed that he wrote both Ezra and Nehemiah.  It’s also assumed that he is the author of 1 and 2 Chronicles.  If you notice the last two verses in 2 Chronicles are almost identical to the first two verses in Ezra which further affirms this. 

 

As a scribe he had access to administrative documents, several of which are included in this book.

 

We’re not introduced to him until chapter 7.  There he switches gears and continues the book in the first person. 

 

But the most important thing to note about Ezra is found in chapter 7 –

 

“This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.”

 

In verse eight again, it says –

 

“He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him.” 

 

Ezra had God’s favor. That’s one thing we can note about him. The king of Babylon, who was a dominating power at the time, had given Ezra all he requested.  How do you explain that?

 

the good hand of his God was upon him.

 

 The king was predisposed to show Ezra favor by the KING of KINGS. It didn’t matter if Ezra had King Artaxerxes ear – who was the most powerful man in the world at that time – Ezra had the ear of Almighty God. 

 

Why? Why did Ezra have God’s favor? Why was the good hand of God upon him? The answer is in the next verse –

 

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

 

God was for Ezra because Ezra was for God. He had set his heart to observe, uphold and pass on the law of the LORD. This was his life’s pursuit and it’s a pursuit that God honored.  And if God is for us – who can oppose? Who can stand in the way? 

 

That is another theme that is prevalent throughout this book – as it says in chapter 8, verse 22 –

“The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.”

 

Going right along with this – another thing we can note is that Ezra was a blessed man.  

 

In Psalms, chapter 1 we are given a picture of a man who is blessed. And in verse 2 we are given the reason why he is blessed

 

Ps 1: 2-3 –

 

“But his (this blessed man) delight is in the law of the LORD,

And in His law he meditates day and night.”

 

He has made God’s law his priority. And as a result, verse 3 –

 

“He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in its season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.”

 

The man who puts God and His word first is blessed.

 

This is a man whom God has placed His good hand upon. This is Ezra.  

 

I don’t want to get too much into this, because we are going to dig into this more later – but this gives us some insight into the character of the man who wrote this book.  Ezra was a godly man – meaning he was a man who sought God above all else, and as a result the good hand of God was upon him.