TITLE OF THE BOOK

This book in named after the person who appears in chapters 7-10 of the book. Both the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the Greek Septuagint use Ezra (or Esdras) for the title.

In the Hebrew Bible, the book of Ezra was joined to the book of Nehemiah. This was done so that the number of the books of the Hebrew Bible would number 22, corresponding to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The Jews had a three-fold division of their Scriptures:

The Hebrews placed Ezra-Nehemiah in the Writings just after Daniel and just before the books of Chronicles.

Jerome divided the books into two separate books in his Latin Vulgate and our English Bibles follow this tradition. There seems to be some evidence that they were originally written as two separate books. Ezra 2 is repeated in Nehemiah 6:7-70 and this likely would not have been the case had they been written together.

The Septuagint included the books which we know as the Apocrypha. These were books which were reckoned by the Jews not to have the same authority as those which had been written by the prophets. The Septuagint contains an Apocryphal book of Esdras while the Latin Vulgate contains two such additional books.

First Esdras seems to date to the 2nd century B.C. and is an addendum to the book of Ezra. It deals with events from Josiah to Ezra.

Second Esdras was written in the late first century A.D. and contains no connection with our book of Ezra (it is apocalyptic in nature, made up of seven visions and set in the days of the Persian Empire). All of our copies are in Latin and no Greek manuscript has thus far been located.

 

AUTHOR

Jewish tradition attributed this book to Ezra. From Ezra 7:28 to 8:34 and again in chapter 9, Ezra speaks in the first person, much as Luke does in certain portions of the book of Acts.

Ezra is described as a scribe in Ezra 7:21, so he would have had ample ability to write this book.

SCOPE

This book spans 92 years of Jewish history from the decree of Cyrus allowing the Jews to return to the land (539 B.C.) to the decree of Artaxerxes which halted the work of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem (446 B.C.).

Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther all deal with the story of Israel following the Babylonian Captivity. Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon did not long outlive that king. It was soon replaced by the empire of the Persians.

The Persians had a different method of maintaining their empire. They determined that a happy and prosperous people made better taxpayers, so they permitted dispossessed peoples to return to their homelands. Under the Persian rule, there were three specific returns of Jews to the land of Judah.

The first was led by Zerubbabel and involved an initial rebuilding of Jerusalem.

The second was led by Ezra who oversaw the rebuilding of the Temple and the reinstitution of the sacrifices.

The third was led by Nehemiah and involved the rebuilding of the defensive walls of Jerusalem.

The story of Esther takes place in the interim between Ezra and Nehemiah. However it is a separate narrative as its focus is not upon the land of Judah but deals with the Jews throughout the Persian Empire.

LIFE LESSONS

1. The Sovereignty of God.

The Lord is seen to be directing the events of history as He moves pagan kings to do His will (Proverbs 21:1).

2. The Continuing Need for a Land.

God’s plan called for a return of the Jews to the land. They had been taken away as a punishment for their idolatry. They are now brought back so that they might serve Him and worship them in the land. This would be necessary so that the Messiah could be born in Bethlehem.

3. The Grace of God.

God is a God of second chances. He was bringing the people back into the land to give them a second chance to serve Him and to follow Him. They had formerly sinned in their idolatry. Now there is a call to renewed purity.

This is a book of covenant renewal. The people return to their covenant relationship with God and renew their promises to follow Him.

 

OUTLINE OF EZRA

As can be seen from the above outline, Ezra is a book about returning and rebuilding and restoring one’s relationship with the Lord. Such a journey is not necessarily an easy one. It can be fraught with pitfalls and temptations. But the journey home is worth the effort. Are you headed for home? There is a message in this book for you.

A DECREE TO RETURN

EZRA 1

I love the prayer that goes: "Lord, here I am, again." God is a God of second chances. The theological term for this is the long-suffering of God. It means that He forgives and forgives and then forgives again.

The book of Ezra is about that kind of forgiveness. It is written to document the return of the people to the land from which they had been taken.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by the Assyrian Empire and its inhabitants deported in 721 B.C.

The Southern Kingdom of Judah also underwent a series of deportations at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

These two deportations were markedly different in character.

There were no doubt a number of geo-political reasons for these deportations. But underlying any of these was a spiritual reason. They took place as a result of God’s judgment against idolatry. As the people gave themselves up to the worship of the false gods of their neighbors, so the Lord gave them up to the conquest by their neighbors.

It seems a terrible thing to be disciplined by the hand of the Lord. But you need to know that in this case, the discipline WORKED. The Jews never again dabbled in

the idolatry which brought them to this point. There were other sins into which they fell, but they never again bowed down to pagan idols.

There is a lesson here. Obedience is easier than disobedience. God has called you to be holy and life is a lot easier when you follow his calling.

 

SETTING FOR THE STORY

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, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying (Ezra 1:1).

This book starts out with a conjunction. It is translated here as "now," but could just as easily have been translated "and." There is a point being made. This is a continuing saga. Ezra is not a "stand-alone" book. It takes up the thread of history set down by the books of Kings and Chronicles. By opening with this conjunction, the author shows that this is a continuing story.

The nation of Israel was a nation desolate. The northern 10 tribes had been taken into captivity by Assyria in 721 B.C. and foreigners had been settled in their place. Then in three successive deportations, the southern kingdom of Judah had been taken away to Babylon and the land left a desolated waste.

With this conjunction, the story continues. Cyrus the Great comes on the scene and issues a proclamation which allows the Jews to return to their land.

There is a lesson here. It is that God has a continuing story. There are times when it looks as though that story is going to end. The Babylonian Captivity seemed to be such a time. The temple was destroyed, the land desolated, the people decimated. But that isn’t the end. It is only the beginning of a new chapter in God’s continuing story.

What is going on in your life? Problems that threaten to destroy and desolate and decimate? Situations that seem insurmountable? The tapestry of your life becoming unraveled? Take hope! There is a continuing story.

This portion of the continuing story began with the advent of a pagan king named Cyrus. He was the king of Persia.

When Cyrus was born, Persia was a small third-rate country under the shadow of their northern neighbors, the Medes. The king of the Medes entered into a number of alliances, sealing each of them by marriage. One of these alliances was to marry his daughter to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Another such alliance was to marry his granddaughter to the king of Persia.

Thus Cyrus the Great represented the ruling families of both the Medes and the Persians. He began as a vassal to his grandfather Astyages, but soon set out on a campaign of conquest. Anatolia fell to him when he conquered Croesus (known to the Greeks as Midas) and the kingdom of Lydia. Then Gobryas, the king of Elam, revolted and came over to him. Finally Babylon itself fell to him as he took the city without a fight (as recorded in Daniel 5). Thus by the year 539 B.C. Cyrus was virtual ruler of the known world. His kingdom was as wide as the continental United States.

Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar had been unpopular. The former had alienated the priesthood and the latter did the same with the general populace. Cyrus began a public relations campaign that was to have direct ramifications for the Jews.

Ezra begins by telling us that the decree of Cyrus was made in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah (1:1). The Babylonian Captivity had not been a mere happenstance of history. It had been the judgment of God promised upon a willful and rebellious people. The prophet Jeremiah had foretold of this coming judgment. But with that warning had also come a ray of hope. The Captivity would be of a limited duration.

Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, "Because you have not obeyed My words, 9 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.

"Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' declares the LORD, "for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation." (Jeremiah 12:8-12).

Notice the specifics of this prophecy. It is that the people of Israel would be taken into captivity and their land ruined for a period of seventy years. This prophecy was fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem on three different occasions, each time taking a greater toll against the city.

The decree of Cyrus for the Jews to return and to rebuild their Temple was given in 538 B.C., the year after he had taken Babylon.

 

THE DECREE OF CYRUS

Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, "The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

"Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.

"Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem." (Ezra 1:2-4).

When we first read this, we are inclined to think that they are the words of a believer. Cyrus is attributing his victories over the Babylonian Empire to Yahweh and describes himself as an agent of the Lord is decreeing that the Temple of God be rebuilt in Jerusalem. From archaeological records, we learn that this was the policy of Cyrus toward all religions and people groups. The Cyrus Prism was discovered in 1879 by Rassam and describes this policy of Cyrus.

I am Cyrus, King of the World, Great King, Legitimate King, King of Babylon, King of Kiengir and Akkad, King of the four rims of the earth, Son of Cambyses, Great King, King of Achamaenes, Grandson of Cyrus, Great king, King of Achamaenes, descendant of Chishpish, Great king, King of Achamaenes, of a family which always exercised kingship; whose rule Bel and Nebo love, whom they want as king to please their hearts. When I entered Babylon as a friend and when I established the seat of the government in the palace of the ruler under jubilation and rejoicing, Marduk, the great lord, induced the magnanimous inhabitants of Babylon to love me, and I was daily endeavoring to worship him.... As to the region from as far as Ashur and Susa, Akkad, Eshnunna, the towns Zamban, Me-turnu, Der as well as the region of the Gutians, I returned to these sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time, the images which used to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I also gathered all their former inhabitants and returned them to their habitations. Furthermore, I resettled upon the command of Marduk, the great lord, all the gods of Kiengir and Akkad whom Nabonidus had brought into Babylon to the anger of the lord of the gods, unharmed, in their former temples, the places which make them happy.

Cyrus seems to have realized that a tribute-paying nation would be more profitable than a devastated country. Thus, he looked forward to turning the desolation into a profitable source of revenue.

Here is the point. Cyrus had his own reasons for instituting his political policy and they were not God’s reasons. Nevertheless, the actions of Cyrus were also fulfilling the plan of God for His people. The actions of the king were doing the will of God even though that king was working on his own agenda.

"It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’" (Isaiah 44:28).

Over a hundred years before the coming of Cyrus, God declared through the prophet Isaiah that this same Cyrus would perform His will by ordering the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Cyrus had not even been born when this was written.

"For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel, My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me." (Isaiah 45:40).

The Lord states that He chose Cyrus to perform certain things even though Cyrus himself was an unbeliever who did not know the Lord. God is not restricted to using believers to carry out His plan. In the same way that He used Cyrus, so also He used the pharaoh of the Exodus.

"For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’" (Romans 9:17).

It was the Lord who raised up the unbelieving pharaoh of the Exodus to his position of leadership over Egypt. He did this so that, by bringing him to defeat through the plagues and through the incident at the Red Sea, the name of the Lord might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.

Are we to take these instances of Cyrus and the pharaoh of Egypt as being the exceptions rather than the rule? Does God’s plan only extend to the great and the powerful while ignoring the humble and the weak? Not at all! If there were anyone who was said to have "free will," it was the king. He could point to someone and say, "Off with his head" and that head would topple. Thus, when the book of Proverbs states the principle of God’s sovereignty over rulers as a general principle, the implication is that God is sovereign over ALL men.

"The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes." (Proverbs 21:1).

It has been said that man’s free will flows in the channels which have been dug by the sovereignty of God. Such a concept is presented here. The Lord carries out His plans and protects His people, not merely in spite of a pagan king, but He actually uses that pagan king to work out His will.

Paul takes this principle a step further to teach that the rulers themselves are placed in their positions of authority by the Lord.

"Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." (Romans 13:1).

Paul was not speaking in the context of a Christian king or governor. It was during the reigns of the Roman Emperors that he penned these words. He did not say that only those authorities which are obedient to divine laws are established by God, but ALL authorities.

This means that, whether a leader has taken a throne by force of arms or through inheritance or even through a national election by the vote of the "free will" of the populace, it is ultimately the Lord who places in office those whom He has chosen.

 

THE RESPONSE OF THE PEOPLE

Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.

All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. (Ezra 1:5-6).

As the call went out for people to return and rebuild the Temple, there were two responses which are mentioned in this passage. First, there were those who went. We are told specifically that God had been as work in stirring up their spirit to go and to do this work. We have already seen how God can motivate a pagan king to accomplish His will. Here we see how He also motivates His own people to do His will.

The second group is made up of people who did not make the journey, but who nevertheless supported the word with gifts and offerings.

There is a lesson here. Not everyone is called to be a missionary to a foreign country. But those who do not go themselves are nevertheless able to support those who do go.

 

INSTRUMENTS OF WORSHIP

Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; 8 and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

Now this was their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, duplicates;

1 30 gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind and 1,000 other articles.

1 All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:7-11).

Cyrus also released the various articles of gold and silver that had been taken from the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar. These had evidently been kept in a collection. Daniel tells the story of how Belshazzar took some of these sacred vessels and defiled them in using them during an orgy of eating and drinking. These vessels are now to be cleansed and returned to their original use.

How about you? The Scriptures say that we are chosen vessels of the Lord. Are you a vessel in need of some cleansing? Has sin defiled your use to the Lord? There is good news here. It is that God is able to cleanse His chosen vessels and to return them to His good service.

THE NUMBER OF THOSE WHO CAME

EZRA 2

In the 1970's a movie came out on broadcast television entitled "Roots." Written by Alex Haley, it was a true-life portrayal of a man’s attempts to trace down his ancestors. My wife’s family has a book of ancestors that go all the way back to the Mayflower.

On the other hand, there are some people who are ashamed of their family heritage - like the man who spent a fortune trying to uncover his family line and then another fortune trying to cover it up again. Why do people care at all about their ancestry? There are several reasons:

To learn exactly who they are, thus establishing a sense of self-identity.

To fulfill a sense of belonging. Everyone wants to belong, to fit in. It is inherent in the very makeup of who we are.

This chapter contains a long list of names. Such a list does not seem very interesting to us because we know virtually nothing of these people. They would seem to have no relevance to us in our day. But I want to suggest that there are some lessons that we can learn from the presence of this list in the book of Ezra.

1. This List is Preparatory for the Messiah.

At the beginning of the list is the name of Zerubbabel. He was a leader of the people due to the fact that he could trace his ancestry back to Solomon and David. His name appears in the genealogy of Jesus as found in Matthew 1.

Zerubbabel had the legal right to the throne of Israel. But he never laid claim to that throne. Though the Israelites looked to him for leadership, he never attempted to be recognized as a king. This was in keeping with a prophecy which had been made years earlier.

"As I live," declares the LORD, "even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off; 25 and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

"I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die.

"But as for the land to which they desire to return, they will not return to it.

"Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar? Or is he an undesirable vessel? Why have he and his descendants been hurled out and cast into a land that they had not known?

"O land, land, land, Hear the word of the LORD!

"Thus says the LORD, "Write this man down childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man of his descendants will prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah." (Jeremiah 22:24-30).

Coniah is another name for Jehoachin, one of the last kings of Judah. The Lord had promised that none of the descendants of Coniah would ever prosper upon the throne of David. This means that if Jesus had been the physical descendant of Joseph, he would have been ineligible to sit upon the throne of David. On the other hand, only a legal descendant of David has the legal right to the throne of David. It has been suggested that it is for this reason that the Gospel accounts contain two separate and distinct genealogies for Jesus.

2. This List is made up of Real People.

To us this list of names is nothing more than that - simply a listing of unknown names over which we may conveniently skip. But they are a lot more than that to the Lord. We do not know these people, but HE does.

Here is the point. If we consider our church to be a spiritual family, then we should try to make it a point to know one another’s names. And not merely their names. We should make an effort to be involved in one another’s lives.

That is not always an easy thing. People’s lives are sometimes messy. And noisy. And inconvenient. But that is what it means to be family.

3. This List contains a number of Places.

In verses 3-20 we read a listing of the record of the children of the heads of various clans. But in verse 21 there is a change. Here we read the children, not of a man, but from a certain PLACE. Throughout the rest of the chapter, we see interspersed among the listings of clans certain listings of towns and villages.

Bethlehem (2:21).

Bethel and Ai (2:28).

Jericho (2:34).

Some of these places were repaired and became once again the habitation of the returning deportees. Other places remained in ruins and some have even been forgotten to this day.

There is a lesson here. It is that sometimes coming back to God does not involve coming back to a specific physical location. Paula and I met at Florida Bible College at a time when it was located on Hollywood Beach. The building has since been sold and today is the Hollywood Beach Hotel. Though we treasure the memories from those years, those relationships can not be recaptured by returning to that location. It just isn’t the same any longer.

The good news is that the God whom we came to know in those days has not changed. We can not longer go to that locale, but we can go to Him. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Verse 23 makes reference of 128 men of Anathoth. This is significant. In the days before the final fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah was told by the Lord to purchase a piece of property. With Nebuchanezzar already in the land, real estate prices were in a steady state of decline. This was NOT the time to be purchasing real estate.

And Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 7 ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, "Buy for yourself my field which is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it."’" (Jeremiah 32:6-7).

Jeremiah obeys the Lord and purchases the field. He is then instructed to save the deed as a future inheritance.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time."

For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.

After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, then I prayed to the LORD, saying, 17 "Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You (Jeremiah 32:14-17).

The reason that Jeremiah was to purchase this property was to illustrate a promise. The promise was that God would one day bring the Israelites back into the land and give it to them as their inheritance.

The property that Jeremiah purchesed was in Anathoth. Now we see these men going back to that selfsame city. Their actions in returning to this city was in fulfillment of the words of the Lord.

We also have promises from God. We are called to "buy into" those promises. Jesus warned that we should take care not to lay up our treasure here on earth, but to lay up our treasure in heaven.

4. This List is nearly exclusively Masculine.

Women were not mentioned in this list. That does not mean that they did not accompany the men, but it does mean that these men were considered to be the leaders of their households. There is one interesting exception:

The sons of Solomon's servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda... (Ezra 2:55).

The name Hassophereth is the feminine form of the Hebrew word for "scribe." This was an era in history where not all people could read and write (this would change dramatically in the days of Jesus). Very rare indeed was a woman who held the position of a scribe. But this woman evidently was known as a scribe.

We have a manuscript of the Pentateuch that was written many years later in the Middle Ages. The manuscript was copied by Miriam, the daughter of the renowned scribe Benaya. The title page contains this remark, "Please be indulgent of the shortcomings of this volume; I copied it while nursing a baby."

5. This List contains a Priestly Emphasis.

Now these are those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub,

Addan and Immer, but they were not able to give evidence of their fathers' households and their descendants, whether they were of Israel: 60 the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 652.

Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name.

These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood.

The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim. (Ezra 2:59-63).

There were certain men who returned who were descendants of the priesthood, but could no longer provide specific evidence as to their heritage. The records had been destroyed when the Temple was destroyed. And since the Law mandated that only descendants of Aaron could serve as priests, these men were excluded from the priesthood.

We do not have this kind of priesthood in the church today. The New Testament teaches that Christ has become our high priests and, through His ministry, He has made us all to be a kingdom of priests. Be we still need a holy lineage for that priesthood. It is not a physical lineage, but a spiritual lineage that we require.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13).

It is only those who have been born again into the family of God who enjoy the privilege of coming into the presence of God.

Verse 63 makes mention of the Urim and Thummim. These were devises which were somehow connected to the breastplate of the high priest and were used like lots to determine what might be the will of the Lord. Like some of the other Temple items, these had evidently been lost.

The governor seems to be a reference to Zerubbabel. His judgment regarding these priests was that they should be removed from their priestly office until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim. The thing that is not mentioned here is that the Urim and Thummim never again made their appearance. The rabbis after this held that "since the destruction of the first temple the Urim and the Thummim ceased" (Tosefta Sota 13.1).

The Septuagint translated these terms with abstractions: Lights and Perfections; elsewhere it translates the terms as Manifestation and Truth. They were used by the high priest to determine "yes" or "no" answers to see what might be the will of God.

The mind of God has been ultimately revealed to us in Jesus Christ. He fulfills the Urim and Thummim.

He is the LIGHT of the world.

He is the PERFECT man.

He is the MANIFESTATION of God.

He is the TRUTH.

THE REBUILDING OF WORSHIP

EZRA 3

In the last chapter, we saw the Jews returning to their homeland. The last verse closed with each family dispersing to go to their own hometown or city. This presumably took place in the spring. As this chapter opens, the summer has come to an end and the people come together for the purpose of rebuilding their place of worship.

THE UNITY OF WORSHIP

Now when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. (Ezra 3:1).

When the Jews first returned to the land, they tended to naturally gravitate to their own cities and their own villages. The entire land was desolate, but Jerusalem was especially devastated. The walls had been torn down. The Temple had been burnt. The city was a heap.

This began to change when, in the seventh month, the Israelites came together to Jerusalem. Our new year starts in January. We tend to number our months from that starting point. But this was not always the case. Even the names of the months that we utilize bear witness of a different starting point.

September is from the Latin septem and means "seven."

October is from the Latin octo and means "eight."

November is from the Latin novem and means "eight."

December is from the Latin decem and means "ten."

The new year started in the Spring. It coincided with the spring equinox. This was true even though the Jewish calendar was oriented as a lunar calendar with 28 days a piece.

We are told, not only that the people came together, but they came together as one man. It was as though a single body was at work. And in a sense, it was. This is how the church is always supposed to work. We have been called together to be the body of Christ. A body by its very nature is unified.

Paul gives the illustration of a disunified body. Imagine the arms and legs and eyes and ears all trying to go their own ways. It would be the death of the body. Churches die in the same way.

 

THE LEADERS OF WORSHIP

Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers 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.

So they set up the altar on its foundation, for they were terrified because of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening. (Ezra 3:2-3).

There was a unity, not only among the people, but also among the leaders. Jeshua was evidently the high priest while Zerubbabel held the reigns of civil authority. But there was no competition between the two. They both came together for the purposes of worship.

They began with the altar. This was no small structure. The altar was a large structure made of uncut stones. No human hand had molded its makeup. It represented that which is offered to God.

There is a lesson here. Our offerings to God can never take away sin because they are blighted with our own human efforts. Only that which comes from the hand of the God is acceptable to God. This is why your own good works can never save you. Only God’s own Son can accomplish that.

Notice also that they did not wait until the entire Temple was completed before they began worshiping the Lord. They began with what they had.

Sometimes I talk to someone who feels that he needs to straighten up his own life before he can come to church and worship God. That is a little like someone who is involved in a traffic accident saying to the rescue workers: "I know that I need to be in the hospital, but first I want to go home and heal from these terrible looking injuries. When I am presentable I will come back to the hospital."

Come to the Lord with what you have. That is the place to start. And then the process will continue from there.

Verse 3 says that they set up the altar on its foundation, for they were terrified because of the peoples of the lands. The translation of the word "for" makes it look as though the reason that they set up the altar was because of their fear of the people of the land. But I don’t believe this is the case. Although the preposition usually carries the idea of "for" it can be translated in a variety of ways and even as a conjunction ("but"). I think that the context would warrant such a translation in this case. They set up the altar in spite of the potential opposition from those who were living in the land.

THE TIMES OF WORSHIP

They celebrated the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the fixed number of burnt offerings daily, according to the ordinance, as each day required; 5 and afterward there was a continual burnt offering, also for the new moons and for all the fixed festivals of the LORD that were consecrated, and from everyone who offered a freewill offering to the LORD.

From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, but the foundation of the temple of the LORD had not been laid. (Ezra 3:4-6).

Their worship began with the Feast of Booths. This was a festival in which all of the people were to gather together and construct for themselves temporary booths in which they were to reside. It was a good thing, for there were probably not a lot of buildings standing in Jerusalem.

For an entire week, the Israelites would eat their meals and sleep in these temporary booths. For the children among them, it must have been akin to a week of camping. It was a holiday spirit and a time of remembrance. They were to remember that there had once been a time when they were without a home or a country and that they had been nomads wandering in a wilderness.

On this occasion, the Feast of Booths had a special significance. It looked back, not only to the time of wandering in the wilderness following the Exodus, but it also served as a reminder that they had recently been wanderers and were only now coming back into their homeland.

In verse 4 we read that this observance was according to the ordinance. This underlines what we know in theological terms as the REGULATIVE PRINCIPLE. It means that we worship God only in those manners in which He has designated worship to take place. This is in contrast to other positions:

The worship among the Jews was not according to convenience or their own decision. It was in keeping with that which had been mandated in the Scriptures.

THE GIVING FOR WORSHIP

Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food, drink and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyrians, to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the permission they had from Cyrus king of Persia. (Ezra 3:7).

These people did not have a lot. They had lost everything when they were uprooted and taken away to a foreign land. They had rebuilt from scratch and now they had left their new homes in Mesopotamia to return to the Promised Land. They were in the process of rebuilding. But that did not stop them from giving to the Lord’s work.

Their view was that the rebuilding of the Temple of God was a project that was worthy of their gifts and offerings.

This was no small project. It would require the hiring of skilled craftsmen as well as the purchasing of construction supplies in the form of cedar wood from Lebanon which had to be transported by barge down to Joppa and then overland into the mountains of Jerusalem.

 

THE ORGANIZATION OF WORSHIP

Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites from twenty years and older to oversee the work of the house of the LORD.

Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God. (Ezra 3:8-9).

One of the popular sayings today is to speak out against "organized religion." It is really a silly statement. After all, what is the alternative - disorganized religion? God is a God of order. And there is an appropriate organization that coincides with the worship of God.

THE MUSIC OF WORSHIP

Now when the builders had 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 directions of King David of Israel.

They sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, "For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever." And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. (Ezra 3:10-11).

If I had been organizing the rebuilding of the Temple, I would have had the architects and the builders and the masons and carpenters. But that would have left out an important part of the construction process. I am speaking of the musicians. Music is important. It is ordained by God to touch the soul of man.

God invented music - it existed at creation (Job 38:7). He is the greatest music-lover in the universe. The Bible does not tell us what kind of music God likes - rather, He is concerned about the musician.

THE REACTION TO WORSHIP

Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:12-13).

There were two divergent reactions from among the people at the laying of the foundation of the Temple.

Why the two different reactions? We can understand those who shouted for joy. They were witnessing the rebuilding of the Temple. They were seeing the reconstruction of that which allowed them to worship the God of the universe.

But why did the old men weep? Verse 12 tells us that those who wept were those who had seen the first temple. I think that there are several possibilities:

1. They wept because the new Temple promised to be so much smaller and less grandiose than the original Temple.
2. They wept because they were reminded of the terrible consequences of sin. There is a lesson here. God is forgives sin. That is what the cross is all about. But the consequences often remain and have to be endured.

A RISING OPPOSITION

EZRA 4

Whenever you start doing something for the Lord, it will not be long before opposition rears its ugly head. More often than not, such opposition will come, not from your enemies, but from those who claim to be your friends. That is the case as we come to the fourth chapter of Ezra.

AN ALLIANCE OF ENEMIES

Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the LORD God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' households, and said to them, "Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here." (Ezra 4:1-2).

The inhabitants of Israel had long since ceased to be Israelite. Israel had come to be a united kingdom under the kingship of Saul, David and Solomon. But following Solomon’s death, the kingdom had divided. The north had seceded from the south and two separate nations had resulted. The ten northern tribes continued to be known as Israel while the two southern tribes were known collectively as Judah.

Two hundred years later, the Assyrians swept down against both Israel and Judah. The southern kingdom of Judah managed to weather the storm, but the northern kingdom was swept away in the onslaught. Those who survived were deported to other lands in the east while other similar refugees were transported to settle in the lands which had belonged to Israel.

Thus as this chapter opens, there are people living in the land who have come to worship Yahweh, the One whom they perceive to be the God of that land. As they learn that a Temple is being built to Yahweh, they come and offer their services. After all, they are all worshiping the same God. It seems only right that they pool their resources in a true ecumenical effort.

A FITTING REJECTION

But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, "You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us." (Ezra 4:3).

The offered assistance from their neighbors is coldly refused. This brings up a question. Were the Jews correct in refusing the aid that was offered? In the previous chapter they actively sought such aid in the form of building supplies from the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. Solomon had used Phoenician craftsmen in the work of constructing the Temple. Could this not have been an opportunity to take these worshipers of God and to lead them more correctly in the worship of the Lord? There are several answers:

1. The Fickleness of False Friends.

This offer of friendship would quickly turn to hatred. Why? Because the offer was a false offer. These neighboring people had their own agenda.

Here is the principle. False friends will continue to pretend friendship as long as it means that they can get what they want from you.

2. The Fabrication of False Fidelity.

The claim of these foreigners was that they had been worshiping the same God as the God of the Israelites. They reasoned that, since they were all worshiping the same God, then they ought to get together and hold hands and sing "Kumbaya" together around a campfire.

But we know that their’s was a false fidelity. They worshiped a god of their own making. They had heard that Yahweh was the God of this land, so they said, "Let’s take all of our previous idolatry and we will just change the names. Instead of Baal, we will worship Yahweh."

They even went so far as to accept the Pentateuch. But because they didn’t like certain portions of it, they took it and they rewrote it to be more culturally acceptable.

3. The Fable of Formulaic Fellowship.

We live in the age of syncretism - when the only sin over which society is intolerant is the sin of intolerance.

There are times when Christians SHOULD get together and cross denominational lines. But that does not mean that we automatically join in fellowship with every single person that says something nice about God. The Bible warns against the acceptance of heretics.

Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, 11 knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. (Titus 3:10-11).

A factious man describes one who makes divisions where there should be none. There are some people who delight in starting arguments. They should not be permitted to remain in the church and sow their seeds of discontent.

 

A COLD WAR

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, 5 and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4:4-5).

This is a blanket statement which covers the history of the reigns of Cyrus, Cambyses and finally Darius. Some Bible scholars see in verse 6 a primarily a parenthetical statement regarding the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem, which takes place later on in time, and then picks up again with verse 24 about the rebuilding of the temple.

I don’t believe this to be the case. The problem is that there were three different Persian kings as well as a governor by the name of Darius. The second problem is the use of Ahasuerus in verse 6. We are used to seeing it used in the book of Esther where it refers to Xerxes, but it is not a name, it is merely a title and can refer to any of the Persian kings.

The summary statement is made in verse 5 that the Jews had construction problems from the days of Cyrus to the days of Darius. The line of kings for this period was as follows:

What has thrown Bible students astray is the mention of "Artaxerxes." The name translated "Artaxerxes" here in Ezra 4-6 is spelled slightly different than the Artaxerxes found in Nehemiah 7-8 (the difference is the kind of "s" used). I would suggest that the "Artaxerxes" mentioned here in Ezra is really a reference to the ruler which we know as Cambyses. Thus, it was under Cambyses that the building of the Temple was halted, contrary to the previous orders of his father, Cyrus.

A SLANDEROUS ACCUSATION

Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic.

Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows 9 then wrote Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their colleagues, the judges and the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, 10 and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the River. Now 11 this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him: "To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men in the region beyond the River, and now 12 let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city and are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.

"Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are finished, they will not pay tribute, custom or toll, and it will damage the revenue of the kings.

"Now because we are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king, 15 so that a search may be made in the record books of your fathers. And you will discover in the record books and learn that that city is a rebellious city and damaging to kings and provinces, and that they have incited revolt within it in past days; therefore that city was laid waste.

"We inform the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls finished, as a result you will have no possession in the province beyond the River." (Ezra 4:6-16).

Have you ever been falsely accused? It cuts to the quick when someone says an untruth about you. What is even worse is when there is a little truth mixed in with the lie. That is the case here.

The city of Jerusalem HAD been a rebellious city. Against the advice of Jeremiah, the people had revolted against Nebuchadnezzar on at least three different occasions. It was for this reason that the city had been destroyed.

What was not true was the charge that the Jews were preparing to do it again. Their motivation in rebuilding the city and the Temple was so that they could worship God, not so that they could rebel against Persia. The remaining history of the Jews shows that, when they were finally allowed to complete the work of rebuilding the Temple and the walls of the city, they did not return to their rebellious ways. To the contrary, they continued as faithful subjects of Persia even when Alexander the Great marched into Palestine as a self-proclaimed liberator from the Persian Empire.

AN INOPPORTUNE EDICT

Then the king sent an answer to Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the River: "Peace. And now 18 the document which you sent to us has been translated and read before me.

"A decree has been issued by me, and a search has been made and it has been discovered that that city has risen up against the kings in past days, that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it, 20 that mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem, governing all the provinces beyond the River, and that tribute, custom and toll were paid to them.

"So, now issue a decree to make these men stop work, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me.

"Beware of being negligent in carrying out this matter; why should damage increase to the detriment of the kings?"

Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes' document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force of arms.

Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4:17-24).

The king believed the report of the enemies of Israel. He did some initial checking into the historical archives of Persia and learned that Jerusalem did indeed have a history of rebellion. Therefore he issued an edict to stop the rebuilding of the city.

There is a lesson here. It is that your past often follows you into the future. A past is a difficult thing to live down. You are branded by your deeds and they affect the way that people view you. While we can rest in the assurance that God forgives, that does not mean that sin does not have lasting consequences.

In this case, it was the children who were bearing the penalty for the actions committed by their fathers. Very few of the Jews who were living in this day had participated in the sinful actions which led to the destruction of Jerusalem. In the last chapter we noted that there were some very old people who looked at the Temple and who remembered the past glories of what it had been. But the majority of the people now returned were of a younger generation. They had been born into the Babylonian Captivity. And now they are reaping some of the consequences sowed by the previous generation.

Here is the principle. Sin ALWAYS leaves consequences. It is a fundamental rule of life, as natural as sowing and reaping.

In this case, it resulted in the work of rebuilding the Temple and the city of Jerusalem being halted. The construction would sit unfinished for several years until a new king was seated upon the throne of Persia. And at that time, the construction was recommence, not because of an edict of the king, but through the preaching of two prophetic witnesses - Haggai and Zechariah.

THE COMPLETION OF THE TEMPLE

EZRA 5 - 6

I’m not much of a sports fan. Though I enjoy participating in sports, the very idea of watching other people exercise leaves me cold. But a number of years I found myself watching one of the Olympic events. It was a race. I’m not certain, but it may have been the Marathon. In any event, the runners were in their final two or three laps. The lead runner crossed the finish line. For him the race was over, but the other runners never slowed up. And then something took place that grabbed everyone’s attention. One of the runners collapsed on the track. Bent over double and clutching his side, it was evident that he was in great pain. He struggled to get again to his feet but could not. From the stadium stands, an older man rushed to the track. The security guards at first sought to detain him, but then they recognized him as the young runner’s father. The father reached his son and helped him to his feet. And then, with his support and at a very unsteady gait, the two continued the last lap and the finish of the race.

They were dead last. But they finished the race. And as they crossed the finish line together, there was a thunderous roar of approval from the spectators. I do not think that there was a dry eye in the stadium.

There is something deeply satisfying about finishing a project. This is especially true when that project is one that has the endorsement of the Lord. There is something inherently glorious in completing a task that has been mandated by heaven.

That is what takes place in the fifth and sixth chapters of Ezra. In the previous chapters, God had provided the vision, the permission and the materials for the rebuilding of His temple. But then opposition had arisen. The people became discouraged. And the work stopped. A year passed. And then another year. And another. And still the work remained incomplete.

Finally something takes place that will bring a renewal of the task. It is the Lord Himself who brings this about through a revelation to His prophets.

THE MINISTRY OF THE PROPHETS

When the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them, 2 then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them supporting them. (Ezra 5:1-2).

As we read this, we must understand that the books of the Bible are not arranged in an exact chronological order from Genesis to Revelation. There are occasional overlaps. This is one of them. As we turn from the end of chapter 4 to begin chapter 5, we must understand that the books of Haggai and Zechariah have been written in the interim.

Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

"Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?" (Haggai 1:3-4).

The Jews had already returned to their homeland and had set about rebuilding their homes. This initial work was now completed. They had resettled in the land. They had even set out to rebuild the Temple. But at the first sight of opposition, they had given up on that endeavor. It is like the old saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough quit." They instead had focused their attention upon themselves and their own farms and properties. And so, Haggai calls them to account.

Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, "Consider your ways!

You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes." (Haggai 1:5-6).

Haggai describes the situation that existed among the people of the land. There were housing shortages, disappointing harvests, lack of clothing and jobs, and inflation had taken its toll. People were working more and more for less and less.

Haggai uses a play on words as he proclaims that because the Lord's house had remained "a ruin" (hareb, Haggai 1:4, 9), the Lord would bring "a drought" (horeb, Haggai 1:11) on the land. The reason that things were going hard for the Jews was because they were not giving their full devotion to the Lord.

How about you? Is the daily grind grinding you down? Are you running the rat race and tired of the fact that, even if you were to win, you would still just be a rat? Are you working harder and harder for less and less which has to pay for more and more? Perhaps the real issue is your devotion to the Lord.

Ezra’s account does not give us the exact dates of when this took place. But we do find that information provided in the books of Haggai and Zechariah.

Notice what is the mechanism that the Lord uses to renew the work of construction on His Temple. It is the prophetic revelation which brings about a renewed leadership to the task at hand.

Notice that the Lord works to move the LEADERSHIP of His people to bring about His work. This is the normal pattern in which God works.

Both the prophets and the priests and the descendant of the king had a role in the completion of the work of the Temple. They were working together and there is no indication of any jealousy or friction between any of them.

There is a principle here that you need to see. It is that God usually brings His blessings upon His people through the leadership of that people.

This is seen in the kings of Judah and Israel. When a godly king came to the throne, God blessed both that king as well as his subjects with prosperity. When an evil king came to the throne, the Lord brought famine and pestilence and foreign enemies against that king and against his subjects. It is for this reason that the Scriptures urge us to pray for our governmental leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

This also has an application for families. Fathers have an awesome responsibility, not only for their own spiritual lives, but for the spiritual lives of their families. If you are a father, then you are responsible for the spiritual well-being of your entire household. As you follow the Lord and are obedient to His Word, so shall your family receive blessings from the Lord. And as you are disobedient to the Word of truth, so shall your family reap the negative consequences of your disobedience.

THE QUESTIONING OF THE GOVERNOR

At that time Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues came to them and spoke to them thus, "Who issued you a decree to rebuild this temple and to finish this structure?"

Then we told them accordingly what the names of the men were who were reconstructing this building.

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report could come to Darius, and then a written reply be returned concerning it. (Ezra 5:3-5).

It is not long before news of the renewed construction project gets out. The local Persian governor soon pays a visit to the site and questions the workers.

His question would have been intimidating in the extreme. "Who gave you the authority for these actions?" He is taking names for an official report to the king. Those in leadership will bear the full responsibility for their actions. The names are given and the report is sent in.

It should be noted that Tattenai had both the authority and the wherewithal to halt the work of reconstruction pending his inquiries. But he did not do so. Instead he allows the work to continue while he makes his inquiries.

Why? What prevented him from stopping the work? The answer is given in verse 5 - the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews. As a result, the work continued unabated.

THE LETTER OF INQUIRY

This is the copy of the letter which Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and his colleagues the officials, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king.

They sent a report to him in which it was written thus: "To Darius the king, all peace.

"Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is being built with huge stones, and beams are being laid in the walls; and this work is going on with great care and is succeeding in their hands.

"Then we asked those elders and said to them thus, ‘Who issued you a decree to rebuild this temple and to finish this structure?’

"We also asked them their names so as to inform you, and that we might write down the names of the men who were at their head.

"Thus they answered us, saying, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But because our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon. 13 However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. 14 Also the gold and silver utensils of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, and brought them to the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took from the temple of Babylon and they were given to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor. 15 He said to him, ‘Take these utensils, go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem and let the house of God be rebuilt in its place.’ 16 Then that Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem; and from then until now it has been under construction and it is not yet completed.’

"Now if it pleases the king, let a search be conducted in the king's treasure house, which is there in Babylon, if it be that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to rebuild this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send to us his decision concerning this matter. (Ezra 5:6-17).

I love the response that is reported to Tattenai’s questioning of the Jewish workers. He reports how he sought to find out who had instituted this work. In replay, they dutifully report the names of their leaders, but they do not stop there. They go on to say that they are working as servants of the God of heaven and earth (Ezra 5:11).

There is a respectful boldness in their answer. On the one hand, they wish to give no affront to the civil authorities. To this end, they appeal to the former Decree of Cyrus. The fact that they ask that it be searched out indicates that they did not have a copy of the original decree in their possession. And so, they respectfully ask that it be located to substantiate their claim. On the other hand, they are determined to obey God rather than men. Therefore they state in no uncertain terms that they are servants of God.

THE DECREE OF DARIUS

Then King Darius issued a decree, and search was made in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon.

In Ecbatana in the fortress, which is in the province of Media, a scroll was found and there was written in it as follows: "Memorandum

"In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: "Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained, its height being 60 cubits and its width 60 cubits; 4 with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.

"Also let the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.’

"Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai and your colleagues, the officials of the provinces beyond the River, keep away from there.

"Leave this work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.

"Moreover, I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of this house of God: the full cost is to be paid to these people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the River, and that without delay.

"Whatever is needed, both young bulls, rams, and lambs for a burnt offering to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and anointing oil, as the priests in Jerusalem request, it is to be given to them daily without fail, 10 that they may offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

"And I issued a decree that any man who violates this edict, a timber shall be drawn from his house and he shall be impaled on it and his house shall be made a refuse heap on account of this.

"May the God who has caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who attempts to change it, so as to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree, let it be carried out with all diligence!" (Ezra 6:1-12).

The Decree of Darius is presented in a reverse parallel to the Letter of Tattenai. This type of parallelism is known as a chiasm.