The Israelites have been in exile for years and God told King Cyrus to allow them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the House of God. After many years and an interruption or two, the temple is finished. God also called a scribe who loved the Law, wanted to share it with others, and encourage them to follow it. I felt a similar tug at my heart when they described Ezra’s passion for studying the Law.
Ezra is tasked with setting Israel on the right path. God has decided to return to His children. They need to turn away from all of their sins, including leaving behind their foreign wives. They had strayed from the covenant law and while it may seem harsh, they were expected to leave their sins behind. Is there anything that you need a clean break from to start fresh?
Passage:
Ezra
Discovered:
- The Lord directed King Cyrus of Persia to allow the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.
- King Cyrus sent the holy things taken by Nebuchadnezzer.
- All together there were 42,360 people, 7,337 servants, 200 singers, 736 horses, 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys that returned.
- In the 7th month, they built an altar and began to offer burnt offerings as instructed by Moses.
- 2nd year, month 2, Zerubbabel & Joshua with kinsmen began work on the temple. They assigned Levites to supervise the work.
- After the foundation was laid, they celebrated.
- Adversaries offered to help build the temple, but were turned away, it is our task.
- The people living in the land made it difficult to complete the work on the temple.
- Rehum the commander wrote to Antaxerses, King of Persia that they were rebuilding a wicked city and if allowed to finish, you will lose power.
- The king replied: stop the work. Work stopped until the 2nd year of King Darius.
- Haggai and Zechariah prophesied to Jerusalem and work began again on the temple.
- Governonr Tattenai wrote a letter to King Darius: They are successfully working on rebuilding the temple. Can you verify that King Cyrus said they could rebuild the temple?
- The decree was found and Darius issued a new one: the temple will be rebuilt and paid for our of the treasury and those who try to stop work will be impaled.
- The temple was finished on 3rd day of Adar, 6th year of Darius’s reign.
- They celebrated Passover, all of the exiles and anyone who joined them in believing in God.
- Ezra was a scribe who studied the Law of Moses, wanted to teach it.
- Ezra headed to Jerusalem with blessing from King Artaxerses, anyone who wanted to join could, was also given a large free will offering for the Lord.
- About 1500 men went with Ezra, they camped at river Ahava and Ezra sent for Levite priests (They were put in charge of guarding the offerings).
- At river Ahava, they prayed and fasted for protection. The Lord heard.
- They arrived in Jerusalem unharmed and handed over the offerings.
- Ezra prayed/mourned over the intermarriages of Israelites/others.
- Ezra gathered every exile to Jerusalem. All who had married foreign women were to confess their sin (broke the covenant law) and divorce their wives.
Help me to remember:
God was returning the Israelites, but they needed to return to Him, follow All His Laws.
Lord, I ask that . . .
You help me to understand Your Law and its purpose, even when it might not make sense in today’s world.
Heavenly Father, I am thankful for . . .
Your grace and under Christ we are free from the Law.
