Chapter 8: The Triumphant Trio: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther
The Triumphant Trio
Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther
These three books mark the end of the Old Testament’s historical section. As I already mentioned, Assyria had assimilated the northern kingdom, and Babylon had captured the southern kingdom. The prophet Jeremiah had predicted seventy years of captivity for the Jews (Jer. 25), and, with that time completed, it was time for them to return to their land. It was essential that the people be in their own land so they might maintain a separated life that glorified the Lord rather than adopt the ways of their pagan masters. God used Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther to give the Jews a new beginning and to protect them from their enemies.
The People Return: Ezra, a Godly Priest and Scholar
The Persians had taken Babylon, and the Lord God of heaven moved Cyrus, their king, to allow the Jews to return to their land. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Prov. 21:1). Ezra, a godly priest and scribe who had a profound and practical knowledge of the Word of the Lord, would become their leader. The Jews had been exiled because they had disobeyed God’s law, and the only way they could be restored was to honor that law and obey it. The king also returned to the Jews the valuable temple furnishings so they could renew their worship of the Lord when their temple was restored. The whole enterprise was a gift from the Lord, a promise fulfilled, and an answer to their prayers.
The Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte said, “The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings,” and this is true. No matter how often we may fall, the Lord will lift us up and give us a new start. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the LORD upholds him with His hand” (Ps. 37:23–24).
As you read Ezra 3, note the unity of God’s people, a good example for us to follow today. They gathered together (v. 1), stood together (v. 9), and sang together (v. 11). Then they built together (4:3). They knew that God’s eye was upon them (5:5), and they trusted Him to help them deal with their enemies. Blessed are those believers who trust the Lord, obey Him, and work together to accomplish His will. Blessed are those children of God who know that God can meet their needs.
Ezra was not only a man of the Word of God, but he was also a man of prayer (Ezra 9), for the two go together (Acts 6:4). He prayed for God’s provision and protection, and the Lord answered. Their journey’s route was neither easy nor safe, but the Lord met every need. It took faith for them to refuse the protection of Persian soldiers (Ezra 8:21–23), but what a testimony of God’s greatness! God’s eyes were upon them, and His hands were guiding and protecting them.
How sad Ezra must have been when he learned that some of the people were compromising again and taking wives from among their pagan neighbors (ch. 9). Compromise with the world has always robbed God’s people of a clear testimony and God’s blessing (2 Cor. 6:11–7:1).
Ezra was an exemplary servant of God. He knew the Word of God and the God of the Word. He sought the Lord’s blessing and had no fear of the enemy. He knew how to pray and encouraged others to pray. The Word of God was within him, and the hand of God was upon him (Ezra 7:6, 9, 14, 28; 8:18, 22, 31). He realized that it was the Lord’s grace alone that enabled the remnant to return to their inheritance and worship and serve the Lord. According to Ezra, the remnant that returned to the Holy Land was like a nail or tent peg that God hammered in a safe place, a light in a dark place, and a wall of protection. The people were experiencing God’s mercy and a revival like life out of death. As we serve God, we must look at our situation from His point of view and not our own.
The People Rebuild: Nehemiah, a Faithful Leader
“For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?” asked the prophet Jeremiah. “Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?” (Jer. 15:5). One man who stepped aside and asked about Jerusalem was Nehemiah, whose brother Hanani had just returned from a visit to the holy city (Neh. 1). The report Nehemiah’s brother gave him was not encouraging. It broke his heart, and he “sat down and wept, and mourned for many days” while fasting and praying (Neh. 1:1–4). Similarly, the apostle Paul was in “great sorrow and continual grief” because of his people’s blindness (Rom. 9:2). But when was the last time you heard a tearful prayer—or prayed a tearful prayer—for the salvation of God’s chosen people?
Ezra was a priest and a scholar, and Esther was a queen, but Nehemiah was a humble Jewish layman who served the king wine at his meals. His grief over the ruins of the holy city moved him to weep and pray and give himself to the Lord to do something about Jerusalem. But he could do nothing without the king’s approval. The king noticed that Nehemiah was not his usual self and that he was very sad. He asked him what was wrong. Nehemiah’s brief reply led to the king asking him what he planned to do, and Nehemiah lifted up one of his “telegraph prayers” to the Lord. Nehemiah was a man of prayer, and in his book, you’ll find ten such prayers (vv. 1:4–11; 2:4; 4:4; 5:19; 6:9, 14; 13:14, 22, 29, 31).
Privately, Nehemiah examined the situation and calculated what needed to be done. Preparation for labor is as important as the labor itself. Then he met with the city elders and challenged them to repair the gates and rebuild the city, and they accepted his challenge. Nehemiah used the pronoun “we” and not “you” because he intended to work beside them. Bosses use “you,” but leaders use “we.”
But there were also the “they” people, the enemies of the Jews around them who did not want the city restored (4:1–6). The enemy planned a sudden attack, but Nehemiah posted guards, and the people prayed for the Lord to protect them. This is the background for the phrase “watch and pray,” which our Lord often used. If we watch and pray, we can overcome the world (Mark 13:33), the flesh (14:38), and the devil (Eph. 6:10–18). Successful workers are balanced; they keep their eyes open and their hands ready to work or to fight. Charles Haddon Spurgeon followed their example and called his church magazine The Sword and the Trowel. If all we do is fight, we build nothing; but if we build and are prepared to fight, we protect our work. Blessed are the balanced!
Chapter 3 makes it clear that the Lord uses all kinds of people with a variety of abilities to accomplish His work: men and women, leaders and ordinary citizens, craftsmen and laborers, and even people from surrounding villages. Their devotion to the Lord and His leader united and encouraged them. Some worked on the wall only before their own house while others worked in more than one location. Their faith was in the Lord, and they trusted Him to provide for them and protect them. I have been involved in two local church building programs and know what it means to look to the Lord for His guidance day after day—especially when, like me, you can’t even read a blueprint!
The enemy tried many subtle devices to hinder the work and stop it, but Nehemiah knew what they were doing and avoided their traps. They invited him to meet with them and “talk things over,” but Nehemiah said, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down” (Neh. 6:3). (Our Lord could have quoted that verse when He was on the cross and the people told Him to come down!) Nehemiah and his people served a great God (1:5; 4:14; 8:6; 9:32) and had no time for devious detours. When the work was completed, the dedication service gave the Lord all the glory. No matter what your service may be, it is great because it is for a great God.
Nehemiah not only faced trouble from the outside but also from the inside, from his own people who did not obey the Lord. Some of the Jews even opened their doors to the enemy! Nehemiah had to deal with Jewish men married to pagan wives and people co-operating with the enemy. I fear that we have similar problems in our churches today as professed believers compromise with the world, the flesh, and the devil.
There is a need today for leaders like Nehemiah and for followers who rejoice in the greatness of the Lord and the opportunity to rebuild what others tear down.
The People Rejoice: Esther, the Courageous Intercessor
The book of Esther magnifies the Lord through the life of a beautiful Jewish girl who risked her life to save her people. Along with Esther, three other key characters appear in the book: her uncle Mordecai, who had adopted her and raised her; Haman, the king’s crafty “pet officer,” who hated Jews in general and Mordecai in particular; and the king of the Persian Empire, who made some bad decisions. I suggest you read the book in one sitting, paying close attention to the Lord’s providential working in the lives of these four people. God is not mentioned in this book, and yet His hand is at work and His will is being accomplished from beginning to end.
The book spothghts an ancient malady, anti-Semitism, first mentioned in Scripture in Genesis 12:1–3, where the Lord tells Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you.” Why would anyone curse the Jews? Simply because they are Jews, God’s chosen people, the nation selected by the Lord to give the world the Bible and Jesus Christ the Savior. No nation, ancient or modern, has suffered as have the Jews, and yet they have contributed immensely to world history. Historian Paul Johnson, in the epilogue of his book A History of the Jews, wrote, “Certainly the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place,” and he listed some of the contributions the Jewish people have made to civilization: the sanctity of human life; equality before the law; the dignity of the human person; social responsibility; and love as the foundation of justice, to name a few. The Christian believer would add the knowledge of the one true and living God; the Bible; and Jesus, the Savior of the world. It’s obvious that Satan hates the Jewish nation and uses every tool available to accuse them, attack them, and destroy them. Besides Genesis 12:1–3, consider Deuteronomy 30:7, Jeremiah 30:10, and Acts 18:2.
Such anti-Semitism pervades the book of Esther. Esther’s inner beauty—her strength, wisdom, and godly spirit—made her perfect to lead the defense against such attitudes. Yet her story opens with allusions to her outer beauty.
Occasionally in Scripture, beauty leads to trouble. In Egypt, Sarah’s beauty got Abraham into trouble because he lied about her (Gen. 12:10–28), and Joseph’s good looks put him into prison because his master’s wife lied about him (ch. 39). Similarly Esther’s beauty captured the king, and she was forced into a life she didn’t ask for. However, the Lord put her on the throne, the perfect place to be when all the trouble started. When the king foolishly approved Haman’s plan to slaughter the Jews, Mordecai knew that, humanly speaking, Esther was the only person who could intercede and save the nation. He admonished Esther to get the message across to the king before it was too late. God brought her into the kingdom for this reason! “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” asked Mordecai (Esther 4:14), and her courageous reply was, “If I perish, I perish!” (4:16). Her prayers, faith, and courage mark her as one of God’s heroines. What began as a tragedy ended as a celebration—the joyful feast of Purim, which the Jews have celebrated for centuries and still celebrate today.
ADVENTURE ASSIGNMENT #8
Esther has been criticized by some because she was part of a “beauty contest” and married an unbelieving Gentile. Do you agree with their criticism? Where do you see God at work in this slice of Jewish history?