A. A second group arrives with Ezra—7—8
G e n e s i s E x o d u s L e v i t i c u s N u m b e r s D e u t e r o n o m y J o s h u a J u d g e s R u t h
E s t h e r J o b P s a l m s P r o v e r b s E c c l e s i a s t e s S o n g o f
1 S a m u e l 2 S a m u e l 1 K i n g s 2 K i n g s 1 C h r o n i c l e s 2 C h r o n i c l e s E z r a N e h e m i a h
J e r e m i a h L a m e n t a t i o n s E z e k i e l D a n i e l H o s e a J o e l A m o s O b a d i a h
J o n a h M i c a h N a h u m H a b a k k u k Z e p h a n i a h H a g g a i Z e c h a r i a h M a l a c h i
OUTLINE Key theme: Restoring the spiritual heart of the
CONTENTS
nation Key verse: Ezra 7:10
Ezra 1—3 734 The Providence of God
Ezra 4—6 738 The Faithfulness of God
I. THE NATION IS RESTORED (1—6)
A. A remnant returns with Zerubbabel and
Ezra 7—8 742 The Good Hand of God
Joshua—1—2 B. The temple is rebuilt—3—6
1. The work begins—3 2. The work opposed—4 3. The work resumed—5 4. The work completed—6
Ezra 9—10 746 The Grace of God
II. THE PEOPLE ARE REDEDICATED (7—10)
A. A second group arrives with Ezra—7—8 B. Confession of sin—9 C. Cleansing of sin—10
Ezra 1 traitor—and the Holy City and the temple were destroyed in 587–586.
CHAPTER ONE Ezra 1—3 THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD T
But Jeremiah also announced that the captivity would be for seventy years (Jer. 25:1–14; 29:10; see Dan. 9:1–2). Bible students don't agree on the dating of this period, whether it begins with the Babylonian invasion in 606 or the destruction of the city and temple in 587–586. From 606 to 537–536, when the remnant returned to Judah, is seventy years, but so also is the period from the fall of Jerusalem (586) to the completion of the second temple in 516. Regardless of which calculation you accept, the prediction and its fulfillment are astonishing.3 Whether He promises chastening or blessing, God is always faithful to His Word. "Not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you" (Josh. 23:14 nkjv). "There has not failed one word of all His good promise" (1 Kings 8:56 nkjv). "Heaven and earth shall pass away," said Jesus, "but my words shall not pass away" (Matt. 24:35).
I. The nation is restored (1—6) A.A remnant returns with Zerubbabel and Joshua—1—2 hank God He gives us difficult things to do!" said Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest.1
The first time I read that statement, I shook my head in disagreement, but I was young and inexperienced then, and it seemed smarter to do the easy things that made me look successful. However, I've lived long enough to understand the wisdom of Chambers' statement. I've learned that when God tells us to do difficult things, it's because He wants us to grow. Unlike modern-day press agents and spin doctors, God doesn't manufacture synthetic heroes; He grows the real thing. "The hero was a big man," wrote Daniel Boorstin; "the celebrity is a big name."2
In God's Hall of Heroes are the names of nearly 50,000 Jews who in 538 BC left captivity in Babylon for responsibility in Jerusalem. God had called them back home to do a difficult job: to rebuild the temple and the city and restore the Jewish community in their own land. This noble venture involved a four months' journey plus a great deal of faith, courage, and sacrifice; and even after they arrived in the Holy City, life didn't get any easier. But as you read the inspired record, you can see the providential leading of the Lord from start to finish; and "if God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31).
God is faithful to His covenant. In spite of their sins, these exiles were God's chosen people and children of the covenant He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen. 12:1–3). The nation had broken the covenant, but the Lord had remained faithful to His word. He had called the Jewish nation to bring blessing to all the earth, and He would see to it that they fulfilled their mission. Through them, the world would receive the knowledge of the one true and living God, the written Word of God, and ultimately the Savior of the world. "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). God is in control of the nations. It was the Lord who raised up Nebuchadnez-zar—"My servant" (Jer. 25:9; 27:6; 43:10)—to chasten the people of Judah, and then He raised up Cyrus to defeat the Babylonians and establish the Persian Empire. "Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him" (Isa. 41:2 niv; see also v. 25). The Lord called Cyrus "my shepherd" (44:28) and "His anointed" (45:1), and Isaiah prophesied that Cyrus would liberate the exiles and enable them to rebuild their city and temple (v. 13).
You see God's providence at work in three key events.
The release of the captives (1:1–4) More than a century before, the prophet Isaiah had warned the Jews that the people of Judah would be taken captive by Babylon and punished for their sins (Isa. 6:11–12;11:11–12; 39:5–7), and his prophecy was fulfilled. In 605, Nebuchadnezzar deported the royal family and took the temple vessels to Babylon. In 597, he sent into exile 7,000 "men of might" and a thousand craftsmen (2 Kings 24:10–16), and in 586, he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and exiled the rest of the Jews in Babylon, except for "the poor of the land" (2 Kings 25:1–21).
God's people need to remember that the Lord God is sovereign over all nations and can do what He pleases with the most powerful rulers. Nebuchadnezzar had to learn this lesson the hard way (Dan. 4:28–32), but then he confessed: "His [God's] dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand" (Dan. 4:34–35).
In 538, Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, conqueror of Babylon, issued a decree that permitted the exiled Jews to return to their land and rebuild their temple. This, too, had been prophesied by Isaiah (Isa. 44:28). What Cyrus did twenty-five centuries ago reminds us today of some important spiritual truths.
God is faithful to His Word. For at least forty years, the prophet Jeremiah had warned the leaders of Judah that the Babylonian exile was inevitable (see Jer. 20:4–6; 21:7–10); and he pled with them to repent of their sins and surrender to Babylon. Only then could they save the city and the temple from ruin. The leaders didn't listen—in fact, they called Jeremiah a
God can do as He pleases with the rulers of the earth; and He has demonstrated this in His dealings with Pharaoh (Ex. 9:16; Rom. 9:17), Ahasuerus (The book of Esther), Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:28), Augustus Caesar (Luke 2:1), and Herod Agrippa I