Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: Ezra 10

Bible Text: Ezra 10:16-44

¹⁶ Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers’ houses, according to their fathers’ houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter; ¹⁷ and by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.

¹⁸ Now there were found some of the sons of the priests who had married foreign women: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah, some of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers. ¹⁹ They pledged themselves to put away their wives, and their guilt offering was a ram of the flock for their guilt. ²⁰ Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah. ²¹ Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah. ²² Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

²³ Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. ²⁴ Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

²⁵ And of Israel: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Hashabiah, and Benaiah. ²⁶ Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah. ²⁷ Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza. ²⁸ Of the sons of Bebai were Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai. ²⁹ Of the sons of Bani were Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth. ³⁰ Of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh. ³¹ Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, ³² Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah. ³³ Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei. ³⁴ Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, ³⁵ Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, ³⁶ Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷ Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu. ³⁸ Of the sons of Binnui: Shimei, ³⁹ Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, ⁴⁰ Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹ Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴² Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph. ⁴³ Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, and Benaiah. ⁴⁴ All these had married foreign women, and some of the women had even borne children.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 10:16-17

• Consider the manner in which the work was carried out by the committee responsible for identifying those who had intermarried. What can I learn about how I should struggle against sin?

Ezra 10:18-19

• What lessons can I learn from the men of Jeshua about the proper response to sin? How does this compare with my response to sin?   
• Are there certain things in my life that I need to “put away”?

Ezra 10:23

• What warning can I take from the fact that even the Levites, who were appointed as God’s priests, were guilty of intermarrying foreign women?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: Ezra 10

10:1–2 […] While Ezra’s initial reaction attracts an inner circle of sympathizers who sit in silence (10:3–4), his subsequent—equally emotional—outburst of contrition now draws a large cross-section of the community (“men, women, and children”) to the outer courts of the temple, where the people weep in solidarity with him (10:1). The community’s confession of marrying foreign women is voiced by Shecaniah, one of the sons of Elam from the first return. He himself is not named as an offender (10:18–44), nor would the implication of Jehiel (10:26) necessarily implicate Shecaniah or exclude him from the community, even if this Jehiel was his father (10:2). While echoing Ezra’s corporate confession of the community’s “faithlessness” (so the chiefs in 9:2), Shecaniah also suggests that there may yet be “hope for Israel.”

10:3–4 Shecaniah’s proposed solution is to enter into a “covenant” with God (see, e.g., 2 Chr 15:8–15; 29:10) and to “send away” all the women and their children—terminology that is atypical of Jewish divorce and possibility pejorative (see footnote to commentary on 10:1–2). Only now is it made clear that at some point in the preceding four months, Ezra had evidently pointed the way toward this solution. That this solution is in accordance with the counsel of Ezra and “the (Torah) Tremblers” is thus less surprising than Shecaniah’s insistence that it is also in accordance with “the law.” There is no legal requirement to divorce foreign wives, but if Deut 24’s provision for divorce in case of “something objectional” (24:1–4) is in view here, then the women might be eligible to marry again. If what is in mind is another more specific precedent or injunction instead, then this will be testimony to the evolution of the legal tradition within a particular stream of postexilic Judaism. In either case, while Shecaniah clearly hands the initiative back to Ezra (Ezra 10:4: “it is your task”), his additional encouragement (“we are with you”) suggests that the community’s continuing solidarity will be as important as Ezra’s willingness to “be strong.” […]

10:10–11 Ezra begins by clarifying the accusation that was already expressed in his prayer, before insisting on a confession that follows the form of “giving thanks/praise” found elsewhere only in Joshua’s exhortation of Achan to confess his sin (Josh 7:19). This further resonance with the exodus/ settlement/ conquest tradition foregrounds the conviction that the returnees’ sin, like Achan’s, has the potential not only to compromise the divine intention to install his people in the land, but also, as Ezra’s prayer indicates, to undermine the very existence of the community. That praise cannot be disconnected from—and indeed must be intimately connected to—practice is demonstrated by Ezra’s clarification of the requirement that follows from this confession: “do his will”—defined here as the separation from the peoples of the land and, more to the point, in the case at hand, from “the foreign wives.”

10:12–15 Like their forefathers at Sinai (Exod 24:3), the people respond (Ezra 10:12) clearly (“with a loud voice”), decisively (“we must do”), and apparently collectively (“all the assembly”). While they are conscious—and quite reasonably so—of the impracticality of a group so large trying to resolve the problem then and there, their awareness of the seriousness of the situation (“for we have greatly transgressed”) leads them to an alternative proposal. Given that the leaders have been engaged from the beginning (9:1; 10:5), it is not surprising that they are commissioned to form a representative committee to adjudicate the cases of intermarriage brought before them by those concerned, in the company of local authorities who might speak on their behalf. Once completed, it is hoped that the process will be sufficient to assuage the divine wrath that it is assumed will otherwise destroy the community (cf. 8:22; 9:14). […]

10:18–19 As is common in Ezra, the book here includes a list apropos of the foregoing narrative. Like the list of Ezra’s returnees, this one begins with the priests. Unsurprisingly, it is the sons of the house of Jeshua, listed in the first return (2:36), who are indicted, rather than the Aaronic priests who had only just returned to the province with Ezra. Also unsurprising, given the seriousness of the trespass, is that the sending away of the wives was accompanied by a guilt offering.

10:20–24 […] The absence of temple servants from the list suggests to some that intermarriage was more prevalent among the upper echelons of the community, where both the temptation and opportunity to secure the societal advantages of such matches may have been greater (cf. 9:2). Alternatively, it may be that the problem among the upper classes was not more prevalent, but simply more relevant to the writer—on the assumption that once the practice was addressed and eliminated among the so-called leaders, the rest of the community would soon follow suit. ^[1]

[1] Sherpherd, David J. and Christopher J.H. Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018) 27-29.

Bible Text: Ezra 10:1-15

¹ While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. ² And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³ Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law. ⁴ Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.” ⁵ Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath.

⁶ Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles. ⁷ And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸ and that if anyone did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders all his property should be forfeited, and he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles.

⁹ Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. And all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain. ¹⁰ And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have broken faith and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” ¹² Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said. ¹³ But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. ¹⁴ Let our officials stand for the whole assembly. Let all in our cities who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders and judges of every city, until the fierce wrath of our God over this matter is turned away from us.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 10:1-2

• What does this passage show about the potential of one person’s response to sin clarifying the spiritual or moral dimensions of a situation for others?
• In what ways does this apply to me as I live out my Christian identity?
• What does Shecaniah’s statement, “But even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this,” reveal about their understanding of God? How do I view God when sins are exposed in my life?

Ezra 10:10-12

• What can I learn from the response of the assembly?
• How do I respond when some sin is pointed out to me?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: 

Ezra 9

9:1–2 […] The problem voiced by the chiefs (9:1a) relates to the intermarriage of Israelites, including primarily or initially some of their fellow chiefs (9:2b) with the “peoples of the land” (9:2). That such a practice represents “faithlessness/sin” (9:2) in their own eyes is explained by their association of the “peoples of the land” (i.e., those who were not identified with the returnees) with the abominations of a list of nations that is generally familiar from the Pentateuch (e.g., Gen 15:19–20; Exod 3:8). The tradition assumed here seems to be drawing upon a combination of Deut 7:1–3, which proscribes intermarriage with the usual seven nations indigenous to Canaan, and Deut 23:2–7 which excludes from the community Edomites and Egyptians up to the third generation and Ammonites and Moabites altogether. […]

9:3–5 […] If he had offered instruction on the passages of which the chiefs seem to be aware, but was himself -unaware of the scale or existence of the problem, Ezra’s dramatic reaction here may well be intended to suggest the strength of his own personal shock and dismay. If, however, as is perhaps more likely, Ezra was already specifically aware of the problem, the strength of Ezra’s response here will be primarily for the benefit of galvanizing the community into the appropriate response.

Much like the term “Quakers” of the more recent past, “all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel” (Ezra 9:4; Isa 66:2, 5) evidently became a way of referring to a party within the returnees distinguished by their particular reverence for and interpretation of the Torah (Ezra 10:3). Their sympathies may well have been wholly or partly prompted by Ezra’s ministry, but their solidarity with him is unmistakably expressed here by their sitting “appalled” with Ezra, in much the same manner as Job’s friends do (2:13).

9:6–7 Now that others have expressed their solidarity with him, Ezra commences his confession by identifying with the community’s sin (“our iniquities”) in spite of his own individual innocence. It is precisely because the community’s sins and iniquities have “climbed to the heavens” (9:6) that Ezra is ashamed to “show [lit., lift] his face” (Job 22:26) to the God of the heavens (Ezra 1:2; 5:11–12; 6:9–10; 7:12, 21, 23). […] Ezra here insists that the sins of his own generation have added height to the tower of trespasses already erected in the preexilic period.

9:8–9 The guilt of Ezra and his contemporaries is all the greater, he admits, because of the grace that the “remnant” (i.e., the community associated with the returnees) has experienced “for a brief moment” (i.e., since the edict of Cyrus). The “givenness” of this grace is expressed in the gift of “a stake” (NRSV; lit., “a tent peg”) in the holy place, which likely intends a contrast to the nomadic transience of exile (see, e.g., Isa 33:20). […] . While Ezra’s prayer acknowledges that the “bondage” (Ezra 9:8–9) of exile is not ended, God’s graciousness is seen in the extension of love to them, such that their Persian overlords (as in 7:28) have in turn allowed them a minirevival (9:8–9) defined in terms of restoring the ruins of the temple and setting up a “wall” in Judea and Jerusalem. […]

9:10–15 […] Like the prayers of lament found in the Psalms, Ezra’s prayer displays a profound awareness of the problem in the relationship between God and his people. […] Ezra’s prayer includes features such as a request for attentiveness, a historical recital/reflection, and rhetorical questions toward its conclusion. Given Ezra’s role and activities as described earlier in his memoir, it is hardly surprising that even when praying, he is also preaching/teaching Torah (primarily as mediated by Deuteronomy). [1]

[1] Sherpherd, David J. and Christopher J.H. Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018) 26-27.

Bible Text:

Ezra 9:1-15

¹ After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. ² For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” ³ As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. ⁴ Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. ⁵ And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, ⁶ saying:

“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. ⁷ From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. ⁸ But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. ⁹ For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, ¹¹ which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. ¹² Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ ¹³ And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, ¹⁴ shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? ¹⁵ O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 9:1-2, 10-14

• What was the Israelites’ crucial mistake? In what ways have I “not separated [myself] from the peoples of the lands with their abominations”? How is God warning me through this passage?
• What is especially tragic that “in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost“?

Ezra 9:13-15

• Based on this passage, what are the components of genuine repentance? What is the proper posture when coming into the presence of God?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: Ezra 8

Bible Text:

Ezra 8:21-36

²¹ Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. ²² For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” ²³ So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

²⁴ Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. ²⁵ And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. ²⁶ I weighed out into their hand 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents, and 100 talents of gold, ²⁷ 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics, and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. ²⁸ And I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. ²⁹ Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the Lord.” ³⁰ So the priests and the Levites took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

³¹ Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. ³² We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. ³³ On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed into the hands of Meremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui.  ³⁴ The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.

³⁵ At that time those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. ³⁶ They also delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s satraps and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and they aided the people and the house of God.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 8:21-23

• How is “proclaim[ing] a fast” a way to “humble ourselves before our God”?
• Are there situations in my life that require this kind of humility and fasting?

Ezra 8:24-34

• Why did they go through such care to ensure that “the whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded”?
• What does this reveal about Ezra’s character?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary:

Ezra 8

8:15–20 […] Reporting his review of those assembled, Ezra notes, but does not explain, the initial absence of the Levites (about which one may thus only speculate), but his immediate action to remedy the situation provides advance notice of their importance for his mission. The list of those sent to recruit Levites seems to include a suspicious number of “(El)nathans,” but the importance of the embassy is underlined by Ezra’s sending of those who are “leaders” (8:16) and “those who are wise” (or perhaps “those skilled in instruction”). Nothing is known of Casiphia, nor its leader, Iddo and his brethren, but the nature of the request, “send us ministers for the house of our God” (8:17), and the speedy compliance (8:18) suggest that Casiphia may have been a spiritual center for the exilic community (or at least some Levites), though one may only speculate regarding what worship facilities it may have offered. […]

In keeping with the reduced enrollment generally in the second return, significantly fewer Levites (38) volunteer than in Zerubbabel’s time but their descent from Merari (entrusted with the transport of sacred things; Exod 6:16; Num 3:17) may be relevant given the role that some of them will be asked to fulfill (8:24–30). The temple servants who will return (220) are also reduced in number in comparison with earlier times but are apparently still too numerous to mention by name in the context of Ezra’s memoir (8:20). Whether it is the provision of all of these or Sherebiah alone that is understood to betoken God’s favor, Ezra voices his conviction that the Levitical addition to the traveling party is a sign that the specifically “good hand of God” (7:9; cf. 7:6, 28: “hand of God” simpliciter) is now resting not on him alone, but also “us.”

8:21–36 […] As elsewhere in Jewish literature and practice of the postexilic period (10:6; Neh 9:1; Esth 4:3, 16), the offering of prayer is enhanced by fasting (Ezra 8:21, 23)—a tangible expression of the community’s humble hope for the “straight/smooth road” through the wilderness envisioned in Isa 40:3. Having proclaimed the fast (Ezra 8:21), Ezra then reports not only the community’s prayer, but the divine protection afforded—visible of course only from the vantage point of the journey’s end (8:31–32), but reported here to emphasize the efficacy of the community’s petitionary faith.

Ezra’s setting apart of twelve priests (8:24; cf. 2:2; 6:17; 8:3–13) is not likely to be accidental (though here all are members of a single tribe), nor is his listing of the donors and the careful accounting of their contributions (8:25–27); by doing these things Ezra celebrates yet again the support of the crown and the community for the worship of YHWH. In emphasizing that both the Levites and their freight are “holy” (8:28), Ezra acknowledges the appropriateness of the descendants of Merari for the transportation of the sacred vessels. It is precisely because these and “the silver and gold” are for “YHWH, the God of your fathers” (8:28) that Ezra provides clear instructions to ensure that they arrive safely, not merely in Jerusalem, but “within the rooms of the house of YHWH” (8:29; cf. Neh 10:37–39; 13:4–9). Ezra’s issuing of orders to “guard” and to “weigh” the treasure out on arrival will have been intended to protect both the precious goods against thievery and the porters (and Ezra himself) against any suggestion of personal profit or mismanagement.

[…] In the record of the burnt offerings made on their arrival, the recurring appearance of twelve (“bulls for all Israel” and “male goats” as a sin offering) and its multiple (ninety-six rams) strikes that same chord of continuity with the distant past (Num 7) as was struck more recently in connection with the restoration of the temple (Ezra 6:17). [1] 

[1] Sherpherd, David J. and Christopher J.H. Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018) 24-25.

Bible Text:

Ezra 8:1-20

¹ These are the heads of their fathers’ houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: ² Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush. ³ Of the sons of Shecaniah, who was of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered 150 men. ⁴ Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men. ⁵ Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men. ⁶ Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men. ⁷ Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men. ⁸ Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 men. ⁹ Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men. ¹⁰ Of the sons of Bani, Shelomith the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men. ¹¹ Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and with him 28 men. ¹² Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men. ¹³ Of the sons of Adonikam, those who came later, their names being Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men. ¹⁴ Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

¹⁵ I gathered them to the river that runs to Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there none of the sons of Levi. ¹⁶ Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight, ¹⁷ and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers and the temple servants at the place Casiphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. ¹⁸ And by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18; ¹⁹ also Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20; ²⁰ besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all mentioned by name.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 8:15-20

• In light of King Artaxerxes’s decree (ch. 7), why would it be a sad picture to have a lack of Levites among those who had assembled to return?
• Consider what the conversation must have been like between Ezra’s representatives and Iddo, and between Iddo and Sherebiah, and the others. What were the issues and stakes involved, and why is Sherebiah’s (and the others’) decision so beautiful?
• Recount a time when I placed the call of duty higher than my own needs, comfort and plans.

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: EZRA 7

Bible Text: Ezra 7:11-28

¹¹ This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the LORD and his statutes for Israel: ¹² “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace. And now ¹³ I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. ¹⁴ For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand, ¹⁵ and also to carry the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, ¹⁶ with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁷ With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem.   ¹⁸ Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God. ¹⁹ The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰ And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which it falls to you to provide, you may provide it out of the king’s treasury.

²¹ “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence, ²² up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. ²³ Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. ²⁴ We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

²⁵ “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. And those who do not know them, you shall teach. ²⁶ Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.”

²⁷ Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem, ²⁸ and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 7:12-26

• Notice the remarkably high degree of reverence King Artaxerxes gives to “the God of Israel” (v.15), equating him with “the God of heaven” (v.21), and the high degree of respect the king has for the priesthood (v. 24).  What can I infer about the source of the king’s attitude?
• Reflect on the role of this one person, Ezra, along with his character, piety and wisdom (v. 25), in advancing God’s will and bringing about a huge blessing to God’s people. In what ways can I emulate him?

Ezra 7:27-28

• How did Ezra respond when he realized that the hand of the Lord was on him?
• From what do I take courage and strength to gather and motivate others?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: 

EZRA 7

7:1–6  […] As with previous lists (cf. Ezra 2), the paramount concern is to establish continuity with the past—extending in this case back to Aaron the chief or first priest of Moses’s time. Irrespective of its provenance, the length of the genealogy requires the narrative to resume by clarifying that it was “this Ezra” (7:6a) who came back from Babylon. Whatever else a “scribe” may be equipped and called upon to do (7:12, 21), the emphasis here in the description of Ezra is on his proficiency in the “Torah of Moses, which YHWH, the God of Israel, had given.” While the text notes that Artaxerxes too is generous (“giving all for which Ezra asked”), it is at pains to clarify that the gift of Persian royal favor and provision derives ultimately from the “hand of YHWH his God which was upon him [i.e., Ezra].”

7:7–10 […] Ezra joins a relatively small group of texts in the Hebrew Bible where the verb “to seek” is governed by the word of God (Isa 34:16). In 1 Chr 28:8, David charges the leaders of Israel to not merely “observe” but also “seek” the commandments of YHWH your God “that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.” The notion that “seeking” then involves more than merely obedience to, but rather deep engagement with, the written word is reinforced by the instructive references found in Ps 119. […] Ezra’s commitment to a searching enquiry of Torah is accompanied by a conviction (Ezra 7:10) regarding his own practical application of it (“to do” it) and then finally to inculcate this same passion and process within the community through education (“to teach” the statutes and ordinances in Israel). […]

7:11–20 […] As conventional as both phrases are for the Persian crown, that the “king of kings” acknowledges the “God of heaven” must have been a significant encouragement for a community of returnees attempting to reconcile the unlimited sovereignty of YHWH with the undeniable precariousness of their position. […]

7:21–24 That the royal check is not entirely blank and that even Persian largesse has its limits is made clear by what appears to be a separate decree addressed now to provincial treasurers. […] 7:23 confirms that like Darius (Ezra 6) and Cyrus before him, Artaxerxes’s desire to support the Jewish cult in Yehud (“let it be done with zeal”) stems from a calculated and pragmatic piety that seeks to cultivate loyalty among the elite of the religious establishment and appease the gods whose “wrath” he fears might otherwise destroy the empire. […]

7:25–26 […] That Ezra is equipped to proceed according to the “wisdom of your God, which is in your hand” suggests an equation of “wisdom” with “the law of your God,” which the letter has already specified is also “in your [i.e., Ezra’s] hand” (7:14). […] That Ezra’s jurisdiction is limited to the Jewish community/ies within the province is suggested by the mention of “all the people . . . who know the laws of your God” (7:25), but the specification of comparable punishments, listed here in descending order of severity, for the violation of this law and “the law of the king” (7:26), is an indication of both the significance of Ezra’s authority and the importance of his role in educating the local communities (7:25: “you shall teach”).

7:27–28 The first words of Ezra himself encountered in the book that bears his name offer a blessing of YHWH of the sort found in the Psalms (e.g., 28:6; 31:21) and indeed elsewhere on the lips of Israel’s past leaders (e.g., 1 Kgs 8:15). Like Jehoshaphat in 2 Chr 20:6 (after his own reformation efforts), Ezra also invokes the “God of our fathers” (Ezra 7:27; elsewhere only Deut 26:7) and recognizes the “hand” of God (Ezra 7:28; cf. 7:6, 9) as the stimulus for his strengthened resolve and invitation to others to “go up” (cf. 7:9) with him to Jerusalem. The specific catalyst for Ezra’s blessing is, first, his conviction that the same God who “turned the heart” of Darius to complete the temple in Jerusalem (6:22), also “placed in the heart” of Artaxerxes the impulse to glorify/beautify it. The second stimulus is his belief that the same “loving-kindness” of God that was celebrated at the completion of the altar in the early days of the return (3:11) has persuaded the Persian king to allow Ezra to play his part in the further restoration of worship in Jerusalem. ^[1]

[1] Sherpherd, David J. and Christopher J.H. Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018) 21-23.

Bible Text:

Ezra 7:1-10

¹ Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, ² son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,

³ son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, ⁴ son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, ⁵ son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— ⁶ this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him.

⁷ And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. ⁸ And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. ⁹ For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him. ¹⁰For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 7:6-10

• What do we know of Ezra?
• What is the relationship between the kind of person Ezra was, as described in this passage, and God’s hand being upon him?

Ezra 7:10

• What did Ezra set his heart to do?
• What is the relationship between studying, doing, and teaching the Law of the LORD?
• How am I doing in my own study of, obedience to, and credibility as a teacher of God’s word?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary: Ezra 6

Bible Text: Ezra 6:13-22

¹³ Then, according to the word sent by Darius the king, Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered. ¹⁴ And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; ¹⁵ and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

¹⁶ And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. ¹⁷ They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel ¹² male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸ And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.

¹⁹ On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. ²⁰ For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. ²¹ It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the LORD, the God of Israel. ²² And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 6:16-17

• How were the Israelites able to experience joy in the midst of this sad situation of having been in exile for so many years?
• What is my source of courage and faith? How might I maintain joy and faith in the aftermath of defeat, chastisement, or loss?

Ezra 6:19-22

• What identity would have been reinforced or rekindled in the returned exiles by the celebration of this inaugural Passover?
• What are some ways I need to reaffirm my salvation identity in the midst of spiritual setbacks or after repentance?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary:

Ezra 6

6:6–12 Having supplied the requested confirmation of the edict from Cyrus’s time, the reply of Darius now further obliges by providing the current king’s directives to the governors: “keep away” (6:6) being practically explained in terms of noninterference with the building activities of the Jewish leadership (6:7). Darius’s confirmation of the crown’s renewed or continuing financial support for the rebuilding (6:8) is specified in terms that must have satisfied the returnees and frustrated the governor of “Beyond the River” in equal measure (i.e., “in full,” “without delay” from “Beyond the River’s” provincial funds). […] The challenges of interpreting 6:11 make the precise nature of the punishment for altering the decree difficult to determine. While the measures seem draconian by modern standards, they are broadly characteristic of the Persians’ approach as it appears in their own documents (Behistun Inscription §67) and Jewish literature (e.g., Dan 2:5; 3:29). […]

Darius’s invocation of the returnees’ God and his official recognition of and tangible support for his worship in the final form of the correspondence serve to reaffirm that the divine superintending of Persian power that had begun with Cyrus (1:1) continues under the current regime.

6:13–15 The due execution of Darius’s orders (“with all diligence”) by Tattenai and his associates leads to a notice of the successful completion of the building (6:14). In the preface to the resumption of the building (5:1–2), the focus is solely on the initiative of the returnees’ God and his prophets (Haggai and Zechariah). Here, at its conclusion, pride of place is still given to these same prophets (6:14a) and to the decree of the God of Israel, but now alongside the decree of the Persian kings, including Artaxerxes, whose later involvement (7:15–24, 27) is here likely anticipated. […]

6:16–18 […] Now with the temple completed, it is not surprising that the dedication includes both celebration and sacrifice, just as Solomon’s dedication of its predecessor did. The emphasis at this point is clear: the priests, Levites, and the rest of the returnees are, as in both Solomon’s day and Zerubbabel’s (3:1), nothing less than a reconstituted “people of Israel” (6:16) experiencing something of the same joy (6:16; 3:12–13; 1 Kgs 8:66) and offering the requisite sacrifices (Ezra 6:17; 3:3–6; 1 Kgs 8:63; 2 Chr 7:5). While the returning community’s “twelve tribes” may be implied in Ezra 2:2, they are fully visible here in the twelve goats offered for the sins of “all Israel” (6:17)—a pattern paralleled precisely by the tribal leaders’ dedication of the altar of the tabernacle in the days of Moses (Num 7). […]

6:19–22 […] The insistence too in Ezra that the Passover was celebrated only by those outsiders who had separated themselves from uncleanness (6:21; in keeping with Num 9:14) stands at odds with Hezekiah’s practice of relaxing the pertinent regulations (2 Chr 30:17–20). Finally, the specific sequence of the (re)dedication by the tribal leaders (Ezra 6:17; Num 7), purification of the Levites (Ezra 6:20a; Num 8), and celebration of the Passover (Ezra 6:20b–21; Num 9) that appears in both Ezra and Numbers seems unlikely to be accidental.

As in the Passovers of Hezekiah (2 Chr 30:13) and Josiah (35:17), here the Feast of Unleavened Bread follows (see Num 28:17), and as in Hezekiah’s time, the emphasis of the report falls on the emotion of the celebration (cf. 2 Chr 30:21). Here, however, alongside the narration of emotion there is explanation: they celebrate “with joy, for YHWH had made them joyful.” That this joy is related to what has been accomplished is not syntactically explicit in Ezra 6:22, but is suggested by the reminder in this verse that YHWH had enlisted the royal might of Mesopotamia (lit., a turning of the king’s “heart”) in completing the restoration of his “house”—a fitting recapitulation of the theme introduced at the outset of the book and visible at various points in the chapters that have followed. ^[1]

[1] Sherpherd, David J. and Christopher J.H. Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018) 20-21.

Bible Text:

Ezra 6:1-12

¹ Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in Babylonia, in the house of the archives where the documents were stored. ² And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record. ³ In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits, ⁴ with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. ⁵ And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God.”

⁶ “Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates the governors who are in the province Beyond the River, keep away.        ⁷ Let the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. ⁸ Moreover, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God. The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from Beyond the River. ⁹ And whatever is needed—bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require—let that be given to them day by day without fail, ¹⁰ that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. ¹¹ Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill. ¹² May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.”

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 6:6-12

• Given the fact that Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai’s letter to Darius was full of concern for the king’s interests, what is surprising about Darius’s response to them?
• What can I learn from this passage about how God can work?
• What has been my response to obstacles in doing God’s work?

Ezra 6:1-12

• What is King Darius like?
• What can I learn from him?

Prayer 

Journal

Here are some tools to help you with the devotionals:

• A Guide to Journaling & Prayer
• A Guide to Self-Reflection
• A Chart to help articulate feelings

Commentary:

Ezra 5

5:1–2 Having described the frustration of the returnees’ later efforts to rebuild the city and the walls, the book of Ezra resumes the story of the temple, the reconstruction of which was, according to 4:5, halted until the time of Darius. […] That the community of returnees continues to receive prophecies also reaffirms its identification with the people of the past and their prophets—not least those prophets who had promised that Judah and its people would be rebuilt. […] whether it is God or his name that is “over/upon them” and whether “them” refers to the prophets or the people or both, the text here seizes the opportunity to reemphasize that the resumption commences under the aegis of the God whose house they are rebuilding. […]

5:3–5 The news that those beyond the community approach the returnees “at the same time” as building recommences prepares the reader for opposition of the sort encountered later (but described already in Ezra 4). While there is nothing obviously malicious or malevolent about the enquiries, the querying by the district governor and his associates of who has authorized the work (5:3) and who is undertaking it (5:4) is clearly seen as potentially if not actually obstructive (“they did not stop them”). […] The Chronicler (2 Chr 7:16) recounts the divine promise to Solomon that his “eyes” will always be at the temple, but in the context of the return from exile, perhaps most relevant of all is God’s word through Jeremiah (24:6): “I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not uproot them.” Whether it is God’s “hand” (Ezra 7:6, 9; etc.) or his “eye,” the image of divine attention and tangible support is clear. […]

5:11 Given that Rehum and others introduce themselves as “servants” of the Persian crown (Artaxerxes) in correspondence from a later period (included, however, already in 4:11), the returnees’ self-identification as “servants of the God of heaven and earth” is a bold beginning. While Cyrus’s edict and the returnees themselves (cf. 5:12) refer to the “God of heaven” (see commentary on 1:2), the allusion to the original construction of the temple by Solomon (“a great king of Israel”) may explain the returnees’ recognition of their God’s sovereignty over not merely heaven but “the earth” as well. After all, the opening verses of Solomon’s prayer of dedication in 1 Kgs 8 (to which Neh 1 is perhaps also indebted) are not only replete with “servant” language, they also consider the question of God’s presence on earth as it is in heaven. In alluding to Solomon’s earlier building, the returnees yet again underline the continuity of their own building with that of the past.

5:12 The note of continuity is sounded again as the returnees explain the exile in terms of the failings of their “fathers.” The focus on the sins of the previous generation (rather than the present one; cf. Neh 1:5–7) likely reflects the official purpose of the correspondence rather than the lack of contrition or sense of responsibility, given what we see elsewhere among the exiles (cf. Ezek 18). […] Evidently, for the exiles, God’s sovereignty is to be seen in both the ruin and the restoration. Of course, as we have seen, it is crucial for the exiles that the same people who were “carried” off to Babylon are now doing the rebuilding. ^[1]

[1] Sherpherd, David J. and Christopher J.H. Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah, The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018) 19-20.

Bible Text:

Ezra 5:1-17

¹ Now the prophets, Haggai 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 that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

³ At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” ⁴ They also asked them this: “What are the names of the men who are building this building?” ⁵ But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

⁶ This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the governors who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king. ⁷ They sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace. ⁸ Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. ⁹ Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ ¹⁰ We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders. ¹¹ And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. ¹² But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. ¹³ However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. ¹⁴ And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; ¹⁵ and he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” ¹⁶ Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is not yet finished.’ ¹⁷ Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”

Go Deeper

Questions to help us go deeper

Ezra 5:3-5

• What painful political reality is behind the question: “Who gave you a decree to build this house?” (In other words, why would this have been an intimidating question?)
• What are some earthly realities and circumstances that remind me of the ways I am limited in my ability to serve God and build his kingdom?
• How does v. 5 give me reassurance regarding how I can move forward with faith and vision in the face of opposition and life constraints?

Ezra 5:11-17

• What can I learn from the way the Jews identified themselves when questioned by the governors of the province Beyond the River?

Prayer