Faith

After looking at how the Levites did their job well, today we are looking at Ezra 9 and rather than me copying out the entire text, I thought it’d be good listen to it.  Sometimes in listening to the word of the Lord you hear things differently.   Listen well to Ezra’s prayer.

Do you remember the reason Ezra came?   He was an expert in Mosaic Law and wanted to teach it to the people.  I assume he did so.  I do know he was the leader of the people because the officials came to him with an on-going concern, especially now that all the people were gathered together in Jerusalem.

Their concern. “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.”

The people were not living the separate lives the God told them to live. In fact they were marrying the daughers of people living in the land and allowing their sons to do the same.  This means that God’s holy people were intermingling with people not seen as holy.   Mixing FREELY with them.  Making no distinctions.

Ezra’s response: He was APPALLED.  So appalled in fact that he ripped his clothes, pulled hair from his head and beard and sat down.  He stayed sitting the rest of the day fasting.

When evening came he got and prostrated himself before the Lord and began to pray.

His prayer was one of shame and acknowledgement.   Acknowledging God’s goodness to him and the people.  How God punished them for their sinfulness and now he’s let them come back and establish a place for themselves and his people, his people that he has been so gracious toward are sinning again!  God showed his love for his people and this is what they do!!!!!

I have to admit.  I read those words and I remember in the past thinking…. “Man, how could they be so stupid?  Didn’t they learn anything?”   Now I tend to think… “that’s me.   Going right back to sinning when God has been so gracious and loving toward me.  Yeah.. he corrected that idiotic behaviour of mine and I felt bad and all, promised to change and here I am RIGHT BACK in the midst of this sin of mine.”   I feel and understand Ezra’s shame.   I know that I have sin I need to battle daily.  How often I forsake God’s will for my life in favour of the easy or the immediate.   God only has my good at heart when he says what we way we should follow.   The reason here was given to them “that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.“

Ezra acknowledges that God hasn’t punished them as much as they deserve:   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.”  He also admits how helpless they are to stand before him because of their guilt.

And there we are left.  Not knowing God’s response to Ezra’s prayer. 

Left in the guilt and the shame.  Left in the acknowledgement of God’s goodness.  God is so good to us and we sin ALL the time.  It’s not right is it?  The pervasiveness of sin just sets on us doesn’t it?

I am so glad for God’s mercy in the light of who we are as sinners… aren’t you?

Remember Ezra’s Shame and His response?  Today we learn what to do with offerings to the Lord in Ezra 8:24-35.

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.

Ezra has a problem.   He has all this gold, silver and vessels given.  An offering for the house of the Lord God. What can he do?   The job of the Levites is the serve the House of God. It makes sense therefore, to have the Levites guard these offerings to the Lord doesn’t it?   Twelve of the leading priests are chosen for this duty, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them.  In total there were 650 talents of silver, 200 talets of silver vessels, 100 talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold and 2 vessels of bronze. The duty of these 12 men:”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.” . 

The Levites have the offerings, off the whole group set, heading off to Jerusalem.  God was with them, not allowing them to be ambushed along the way. Soon they were in Jerusalem were the offering were measured into the hands of Meremoth the priest.   Everything was counted and documented.  

Now that the whole gang was together… all the Israelites: those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, they set about to make burnt and sin offerings to the Lord. They also delivered the king’s commissions to this workers, and aided people and the house of God.  

The Levites did the job they were supposed to.

The question I suppose, to us, is this….do we do the job we are supposed to?

Yesterday, God showed his good hand, today we learn of Ezra’s shame and how he responded to it in Ezra 8:21-23.

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.

I thought it was neat yesterday when Ezra noticed an appalling lack of Levites in the midst of the people coming with him.   Asked for help, and noted God assistance.   Very cool to read about that. 

Now he has the Levites among the people, and the first thing Ezra does is call for a fast. Right there, where they are camping, the Israelites fast.   They fast because they have this need to humble themselves before God.   As they do this they seek from God a safe journey for themselves, their children and all their stuff.

You see Ezra is ashamed that he needed to ask the King for protection for the people as they travelled.  After all, they had told the King that God was there end all and be all.  As in God takes care of those who seek him. And that God’s wrath is real against those who forsake him.  

Shame because of his fear eh?   Fear for his people, smallish in number travelling through hostile lands.  So he asked for help.  Help from a king….when he had God on his side.

Therefore Ezra and the people fasted, calling upon the Lord.  Imploring him to help him.  And then read this “he listened to our entreaty“.   Isn’t that awesome?  God listened to them. 

Ezra’s shame.

Prayer and fasting.

God listened.

Oh, I need to share this story with the lad tomorrow.  He sometimes, (like all of us) fails to see what we should do with shame and guilt. And here Ezra points it out to us right?  He has this shame, he figures out what causes it, and he then turns to God in prayer.  God… he responded.  He heard what they had to say. 

I’m sitting here and just thinking… it’s the way it is eh?

We live out our lives, so often minding our interests, doing our thing and then we realize that we aren’t living what we say we believe and that shames us (at least it should) and then we turn to God and tell him about it.  And you know what God does EVERY SINGLE TIME?   He listens to us.   All the time.  To people everywhere who see their shame and turn to him.. he hears them.  He hears me.  He hears you.. oh he hears us.    

Doesn’t it just blow your mind?   To think and see and realize just how much God hears us?

It’s an awesome thing.

Last time we met we learned what we can learn from a genealogy, today we’ll learn from Ezra 8:15-20. 

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.

I have to admit, I’m feeling a bit lost here.   I shouldn’t be, but none-the-less I am.  That being the case, let me do what I always do when I am on lost… keep rereading the passage until something clicks. 

Okay, reading this passage now for the fourth time.  🙂   Ezra has all these people gathered together who came to join them, they are camping out at the river that runs to Ahava. They are camping there as he figures out who all has come to join them and notices am important fact… there are no sons of Levi with them!

This leads Ezra to send off for some “ministers for the house of our God.”  And… here Ezra acknowledges God for “by the good hand of our God” a “man of discretion” was sent to them. Neat eh?   Sherebiah came along with his boys and his family, Hashabiah and Jeshsisah and their people came too.   220 temple servants came along as well.  Therefore they have the people that they need. 

Neat eh?

Ezra saw a need.   Took the appropriate action.  God sent them the people they needed.

Isn’t that just the way it is?   God sending folks when they are needed?   He didn’t send them before the need was apparent, but once it was apparent the people were ready. 

I sometimes wonder… if people don’t notice a need… does God meet it?  Like if Ezra had not noticed the missing Levites….would God have sent them?  I know in my own life that sometimes I don’t recognize a need for something until it’s pointed out to me or until my need is so “in my face” that I cry out to God for help.  When my need is like that…help is right there waiting for me.  Here Ezra noticed a need it was immediately fulfilled and Ezra recognized it was God at work.  

Which of course brings me to another thought… do we always recognize God at work?   Do we see what he is doing in our lives?  How he answers our needs?  It’s too easy to forget isn’t it?   We mustn’t.  You know that I write that to myself eh?  I mustn’t forget God’s ready and able help.  I need to be like Ezra and recognize it quickly.