Ezra

Over the past while I’ve been going through the book of Ezra.  It’s been a fascinating time of looking at the cost of obedience, stepping out in faith and the shock of realized disobedience. 

It’s been so good to walk with the Israelites through this time.  To see their failures and successes, and see their hearts change. To see that joy the Lord gave them!  Oh.. it was just marvellous to see that.  

But mostly it was seeing God at work in their lives.  Guiding them through hostile territory, reminding them of their sin, meeting needs almost before they even knew that need existed.  Wasn’t it great? 

I  thought it might be helpful to have a list of all the studies I have done.

Cyrus’ Proclamation. Ezra 1.
The Exiles Return. Ezra 2.
Rebuilding the Altar. Ezra 3:1-7.
Rebuilding the Foundations of the Temple. Ezra 3:8-13.
Opposition. Ezra 4:1-6.
A Letter to Artaxerxes. Ezra 4:7-16.
The King Makes a Ruling. Ezra 4:17-24.
Another Letter. Ezra 5 .
Darius’ Decree. Ezra 6:1-12.
The Temple is Completed. Ezra 6:13-18.
For the Lord Made Them Joyful. Ezra 6:19-22.
Ezra Comes. Ezra 7:1-10.
Artaxerxes makes a decree. Ezra 7:11-28
Genealogy Report. Ezra 8:1-14.
The Good Hand of our God. Ezra 8:15-20.
Shame, Fasting, Prayer, Response. Ezra 8:21-23
Levites Guard the Offering. Ezra 8:24-35.
The Shame and Prayer of Ezra. Ezra 9.
Deliberate Action: Ezra 10:1-17
Listed Names: Ezra 10:18-44.

Have you been following along in Ezra? What main themes popped out for you? Oh, you know what I just realized?  The Israelites needed to build a physical temple and it was HARD work to do so.  But then they were called to account for their spiritual lives.  They saw the shock and horror in Ezra over their actions.  They then needed to do the hard work of building up their spiritual temples as well.  So hard that must have been, and yet, like in building the temple, they chose to do that hard work because God called them to it.   Amazing isn’t it?

I am now trying to figure out what book of the bible I will do next. Taking suggestions on that eh? What do you think God wants me to read next?

Yesterday we saw Ezra’s shock and prayer. Today in Ezra 10:1-17 we see a people changed.

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.
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.

We come into this passage seeing the people of Israel gathered around Ezra as he made a confessional prayer. 

Their reaction: the people wept bitterly.  AND they saw their sin “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land“.

They make a decision: Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children.

I have to tell you this.  When I got to their decision my heart broke for those women and children. Knowing that they would face a life of hardship now.  Removed from their husbands, thrust out of a land they had been taken into.  Sent into their people groups again. Oh.. that would be hard.   Part of my sorrow comes from knowing the history of Canadians.  My son and I were learning about the Metis today (the children of French men/native women) and how they weren’t accepted by either people.  My son noted “it’s not the fault of the children what their parents did.  Why do we need to create such divisions?”.   And while I understand the need for God’s people to be separate from the world, at the same time the pain of the Metis (and their eventual anger) is fresh in my mind. 

Would it be hard for the people to do this?  I think so as verse 4 tells us this : Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.  Oh I love that verse. 

Arise (a deliberate action) For it is your task (a deliberate job to do)
We are with you (deliberately not having to do it alone).
Be strong and do it (deliberate encouragement).

Ezra took some time away, fasting.  He mourned over the faithlessness of the people.

While he did so, all the exiles were called together. A penalty set in place should anyone be tempted not to answer the call to gather in three days times (lost of land and banishment).  

Verse 9 brings us to the people gathered together before the house of the Lord God. It’s cold and rainy day, the people trembled from cold and because of the matter facing them.   A decision was reached.  The women and children of foreign wives would be ejected from being among the people. 

The exiles were great in number so they decided to do this in an orderly manner.  It took from the 1st day of the tenth month to the 1st day of the first month to remove all the women and children. 

Now I have to admit, I sit here wondering. Where do I find Christ in this passage? Christ is in the bible from start to finish, it’s just a matter of finding that truth. I need to let my mind ponder this a bit so let’s roll with my thoughts eh?

God hates sin. He hates our faithlessness. Israel sinned and saw by the witness of Ezra how horrible that sin was. Seeing someone so shamed by your actions they sit stunned and not eating for a whole day…that had to make an impact. And it did. The people responded, they acknowledged their guilt, they made a decision to turn away from that sin of theirs’.

Now.. see it. They turned from their sin. They did it in an organized fashion but it was a deliberate action.
Do you see the deliberation that happened? They saw their sin. They made a decision to turn from that sin. They saw their sin because of the witness of Ezra (the shock, sadness, fasting and praying). They even made a plan to stop sinning in this way.  Do we take that kind of deliberate action to expel sin from our lives? Do we see our sin? And if we do, what do we do with it? 

I think of my own life. I used to bend the truth a lot to make myself look better. When my lad was young I made a decision that I would never deliberately lie to him. God had made it clear to me that he can’t lie. He just can’t. And so, I acknowledged my sin in this area and, even in my weakness, I made a decision (a deliberate one) that I wouldn’t lie to my boy on purpose for whatever reason.

I look at my life and I don’t always see this deliberation. I have made some deliberate decisions about sins in my life, sins that affect others, but the less “in your face” ones I have a harder time with. I think there are other areas of my life that I need to make a deliberate choice about. I need the motivation just like the Israelites did. The question is… where DO I get that motivation? Who can I see as a witness that calls me to account? I think that’s part of the problem… I don’t see it as clearly. Oh that could. It would make it so much easier! This.. this is what I need to pray over. 

And I can say this.. I need prayer.  I need prayer that I can make deliberate decisions about the sins I need to face up to in my life.  Will you pray with me?

 

 

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.