Ezra

So we know that Ezra came, that Artaxerxes made a decree helping out Ezra and the Israelites.   Today we learn the genealogy of the folks who came with Ezra, in Ezra 8:1-14.

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: 2Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush.  Of the sons of Shecaniah, who was of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered 150 men.  Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men.  Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men.  Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men.  Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men.  Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 men.  Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men.  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.  Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men.  Of the sons of Adonikam, those who came later, their names being Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men.  Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

I have to admit…. when I know that I am faced with a genealogy my eyes tend to glaze over and my heart says “I don’t wanna”.   And honestly I DON’T want to.  I don’t want to read through an endless list of names and numbers.

Therefore as I sit here I find myself asking “why did the author find it important to include this list?”   God’s word is meant to teach and admonish, to spur us on the good deeds.  So what I can today… 2000 + years later learn from this passage?

How will it spur me on to becoming more of the person that God wants me to be?

I read over this list and I see that some families came with 50 people, and others came with 300.   But you know what they all did?  They all made the trek from Babylon back to Jerusalem.  I can’t imagine it was an easy trip with air conditioned cars or trains to ride.  They would have walked or had to deal with camels and donkeys.  They may have faced bandits and folks unfriendly to them.  But whether they came with 50 or 300, they simply headed the call and came. 

We aren’t told if they needed to beg people to come, or if they lost people along the way, we are simply told that “S” brought _____ men. With those men would have been their wives and children.  People to help repopulate the land. People that Ezra could teach the Law of Moses to.  People to gladden the hearts of those who went first to build.  Can you imagine what it meant to the builders to have these folks come?  Folks to see the results of their hard work and to gladden their hearts?

I think about that and I see God at work in bringing these men and their families.   What genealogies show is God at work.  In individuals, in men and in their families.   A good thing that yes?

A huge party with a dedication was the topic of our last devotion, today we learn about the Passover being kept in Ezra 6:19-22.

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.

So the temple dedication was celebrated third day of the month of Adar, which is the last month of the calendar year for the Jewish people, and they celebrated Passover on the 14th day of the first month.    So basically what?  Three weeks later or so?

I thought this was an interesting verse: 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. So not just by the exiled Israelites, but also by those who separated themselves from the unclean people around them.  Did the Israelites gain members?   Was their diligence to the word of God, that task that he had set them to, something that reaped spiritual rewards? Could people see that they were set apart by the Lord?

And then there is this line: 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. Can’t you just see their joy?  Their work was done.  God filled their hearts with joy. Did you see that?   God made them joyful!   Do you remember the pain from earlier?  When they had built up the foundations?  And here God has made them joyful.   They also knew that God had turned King Darius’ heart toward them.  That action had helped them to finish the task God had set them to. Therefore there was rejoicing to be done.  Ergo… the week long Passover celebration.

I’m sitting here and I’m just seeing the laughter and the singing, the feasting, and the good cheer.  Their work of building the temple was finished, God had been good to them, and so there was joy.   I can also see exhaustion on the faces of the moms, the grammas, and the daughters as they provided meals, mixed with happiness of their kinfolk gathered round, with their hearts joyful for all that the Lord has done.  I can see dads sitting around the fires with their boys, reminding them of all that the Lord had done.  God was good. They were joyful. Let’s celebrate and remember all that the Lord had done.

Isn’t it a grand thing to do?  To remember all that the Lord has done?   Do we tell each other?  Do we celebrate?   Do we recognize when God is at work?  Celebrate!  Be Joyful!

Yesterday we learned about the decree that Darius came up with in response to the letter sent him.  Today in Ezra 6:13-18.

13 Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. 14 So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. 15 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

16 Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. 17 For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

Tattenai and Shethar-Bozenai carried out the instructions that King Darius laid out in his decree.  We are told they did so with diligence. 

To do something with diligence means that one engages in careful and persistent work or effort.

Therefore, these two men carefully and persistently engaged in the task that Darius set before them.  With the end result of that “the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo.”  And WOOT WOOT…They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.

Can you imagine it?   FINALLY!   The temple is rebuilt!  I bet you can guess what happened next!   A huge party was thrown!  A dedication of the house of God was put on, and boy oh boy, it was a joyful time of celebration.  Not only was it a celebration, but they also offered sin offerings and installed the priests into their divisions, and the Levites into their groups so they could serve God as written in the Book of Moses.

They covered it all in one big ‘ole party!

Isn’t that the way it always is?  When you complete a work of the Lord, doesn’t a big party result?

When missionaries complete a translation of the bible for a given people group… don’t they have a party and a dedication?   When a new church is built… isn’t there a party and a dedication?   It only makes sense.  If you complete a task the good Lord has laid out before you and you manage to finish it, this is a task worth celebrating!

Makes me wonder, are there tasks that we are failing to celebrate?  Are we starting to see it as silly if we celebrate a task completed for the Lord?  Are we failing to dedicate our completed tasks to the Lord?

I am thinking of how it’s a task God places in front of us, to raise children to know and love him, and if they are believers when they are adults, isn’t that something to celebrate?  To dedicate that young person to the Lord?  Or when a person finishes an important paper in school, or a job assignment or …. just fill in the blank.  How many of our tasks that God sets before us do we dedicate to him?

The celebrations in our lives don’t have to be huge, noisy affairs like the big celebrations of building a church or temple, or a graduation party, but those little tasks God gives us… are we dedicating them to the Lord as we finish them?   Aren’t they just as important?   Just has me wondering….

The last time we met we were left waiting, wondering what the king would say to the most recent letter.   Today in Ezra 6:1-12 we get the answer. 

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.”

Darius got the letter and instigated a search of the records. And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found.  On this scroll was the information that Darius sought. “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.”

Vindication for the Israelites eh?   I can just see it coming. The proof is in the writing! The governors and leaders were told to leave the Israelite people alone.  The work the Israelites were doing they were commissioned to do.  On top of that Darius made an additional couple of decrees. 

The Decrees

The first: Pay them the tribute they are supposed to have.

Second: Give them items they need to make their sacrifices. Let those sacrifices be pleasing.

Third: If anyone hinders them, he’ll die by impalement on a beam from his own house, and then his house destroyed.

All these decrees were to be done with due diligence.

I have to admit, part of me reads these words and I am flabbergasted. 

Darius didn’t NEED to honour the words of a previous king.  But he did.  Moreover he made up for the delay caused them.  Giving them what they needed to make sacrifices, making sure their work would no longer be delayed and that they had the funds to do the job right.

The Israelites had waited, and been patient.  Then they were straight-forward about their needs and duties.  And King Darius answered them well.

Isn’t it interesting how God works things out for his people?  It’s amazing if you let it be eh?  Two letters, two very different results.  I am kinda wishing I could have been there when the Israelites got the news.  Did they jump for joy and celebrate or did they just grin and get on with their work?  Part of me really imagines the second…hoping they had that faith that God would work things out. 

Makes me think you know, how easy it is to take God for granted.  To just figure he’ll work it out, but it also takes faith, faith we don’t always exercise.  Take for example, Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead.  He was the perfect bridge between us and God, and how many people fail to see their need for faith.  Or how many believers are so ho-hum about this pivotal event in our lives.  Failing to really see the cross.  Failing to really see how God worked things out with his beloved people.  The Israelites couldn’t afford to be ho-hum know you?  King Darius DIDN’T have to let things go their way but he did.  God made it so.

We need to remember this.  To think on it.  God worked it out, let’s rejoice in it! 

We know from meeting last time that the opposition had succeeded in getting the work stopped.   Today in Ezra 5 we discover what happens next.

 

First up we learn who the prophets were of the day.  Haggai and Zechariah (descendant of Iddo).  They prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem and stayed among them supporting them.  Zerubbabel and J0shua were the leaders of the people, and they set them back to work to rebuild God’s house in Jerusalem.  

The rebuilding caught the attention of the local governor and his people, so they asked “Who authorized you to rebuild the temple?”   And then get this line: But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.

Isn’t that cool?   God’s eyes were on his people, minding them.  They continued doing their building until they would hear back from King Darius.  

A letter was sent

by the governor Tattenai to King Darius.   Very much a report so that the King would have all the information he needed.

Okay, last time we met we talked about how the opposition sent a letter to the King.   Today in Ezra 4:17-24 we learn the result of that letter. 

17 The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now 18 the letter that you sent to us has been plainly read before me. 19 And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. 20 And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid. 21 Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. 22 And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”
23 Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. 24 Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

I read through these verses and you know what my first thought was “those dirty rotten stinkers!   They got their way!!!!!!”   Makes me angry!   I KNOW.. silliness on my part this is all so in the past.

But the fact remains they sent a letter and the king did his due diligence and decided the work was to stop.  He didn’t want trouble during his reign.   I can’t really fault him for that.  He was alerted to a potential problem and stopped it from becoming a problem. 

I think the part that really made me think of them as stinkers is this part “Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. 24 Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.“

It’s the “in haste and by force and power” part.   It’s like they could hardly wait and now they had a reason to use force. All because the Israelites chose to be obedient and work on the temple by themselves. 

It makes me wonder you know…what causes such animosity?  Is it the history of the Israelites?  How they were supposed to be dedicated to God and they kept getting sidetracked by the things of the world?   And here they were being very focused on keeping themselves safe and staying true to what the God has called them to do.

The work stopped.  Completely.  No building. Just living.

Was this a surprise to God?   Of course not.  He knew this would happen, he asked it of his people anyways.  God does that.  He asks us to do things that are hard, he helps us to become better than what we are, he allows us to face opposition and he still says “STAND”.  The Israelites stood.

I have to tell you.. it’s not an easy thing to stand, to face up to opposition, to face up to being stopped, to know you can’t finish what God put you to task on.  It’s hard to deal with that disappointment eh?   Though at times it can be a relief, to know you don’t have to work on a given task, to just get on living your life, doing what you want.

It’s a hard thing… cause if you feel relief…it would be easy to also feel guilt.  You can’t win… so it’s character building and trust making, and learning to wait…it’s all they could do, continue to wait on the Lord.

Isn’t that just a kicker?   To spend all that time in captivity waiting for the Lord.  Then you finally get your working papers and you get the foundations built, the walls are well underway and…you have to wait.  

Remember….God wasn’t surprised.   So when you or I have to wait for the right time, or feel put on hold, or things don’t go the way we thought they might, God is NEVER surprised.   So remember to trust, to wait, to have faith, to know that the time will come, God is still in control.  What else can we really do?

God’s control remains, build your faith.