Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezra 6-8.

The first thing which I realized when I began working out what to write today is that I get confused about the length of time involved in the first part of this book, which also leads to me sometimes misreading portions of it.  Fortunately, the parts which are confusing are primarily included to set the stage so that we understand the background for what comes starting in today’s passage.  The first part of today’s passage shows us how God will help us overcome obstacles when we act according to His will.  Then we get to the meat of the Book, Ezra leading a group of Israelites to return to Jerusalem and Judah.  After telling us that Ezra was a knowledgeable teacher of the Law who had found favor with Artaxerxes, King of Persia, it quotes the letter which Artaxerxes had given to Ezra.  As part of introducing us to Ezra it tells us that God’s gracious hand was on Ezra because he was devoted to studying, observing, and teaching the Law of the Lord.  I was going to go somewhere else with this until I typed that last sentence.  As I typed that sentence about Ezra I realized that was the lesson I wanted for today.  The passage lays out an important progression which is closely linked together.  God’s grace was not upon Ezra because he studied God’s Law, nor just because he observed it.  God’s grace was on Ezra because he taught God’s Law.  However, before Ezra could teach God’s Law, he had to study it.  And while he could have taught it without following it, that would not have led to God placing His grace upon Ezra.  I am really reminded of what Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28:19-29. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”   We cannot make disciples of Christ unless we first obey His teachings, and we cannot obey His teachings if we do not study them.  So, let us do things in the proper order: study, observe, and then teach.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 1-2.

I was going to write about Cyrus’ proclamation, but I decided to start writing about the list of people who joined Zerubbabel in initially returning to Jerusalem and Judah.  First, you have a group of six hundred fifty-two people who descended from one or more of three people who could not be found in the genealogies which the Exiles had.  Then you have a unspecified number of people whose traditions said they were descended from priests, whose listed ancestors could also not be found in the genealogies.  It appears that the first group was allowed to participate just like any other non-Levitical (or priestly) descendants of Israel, despite being able to clearly establish their descent.  The ones who believed they were descended from priests were told that they could not participate in any priestly function, or eat any of the food from the priests’ share of sacrifices, with a caveat.  The caveat was that when there was a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim, that priest could inquire of God as to whether they were true priests.  This led me to do some searching to see what they knew about the Urim and Thummim, since when I last looked for information about them I could find only speculation about how they worked.  I found that Talmudic scholars disagree with when the Urim and Thummim were last seen.  Some claimed they were around until the Maccabees, but had not worked since the destruction of Solomon’s temple.  Others said that they disappeared sometime between the death of King David and the fall of Jerusalem.  Considering that Jerusalem was sacked several times before the Babylonians destroyed it and that several of those occasions were during the reign of kings who did not worship God, that seems likely.  I find it interesting that they chose to relegate determining if these people could serve as priests to the recovery of the Urim and Thummim, rather than using another way to determine God’s will concerning them.  And I  wonder if it was appropriate for them to do so.  Perhaps this was a case of them really saying, “you cannot serve as priests unless God presents us with incontrovertible proof He desires otherwise.”  When is it appropriate to do something like that?

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 9-10.

I have always been bothered by this passage because, on a surface reading, it seems cold, uncaring, and xenophobic.  However, a closer reading indicates that it is more nuanced than it seems at first glance.  First, I need to summarize what the passage says happened.  Some of the leaders of the returned Exiles came to Ezra and complained about the returned Exiles intermarrying with the pagan peoples who had been living in the land while they were in Exile.  Ezra was distressed by this information and publicly prayed about how terrible such intermarriage was.  The people gathered and demanded that those who had intermarried put aside their foreign wives and the children they had by those wives.  As I said, this seems cold and uncaring.  I first realized that it was a little more complicated than it seems at first when I paid attention to the fact that the people responded to the decision that the men should separate themselves from their foreign wives and children by saying that it could not be done in a day or two.  That was followed up by the appointment of men to investigate each of the cases.  If it was just a matter of, “You married a foreign woman, send her and her children away or be shunned by polite society,” it would not have required any investigation.  Then I looked a little closer at Ezra’s prayer.  In his prayer he said, “Shall we then break your commands again and intermarry with the peoples who commit such detestable practices?” The key here was that the foreign wives were still practicing the worship of idols, and raising their children to do so.  It still feels cold and uncaring, but the fact that it took them three months to resolve all of the issues tells me that it was not the simple, uncaring thing which it reads as.  At least part of what was going on here was that some of these men had married their wives in order to enter into business and economic deals with pagans (in his prayer Ezra mentioned God’s prohibition against the Israelites signing treaties of friendship with the pagan peoples).  I still struggle with how this passage describes how they handled this.  However, I think it is important to realize that they strove to find a way to deal with their disobedience to God’s commands, and they did not use a one size fits all solution.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 6-8.

Yesterday’s passage described how, after their help in building the temple was rejected, those who had lived in the land while the Jews were in Exile had managed to prevent work on the temple beyond relaying the foundation to come to a halt.  It also described how a new generation under the prodding of Haggai the prophet and of Zechariah resumed work on the temple only to be interrupted by those whose forefather’s help had been rejected.  This new generation attempting to prevent the rebuilding of the temple appealed to Darius, the king of Persia.  However, when Darius had a search of the archives made he discovered that Cyrus had ordered the rebuilding of the temple.  So, Darius ordered those who had attempted to prevent the rebuilding of the temple to provide sufficient resources to the Jews, the returned Exiles, for them to complete the rebuilding.  Thus God proved that Haggai and Zechariah were indeed speaking His word when they prompted the people to resume work on rebuilding the temple.

Sometime after the temple was completed Ezra appealed to Artaxerxes and was granted an edict to go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices on behalf of the king.  As part of that trip, Ezra and those accompanying him received a large amount of wealth to take with them.  Apparently, the amount of wealth which was given to the pilgrims was more than Ezra had anticipated (or, just as likely, he had given no thought about the wealth they would be transporting until it was gathered).  In any case, having proudly told the king that not only was God able to protect them from any harm but that He would be with them on this journey, Ezra was too embarrassed to ask the king for a military escort to protect them, and the wealth they carried, from bandits.  So, Ezra divided the treasure they were transporting up among several different people, making each person responsible for a portion of the treasure being transported to Jerusalem, and called upon the entire group to fast and pray, asking God to grant them a safe journey, both for themselves and their possessions.  When they arrived in Jerusalem and made an accounting of the treasure, it had all survived the journey.  We learn two important lessons here.  First, Ezra, and those traveling with him, fully put their faith in God for safety because they were embarrassed as to what people would think if they asked for guards to protect them.  Sometimes God uses our fear of what others will think of us in order to motivate us to act in faith.  And, as a corollary to that, sometimes it is good to brag up our faith, so that we will be embarrassed to not fully put our trust in God.  Second, while putting his faith in God, Ezra still took steps to mitigate the risk.   By dividing the treasure they were transporting up among several people, and making those to whom it was given responsible just for the portion they were given, Ezra made it less obvious how much wealth their caravan was transporting.  Just because we trust God to protect us does not mean that we do not take action to reduce the risk.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 3-5.

When the Jews (as they now referred to themselves) who had returned from Exile had gotten settled in the land, they began to offer sacrifices to God in Jerusalem.  It is worth noting that they did this even before they had started rebuilding the temple, they had not even begun laying the foundation for the rebuilt temple.  They did not wait to have a specially consecrated space before they began obeying God’s commands about gathering together to worship Him.  In the same way, we should gather together with our fellow believers to worship and honor God, even if we do not have a space specifically designated for doing so.

As we read farther into the passage we see that some of those who lived in the land before the Exiles returned asked to help with the rebuilding of the temple.  The returned Exiles flatly rejected their help.  I am conflicted about this.  The passage writes that those who offered were the enemies of the returned Exiles, suggesting that the offer to help was less than sincere.  However, I cannot help but think that perhaps if the returned Exiles had responded in hostile manner things may have gone differently.  If those offering help had already demonstrated their hostility to the returned Exiles, or had indicated that they wanted the plans for the rebuilt temple to include practices contrary to those laid out in the Law of Moses, then the rejection was appropriate.  On the other hand, if the offer of help was genuine, out of a desire to join with the returned Exiles in worshiping God, perhaps if they had conditionally accepted the help they could have defused a tense and difficult situation.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 1-2.

When Cyrus issued his edict for Israelites to return to Jerusalem and restore the temple of God, most of the Jews who returned were able to provide records which indicated that they were indeed descended from someone who had lived in Israel before the Exile.  As I understand the passage, they were included among those considered Israelites by the returned Exiles, but were not allowed to act as priests (at least not at this time).  I find it interesting that the plan was for a priest to use the Urim and Thummim to inquire of God as to whether they should be included among the priests.  Which tells us that at this time they believed they would be able to reproduce the Urim and Thummim.  Yet today no one is quite sure what the Urim and Thummim looked like (there are some theories, but no actual descriptions from the time when they were in use).  In any case, what we need to note is that while they did not let these people take the role of priest, they did accept them as part of their fellowship.  They welcomed those who sought to be part of God’s people into God’s people.  And they planned for requesting guidance from God as to whether they should be acknowledged as priests.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 9-10.

When Ezra learned that the returned exiles were sinning by making alliances with and marrying idolaters, he did not just ignore it, or throw up his hands and say, “Well, that’s too bad, I hope they repent,” or even preach a sermon about their sin.  No, he publicly abased himself before God and prayed.  Others joined Ezra in his prayer and abasement and prayer about the sin.  And their prayer was not about other people’s sin, they prayed, “We have sinned…”  Then they decided to enter into a covenant with God and each other to change their behavior, to stop sinning and make good for their past sins.  If you, like me, see God’s judgement coming upon our society because of our sins, let us acknowledge our part in that sin and pray to God to transform our hearts, and the hearts of those around us, so that we change our ways and live the life He desires us to live.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 6-8.

I do not normally write about this because it crosses over passages I read on separate days, but I decided to write about it anyway today.  Toward the end of yesterday’s passage, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah inspired the Jews to resume work on rebuilding the temple.  The political leaders of the people around them attempted to intimidate them into stopping, when that failed those leaders sent a letter to the King of Persia to request that he order them to stop.  However, instead of ordering the Jews to stop work on rebuilding the temple, Darius, King of Persia, ordered the people who had sent him the letter to cover the costs of rebuilding and provide animals for the Jews to sacrifice on its altar in order to pray for the king and his sons.  This gives us a great example of how God moves to aid those who faithfully serve Him, even in the face of opposition.

Some time later, Artaxerxes sent Ezra the priest to Jerusalem with wealth in order to make sacrifices there on behalf of Artaxerxes and his sons (Side note: I believe that the “his sons” referred to here and in the letter from Darius is meant to refer to those who took the throne after those kings).  In response to this commission from Artaxerxes, Ezra gathered leaders from among the Israelites in exile to return to Jerusalem with him.  When those who would accompany Ezra gathered, Ezra realized just how much wealth they would be traveling with and was concerned that they might become a target for bandits.  However, he was embarrassed to request armed guards from the king, since he had been bragging to the king about God’s great power.  So, Ezra called on those who would be traveling with him to fast and pray for God’s protection.  Ezra and those who traveled with him put their trust in God for their protection.  Let us follow their example…and perhaps, considering the state of our world today, we should remember to include more fasting with our prayers.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.