Tag Archives: Ezra 3-5

Daily Bible Study

May 30, 2023 Bible Study — Enthusiastically Worshiping God, But Avoid Opening The Door To Those Who Wish To Lead Us Astray

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

The first thing which struck me about this passage was the enthusiasm of the returned exiles for serving the Lord.  As soon as they had gotten settled into their new homes they gathered in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to God and celebrate the Feasts He had mandated for the Israelites.  In fact the way I read the passage, they built a makeshift altar, or perhaps I should say they built an altar that was intended to be temporary, in order to begin making those sacrifices as soon as possible.  The other part of this which strikes me is that they did this “Despite their fear of the people around them,…”  We should share both their enthusiasm for worshiping God and their willingness to defy their fear of those around them in an open and explicit manner.

Later, the passage recounts something about which I am somewhat ambivalent.  When the people who had been living in the land before the exiles returned learned that they were rebuilding the temple, those people asked to be allowed to help them do so.  The returned exiles refused to allow these people to help them.  Which caused those whose assistance was rejected to slander the returned exiles to the King of Persia, who ordered a halt to the rebuilding.  On the one hand, I wonder if things might have gone better if the returned exiles had allowed the surrounding peoples to join in rebuilding the temple.  Perhaps if they had invited the surrounding peoples to join them, and not just in rebuilding the temple, but in full worship of God, Israel would have risen as a power dedicated to God.  On the other hand, perhaps the returned exiles were correct in rejecting this offer of assistance.  Perhaps, if they had accepted the assistance the surrounding peoples would have demanded that they include some of the pagan practices which they had adopted into their worship of God.

Both of these possible interpretations of this passage have lessons for us.  First, we should always welcome the help of those who will faithfully join us in worshiping God.  We should strive to avoid alienating those who genuinely seek to faithfully serve and worship God.  Second, we should be wary of those who offer to aid us in serving God so that they can lead us into accepting practices which God condemns.  We must be cautious of those who refuse to abandon practices which God has clearly spelled out as evil.  Much of the Church today fails to heed the second lesson.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 30, 2022 Bible Study — Not All Who Offer To Help Us Serve God Truly Wish To Serve God

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

As soon as the Returned Exiles got settled they arranged to build the altar to God in order to offer sacrifices upon it.  Once it was built they immediately started offering the sacrifices required by the Law of Moses.  At that point they began the process of laying the foundation, and rebuilding, the temple.   Reading today I think I finally understand the justification for the Returned Exiles rejecting the offer to help, actually almost a demand, in rebuilding the temple brought by those who had been living in the land during the Exile (particularly in the areas of the Northern Kingdom).  Those whose help the Returned Exiles rejected had not taken part in the ritual sacrifices required by the Law of Moses, yet now claimed to worship God.  In all of the time that these people had been living in the land, they had made no attempt to rebuild the temple, nor had they joined in the sacrifices and festivals which the Returned Exiles had restored.  When we keep in mind the attitude towards foreigners worshiping God which was expressed in the Chronicler’s account of Solomon’s dedication of the first temple we should see that the help was rejected because those offering wanted to co-opt the efforts of the Returned Exiles and assimilate them into their practices rather than join the faithful worship of God which the Returned Exiles were establishing.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 30, 2021 Bible Study What To Do When Those Who Do Not Share Your Values Offer To Help You Serve God

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

As soon as the Returned Exiles got settled back in the land they began work on rebuilding the altar to the Lord in Jerusalem.  Then, when the altar was rebuilt they began making offerings upon it and began working on laying a foundation for the rebuilt Temple.  Once they had completed the foundation, they held a festival to praise the Lord for bringing them thus far.  All of the people were emotionally overcome by the moment, some weeping, some shouting in joy.  The noise was so loud that it was impossible to distinguish those who were weeping from those shouting in joy.  In a similar way, we should not be ashamed to allow our emotions to overwhelm us when we worship the Lord, especially when something positive happens.

I am always torn by the accounts here where the Returned Exiles rejected the request of those living in the land to assist them in rebuilding the Temple.  On the one hand, those who offered are identified as enemies of the Returned Exiles.  On the other hand, I believe that we should welcome all who wish to worship the Lord.  Perhaps if the Returned Exiles had allowed those living in the land to take part in rebuilding the Temple, they would not have become the enemies of the Returned Exiles.  Or, perhaps they would have acted to undermine the restoration of faithful worship of God.  The writer of this passage clearly believes that these people were not acting in good faith when they asked to take part in rebuilding the Temple.  All in all, this passage highlights the need to determine whether those who offer to help you serve God share your understanding of what serving God means.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 30, 2020 Bible Study Rebuilding the Temple (the Church)

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

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

The returned exiles almost immediately began rebuilding the the altar on the Temple Mount so that they could resume sacrifices and the worship which surrounded those.  Their next step was to rebuild the foundation of the Temple.  It has never been clear to me if those who had seen the original Temple were sad because the new foundation did not live up to their expectations, or because of the memories the new foundation brought back.  Nevertheless, all of those who saw the progress they had made praised God.  Perhaps this can provide inspiration for us as we rebuild our worship practices after this long lockdown.

 

 

Daily Bible Study

May 30, 2019 Bible Study — Should We Accept the Help of Non-believers To Do God’s Will?

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

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

As soon as the Returned Exiles got themselves settled into their new homes, they rebuilt the altar and began offering sacrifices upon it.  The following spring the Returned Exiles began rebuilding the Temple.   When they completed the foundation of the Temple the people who had been living in the land during the Exile claimed a stake in the rebuilding of the Temple.  The local people claimed to have worshiped God since they were settled in the land by the Assyrians.  I have always read this passage and thought that the Returned Exiles should not have so bluntly rejected the offer of assistance.   However, today it struck me, if the locals had been worshiping God and offering Him sacrifices for all of these years, why didn’t they rebuild the Temple before this?  Further, as soon as their help was rejected the locals began working to disrupt the building project.  In fact, after Cyrus died, the locals reached out to the King of Persia and slandered the Returned Exiles by implying that they had begun restoring Jerusalem behind the back of the Persian authorities. 

Reading between the lines here we learn an important lesson about working with non-believers to carry out God’s will.  The locals offered to help the Returned Exiles, but considering the ways in which they immediately began working against the project when their help was rejected we see that their offer was not sincere.  Perhaps they wanted to be involved so as to have a say in how worship was carried out in the new Temple.  Or perhaps they were planning to frustrate the plans from the inside.  The key factor here is that the locals did not share the priorities of the Returned Exiles.  When non-believers offer to partner with believers to accomplish some goal, we must be very careful about accepting their aid because they do not share our desire to do God’s will.  Their reasons for seeking goals which they may have in common with us will be different from ours and they will attempt to redirect our efforts to further their other goals.

As I mentioned the local government officials not associated with the Returned Exiles had sent a letter to the King of Persia and received a reply ordering a halt to rebuilding the city of Jerusalem.  Initially, this also caused the Returned Exiles to cease work on the Temple.  However, after Darius took the throne, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah inspired the people to resume work on the Temple.  I find this interesting.  When the local government officials received orders from the King of Persia to halt the rebuilding, they intervened with sufficient force to stop the work.  However, when the rebuilding resumed, the local government officials refrained from using force to stop work.  The passage does not tell us what had changed besides who was King of Persia.  I suspect that a significant factor was that Darius was a king more in the mold of Cyrus, while the two kings who reigned in between ruled more with an iron-fist (incidentally, both of their reigns were relatively short).  If all parties were aware of this change in attitude at the top, the Returned Exiles would have been more willing to stand up for themselves and the local officials less willing to initiate a violent confrontation.  Under the intermediary kings, both parties would have been aware that imperial forces were likely to back up such a show of force.  Under Darius, the Returned Exiles would have had reason to believe they would get a chance to argue their side before imperial forces acted.  Additionally, it appears that someone among the Returned Exiles produced a copy of Cyrus’ decree authorizing their return.  It appears that the local officials suspected the copy was a forgery and hoped to use that as leverage on their side over the Returned Exiles

 

Daily Bible Study

May 30, 2017 Bible Study — When Nonbelievers Put Conditions On Helping Us Do the Lord’s Work

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

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

    As soon as the returned Exiles got settled in they rebuilt the altar. They did this despite the fact that they expected opposition from those living in the land. Once the altar was rebuilt the priests among them began offering sacrifices on it. The following spring the returned Exiles began rebuilding the Temple. Once the foundation was completed the people who had been living in the area since the Exile found out that the Temple was being rebuilt and offered to help (well, actually they demanded to be allowed to help). The returned Exiles refused their help. This has always troubled me. It is my firm belief that we should accept the help of anyone who wishes to assist us in the Lord’s work.

    A simple reading of this passage could lead one to reach the conclusion that the returned Exiles had made a mistake in refusing to accept help. After all, if the returned Exiles had accepted the help, those offering it would not have taken action to stop them from continuing with the building. However, a closer reading suggests that the offer of help was not as open ended as it appears. Those who had been living in the land who offered to help stated that they had been worshiping God just as the returned Exiles did since they were brought into the land. Yet, in all of that time, they had never rebuilt the Temple. More importantly, their phrasing suggests that they wished to have a say in the design of the Temple, or perhaps to build something which suited their worship practices along side of the Temple. Their offer of help came with conditions. In the same way in which the returned Exiles refused this help, we must be careful not to accept help in doing the Lord’s work from nonbelievers who will put conditions upon the project which will prevent it from being the Lord’s work. It would have done the returned Exiles no good to have completed rebuilding the Temple sooner if the rebuilt Temple had been dedicated to other gods in addition to God.

Daily Bible Study

May 30, 2016 Bible Study — Excluding Others By Rejecting Their Help

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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

    One of the things which always bothers me when I read this passage is the fact that the Returned Exiles refused to allow those who were living in the land to help them rebuild the Temple.I can think of reasons why they may have done so, but none are given in the passage. It seems to me that this was a mistake on their part. As a result of rejecting the offered help, the Returned Exiles created opposition to their efforts. By the way in which they rejected the help, they made it clear that they considered those living in the land inferior to themselves. In addition, they indicated that those others were not welcome to worship God. Yet, the people living in the land had been worshiping God for many years, even though imperfectly. I believe that the Returned Exiles should have accepted the help of those living in the land under conditions. They should have allowed them to help under the condition that they give up their worship of other gods, and that they modify their worship practices to be in line with the Law of Moses. Rather than reject the help outright, they should have accepted it on the condition that those who wished to help follow the same rules as those who started the project.