45 The People of Judah Return from Exile [Ezra 1-10]
The Bible passage: [Ezra 1-10]
The Story:
In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The Lord put it into the mind of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation that all of God’s people throughout the kingdom would be allowed to return to Jerusalem.
The family leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests, prepared to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Lord’s temple. All of their neighbors helped them by giving them money and valuable possessions to assist them in their task. King Cyrus also returned the temple artifacts that had been brought to Babylon.
About fifty thousand men, plus their families and livestock, returned to Jerusalem.
By the seventh month, the Israelites had settled into their towns. The people gathered in Jerusalem. An altar was built to offer sacrifices to God. It was built to the specifications of Moses and the sacrifices were offered exactly as God had commanded the people through Moses. They gave money to stonecutters and artisans so they could buy the materials needed to rebuild the temple.
In the second month of the second year, they began the work on the temple.
When the builders had finished the foundation, the priests led the people in a time of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, singing, “For He is good; His faithful love to Israel endures forever.” Many of the older people, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this new temple.
When the enemies of Judah heard that the temple was being rebuilt, they offered to help, but the leaders of the families of Judah told them that Cyrus commanded them to rebuild the temple and they could not help. The people already in the land did all they could to discourage the builders. They also bribed officials to frustrate their plans.
At the beginning of the reign of Artaxerxes, the opponents of building the temple sent a letter to the king telling him that the builders were treasonous rebels. They warned that if the temple was rebuilt, the people would stop paying taxes and the royal revenues would suffer.
King Artaxerxes wrote back and told the opposition that he had ordered a search of the history of Judah and he had found that the things they said were true. He therefore ordered that construction of the temple be immediately halted.
As soon as the king’s letter was read in Jerusalem, the opponents immediately went to the Jews in Jerusalem and forcibly stopped them.
The construction was stopped until the second year of King Darius of Persia. When the prophets Haggai (46 A Call to Rebuild the Temple) and Zechariah prophesied in the name of the Lord, they began to rebuild God’s house. The prophets were with them, helping them.
At that time, the opponents of Judah came to the Jews and asked who had authorized the work and the names of the people doing the work. God was watching over the Jewish elders. These men, the opponents, wouldn’t stop them until a message was sent to Darius, so they could receive written instructions.
King Darius ordered that the archives in Babylon be searched to find what information they could. The decree of King Cyrus was found, and a reply was sent to Jerusalem. This reply told the opponents that the rebuilding of the temple had been authorized by King Cyrus and would be allowed to continue. He also decreed that anything the builders needed was to be supplied. In addition to this, he ordered that anyone who interfered with the decree was to be impaled on a beam taken from his own house.
The Jewish people then continued with their building project. They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Kings Cyrus and Darius of Persia. The temple was completed in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
The priests and the people celebrated the dedication of the house of God with great joy. They appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God. The former exiles observed the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem. They observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the Lord had made them joyful.
After this, Ezra came to Jerusalem from Babylon. He was a scribe who was highly trained in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given. Ezra had determined to study the law of the Lord, obey it, and teach it to the people in Israel.
King Artaxerxes sent a letter of introduction with Ezra. The letter gave permission for any priests and Levites that wanted to go to Jerusalem to do so. Ezra was instructed in the letter to evaluate Judah and make sure everything there was done according to the law of God. Ezra was given the money that he needed for the work to be done and for the animals needed for the sacrifices. He was given authority from the king to do whatever he felt was needed to restore worship of the Lord in Jerusalem. The final declaration in the letter was that Ezra had the authority to hold a trial and punish anyone who broke the laws of God.
A large group of Israelite descendants gathered to go to Jerusalem with Ezra.
Before returning to Jerusalem, Ezra called the people together for a time of fasting and praying. They asked God to give them a safe journey. He did this because the king had offered military protection for the trip, but Ezra declined it, saying that God would provide all the protection that they needed.
The priests and Levites took charge of the temple articles and funds for the journey. When they arrived in Jerusalem, a full inventory was conducted of all that had been brought.
After all this had been done, the leaders approached Ezra and told him that many of the Israelite men had intermarried with the women of the surrounding nations. This had been forbidden by the Lord. Many of the leaders of the people had taken the lead in this unfaithfulness.
This greatly upset Ezra. He tore his clothes, a sign of intense mourning.
Everyone who was faithful to the word of God gathered around Ezra.
At the time of the evening sacrifice, Ezra prayed and told the Lord that he was ashamed and embarrassed because the sins of the people were so great. He asked God for forgiveness for the sins of the people.
While Ezra prayed and confessed, an extremely large group of Israelite men, women, and children gathered around. The people wept bitterly. They confessed that they had been unfaithful to God in their marriages and committed to correct their sins. The foreign women and children were then sent back to their own people.
The Lessons:
- As seen in this story, when we commit to follow a Godly life, we will face opposition. There are a few things to remember in our spiritual battles:
- God keeps His promises
- Satan doesn’t fight fair
- We must stay rooted in God’s word
- We need times of renewal and rededication
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