Key Verses: Ezra 6:14,15; 9:9

Themes to track: God’s character and nature, God using leaders to carry out His plan

As we learned last month, it is likely that the book of Ezra is a continuation of three books written by the priest Ezra—Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. I never really knew much about this man Ezra until I studied the books he wrote, but I came to find out that he’s one of those special Bible characters whose life and character remains relevant and challenging still today.

Ezra’s primary goal in chapters one through six is to describe the process of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. It’s a little tricky to figure out the chronology of the events in Ezra and Nehemiah, especially in regards to the difference in situations between the original hearers (the people who lived out the events in the books) and the original readers (the people who read Ezra and Nehemiah after the books were written). Hopefully looking at a few dates and corresponding references in Ezra will clear some things up.

Ezra begins the book giving glory to the incredible sovereignty of his God. When Persia defeated Babylon it became the ruling world empire, and a man named Cyrus was the Persian king. He now had control over the Israelites who had been in Babylonian exile for seventy years. Take note that Cyrus was not one of God’s “chosen people” from the nation God had set apart for Himself to live in holiness. And yet, in His sovereignty, God “stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus” (1:1) to allow the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild God’s temple. God has the power to use whoever He wants to for His purposes!

Cyrus’ decree was in 539 B.C., and within the following year, the first group of Israelite exiles was returning to Jerusalem under the leadership of a man named Zerubbabel (see Ezra 2:2). It took a little time for things to get started. A little under two years after the group had arrived in Jerusalem, they “made a beginning” (3:8) and laid the foundation of the temple. The fact that this small group of Israelites was back in Jerusalem possessing the freedom to rebuild the temple of God was no small thing—and they knew it. After the foundation was laid, they took the time to give credit where it was due, “praising and giving thanks to the LORD” (3:11).

Such triumphs seldom come without rivals who wish to overturn the great victories of God.

In Ezra 4:5 we read that “the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them afraid to build.” Unfortunately, the rebuilding was then put on hold for about sixteen years! It picked up when King Darius began to reign over Persia in 520 BC.

Important note—Ezra 4:7-23 is accepted by many to be placed out of order chronologically. This view believes the letter to the king “in the days of Artaxerxes (4:7), recorded in 4:11b-22, is not part of the adversity in 4:4,5, but an additional attack from Israel’s enemies that took place sometime between the events of Ezra and Nehemiah. Either way, the important thing to take away from the chapter is that Israel faced opposition from the enemy when they sought to do the work of God and rebuild His temple.

After a long sixteen years rolled by, we read in Ezra 5:1,2 that God sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the Israelites to begin their work again (note—this is where the books of Haggai and Zechariah fit in with the Bible!). But what do you know? The enemy tries once more to stop them! A governor named Tattenai comes against them with a group of men, wanting to know just where the Israelites got permission to rebuild the temple of their God. Tattenai then proceeds to write a letter to King Darius (Ezra 5:7-17), hoping King Darius will likewise object to the rebuilding.

I love the way the Israelites used this attack from the enemy to give glory to their God in their explanation for rebuilding the temple—“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth” (5:11). They also explain to Tattenai that they had every right to rebuild because sixteen years prior, King Cyrus had made a decree commanding the work to be done. They know God is on their side and they aren’t about to let the enemy stop them this time!

Much to the dismay of Tattenai and his followers, King Darius finds the record of King Cyrus’ decree and stands up for the Israelites, telling Tattenai, “Keep away; let the work on this house of God alone” (6:6,7). King Darius even goes on to demand that Tattenai pay the Israelites for the entire cost of the temple with money from Tattenai’s own royal treasury! Furthermore, King Darius makes a decree that anyone who disobeys his decree will be impaled on a beam from his own house!

How true God’s declaration is in Isaiah 42:8—“I am the LORD, that is my name; my glory I give to no other.” The purposes of God will not be thwarted! The glory of God will not be despised!

After a few more years of hard work and continuing encouragement and inspiration from Haggai and Zechariah, the Israelites finally completed the temple in 516 B.C. What a celebration the Israelites must have had! Although the splendor of the new temple was nothing like that of the one that King Solomon had built decades earlier, the Israelites still had much to celebrate. They “celebrated the dedication of this house of God with great joy” (6:16), offering many sacrifices to God and putting the temple service of the Levites and priests in order.

Ezra finishes the first half of the book with a “grand finale”, if you will: the Israelites kept the Passover. They killed the Passover lamb and it was eaten by “the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by all who had joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the nations of the land to worship the LORD, the God of Israel” (6:21). What a beautiful glimpse we get of what God had originally intended for the Israelites when he set them free from slavery in Egypt and led them into the Promised Land! On that one night, hundreds of years before, God allowed the angel of death to “pass over” their ancestors’ firstborn children, setting the stage for a victorious flight out of Egypt. They were God’s chosen people, chosen to be separated unto Himself, pure and undefiled by the other nations of the world.

Ezra himself enters onto the scene in chapter seven. Up to this point he had still been in Babylon living as an exile. But Ezra wasn’t just any old priest—“The hand of the LORD his God was upon him” (7:6)—and that made all the difference! Around the year 458 B.C., the 2nd group of exiles to return to Jerusalem left Babylon with Ezra as their leader.

Ezra has a special heart for the Israelites with a desire to see them thriving spiritually and living in the manifold blessings of God as His chosen and treasured people. Yet Ezra knows that the only way Israel can lay hold of those blessings is if they wholeheartedly devote themselves to knowing God’s commandments and live them out as a consistent lifestyle.

When I think of Ezra, I think of my friend Desiree. Desiree has a passion for God’s word. She loves to read it, study it, and learn how to live it out. But her passion doesn’t stop there. She takes great delight in teaching God’s word to others and helping them learn to apply it to their own lives as well. Likewise, “Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach the statues and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).

Ezra received the desires of his heart from God when King Artaxerxes of Persia (remember, he is a pagan king) instructed Ezra to teach the laws of God to any who did not know them! (See 7:25,26) How fitting is Ezra’s praise to God in 7:27-28: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of our ancestors, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to glorify the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, and who extended to me steadfast love before the king and his counselors.”

Ezra credits God with the safe journey to Jerusalem, saying that God had “delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes along the way” (8:31). But soon after Ezra arrives, he gets some bad news from Israelite officials—the Israelites have been taking wives for themselves from foreign nations. Did anyone just get déjŕ vu? It’s the faithlessness of the days of their ancient ancestors all over again!

Here in the book is where Ezra’s true character comes out. Not only did Ezra love the word of God, but he also feared the Lord Himself. He was a man of contrition—brokenness and godly sorrow over sin. He didn’t take sin lightly, and his heart was broken with the fact that the Israelites had so quickly turned from the laws of God. In 9:6-15, Ezra records his humble and heartfelt prayer to God, pleading for God’s forgiveness on behalf of the Israelites.

The Israelites take notice. As Ezra weeps before the Lord, a spirit of repentance falls on the Israelites and they gather around Ezra and begin to weep alongside of him, confessing their faithlessness to God. The men are so moved to repentance that they tell Ezra to send away their wives! Can you imagine? My heart goes out for the wives that suddenly had no husband and no support! But Ezra’s example of brokenness to these men had inspired them to do whatever it took to purify themselves and return to God.

In an act of courageous leadership, Ezra appoints several different heads of families to handle individual cases and make sure every foreign wife was sent away. A few months later the matter was finished. Every foreign wife, along with her children, was sent away (See 10:9-17).

When I first read the book of Ezra, I thought, What a depressing way to end the book! Can you picture a huge group of sobbing women holding babies and hundreds of tearful children being sent away from their fathers? Not much of a happily ever after! But then I realized something—the end of Ezra is a happily ever after. The book ends with an amazing story of repentance from sin and a restored devotion to God in the hearts of the Israelite men who had turned away from Him. It ends with the story of a humble and God-fearing leader who was bravehearted enough to confront the sin of the Israelites and do what it took to get rid of it.

Although Ezra certainly didn’t write the book with the intention of gaining the praises and admiration of its readers, his heart, words, actions, and attitudes are such an honorable example and I can’t help but find myself hoping that I myself am an Ezra. I want to have a passion for God’s word—not just a passion to know and understand it, but do it and teach it to others! I want to remember to constantly acknowledge God and the good He has done in my life, praising Him with a heart of gratitude. I want to so love and fear the Lord that I have a humble heart of contrition and brokenness over my sin against Him, one that leaves me weeping before His feet in repentance when He reveals something in my life that does not give Him glory. I want to be a godly leader in any way God calls me to, able to gently and lovingly confront sin and yet firmly take the required action to get rid of it in order to preserve His honor and glory.

In what way do you want to be an Ezra in your life?

Copyright © by Tessa Hershberger Share

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