Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Ezra.
[00:00:00] You are listening to the Through the Bible Studio Series with Pastor Nate Holdridge.
[00:00:07] Join us as we continue our study through the Old Testament book of Ezra.
[00:00:13] Here's Nate.
[00:00:14] Well, the book of Ezra is really a book about restoration, rebuilding, a book all about
[00:00:23] revival and return, really.
[00:00:28] And the book of Ezra records really two monumental moments in Israel's history that really need
[00:00:35] to go together.
[00:00:37] Of course, the timeframe that we're dealing with is sort of the latter end of the Old Testament
[00:00:44] era.
[00:00:45] You had, of course, the era of the king starting with Saul and then to David and
[00:00:51] then to Solomon.
[00:00:53] And then you have the civil divorce of the nation of Israel when Solomon's son Rehoboam
[00:01:00] took the southern portion of Israel, Judah and Benjamin, and a man named Jeroboam took
[00:01:06] leadership of the northern ten tribes.
[00:01:09] And you had king after king after king in both the north and in the south.
[00:01:15] And in the north there tended to be perversion and idolatry and great evil.
[00:01:20] And so eventually in the north the Assyrians came and drove out of the people of Israel
[00:01:26] and scattered them.
[00:01:28] But in the south things weren't always all that great either.
[00:01:33] And so, you know, they had the temple and so they were able to worship the Lord but
[00:01:38] it was very hollow, very empty.
[00:01:40] There was still a lot of idolatry, a lot of evil.
[00:01:42] And so finally after years of rebellion it culminated in God promising that king
[00:01:49] Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians were going to come and drive out the tribes of Judah and
[00:01:55] Benjamin.
[00:01:56] There in southern Israel that Jerusalem would be destroyed.
[00:02:01] And so the book of Ezra, all of that is past tense.
[00:02:05] They've been in Babylon now for a long period of time.
[00:02:09] The temple has been destroyed for over 50 years.
[00:02:13] Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon are no longer the prominent players.
[00:02:18] Now there's a man named Cyrus who is the king of Persia and he is going to command the
[00:02:23] people of God to go back to Jerusalem with the express purpose of rebuilding the temple.
[00:02:30] So Ezra 1-6 is all about rebuilding the temple and Ezra 7-10 is about Ezra rebuilding
[00:02:38] the people of God.
[00:02:39] He was a scribe, a teacher, a leader.
[00:02:43] And both of these movements in the book of Ezra are separate in timeline.
[00:02:49] And so the first portion of the book is all about the courageous rebuilding of the temple.
[00:02:57] And I think temple would be the key word of the entire book of Ezra, the epicenter
[00:03:03] of worship for the people of Israel.
[00:03:05] They hadn't sacrificed to God or worshiped God in the temple in over 50 years.
[00:03:12] And so this is a time of worship, to return to worship, to revive their atmosphere and
[00:03:20] attitude of devotion to the Lord.
[00:03:26] And what you know from reading the Old Testament is that the moment that they do that, the
[00:03:30] moment they'll be blessed and God's glory is going to increase.
[00:03:35] And so really when you're reading the book of Ezra, you're reading about the revival
[00:03:40] of a nation.
[00:03:41] And I know that so often in our own lives, this is exactly what we need.
[00:03:45] We need reviving.
[00:03:46] We need something to stir us up once again.
[00:03:49] We need to return back to our first love like the church in Ephesus needed to there in
[00:03:55] Revelation chapter 2.
[00:03:57] We need to discover once again our adoration for God, our love for God and to worship
[00:04:04] him because when we're worshiping him, we are at our best just as when Israel
[00:04:09] worshiped God, they were also at their best.
[00:04:13] So that's what the book is communicating and that's where we're going.
[00:04:18] Let's begin now in verse 1.
[00:04:20] It says in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the
[00:04:25] mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.
[00:04:28] The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, so that he made a proclamation
[00:04:33] throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.
[00:04:40] Now before we read the following verses and discover what it was that Cyrus proclaimed
[00:04:47] to all his kingdom and what it was that he put in writing, we need to notice the
[00:04:54] setting that Ezra gives to us as he launches into this historical record.
[00:05:03] First of all, we have the main player at the launch of this book, a man named Cyrus,
[00:05:09] King of Persia.
[00:05:11] Now Cyrus is a fascinating figure because God had prophesied of him 100 years before
[00:05:20] he was even born, before the Medo-Persian Empire was even prominent and before the
[00:05:28] people of Israel had even been taken captive into Babylon by name.
[00:05:36] In other words, before any of those events occurred, God had spoken of the man named
[00:05:42] Cyrus who was to come.
[00:05:45] This is recorded for us in Isaiah 44 verse 28 on into chapter 45 verse 1.
[00:05:54] God says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and shall fulfill all my purpose, saying of Jerusalem
[00:06:01] she shall be built and of the temple your foundation shall be laid.
[00:06:05] Thus says the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus whose right hand I have grasped to subdue
[00:06:11] nations before him and to loose the belts of kings to open doors before him that
[00:06:17] gates may not be closed.
[00:06:19] Then again in chapter 45 of Isaiah verse 13 he says I have stirred him up in righteousness.
[00:06:26] This is still talking, he's got a long section talking about Cyrus and I will make all his
[00:06:31] ways level.
[00:06:32] He shall build my city and set my exiles free not for price or reward says the Lord
[00:06:40] of hosts.
[00:06:43] And so really what you have here in the prophecies of Isaiah in chapter 44 and 45 of Isaiah is
[00:06:51] a prophecy about Cyrus that he speaks about 150 years before Cyrus speaks this decree
[00:07:01] to rebuild the temple.
[00:07:05] And so just absolutely amazing.
[00:07:10] Now why would Cyrus give this commission or this command?
[00:07:14] Well he would give it from his perspective because that's just what he would do.
[00:07:20] In many of the nations around him he would build these buffer states and do things that
[00:07:25] were favorable to the citizens in each one of those nations in order to create you
[00:07:31] know harmony and peace.
[00:07:33] And so he'd done this in other portions of the world and so perhaps there was no
[00:07:38] real genuine love for the people of Israel or God so perhaps from his perspective it was
[00:07:44] just a strategic move but from God's perspective it was to unfold his redemptive plan through
[00:07:52] the nation of Israel.
[00:07:55] And we don't know how this all occurred and how this all opened up.
[00:08:00] This records years later that Cyrus was shown the prophecies of Isaiah and wanted to fulfill
[00:08:09] them.
[00:08:10] Whether or not that is true we don't know with any level of certainty and it's possible
[00:08:16] that Daniel was a contemporary at a time in his older age of course with Cyrus and
[00:08:25] perhaps led Cyrus to the Lord.
[00:08:30] So we just really don't have any certainty about any of that but that's who this man
[00:08:36] is and this record happens in the first year Ezra records for us in the first year
[00:08:44] of Cyrus king of Persia and that's the first year not of his reign in general of
[00:08:49] over anything but his reign over Babylon when they finally kicked out the Babylonians
[00:08:54] and overthrew them the Medo Persian Empire and Cyrus became king during that time that
[00:09:00] was the first year that Ezra is referring to here in verse one but he's got a commission
[00:09:09] that he gives.
[00:09:11] But notice in verse one that Ezra doesn't record by the mouth of the prophecy by
[00:09:17] the mouth of Isaiah that that might be fulfilled but he says by Jeremiah by Jeremiah you
[00:09:23] go back to Jeremiah 25 verse 12 through 14 and the prophecy there isn't so much about
[00:09:30] Cyrus that's not what Ezra is referring to the prophecy about Cyrus.
[00:09:36] Ezra is referring to the prophecy about the people of Israel and in Jeremiah 25 the
[00:09:43] prophecy basically was that they would be driven from and taken captive into Babylon
[00:09:52] for a period of 70 years and after 70 years would be able to come back and worship the
[00:09:58] Lord there in Jerusalem.
[00:10:01] Jeremiah 25 verse 12 through 14 and Jeremiah 29 verse 10 and we might ask the
[00:10:07] question well why 70 years?
[00:10:10] Well it was because God had set up in the law a rule for the people of Israel that
[00:10:15] when they farmed their land every seven years they should give their pieces of land rest
[00:10:23] a Sabbath rest and for 490 years they neglected that commission from God and we can
[00:10:30] understand why.
[00:10:31] They're greed, they're lack of trust in God and so God said well during those 490
[00:10:37] years there were 70 years that the land should have been resting you didn't do it
[00:10:42] so I'm going to take you away captive and I'm going to give the land that 70 years of rest
[00:10:50] and so Ezra records here that this prophecy from Jeremiah is now going to be fulfilled
[00:10:56] the 70 years are up so the Lord verse 1 stirred up the spirit of Cyrus so that he wrote
[00:11:03] something down and just the sovereign hand of God and this is what he wrote verse
[00:11:09] 2. Thus says Cyrus king of Persia the Lord the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms
[00:11:16] of the earth and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah
[00:11:23] whoever is among you of all his people may his God be with him and let him go up to
[00:11:28] Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord the God of Israel
[00:11:34] he is the God who is in Jerusalem and let each survivor in whatever place he sojourns be
[00:11:40] assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold with goods and with beasts besides
[00:11:46] free will offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
[00:11:51] So Cyrus here you just we really don't know with any certainty it appears that there's
[00:11:59] this adoration for God and almost worship coming from Cyrus but on the other hand this is the kind
[00:12:06] of verbage that he would use if he believed in regional gods and it kind of reads like that
[00:12:11] that he believes that well you know the God of Israel he's the God over there in Jerusalem
[00:12:17] but he basically tells the people this is what you need to do I'm going to pay for it and
[00:12:23] the people around you're going to pay for it but you need to go and build a house for the Lord
[00:12:30] you need to build God's house in Jerusalem the house of the Lord and just a fascinating commission
[00:12:40] that Cyrus commits to the people of Israel. Now I think it's semi important to point out
[00:12:49] that his focus is on the temple and there are some prophecies about him that indicate a rebuilding
[00:12:57] of the city which would be at least partially necessary to rebuild the temple but when you
[00:13:04] read then the book of Nehemiah which are events that occur after the book of Ezra occurred
[00:13:10] what you have in Nehemiah is a time where Nehemiah led the charge at the commission
[00:13:15] of another king King Artexerxes to rebuild the city Nehemiah really didn't have anything to do
[00:13:21] with rebuilding the temple but rebuilding the city and so Ezra and Cyrus focus on the temple
[00:13:29] and Nehemiah and Artexerxes focus on the city of God the walls the gates things like that and the
[00:13:39] reason that I think that that's important is because Daniel in Daniel chapter 9 received a prophecy from
[00:13:45] the Lord which recounted and I don't mean to be over complicated at this point but to make it
[00:13:53] simple he received a prophecy from the Lord that indicated a 490 year period of time 483 years
[00:14:03] of which would run consecutively followed by a long break and then one final seven year period
[00:14:10] and the beginning of that 483 year span was going to begin with the command the authoritative
[00:14:19] command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and personally I believe that when Cyrus commanded
[00:14:29] them to go back and rebuild the temple I don't think that that was the beginning of Daniel's prophecy
[00:14:34] I think the beginning of Daniel's prophecy was when King Artexerxes approached Nehemiah and said
[00:14:42] you need to go back and rebuild the city because that was the prophecy that Daniel received and
[00:14:49] I believe that the way that it flows is 483 years after that event is when Jesus
[00:14:56] appeared at his triumphal entry so you know I just wanted to point that out because I don't think
[00:15:03] that this is the beginning of the Artexerxes prophecy or the Daniel 9 prophecy at this particular
[00:15:12] moment but the temple that's the focus that's what they are going to be trying to rebuild and
[00:15:20] trying to get established once again all for the purpose of that sacrifice and worship system
[00:15:26] thriving once again and that's really what's at the heart of this book and so as you're
[00:15:33] approaching the book of Ezra here's something that's just important to do devotionally it's
[00:15:40] important to understand that our personal worship of the Lord is of paramount importance
[00:15:49] when it comes to our own health, our own strength, our own effectiveness and if there's something off
[00:15:57] there, if we're wandering a little bit, if it's not a priority to worship the Lord, if our devotional
[00:16:04] life is growing weaker rather than stronger, if we can look back and see some stronger moments in
[00:16:11] our hearts and lives than others and we realize a real weakness at this time perhaps this book
[00:16:18] is a book that can revive us to get back to the center of what that life of worship is all about.
[00:16:25] I know personally just in my own life I'm going through this very similar kind of thing just
[00:16:32] right now. I recently just had an experience where I took about a month to just kind of change up my
[00:16:43] schedule a little bit and what I started doing was every morning for my devotional time after I
[00:16:51] was done reading the Word I just got in my truck on most mornings and I drove down to our local
[00:16:57] beach. I live on the Monterey Peninsula beautiful area and I would just walk for you know 45 minutes
[00:17:04] or so up to an hour and just walk and out loud pray and the thing about it was it's not like
[00:17:12] that's the first time I've ever done that but that used to be the standard of my life it was
[00:17:19] just the way that the Lord worked with me in my own heart and life and I'd kind of gotten
[00:17:23] away from that I was praying more in my home in various ways kneeling sitting standing walking
[00:17:30] whatever but and so my devotional life was there but I something wonderful began to happen
[00:17:38] inside my heart during that time and it's been a few months now and I'm just so revived
[00:17:46] in a lot of ways and so perhaps that's what the Lord wants to do in you as we focus on the
[00:17:52] center of worship in the nation is to focus on the center of worship inside of your own heart and so
[00:18:00] Cyrus gives that commissioning now in as a response it says in verse five then rose up the heads of
[00:18:07] the father's houses of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites everyone whose spirit
[00:18:13] God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. So you see
[00:18:20] an immediate response it's God working God had stirred up Cyrus God stirred up these people
[00:18:26] who were they well you've got heads of the father's houses those are leaders and it's great when the
[00:18:31] leaders are stirred up by God and they're of the houses of Judah and Benjamin which is
[00:18:38] makes sense because the 10 northern tribes had been scattered by the Assyrians it was really
[00:18:45] predominantly Judah and Benjamin taken away captive into Babylon so they're the ones that are there that
[00:18:51] are going to return and you have also just the people in general and the priests as well
[00:19:00] and the Levites as well rising up and we'll actually get a list of some of these people their
[00:19:06] households and leaders in chapter two and all who verse six were about them aided them with vessels
[00:19:15] of silver with gold with goods with beasts and with costly wares besides all that was freely
[00:19:21] offered this is very reminiscent of the first Exodus from Egypt when the Egyptians gave all of
[00:19:29] the gifts to the Israelites as they were departing and Cyrus the king also brought out the
[00:19:35] vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the
[00:19:42] house of his gods Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithradap the treasurer
[00:19:49] who counted them out to Shesh Bazar the prince of Judah now there's a little bit of a question
[00:19:57] of who is this Shesh Bazar and many people believe that this is just another name for Zorobabel who would
[00:20:07] eventually be the governor of Judah and have to re lead this rebuilding charge. Other than that we're
[00:20:15] really not certain who he is but he's in an official position he receives the money from
[00:20:21] Cyrus and Cyrus also returns the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the house of the Lord
[00:20:28] and you might remember that Bel Shazar in Daniel five had defiled these instruments but Cyrus
[00:20:37] respectfully gives them back to the people of Israel and this was the number of them verse
[00:20:43] nine thirty basins of gold one thousand basins of silver twenty nine sensors thirty bowls of gold
[00:20:49] four hundred and ten bowls of silver and one thousand other vessels all the vessels of gold and of silver
[00:20:55] were five thousand four hundred all these did Shesh Bazar bring up when the exiles were brought up
[00:21:03] from Babylonia to Jerusalem so he lists out specifically two thousand four hundred and ninety
[00:21:10] nine different vessels and then says and then you know there were others it was a grand total
[00:21:15] of five thousand four hundred valuable pieces that were committed into our hands now in chapter two
[00:21:23] verse one he says now these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of
[00:21:30] those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia they
[00:21:37] returned to Jerusalem and Judah each to his own town so they went back to the places
[00:21:42] that they were originally from and what you have now is this record of people not every one of the
[00:21:52] forty nine thousand plus people but the prominent leaders that family heads and all of that you
[00:21:58] have this record this list of who they are and sometimes we approach passages like this and we
[00:22:04] wonder you know my goodness why in the world does this have to be mentioned for us and I
[00:22:11] think there are various reasons that the original readers would have really needed to know this
[00:22:16] information but I think one benefit for us today is to understand that God is keeping track
[00:22:26] this was a treacherous journey that these people volunteered themselves for and you know it was
[00:22:34] exciting but it was very difficult they were really putting their lives on the line and isn't
[00:22:40] it good to know that the God of the universe keeps record of such actions in our lives so he says in
[00:22:49] verse two they came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Saraiah, Relyah, Mordecai, Bilshon,
[00:22:58] Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Beena and so you have here a list in verse two of the leaders
[00:23:06] and you know the first two are the most prominent that we'll hear about in the rest of the book of
[00:23:12] Ezra but also in the book of Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi as well Zerubbabel and Jeshua.
[00:23:24] Joshua was the high priest and Zerubbabel was the governor, the leader and so we'll learn a lot
[00:23:33] about these two men specifically Nehemiah is also listed not the same Nehemiah though that comes 90
[00:23:39] years later and leads them in rebuilding the city Mordecai is also mentioned and as well this isn't
[00:23:46] the Mordecai that we find in the book of Esther. The number of the men of the people of Israel
[00:23:52] is then listed in verse three he says the sons of Perosh 7172 the sons of Sheffataius 372 the sons of
[00:24:02] Ere 775 the sons of Pehath Moab namely the sons of Jeshua and Joab 2812 the sons of Elam 1254
[00:24:14] the sons of Zetou 945 the sons of Zechai 760 the sons of Bani 642 the sons of Bebi 623 the sons of
[00:24:24] Asgad 1222 the sons of Adon Naikim 666 the sons of Bigvai 2056 the sons of Adin 554 or excuse me
[00:24:38] 454 the sons of Aeter namely of Hezekiah 98 the sons of Bezai 323 the sons of Jorah 112 the sons of
[00:24:48] Hashem 223 the sons of Gibbar 95 the sons of Bethlehem 123 the men of Netafa 56 the men of Anathath 128
[00:25:01] the sons of Azmaveth 42 the sons of Kiryath Arim Chafira and Beiroth 743 the sons of Rehma and Gibba
[00:25:12] 621 the men of Micmas 122 the men of Bethel and Ai 223 so now we have less of family records and
[00:25:22] more of city and town records the sons of Nebo 52 the sons of Magbish 156 the sons of the other Elam
[00:25:32] 1254 the sons of Harim 320 the sons of Lod Hadid and Ono 725 the sons of Jericho 345 the sons of
[00:25:45] Sena 3630 and so you know I read all of these because you know my goodness if these were one of my
[00:25:55] relatives I would want this read because this is God you know keeping that kind of record but these
[00:26:03] are mostly towns that where you had different people living and then sons of various men descendants
[00:26:12] of different men who had towns named after them then in verse 36 you have the priests the sons of
[00:26:19] Jadiah of the house of Jeshua 973 the sons of Imr 1052 the sons of Pashura 1247 the sons of Harim
[00:26:29] 1017 and so the priesthood is also recorded they would need the priests obviously in the reviving
[00:26:37] of their temple worship then you have the Levites in verse 40 the sons of Jeshua and
[00:26:43] Cadmiel of the sons of Hodevaah 74 then you have the singers there for the temple the sons of Asaph
[00:26:50] 128 the sons of the gatekeepers the sons of Shalom the sons of Aeter the sons of Talmon the
[00:26:57] sons of Akkub the sons of Hatayda the sons of Shobai in all 139 so you have different roles
[00:27:05] there in the temple in verse 43 you have the temple servants the sons of Zihra the sons of
[00:27:11] Hasaph the sons of Taboeth the sons of Keros the sons of Sahaya the sons of Padoan Lebanon
[00:27:19] Haggaba Akkub Hagar Shema Shamlai Hainan Gidel Gehar Ria Resin Nicoda Ghazam Uza
[00:27:31] Pesia Besai Ezna Me'unim Nefesim Bakbuk Hakkufa Harhur Basluth Mehidah Harshah Barcos Cicera
[00:27:47] Tima Nizaya Hatifah Sotai Hasaforeth Peruda Ja'ela Darkone Gidel Sheffataya Hatil and the sons of
[00:27:59] Polkareth Hezbi'im and Amy and all the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were
[00:28:06] 392 verse 58 that's quite a mouthful now the following verse 59 were those who came up
[00:28:15] from Tel Melah Tel Harshah Cherub Adon and Imr and though they could not prove their father's houses
[00:28:22] or their descent whether they belonged to Israel the sons of Deliah the sons of Tobiah the sons of
[00:28:28] Nicoda 652 also the sons of the priests the sons of Habiah Hakkos the Barzali who had taken a wife
[00:28:36] from the daughters of Barzali the Gileadite was called by her by their name these sought their
[00:28:42] registration among those enrolled in the genealogies but they were not found there and so they were
[00:28:47] excluded from the priesthood as unclean the governor told them that they were not to partake
[00:28:53] of the most holy food and there until there could be a priest to consult the Urum and the
[00:28:57] Thummim so it was very important for everyone involved in the work of the temple to be able
[00:29:01] to prove their genealogy that was necessary and so these folks couldn't so they would wait now
[00:29:08] for a priest to consult with God basically on the matter the whole assembly together
[00:29:16] verse 64 was 42,360 besides their male and female servants of whom there were 7,337
[00:29:27] and they had 200 male and female singers and then he lists their livestock their horses were
[00:29:32] 7,336 their mules 245 their camels 435 their donkeys 6,720 some of the heads of the families
[00:29:41] when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem made free will offerings for
[00:29:45] the house of God to erect it on its site according to their ability they gave to the treasury
[00:29:51] of the work 61,000 derricks of gold 5000 minas of silver and 100 priests garments notice
[00:29:59] that these people not only did they sacrifice in going but they sacrificed their belongings
[00:30:04] now the priests the Levites some of the people the singers the gatekeepers and the temple
[00:30:09] servants lived in their towns and all the rest of Israel in their town so I read all of that
[00:30:15] because I wanted to honor these people but it's a list of people that represent 49,897
[00:30:22] people they estimate that there were two to three million Jews living in Babylon at this time
[00:30:28] and only 50,000 or less than 50,000 go back that's you know one in 40 to 60 people that went back to
[00:30:37] Babylon and took that opportunity and so I think the record of them is very important they even
[00:30:44] sacrificed their own belongings it reminds me of modern-day missionaries to be honest with you
[00:30:49] modern-day church planners people who roll at their sleeves and sacrifice greatly for the cause
[00:30:55] of Christ they are worthy of the honor of the church and our admiration and so these people
[00:31:04] dedicated unto the Lord if you want to see that temple worship restored you have got to have
[00:31:11] absolute dedication God bless you and amen thank you for listening for additional resources
[00:31:19] and teachings or to contact us please visit us at nateholdridge.com