EZRA 1-5 OBSERVATIONS

CHAPTER 1

Cyrus’ Proclamation—THE FIRST WAVE OF RETURNING EXILES

· Cyrus’ proclamation

· 1^st year of Cyrus’ reign (king of Persia)

· Ezra 1:1 (NASB) ¹Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,

· OBSERVE: it was the LORD who stirred up the spirit of Cyrus (CAL)

· OBSERVE: this fulfilled God’s proclamation through Jeremiah.

· The Proclamation:
Ezra 1:2 - 4 (NASB) ²“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ³‘Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴‘Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

· Proclamation is for Jews to voluntarily contribute to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

Holy Vessels Restored

· Heads of Judah and Benjamin, Levites and Priests, plus Ezra 1:5 (NASB) ⁵… even everyone whose spirit God had stirred (CAL) to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.”

· Sheshbazzar, prince of Judah, carried all the silver, gold and articles that Nebuchadnezzar had carried from the temple to Babylon.

CHAPTER 2

Number of those Returning

· Ezra 2:2 (NASB) ²These came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

· Ezra 2:3 - 35 (NASB) ³the sons of Parosh, 2,172;

· ⁴the sons of Shephatiah, 372;

· ⁵the sons of Arah, 775;

· ⁶the sons of Pahath-moab of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812; ⁷the sons of Elam, 1,254;

· ⁸the sons of Zattu, 945;

· ⁹the sons of Zaccai, 760;

· ¹⁰the sons of Bani, 642;

· ¹¹the sons of Bebai, 623;

· ¹²the sons of Azgad, 1,222;

· ¹³the sons of Adonikam, 666;

· ¹⁴the sons of Bigvai, 2,056;

· ¹⁵the sons of Adin, 454;

· ¹⁶the sons of Ater of Hezekiah, 98;

· ¹⁷the sons of Bezai, 323;

· ¹⁸the sons of Jorah, 112;

· ¹⁹the sons of Hashum, 223;

· ²⁰the sons of Gibbar, 95;

· ²¹the men of Bethlehem, 123;

· ²²the men of Netophah, 56;

· ²³the men of Anathoth, 128;

· ²⁴the sons of Azmaveth, 42;

· ²⁵the sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah and Beeroth, 743;

· ²⁶the sons of Ramah and Geba, 621;

· ²⁷the men of Michmas, 122;

· ²⁸the men of Bethel and Ai, 223;

· ²⁹the sons of Nebo, 52;

· ³⁰the sons of Magbish, 156;

· ³¹the sons of the other Elam, 1,254;

· ³²the sons of Harim, 320;

· ³³the sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono, 725;

· ³⁴the men of Jericho, 345;

· ³⁵the sons of Senaah, 3,630.

· All told the sum of all sons returning with Ezra was 21109.

· If you assume each of these was married and had at least 2 kids, there would be 139524 people returning in this wave.

· QUESTION: Why is it OK for Zerubbabel to count all these coming back with him and it was a sin for David to count the people during his reign?

Priests Returning

·
Ezra 2:36 - 39 (NASB) ³⁶The priests: the sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973;

· ³⁷the sons of Immer, 1,052;

· ³⁸the sons of Pashhur, 1,247;

· ³⁹the sons of Harim, 1,017.

· TOTAL 4289

Levites Returning

· Ezra 2:40 - 60 (NASB) ⁴⁰The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah, 74.

· ⁴¹The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128.

· ⁴²The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, in all 139.

· ⁴³The temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, ⁴⁵the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, ⁴⁶the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shalmai, the sons of Hanan, ⁴⁷the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah, ⁴⁸the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam, ⁴⁹the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai, ⁵⁰the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephisim, ⁵¹the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵²the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, ⁵³the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, ⁵⁴the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha. ⁵⁵The sons of Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda, ⁵⁶the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, ⁵⁷the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Ami. ⁵⁸All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon’s servants were 392.

· ⁵⁹Now these are those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan and Immer, but they were not able to give evidence of their fathers’ households and their descendants, whether they were of Israel: ⁶⁰the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 652.

· TOTAL: 5674 sons

Priests Removed

· Some of the Priests could not trace their geneology…
Ezra 2:61 - 63 (NASB) ⁶¹Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name. ⁶²These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. ⁶³The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim.

· TOTALS

o Ezra 2:64 - 67 (NASB) ⁶⁴The whole assembly numbered 42,360, ⁶⁵besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and they had 200 singing men and women. ⁶⁶Their horses were 736; their mules, 245; ⁶⁷their camels, 435; their donkeys, 6,720.

CHAPTER 3

Altar and Sacrifices Restored

· Zerubbabel lead rebuilding of the temple.’

· 1^st year of their return, 7^th month, they built the altar so they could begin offering the sacrifices.

· They started with the Feast of Booths

· They were afraid of the people around them.

· Although they got the altars set up, they did not get the foundation of the temple laid.

Temple Restoration Begun

· 2^nd year, 2^nd month

· Zerubbabel began the work of the house of the Lord

· Along with the workers were the musicians, singing while they were working.

· Many of the old timers cried when the saw the foundation laid

CHAPTER 4

Adversaries Hinder the Work of Rebuilding the Temple

· Enemies heard they were building the temple…so they devised a devious plan:

· Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God, and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria

o NOTE: Wasn’t this what Israel was supposed to be doing already? Didn’t God want them to be a light to the gentiles? Here was an opportunity…BUT Zerubbabel wisely saw through this façade…and didn’t get caught in this trap/

· Zerubbable’s response:

o Ezra 4:3 (NASB) ³But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”

· The enemies then discourage, frighten the people of Judah and begin to hire counselors against them to frustrate their counsel .. from the days of Cyrus until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

· PRAYER: God give me discernment to know who the enemies are of you and my family. Help me to be able to confront those enemies with the same focus and single mindedness of Zerubbabel.

· They then continued by writing a letter in the reign of Ahasuerus against the people of Judah at the beginning of his reign.

· Letter written in Aramaic

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

· Ezra 4:11 - 16 (NASB) ¹¹this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him:

· “To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men in the region beyond the River, and now ¹²let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city and are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. ¹³“Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are finished, they will not pay tribute, custom or toll, and it will damage the revenue of the kings. ¹⁴“Now because we are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king, ¹⁵so that a search may be made in the record books of your fathers. And you will discover in the record books and learn that that city is a rebellious city and damaging to kings and provinces, and that they have incited revolt within it in past days; therefore that city was laid waste. ¹⁶“We inform the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls finished, as a result you will have no possession in the province beyond the River.”

o QUESTIONS & COMMENTS: Was this letter true? Were the people of Judah rebellious and evil? Well they were rebellious against God. Were they evil? Yes, there were kings (except for 8 of them) who were evil. Had they incited riots? No evidence of that. Was that why the city was laid waste? NO!! It was because they had rejected God. Were these enemies really concerned about the king’s reputation and future? Only in so far as it impacted their reputation and future.

The King’s Reply and Work Stoppage

· Q. Did the king believe these enemies?

· A. Yes: He did the search and apparently found out that in fact the city was rebellious against kings in past days. Also that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it. Further, those mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem. And that taxes and tribute were paid to them.

· SO he issued the following decree:

o Ezra 4:21 - 22 (NASB) ²¹“So, now issue a decree to make these men stop work, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. ²²“Beware of being negligent in carrying out this matter; why should damage increase to the detriment of the kings?”

· Well these enemies of Judah had just what they wanted…a letter from the king.

· They left in haste and came back to Jerusalem with the letter and using force of arms, stopped the work

· This work on the house of God was stopped until the 2^nd year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

· Ezra 4:24 (NASB) ²⁴Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

· NOTE: work was stopped UNTIL the second year of Darius’ reign.

CHAPTER 5

Temple Work Resumed

· Prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied to and supported the Jews in Judah in the name of God…arise and begin to rebuild the house of God

· Their enemies again come and question them why they are rebuilding? And who issued a decree that they should start rebuilding?

· Zerubbabel gave them the names of the men doing the rebuilding…and the enemies let them continue until they could get a letter to Darius and a response back.

Adversaries Write to Darius

· The letter to Darius:

o Ezra 5:7 - 15 (NASB) ⁷They sent a report to him in which it was written thus: “To Darius the king, all peace. ⁸“Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God(at least they recognized the God of the Jews was “great” even if the Jews didn’t) , which is being built with huge stones, and beams are being laid in the walls; and this work is going on with great care and is succeeding in their hands. (Again, note they observed that the work was succeeding…although they wouldn’t give God the credit) ⁹“Then we asked those elders and said to them thus, ‘Who issued you a decree to rebuild this temple and to finish this structure?’ ¹⁰“We also asked them their names (true, and Zerubbabel gave them the names) so as to inform you, and that we might write down the names of the men who were at their head. ¹¹“Thus they answered us, saying, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth (finally they are being the witness and light to the Gentiles that God had originally planned them to be) and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel (yes!! David planned and Solomon built) built and finished. ¹²‘But because our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon. (So now the truth comes out…it wasn’t rebellion against other kings…it was rebellion against God…this is called “confession”) ¹³‘However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree (so in fact there was a decree and we are operating under that decree) to rebuild this house of God. ¹⁴‘Also the gold and silver utensils of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, and brought them to the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took from the temple of Babylon and they were given to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor. (Now they are starting to correct the mistaken history lesson that had previously been allowed to ‘carry the day’) ¹⁵‘He said to him, “Take these utensils, go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem and let the house of God be rebuilt in its place.” (This now explains why they have these items…this is verification of the facts of history they have just corrected.)

o So king, you do a search in Babylon and look for the decree by Cyrus to rebuild this house of God…and let the king send us his decision.