Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 1-2.

When Cyrus issued his edict for Israelites to return to Jerusalem and restore the temple of God, most of the Jews who returned were able to provide records which indicated that they were indeed descended from someone who had lived in Israel before the Exile.  As I understand the passage, they were included among those considered Israelites by the returned Exiles, but were not allowed to act as priests (at least not at this time).  I find it interesting that the plan was for a priest to use the Urim and Thummim to inquire of God as to whether they should be included among the priests.  Which tells us that at this time they believed they would be able to reproduce the Urim and Thummim.  Yet today no one is quite sure what the Urim and Thummim looked like (there are some theories, but no actual descriptions from the time when they were in use).  In any case, what we need to note is that while they did not let these people take the role of priest, they did accept them as part of their fellowship.  They welcomed those who sought to be part of God’s people into God’s people.  And they planned for requesting guidance from God as to whether they should be acknowledged as priests.

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