Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 3-5.

As soon as the Returned Exiles got settled they arranged to build the altar to God in order to offer sacrifices upon it.  Once it was built they immediately started offering the sacrifices required by the Law of Moses.  At that point they began the process of laying the foundation, and rebuilding, the temple.   Reading today I think I finally understand the justification for the Returned Exiles rejecting the offer to help, actually almost a demand, in rebuilding the temple brought by those who had been living in the land during the Exile (particularly in the areas of the Northern Kingdom).  Those whose help the Returned Exiles rejected had not taken part in the ritual sacrifices required by the Law of Moses, yet now claimed to worship God.  In all of the time that these people had been living in the land, they had made no attempt to rebuild the temple, nor had they joined in the sacrifices and festivals which the Returned Exiles had restored.  When we keep in mind the attitude towards foreigners worshiping God which was expressed in the Chronicler’s account of Solomon’s dedication of the first temple we should see that the help was rejected because those offering wanted to co-opt the efforts of the Returned Exiles and assimilate them into their practices rather than join the faithful worship of God which the Returned Exiles were establishing.

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

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

The passage tells us that shortly after Cyrus had conquered Babylon he issued an order for the Temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem and giving the Exiled Israelites permission to return  to Jerusalem to build the Temple.  This is consistent with what we know from other records from the time: Cyrus was known to encourage those within his Empire to worship as they pleased and for those relocated by previous Empires to return to their home countries.  Also in his order, Cyrus encouraged those living near those Exiles who wished to return to Jerusalem to assist them financially.  It seems likely, both from the account here and other historical records we have of Cyrus, that he issued this order because he desired for God to be kindly disposed towards him.  As I understand the records, Cyrus was a true agnostic: “I don’t know if any of these gods exist, but, if they do, I wish for them to favor me over my enemies.”  Another way of putting what appears to have been Cyrus’ attitude: “I am better of behaving as if God is real when He is not, than behaving as if He is not real, when He is.”  I firmly believe that God will often guide those who take that attitude to Him to a better understanding of who He is.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 9-10.

When Ezra learned that many of the Returned Exiles had intermarried with the people living in the land, we need to interpret that in terms of yesterday’s passage.  Ezra’s response, and that of the rest of the people, was not about those of the Returned Exiles who married those in the land who chose to follow God’s Laws.  It was about those who married and allied with those who continued to worship idols and follow other practices contrary to God’s Law.  In addition to yesterday’s passage where it stated that everyone who separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors was welcomed to take part in the Passover, we have in today’s passage an indication that resolving who had violated this prohibition was not just a matter of looking at their wives’ parentage.  Rather, each case needed to be looked at on an individual basis.

There is another thing in this passage I want to look at.  When Ezra came forth and publicly prostrated himself before God because of those among the Returned Exiles who were joining themselves with idolaters, many of the people joined him.  This tells us that many people had been concerned about the problem, but no one was willing to step forward and do something about it.  I want to be fair here, it takes a special kind of person to mobilize a group to deal with this sort of problem.  The lesson we learn here is that we are not alone in being grieved by the sins which are damaging our society.  We should take heart from such knowledge.  We can also learn that many times it only takes one person willing to stand up to such things to bring about change.  When we see sin around us, let us prostrate ourselves before God and ask Him to show us what to do.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 6-8.

Throughout the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah there are repeated references to the Returned Exiles separating themselves from the people living in the land.  Those references seem to suggest that those who were not among the Returned Exiles were not welcome to worship the Lord.  However, today’s passage contains a phrase which one could easily miss, and even if you catch it, you could easily miss its significance.  While discussing the Passover which the Returned Exiles celebrated after rebuilding the Temple, chapter 6 verse 21 says this: “ So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel. ”  The words in bold in that quote tell us that while the Returned Exiles kept themselves separate from the culture of those living in the land, they allowed any of those who wished to fully embrace God’s Law to join them.  This little phrase, almost a throw away, changes how we should interpret all of the rest of the passages which discuss how the Returned Exiles interacted with those living in the land. Those who sought to find synergy between the idolatrous worship of the Gentiles were not welcome among the People of God, but any who chose to fully embrace God’s commands, no matter what their background, were welcome to join in.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezra 3-5.

As soon as the Returned Exiles got settled back in the land they began work on rebuilding the altar to the Lord in Jerusalem.  Then, when the altar was rebuilt they began making offerings upon it and began working on laying a foundation for the rebuilt Temple.  Once they had completed the foundation, they held a festival to praise the Lord for bringing them thus far.  All of the people were emotionally overcome by the moment, some weeping, some shouting in joy.  The noise was so loud that it was impossible to distinguish those who were weeping from those shouting in joy.  In a similar way, we should not be ashamed to allow our emotions to overwhelm us when we worship the Lord, especially when something positive happens.

I am always torn by the accounts here where the Returned Exiles rejected the request of those living in the land to assist them in rebuilding the Temple.  On the one hand, those who offered are identified as enemies of the Returned Exiles.  On the other hand, I believe that we should welcome all who wish to worship the Lord.  Perhaps if the Returned Exiles had allowed those living in the land to take part in rebuilding the Temple, they would not have become the enemies of the Returned Exiles.  Or, perhaps they would have acted to undermine the restoration of faithful worship of God.  The writer of this passage clearly believes that these people were not acting in good faith when they asked to take part in rebuilding the Temple.  All in all, this passage highlights the need to determine whether those who offer to help you serve God share your understanding of what serving God means.

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

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

Today’s passage shows us that when God moves, He moves all that is necessary to accomplish His goals. When He had sent the people of Judah into Exile, He had also promised to restore them once again.  When the time for that restoration came to pass, God caused Cyrus, King of the Persians, to order that they be allowed to return and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.  As part of his order, Cyrus instructed those among whom the people of Israel were living to provide assistance to those who wished to return to Judah.  We learn something about how the Exiles had lived in Exile by the fact that many of their neighbors contributed to the expenses they had in returning to Judah and Jerusalem.  Let us both contribute to those whom God has called to relocate to carry out His will and live so that our neighbors will be willing to aid us if He calls upon us to do so.

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

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezra 9-10.

We saw in yesterday’s passage how those living in the land who turned from the detestable practices common among their people and adopted true worship of God were welcome among the returned exiles.  In today’s passage we have an account of how many among the returned exiles had married women from among the people living in the land and adopted some of their practices.  While the passage focuses on the fact that they had married women from among those living in the land we can see that it was the fact that these women had not given up the pagan practices which was the problem.  In fact, I suspect that what brought this problem up was that many of the most prominent among the returned exiles had formed marriage alliances with the prominent among those living in the land and were corruptly serving the interests of their new families against the interests of the returned exile community.

When Ezra proposed that the people must separate themselves from the people of the land and the women from among them which many of them had married, the people agreed but said that it was more complicated than could be resolved while they were all gathered in Jerusalem.  So, it was decided that those who had married women who were not part of the returned exiles would meet with the elders of their villages to resolve things.  This tells us that this was not a blanket putting aside of wives from among the locals.  I read this as telling us that some of the women in these marriages had abandoned pagan worship and embraced the worship of God.  I conclude that the problem was not that they married women from outside their community.  Rather the problem was that they married women who did not share their faith, which led them to worship practices unacceptable to God.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezra 3-5.

The returned exiles almost immediately began rebuilding the the altar on the Temple Mount so that they could resume sacrifices and the worship which surrounded those.  Their next step was to rebuild the foundation of the Temple.  It has never been clear to me if those who had seen the original Temple were sad because the new foundation did not live up to their expectations, or because of the memories the new foundation brought back.  Nevertheless, all of those who saw the progress they had made praised God.  Perhaps this can provide inspiration for us as we rebuild our worship practices after this long lockdown.

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

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

I started out intending to focus on Cyrus, but noticed an interesting person I had never noticed before, Sheshbazzar.  He is only mentioned once in the Bible, although there is a Shenazzar listed in 1 Chronicles 3:18.  Shenazzar is a son of King Jehoiachin, who was taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar.  There are numerous variant spellings of Shenazzar in the manuscripts of 1 Chronicles, making it not unlikely that Sheshbazzar is another variation on that name.  While the New Living Translation translates the passage as saying that Sheshbazzar was the leader of the returning exiles, the literal translation says that he was the prince of Judah.  Sheshbazzar is not mentioned again after we are told that Cyrus gave him the items taken from the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar.  It seems entirely likely to me that Sheshbazzar was the son (or perhaps grandson) of Jehoiachin and thus the prince of Judah, but that he never joined the returning exiles.

Now on to Cyrus: Cyrus was never a worshiper of God, or, at least, if he was he also worshiped many other gods as well.  Nevertheless, God used Cyrus to bring about a restoration of His people.   It was Cyrus who issued the order which led to the rebuilding of the Temple and the reestablishment of God’s worship in Jerusalem.  We can learn a lot about what God views as a good political leader from what the Bible says about Cyrus.  The writers of the Bible viewed Cyrus as a true servant of God, even though they never viewed him as one of them, as one of the Believers.