Ezra, Nehemiah

     Soon after taking over the throne of Persia, Cyrus issues a proclamation allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.  In the order he even declares who is actually in charge of everything.
     "The Lord, the God of heaven," he says in Ezra 1:2-4, "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.
     "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.
     "And 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."
     Encouraged by the king's decree, a group gathers gold, silver, cattle and other valuables in preparation for the return.  Cyrus also directs that the utensils taken from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar be sent back with the returning exiles.
     Zerubbabel heads up the group which numbers over 42,000, plus more than 7,000 servants.  When they arrive in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel and the priest Jeshua set up the altar and begin offering burnt offerings.  Materials are gathered and arrangements are made with the craftsmen, and construction on the temple begins in the second year.  When the foundation is laid the old men who had seen the first temple weep while others shout for joy.
     It is not long, however, before enemies from the surrounding area begin to work against the reconstruction.  They quickly frighten the people and discourage them from working.  At the same time they hire counselors to work in the court of the king to disrupt the project.  They finally succeed in obtaining from the king an order to stop the building.
     The excuse given is that the Israelites are a rebellious and evil people.
     "Now let it be know to the king," the enemies complain in Ezra 4:13-14, "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 king.
     "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."
     The king orders a search of official records and learns that Jerusalem has indeed rebelled against foreign kings in the past.  The enemies eagerly rush to Jerusalem with the order to halt the work.
     It is during this time that the prophets Haggai and Zechariah encourage the people to complete what they have started.  The government officials are quick to intervene when work resumes.
     "Who issued you a decree to rebuild this temple and to finish this structure?" they demand in Ezra 5:3.
     But, with the help of God, reconstruction is not halted while they wait for official word from the new king.
     A letter is written to Darius explaining the situation.  He orders a search of the archives and uncovers the decree from Cyrus to rebuild the temple.  Darius commands that this decree be carried out, including the return of the gold and silver utensils taken from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar.  The cost of the reconstruction is to be paid from the royal treasury.
     "Now therefore," Darius adds beginning in Ezra 6:6, "Tattenai, governor of the province beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues, the officials of the provinces beyond the River, keep away from there.
     "Leave this work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.
     "Moreover, I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of this house of God: the full cost is to be paid to these people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the River, and that without delay."
     Darius also orders that animals be provided for sacrifices.  Then he explains the punishment for those who violate his instructions.
     "And I issued a decree that any man who violates this edict," he says in verse 11, "a timber shall be drawn from his house and he shall be impaled on it and his house shall be made a refuse heap on account of this."
     "And may the God who has caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who attempts to change it so as to destroy the house of God in Jerusalem," he adds.  "I, Darius, have issued this decree, let it be carried out with all diligence."
     Understandably, there are no more delays and the work is completed in the sixth year of the reign of Darius.

     After the rebuilding of the temple, King Artaxerxes sends Ezra to help in reestablishing the worship system.  Remember that Artaxerxes is the son of Xerxes, or Ahasuerus, the husband of Esther.
     Ezra, a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, is a decendant of the high priest Aaron.  He carries with him an order from Artaxerxes providing necessary supplies.  The king also states that the priests are not to be taxed.  The group returning with Ezra carry the gold, silver and polished bronze utensils to help finance operation of the temple.
     At about the same time, Nehemiah is serving in the Persian capitol of Susa as a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes.  He receives word from Jerusalem that the people there are in distress and that the walls are broken down and the gates are lacking.
     Nehemiah fasts and weeps for days, praying that God will forgive the sins of his people and will help him in discussing the situation with the king.
     The cupbearer has been cautious to not be sad in the presence of the king, but Artaxerxes knows that something is wrong.
     "Why is your face sad though you are not sick?" the king asks in Nehemiah 2:2.  "This is nothing but sadness of heart."
     Nehemiah explains the condition of Jerusalem to Artaxerxes.  "What would you request?" the king replies.
     The cupbearer prays, and then he asks that he be allowed to go to Jerusalem to direct the rebuilding of the city.  Nehemiah is given permission to go and to obtain from the king's forest timber for the gates, wall and houses.
     Officials of neighboring nations are not pleased about Nehemiah's arrival and his support from the king.  In order to not arouse opposition from the enemies, Nehemiah goes at night to survey the ruined city with a small group of men.  As soon as the enemies learn about the plan to rebuild the city, they begin to mock and ridicule the Israelites.  The gates and sections of the wall are assigned to various families, though, and work progresses.
     The enemies become furious and increase their efforts to ridicule the reconstruction.
     "Even what they are building," one enemy says in Nehemiah 4:3, "if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!"
     Obviously they do not believe what they themselves are saying, so the discouragement takes another form.
     "They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them, and put a stop to the work," verse 11 quotes them as saying.
     From that day on half the people work while the other half hold the weapons, but the enemies never have the courage to attack.  The wall is completed within 52 days.
     Attention is turned then to eliminating violations of God's law and reorganizing the temple worship.  Ezra reads the law to the people and they confess their sins to God.
     The temple and the city are rebuilt at last.  Let's go back for a moment, though, to the beginning; to the time when a group arrives with Zerubabbel to rebuild the temple.  In Ezra chapter four a group of local inhabitants hears about the project and approaches the leader.
     "Let us build with you," they ask in verse two, "for we like you seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esar-hadden king of Assyria, who brought us up here."
     This sounds like a reasonable request, doesn't it?  They want to work together to rebuild the temple.  This sounds a lot like modern efforts made in a so-called "ecumenical" spirit.
     "You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God;" the Israelite leaders reply, "but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us."
     Why do the Israelites react this way?  Don't they want to be "ecumenical"?  To understand the situation we must go back to 2 Kings chapter 17 and the time when the Israelites are first carried into captivity.
     As is their custom, the Assyrians move people from other lands to occupy the conquered territory.  These people soon run into problems, and they request for priests to teach them the religion of that area.  They believe that each nation has its own god with power over that region.  But they are not satisfied to do God's will in God's way.  They mix worship of God with their own religions.
     "They feared the Lord and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile," verse 33 observes.
     But is it possible, as the people who approach Zerubabbel claim, to serve God and at the same time follow practices that are contrary to His will?  The text in Ezra identifies them as "enemies."  And the passage in 2 Kings agrees.
     "To this day they do according to the earlier customs:" verse 34 explains, "they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the Lord commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel."
     The Scripture goes on to explain that God does not allow us to follow Him and also pursue false religious practices.  With Him it is all or nothing.
     We cannot do both.  We may choose to follow paths that He has not given, or we may follow the truth and be set free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)