Devotional writing from Ezra from The Message

Ezra

October 26, 2006

Ezra1: Who among you belongs to his people?

Nebuchadnezzar, it turns out, is the last strong king of Babylon and his defeat and destruction of Jerusalem comes near the end of his reign.  Before long a new world power rises to overcome Babylon.  Cyrus has united the Medes and the Persians, creating a powerful and ambitious kingdom.  While it is probably true that Babylon would have fallen under its own weight anyway, the Persians speed things up and dominate the entire region.  For the scattered people of Israel, it appears to simply be a change from one conqueror to another.  However, this fails to take the hand of the Almighty into account.  This new ruler doesn't have the emotional baggage toward these people that Nebuchadnezzar had.  This Babylonian king saw them as a stubborn and rebellious people.  Cyrus, on the other hand, wants their God to look on him favorably.  A series of events causes him to authorize the rebuilding of the Temple that was destroyed before he was ever born.  Because of that he offers these second and third generation exiles permission to return to Jerusalem for that purpose.  Many of the exiles are satisfied to stay where they were, after all this is the land of their birth.  However, some, possibly influenced by the writings in the Chronicles are willing to embark on this challenging adventure.  As I work through this material I am reminded that God is the God of History.  From generation to generation he continues to work.  People are born, live, and then die, passing from the pages of history.  However, God always "is."  There are countless individual stories to be told but through it all, there is just One God. 

October 28, 2006

Ezra 2: God is good…he'll never quit loving Israel!

Tens of thousands of people take Cyrus up on his offer for the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.  I imagine some are very disappointed when they arrive there.  The city is devastated.  It is more a pile of ruins than it is a city and the Temple simply exists no more.  This is no "fix up" project.  Instead, it is to be the construction of an entirely new building on the site of the old one.  None of these returning exiles realize what a difficult and decades-long project it will be.  Still, they get started and soon lay the foundation for the new Temple.  That, in their eyes is reason for celebration.  The religious leaders, who are already ministering in a temporary arraignment, plan the service and everyone attends.  The special song is, "God is good…he'll never quit loving Israel!"  There is more to this song than we might first think.  Around 60 years earlier their parents and grandparents had been taken from this land when God had had enough of their sinful rebellion.  Even as they sang this song they stand in the ruins of their holy city, something that had happened because of the express decree of God.  Now, as they gather to worship they sing of God's goodness and of his unfailing love to them.  Again, this is more than a random special song.  This is a declaration of faith.  They proclaim that God is, indeed, a good God who loves them and still wants to be in fellowship with them.  Such a declaration of faith in God's goodness is a powerful thing.  I wonder if my own faith is of the same quality as theirs.  Can I stand in the ruins of my dreams and sing of the goodness and love of God?  

October 30, 2006

Ezra 3: People couldn't distinguish the shouting from the weeping.

Joining the young adventurers in returning to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem were some who, as just children, had seen the Temple before its destruction.  These people had stories to tell of how their families had been uprooted from their beloved Jerusalem and taken to far off lands.  When the opportunity to return came they had bravely joined the expedition, relocating to the land of their birth.  It is likely that they, more than anyone else, had been broken hearted by the destruction they found there.  Such loss had to be an unbelievably heavy burden to bear.  As the foundation for the new Temple is being laid and the dedication celebration is taking place, the younger people shout in praise and excitement.  These people, however, begin to weep aloud.  Their weeping is a mixture of sadness and joy.  There is joy in the prospect of the place of worship being rebuilt, but there is also sadness in realizing just how much has been lost.  The rebuilding of the Temple means a return to God.  For the younger people, this is something new and thrilling, but they can not possibly comprehend the full depth of the moment.  It takes the senior adults; those who had been "around the block" a few times, to fully appreciate the power of that event.  As we see these white-haired people weeping aloud we are reminded of the depth that is provided in our churches and lives by the "senior saints."

October 31, 2006

Ezra 4: They even hired propagandists to sap their resolve.

Beyond the actual challenge of rebuilding the Temple among the ruins of Jerusalem is the presence of considerable opposition to the project.  People from distant lands had been exiled to the area in the same way that the people of Israel had been moved.  Now, the new residents (and I say "new" guardedly because they have been there over 60 years) view the presence and work of the Jews with suspicion and hostility.  At first these people offer to participate in the project, but it was almost certainly an offer made with ulterior motives.  When that fails, they go to work trying to stop the work.  At one point they even hire people to give their time to discouraging the builders and those "discouragers" pretty much succeed.  For 15 years the big project limps along and then, thanks to a carefully worded letter to the new king, the work is stopped altogether.  This incident is a good reminder that we should never deceive ourselves into thinking that because we are doing the right thing and giving sacrificially to the work of God that things are going to go smoothly.  For one thing there are some "professional propagandists" (some of them on the "inside" of things) who will do all they can to divert our attention away from that to which we are called.

November 1, 2006

Ezra 6: …you are to help the leaders of the Jews in the rebuilding of that Temple of God.

Orders to stop rebuilding the Temple brought the project to a halt for about 3 years.  In time, two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, began to urge the people to get back to work.  Now, the precise chronology of the letters and which king wrote what is a bit muddy, but that doesn't diminish the actual story here.  First, the king receives a letter that causes him to issue a stop order to the Jews who are rebuilding the Temple.  Then, upon the urging of the prophets, the work is started again.  The regional governor writes to the king to report what is happening, and, upon review, the king finds that years earlier they had not only been given permission to rebuild, but were ordered to do so.  He responds by directing the governor to allow the work to continue, and beyond that, to assist in any way he is asked to.  The temporary halt to the program actually results in the full support of the current king and speeds up the process.  Even though there is a bit of a mystery in these passages about who is king when there is a clear message that God is working even through what we see to be road blocks to our obedience to his will.  This is a very difficult lesson for us to learn, as we want green lights all the way before we even start.  It is hard to understand how God's "go" and on the ground circumstances that force a "stop" can be working together, but, sometimes, that is just how it is.

November 2, 2006

Ezra 7: Ezra had committed himself to studying the Revelation of God, to living it, and to teaching Israel to live its truths and ways.

Ezra doesn't make an appearance in the book of the Bible that bears his name until well into the second half of the book.  By the time he arrives in Jerusalem the Temple project is complete and worship activities have begun there.  This direct descendant of Aaron, the first priest of Israel, was as much historian as he was priest.  In spite of his being born in a land far from Jerusalem, he had early on committed himself to the study of God's Word.  Because of this he is known as both priest and scholar.  This is what makes him so valuable to the returned exiles.  They have a Temple, now they need a spiritual leader to help them truly be a people of God.  The verse quoted is a preacher's dream!  There are three obvious points and each provides lots of preaching material.  First, Ezra has committed himself to studying God's Word.  Second, beyond studying it, he personally lives it.  Third, he has a burning desire to teach God's ways to others.   It is when he was given the opportunity to do the third goal of his life that Ezra travels to Jerusalem to be the leader and teacher of God's people there.

November 6, 2006

Ezra 8: I proclaimed a fast there beside the Ahava Canal.

Ezra tells us his own story starting in the middle of chapter 7.  His desire to join the returned exiles in Jerusalem is infectious.  Several Jewish families are ready to join him in this great adventure.  Beyond that, Artaxerxes the king becomes excited about the project and gives Ezra all the support needed for him to go to Jerusalem, to rule there, and to oversee the worship of Jehovah God there.  Even people who aren't relocating to Jerusalem make generous donations.  Ezra puts out word that the great caravan will be formed at the Ahava Canal and people begin to gather.  At first a few, then more, and then a great flood of people come, all with their families and their belongings.  Suddenly Ezra realizes what an undertaking this is.  In some ways he is like Moses about to lead the people to the Promised Land.  They have hundreds of miles to travel across sometimes desolate and lawless territory.  He knows he ought to ask for a military escort, but can't bring himself to do that because he has told Artaxerxes how God's hand is on his people and how God blesses and protects those who serve him.  At this point Ezra decides he must believe his own theology.  Instead of calling for soldiers he calls for a fast.  Before beginning this possibly perilous journey, they will call on the Name of the Lord asking for his guidance and protection.  I think that not only was the king impressed by Ezra's trust in the Lord, I think that God was pleased too.  Decades earlier the ancestors of these exiles had turned to military alliances with Egypt and other nations when faced with great danger.  Ezra gets this enterprise started on the right foot: he calls on God.

November 8, 2006

Ezra 9: My dear God, I'm so totally ashamed, I can't bear to face you.

Ezra and his large caravan of returning exiles is very welcome in Jerusalem.  However, it is not long before he learns that there is a big problem.  The Jews already in the area have intermingled with the other peoples of the area to the point of intermarrying.  This is a clear violation of the Law of God and Ezra is devastated.  He came to Jerusalem to teach people, who he believed wanted to learn, how to worship God.  In his mind they were already the "people of God" but he came to teach them how to live as the people of God.  Now he finds that they have broken the covenant with God in a very basic way by allowing themselves to be absorbed by the cultures around them.  Ezra mourns this situation and then begins to pray.  Here's the thing: his prayer is not for "them" as much as it is for "us."  Their sin, in his eyes is shared by all of their people and his prayer is a cooperate prayer.  How often to we pray that way?  We pray about "those" bad people who are attacking and tearing down moral values in our society and we pray that we might be protected from "those" evil people who would do us harm.  There is a time and a place for such prayers, but, taking our cue from Ezra, there is also a place for cooperate confession.  Ezra hadn't married a heathen woman, yet he came to God "totally ashamed" over those who had.  He told the Lord, "We have thrown your commands to the wind" and confessed that "we" are "openly guilty."  As he prayed this prayer of confession others began to weep and repent – others who had actually done the sinning!  Here, I think, is the power of genuine intercession.  Ezra identified himself with their sin and then, they identified themselves with his repentance.

November 9, 2006

Ezra 10: Now get up, Ezra.  Take charge – we're behind you.

The response to Ezra's prayer of confession is nothing less than transformational.  Even as he cries out to God in his brokenness, God speaks to the hearts of those who have been in charge as things among the Jews in Jerusalem unraveled.  They humbly come to Ezra confessing their sins but also confessing their faith that "all is not lost" and that there is "still hope for Israel."  Now, all they ask is for Ezra to take charge and help them find their way back to God.  That is just what Ezra does, and the short book that bears his name is concluded with the route to restoration he lays out.  Ezra's broken heart over the sins of the people, including his willingness to embrace their sin as his own, is an incomplete story without this.  For me to convince people of their sin and to even join them in confessing that sin as "ours" is a wonderful start.  Still, most people need help in moving from repentance to restoration.  To assume this role is a great privilege and responsibility.