Today’s passage: Ezra 6:13-22

Helpful thoughts:

• The temple is built and put into service.
• There have been many decrees given by the kings of Persia in this book, but the only one that really mattered in the end was the decree of God (Verse 14).
• If we read verse 21 carefully, we find that those who worshiped the Lord at Passover consisted of Jews who had returned from exile and other people who became worshipers of the Lord from amongst the peoples in the land.
  • Israel was always to have welcomed the stranger and the alien (Leviticus 19:33-34).
  • The Old covenant people were Israel…the New Covenant people are the Church.  This principle is to be applied by the church!
    • The Church must welcome in all those who would “join them and separate himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord.”

Questions to consider:

1. In the last couple of days, there have been direct applications concerning the Temple and God’s people and how that relates to the Church today.  What dangerous positions could arise from confusing the commands for Israel to a modern national government (For us, the United States) when they would be better understood as being applicable to the Church?
2. It would have been really hard to read through the Old Testament Law and get everyone on the same page as far as obedience and orderly worship after seventy years without Temple worship, so why were the people so joyful?  If this would have been hard, why so much joy?  What can we learn from that idea today?
3. Who gave joy to the people of Israel (Verse 22)?   Where does our joy still come from today (John 15:11)?

Today’s passage: Ezra 6:1-12

Helpful thoughts:

• By God’s sovereign grace, the King of Persia confirmed the Jews’ right to build the temple back up.
• More than that:  The King decreed the needed money to come not only from the Jews, but from all the people of the region (Even those who were in opposition).  The king even decreed that any interference with the reconstruction would be punishable by a humiliating death.
• With his decree, Darius was desiring to gain extra favor from another god (Verse 10, Though this was the One True God), the Samaritans received the opposite of what they’d hoped for (Instead of thwarting, now they had to help!), and the Jews were given approval and provision to build the temple of God.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways is God’s sovereignty put on display in today’s passage?  What happens to those who bless God’s people and to those who curse/dishonor them (Genesis 12:3)?
2. How can God’s power, promises, and protection encourage you to pursue righteousness today?  Is there a single human being or earthly institution who holds any power over our sovereign God?
3. Why wouldn’t it be right to try to apply this passage to a desire to build a house or a business today?  What has God promised to build today as His temple (1 Corinthians 3:9-17)?

Today’s passage: Ezra 5

Helpful thoughts:

• The Jews had been given a decree to build by Cyrus, and now with a new king in charge, and with the approval from the Lord (Who is sovereign over every king on earth), they began to build again.
• The nature of the building materials in mentioned in verse 8 because those materials were often used for defensive structures.  The letter is trying to invoke concern that the Jews were preparing to defend themselves, insinuating looming rebellion against Persia.
• In their letter of appeal, the Jews make it clear, they are the servants of the God of heaven and earth.  He is the King of kings.  If Darius were to decline this task, he would be countering the decree of Cyrus…and God Himself.

Questions to consider:

1. The Jews were free to rebuild once they had clear instruction from the word of God.  Where do we find instruction that is sufficient for our decisions and actions in life (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:3)?
2. The people must have known their obedience to God would bring about a negative reaction from the surrounding peoples and authorities.  How would they, and how can we, find strength and courage to please God and follow Christ when the world will certainly oppose (e.g. John 16:33, Acts 5:29, Philippians 3:13-14, Hebrews 12:1-2, Revelation 21:1-5)?
3. If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31-39)?  What has God called us to participate in building (Matthew 16:18, 2 Corinthians 5:16-20)?  What King has commissioned and commanded the work to be done (Matthew 28:18-20)?

Today’s passage: Ezra 4:7-24

Helpful thoughts:

• In today’s passage, local Samaritan leaders wrote an appeal to the king of Persia to stop the building of Jerusalem.  He granted their appeal and ordered the reconstruction to stop.
  • The basis of their appeal was to express loyalty to the king and to the Persian Empire.  Because, as they wrote, they desired the success of the king and had pledged to him their loyalty, they declared it was in all their interest to put a stop to this potential threat of revolt.
• These events are not recorded in historical order.  The events of chapter 5 happen before what we read today.  The writer is simply informing the reader of the ways in which “the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build.” (Verse 4)
• After this decree, the rebuilding effort would be halted for about sixteen years.

Questions to consider:

1. What were the deceptions and manipulations used to persuade in this letter?  What information and adulation did these men include in order to convince the king to put a stop to the Jews’ building?
2. What would be the differences between persuading someone to get them to do what you want and speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15)?  How would the words, the content, the goals, the benefactor, etc. change?
3. What might the people in Jerusalem have thought and felt after receiving this decree to stop building?  Had God changed His mind (Numbers 23:19)?  What was God building that was more important than walls and building?  How can this encourage us when we see any “set-backs” today (Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:28-30)?

Today’s passage: Ezra 4:1-6

Helpful thoughts:

• This offer from the adversaries was dishonest.
  • The adversaries desired to thwart or hijack their plans to build, not help them.
  • Any worship or sacrifices that had been made to God would have been done similarly to the northern kingdom of Israel (A redesigned version of God) and/or within the context of a hybrid Jewish/Gentile worship (2 Kings 17:26-34).
• In this passage we see early animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans (A people who descended from the Jews of the northern ten tribes and the invading Assyrians.  They were half-Jewish, half-Gentile and they mixed their religious beliefs and practices).
  • Since the Samaritans could not have the temple in Jerusalem, they later built their own at Mt. Gerizim (John 4:19-21).
• The returning Jews were committed to the purity of their worship and were authorized to push forward by the decree of Cyrus.  God had provided for them to carry on in the face of local opposition, which they would face for many years and under multiple rulers.

Questions to consider:

1. Why was it right for the returning Jews to refuse the offer of these adversaries?  How could we answer this question with the first three of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-7)?
2. What are some ways that the world’s religious or philosophies can get absorbed into or syncretized with Christianity today?  Even the religion of Humanism (The high view of self)?
3. Why must we and how can we guard the truth of the gospel and our worship of the Lord in our modern culture?  What is the gospel according to God’s Word?  How have people altered the message with the insertion of other unbiblical ideas?

Today’s passage: Ezra 3:8-13

Helpful thoughts:

• The foundation of the Temple has been laid!  The people are excited, the sons of Asaph are singing and making music again.  What a great day!
• But, not everyone was so thrilled.  Those who were younger didn’t have any memories to compare the new Temple with.
• This Temple was not going to be as wonderful as Solomon’s Temple.  And worse, God’s glory wasn’t there (1 Kings 8:10-11, Ezekiel 10:18).

Questions to consider:

1. Why would it make sense that some rejoiced while others wept on that day?  What was worth rejoicing over?  How did the occasion for rejoicing bring with it the pain of why there had to be a new Temple at all?
2. In what way could both responses have been appropriate before the Lord? (Psalm 51:17)
3. In the life of any church that has existed as long as ours, there will be people who feel the same way when they think of the past.  How are we to biblically evaluate the health of our church: past, present and future?  Whose heart and life must we evaluate first as we look to the present and the days ahead?

Today’s passage: Ezra 3:1-7

Helpful thoughts:

• Seventy years after the exile, the High Priest and the man who would have been king (Zerubbabel) led the people to worship the Lord again in Jerusalem.
• In the midst of their fear (Verse 3), they offered sacrifices for their sins.  (Acts 5:29)
• All that was needed to get started was the altar.  However, following the pattern of Solomon, the Jews sent money for skilled labors and materials from Sidon and Tyre (1 Kings 5).

Questions to consider:

1. Why were the people who opposed Israel in the land in the first place?  How did they get there?  Why had there been land to inhabit over the last seventy years?
2. What was the significance of beginning to offer sin offerings and being obedient to the Lord’s commands concerning sacrifices and festivals (Like the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles)?
3. What had the kings in Jerusalem been doing prior to their exile?  How were they evidencing repentance?

Today’s passage: Ezra 2

Helpful thoughts:

• We know that God moved in the hearts of His people to return them to the Promised Land.  Now we get to read who those people are.  (High-five for finishing that!)
  • Many in the genealogy are given by town as the people would settled into their ancestral towns once they returned.
• Zerubbabel is listed in the line of Christ in Matthew 1:12-13.  He was the heir to the throne, though he would never rule as king (Jeremiah 22:28-30).
• Jeshua/Joshua was in the High Priestly line.
  • How amazing that the Lord allowed these men to lead these Israelites back to the Promised Land!
• The Urim and Thummim were used by the High Priest to determine God’s will under the Old Covenant (Exodus 28:30, Numbers 27:21).  Those who could not prove their Israelite ancestry had to wait until the High Priest (Jeshua) could ask God if they were truly a part of the nation.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways is this return a cause for celebration?  In what ways does it remain a sad reminder of all they had lost?  Is Judah called a kingdom or something else in verse 1?  Who remained their earthly king?
2. How does the number in this voyage compare to their first journey to the Promised Land from Egypt? (See verse 64 along with Numbers 26:51 and note, these lists only include the men so there were more who came if you count the women and children.)
3. Why would it be wrong for them to find or lose confidence because of their numbers?  Who had brought them “home”?  Who was their protection?  Who’s heart had God moved to bring about His will (1:1)?  How can the presence of God encourage us to move forward in obedience today?  (Matthew 28:18-20)