January 14, 2024
From The Series: When
God Rebuilds…
Part 3-God Moves
People
Ezra 1:5-11
Mountain View
Evangelical Missionary Church
This
morning we are going to continue our series titled: When God Rebuilds… and we
will be looking for parallels in the story of the rebuilding of the Temple and
the walls and city of Jerusalem and the rebuilding stage we seem to find
ourselves in as a church here at Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church.
These biblical
events all occurred after the Lord used the Babylonians to punish the Kingdoms
of Israel and Judah and exile the people of Yahweh for 70 years. So far, we
have been introduced to the biblical and historical figures of the prophets of
Israel and Judah, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, and the conquering King
of Persia Cyrus. In preparing for this sermon, it almost felt like writing a
history paper.
We read
in chapters 44 and 45 of the Book of Isaiah, how the prophet Isaiah foretold
that Cyrus would end the period of punishment from Yahweh 200 years before
Cyrus was born. When you are sitting and reading your Bible at home it is easy
to lose track of the amount of time that transpires between when these
prophesies are given and when the events occur in history. We saw last week
that the period of time between Isaiah predicting Cyrus and the Decree of Cyrus
occurring was 200 years.
This
morning we will be introduced to some new historical figures that figure in
this pericope: the leaders of the families that returned initially and a man
named Sheshbazzar, who is referred to as a “prince of Judah”.
Please,
open with me your Bibles to the Book of Ezra and chapter one. If you have an electronic
Bible, then please follow along on your devices, or if you forgot to bring your
Bible with you this morning, there should be a Pew Bible underneath the seats
in the chairs of the row in front of you. Turn to page 374 in the Pew Bible and
follow along as I read God’s Word this morning.
For a
bit of context, I’m going to back up and read from the beginning of the chapter,
then we will delve deeper into verses 5 to 11.
READ Ezra 1:1-11
PRAY
This
morning I hope to show from the text the three main points as outlined in the
centre of your bulletin. 1) The Bible is also history. 2) God was at work
through everyone’s heart whom God moved. 3) God’s Hand was on all of this.
So, the
events that we just read are known historically in biblical circles as the
first return of the exiles. Yahweh’s people did not all return in one large
rush to the promised land. There were many waves of people returning to the
land, as the political and religious organizations took root, and the
infrastructures were rebuilt.
Among
the first wave to return there would not have been many of the elites or ruling
class. What would have come first was the working class. Those used to living
in slightly harsher conditions. Those used to living without a lot of luxuries,
those who were self-reliant. Not a lot of merchant-class or academics came in
the first wave. They needed blue-collar types to do the work of the rebuilding.
As
important as the Temple and the wall were to the Jewish people, more practical
things needed to be in place first, like sources of water, as well as things
like garbage and rubble cleared from the streets. The infrastructure was needed
before the masses could return. As usual, God chose to work through a faithful
remnant.
But
first, let’s back up and look at some visual clues here to understand the
regions and empires that we have been talking about and get a sense of the scale
of what we are talking about.
Here is
a map of the Persian Empire also known as the Medo-Persian Empire. This is the
land that Cyrus the Great controlled in the time of the Books of Ezra and
Nehemiah and the first return of the exiles, the verses we just finished
reading.
I
really want us to see, that what we are reading were actual people and
historical events. These are not, as atheists and biblical deniers would have
you believe, just stories or myths that have been collected throughout the
years.
You can
see from this present-day map that the range of the Medo-Persian Empire was
vast. It went east to the Indus River which forms the northwestern border of
India. North through the present-day countries of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and
Georgia. Moving westward, it covered today’s countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and
Turkey, all the way to the eastern border of Greece. Crossing southward over the Mediterranean Sea
we pick up the countries of Israel and Jordan. Moving towards the west we
absorb portions of Saudia Arabia and Egypt. The area between the Persian Gulf
and the Red Sea was/is primarily made up of the Arabian Desert, a harsh and
largely uninhabitable terrain.
Here is the ancient map once more. Now keep in mind that all this territory was not only captured but maintained with bronze-age weapons and technology. Horses, chariots, camels, donkeys, and walking were the primary means of moving around. Bows, arrows, spears, and shields were the primary weapons. Siege towers, ramps, and catapults were used to take fortified cities. Warfare was often brutal and up close and personal.
Maintaining
an empire this vast was a challenge. Communication would have been by couriers
either on horseback or foot when moving over rocky terrain. Look at the
distance that Jerusalem is from the cities of Babylon and Susa. Some exiles
returning traveled over 1,000 miles.
Here,
look at this map, where the routes of the returning exiles are highlighted. We
have zoomed in a little on the previous ancient map and we are looking at the
region of the capital cities. We see here the capitals of three different
empires. Right in the middle of the map is the Assyrian capital of Assur. By
following the blue line, we can see the route where many of the captives were
distributed while in captivity under the Assyrian King Shalmaneser when he conquered
the northern Kingdom of Israel. These events are described in 2 Kings chapters
17 & 18.
The
green line represents some of the captives being permitted to return to their
homes in the area known as Samaria and they were encouraged to intermarry,
which was forbidden by Yahweh for His people to do. These half-breeds of Jewish
descent became known as the Samaritans. This will become significant when we
get to chapter 4 of Ezra, and it was also important in the days of Jesus. These
events are described in 2 Kings 17:24-31.
The red
line is the removal of the Jews from the southern Kingdom of Judah under the
Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Many of which ended up in the capital city of
Babylon. This is recorded in 2 Kings 24 in verses 12 and following and the Book
of Daniel.
The yellow line is the route of the return of
the exiles under the rule of the Persian King Cyrus the Great and led, as we
will soon see, by the governor Sheshbazzar and would be replaced by Zerubbabel as
found in Ezra chapters 1-6.
I hope
these maps and explanations help cement this in your minds. I will include them
in the copy of today’s lesson on my blog. A lot of these events are also recorded
outside the Bible or what is known as extra-biblical sources. What we will be
studying today is also recorded in the book “Antiquities of the Jews” by the historian
Josephus in book eleven starting in the first sentence and following.
This
should lead us to our first point: the Bible is also history. Historic fact. We
should take great comfort in this. It shows that the Bible is trustworthy. Since
we can trust the Bible in these verifiable things, it lays the foundation for
us to trust in the things that are not so easy to prove. It's not just the historical
facts that allow us to grow in our faith, it is also the realization of the
fulfillment of the myriad of prophecies given by the LORD God, and then we read
later how God oversaw the completion of what He instructed men to say.
Does
that mean that we must verify everything that the Bible says through history
books before we believe it? No, of course not. Just like we cannot use the
scientific method to prove everything in the Bible, history will not prove
everything in the Bible. We can use the historical record to act as a dependable
foundation on which we can build our faith.
Okay,
let’s dig into today’s text a little deeper and see what gems the Lord has for
us today.
EZRA 1:5
“5 Then
the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone
whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.”
Before we begin, I want to
address one key issue here that is easy to overlook. The NIV translates this
phrase as, “Whose heart God moved” but the ESV uses a phrase that I think is
closer to the original Hebrew, and that word is “stirred”. In the original
language, the word is very similar to another root word which means to “open
one’s eyes”. I think this is very insightful into how God works in the lives of
people.
I think we can all agree that
the extremes of the Calvinistic/free-will debate can be thrown out. I hope we
can all agree that the teachings of the hyper-Calvinists that present God as a tyrant;
and man as nothing more than a meat puppet being controlled by God as incorrect
teachings.
The same can be said of those who
hold the extreme view that man has an indomitable will that God cannot violate
or control. Verses such as these seem to prove that notion as being false also.
So, if the extremes are both false, as extremes often are, then the truth must
lie somewhere in the middle. An area where man has some control over his life
and where God is moving all the pieces in such a way so as to have His Will
carried out.
I think this verse sheds some
light on the method that God uses to accomplish His will. Most times, God is
working in subtle ways, stirring things, and opening eyes to what God wishes to
have accomplished. We see the Hand of God in all of this.
Here is an illustration, did you
ever play with a paper boat or a toy boat, or maybe even just a flat piece of
wood in a puddle of water or the bathtub? When you wanted to move the boat
through the water, which was a better way to accomplish that? If you pushed too
hard or made the waves too large, you ran the risk of sinking the boat or
losing control of it, or having it go somewhere that you did not desire for it
to go.
But, if you stirred the water,
you could move things along in a more controlled fashion without the risk of
capsizing the boat. This is an incomplete illustration of how God works, as are
all illustrations that attempt to explain such a complex being as God the
Father and how He works. But you get the idea.
I think this is an interesting
concept for us to consider. Sometimes God indeed moves in extreme fashions to
get our attention. 70 years of Babylonian captivity is pretty extreme. But
Scripture tells us that at other times, and I would dare say, most of the time,
God uses more subtle means, a stirring of the waters, an opening of the eyes to
accomplish His goals through the workings of His creation. Ponder in that for a
bit.
We see in Ezra that the first responders to the
decree issued by Cyrus were leaders from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
Before the exile of 586 BC these two tribes constituted the Southern Kingdom.
In chapters 14 to 19 of the Book of Joshua, we see the allotting of the lands
of the Promised Land to each of the twelve Tribes of Israel. Judah’s allotment and description of his tribe
is detailed in chapter 15 and the allotment for the tribe of Benjamin is
described in chapter 18 of Joshua.
To
these peoples belonged the promises of God. Yet as the numbers in Chapter 2
make clear, not many chose to return. We will examine that next week. In fact,
it seems likely that more stayed back. Ezra deliberately mentions that priests
and Levites were among a second group who also responded.
Without these spiritual leaders in particular, the
renewal process would not have been possible. The workers and the true believers were to
respond first. Have you ever noticed that about people? You will often have a
group who are first to jump in and get to work. Some are quick to roll up their
sleeves and get to work, while others will sit back and have to be asked to
join and participate.
The
rebuilding process needs both types of individuals working together. The
important thing to keep in mind is that God expects us to respond to His call
when it is made on us. What we see here in this verse is that only a remnant of
a remnant responded initially. And not all at once. We saw last week how the
Bible has the gift of understatement and can compress hundreds of years in just
a few short words or verses. The same applies here. The return of the people
mentioned here and listed in Chapter 2 occurred over several years.
These responders, however, are not limited to the
leaders from the Judean community. The text in verse 5 summarizes all
responders, a broad group consisting of “everyone whose heart God had moved.”
The term “everyone” expresses totality. It includes those already mentioned in the
first part of verse 5, but also those who will be mentioned in the next two
verses. “All their neighbors” and even Cyrus are mentioned as having been
“moved” by the LORD. In this summary statement, the author explicitly tells the
reader that those responding were doing so because of divine activity. Because
of Yahweh’s activity working on their hearts. The same Hebrew verb used of
Cyrus in verse one is used here of these people. These passages make it clear
who is responsible for these actions. It is God who is moving things along.
Look at what verse 6 has to tell us, “6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of
silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition
to all the freewill offerings.” Here we see who another group of
responders were “all their neighbors.” The commentators agree that this help
was not limited to coming from just their fellow Israelites. “All their neighbors assisted them.” Is an
inclusive term that includes their Gentile neighbors.
In this verse, we see an echoing of the events that
occurred during the Exodus. Turn with me to Exodus 3:21-22 and let’s remind
ourselves of what that says. Exodus 3:21 is found on page 46 of the Pew Bible.
READ EXDODUS 3:21-22
God moved the Gentile neighbors, the Egyptians, to
provide all that His people would need to not just support them during their
wandering years, but these were the building materials needed to assemble the
Tabernacle after receiving the Law. Think about that! That is how many steps
your God is always working to make sure that His plans are carried out.
Back to the Book of Ezra.
In each of these examples, what exactly did these
neighbors do? The Hebrew literally says, “They strengthened their hands.” Since
hands are often used figuratively in the Bible as symbols of power and
strength, this related idiom suggests the ability to enable someone in need Isaiah
and Jeremiah both used similar language in their writings. The way the
neighbors enabled those going to Jerusalem was through giving. The neighbors
“assisted” and encouraged those going up to Jerusalem with a tangible
expression of support. They helped fund God’s renewal and restoration mission
in Jerusalem with money and materials. In so doing the neighbors were following
Cyrus’s edict as outlined in 1:4. “4 And in
any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them
with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for
the temple of God in Jerusalem.’ ”
All of this empirical evidence, even before the
building project gets underway, affirms Cyrus’s best wishes, “… may [their] God
be with [them]” (1:3). It is Ezra’s precise way of showing that the Lord is with his people, thus
practically fulfilling his word spoken by Jeremiah 33:1-26. We don’t have time
to read that today, but it is worth the effort to read that as more background
knowledge of these events.
Through these events in these few passages of Ezra
that we have read so far, we can see the moving of God and the faithfulness of
God. Yahweh was being loyal to the covenant that He made with Abraham and all
of His descendants.
But the greatest indicator of God’s faithfulness to
His people is found in the incarnation of His Son, which led to the cross.
Through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and the shedding of his blood,
he became sin so we could know righteousness. As a result, we have received
spiritual restoration, an end of servitude to sin became a reality for God’s
people. The chasm that separated God from His people because of their sinful
disobedience was bridged by two arms spread wide on a Roman Cross.
Accordingly, we have been transferred from the
kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light and have been given an inheritance.
The cross was both a visual aid of God keeping his word to restore humanity
unto himself and a judgment on his enemy Satan and the fulfillment of another
prophecy made in the beginning, found in Genesis 3:15, fulfilled. “You will
strike at His heel, but He will crush your head” was the warning delivered to
Satan by the Father.
Likewise, we are awaiting the
fulfillment of God’s word that promises judgment will come to the enemies of
God and God’s people this world system called Babylon/the great harlot who
stands in opposition to God as discussed in the book of Revelation.
But what do we do while we
wait? What do we do in this interim period between the first act of restoration
and the second/final act of restoration yet to come? First, if you have not yet
placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then do so today without delay.
Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth and ask God to stir within
your heart and open your eyes to what Jesus did for you nearly two thousand
years ago and accept this amazing free gift called Grace. Accept it today. You
don’t have to change, or better yourself before you can come to God for
forgiveness. The change, the improvements come after accepting Jesus and He
will help you with those as well.
For those of us who already
believe, what are we to do? Are we to hold our breath, groping for daily or
ongoing restoration in our lives and world? No, we are to be hopeful and
anticipate divine intervention in the waiting room of life. God has also kept
his word to restore and empower his people, particularly after Christ’s
resurrection, with the Holy Spirit, a tangible expression of his continued
loyalties to look after us.
EZRA 1:7
“7 Moreover,
King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried
away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.”
When
Cyrus was returning the artifacts to other religious practitioners in his
Kingdom, he would often commission the carving, casting, or creating
replacement statues and idols that may have been destroyed during the initial
looting by the Assyrians or Babylonians. But for the returning Judeans, this
would not have been possible. A suitable substitute for this practice for them
was to return the Temple vessels that had been sacked and removed.
Nebuchadnezzar
removed these items and returned them to the city of Babylon and placed them
within Marduk’s Temple. We read last week how Nebuchadnezzar and his court
would use them in their banquets, bringing ultimate judgment on themselves. See
Daniel 5:22-31. Not only was the use of the Temple vessels by Nebuchadnezzar’s
court blasphemous, but the fact that they were stored in Marduk’s Temple was
equally blasphemous. Does this bring to mind the account found in 1st
Samuel and Chapter 5?
We
don’t have time to turn there this morning, so just let me recount the pericope,
explain what happened there, and give you a theory of why the same thing didn’t
happen here. In 1st Samuel Chapter 5, starting in verse 1 and
following, we read about the account when the Ark of the Covenant was captured
by the Philistines and brought to the city of Ashdod and placed in the Temple
of Dagon.
If you
remember the account properly, the statue of Dagon kept toppling over in the
presence of the Ark until finally the head and hands had been broken off and
the people in the area were afflicted with illness. The people of Ashdod tried
pawning the Ark off on their neighbors in Ekron until they finally returned the
Ark to the Israelites from whom they had plundered it.
Why
didn’t the same thing happen in Babylon at the Temple of Marduk? For an answer
let’s jump down to verses 9 and 10 and the first part of 11 and take a look at
the list of returned items.
EZRA 1:9-11A
“9 This
was the inventory: gold dishes 30, silver dishes 1,000, silver pans 29, 10 gold
bowls 30, matching silver bowls 410, other articles 1,000. 11 In all, there were 5,400
articles of gold and of silver.”
What is
missing from this list? The Ark of the Covenant. The last time that the Bible
specifically mentions the Ark of the Covenant was when Solomon placed the Ark
in the Holy of Holies and then dedicated the Temple. When the Babylonians went
through and destroyed the first Temple in 586 BC the Ark was either destroyed
or moved before the capture of the city.
The Ark
is not mentioned in the Bible at the dedication of the Second Temple, nor is it
mentioned anytime concerning Herod’s temple after its building and remodeling
were completed. The final fate of the Ark is a mystery of God at the moment,
one that He has chosen not to reveal at this time.
While
we are here in verse 10 let’s address another difficulty in this text. The math
whizzes among us should have picked up on the error here in this passage. The
items and amounts listed in verses 9 and 10 do not match the total given in
verse 11. These amounts in 10 & 11 do not add up to 5400 pieces.
We
can’t just say that the list is incomplete, because the final entry of “other
articles” is pretty inclusive of things not listed and it totals 1,000 pieces.
The more likely explanation is what is known as a scribal error or textual
corruption.
The
original decree given by King Cyrus was issued in the language of Aramaic,
which was the common trade language in this region at this time. It would be
replaced by Greek in the time of Jesus after the expansion and conquering of
the Greek Empire. The original was in Aramaic and Ezra was written in Hebrew.
Scholars have determined that a textual corruption occurred when the list as
being transcribed from Aramaic to Hebrew. The Aramaic numbering system may have
presented troubles for the one writing the original manuscript.
The
exact numbers here are not the important fact here. I just wanted to address
the discrepancy, so that you would have an explanation for when a skeptic
raises the point of “errors” in the Bible. The important thing to keep in mind
is that every piece listed here is a witness to God’s sovereign care of these
vessels and the continuance of His covenant with His people.
These
sanctified pieces were needed to restore the atoning sacrifices for the
Israelites.
Ok, let’s back up to verse 8 and examine what it has to say
to us.
Ezra 1:8
“8 Cyrus
king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them
out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.” Ezra is the only place in the Bible where Mithredath is mentioned, so we
don’t need to spend a lot of time on him. Other to say that judging from his
Persian name and the position that he held as treasurer, Mithredath would have
been a trusted member of the royal court.
He
would have been assigned the task of carrying out the instructions in Cyrus’s
decree found in verses 2 to 4. This also shows that Cyrus felt that the
instructions “the people are to provide” also applied to himself.
Now
the other person mentioned in verse 8 is a bit more interesting. Sheshbazzar
here is recorded as a “prince of Judah”. At first reading, it would indicate
that perhaps Sheshbazzar was of the lineage of David and perhaps one of David’s
descendants was being returned to the throne.
Well,
there was some interesting discussion about this among the scholars in the
commentaries, but the consensus was that Sheshbazzar was not really “the prince
of Judah”. This conclusion was based on two things. First, his name is Babylonian
and not Hebraic. Some of the Israelites were indeed given Babylonian names
while in captivity, see Daniel 1 verses 6 and 7 regarding the new names that
Daniel and his three companions were given.
But
that evidence is not enough to reach the conclusion of Sheshbazzar being a prince
of Judah. There is no mention of his lineage in these two verses and later in
the book of Ezra in Chapter 5, Sheshbazzar is given the title of governor of
Jerusalem. This leads us to conclude that Sheshbazzar was simply a Babylonian
who was appointed governor by King Cyrus to watch over Jerusalem. This would
have been a common practice at that time to help keep peace and to quell
insurrection in the kingdom.
Let’s
wrap up this morning by looking at the final verse of this first chapter.
Ezra 1:11
11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of
silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up
from Babylon to Jerusalem.”
We
already addressed the math problem, now let us look at what the mention of
Sheshbazzar here can tell us. We can see that Mithredath remained behind and did
not venture to Jerusalem. This first wave of exiles may not even be named. We
will see next week that the text in chapter two indicates a period of time
passing between this first wave leaving and those listed in Chapter two. But
that explanation is for next week. A teaser to get you to come back.
We
see it was the Babylonian governor Sheshbazzar who was appointed by Cyrus as
the one to bring the valuable Temple vessels to Jerusalem. He may not have
brought them on this first trip. Sheshbazzar may have waited to make sure that
there was a secure location to store these treasures until the Temple had been
rebuilt. Remember that he would have been responsible for the security of these
gold and silver items, and Jerusalem still had enemies and it was like the wild
frontier.
Although,
the exact timing is not mentioned, it is clear that Sheshbazzar was the one
appointed to be responsible for ensuring that the decree of Cyrus was
completed. Just as important as the Temple treasures, Sheshbazzar would have
had letters from the King authorizing the purchase of materials and the
permitting of construction to take place in the city.
These
letters will prove to be important in the coming chapters to fight against
accusations of treasonous acts against the King that were made by the enemies
of the Judeans to try and stop their rebuilding of the Temple and the city of
Jerusalem.
These plans of the enemies bring to mind the
words of Proverbs 16, verses 3 and 4,
“3 Commit
to the Lord whatever you do, and
he will establish your plans.
4 The Lord
works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster.”
CONCLUSION
The main point of
this pericope is that God keeps his word (fulfilled prophecy) to restore his
people and simultaneously judge his enemy and that he sovereignly intervenes in
time and space to do so, becomes evident given the emphases noted earlier. The
action the Lord takes here in Ezra
1:1 by stirring up Cyrus is nothing less than divine intervention.
Unwittingly, a
non-Yahwistic leader like Cyrus acts in accordance with what God has willed to
take place. God controls all history according to his plan, but it would have
been understood as more than prophecy fulfilled by those in exile and those
returned from exile.
The chain of
fulfilled prophecy harkens back to God keeping his word to Moses, which also
harkens back to the unbroken promises and oath that God made to Abraham. What
we can take from this passage is that ultimately, keeping his word to Jeremiah
means God is remembering his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and He
will do the same with those of us who put our faith in the completed work of
Jesus Christ.
Let me send you off with the words from this Doxology:
“And
from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the
ruler of kings on earth.
To him
who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us
a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen.”
– Revelation 1:5-6
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