When God Rebuilds... Ezra-Nehemiah Part 4 Ezra 2:1-58

                                                                                                                                         January 21, 2024

From The Series: When God Rebuilds…

Part # 4 Identifying God’s People

Ezra 2:1-58

Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church

                We will be continuing our series titled, “When God Rebuilds…” This is our fourth message in this series. We started the series by completing a historical and chronological introduction to the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Next, we discovered that the Bible told us that God was at work in the life of the Persian King Cyrus and moved him to issue a decree ending the seventy-year exile under the Babylonians exactly as Jeremiah had predicted in Jeremiah 25:9-13.

                Last week we saw how God also moved in the lives of those that He had designated to return to the capital Jerusalem by “stirring in their hearts”. Yahweh stirred not only those He wanted to return, but He also stirred the hearts of those He needed to support His plans through various means of financially supporting those who would be doing the LORD’s work. This is a vital point, as God’s work needs the time, talents, and tithing of many to accomplish His Kingdom's work. We will also see in the coming weeks the benefits that will come for those supporting this Kingdom work. For there are benefits to those who support God’s work, both in the time of Ezra and for those of us today. But we will get to those benefits in an upcoming message.

This week we will be studying the list of the exiles who returned to Jerusalem to begin this restorative work. At first glance this may not seem very exciting, but “au contraire mon frere”, which is French for “on the contrary my brother!”

                This chapter may seem uninviting, for who would want to read through a long list of names and numbers from a foreign people group (at least to us) from some long-ago era of time? We will see that roughly 50,000 people were stirred by the Lord to return to Jerusalem.

                Chapter One focused on fulfilled prophecy through Cyrus’ decree. It was the restoration of Abraham’s seed (the people), and their repossession of the land (the place) after the exile (the time). We see how God’s plan of the people, the place, and the time was fulfilled precisely in the manner as He desired.

                In Chapter Two we will see a planting of this protected remnant in carefully prepared soil. Not just anywhere, but back in the heart of the Promised Land, the Holy City of Jerusalem. The top of Mount Moriah, the very place where God provided the sacrifice for Abraham, sparing his son Isaac. The name Mount Moriah translates as the “mount of appearance” referring to the place where Yahweh “appeared” to His people. It was seen as the place of dwelling for God among His people, echoing the purpose of the Tabernacle as described by God in Exodus 25:8.

                Before we get to today’s passage, I would like to give a bit more background on the genealogies that appear in Scripture and some of the purposes for these lists, especially in the books known as the “historical writings”. Genealogies served different forms and functions for each civilization throughout history, and we must be careful not to impose our purposes in modern times on these ancient lists.

                In the Bible, genealogies serve seven different functions, and we must take into consideration the literary genre or the type of book that we are reading when we come across the lists of names. We must let the context of the list inform us of the purpose of that list appearing in Scripture. Not every list of names serves the same function as other lists.

                Let me give you some examples to bring this to life for you.

                Let’s examine some of the purposes for Genealogies. There are seven different purposes in all, but we are going to touch on just five of them this morning. Four out of these five will apply to the passage we will look at in a little bit.

                The first purpose for a genealogy to appear in Scripture is the Social Function. This establishes a community between the groups listed. This purpose applies to this list of names. Remember we have a group of people who are two generations removed from the city that was their spiritual center for the entire Jewish community. Faithful Jews would go to Jerusalem at least once a year for the Passover Celebration and offer up their sacrifices for atonement to God. The lists in Ezra and Nehemiah do help to accomplish a social function for these lists of names. It is helping to reestablish a community here in Jerusalem.

                There is also a Theological Function for genealogies that appear in Scripture. These names establish a sense of continuity of the covenant people to give hope in post-exilic times. These people are coming out from a time of exile under Babylonian rule, and the list of names, particularly the names of the priests and Levites reassures those returning of the ability to resume their religious practices faithfully as instructed by Yahweh. It was important for those returning and for those who remained behind for the time being, to recognize that there was continuity in their relationship with the one true God.

                The Historical Function only slightly applies to the lists of names in these two books. The order of the information of the past is not so critical to understanding the purpose of the present actions as related in Ezra-Nehemiah. As a matter of fact, oftentimes, there occurs a collapsing of names in these lists, where generations are omitted for the sake of ease of memorization. Remember, during a time of exile, these lists would often be passed down orally between generations.

The fourth function of the genealogies was a Military Function which was used to classify people for purposes of clan involvement in conscription for government service, namely going to war. This function really doesn’t apply to this list other than the historical connection to the site of the Temple.

                If you recall, the account that is recorded in 2 Samuel 24 and in 1 Chronicles 21 where King David takes a census of all the fighting men in his kingdom. After this happened, the prophet Gad came to David with three options of punishment against Israel and David chose three days of plague in his land. On the third day, the LORD took pity as the angel that was sent to carry out God’s wishes reached Jerusalem and the angel was stopped at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. The LORD then instructed Gad to go to David with these words, “¹⁸ On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

                The site of that threshing floor? Atop Mount Moriah, the place where David built an altar to the LORD, the site of Solomon’s Temple, the site where we will see Zerubbabel and Ezra rebuild the Temple, and the site that King Herod would later enlarge and renovate into the Temple that stood at the time of Jesus, the very same site known as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to this day.

                The final function of a genealogy in Scripture that we will look at this morning is the reason for the list in the passage that we will study today. Genealogies can serve as a Legitimizing function. These genealogies establish legitimacy for an individual’s inclusion in a group for purposes of establishing rights and privileges. That is the purpose of this list of names in the Bible. We see the LORD firmly establishing the rights and legitimacy of the first returning exiles to lay claim to the properties that they are about to inhabit.

                Through the genealogical record, the roots of these individuals can be confirmed. This is most critical for the priests and the Levites. This purpose of legitimizing is the primary purpose for all of the lists of names that we will see in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

                With all that background and scene setting completed, let’s finally open our Bibles or turn on our devices and let’s read together the passage that we will be studying today. If you did not bring a Bible with you, there should be one under one of the seats in front of you. Those are what we call our pew Bibles. You can turn to Ezra chapter 2 starting at verse 1 and you will find that on page 374 of the pew Bible.

READ Ezra 2:1-58

¹Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to their own town, ² in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah (se-ray-ah), Reelaiah (ree-A-lye-ah) , Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai (big-vye), Rehum (ree-hum) and Baanah (bay-a-na)):

The list of the men of the people of Israel:

³ the descendants of Parosh (Pay-rosh)    2,172

⁴ of Shephatiah (chef-ah-tie-ah)   372

⁵ of Arah (a-rah)    775

⁶ of Pahath-Moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab) 2,812

⁷ of Elam    1,254

⁸ of Zattu (zat-two)            945

⁹ of Zakkai (Zak-cay-eye)   760

¹⁰ of Bani (Bay-nee)           642

¹¹ of Bebai (Bee-bye)         623

¹² of Azgad              1,222

¹³ of Adonikam (A-do-nay-kum)    666

¹⁴ of Bigvai (Big-vye) 2,056

¹⁵ of Adin (A-din)   454

¹⁶ of Ater (through Hezekiah)        98

¹⁷ of Bezai (Bee-zai)           323

¹⁸ of Jorah  112

¹⁹ of Hashum         223

²⁰ of Gibbar            95

²¹ the men of Bethlehem  123

²² of Netophah       56

²³ of Anathoth        128

²⁴ of Azmaveth       42

²⁵ of Kiriath Jearim, Kephirah and Beeroth           743

²⁶ of Ramah and Geba       621

²⁷ of Mikmash        122

²⁸ of Bethel and Ai (Eye)    223

²⁹ of Nebo  52

³⁰ of Magbish         156

³¹ of the other Elam          1,254

³² of Harim 320

³³ of Lod, Hadid and Ono   725

³⁴ of Jericho           345

³⁵ of Senaah           3,630

³⁶ The priests:

the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua)         973

³⁷ of Immer (Im-mur)        1,052

³⁸ of Pashhur          1,247

³⁹ of Harim 1,017

⁴⁰ The Levites:

the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel (of the line of Hodaviah)          74

⁴¹ The musicians:

the descendants of Asaph (a-sef) 128

⁴² The gatekeepers of the temple:

the descendants of

Shallum, Ater, Talmon,

Akkub, Hatita (ha-teat-ah) and Shobai           139

⁴³ The temple servants:

the descendants of

Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,

⁴⁴ Keros, Siaha, Padon,

⁴⁵ Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,

⁴⁶ Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,

⁴⁷ Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,

⁴⁸ Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,

⁴⁹ Uzza, Paseah, Besai,

⁵⁰ Asnah, Meunim, Nephusim,

⁵¹ Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,

⁵² Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,

⁵³ Barkos, Sisera, Temah,

⁵⁴ Neziah and Hatipha

⁵⁵ The descendants of the servants of Solomon:

the descendants of

Sotai, Hassophereth, Peruda,

⁵⁶ Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,

⁵⁷ Shephatiah, Hattil,

Pokereth-Hazzebaim and Ami

⁵⁸ The temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon           392

 

                Alright, let’s begin to look at these verses and names and see if we can’t make some sense of them and understand what the significance of them means for us today. In verse 1 we see these people are referred to as “people of the province”. What that is referring to is that they were people of the Kingdom of Judah, not some province in the Babylonian Empire. These were descendants of God’s own people who were given this land as a birthright.

                There is, however, a poetic structure to this list of names in the first verse of chapter two. The same list is presented in Nehemiah chapter 7, verse seven with the addition of one name.

                Nehemiah 7:7 reads, well actually starting part way through verse six, “(they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, ⁷ in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum and Baanah):”

                The twelve names are reminiscent of the twelve tribes of Israel and a foreshadowing of the twelve apostles of Jesus. We will see in the future when we will explore Ezra 8:35 that at the return of Ezra to Jerusalem, the exiles will sacrifice twelve bulls “for all of Israel”.

                So why do we only see eleven names here in Ezra chapter two? The absence of the name of Nahamani is probably due to a copyist error. The list in Nehemiah is the more accurate and complete list. There are familiar names in this list, but the timing and geographical placement of these names in Jerusalem at this time rule out the fact that they are not who we think they are.

                The Nehemiah here is not the same Nehemiah from the book that bears his name. The other names apart from Zerubbabel and Joshua are simply common names for leaders of the different groups of people who arrived over the years.

                It is important to keep in mind that all of these people did not return at the same time, nor in the first wave of returnees. The return of all these people covered a span of over a hundred years.

                Let’s mention a little more here about Zerubbabel and Joshua. We saw last week the mention of Sheshbazzar who was given the title the Prince of Judah. We learned that Sheshbazzar probably arrived in 539 BC shortly after the decree was given by Cyrus and he had no royal blood. He was in fact a man of Babylonian birth who was placed in the position of governor for the territory over these returning exiles. This would have been a common action. A method of controlling the amount of power and independence a returning people group could have upon their return to their homeland. Sheshbazzar would have no familial links to the land and would thus be content to sit in his seat of power given to him by his Persian overlords. Sheshbazzar would have no desire to return Jerusalem to its former glory and independence.

                Zerubbabel did, however, have a royal familial link to Jerusalem. But he did not return until about the year 520 BC. We will see later in the books that Zerubbabel will be given the title of governor, so he likely succeeded Sheshbazzar in that position. Zerubbabel had royal blood as he was the grandson of King Jehoiachin and thus a member of the Davidic line. Jehoiachin was king when Nebuchadnezzar carried the Jerusalem elites off into captivity, and his uncle Zedekiah was installed as a puppet ruler.

                Zerubbabel is listed in both of the genealogies of Jesus that are presented in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke which allowed the fulfillment of the prophecy that the Messiah would come from the line of David.

                The other significant name in the grouping is Joshua and it is also spelled Jeshua whose Greek version of the name is Jesus. This is the same Joshua who is mentioned in Haggai and Zechariah and is identified as the High Priest in Zechariah 3:1. Joshua was the grandson of the last officiating high priest before the exile. The names Zerubbabel and Joshua are linked throughout these two books, which links the offices of king and priest in the minds of the reader. These are the two offices that Jesus fulfills on our behalf.

                Jesus is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and He serves as our Great High Priest. Not in the same way that Joshua did for the returning exiles. Joshua was a member of the tribe of Levi and as a Levite, Joshua was allowed to assume the role of priest and even the role of high priest by right of his birth. But Joshua could not assume a royal role as he was not from the line of David nor from the tribe of Judah.

                Jesus is from the tribe of Judah, so He can assume the royal role, but how then can He act as our High Priest if He is not a Levite? The answer is found in the seventh chapter of the book of Hebrews. Turn there with me to Hebrews 7, starting at verse 11. You will find this on page 971 of the Pew Bible.

READ HEBREWS 7:11-28

        “¹¹ If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? ¹² For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. ¹³ He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. ¹⁵ And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, ¹⁶ one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is declared:

“You are a priest forever,

in the order of Melchizedek.” ^w

¹⁸ The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

²⁰ And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, ²¹ but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

“The Lord has sworn

and will not change his mind:

‘You are a priest forever.’ ” ^c

²² Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

²³ Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴ but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

²⁶ Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.”

 

                Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, so He could not be a High Priest in the Temple. To allow for this inevitability and for the foreordained duty of Jesus as the redeemer of mankind back to the Father, a different priesthood needed to be established. A priesthood that was established before the twelve tribes of Israel were established and before the priesthood was limited to the tribe of Levi and the descendants of Aaron.

                This priesthood was the priesthood of Melchizedek in the city of Salem which eventually became the city of Jerusalem. Melchizedek is first mentioned in Genesis when Abraham meets him and gives him a tenth of all that he had. Thousands of years later, the very same site is where Jesus is crucified and where we just read, that He is appointed a priest of the order of Melchizedek. It is as a member of this priesthood that Jesus can do the intercessory work with the Father on our behalf.

                Sacrifices need not be offered up, as the Son was the perfect, once for all sacrifice that was found suitable and acceptable by the Father. We no longer need to bring gifts to God, instead, we are now able to accept the greatest gift from God, the gift of Grace. It is an atoning gift, a gift of forgiveness, a complete gift, not just an aid to help us along. Grace is all-encompassing and completely sufficient for our needs to bring us back into a right relationship with the Father. We become His adopted children, co-heirs with Jesus Christ who is currently sitting at the right hand of the Father, eagerly awaiting His return to Earth where He will claim His Bride, the Church.

                Friends, if you do not yet know Jesus in a personal and intimate way, then come talk to me after the service, and let’s have a discussion. Do you not see that all this was ordained and orchestrated by the Trinity before the foundations of the world were laid?

                OK, back to Ezra, as usual, we are running out of time. We see the names of the people and the numbers associated with them in verses 3 to 20 are descendants of one clan, and that chief’s name was Parosh. This is the only place in the Bible where the name of Parosh appears, but it is obvious that he a a leader of the clan.

                Verse 21 makes a transition where now the numbers are associated with the names of places rather than people. Verses 21 to 35 mention the names of towns and cities and their respective numbers. We see in verse 2 that not all these mentioned returned to Jerusalem, they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, “each to their own town”. We see that this would have been part of the larger infrastructure that would be required to support a city the size of Jerusalem. Someone would need to raise the livestock, and others grow the crops that would be needed to support the people in the city.

                Verses 36 to 39 list the members of the priests and we see that this list reverts to family names and clans. The important thing to note is the connection to Jeshua, the same person listed as Joshua in verse 2. That connection was what allowed the priests to legitimize their claim to those positions of authority to act on behalf of the people with Yahweh. King David has originally organized the priests into twenty-four family groups to allow them to rotate through their duties, but here we see that there list is down to four families and the list does not increase by the time we get to chapter ten of the book.

                The musicians and gatekeepers were lumped in with the Levites. The titles are indicative of their roles in the Temple duties, the musicians were the early worship leaders who were first organized by the musical King David, and the gatekeepers were literally those who held the keys to the doors and would unlock the Temple in the morning and close and lock the doors at night. The gatekeepers also watched over the treasury.

                The Temple servants as listed in verses 43-54 were the support staff that aided the priests in their duties. Those who cooked and cleaned and tended to their needs were known as the Temple servants. The total number is lumped in with the following group and is low. This could be due to a low response of those wishing to return to these lowly duties.

                This group may have been added by David’s son King Solomon as a supplement to those that his father had organized. Their duties may have been more secular than the preceding group.

                And that is where we are just about going to leave it for today except for the application for us. We have seen already a valuable lesson from these first two chapters of this book.

                God is going to keep his word no matter what obstacles are stacked against him! This means God acts not only at the level of international politics but also at the personal level to restore all things unto himself and his kingdom’s purposes. It means God sovereignly intervenes (in real ways) in time and space to do so. It also means the tangible removal of all obstacles to achieving those purposes. The significance of knowing that God keeps his word to restore all things unto himself, especially in times of separation from him due to sin’s consequences or on account of living in this world, is critical. Without such a worldview, we lose our view and perspective on life.

            This viewpoint is critical to keep in mind particularly when we find ourselves in the middle of tough times like we are. To us, here in the West, it seems like our federal leaders are ignoring us at best or intentionally trying to shut us down at worst. Our rights and freedoms appear to be under attack through various legislation. Everything from easy access to the news online, to being able to carry our groceries home in plastic bags. Who knew plastic straws were such a danger to our future selves?

            Words such as disinformation and misinformation are being thrown about with the government setting themselves up to be the arbiters of what is true or not. I have a sneaky suspicion that anything critical of the official stance will be deemed misinformation.

            What Ezra has shown us so far is the danger of trying to keep the sacred world separate from the secular world. With a proper understanding of the sovereignty of God, there is no need to. Rather than the two realms colliding with each other, the two worlds actually correspond to fulfill God’s purposes. Behind the scenes of national and international politics is a sovereign God using nations and individuals for the fulfillment of his purposes. The sovereign God is remembering his promises and covenant to Abraham here is Ezra, and He will remember His promises to us as well.

            It seems like God had given us over to ourselves for a period of time to allow our foolish ideas to run their course and expose the absurdity of the logical conclusions of these ideologies. We have seen the popularity of the Prime Minister plummet the longer that he has been given free rein. It appears our leaders have forgotten who they are ultimately accountable to.

            God’s sovereignty doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing for us in life. We will see in the coming weeks, how the returning exiles had obstacles and delays that they had to face and overcome as well. What is required from us is to maintain the faith.

CONCLUSION

                I will say this one thing in conclusion, it is not up to us to try and identify who is of God’s people. We are to share the Gospel freely with everyone, whether we have identified them as the elect or not, however, we may define that term. What we are to concern ourselves with is does our behavior and heart attitude identify us as belonging to Jesus. Is it obvious to others that we are one of His people? If not, why not?

Doxology:

                From Colossians 1:16-18, “¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.”

Thank you and have a blessed week.