Chapter 25 EZRA AND NEHEMIAH
Meanwhile, while Esther is left in Babylon as the instrument to save the entire Jewish population, Ezra and Nehemiah have a battle or two of their own locally in Jerusalem. As far as they were concerned, God said clearly there would be seventy-years of punishment to deal with their attitude toward sin, that time was now up, and they had gone back home.
Three Jews and three pagans were instrumental in their return and each was in the right place at the right time. Zerubbabel was the king and sceptre holder for the line to Messiah. He was respected for his position and dined at the kings table. My speculation is that it was he who would talk to King Cyrus over lunch about Isaiah’s one-hundred-year-old prophesy.
“The Lord says of Cyrus,” He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say rebuild the temple, He will open doors before him so that no gates will be shut.’”268
How else would this Pagan character King Cyrus be able to say
I am King Cyrus of Persia. The Lord God of heaven, who is also the God of Israel, has made me the ruler of all nations on earth. And he has chosen me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem.269
Zerubbabel led the first group back to Jerusalem as a King should. The second person to lead a group back was Ezra. He was High Priest in all but name. Chronicles was the result of his research before he carefully chose his group of one-thousand-eight-hundre
Figure 85: Jerusalem Old Walls
d priests with whom he returned. He chose them by character to establish both the temple worship and to influence the daily life and hearts of the people. Each priest was part of one of four teams: worship leaders, pastors, administrators or teachers. Alongside Daniel, this man influenced Darius the king, who succeeded Cyrus as the next pagan king of Babylon.
The third character in the story is Nehemiah. He was Kings Confidant and administrator. Pagan King Artaxerxes II was step-son of Esther which helped him look favourably on the Jews. Clearly he and Nehemiah, became good friends as he was quick to pick up Nehemiah’s bad news and equip him with all he needed to put things right in Jerusalem.
Now the wall of Jerusalem we know today were built by Suleiman the sultan in fifteen-twenty-AD. The walls Nehemiah’s team built were over a much smaller area. Nehemiah always refers to it as “The people’s wall” he never took the credit for himself.
Nehemiah, (the book), identifies which families built which section of the wall so it essential to refer to the map270 to get the concept of what is going on.
Ezra and Nehemiah were the ideal team but in character like chalk and cheese. Ezra meaning “Help” and Nehemiah meaning “Comfort”. Ezra was a private man, Nehemiah an extrovert.
One commentary remarks, “While Ezra wept pulling his hair out for the sins of the nation, Nehemiah pulled the sinner’s hair out”. He is referring to when Nehemiah actually did do that.271
At the first feast of Tabernacles, Ezra went away to weep while Nehemiah organized a Shindig. While many warmed to Ezra for his generosity and piety, Nehemiah coined the phrase “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Ezra spent hours in prayer on his own Nehemiah prayed on the run. His catch phrase is, “I prayed… Then I answered”. Make no bones about, it rebuilding was a tough assignment and differences between the people who returned could have been the downfall of the project. But this team of three men made sure every person was clear on the objective and united in the cause. The encouragers encouraged, the teachers taught and the preachers brought the people to repentance, the administrators knew the objective and not the rules, so despite all the opposition they found the way, they built the walls in fifty-three days. The people’s hearts were really in it. This rebuilding of God’s people in God’s appointed land was the real thing– revival.
At least until the end of these two books!
The Man Ezra was held in High esteem in the Jewish community. Outside of Scripture he is held to be the leading scribe of one-hundred-and-twenty who set the cannon of Old Testament scriptures. He is also credited for setting the structure of synagogue worship still used today.
Looking through his writings in scripture there is little doubt that he is the scribe of Nehemiah, Ezra and Chronicles. In fact the earliest copies of these books are bound into one scroll. It was the insertion of vowels when translating into Greek that made the narrative too long for one scroll and separated them. All three books are written in two languages, Hebrew and Aramaic- (Aramaic was the Esperanto of the day much like English in the days of the Empire, it was used by business and trade around the world). In Modern times, the books could really be called “the Adventures of Zerubbabel, Nehemiah and Ezra”, for these three are key players in the story. We have already looked at Chronicles, so our first task is to see the structure of Nehemiah and Ezra side by side. You will remember the deportation came in three parts. First, Babylon thought that taking the kings and leaders, including Daniel, from the land would be enough to keep Judah quiet and submissive, but when that was not so, they took all the craftsmen and scholars including Ezekiel. When that failed and those remaining sided with Egypt against Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar came, took the rest and destroyed Jerusalem.
Now their exile is due to end and a few, (really a very small number), now return in three stages. Stage one, under Zerubbabel the King, who took with him fifty-thousand. The second wave was under Ezra the Priest, who took just one-thousand-eight-hundred, in four-fifty-eight-BC. By the time Nehemiah the Administrator followed in four-four-four-BC, King Artaxerxes I was on the throne.
The books themselves follow the sequence
Figure 86: Comparison of Ezra & Nehemiah
I hope you will by now have noticed the sequence of warnings and punishments that preceded the final downfall. God had told the nation to look for signs they were heading for punishment. First they would be humiliated, looted and limited by neighbours. Next weather patterns would change bringing food shortages and disease. This would enhance civil unrest and conflict until Judgement day when they would lose the land. Punishment was now complete and they could return. They knew it was almost over because it was approaching seventy-years. Why seventy? God had warned the people way back in Chronicles land must be rested one in seven-years, and they had rejected that condition in their five-hundred-years before when the copied the surrounding nations.
Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, “When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard… I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. So the land will enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies” land; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. “All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it.272
To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.273
It was Daniel’s amazing Prophesy that announced the time but it was not just the length of time but the sequence of events:
God has decided that for seventy weeks, your people and your holy city must suffer as the price of their sins. Then evil will disappear, and justice will rule forever; the visions and words of the prophets will come true, and a most holy place will be dedicated. You need to realize that from the command to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Chosen Leader, it will be seven weeks and another sixty-two weeks. Streets will be built in Jerusalem, and a trench will be dug around the city for protection, but these will be difficult times At the end of the sixty-two weeks, the Chosen Leader will be killed and left with nothing. A foreign ruler and his army will sweep down like a mighty flood, leaving both the city and the temple in ruins, and war and destruction will continue until the end, just as God has decided. For one week this foreigner will make a firm agreement with many people, and halfway through this week, he will end all sacrifices and offerings. Then the “Horrible Thing” that causes destruction will be put there. And it will stay there until the time God has decided to destroy this one who destroys.274
In Ezra Chapter-one, Cyrus declares:
I am King Cyrus of Persia. The Lord God of heaven, who is also the God of Israel, has made me the ruler of all nations on earth. And he has chosen me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. The Lord God will watch over and encourage any of his people who want to go back to Jerusalem and help build the temple.275
Cyrus was a pagan king, so who told him what God of heaven said? My guess is a joint conspiracy of Ezra and Zerubbabel. They got it from Isaiah and Zerubbabel in particular would have been able to chat it to Cyrus who had a keen interest in other religions.
The Lord …… who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, Let its foundations be laid. This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armour, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut.”276
My guess is also, being a politician who thought all the gods had agreed to give him world authority, Cyrus wanted to keep the favour of all gods. By and his decree sending all people groups should go back home he could curry favour with man and their gods. The only condition being that each should build a temple to their own gods and pray for him when they got home. After all they would still be his subjects as he ruled half the world. None-the-less, he was on the throne and issued the decree at the exact time God had decreed Israel’s punishment was over, which tells us which God is really in charge277.
Here is the best place to check up on the promised sceptre line again. It is well and present in the person of Zerubbabel who has been feasting at the king of Babylon’s table. Zerubbabel was the grandson of Jehoiakim and therefore in the royal line. There are two people in this line who will trace their descents down through both Mary and Joseph. One is king David and the other is Zerubbabel. For now, Zerubbabel is about to resume his kingly role of leading the return to Jerusalem and restoring the social structure of the people. Zerubbabel was clearly popular and a leader because he led fifty-thousand back with him- popular but not practical. He attempted the temple build but it did not get very far. There was too much opposition from the Samaritans who by now were not impressed with the idea Jerusalem and not in Samaria was to be the centre for God’s presence. First of all, the Samaritans said they would like to join the construction if Zerubbabel would compromise. When he refused, the Samaritans stepped up the pressure by sending a letter to the king. Darius had come to the throne in the meantime and received a letter from the Samaritans complaining. But he simply wrote back telling Zerubbabel to get on with the building. (remember Darius was the king on the throne when Daniel was thrown to lions, I wonder what influence he had)?278
Clearly it was time for reinforcements. Ezra went up to Jerusalem. He took with him the high priest Joshua II. (Joshua, Yeshua, Jesus are all the same in meaning). He also took one-thousand-eight-hundred people, most of whom were priests and scribes. Equally important he took a written magistrate’s authorisation to build a temple and the finance to do it. His first task was to call the people to a spiritual awakening. He read the law and asked for response. The magistrate’s order also allowed him to restore law and order caused by the tensions rising with Samaritans. Ezra prayed privately, made a black list of backsliders then ruthlessly broke up all the inter-tribal marriages. Ezra, was a direct descendent of Aaron, Phinehas and Zadok the priest. He brought the scriptures with him. But more than that, he studied it, lived it and taught it.