You Should Heed God’s Preachers

Posted on September 2, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #11)

Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them, helping them. (Ezra 5:1-2, N.K.J.V.)

The Haggai and Zechariah who are mentioned in our text passage are the same two prophets who wrote the Bible’s books that bear their names. Both men were burdened by God to give Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of Judah’s returned exiles a “kick in the pants” to get them to finish building the new temple in Jerusalem (5:1). Sixteen years earlier the project had begun with a lot of excitement, but the work had ground to a halt in the midst of years of delay. Now it was time to complete the job.

Haggai and Zechariah were both part of that group of approximately 50,000 exiles who had left Babylon and returned to Judah. Despite the fact that Zerubbabel carried the title of “governor” and Jeshua (Joshua) carried the title of “High Priest,” neither man was a prophet who literally spoke for God. That’s why Judah was blessed to have Haggai and Zechariah in its ranks.

Haggai prophesied from August to December in 520 B.C. and Zechariah prophesied for two years beginning in October of that year. The prophecies the two men gave are a textbook study in the differing styles of God’s preachers. Whereas Haggai’s four recorded prophecies remind us of fiery sermonettes, Zechariah’s prophecies are more numerous, lengthier, and feature more encouragement than rebuke. But both men spoke for God. God has never required a one-size-fits-all approach to preaching. Just as He can use a crude fisherman like Peter to get His message proclaimed, He can also use a brilliant theologian like Paul to do it.

Haggai, in his blunt style, harshly rebuked Judah’s citizens for spending more time working on their own houses than the temple (Haggai 1:3-4). Obviously, completing the new temple lost its priority with them not long after the work began. As a result, the people became unclean in God’s eyes (Haggai 2:10-14) and God sent a drought to the land to limit their harvests (Haggai 1:7-11; 2:15-19). However, neither the misplaced priorities nor the consequences of them are mentioned by Ezra to explain the delay in building the temple. Instead, he focuses upon the interference from outsiders. No doubt both categories of problems were part of the equation. On a more uplifting note, Haggai’s prophecies also promised that God would bless Judah (Haggai 2:19) and looked ahead to the time when He would overthrow its enemies (Haggai 2:20-23).

Zechariah, in his less-fiery style, likewise called the citizens of Judah to repent (Zechariah 1:1-6), but he also told them about several visions that he had experienced (1:7-6:15). Chapters 9-14 of his book deal with the rejection of Israel’s coming Messiah, the Messiah’s Second Coming in glory, and His future kingdom. God gave these visions in order to help the people understand that their nation, with its capital city of Jerusalem, was slated for a glorious future.

To the credit of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, they wholeheartedly accepted the words from Haggai and Zechariah and restarted the work of the temple in earnest (5:2). As had been the case before, though, opposition arose almost immediately. This time it came in the form of a group led by Tattenai, who was Persia’s representative governor of the region, and Shethar-Boznai, who was most likely an assistant to Tattenai (5:3).

When Tattenai and Shethar-Boznai heard the reports that the Jews were building a temple, they personally traveled to Jerusalem to ask by what authority the Jews were doing it. After all, the Jews were a conquered people, which meant that major building projects by them had to be cleared through the proper Medo-Persian channels. By God’s favor, the work was allowed to continue while Tattenai sent an official letter of inquiry to King Darius, who was the ruler of Persia at that time (5:4-5). Ezra provides a full copy of the letter as part of his record of the events (5:6-17).

In Tattenai’s letter, he explained to Darius that the leaders of Judah were saying that the building project had been authorized years earlier by a previous Persian ruler, Cyrus the Great (5:6-16). Tattenai ended his letter by asking that the city of Babylon’s official records be searched in order to find out if the story was true. Regardless of what the search uncovered, Tattenai would carry out Darius’ wishes as to whether or not to allow the building to continue (5:17).

Darius complied with Tattenai’s request by decreeing that Persia’s archival records be searched (6:1), but looking in Babylon proved fruitless. There was, however, a vindicating scroll found in the palace of Achmetha (Ecbatana), a city located some 300 miles northeast of Babylon. Achmetha (Ecbatana) was the capital of Media and had been a summer home for Cyrus the Great. Evidently, he had spent the summer there the year he had issued the decree allowing the Jews to return to Judah and build the temple. Once the scroll was found, Darius ordered Tattenai and his colleagues to let the work on the temple continue (6:2-7).

Additionally, Darius issued a decree stating that the people of Judah were to be given whatever materials and livestock they needed to complete the temple and offer the daily sacrifices upon its altar (6:8-10). Darius himself would foot the bill for it all by paying for it out of taxes collected from the region located to the west of the Euphrates river. Darius even ordered that anyone who ignored the decree was to be executed (6:11). That included not only Tattenai and his group but also the meddlesome Samaritans. You talk about God working through a lost Gentile king to bless His people and His work! If Tattenai had sent his letter in an effort to stop the building of the temple, his plan had surely backfired!

This part of the story of the building of the second temple ends with Ezra 6:13-14, and I’ll provide those verses as part of this post. As you read them, pay careful attention to the words I emphasize concerning the ministries of Haggai and Zechariah. The verses say:

Then Tattenai, governor of the region beyond the River, Shethar-Boznai, and their companions diligently did according to what KIng Darius had sent. So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia (N.K.J.V.)

In closing, let me say that men who faithfully and accurately proclaim the messages that God gives them are always needed. While it’s true that today’s pastors and preachers don’t literally speak new words that have just fallen from God’s lips, that doesn’t mean that these men are automatically inferior to the Old Testament prophets. Actually, they have certain advantages over the Old Testament prophets, namely the indwelling Holy Spirit and the canonized written word of God. That’s why you should heed their preaching by applying it to your life. Does God still speak through His preachers today? Certainly He does! The real question is: Are you listening to what He is saying through them or are you tuning Him out by tuning them out?

Posted in God's Word, God's Work, Pastors, Preaching, Series: "Ezra" | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Don’t Let Delays Discourage You

Posted on September 1, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #10)

Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia (Ezra 4:4-5, N.K.J.V.)

When Judah’s leaders rebuffed the offer that Judah’s surrounding enemies made about working together to build the new temple, that should have been the end of the story. The fact that those enemies responded by beginning a prolonged campaign to discourage and trouble the people of Judah proves that sinister motives had been hidden within that offer. In truth, despite the seemingly cordial nature of their offer, those enemies had never had any intentions of laying aside their false gods and false worship sites to join the people of Judah in worship at the new temple. Instead, they had been trying to infiltrate the ranks of Judah’s workers in order to cause enough problems with the building project to keep it from ever becoming a reality.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what methods those enemies used to discourage Judah’s citizens and trouble them in the work. What it does tell us is that those enemies also hired counselors, “insiders” among the royal courts of Medo-Persia, to lobby against what was taking place in Jerusalem. In the end, the enemies achieved their goal, at least for a while. We know this because of Ezra 4:24, which says:

Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. (N.K.J.V.)

As we study the entirety of this 4th chapter of Ezra, we find that there is a major gap in the chronological timeline. The story upon which we’ve been riding thus far breaks off after Ezra 4:5 and doesn’t pick back up again until after Ezra 4:24. As for the verses in between these two bookends, Ezra 4:6-23, they are most likely Ezra’s way of illustrating the severity and long-running duration of the efforts to keep Jerusalem from becoming a powerful, fortified city again. Not only did Judah’s enemies try to derail the building of Jerusalem’s new temple, later on they attempted the same thing regarding the building of a new wall around city.

Ezra mentions two official letters that were written by those enemies and sent to the royal courts of the Medo-Persian empire over the years. The first letter, spoken of in verse 6, was written during the reign of Ahasuerus. The second one, recorded in verses 7-23, was written during the reign of Artaxerxes.

Since both Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes ruled after Darius (in whose reign the temple was finally completed), the letters addressed to them must have been attempts to stop the building of Jerusalem’s walls rather than its temple. The fact that Ezra is quite clear about the time periods in which the letters were written shows that he isn’t trying to deceive the reader or manipulate the storyline. He’s simply presenting the letters as evidence that the enemy opposition that first began with the laying of the foundation for the new temple persisted long after the reign of Cyrus the Great, the Persian ruler who issued the original decree stating that the temple could be built.

While Ezra doesn’t record the contents of the letter written to Ahasuerus, he does provide us with the contents of the one written to Artaxerxes. In summation, the letter is Judah’s enemies trying to get Artaxerxes not to trust the people of Judah by describing them as rabble-rousers who had a long history of refusing to submit to any other nation. In the end, Artaxerxes was swayed by this description and brought the construction of Jerusalem’s wall to a screeching halt for an extended period of time after the temple itself had been completed.

Because I realize that it’s easy for us to get lost in all of these events, let me provide an approximate timeline — give or take a few years here and there — for the building of the new temple. I hope this will help you get your mind wrapped around the basics of what happened.

  • From 536 B.C. to 530 B.C., Zerubbabel and the rest of his group plodded along at building the temple as their local enemies worked doggedly to keep them discouraged, troubled, and delayed in the work (Ezra 4:4). Cyrus the Great was the ruler of the Medo-Persian empire during these years.
  • Cyrus the Great died in 530 B.C. His death, combined with the official opposition of Judah’s enemies in Medo-Persia’s royal courts, caused the work to be halted by royal decree in 530 B.C.
  • It wasn’t until 520 B.C., in the second year of the reign of Darius (Ezra 4:24), that the work was resumed.
  • The temple, the foundation for which had been laid in 536 B.C., was completed in 515 B.C. (Ezra 6:15).

The takeaway lesson from this timeline is that Judah’s local enemies, namely the neighboring Samaritans, were able to add many years of delay to the completion of the new temple. A project that should have taken a few years at most ended up taking more than twenty. That, of course, was merely the delay time in getting the temple built. The delay time those enemies caused in getting a new wall built around Jerusalem is a whole other topic.

You see, if Satan can’t stop God’s will, he will do everything he can to at least delay it. This includes using ungodly people to use whatever means necessary to create the delay. By forcing God’s will to take longer than necessary to come to pass, Satan hopes that God’s people will become frustrated enough to get angry at God and lose faith in Him.

Perhaps you have been attempting to finish a certain task for a while now, a task that you honestly believed was God’s will when you began it. If that’s the case, let me encourage you to keep persevering until you finish the job. Don’t let Satan and those through whom he works rob you of a blessing that God wants you to have. As Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7:8, “The end of a thing is better than its beginning.” You see, God doesn’t just want you to start jobs that are His will; He wants you to finish them. So, don’t let enemy opposition cause you to throw up your hands and quit. Just plow right on through any and all delays and keep working until you see God’s will completed.

Posted in Adversity, God's Will, God's Work, Patience, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Series: "Ezra", Waiting | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Temptation to Compromise

Posted on August 28, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #9)

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel,  they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers’ houses, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, “You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” (Ezra 4:1-3, N.K.J.V.)

Have you learned yet that this world is filled with people who set themselves against God’s will and try to prevent it from being done? And, tragically, most of the time they succeed in doing so. Usually these people are lost unbelievers, but I’d be lying if I said that Christians don’t factor into this problem as well. The truth is that Christians who are either too spiritually immature to recognize God’s will or too backslidden to want it done can do every bit as much damage as lost people can when it comes to these matters.

Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the formerly exiled Jews had scarcely gotten the foundation laid for the new temple when trouble came to town. The opening verse of our text leaves no doubt that these troublemakers were the adversaries of Judah. These enemies came from the areas that surrounded Judah, first and foremost the area of Samaria to Judah’s immediate north.

Rather than invade Jerusalem with soldiers, the enemy group came in charmingly and asked for a sit-down meeting with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the heads of the Jewish families. At that meeting, the enemy group said, “Let us help you build this temple. We serve the same God you do and have been offering our sacrifices to Him ever since Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria, settled us here after conquering our lands and deporting us from them.” Were these people lying about all this? No, not completely, but the issue wasn’t so cut and dried, either.

The British Museum houses a large cylinder that dates back to the days of ancient Assyria. Inscribed on the cylinder are the exploits of King Esarhaddon, who ruled Assyria from 681 B.C. to 669 B.C. The Assyrians, you might recall, were the nation who conquered Israel’s northern kingdom. That northern kingdom had been formed when Israel’s ten northern tribes had broken away from the two southern tribes during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. The northern kingdom came to be known as “Israel” while the southern kingdom was commonly referred to as “Judah.” Jerusalem, which had been the capital city of the entire nation prior to the split, continued to serve as the capital of Judah, but the northern kingdom’s capital was first at Shechem and then later at Samaria. The kings of Judah perpetuated the line of King David and made Judah the more godly of the two kingdoms even though several of Judah’s kings were not godly men. The northern kingdom, on the other hand, complete with its separate line of kings, was well known for its idolatry.

In the decades that followed the Assyrians conquering the northern kingdom, they deported many thousands of the Jews from that kingdom. Most of those Jews were resettled in the upper Tigris-Euphrates valley. In turn, the Assyrians repopulated the northern kingdom’s territory with deportees from their other military conquests. According to 2 Kings 17:24, they brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim into the territory. Over the course of time, these Gentile foreigners intermarried with the remaining Jews who had been left there and these marriages produced a hybrid Gentile/Jewish race of people called the Samaritans.

Continuing on with the story, when all those foreigners first arrived in Samaria, they had no reverence whatsoever for Israel’s God. All that changed, however, when God sent lions among them, lions that killed some of the people (2 Kings 17:25). At that point, those foreigners sent word to the Assyrian king that they needed help to learn how to worship the God of the land so that the lion attacks would cease (2 Kings 17:26). In response, the Assyrian king sent one of the captured priests from Samaria to do the job (2 Kings 17:27). That priest took up residence in Bethel, another one of the former kingdom’s major cities, and taught the people how to worship Israel’s God (2 Kings 17:28). But the worship that was produced from the training was not pure worship. The Bible says the people did fear the Lord but they also continued to worship their false gods (2 Kings 17:29-41).

You say, “Okay, Russell, but what does all this have to do with the story in Ezra?” The answer is, that group of people who came to Jerusalem and offered to help build the new temple were the descendants of that mixed race of people. As such, they weren’t blatantly lying about having long offered sacrifices to the God of Israel. By no means, though, was their bloodline pure, and by no means was their worship of Israel’s God pure. Undoubtedly, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and those heads of the Jewish families knew all of this history, but nevertheless they still had a big decision to make. Should they accept the offer of help or not?

The way the passage reads, they didn’t have to think very long about the decision. There isn’t even any mention made of them praying and asking God what they should do. It is as if they knew going into the meeting what God’s will was. So, they told the enemy group, “You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us (4:3).”

I wish we could know what tone those leaders of Judah used in conveying that answer. Perhaps they were quite cordial to the enemy group. Then again, maybe the tone was more like, “Don’t let the door hit you in the rear on your way out.” At any rate, whatever the mood of the meeting was, the message was clear: “We’re not about to let you people help us build our new temple.”

By way of modern application, this passage serves as a vivid illustration of the importance of refusing to compromise when the will of God is at stake. The temptation to shave a corner, cut a deal, or even do God’s will but do it in a way that isn’t pleasing to Him still presents itself to saved believers today. Perhaps you are facing such a temptation right now. God has told you to do a certain thing, but now an opportunity has arisen that will make the accomplishing quicker and easier. The only problem is, you just aren’t sure that God wants you to take that quicker, easier way.

If any of this describes you, consider yourself warned about pursuing that path of compromise. Just stick with God, His will, and the original plan He gave you by which to get His will done. Even if that means that you completing the assignment will take more time and effort, you won’t be sorry in the end. As we are going to learn in the next post, the answer that Zerubbabel and those other leaders of Judah gave to that enemy group would quickly produce dire consequences regarding the building of the temple. Still, though, the answer was the right one, and may you and I follow the good example those Jews set as we strive to not only do God’s will but do it in the way that is pleasing to Him.

Posted in Decisions, God's Work, Series: "Ezra", Service, Temptation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Two Different Reactions to the Laying of the Foundation

Posted on August 26, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #8)

Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. (Ezra 3:8, N.K.J.V.)

In the fourteenth month of their return to Judah, the group of former Jewish exiles began the work of laying the foundation for their new temple in Jerusalem. It was no coincidence that this was the same month in which King Solomon had begun work on the previous temple (1 Kings 6:1). That similar starting point showed that the returning exiles were trying to do things right this time.

The work was overseen by Zerubbabel as well as the High Priest Jeshua and the other priests. According to God’s instructions in the Mosaic law, the Levites (the non-priest members of the Jewish tribe of Levi) were to be responsible for everything related to the construction and upkeep of the tabernacle/temple (Exodus 38:21; Numbers 1:47-54; 18:1-7). Consequently, the Levites who were twenty years old or older were appointed to do the actual hands-on labor. In previous times, the cut-off age for such work had been thirty rather than twenty (Numbers 4:1-3; 1 Chronicles 23:1-5), but King David, in one of his last acts as king, had lowered it to twenty (1 Chronicles 23:24-32).

Having a desire to build a temple is one thing, and having the Levites as an unpaid work force to build it is another, but having the knowhow to actually build such a structure is something else entirely. So, now it was time to start using the money that had been donated by those heads of families prior to the building of the altar (2:68-69). During the months that passed between the building of the altar and the laying of the foundation, additional masons and carpenters were hired and paid with money, food, drink, and oil (3:7). Cedar logs were also purchased from the Phoenician cities of Sidon and Tyre in Lebanon. The logs were cut in Lebanon, shipped along the coast to Joppa, and then brought the additional 35 miles overland to Jerusalem. The fact that Sidon and Tyre were also under Persian rule made it easy for Cyrus the Great to authorize the deal. Over 400 years earlier, King Solomon had purchased much of his building materials, masons, and carpenters from that same part of the world (1 Kings 5:1-18; 2 Chronicles 2:1-16).

As soon as the temple’s foundation was laid, Jeshua and his fellow priests stood in their priestly clothing for the formal dedication and blew trumpets (3:10). The specific group of Levites who were known as “the sons of Asaph” then played cymbals and praised the Lord. Using “the sons of Asaph” in this way harkened back to how King David had formerly instructed the forefathers of that group to play that particular role (1 Chronicles 25:1). The group also sang responsive praises to the Lord, giving thanks to Him (3:11). Afterward, all the people shouted with a great shout (3:11).

The time of joy and praise was somewhat hindered, however, by the elderly priests, Levites, and heads of the families. Rather than be happy about the foundation of the new temple, those who had seen the old one when they were young wept with a loud voice at their remembrance of it and the more prosperous times that had accompanied the laying of its foundation (3:12). Their outward mourning made for an odd mix when combined with the younger crowd’s shouts of joy. Both types of sound blended together to create one big din of noise in which it was impossible to tell exactly who was shouting for joy and who was crying out in mourning (3:13).

In his commentary remarks on the book of Ezra, Warren Wiersbe has left us with an excellent word regarding this friction between the elderly Jews and the younger ones. As a matter of fact, this extended word is so good that I’ll use it as the close to this post because nothing else needs to be added to it. In talking about how older believers and younger believers must work together in God’s work, Wiersbe weaves in a quote from the famed 19th century preacher Alexander Maclaren and writes:

It’s unfortunate when the unity of God’s people is shattered because generations look in opposite directions. The older men were looking back with longing while the younger men were looking around with joy. Both of them should have been looking up and praising the Lord for what He had accomplished. We certainly can’t ignore the past, but the past must be a rudder to guide us and not an anchor to hold us back. God’s people are a family, not a family album filled with old pictures; they’re a garden, not a graveyard covered with monuments to past successes.

We have similar generational disagreements in the church today, especially when it comes to styles of worship. Older saints enjoy singing the traditional hymns with their doctrinal substance, but younger members of the church want worship that has a more contemporary approach. But it isn’t a question of accepting the one and rejecting the other, unless you want to divide families and split the church. It’s a matter of balance: the old must learn from the young and the young from the old, in a spirit of love and submission (1 Peter 5:1-11). When they were new, many of our traditional hymns were rejected for the same reasons some people reject contemporary praise choruses today.

“But each class (the young and the old) should try to understand the other’s feelings,” said Alexander Maclaren. “The seniors think the juniors revolutionary and irreverent; the juniors think the seniors fossils. It is possible to unite the shout of joy and the weeping. Unless a spirit of reverent regard for the past presides over the progressive movements of this or any day, they will not lay a solid foundation for the temple of the future. We want the old and the young to work side by side, if the work is to last and the sanctuary is to be ample enough to embrace all shades of character and tendencies of thought.”

Every local church is but one generation short of extinction. If the older believers don’t challenge and equip the younger Christians and set a godly example before them (Titus 2:1-8; 1 Tim. 5:1-2), the future of the congregation is in jeopardy. The church is a family; and as a family grows and matures, some things have to fall away and other things take their place. This happens in our homes and it must happen in the house of God. To some people, “change” is a synonym for “compromise,” but where there’s love, “change” becomes a synonym for “cooperation with one another and concern for one another.” “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1)

Posted in Aging, Balance, Change, Church, Elderly, God's Work, Ministry, Music, Series: "Ezra", Worship, Youth | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Kind of Shape is Your Altar in?

Posted on August 24, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #7)

And when the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. Then Jeshua the son of Jozadek and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings. (Ezra 3:1-3, N.K.J.V.)

God showed Israel’s King David the Mount Moriah site upon which David’s son Solomon would eventually build the Jewish temple. God then spoke through the prophet Gad to tell David to erect an altar on that site (2 Samuel 24:18-25). In compliance with that command, David bought the site and erected an altar there. That divine sequence of building an altar before building a temple would be repeated by the group of Jews who returned to Judah from Babylonian exile.

The two main leaders of that group were Zerubbabel and Jeshua. Zerubbabel, who carried the title “governor,” was a descendant of David and as such served as the group’s civil leader. Jeshua, who carried the title “High Priest,” was a descendant of Aaron and as such served as the group’s spiritual leader. Both men understood that their first order of business in Jerusalem was to build a new altar. This was to be done even before the work on the temple itself began. After all, the outdoors altar that would sit at the front of the temple would be nothing less than the center of Israel’s corporate worship. If the Jews didn’t offer the Mosaic law’s required sacrifices, the nation had no hope of enjoying God’s favor.

Not only did Zerubbabel and Jeshua understand the priority of the altar, the rest of the people did as well. As verse 1 of our text describes the situation, the people gathered together “as one man to Jerusalem.” What a beautiful scene it must have been. These people were back in their homeland of Judah, resettled in the cities in which their forefathers had formerly lived, and now it was time to begin the work of building their new temple. That work would start with the erecting of a new altar.

The only hindrance to the peoples’ zeal was the fear they felt due to the threat of the enemies that surrounded them (3:3), especially to their immediate north. There, in Samaria, lived the descendants of the foreigners — Gentiles from Babylon, Cuthan, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim — who had been deported into the land of Israel by the Assyrian empire when the Assyrians had conquered Israel’s northern kingdom some 185 years earlier (2 Kings 17:24-41). These descendants had become even more firmly entrenched in the land during the decades the people of Judah had been in forced exile in Babylon.

Ezra 7:9 indicates that the trek from Babylon to Judah took four months, and once the returning Jews arrived in Judah their first order of business was to establish homes for themselves in the area. Once that was done, however, they turned their full attention to building the new sacrificial altar that would sit outside the new temple. Presumably, the new altar was built upon the foundations of the old one even though scholars are in agreement that most aspects of Zerubbabel’s temple were built on a smaller scale than had been used for Solomon’s temple. Just for the record, the bronze altar of Solomon’s temple had been approximately 30 feet long, 30 feet high, and 15 feet wide (2 Chronicles 4:1).

Once the new altar was completed, Jeshua and his priests immediately sacrificed burnt offerings upon it. These were the first such sacrifices that had been offered at that site since the Babylonians had destroyed the previous temple. Just as God had been pleased with the aroma of the burnt offerings that Noah had offered up following his departure from the Ark (Genesis 8:20-21), surely God was equally pleased with the smell that lifted up to Him from the burnt offerings from the new altar in Jerusalem.

The “seventh month” (3:1) was the month called Tishri. It ran from September 15 through October 15 of our calendar year and was a very busy month in terms of the requirements of the Mosaic law. First, the Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:23-25; Numbers 29:1-6) was to take place on the first day of the month. Second, the Day of Atonement was to take place on the tenth day (Leviticus 23:26-32). Third, the Feast of Tabernacles was to take place on days 15-21 (Leviticus 23:33-36, 39-43; Numbers 29:12-29). Each of these annual events required the offering up of burnt sacrifices.

At the close of the month of Tishri, Jeshua and his fellow priests continued the law’s required practice of offering up a burnt offering each morning and evening. These were in addition to all the law’s other required sacrifices. Now that the Jews had an altar again, there was no excuse for them failing to keep the law’s ritualized system of sacrificing. If they needed to be reminded how seriously God took His law, all they had to do was remember that their failure to keep it was what had landed them in God’s woodshed called Babylon.

Today, we Christians must make sure that we ourselves keep worship front and center in our lives. Each of us should ask the question, “What kind of shape is my personal altar of worship in right now?” Sadly, some of us will have to admit that our altars are in disrepair and need some work. And how do we begin that work? We begin it by making worship a priority again. You see, God wants more than just the leftovers from our lives; He wants to have first place. And no matter how many beautiful temples we build, if each of them doesn’t have a functioning altar in front it, our priorities are out of whack and we stand in danger of experiencing God’s hand of chastisement.

Posted in Priorities, Series: "Ezra", The Old Testament Law, Worship | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Funding God’s Work

Posted on August 21, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #6)

Some of the heads of the fathers’ houses, when they came to the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God, to erect it in its place: According to their ability, they gave to the treasury for the work sixty-one thousand gold drachmas, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priestly garments. (Ezra 2:68-69, N.K.J.V.)

Leaders should lead by example. Leadership that doesn’t do so will have trouble finding followship. Fortunately for the Jews who left Babylon and returned to Judah to build a new temple, some of the heads of their families led by example in the way they gave financially to support the building program.

In post #2 from this series, we learned how the Babylonian neighbors of the departing Jews had gifted them with articles of silver and gold, goods, livestock, precious things, and other voluntary offerings. Cyrus the Great, the leader of the Medo-Persian empire that had deposed Babylon as the dominant world power, even joined in with the gifting by returning to those Jews 5,400 items that had once been housed in the temple in Jerusalem. When the Babylonians had destroyed that temple decades earlier, they had removed those items and carried them back to Babylon.

Once the returning Jews got back to Judah, though, it became time for the Jews themselves to fund the rebuilding of the temple. That’s when some of the heads of the Jewish families really stepped up to the plate. After arriving in Jerusalem at the end of the four-month journey, they stood at the ruins of what had once been their temple and gave their offerings. Each family head gave willingly as much as he could according to his wealth. The sum of their gifts totaled up to 61,000 gold coins, 6,250 pounds of silver, and 100 robes for the new priesthood that would be established to work at the temple.

This part of the story reminds us what the New Testament teaches about how God’s people are to fund His work. Consider the following passages (with me emphasizing certain parts of the passages):

1 Corinthians 16:1-2: Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. (N.I.V.)

2 Corinthians 9:6-8: Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. (N.L.T.)

2 Corinthians 8:11-14: Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have.  Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.  Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal. (N.L.T.)

1 Timothy 6:17-19: Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life. (N.L.T.)

In all of these passages, we can hear what God is saying. When it comes to funding His work, He doesn’t want to bleed His people dry but He does want us to give voluntarily, cheerfully, and generously according to our income. That goes for temple building, helping the poor, supporting missionaries, funding the work of the local church, and anything else that might be deemed “God’s work.” It’s just a shame that so many Christians blatantly ignore this important aspect of service. If those heads of the Jewish families who built that second temple in Jerusalem had given like many Christians do today, there would never have been a second temple.

In closing, let me be clear: God’s work doesn’t get done on pocket change. I trust that you will keep this in mind, Christian, when it comes your time to give. Remember that Jesus wants you to submit every part of your life to His Lordship and that includes your money. He has work that He wants you to generously support, and anytime He allows you to have more money, there are two questions that you should ask Him. The first one is: “Lord, how much extra do you want me to give from this new excess?” And the second one is: “Where do you want me to give it?”

Posted in Giving, God's Work, Missions, Money, Series: "Ezra" | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Real Group Consisting of Real People

Posted on August 19, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #5)

The book of Ezra’s general list of the people who left Babylon and made the four-month-long trek (Ezra 7:9) to return to Judah is given in Ezra 2:1-61. Even though the list provides only a handful of the actual names, it is nevertheless fairly thorough. Since the list is divided into no less than eight sections, let’s take them one at a time.

Section #1 (2:1-2) gives us the names of 11 men. Apparently, these were the most prominent leaders among the group. As we might expect, the first two names on the list are Zerubbabel (the governor) and Jeshua (the High Priest). In keeping with the interpretation that “Sheshbazzar” was merely another name for Zerubbabel, “Sheshbazzar” isn’t listed as being one of the 11. (By the way, the Nehemiah who is listed wasn’t the Nehemiah from the Bible’s book of Nehemiah, and the Mordecai isn’t the same one who is featured prominently in the book of Esther.)

Section #2 (2:3-21) offers the names of 18 Jewish families and the numbers of people from each of them who made the journey. There were 2,172 people from the family of Parosh (2:3), 372 from the family of Shephatiah (2:4), 775 from the family of Arah (2:5), 2,812 from the family of Pahath-Moab (2:6), etc., etc., etc. All of these families returned to settle down again in the cities and towns they had once called home in Judah (Ezra 2:1). Interestingly, Judah is referred to as “the province” in Ezra 2:1. This indicates that it was now just one small territory of the massive Medo-Persian empire rather than an autonomous kingdom in its own right.

Section #3 (2:21-35) shifts gears from talking about families to talking about various cities and towns. 21 such places are named. 123 people resettled Bethlehem (Ezra 2:21), 56 resettled Netophah (2:22), 128 resettled Anathoth (2:23), 42 resettled Azmaveth (2:24), etc., etc., etc.

Section #4 (2:36-39) deals with the number of priests from bonafide priestly families. 973 priests from the family of Jedaiah made the trip (2:36) as did 1,052 from the family of Immer (2:37), 1,247 from the family of Pashhur (2:38), and 1,017 from the family of Harim (2:39). The numbers add up to a total of 4,289 priests.

Section #5 (2:40-42) mentions non-priests from the tribe of Levi. While all of Israel’s priests came from the Aaronic line of the tribe of Levi, not every member of that tribe was a priest. So, in addition to the 4,289 priests who made the journey back to Judah, 74 Levites did as well. According to the Mosaic law, the Levites were to be the caretakers of the temple (Numbers 3:5-8). Also, 128 singers from the tribe of Levi (specifically, the family line of Asaph) and 139 gatekeepers from the tribe were part of the group. These gatekeepers would have the job of keeping unauthorized people from entering forbidden areas of the new temple.

Section #6 (2:43-54) speaks of the Nethinim. These were temple servants of low standing who were neither priests nor Levites. In Hebrew, the word Nethinim means “those given.” Most likely, these laborers were the descendants of the Gibeonites who had once deceived Joshua and thus been allowed to live alongside the Jews in Canaan but only as common laborers who did the most inglorious jobs (Joshua 9:1-27).

Section #7 (2:55-58) refers to “the children of Solomon’s servants.” Apparently, these temple workers could trace their ancestry back to forefathers who had performed similar menial tasks as part of Solomon’s temple staff during his reign. No doubt these servants performed the same type of lowly temple duties as the previously mentioned Nethinim, and the combined number of these servants and the Nethinim totaled up to 392 workers.

Finally, section #8 (2:59-63) talks about all the Jews who made the trip even though they couldn’t officially prove their Jewish ancestry by way of family genealogies. This group included members of three families of common people (2:59-60) as well as members of three priestly families (2:61). Despite supposedly being from these three priestly families, these men were disqualified from being considered for the priesthood. Even though the passage doesn’t tell us what became of the members of all six of these families, it seems likely that Zerubbabel at minimum granted them the basic rights the Mosaic law gave to strangers and foreigners who chose to live among the people of Israel (Exodus 22:21,24; 23:9; Leviticus 19:33-34; and Deuteronomy 10:18; 14:29).

Well, by now you are probably beginning to get so bogged down in all the minutia of these groupings and numbers that you are losing sight of the passage’s main teaching. So, let me crystalize that teaching for you: Somewhere in the ballpark of 50,000 real people, inwardly stirred up by a real God, made a real four-month trip, from one real place to another real place, to fulfill that real God’s real will. It wasn’t just Zerubbabel and Jeshua who had actual names. No, every last one of those approximately 50,000 people did as well. This shows us that there are times when God purposefully uproots specific individuals and relocates them to faraway places.

Perhaps God will stir you up to make such a life-changing move one day. For that matter, perhaps He is doing it right now. If He is, the best you can do is obey Him and trust Him with the results. Just as He had a divine plan for the life of each of those people who relocated from Babylon to Judah, He has a divine plan for your life, too. You just have to trust Him, step out in faith, and make that big move whenever He burdens you to make it. Summing up the situation, don’t ever try to make any move apart from God’s will but don’t ever drag your feet when you know what He wants you to do, either.

Posted in Change, God's Will, Individuality, Series: "Ezra" | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Godly Leadership

Posted on August 17, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #4)

It’s been said, “Everything rises or falls on leadership.” So, with this in mind, who was God’s man to lead the remnant of Jews out of Babylon and back to Judah for the purpose of building a new temple in Jerusalem? His name was Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel (Ezra 3:2) and the grandson of Jehoiachin. Jehoiachin, whom the Bible sometimes lists him under his variant names “Jeconiah” (1 Chronicles 3:16-17) and “Coniah” (Jeremiah 22:24-28; 37:1), was the next-to-last king of Judah. He reigned in Jerusalem for only three months before Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar captured him, took him to Babylon, and replaced him with Zedekiah, Judah’s last king (2 Kings 24:8-12; Ezekiel 17:11-14). The point is that Zerubbabel was a full-fledged descendant of Judah’s royal bloodline, a bloodline that could be traced back to David. In a perfect world, he would probably have been Judah’s king sometime in his life. He is even named as being a link in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:12-13; Luke 3:27).

While Zerubbabel was the civil leader of the remnant, their spiritual leader was a priest named Jeshua (Ezra 2:6; Nehemiah 7:11). He was the High Priest of the group of priests who would restore the worship practices of the Jewish people once the new temple was built. The name Jeshua is a variant of the name “Joshua,” which explains why the Bible also refers to him as “Joshua” (Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 3:1-3).

One interpretive difficulty that arises from the book of Ezra is the identity of the man named Sheshbazzar, who is called “the prince of Judah” (Ezra 1:8). In post #2 from this series, I talked about the 5,400 articles of silver and gold that Cyrus the Great returned to the Jews as part of Cyrus sanctioning the Jewish return to Judah. Those articles had all been a part of the decor of the Jews’ original temple, the temple of Solomon, that had been destroyed by the Babylonians. Well, according to Ezra 1:7-11, the man to whom Cyrus counted out those 5,400 articles, and the man who took those items back to Jerusalem, was Sheshbazzar.

Who, then, was this Sheshbazzar? While there are some excellent scholars and commentators who contend that he was a Persian official appointed by Cyrus to oversee the returning exiles, it doesn’t seem likely that an appointed Persian official would have been described as “the prince of Judah.” This is one reason why many students of the Bible believe that “Sheshbazzar” was simply another name for “Zerubbabel.” Just as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were given the Babylonian names “Belteshazzar,” “Shadrach,” “Meshach,” and “Abed-Nego” (Daniel 1:6-7), perhaps “Shesbazzar” was either the Babylonian name or the Persian name for Zerubbabel.

I myself favor the interpretation that Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel were the same man. My reasons are numerous. First, no mention is made of Sheshbazzar in scripture other than the book of Ezra (Ezra 1:8,11; 5:14,16), but Zerubbabel is frequently mentioned as being the civil leader of that remnant who left Babylon and returned to Judah. Second, even though Ezra 5:16 says that Sheshbazzar laid the foundation of the new temple, Ezra 3:8-13 says that Zerubbabel led that work, and Zechariah 4:9 specifically says that it was Zerubbabel who laid that foundation. Third, whereas Sheshbazzar carries the title “governor” in Ezra 5:14, Zerubbabel carries it in Haggai 1:1 and 2:2. Fourth, Zerubbabel could indeed legitimately be called “the prince of Judah,” his grandfather having been the king before the Babylonians started running things in Judah. Based upon these four reasons, I feel reasonably confident in saying that “Sheshbazzar” was another name for Zerubbabel.

In closing, let me say that godly leadership should always be appreciated. Whether that leadership be in regards to civil matters (as was the case with Zerubbabel) or spiritual matters (as was the case with Jeshua), godly leadership is usually very scarce in this fallen world in which we live. The plain truth is that leaders such as Zerubbabel and Jeshua don’t grow on trees and we should always appreciate the ones we have. I suppose that Proverbs 29:2 says it better than I ever could, and so I’ll offer that verse as the conclusion to this post. In the blunt beauty that is so typical of the book of Proverbs, the verse says:

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. (N.K.J.V.)

Posted in Leadership, Series: "Ezra" | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

“What Do You Mean You’re Not Going With Us?”

Posted on August 14, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #3)

Here is the list of the Jewish exiles of the provinces who returned from their captivity. King Nebuchadnezzar had deported them to Babylon, but now they returned to Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah where they originally lived. (Ezra 2:1, N.L.T.)

How many of the Jews living in Babylon accepted Cyrus the Great’s offer to return to their homeland of Judah and build a new temple in Jerusalem? The total number was only 42,360 (Ezra 2:64-65). By adding in the additional 7,337 Gentile servants and 200 Gentile singers (secular singers), the group’s traveling total gets raised to 49,897 Additionally, 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys made the trip (Ezra 2:66-67).

While the number of Jews who left Babylon and returned to Judah is impressive, the truth is that the majority of Jews chose to remain in Babylon. You might be asking, “But why didn’t all of the Jews return home?” My answer is that, spiritually speaking, the only ones who chose to make the trip were the ones whom God had inwardly stirred to make it (Ezra 1:5). Evidently, the stirring those people felt was something like an Old Testament version of Philippians 2:13, which says concerning the Christian:

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (N.K.J.V.)

As for the practical side of things, there were numerous reasons why the vast majority of Jews chose to remain in Babylon. And truth be told, each of those reasons had enough merit to make staying in Babylon seem like a sensible course of action. To see this, let me name the reasons.

Reason #1: Many of the Jews were simply too old to make the physically demanding trip of 900 miles. The trip would take four long months (Ezra 7:9), and even if the elderly Jews survived it, there was a ton of hard work awaiting them at the end of it. Temple building, obviously, isn’t something that old folks usually line up to do. Take the prophet Daniel, for instance. He was at least in his 80s when Cyrus’ decree was given. That probably explains why the Bible makes no mention of him being in the group that returned to Judah.

Reason #2: Many of the Jews worried about the potentially fatal dangers inherent with the trip. Harsh weather conditions could take a heavy toll, to say nothing of what thieves, robbers, bandits, and cutthroats might do. It wouldn’t have been just the elderly who would have been concerned about the element of danger, either. The fathers and mothers of infants and young children would have had the same apprehensions.

Reason #3: Many of the Jews had been born in Babylon during the captivity, which meant that Babylon was the only home they had ever known. Sure, they had heard the older generations tell stories about the land of Israel in general and the region of Judah specifically, but all the stories in the world could not create actual memories. Historically speaking, my Scotch-Irish ancestors settled the region of the Appalachian Mountains in which I have spent my entire life, but I have no plans to pull up stakes and relocate to either Scotland or Ireland just because my ancestors once lived there.

Reason #4: Many of the Jews enjoyed lives of reasonable comfort in Babylon. The possibility that a Jew could become wealthy in Babylon through business is evidenced by the fact that 7,337 Gentile servants of Jewish people joined in with the group bound for Judah. You see, unlike Israel’s 400 years of bondage at the hands of the Egyptians, the Babylonians did not inflict harsh labor upon the Jews. Some of them, like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, even held positions of authority in Babylon’s government. Even the Jews who hadn’t enjoyed any privilege under Babylonian rule knew their lives would be getting easier under the rule of Medo-Persia. Cyrus’ decree was clear proof of that. Therefore, some of them probably thought, “Why should we leave here now? We’ve already endured the worst part of staying?”

Reason #5: Many of the Jews still remembered the prophet Jeremiah’s instructions to them regarding their years in Babylon. He had told them to build houses there, live in those houses, plant gardens, eat the harvests, marry fellow Jews, and produce children (Jeremiah 29:1-6). He had also told them to seek the peace of Babylon as a way of seeking their own peace (Jeremiah 29:7). Admittedly, Jeremiah had meant for his instructions to apply only to Israel’s required years of exile, but we can understand how a Jew who had built a house in Babylon and raised a family in that house wouldn’t have been so quick to move 900 miles away in his senior-citizen years.

Reason #6: Many of the Jews were too backslidden or undiscerning to understand the spiritual value of relocating to Judah and building a new temple. Actually, the nation’s appreciation for spiritual matters had been at a low ebb even before the Babylonians had marched to the gates of Jerusalem. That was one of the reasons why God had allowed the Babylonians to do what they had done. And, obviously, after all those decades in Babylon without a temple, a priesthood, or the opportunities to observe their spiritual feasts and offer up sacrifices, the Jews’ level of spirituality had only decreased all the more.

It’s fair to ask if all those Jews who chose to remain in Babylon missed God’s will in doing so. My take is, they didn’t. As I see it, the determining factor for what God’s will was for each individual was whether or not God stirred up that person to make the trip. Getting back to Daniel as an example, no one is going to convince me that he missed God’s will by staying in Babylon.

What we can learn from this is that God doesn’t have a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all will for everybody. Certainly, He wants each individual to experience salvation (2 Peter 3:9) and live completely under His Lordship, but that’s pretty much where the group similarity stops. As I said at the close of the first post in this series, if God stirs you up to make the move to Jerusalem and help build the new temple, His blessings surely await you in Jerusalem. No one is disputing that. But just be certain that it’s God who is burdening you to make the move. Putting it another way, don’t let anybody goad you into doing something that God isn’t telling you to do. Remember what Vance Havner used to say: “Some sing, ‘I’ll go where you want me to go Lord,’ but they won’t stay where He wants them to stay.”

Posted in Aging, Choices, Decisions, Elderly, Fear, God's Will, Obedience, Series: "Ezra" | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

When God Flips a Script

Posted on August 12, 2021 by russellmckinney

“Ezra” series: (post #2)

Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. And all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. (Ezra 1:5-6, N.K.J.V.)

When God relocated the people of Israel out of their enslavement in Egypt and into their promised land of Canaan, He had the Egyptians foot the bill. Even before He sent Moses back to Egypt to lead that exodus, He told him concerning Pharaoh:

“So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” (Exodus 3:20-22, N.K.J.V.)

God’s word on that matter did come to pass (Exodus 12:35-36), and the Israelites eventually used many of those Egyptian items to build the Tabernacle, Israel’s first site of worship (Exodus 25:1-9). That set a precedent for what would happen centuries later when God was ready to relocate some of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon and into their homeland of Judah to build a new temple in Jerusalem. As our text verses tell us, all the Babylonian neighbors of those Jews encouraged (aided, helped, assisted) them by giving them articles of silver and gold, other precious things, and livestock.

Even Cyrus the Great, Persia’s king, gifted the returning Jews. As a matter of fact, he gave them the most important items of all. I’m talking about the holy, consecrated items that had previously been used in Solomon’s temple, the temple the Babylonians had destroyed. The Babylonians had loaded up all those items and carried them to Babylon in keeping with the erroneous idea that having the vessels from a rival god’s temple somehow transferred that god’s power to the new owners. Ezra 1:7-8 says regarding those items:

King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods; and Cyrus king of Persia brought them out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

Following that passage, the chapter’s next three verses (verses 9-11) provide us with a partial listing of those items. The list reads as follows: 30 gold platters, 1,000 silver platters, 29 knives, 30 gold basins, 410 silver basins, and 1,000 other articles. Verse 11 says that in total the number of articles of gold and silver were 5,400. Each of those thousands of items had long ago been a part of the decor of Solomon’s temple.

If you know your Old Testament history, you know that some of these items had recently been used in Babylon by the Babylonian ruler Belshazzar. In Daniel chapter 5, we find the story of how Belshazzar threw an elaborate feast in honor of 1,000 of his lords. As the wine was flowing liberally at that feast, Belshazzar commanded that the gold and silver vessels from Jerusalem’s temple be brought forth, and Belshazzar, his guests, his wives, and his concubines proceeded to drink from those vessels and sing praises to the Babylonian gods who had defeated Israel’s god. But that same hour Belshazzar saw the fingers of a man’s hand appear out of thin air and start writing on one of the walls of the room. The handwriting read: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

Since none of the Babylonians could interpret the words, the elderly Jewish prophet Daniel, who had long ago been a part of that first wave of deportees who had been taken from Judah to Babylon, was called in to help. He explained to Belshazzar that the fingers of the hand had been sent from God and the words meant:

  • MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it.
  • TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting.
  • PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

That same night Belshazzar was put to death as Cyrus the Great’s Medo-Persian army captured Babylon, the capital city of the empire. Cyrus then placed a Mede named Darius in charge of the city while he himself ruled over the colossal Medo-Persian empire. Darius grew to have great respect for the elderly Daniel, and some commentators believe that God worked through Daniel’s wise counsel to prompt Cyrus to issue the decree that is recorded in the closing verses of 2 Chronicles and the opening verses of the Ezra.

As long as I am passing through here, let me also mention that the most famous item from Solomon’s temple is conspicuously absent from the list of items provided in Ezra 1:9-11. That item was the Ark of the Covenant. When Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian forces destroyed the temple and ransacked its items, did they not take the Ark of the Covenant back to Babylon? Evidently not. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, let me encourage you to read my blog series entitled “The Ark of the Covenant.” In those posts, I go into great detail about the history of the Ark and offer some possible explanations as to what happened to it.

For now, though, let me just wrap up this second post from the Ezra series by saying that when God flips a script, He really flips a script. When your former persecutors become your benefactors, you’ll know that God has flipped your script. When your former enemies become your supporters, you’ll know that God has flipped your script. When those who once worked against you start actively working for you, you’ll know that God has flipped your script. Do you believe that God still does such things? If you do, then don’t hesitate to ask Him to flip that script that has been hindering you for so long. Why should you hesitate to ask when it just could be that God’s handwriting on the wall stands ready and willing to pronounce the downfall of your oppressors and bring about a new status quo in which you will be able to move into a brighter future?

Posted in Adversity, Change, God's Omnipresence, God's Judgment, Justice, Persecution, Problems, Prophecy, Restoration, Series: "Ezra", The Ark of the Covenant | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments