Sorry about the long hiatus! It's been crazy around the church.
1:1 - This decree was made by Cyrus around 538BC. King Cyrus boasts in the "Cyrus Cylinder" (an archeological find corroborating the bible - YAY!) that he will allow the people in his kingdom to restore their holy places.
1:2 - How cool is it that Cyrus refers to God as the "Lord, the God of Heaven?" We know for a fact that God is at work in the heart of Cyrus...in fact, the theme of the Book of Ezra is God's faithfulness to restore His people. Even after allowing the Israelites to be exiled from the Promised Land because of their rejection of God...He stays true to His promises and brings them back. Ezra is written by a Jewish scholar, so we don't know if Cyrus truly believed in the one and only God or if it was just written like this because the author knew God was behind it all. The "Lord, the God of Heaven" statement could just be a politically correct statement from the king so as not to offend any of the religious people he is sending back to their homelands.
1:3 - Here we see what I believe is Cyrus' real view on God. He holds to the ancient view that a cultures' gods dwell only in their own land. He refers to God as the "God who is in Jerusalem." What Cyrus doesn't realize is that the God he believes is only in Jerusalem is the one who has been working on his heart and the only God that actually exists.
2:62ff - The Jews start returning to their homeland and there are a lot of issues to be worked out. They have been in exile for 70 years and so everyone is trying to establish their lineage, which is important for land holdings and positions in the structure of the priesthood. Understandably, there are occasional gaps in the bloodlines and some of the people are put on hold as priests until they can seek out clarification from God. This is important to note, because they are trying to do everything the right way upon their return. They will not just accept anyone as a priest...they want a pure priesthood to lead in the worship of God. A Christians we can look back on this and understand how incredibly blessed we are - we do not have to prove our worth through ancestry, because we have been deemed the sons and daughters of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are a holy priesthood.
3:12-13 - Why are the older people weeping during this time of great celebration? I can assure you that they are happy to return and happy to be rebuilding the temple of the Lord, but they were around to see the glory of Solomon's Temple and they know this one will never be as amazing. They know the glory of the Israelite nation will never be what it once was. They rejected God and paid a steep price - though God restored them to Israel they couldn't take back what had happened and the consequences of those actions. Sounds like our lives, huh? No matter what we have done, God can bring redemption and restoration, but we often have to deal with the fallout of our sinful choices.
3 comments:
When God makes a promise it is kept. I never have really thought it through that when He keeps His promise, he will be using someone to do it. So the question I ask myself, do I make myself available to God everyday to work through me to keep His promise. Tough one, eh?
In chapter three there was certainly some aprehension about building the altar. Here they are strangers in their own home land, some, never having set foot on it before, and they are going to build this large temple with potential enemies surrounding them. Another question I have to ask myself, am I worried about what others around me think, when God is asking me to keep His promise?
Welcome back Brando!
Good thoughts Tim - thanks.
3:1- I like how it says the Israelites gathered as "one man". Finally. I'm hoping they keep it together.
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