Day 260
Not just a rebuild, but a fully funded rebuild. The Jews returning to Judah were given gold and silver, including goods, animals, and the travel expenses, as the journey would take months. God did not send them home empty-handed and hope that they would figure it out on the way. He sent them home prepared and stocked.
This was an echo of the Exodus, when Egypt gave silver, gold, and clothing after losing its firstborn (Passover). Then it was a pagan nation’s wealth poured into God’s people as He set them free. Now the Persians gave riches to fund the Israelites’ new beginning. On top of all the neighbors’ funding, Cyrus gave them back the temple plunder that had been taken by King Nebuchadnezzar! (Babylon). What was stolen in exile, grace put back in the land. What the journey would cost, grace already wrote the check. When they thought they were going home to rebuild ruins, God funded the work. Not just a rebuild. A fully funded new beginning.
Have you ever been sent on a journey God already paid for? Who were the unexpected “Persians” God used to fund your new beginning?
In a mostly chronological reading plan, I warned there would be days that were not necessarily cohesive. If you remember back to day 232, where we did not read the last sentence of 2 Chron 36. Most days, Scripture stayed on a relatively even path… 2 Chron 36:1–21 covered Judah’s final kings and the fall of Jerusalem (597–586 BC), which fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecy of judgment and the land’s sabbath rest. Then we covered Jeremiah 41 to the end, Obadiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel, which were all during the exile period. Now we circle back to the last 2 verses of 2 Chronicles 36:22–23 with Cyrus’ decree (538 BC), which ends the exile period, fulfilling Jeremiah’s 70-year promise, and leads us into Ezra.
Note that there are scholars who believe 1st & 2nd Chronicles (newspaper articles) were also written by Ezra. Going even farther, the memories of Nehemiah and the Book of Esther could have also been written by Ezra. That is just over 12 percent of the Old Testament, 5 of 39 books, accounting for almost half of the historical books.
Now Cyrus, a pagan king, captured Babylon, and God was at work in his heart. Not only did God soften Cyrus’ heart towards the Israelites, but He allowed them to go back to their homeland and rebuild the temple. Cyrus had a motive; this was very much a strategic and political move. Cyrus used it to gain loyalty from the newly conquered people, which stabilized his empire. He also created a buffer between the political and religious leaders. This can be noted by the archaeological find of the Cyrus Cylinder.
Ezra was part of historical records; he recorded the Jewish people who returned to the land. Nations started using “Jews” now to denote the Israelites from Judah (S) and Benjamin (S) because only those whose hearts God had moved as they followed him were returned to Jerusalem. “Jew” replaces “Israelite” as the word comes from “Yehudi,” which originally meant “person from the tribe/kingdom of Judah.” After the ten tribes of Israel, the northern Kingdom scattered, Judah became a stand-alone name. The Persians called the Yehud area = Judean = Jew. This can be found in the Book of Esther, where Mordecai was called a “Jew” even though he was from the tribe of Benjamin.
The names of the leaders who helped during the first wave of the return:
- Zerubbabel- from the line of King David by King Jeconiah. He became the governor of Judah and led the rebuilding of the altar and second temple with Joshua. Zerubbabel’s name means Seed / Offspring of Babylon.
- Joshua (Jeshua)- The high priest who led the rebuilding of the altar and temple with Zerubbabel. Note that this was not the same Joshua who led the Israelites into the Promised Land. The rebuilding can be seen in Ezra 3 and Haggai 1. Funny how both Joshuas in Scripture were leading new starts after exile, one after the wilderness and one after Babylon!
The list of those returning from exile documented their lineage because they had just spent 70 years in Babylon. Due to assimilation and intermarriage, outsiders or the partly assimilated could try to claim membership. Ezra 2 lists them by family and by towns from pre-exile times. Only 4 of the 24 priest lines that David had organized returned. 4,289 priests, a number much larger than the Levite number. The singers of Asaph were the temple choir.
Ezra 2 listed people from Tel-Melah & Tel-Harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer who could not prove they belonged to Israel, which became very important. Without proof of belonging to Israel, they would not have full standing. Lineage was the deciding factor. Some who claimed to be priests were excluded from the most holy food until a priest could decide by Urim & Thummim (Exodus 28:30).
If they claimed to be priests, they could come and live in the land but could not act as priests or eat the most holy food until God, through a priest with the Urim and Thummim (the two objects used to give a yes/no answer by the priest), said otherwise. Ezra 2:63 implied that the Urim and Thummim were not available, as though they were lost in exile just like the Ark!
In chapter 3, the exiles arrived and wanted to get back in a relationship with God. They rebuilt the altar, had the festivals, and offered sacrifices, but the temple was not built yet. The foundation of the Lord’s house had not even been laid. They did give their own money to build the project; maybe the donations were not enough, as God was testing their hearts, as putting their own money in reflects commitment to the Temple restoration. (Brings to thought the Link’s campaign claiming, how committed are we to the “temple restoration).
They built an altar on the exact same spot as Solomon’s temple. The kicker was that they offered burnt offerings because they were afraid of the people around them (Ezra 3:3). There was no ark, just the altar and the same worship schedule. Worship does not wait for building permits or even a building; it is immediate. The foundation was laid, and they sang with joy. God’s promise to bring them back had come true. After 70 years in exile, they are back in the Promised Land, with no temple, just a stone in the ground. That is what they praise; what they have, not what they are missing.
The old men weep. They remember Solomon’s house with all the gold, the cedar and the glory. Now there was almost no budget, only a few Levites, and no ark. The young have only ever known the area to be ruins; to them, this state is the best the place has ever looked.
Today's Discussion question:
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