Day 135. Ezra 1-4

The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah—they were in fact one book until the 15^th century—pick up the story where the Books of Chronicles leave off—with the liberation of the Jews by King Cyrus of Persia. Cyrus is certainly not a believer in the God of Israel, but the spirit of LORD directs him, and Cyrus acts on behalf of God's people (1:1).  The Bible proclaims the acts of the God who is always working in history, both through devout rulers and unbelieving tyrants. Cyrus is no tyrant, but rather a comparatively enlightened king who understands that the best way to keep subject peoples in line is to treat their customs and religious traditions with respect. That is why he allows the Jewish exiles in Babylon to return to Jerusalem if they wish (1:3,5)—not all of them do, by any means—and sponsors the rebuilding of their temple. He even goes so far as to return the vessels that the Babylonians had plundered from the temple (1:7-10). (There is no mention of the Ark of the Covenant—we can only assume that it was broken up when the temple was looted.)

Among those who return from captivity—there is a long list—Zerubbabel is mentioned first. He is a descendent of the royal house of David, and he functions for a time as governor of the Persian province of Yehud (Judah). The second mentioned is Jeshua (Joshua), the high priest, the son of Jehozadak, who was the high priest who went into exile. These two supervise the building of the second temple (2:2)

Among the returning exiles there is a great interest in genealogy and in Ezra-Nehemiah there is much more emphasis placed on purity of blood lines than before. Here for the first time the question of who really is a Jew and who isn't arises.  For instance, we are told in our reading that after the exile some who claimed to be priests are checked in the genealogical rolls, and when their names are not found there, "they are excluded from the priesthood as unclean"--at least until such times as they could be checked out using Urim and Thummin, the sacred lots used to discover God's will (2:62-63). Judaism after the Babylonian exile began to think of itself as race as well as a faith based upon a covenant relationship.  Racial purity is an idea that Jesus will attack—and get himself crucified for doing so.

Once settled in Jerusalem,  Zerubbabel, the governor, and Jeshua, the high priest, set about reinstituting the sacrifices, although we are told that they are "in dread of the neighboring peoples" (3:3).  This is a foreshadowing of trouble to come. In the second year after their arrival they lay the foundation for the temple. This is done with ardent praise—in Ezra-Nehemiah as in Chronicles such important events are always marked by joyful worship (3:10). There is the music of trumpets, and singers intone that same verse that was sung at the dedication of the temple of Solomon (3:10-11).

This second temple, however, is a much more modest affair than Solomon's. Those aged people who still remembered the magnificence of "the first house" wept with disappointment when they saw this one.  But we are told that their tears mix with the joyful shouts of the younger generation, "so that the people [can] not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away" (3:12-13).

Almost immediately there is trouble with the neighboring peoples. The descendents of those who had been forcibly settled in the land after the destruction of Israel and the deportation of its inhabitants by the Assyrians—they would later be called Samaritans—want to take part in the building of the temple. After all, they worship the same God and "have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of King Esar-haddon of Assyria who brought [them] there" (4:2). The Jews, who regard them as "unclean," refuse and tell them bluntly—"You shall have no part with us in building a house to our God" (4:3). Again, we note the emphasis on racial and religious purity.  This attitude, of course, gives offense, and the resistance of "the people of the land" makes the Jews afraid to continue building (4:4).

(We can see in our reading of Ezra-Nehemiah that the roots of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict reach down very deep into the history of the Holy Land.)

Those "neighboring peoples" go further still. A letter is written by some in the Persian court on behalf of the Samaritans and is presented to the Persian king Artaxerxes. It alleges that the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple would constitute a threat to Persian authority in the region. Jerusalem, the letter says, has in the past proved "a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces" (4:15). If he allows the returned exiles to rebuild it, the Persian king can expect to have no authority "in the province Beyond the River" (4:16).  Artaxerxes, after looking into the matter, discovers that this is true—Jerusalem has been troublesome in the past.  So he issues an order that the city shall not be rebuilt after all-- at least for the time being. So work on the house of God stops until the second year of King Darius of Persia (4:24). That is where the story will pick up in tomorrow's reading.