Day 136. Ezra 5-7

The rebuilding of the temple resumes in the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia—520 B.C.E. The work is supervised by Zerubbabel the governor and Jeshua the high priest, and with them are "the prophets of God, helping them" (5:2). These prophets Haggai and Zechariah, in the books that bear their names, encourage the returned exiles to compete the work of rebuilding. They share with the author of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah a conviction of the crucial importance of regular centralized worship in the temple to the identity of Israel as the people of God.
They encounter some opposition from Tattenai, the Persian governor of the province Beyond the River. The province of Yehud (Judah) is cut from his jurisdiction, and he is stung by his loss of authority over the region. He requests of King Darius that a search be made of the Persian archives to make certain that King Cyrus had indeed authorized "the rebuilding of the house of God in Jerusalem" (5:17). Darius orders the search be made and the original decree is located (6:1-5). He instructs Tattenai to "let the work on the house of God alone" (6:7) and further commands him to supply animals to the Jews so that they may "offer pleasing sacrifices" and "pray for the life of the king and his children" (6:10). (The king of Persia wants some return on his investment, apparently.)
So the work goes forward and prospers because of the support of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (6:14), and in 515 B.C.E. it is at last completed. The second temple is dedicated "with joy" (6:16). The sacrifices are large, but do not compare with those offered by Solomon at the dedication of the first temple. A great Passover is celebrated, perhaps in connection with the rededication (6:19). And in an unusual gesture of inclusiveness, Jews who were not a part of the exile but had rededicated themselves and Gentiles who had "joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the nations of the land to worship God" are allowed to take part in the festival of unleavened bread (6:21). Our text says that the whole community rejoices that the LORD, who once hardened the heart of Pharaoh, has now "turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he [has] aided them in the work on the house of God" (6:220. (What is probably meant
here is not the king of Assyria but the king of Persia, either Cyrus or Darius.)
Now Ezra at last arrives on the scene. Ezra is both a priest (7:1-6) and also "a scribe skilled in the law of Moses" (7:16). He appears to have been a religious genius who sets the pattern for subsequent Judaism. An expert in the law and also adept in reading and writing, the genius of Ezra is crucial to the formation of a community based upon the study of the law (7:6). The writer tells us that "Ezra [sets] his heart to the study of the law of the LORD, [determined] to do it, and to teach the statues and ordinances in Israel" (7:10).
He works under the patronage of the Persian king Artaxerxes and is sent by the king with a second group of returning exiles from Babylon "to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your hand" (7:14). We get the whole text of the king's letter in our reading (7:11-26). In the letter Ezra is given authority to appoint magistrates to judge "all the people. . . who know the law of your God," and a mandate to "teach those who do not know them" (7:25). In order words, he is to set up a state governed by Mosaic Law.
In a brief passage at the end of chapter seven, writing in the first person Ezra blesses the LORD for moving the king of Persia to glorify the temple in Jerusalem. "I took courage," he says, "for the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me" (7:28). We learn more about this second group of returning exiles to tomorrow's reading.