Ezra

• Introductory Matters
• • Ezra the man
  • • A scribe and priest sent by Artaxerxes to Jerusalem (7:1-5)
    • Expert in the law of Moses
    • His commission (7:1-26)
    • • Lead Jews to Jerusalem
      • Deliver gifts to be used in purchasing sacrifices and offerings for Temple worship
      • Discover whether the Jews were following God's law - punish those who were not
      • Appoint magistrates and judges to teach the people the law
  • Ezra-Nehemiah
  • • Originally Ezra-Nehemiah was one book
    • Origen separated the two books in the 3^rd century C.E. as did Jerome in the 4^th century C.E.
    • Hebrew Bibles did not separate the two until 15^th century C.E.
  • Date - 400-300 B.C.E.
  • Sources used
  • • Decree of Cyrus (1:2-4)
    • Inventory of Temple vessels (1:9-11)
    • List of those returning from exile (2:1-3:1)
    • Hebrew summary of two letters (4:6-7)
    • Letter in Aramaic to Artaxerxes from Rehum (4:8-16)
    • Reply of Artaxerxes in Aramaic (4:17-22)
    • Letter to Darius from Tattenai in Aramaic (5:6-17)
    • Reply from Darius in Aramaic including Cyrus' decree (6:3-12)
    • Commission of Ezra (7:12-26)
    • List of people who returned with Ezra (8:1-14)
    • List of those who had been involved in mixed faith marriages (10:8-43)
  • Probably written or at least edited by the Chronicler
  • Chronology of Ezra and Nehemiah

   

• Message of the Book
• • Cyrus' decree (1:2-4)
  • • Reminiscent of the building of the Temple by Solomon and the great exodus from Egypt
    • God was acting in the history of His people again - this time amazingly through the Persians - the book implies that cooperating with or at least tolerating Persian rule is what God desires
  • Rebuilding
  • • Vessels used in the Temple which Nebuchadnezzar and his army had captured were returned (1:7-11, 5:14-15, 6:5)
    • Altar for burnt offerings was rebuilt (3:3)
    • Temple was rebuilt on its old site (6:7)
  • Enemies of the Jews delayed completion of the Temple (3:3, 4:1-24) - delays were not caused by people's concern for their own houses and comforts as in Haggai 1:4
  • Before Ezra left to return to Jerusalem he and those who returned with him fasted and prayed asking God to protect them as they journeyed - Ezra was reluctant to ask Artaxerxes for protection (although it probably would have been provided) - instead he showed faith in God
  • Problem of mixed marriages (9:1-10:44)
  • • Some of the Jews had intermarried with their neighbors including the Moabites and the Egyptians (9:1)
    • Three problems here
    • • Jews had married individuals from nations that had been antagonistic toward or had failed to aid them - such relationships were setting them up for further disappointments
      • Jews were losing their distinctiveness through intermarriage
      • Jews in such marriages were tempted to embrace the religion of their spouse and abandon or dilute their faith in and obedience to God
    • Ezra reacted with great grief (9:3-5) - he knew the dangers of the people's actions
    • His prayer is a beautiful confession (9:6-15) which must have moved the people
    • Ezra forced all the people who had returned from exile to come to Jerusalem to decide what to do - those who did not come would lose their property and be exiled from the community of faith (10:7-8)
    • The people were affected as Ezra was (10:9)
    • Those who had married foreign wives divorced them and sent them away with their children (10:44)
    • Why be so harsh?
    • • Intermarriage had caused problems for Israel all the way back to Solomon's time (1 Kings 11:1-8) - this sin had led to the eventual destruction of both Israel and Judah - Ezra would not let history repeat itself
      • Certainly some of the Jewish spouses could have converted their spouses to faith in God - for Ezra this was probably too great a chance to take - conversion would require time with no guarantee of the success of the program - divorce was a harsh but perhaps the only quick solution
    • Later books like Ruth would argue that foreigners could accept faith in God and figure in the very ancestry of David

     

• Ezra reports the beginning of a renewed community as they struggle with outsiders and themselves to rebuild their nation

Artwork by Berruguete from the Bible Picture Library of Photo Art (c) Christian Computer Art, 1994-97