Opposition during the Reigns
of Ahasuerus and Artakh’shasta
Ezra 4: 6-24

445 BC During the ministry of Nehemiah (see Bt – The Third Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra and Nehemiah memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Nehemiah Memoirs).

Reduced to its simplest form, these verses consist of a series of letters between the Jewish opposition and the Persian throne. The first letter to Ahasuerus is mentioned in passing with no response from the king recorded. But the second letter to Artakh’shasta is more detailed, specific names are given; Aramaic, the official language of the Persian Empire is used, and the king responds back with a letter of his own (see Aw – The Resumption of Work Under King Darius).⁷¹

From the initial opposition of trying to rebuild the Temple within six months of the Jew’s return (Ezra 4:4), to the opposition mentioned a decade-and-a-half later when Darius assumed the throne (see Af – Ezra-Nehemiah Chronology), to the opposition over trying to build the walls around Jerusalem over a hundred years later in the days of Artakh’shasta, trouble stalked the Jews at every step.

In describing the events in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Chronicler, with the advantage of hindsight, looks back on the historical landscape and refers to the opposition placed in the way of the Jews. Thus, he rearranged the historical records at his disposal to support his main purpose, which was to show that Jewish opposition lasted a very long time. When discussing the problems of building the Temple in Ezra 4:1-5, it reminded him of similar problems with the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem about ninety years later, and so Ezra 4:6-23 has been inserted, almost parenthetically, before the narrative of the building of the Temple can once again be taken up in Ezra 4:24. So, here we temporarily flash-forward to 445 BC and the Third Return of Nehemiah.

Opposition during the Reign of Cyrus
Ezra 4: 1-5

Opposition during the Reign of Cyrus DIG: What psychological ploy is used here against Isra’el? Why did Zerubbabel and the others respond as they did (4:3 and 3:2)? Cyrus reigned 29 years (559-530). What was the impact of such protracted opposition?

REFLECT: What clues tell you who has a part in God’s work, and who is opposed to Him? Are such clues “presumption,” the spiritual gift of discernment, or faith? When has someone tried to wear you out or scare you away from completing a certain task? From completing a ministry task? Did you continue or quit? Why?

536 BC during the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

Work on the Temple had begun, but then stopped because of this opposition.

Within weeks of returning, the former exiles gathered in the Temple area to rebuild the bronze altar and celebrate the Feast of Sukkot (see Aq – Rebuilding the Bronze Altar and the Festival of Sukkot). In the spring of the second year, about six months after their return to Jerusalem, they gathered again in the City to celebrate laying the foundation for the Temple (see Ar – The Start of Rebuilding the Temple). Now it was time to begin in earnest the work of rebuilding the House of God itself.

News of the rebuilding project reached those from afar, and as the work began, a delegation arrived, identified by the Chronicler as the enemies of Judah and Benjamin (Ezra 4:1) and the people of the land (Ezra 4:4a, also seen in 9:1-2 and 11, 10:2 and 11; Nehemiah 9:24 and 30, 10:31-32).

Opposition during the reign of Cyrus: When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a Temple for ADONAI, the God of Isra’el (Ezra 4:1). Many of these enemies of Judah and Benjamin were from Samaria, but also included people from Ashdod, Ammon, Mo’ab, and Edom. They were the descendants of those who were relocated into the cities of the Northern Kingdom after the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians and Sargon II in 722 BC. The Bible gives no record of Esarhaddon having done the same thing, but we do know from the cylinder of Esarhaddon that he conquered Sidon during one of his campaigns, and it is most likely the Northern Kingdom (Samaria) was also involved in the rebellion against the Assyrians.

The origins of the Samaritans began in Second Kings 17:24-33. The northern Kingdom of Isra’el had been conquered by the Assyrians. They treated their conquered territories differently than the Babylonians. The Babylonians brought only the best and the brightest back to Babylon (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gt – In the Thirty-Seventh Year of the Exile Jehoiachin was Released from Prison). The Assyrians, however, took a different approach. The king of Assyria (primarily Sargon II, though later Assyrian rulers, including Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, settled additional non-Israelites in Samaria) brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns (Second Kings 17:24). The problem was that these people brought their gods with them and began worshiping their gods in Samaria. But lions kept eating the new settlers.
So one day they asked a Levite why they kept being eaten by lions and he suggested that they were worshiping the gods of the lands where they came from, but not the God of Samaria. Therefore, they began worshiping YHVH, but in addition to their other gods. The problem of the Samaritans was not that they were half-breeds racially, but half-breeds spiritually. They had a hybrid religion because they combined the true faith of worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with pagan idolatry.

This delegation was, therefore, a people of mixed racial and religious backgrounds, who had no claim to being a part of the people of God. Not only did they combine the worship of their gods with the worship of YHVH, they were even led by an apostate priest from the north, provided by the Assyrians, rather than a true priest from Jerusalem.⁶⁶ So they continued to worship ADONAI, but they also [worshiped] their own gods, after the custom of the nations from which they had been deported (Second Kings 17:25-33).

They approached Zerubbabel and the leading patriarchs and said to them, “Let us build with you, for like you we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us here” (Ezra 4:2). On the surface, this offer sounded reasonable and timely. The sooner the Temple was built, the sooner the Israelites could worship ADONAI in the manner for which they had longed for, for seventy long years. And building hardly a religious matter! Bricks are bricks. What wrong could there be in accepting a few laborers to sweat alongside the faithful in hauling heavy stones? It could hardly have threatened Isra’el’s faith. Right?

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the prominent patriarchs of Isra’el said to them, “It is not for you and us to build a House for our God – but we alone will build it for ADONAI the God of Israel, just as Cyrus – king of Persia – has commanded us” (Ezra 4:3). In Zerubbabel’s eyes, however, for the exiles to have assimilated, even in this apparently harmless way, would have seriously compromised their future. Those enemies did not have the same convictions; they did not submit to the authority of God’s word; and they were not dedicated to the One true God. The danger of syncretism was ever present.⁶⁷

God’s word was clear. The hard-won insight of the exile, which had transformed disaster into deliverance and horror into hope, was the recognition that Ha’Shem demanded exclusive worship (see the commentary on Exodus Dk – You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me). He demanded it to the extent that the Babylonian exile was the inevitable outcome of Isra’el’s past disobedience in that regard. For the returnees to tempt fate at that crucial juncture was unthinkable. Not only that, but Cyrus’ word was also clear. The official permission to rebuild had been given to the Jews alone, and nothing that might jeopardize that political lifeline could be tolerated. That Zerubbabel’s suspicions were justified is made perfectly clear in the following chapters.⁶⁸

Pluralism is nothing new. These Samaritans and their friends claimed to worship the same God as the Jews, so they insisted on joint participation in the rebuilding of the Temple in Yerushalayim. Today it is quite common to hear calls for the abandonment of the uniqueness of our faith because of the belief in religious pluralism. This has been the frequent contention, for example, of the World Council of Churches. Had this been the necessary consequence of encountering the multitude of other religions, Moshe, Isaiah, Yeshua and Paul would have given up biblical faith long before it became fashionable in our time.

Nothing in modern culture so diminishes our understanding of the greatness of God’s glory as revealed in the Scriptures as syncretism – the view that there are many ways to God and that all of them are equally valid. This is a lie from the pit of hell. Once one adopts the view that there is more than one way to God, pluralism negates the supremacy of the God of the Bible. Believers are immediately labeled as using “hate speech,” and are “intolerant.” In this age of political correctness, relativism, and pluralism, arguments for the uniqueness of our faith appear to be hostile and militant. Traveling through the narrow gate isn’t very popular these days (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Dw – The Narrow and Wide Gates).

The Chronicler seems eager for us to learn that danger lurked in the offer to Zerubbabel in the guise of a genuine offer for help. These were wolves in sheep’s clothing, plotting mischief and mayhem unless forthrightly opposed. Behind this, for sure, lay the ruler of demons himself – Satan (Matthew 12:24)! His hatred toward God, and all things that pertain to God’s Kingdom, is, and was evident. These delegates were enemies of the cross of Messiah (Philippians 3:18), to be resisted with unrelenting zeal.⁶⁹

Having had their offer of help refused, the people of the land turned to a strategy of systematic discouragement. In C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape, the demonic undersecretary of the Department of Temptation, suggests a plan of attack to a novice in the art of temptation. After mentioning a few strategies, he then makes the recommendations to “work hard . . . on discouragement which the patient (the believer) clearly deserves.” It is a strategy, Screwtape suggests, that hardly ever fails.

This strategy was employed in Jerusalem with devastating success. Having begun the work of rebuilding the Temple, the Jews turned away from the task altogether – until, that is, Ezra appeared on the scene. It would take twenty-one years before the task would be completed. Then the people of the land, or the Samaritans, began discouraging the people of Judah and making them afraid to build (Ezra 4:4). Through a campaign of physical and psychological intimidation and threats, the reconstruction work came to a standstill. Those Jews were not soldiers in any conventional sense. They had spent their lives in submission to Babylon and were not equipped to deal with the kind of guerrilla warfare that they were subjected to. Perhaps the campaign of intimidation was largely verbal, pointing out the difficulty of the task and the futility of building something that, according to some of them, would never be as glorious as Solomon’s Temple (Ezra 3:12).

If the first part of the strategy occurred in Jerusalem, the second seemed to have taken place by hired men in the halls of power in Persia. A campaign was started to dislodge the Jews’ favorable status with their Persian overlords. They bribed advisors in order to thwart their plans all the days of King Cyrus of Persia, otherwise known as King Darius (see Bc – King Darius Endorses the Rebuilding of the Temple). Personal discouragement drained away the spirit of the work at hand, diminished the effort of building, which led to apathy and inactivity (Ezra 4:5). It was a strategy that evidently worked: Thus the work on the House of God in Jerusalem ceased. It remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia (Ezra 4:24). What a breathtaking statement. The work of God was halted.

Discouragement is like a deadly virus. It saps energy, cripples motivation, and turns people inward. Are you discouraged by the slow progress of Kingdom work? Does it appear to you as though for every step forward you make in your walk with Christ, you find yourself taking two steps back? If so, here is a three pronged strategy for dealing with discouragement – strategies that we will see Ezra and Nehemiah employ later in our studies.

First, we must realize that our walk with Messiah, and the ministry that goes along with it, consists of trials and difficulties of all kinds and that no gains are to be made without them. This sounds depressing, but it is the constant theme of Scripture. Knowing that we have an enemy in the Adversary, who will stop at nothing to destroy us, should be the motivation we need to ensure that we are equipped with the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17), and ready when the battle begins.

Second, we must learn from the mistake that the righteous of the TaNaKh made. They allowed themselves to become victims of discouragement. They lost sight of the goal, and more importantly, lost sight of Ha’Shem. Whenever you take your eye off the Lord, discouragement is sure to follow. The answer to their struggles did not lie in themselves. They needed to believe that ADONAI had brought them back from Babylon and resettled them in the Land. What is not seen in this chapter is any indication of prayer to the God of heaven to intervene. And without prayer we can expect nothing from His hand. The eventual slide into indifference and apathy that resulted in the next twenty-one years was the inevitable consequence. The LORD gave them what they asked for . . . to be left alone!

Third, the exiles failed to exercise faith. Faith will keep us going when everyone around us is shouting, “Stop!” Faith will keep us hanging onto God despite discouragements that we feel, real and imaginary. Faith takes hold of the reality of the opposition and brings it before ADONAI, only to see the reality that He is stronger than the might of the fiercest enemy. That is the faith we need to keep hanging on when times are tough and enemies abound.⁷⁰

Opposition to Rebuilding the Temple
Ezra 4: 1-24

During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from both the Ezra memoirs and the Nehemiah Memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs
and the Nehemiah Memoirs).

And they built the Temple and lived happily ever after! Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be? Shouldn’t that have been the outcome, especially since the exiles had seventy years to learn the lesson of their previous errors and make speedy progress since they had tasted the sweet mercies of ADONAI? But that is to take too optimistic a view of human nature. The story that now unfolds is one of retreat rather than progress. In this chapter we are given the reason why the work of rebuilding the Temple ground to a halt – opposition. It does not excuse the lack of progress; it merely explains the reason for it. The returning Israelites were responsible for their loss of enthusiasm. The completion of the rebuilding of the Temple would take another twenty-one years, not because of the difficulty of the task, but because the people lost sight of their goal. But for now at least, we need to take a look at the opposition and discouragement that came their way.

In describing the events in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Chronicler, with the advantage of hindsight, looks back on the historical landscape and refers to the opposition placed in the way of the Jews in chronological order. When discussing the problems of building the Temple in Ezra 4:1-5, it reminded him of similar problems with the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem about ninety years later, and so Ezra 4:6-23 has been inserted, almost parenthetically, before the argument of the building of the Temple can once again
be taken up in Ezra 4:24.

The point is that opposition is a constant theme from this time onward, running through the First Return headed by Zerubbabel, the Second Return headed by Ezra, to the Third Return headed by Nehemiah. It is an indication that the Kingdom of God is built within enemy-occupied territory (Matthew 16:18). The Adversary lurks behind the scenes, as is his frequent strategy, content to lie hidden, hoping the Lord’s children will forget all about him and take their frustrations out on ADONAI instead.

In Ezra 4, the ruler of demons used the Samaritans as his instruments of opposition. They are his people, to do his bidding, however unwittingly. As a fallen angel, the tempter is a defeated foe (see the commentary on Isaiah Dp – How You Have Fallen From Heaven, O Morning Star); his claims to sovereignty belong to fantasy literature and Hollywood pictures. But some people have always been enamored with the wicked one’s grand delusion; a make-believe world of pretension in which he sets himself up as king is all too believable. The world is so easily duped into believing that his claims are true. Poor Samaritans! They were Satan’s unwitting instruments. Pawns in a chess game with painful, and sometimes deadly, consequences. Yeshua warned that unbelievers are the devil’s children (John 8:44), and his skill in manipulating individuals is legendary. We see the results in his encounter with Eve (see the commentary on Genesis Ba – The Woman Saw the Fruit of the Tree and Ate It), Judas (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Kc – Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus), and Elymas (see the commentary on Acts Bn – Barnabas and Sha’ul Sent Out from Syrian Antioch). We ignore this fact at our peril.

It is to the credit of Zerubbabel and Jeshua that they viewed the situation from the beginning as the work of enemies (Ezra 4:1), and were alert to the possible consequences if they were tempted to cooperate. We would do well to model their thinking. Danger lurked there, and the two leaders were aware of it – not only for their own personal well-being, but also for the well-being of the righteous of the TaNaKh. We should be grateful for such discerning leadership when compromise with the world rears its ugly head. As Paul reminds us: These things happened as examples for us (First Corinthians 10:6a).⁶⁵

The Start of Rebuilding the Temple
Ezra 3: 6b-13

The start of rebuilding the Temple DIG: What did it take to lay the foundation for this new Temple? Read First Kings 5:1 to 6:1 to see what went into building Solomon’s Temple the first time. What parallels do you find? Why does Ezra pointedly accent such parallels (3:2)? What does this say about the God of second chances? Why would some who knew the “former” Temple cry, while others shouted for joy?

REFLECT: Ezra had the Temple rebuilt on Solomon’s original foundation. What is the lesson for you in this? What “cornerstone ceremony” has helped you celebrate new beginnings (in your marriage; in your work; your retirement; your walk with the Lord)? Ezra waited for the second year post-exile before doing what he wanted. How patient are you (with self, with God, with others) when waiting for a new beginning?

May-June 536 BC during the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

Jeshua and his fellow priests, together with Zerubbabel and other returnees, had rebuilt the bronze altar that stood next to where the Temple had been. They did this in time to celebrate Sukkot, the last of several important festivals that fell in the seventh month (see Aq – Rebuilding the Bronze Altar and the Festival of Sukkot). Hundreds of animals were slain on the bronze altar to make atonement for sin, something that had not taken place in Yerushalayim for over half a century.⁶⁰ The bronze altar, however, was only the beginning. Although the foundation for the Temple had already been laid under the direction of Sheshbatzar (see Aj – The Return to Isra’el Under Sheshbatzar), construction of the Temple itself had not begun (3:6b).

Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters (Ezra 3:7a). The particular kind of money that the workmen were given is not mentioned here. It may have been gold or silver, but perhaps it was clay. For it is a fact worth mentioning that in Babylonia and in Persia at that very time there were in use certain clay tablets that were used for the same purpose that we now use as checks! They were issued by the government for the convenience of circulation, representing a certain value, which was always expressed in measures of weight, of gold or silver, and redeemable on presentation to the royal treasury. They were two to five inches long, and one to three inches wide. They had on them the name of the king and a date. Among them was the name of Cyrus, the king who directed the work for which the money was given.⁶¹

When Solomon built the First Temple, he hired Phoenicians from Tyre with wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine (First Kings 5:6-12; Second Chronicles 2:10 and 15) to send cedar, juniper and algum logs from Lebanon to Joppa (Second Corinthians 2:8). Even the way of describing Solomon’s building of the First Temple reminds us of Zerubbabel’s similar efforts (Second Chronicles 2:8-15 and First Kings 5:11 and 18). And food, drink and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyrians, to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the permission they had from Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 3:7b). This was a tiny foretaste of the wealth of the nations and the glory of Lebanon that was promised would one day adorn the place of God’s Sanctuary (see the commentary on Isaiah Jw – Foreigners Will Rebuild Your Walls, and Their Kings Will Serve You).

Now the building began in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month (six months after they arrived and exactly 70 years after the first deportation, see the commentary on Jeremiah Gt – In the Thirty-Seventh Year of the Exile Jehoiachin was Released from Prison). Solomon also began his project in the second month (First Kings 6:1). This is the month after Passover (April-May) and the beginning of the dry season – an ideal time to start building. Centuries earlier the Levites were involved in the construction of the Tabernacle (Exodus 38:21). All this goes to show the many similarities between the building of the First and Second Temples.

The Levites were the supervisors and were directed by the leading families. Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites from twenty years and older to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. According to the Mosiac tradition, the Levites entered upon their ministry at the age of twenty-five (Numbers 8:24); but an ordinance of David (First Chronicles 23:24, 27) reduced the age to twenty, perhaps because the number of Levites had decreased. These verses stress the unity, cooperation, and enthusiasm for the project. Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood to sing united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah (the sons of Hodaviah in Ezra 2:40) and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God (Ezra 3:8-9).

The workmen stood before a flat, empty foundation. Nevertheless, there was a celebration in anticipation of the House of the LORD being back in Jerusalem once again. When they started working, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord according to the directions of King David of Isra’el when he brought the ark to Jerusalem (First Chronicles 16:5-6). They sang, praising and giving thanks to ADONAI, saying: For He is good, for His lovingkindness (see the commentary on Ruth Af – The Concept of Chesed) is upon Isra’el forever. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid and work on the Temple itself had begun (Ezra 3:10-11). The worship of Isra’el was (and is) not a dull affair. The great shout indicates that the people expressed their emotions in their praise to ADONAI, for they praised Him with their whole hearts.⁶²

Even though the work had just begun, it signaled that the LORD had not forgotten His promises. They sang: For He is good, for His faithfulness is upon Isra’el forever (Psalm 136:1). In the long, dark night of the exile they despaired, hanging their harps on willow branches (Psalm 137), unable to find within themselves a song to sing to praise God. They must have wondered whether they would ever see the chesed of ADONAI again. However, all the doom and gloom evaporated in the blazing sunlight of the building of the Second Temple. God had remembered His promises. He always does. This story – the story of the exiles return to Yerushalayim – is part of our story, too; without it there would have been no Savior and no way of forgiveness for our sins. Those foundation stones cry out and remind us that God has kept His promise to send a Savior, “When the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman and born under the Torah, to free those under the yoke of the Torah so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters (Galatians 4:4-5). The words of the Psalmist ought to be in our mouths: For ADONAI is good. His lovingkindness endures forever, and His faithfulness to [our] generation (Psalm 100:5).⁶³

At this time Zechariah delivered a prophecy to Jeshua, the High Priest, and to Zerubabel, the Jewish governor. Jeshua seems to be on trial in a heavenly courtroom with Satan accusing him. In defense of Jeshua, ADONAI says: Listen, cohen gadol Jeshua, both you and your collogues seated here before you, because these men are a sign that I am going to bring My Servant Tzemach, or Shoot (see the commentary on Isaiah Dc – A Shoot Will Come Up from the Stump of Jesse). In Zechariah 6:12 the prophet says: There is coming a man whose name is Tzemach. He will sprout up from His place and rebuild the Temple of ADONAI. Yes, He will rebuild the Temple of ADONAI; and He will take up royal splendor sitting and ruling from his throne (see the commentary on Revelation Fi – The Government of the Messianic Kingdom). Zechariah saw the high priest Jeshua as a type of that promise, but only a pledge of God’s future fulfillment in Yeshua, the coming Messiah (Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 33:15).

Present on the occasion were people of all ages – children, youth, adults, and the elderly. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first Temple, wept in disappointment with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this House that was laid before their eyes. They wept when they contrasted the simplicity of the current project with the grandeur of Solomon’s Temple, which is considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world along with the Great Pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal, the Roman Colosseum, the Great Wall of China and Petra. Perhaps they also wept remembering the tragic events which they had experienced since those days in Babylon, and the reflection that they would not live to see the national revival foretold by the prophets. While many others shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout. Thus, joy was mixed with sadness. The two sounds mingled together and were so loud that they were heard far away (Ezra 3:12-13). The celebration had an impact on the whole community.⁶⁴

Rebuilding the Bronze Altar
and the Festival of Sukkot
Ezra 3: 1-6

Rebuilding the bronze altar and the festival of Sukkot DIG: Why were they assembling “as one man” (Leviticus 23:23-36)? What is first on Jeshua’s “to-do” list? What is the value (symbolic and actual) of building the altar on “its foundation” and “in accordance with the Torah of Moshe?” Why did the people sacrifice before laying down the Temple foundations?

REFLECT: How does your zeal compare to the Israelites in this scene? Does worship come first for you? Or when it’s most convenient? Why? On what basis are you building your altar to the Lord? What do you sacrifice there? What happens when someone doesn’t accept the sacrifice of Yeshua Messiah?

536 BC During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

Ezra 2 ended with the priests and the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers and the Temple servants lived in their cities, and all Isra’el in their cities that they occupied before the exile (Ezra 2:70). Now as the threads of normal life are picked up once again on the hills of Judea, we are reminded that the people could not dissolve into isolated groups, no matter the remoteness of the homes, or the difficulty of the terrain separating them, even though the demands of settling into a new life might tempt them to do just that.⁵¹

Now when the seventh month of Tishri came (September-October), and the sons of Isra’el were in the cities, the people gathered together as one (Hebrew: echad) man to Jerusalem (Ezra 3:1), obeying the commandment of God laid down in Exodus 23:16. The returning exiles barely had time to settle into their new homes when they gathered as one in Yerushalayim. It was literally only weeks after their return. It appears too coincidental that they would just happen to be back in Tziyon in time for the most important month of the Hebrew religious calendar. It has all the signs of a plan, and they had timed it perfectly. On the first day of the month they would have celebrated Rosh ha-Shanah (Leviticus 23:15-21), normally followed by the festival of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16:1-34 and 23:26-32) on the tenth day, (but not mentioned here since there was no Temple), and then by a weeklong celebration of Sukkot (Leviticus 23:33-36 and 39-44) starting on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

But why did they want to gather in a place that looked so pitifully run down? A visit to the Temple Mount would only serve to remind them of how sadly small and insignificant they had become. All that was left of Solomon’s Temple were piles of stone and rubble, blackened by the fires that had burned in the Babylonian invasion so long ago (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC). Standing there gazing at those stones, overgrown with weeds, they would be reminded of the past – a past that the oldest among them wanted to forget. So why gather there? The answer, of course, was worship.⁵² This is how the Chronicler described it:

Then Jeshua [the high priest] the son of Jozadak (a descendant of Aaron) and his brothers the priests (other descendants of Aaron), and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel (a descendant of David) and his brothers (other descendants of David) arose and built the altar of the God of Isra’el to offer burnt offerings on it (Ezra 3:2a). The burnt (or whole) offering is the chief sacrifice in the Torah of Moses. The animal was completely burnt. Neither the priest nor worshiper ate it. The whole offering went up to God. The ritual enacted for this kind of sacrifice provided that the one who offered it should place their hands on the head of the animal (Leviticus 1:4). In doing so, the worshipers identified with the animal, that is, they were offering themselves to ADONAI. As a result, the burnt offering was a symbolic action. In burning the whole animal – which goes up wholly to God – the worshipers declared their wholehearted devotion to the LORD. In presenting burnt offerings to YHVH on the bronze altar, even before the Temple was built, the returnees displayed their earnestness to be a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1).⁵³

As it is written in the Torah of Moshe, the man of God (Ezra 3:2b). It was crucial for the returnees to come back to the Torah of Moses. Because their forefathers had left the covenant, and as a result, the nation had been driven into Captivity (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule). Therefore, when the exiles returned, they did not want to make the same mistake.

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the congregations of God. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is the ultimate, not missions, because ADONAI is ultimate, not mankind. During the Eternal State (see the commentary on Revelation Fq – The Eternal State), when countless multitudes of the redeemed will fall on their collective faces before the throne of the Lamb to worship Him, missions will be no more. Missions is a temporary necessity. But worship will be forever.⁵⁴

So, led by Sheshbatzar (Ezra 5:16), they set up the altar on its foundation (Ezra 3:a). The altar spoken of here is the bronze altar (see the commentary on Exodus Fa – Build an Altar of Acacia Wood Overlaid with Bronze). It stood outdoors, in the Court of the Priests, between the Temple and the Court of the Women. It was on this altar that animals would be offered as a sacrifice. The bronze altar in Solomon’s Temple had been an enormous structure – some thirty feet square and fifteen feet high with a ramp that led up to it (Second Chronicles 4:1ff).

The Chronicler introduces a note of anxiety here, caused by the tension between the
exiles who had returned and the people of the lands around them – the people of Ashdod, Samaria, Ammon, Moab, and Edom – for they were terrified of them (Ezra 3:3b). The sudden presence of 42,360 people needing food and shelter created huge administrative problems. Not only that, but the returnees regarded themselves as the true worshipers of Ha’Shem, and the rightful administrators of the Temple and the Torah. Given the fact that offers of help in rebuilding the Temple were flatly refused, we have all the makings of a confrontation. Almost a century later, during Nehemiah’s time, these threats were real enough to warrant arming the men who built the walls around Tziyon (see Cc – Samaritan Opposition to the Building of the Walls). There was no need for such drastic measures at this stage, though the tension did make the exiles terrified of them. Courage is not lack of fear. It is the will to act in spite of fear. The Israelites recognized, if only partially, that their power consisted not in armies but in the knowledge and service of God.⁵⁵

Finding themselves in that tense situation, they needed to turn to ADONAI and worship Him. It was their first order of business. Why should that be the case? The answer to this question lies in an understanding of what it is that is most needed – forgiveness and a sense of the LORD’s nearness that comes on the other side of reconciliation. Once the bronze altar was rebuilt, it would be possible for the returnees to offer sacrifices again.⁵⁶

Therefore, the returnees turned their attention to the bronze altar. In the Dispensation of Torah, building an altar was a significant act. In the life of the patriarchs it marked a new dedication to God or a new experience of God’s presence and leading (Genesis 12:7, 13:4, 22:9, 26:25, 33:20, 35:1 and 7; Exodus 17:5). This was the place where ADONAI had promised to be with His people (Exodus 29:43). Consequently, they set up the bronze altar on its foundation – on the exact spot where it had stood in Solomon’s Temple. Once the bronze altar had been rebuilt, it would be possible for the exiles to offer sacrifices again. Since it was the seventh month, over two hundred sacrifices of bulls, rams, and male lambs were to be made, not to mention the daily morning and evening sacrifices (Numbers 29). The laying of the foundation was accompanied by a celebration, somewhat like a cornerstone celebration. And they sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening (Ezra 3:3c). Burnt offerings emphasized total commitment where the whole animal was burned a symbol of total dedication to ADONAI. These were the first sacrifices to be offered there in 50 years – since 586 BC.

The first thing they did after building the bronze altar was to celebrate the Feast of Sukkot, as it is written, emphasizing the authority of the Torah (Exodus 23:16, 34:22; Leviticus 23:33-36, 39-43; and Deuteronomy 16:13-16). We can hardly imagine what this meant for the returning exiles. They had barely unpacked their belongings before they found themselves camped underneath leafy shelters in the open air looking up at the stars for a week to celebrate Sukkot. Returning to Jerusalem after life in Babylon forced them to remember that their lives were fragile and brief; much like their ancestors. The only reason they were in the City of David was due to ADONAI’s intervention and deliverance. Forgoing the benefits of a comfortable bed and a roof over their heads, the returning exiles stopped everything in order to acknowledge the hand of God in their otherwise-fragile lives.⁵⁷

And they offered the fixed number of burnt offerings daily, according to the ordinance, as each day required; and afterward there was a continual burnt offering, also for the new moons and for all the fixed festivals of ADONAI that were consecrated, as well as freewill offerings to the LORD. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to YHVH (Ezra 3:4-6a). Therefore, even though the sacrificial system had been reinstituted, there remained much to be done. For almost four hundred years, Isra’el had connected worship necessarily with the Temple. In fact, they had come to rely more on the Temple than on ADONAI (see the commentary on Jeremiah Cc – False Religion is Worthless). But since the Temple had been destroyed and they had discovered God’s presence even in exile, they could then worship Him even without the Temple.⁵⁸

Where do you go when you are terrified? Where do you go when you fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)? Most of us think that the problem is outside us and that the resolution must come within ourselves. But the Bible turns this around and says that the problem is within us and that the solution must come from outside of us. The problem is sin . . . our sin. The solution comes apart from our own accomplishments and resolve, coming from the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-9) that is seen on the other side of the cross. The averting of Ha’Shem’s wrath only comes by means of the substitutionary death of Yeshua Messiah. It is the work of Christ that satisfies every claim of the LORD’s holiness and justice so that YHVH is free to act on our behalf.

The substitutionary nature of animal sacrifice spoke of both the magnitude of Isra’el’s sin (the Babylonian Captivity was, after all, a judgment on Isra’el’s sin) and the need for justice to be met so that forgiveness could be given. In the end, however, the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. Only the blood of the Lamb of God, spilled in substitution for sinners, could do that. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin (Hebrews 10:4).⁵⁹ If you don’t accept His sacrifice, you become the sacrifice.

The Revival of Temple Worship
Ezra 3: 1-13

During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

Chapter 3 tells the story of the beginnings of the religious institutions at Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule). It deals with the construction of the bronze altar, the worship services and offerings conducted upon that altar, laying the foundation for the Temple, the preparation for its construction, and the celebration of the people to the sight of it.

Prior to the exile, life in the southern kingdom of Judah centered in the Temple at Yerushalayim. This was a holy place of sacrifice, prayer, and singing. Although we lack detailed knowledge about the various rituals of Temple worship, we learn something of the character of this worship through the Psalms. The piety reflected in the ancient poetry, nourished in the context of animal sacrifices, offerings, and festive gatherings, has an enduring appeal to all believers. The God of the Psalms is the gracious One who accepts us as we are, who loves us and remains with us when those closest to us leave. The God of the Psalms is Immanuel – God with us (see the commentary on Isaiah Cb – The LORD Himself Will Give You A Sign).

This loving, saving God, who causes the heart of the psalmist to rejoice, is present in the Temple. His Sh’khinah glory and His Name are there (First Kings 8:11 and 29). We yearn for the Temple because in this sacred place we meet YHVH in the most holy place (see the commentary on Exodus Fs – The Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place: Christ at the Throne of Grace). How lovely are Your tabernacles, ADONAI-Tzva’ot! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of ADONAI. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. ADONAI, I love the House where You live, the place where Your Sh’khinah glory dwells (Psalm 84:1-3 and Psalm 26:8).

The older Jews in exile remembered the Temple and Jerusalem with pain and deep love (Psalm 137:1-6). So intimate was the relationship between Ha’Shem and the Temple that they could not imagine a restoration that did not include a new Temple. Isaiah was of similar mind. Isaiah speaks of the redemption of the exiles in terms of a Second Exodus (see the commentary on Isaiah Ib – Cyrus is My Shepherd and Will Accomplish All that I Please). However, he did not believe that this deliverance would be complete until the Temple was rebuilt and the vessels of ADONAI returned to Tziyon (Isaiah 52:11). Moreover, the prophet’s language often reflects the priestly speech of the Temple, as in Isaiah 41:14 and 43:1. It is not too much to believe that Isaiah, like many others, yearned for the courts of ADONAI.

Therefore, when we read Chapter 3 of Ezra, we should think of the piety of the book of Psalms that includes expressions of love for the Temple itself. We should also think of the exiles who were driven from their homeland and separated from worship and the religious traditions that gave meaning to their lives. They remembered the Temple as the House of ADONAI. To be sure, they experienced God in other places and events, but in this special place were the memories, traditions, symbols, people, and rituals that nourished their lives.⁵⁰

The Generosity of the People of God
Ezra 2: 61-70

The generosity of the people of God DIG: What happened to returnees who could not properly document their family ties (2:61-63)? What situation parallels this today? What does that tell you of keeping family records and legal documents? What is the Urim and Thummim? Why would they be necessary? What priorities are evident in the inventory of “Totals, Offerings and Settlements” (2:64-67)? In their designated gifts (2:68-69)? Why is it often easier to raise money for a building, as in 2:68, rather than a ministry program? In what towns do they all settle after 70 years of exile (2:70)? How do you explain that? Good collective memory? Fine-tuned homing instincts? Divine guidance?

REFLECT: Do you give according to your ability where you worship? This chapter underscores the importance of spiritual ancestors to Isra’el. Do you know who yours are? What has been passed on to you, good or bad, spiritually from your ancestors? What one quality are you now developing as a child of God that you would want to pass on to your children and grandchildren? How do you intend to do this?

During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

We may infer from this periscope as it is clearly stated in First Chronicles 5:17 and Nehemiah 7:5 that Jewish families kept genealogical records to prove their Jewish descent (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ai – The Genealogies of Joseph and Mary), and to ascertain that mixture with foreign nations was somehow avoided. A pure line had religious significance, because foreign elements could being apostasy in the Jewish community. The laymen who were unable to prove their Jewish lineage may have come from families who had lost their genealogical records as a result of the exile. This presented a real problem to the Jewish authorities. But an ever greater problem arose with the priests. They had to be culturally clean and of true Jewish descent. As long as they could not prove their Jewish descent they were regarded as unclean and outside the priesthood. The prohibition was made to prevent ritual sin that was widespread in the ancient Near East.⁴²

Priests Removed: The fate that overtook Korah and his following when they tried to force their way into the priesthood (see the commentary on Jude Aj – The LORD Delivered His People Out of Egypt, But Later Destroyed Those Who Did Not Believe) was a constant reminder to the people of Isra’el of the danger of such a course of action. So Eleazar the cohen collected the bronze censers . . . just as ADONAI had spoken to him by the hand of Moshe, so that it would be a reminder to the children of Isra’el that no one who was not a descendant of Aaron should burn incense before ADONAI, and so not one would become like Korah and his following (Numbers 16:39-40). The danger of ritual contamination of the community was compounded by the great fear of committing another grave cultic offense like the one mentioned above.

There were those whose standing in the covenant community was in doubt. Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name (Ezra 2:61). Barzillai was a name that carried considerable weight. He had been a staunch supporter of David and helped him during his flight from Absalom (see the commentary on the Life of David Ed – David Returns to Yerushalayim). His daughter married into a priestly family and her descendants found difficulty in establishing their claim to the priestly office. The bridegroom that took the name of his wife’s father reminds us of the Mesopotamian marriage arranged by a father who had no sons but only daughters (First Chronicles 2:34-36).

These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood (Ezra 2:62). The importance attached to the genealogical accuracy of the claims to the priesthood was not merely the attitude of the exiles returning from the Captivity. It goes back to the abolition of the high places, first by Hezekiah (see the commentary on Isaiah Gr – Please Speak to Your Servants in Aramaic), and afterwards by Josiah (see the commentary on Jeremiah Ai – Josiah Ruled For 31 Years from 640 to 609 BC). There was a sharp distinction drawn between those who ministered at the high places of pagan worship and those who were engaged in Temple worship in Jerusalem.

Then [Zerubbabel] the governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a suitable time could be found for a priest to perform the ritual of the Urim and Thummim (see the commentary on Exodus Gb – The Urim and Thummim) (Ezra 2:63). They were temporarily suspended from duty even though they were allowed to return and count themselves as members of the covenant community. Of course, the proof never came, and the suspension became permanent.

The Generosity of the People of God: The whole assembly together was numbered 42,360, besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and they had 200 singing men and women, lay singers who performed at marriages, feasts, and other occasions. They were distinct from the Levitical musicians mentioned in Ezra 2:41. Their horses, ridden by royalty and the military were probably donated by Cyrus for the nobility, were 736; their mules, 245; their one-humped Arabian camels, so useful in crossing the desert, were 435; and their donkeys, ridden by the poorer classes, hence the much larger number, were 6,720 (Ezra 2:64-67).

From these numbers we can see the modern parallel of the return of the Jews to Palestine after World War II. From the moment that a return became possible, large numbers of Jews flocked back into what they regarded as their own homeland. They spurned the system of rationing that tried to stem the tide of their return, and when the rationing was finally lifted they poured back in like a flood. The former prime minister of Isra’el, David Ben-Gurion, described the modern emigration of Jews from Iraq to Isra’el, “Almost the whole community of Babylonian exiles who stayed when Babylon was destroyed came back to Isra’el – and their number was nearly three times the number of those who had returned to Jerusalem in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.”⁴³

The exiles returned with gifts for the rebuilding work: Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they arrived at the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to restore it on its foundation. According to their ability they gave to the treasury for the work 61,000 Persian gold drachmas (a thick piece of gold having on one side the figure of a king with a bow and javelin, and on the other side an irregular oblong depression) ⁴⁴ and 5,000 silver minas equal to sixty shekels, and 100 priestly garments made of fine linen (Ezra 2:68-69). There is an echo of the First Exodus account here (as there was in Ezra 1:4 and 6), for the people of Moses’ generation were also asked to make large contributions to the building of the Tabernacle, and they responded willingly (see the commentary on Exodus Ev – The Materials for the Tabernacle). Likewise, the building of the Second Temple, the outward symbol of the presence of ADONAI, was accompanied, at least from the beginning, with a spirit of willing self-sacrifice.⁴⁵

There are several things worth noting here.

First, they gave according to their ability (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Do – When You Give to the Needy, Do Not Do It to be Honored by Others: Seven Principles of Scriptural Giving). Paul seems to adopt a similar reasoning when he wrote to the Corinthians, suggesting that every believer should set something aside, saving up whatever is gained and present it as a gift each Lord’s Day (First Corinthians 16:2). Giving out to be proportional to wealth. Paul employed this principle when collecting for the famine-stricken Messianic community in Yerushalayim. He commended the principle to the Corinthians to give according to what a person has (Second Corinthians 8:12).

Secondly, if we were to calculate the ancient measures of drachmas and minas in a modern way, the returning Israelites gave about 565 pounds of gold and over three tons of silver towards the rebuilding of the Temple. Since the number of servants amounted to one-sixth of the total, this meant that some of the returnees were very wealthy, something that is also indicated by the number of horses and camels (compared to the less costly donkeys), and the inordinate number of servants mentioned. The spirit of generosity was obvious, something that casuistic concerns about the relevance of tithing in the Dispensation of Grace often deliberately ignored. In an attempt to avoid legalism, far too many ask themselves, “What is the least I can give and still feel good about it.” Instead, we should be asking ourselves, “How much more can I give than I currently do?⁴⁶

Thirdly, only some of the heads of fathers’ households offered willingly. This foreshadowed the disappointing levels of commitment to come. For now, at least, the emphasis is on giving and not withholding. Haggai will point out with considerable force that whatever amounts the people gave to God’s work, they had more than enough left over to build for themselves. However, less than 20 years later a run of bad harvests and high prices (Haggai 1:6, 9ff, 2:17), to say nothing of the intervention by the opposition (see As – Opposition to Rebuilding the Temple), would soon leave nothing but their expensive houses (Haggi 1:4) to remind them of their former well-being.⁴⁷

Those were uncertain times. Returning to Jerusalem held no guarantee of prosperity for the returnees. Many had no homes to go to or jobs that provided financial security. Almost immediately there would be a need to rent or build something in which to live. As they settled in Jerusalem or in nearby cities, the temptation to withhold from giving must have been great. The fact that Ha’Shem had ordered them to give priority to reconstructing the Temple rather than personal gain highlighted the fundamental reason for their return: that way they should be found to worship God in accordance with the pattern He had established. Worship, then, comes before personal need.

Even among the most committed exiles, there remained a spirit of worldliness, a temptation difficult to repel and reject. Perhaps some felt that going back was enough of a commitment. It was, after all, more of a commitment than was shown by those who had remained in Babylon! Do we sometimes argue like this? After all, some of us do at least attend our messianic synagogue or church twice a week, which is more than a great many other believers do! How could anything more be expected? That is until we consider how our heavenly Father did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all (Romans 8:32a). Perhaps we have some more serious questions to ask ourselves questions such as these: To what extent am I devoted to the Kingdom of God? Am I ready to sacrifice treasure, or pleasure, for the sake of my Lord?⁴⁸

Concluding note: Now the priests and the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers and the Temple servants lived in their cities, and all Isra’el in their cities that they occupied before the exile (Ezra 2:70). This entire chapter serves as a prelude to the great event of building the Temple and reestablishing Levitical worship as demanded in the Torah. There would soon be daily sacrifices to offer, many worshipers to attend to,
and much work to supervise (Ezra 3:4ff).

The number 42,360 hardly adds up to the number of stars in the night sky or the sand upon the seashore (Genesis 22:7). The number of the righteous of the TaNaKh was at this point in history no greater than the population of a small town. But “oaks grow from little acorns,” the proverb says, and ADONAI is not about the business of mocking smallness. The invisible Universal Church, comparatively speaking, has sometimes been pitifully small by the standards of the world. Before Shavu’ot the entire Messianic Community amounted to no more than 120 people (see the commentary on Acts Al – The Ruach ha-Kodesh Comes at Shavu’ot) – though the Spirit of God added 3,000 that day! In such times, these numbers were symbolic of both a winnowing process, whereby God in judgment removed the chaff, and a preserving hand that ensured that even in their darkest hours, YHVH could identify a remnant according to the election of grace (Romans 9:27; Haggai 1:12-14). Ha’Shem is faithful, then as he is now. We are not to despise the small things (Zechariah 4:10).⁴⁹

Priests, Levites and Temple Servants
Who Returned with Zerubbabel
Ezra 2: 36-60

Priests, Levites and Temple servants who returned with Zerubbabel DIG: What is the ratio between the total number of priests and the total membership for the restored community in 2:64? Does the ratio sound top-heavy to you? What long-term needs of the community would be served by that many priests? What other professional groups or classes of people are returning from exile? What do their small numbers say about their relative importance? Moses, Joshua and David gave captives to the Levites for service at the Lord’s altar (Numbers 31:30; Joshua 9:22-27). Yet Ezra and Nehemiah talk of Temple slaves differently, tracing their heirs by name (2:43-54). What change is indicated by their inclusion in this list of returnees?

REFLECT: What is your spiritual gift? Are you using it now? Is it bearing fruit? Is anyone noticing? If not, does that bother you? Why or why not? When have you experienced a time of spiritual restoration: After lapsing in your faith? After moving away from your church or messianic synagogue? After a time of exploring other religions? After an intervention by others? Some other crisis event? Where are you now in your walk with the Lord? Do you talk daily, or do you feel distant now? What can you do about that? Who can you minister to, or, who can you ask for help?

536 BC during the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

What is the difference between priests and Levites? The Levites were the tribe of Israelites descended from Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. When you think Levites – think Genesis. The priests were a group of qualified men from within the tribe of the Levites who had responsibility over the different aspects of Tabernacle or Temple worship. All priests were to be Levites, according to the Torah, but not all Levites were priests.

When the Jews received the Torah of Moses at Mount Sinai, ADONAI gave commands regarding a formal priesthood for Isra’el (see the commentary on Exodus Fv – The Selection of Aaron and His Sons as Priests). The priests would be males from the tribe of Levi. Among these Levitical priests was the high priest. The first high priest was Aaron, the brother of Moses. His sons and their descendants were to serve as the future priests, and high priests of the nation of Isra’el (see the commentary on Exodus Gf – Dedicate Aaron and His Sons So They May Serve Me As Priests). Only the high priest was permitted to enter the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle and Temple, and that only once per year on the Day of Atonement (see the commentary on Leviticus Ef – Yom Kippur). So, when you think priests – think Exodus.

The priests needed to meet certain physical and age qualifications in order to serve. In addition, they had to remain ceremonially clean to perform their duties before a holy God. The priests served as mediators between the Israelites and YHVH. They were the ones who performed animal sacrifices on behalf of the people. It was only the priests who were permitted to enter the Holy Place in the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple. Ezra was a Levitical priest (Nehemiah 12:1).³⁴

Basically, the Levites worked under the supervision of the priesthood (Aaron’s sons Eleazar and Ithamar), and that the work of the priests and Levites was different. The priests functioned primarily inside the Sanctuary with the holy things and the Bronze Altar; while the Levites assisted the priests by guarding the outside of the Tabernacle from any encroachment by any Israelite in the camp, carrying the holy things on the march, teaching the people the Torah, being gatekeepers, singers, and also serving as judges in the cities of refuge. ADONAI knew that the priests would need reliable helpers who could assist them in their duties (see the commentary on Numbers Cy – The Duties of the Priests and Levites).

The cohanim, or priests descending from Aaron, returning: There were four clans of priests listed. The first is the sons of Jedaiah, a general name for the clan, or perhaps a special branch of the house of Jeshua the high priest (Zechariah 3:1), 973 (Ezra 3:36). Jeshua was Zerubbabel’s fellow-leader. Their bond was so close that it was seen by Zechariah as the foretaste of the perfect Messianic reign to come, when the priesthood and royalty would be united in a man whose Name is the Branch (Zechariah 6:11-13).³⁵

The three other clans consisted of the sons of Immer, 1,052. 

The sons of Pash’chur, the name was borne by one of the priests who put Jeremiah in stocks (see the commentary on Jeremiah Da – Jeremiah and Pash’chur) 1,247. 

The sons of Harim, 1,017 (Ezra 2:37-39).

This list provides the names of four clans of priests. They totaled 4,289 in all. This comprised about ten percent of the total mentioned in Ezra 2:64. These are also the only four priestly families listed several generations later when Ezra returned (Ezra 10:18-22). On the one hand, this is surprising since it only represents four of the 24 priestly divisions given to us in First Chronicles 24:17-18. But on the other hand, it is not surprising at all. They gathered together in Tziyon as one man (Ezra 3:1b). They had returned with a single purpose: to rebuild the Temple and restore the worship of ADONAI their God. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that there would be a disproportionate number of priests who wanted to be where the action was. After all, what kind of a priest wouldn’t want to be a part of this historic event!³⁶

By New Covenant times, however, they were again organized into the system of twenty-four divisions with the ancient Davidic names (see the commentary on the Life of David Ev – The Divisions of Priests). The names, especially the mention of Jeshua the high priest, show the continuation of the Jewish community that existed before the exile (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule).

The Levites, those descending from the tribe of Levi, returning: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, through the line of Hodaviah, the general name of the clan of which Jeshua and Kadmiel are separate families (in Ezra 3:9, Judah; in Nehemiah 7:43, Hodevah) 74 (Ezra 2:40). The descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel were evidently given the responsibility to assist the priests (Ezeki’el 44:10-14). But this was an extremely small number of “priestly helpers” in relation to the priests. Only one Levite for fifty-eight priests. This is quite shocking because Numbers 18:21 and 26 takes for granted a much larger number of Levites than priests. In fact, later Ezra could only get 38 Levites to come back to Tziyon with him (Ezra 8:15-20). This may have been because Levites would have no inheritance to return to since their inheritance was ADONAI (Joshua 13:33, 14:3-4, 18:8, 21:1-42). Although it originally was a curse (Genesis 34:25-31; 49:5-7), Ha’Shem had turned their lack of land possession into a blessing (Exodus 32:25-31; Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 33:8-11), but it may have been difficult for many of them to accept that point of view.³⁷

Likewise the singers and gatekeepers would have to wait until their ministries could begin. David founded a special class of Levitical singers of whom there were 24 divisions, corresponding to the 24 priestly divisions. They returned in faith that the Temple would be rebuilt and that their services would be needed. And even then, their tasks would be menial and unseen. Like so much of God’s service, theirs was a thankless task, and their small numbers may reflect the menial labor they volunteered to do. But return they did, seeing the task as more important than any personal gain they might acquire from it.

The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128 (Ezra 2:41). He is given credit for a number of the Psalms. None of the other great guilds of singers, Jeduthun or Heman, seem to have returned.

The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the name occurs again as that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper (Jeremiah 35:4), the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, in all 139 (Ezra 2:42). They were Levites.

If the tasks of the Levites were menial, the tasks of the Temple servants and Solomon’s servants were even more so. These, according to Ezra 8:20, had been given by David to assist the Levites. They were fifth-century interns of the lowest kind. Well over half of them have foreign names, suggesting that their descendants had been taken as prisoners during the monarchy (First Kings 9:20-21). Now, generations later, they were numbered among the people of God! Exodus 12:48a makes it clear that if a Gentile accepted circumcision, the covenant blessings were all theirs (Numbers 15:14ff). So they were no longer slaves, and their return would have been voluntary. Somewhere along the line, they came to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through their performance of menial duties around the Temple and had become proselytes of the Covenant (see the commentary on Acts Bb – An Ethiopian Asks about Isaiah 53).³⁸

Temple servants returning: The temple servants (Hebrew: nethinim) were the men who assisted the Levites in performing the humblest jobs connected with the Temple service. Part of them lived in Jerusalem and part were distributed among the Levitical cities. According to Numbers 31:30-47, some war captives were given to serve the Levites. They may be identical with the strangers in the Land of Isra’el whom David gathered for the work of building the Temple (First Chronicles 22:2). Gibeonites were also enslaved and set apart for service by Joshua (Joshua 9:21-27). They were, therefore, called the nethinim, the given [to God], or the devoted. They were held in low esteem by the Jews, occupying a social position even lower than the mamzer, or illegitimate offspring. But because of the Babylonian exile, their organization was broken up, and though some returned to Jerusalem, they were probably not so numerous as before.³⁹

These were the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shalmai, the sons of Hanan, the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam, the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai, the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, perhaps the same as the Maonites (Judges 1-:12), a Bedouin tribe in the region south of the Dead Sea. King Uzziah subdued them (Second Chronicles 26:7) and some of their descendants may be referred to here. The sons of Nephisim, the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha (Ezra 2:43-54).

The sons of Solomon’s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth (meaning the female scribe), the sons of Peruda, the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim (meaning huntress of the gazelles), the sons of Ami.

This group is closely related to the Temple servants, since both groups are included in one total. All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon’s servants were only 392 from the total of 45 families of clans, or an average of fewer than 9 per clan (Ezra 2:55-58). They are said to be the descendants of the native population hired by the king for work in the Temple (First Kings 9:20ff).

Now these are those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha (meaning the salt-mound, the forest-mound, probably locations in Babylonia), Cherub, Addan (Addon in Nehemiah 7:61) and Immer, but they were not able to give evidence of their fathers’ households and their descendants, whether they were of Isra’el: the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 652 (Ezra 2:59-60). They had no access to genealogical records. The importance of family records was for settling claims of property and to ensure that the restored community had an unbroken descent from the original Isra’el. But it was not pressed beyond this point: those who made unsuccessful claims were not sent back, but evidently in principle given the same standing as circumcised foreigners.

Yet for all its value in preserving the chosen people, this emphasis on a pure Isra’el had considerable dangers, as the Brit Chadashah shows by its attacks on those who prided themselves on their pedigree (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Jd – Seven Woes on the Torah-teachers and the Pharisees). Presumably we have our own form of this temptation today, and our own lesson to draw from Paul’s cliché: For not all those who are descended from Isra’el are Isar’el (Romans 9:6).⁴⁰

These collective facts remind us that ministering through our spiritual gifts need not be glamorous. In fact, our ministry may be such that no one ever takes notice of it – something that can often be the source of some irritation and resentment. But nothing that we do for the Lord is unnoticed. Even a cup of cold water given in Yeshua’s name is recognized and praised (Matthew 10:42). Our motivation should merely be to please Jesus, and when we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him, in everything, however small and insignificant, we will be a sweet smelling aroma. We have an audience of One.

The Second Exodus: Just as in the First Exodus under the leadership of Moses, so here with Zerubbabel, the same notes sound: the people return to the Land, and with the urging of ADONAI, a foreign pharaoh/king urged them to leave. They initially settle in around Jerusalem, just as their forefathers did. Their neighbors provided them with gold and silver vessels to take with them, not even needing to be instructed by Cyrus to do so (Ezra 1:6); just as in Moshe’s time, their numbers include animals and female and male singers (Ezra 2:65-67; Exodus 12:38). And the purpose, then as well as now, was worship (Exodus 3:12).

The rebuilding of the ruined Temple was central to their future. Their identity as the people of God meant nothing unless they could worship in accordance with the way that Moses had laid down and that they had been implemented in Solomon’s Temple. It was for this that they had left their lives in Babylon and returned to the uncertainties of Yerushalayim. They had to put ADONAI first in thought, principle, affection, and action. For all of God’s people, true worship must be placed before any other consideration. Men and women of all ranks of society joined in the cause with initial enthusiasm, knowing that it was for this purpose that Ha’Shem brought them into a relationship with Himself.

YHVH is seeking worshipers – now just as much as then. Yeshua said: But an hour is coming – it is here now – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people as His worshipers (John 4:23). He is seeking worshipers who are prepared to put the worship of God before everything else and worshipers who are willing to engage in worship in the way God has set down in His Word.

True worship wars against the world. It had been impossible to worship ADONAI in the biblical pattern in Babylon. For all but the octogenarians, the exiles had never experienced biblical worship. It’s like someone today saying, “We have settled down, bought homes, opened IRA’s, and dug in for the long run. Don’t bother me, I’m comfortable.” The Israelites who stayed in Babylon had the same mindset. In short, they had become like the world around them. Unfortunately, that’s what has happened to far too many believers today.

However, the righteous of the TaNaKh who returned to the City of David were determined to change all of that, and that true biblical worship be restored. At least, that was their intention. To what extent they kept it is another matter, but for now, at least, we should allow the exiles to challenge us in our convictions about the importance of the worship of ADONAI in our lives. How important is it to us that we worship God as He has designed? What sacrifices would we be prepared to make to ensure it happens?⁴¹

The Geographical Place-Names
Who Returned to Jerusalem
from Captivity in Babylon
Ezra 2: 20-35

The geographical place-names who returned to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon DIG: When grouping people by their points of departure, why do you think Ezra omits any reference to towns in the Negev, the large area south of Judah, which was occupied by the Edomites after Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah in 597 BC? How do you account for some of the numbers in Nehemiah being different than the ones here?

REFLECT: Do you have any spiritual roots? If so, where did they come from? What person was influential in your spiritual growth? Was it a close relative? Father? Mother? Sister? Or grandparent? Or was it someone outside your family? A friend? Or perhaps a “random” meeting? Regardless, what are you doing to be the rich ground for the spiritual roots of those you love?

During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah From a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

The Chronicler identified two ways to validate those who had been exiled, had their roots
in the Promised Land and could be trusted as being a true member of the community
of Isra’el. Some members had records of a recognized family or clan (see Al – The Clans Who Returned from Captivity in Babylon); others, as we see here, could be verified through their traditional home town. These place-names represent the places where these people lived before the exile and are mentioned in order of proximity to Jerusalem. Most of the places-names are in Benjamite territory north of Yerushalayim. Significantly, no references are made in the Negev south of Judah. When Nebuchadnezzar overran Judah, the Edomites had occupied the area. Jeremiah had prophesied: The towns of the South will be shut up, with no one to open them (Jeremiah 13:19a). Again, the author emphasized the continuity of God’s covenant people. Thus, the identification of the families and their place of origin was important. They needed to recognize that they were the continuation of ADONAI’s redemptive plan, and that YHVH had not forsaken them.

The sons of Gibbar – 95 (Ezra 2:20): It may have been another name for Gibeon, the well-known city where the sun stood still for Joshua (Joshua 10:12). In Nehemiah 7:25 the name appears as Gibeon. It would then be the modern el-Jib, about five miles northwest of Jerusalem,

The sons of Bethlehem, 123 (Ezra 2:21); The famous village and birth place of Yeshua Messiah about five miles south of the Holy City, meaning “house of bread,”

the men of Netophah, 56 (Ezra 2:22); The birthplace of Zalmon the Ahohite and Maharai the Netophathite, two of David mighty warriors (see the commentary on The Life of David Ej – David’s Mighty Warriors). According to First Chronicles 9:16 it was a Levitical village,

the men of Anathoth, 128 (Ezra 2:23); A priestly town, best known as the home of Jeremiah (see the commentary on Jeremiah Ah – The Introduction to Jeremiah); identified with Anata, a village four miles northeast of Yerushalayim,

the sons of Azmaveth (Beth-azmaveth in Nehemiah 7:28), 42 (Ezra 2:24); So again in Nehemiah 12:29, but also in Nehemiah 7:28 it is called Beth-azmaveth. It is perhaps the modern el-Hizmeh, north of Anathoth,

the sons of Kiriath-arim (Kiriath-jearim in Nehemiah 7:29), Chephirah and Beeroth, 743 (Ezra 2:25); Nehemiah 7:29 has the more familiar name Kiriath-jearim, about nine miles northwest of Jerusalem,

the sons of Ramah; Literally “the Ramah” or “the Height.” It was Samuel’s home, the modern er-Ram, about six miles north of Jerusalem. And Geba, 621 (Ezra 2:26); A priestly town of Benjamin; the modern Jeba, about eight miles north of Jerusalem,

the men of Michmas, 122 (2:27); Spelled Michmash in the book of Samuel (First Samuel 8:23), where it is the locality of a heroic exploit by Jonathan; the modern Mukhmas. It lay on the north side of the gorge on which Geba stood,

the men of Bethel; About two and a half miles north of Beeroth and twelve miles north of Jerusalem; now called Beitin. And Ai, 223 (Ezra 2:28); About one-and-a-half miles east of Bethel. In Nehemiah 7:32 the number is 123 (see Cm – The Inspired List of Ezra 2 and the Human Register of Nehemiah 7),

the sons of Nebo, 52 (Ezra 2:29); To be distinguished from Nebo in Moab and therefore called in Nehemiah 7:33 “the other Nebo.” It is identified by some with Nob (see the commentary on the Life of David Av – David at Nob), but its location is uncertain,

the sons of Magbish, 156 (Ezra 2:30); Otherwise unknown; it does not appear in the list in Nehemiah,

 the sons of the other Elam, 1,254 (Ezra 2:31); To distinguish it from the Elam in Ezra 2:7. The identity of the number necessitates this qualification,

the sons of Harim, 320 (Ezra 2:32); Not the same as in Ezra 2:39,

the sons of Lod; Built by Shemed of the tribe of Benjamin (First Chronicles 8:12). It is known as Lydda, seven miles southwest of Jaffa. Hadid; the modern el-Khadithah, known in Maccabean times as Adida, a fortified town on the east of Shephelah. And Ono, 725 (Ezra 2:33); The modern Ana, about six miles north of Lydda. In Nehemiah 7:37 the total is 721 (see Cm – The Inspired List of Ezra 2 and the Human Register of Nehemiah 7),

the sons of Jericho, 345 (Ezra 2:34); The famous “City of Palms,” near the Jordan River about eighteen miles east of Jerusalem,

the sons of Senaah, 3,630 (Ezra 2:35): Ancient authorities identified it with Magdalsenna about five miles north of Jericho. In Nehemiah 3 Hassenaah is a personal name. Nehemiah 7:38 gives the number as 3,930 (see Ci – The Inspired List of Ezra 2 and the Human Register of Nehemiah 7).

We can be glad that the righteous of the TaNaKh chose to return to Palestine and continue to be used of Ha’Shem. Through them and their descendants we have the Scriptures, and through them Yeshua Messiah came into the world. Even though they were practically unnoticed by the world at that time, they were actually the center of God’s redemptive plan.

Sometimes, as believers, we feel the same way, like we have no significance in today’s world affairs. But the B’rit Chadashah clearly teaches that the invisible, universal Church, made up of Jewish and Gentile believers (Ephesus 2:14a), is the center of God’s attention and the primary means of fulfilling His mission in the world (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 1:22-23, 3:10 and 21; First Timothy 3:15). We need to remember our heritage from the generations of believers who have preceded us and understand the influence our decisions will have for the future.

The Clans Who Returned
from Captivity in Babylon
Ezra 2: 1-19

The clans who returned from captivity in Babylon DIG: Why was this list compiled? What religious, legal and social implications did it have? What is the connection between this chapter and the previous one? What transfer of leadership occurs?

REFLECT: What family records do you keep: (a) a diary? (b) old letters? (c) photo albums? (d) memorabilia? Why do you keep them? What would an inventory of them indicate about the kind of person you are or the kind of family you come from?

During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

It was the year 538 BC and Cyrus the Persian had just issued his decree permitting the righteous of the TaNaKh to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple (see Ai – The Decree of Cyrus). The decree was a fulfillment of earlier prophecies of Scripture (see Ak – Numbering the Exiles Who Returned Under Zerubbabel). The passages from Jeremiah were especially encouraging to Dani’el in the final months of the Babylonian captivity (Dani’el 9:1-2). The head of the clan had probably died long before. Not all the members of these families returned at the time of Cyrus’ edict during the First Return. Some remained behind and only came back in the Second Return under Ezra. Others succeeded in adapting to their lives in Babylon and decided to remain there. Some, like Mordecai in the time of Esther– some sixty years into the future, some twenty years before Ezra appears in Chapter 7 – held respectable positions in Persia. Life in Babylon, from one perspective, was not so bad. But the focus now turns to those who returned. For some, the exile tested their faith in the promises of God. As various family clans gathered to discuss the decree to return to Jerusalem, among them were those whose hearts God had stirred (Ezra 1:5).

Ezra 2 is written in retrospect, that is, when the return journey was finished. We, of course, would like to know about that journey. How long did it take? How many stops along the way? Was there enough food for all those people? Did they all leave at the same time, or, as is more likely, did they travel in successive groups? How old were they? How many children and pregnant mothers? There are so many questions for which Ezra provides no answers. Just as the gospel writers spend about half their account of Yeshua’s life recording His final week, so Ezra gives his focus to the things that are particularly relevant for us. And what are these things? Names!

Judah remained a part of Persia and had no independent authority of her own. For the returning exiles, therefore, a greater motivation impelled them to return than the assertion of their national identity. There were the people of God to whom promises had been given, promises that appeared impossible of fulfillment in Babylon. The exile signaled both judgment and hope at the same time. Their return, and the orderly way in which it took place, signaled in some way that the promise that YVHV had given to Abraham – that His descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the night sky and the sand upon the seashore (Genesis 22:7) – hand not been forgotten.³¹

Now these are the people of the province of Judah, a small district within the great administration are known as beyond the River, or Syria and Palestine (4:10). Judah was perhaps carved out of adjacent districts and newly granted an identity of its own – for Sheshbazzar was arriving there as its ruler (5:14). They went up from the captives of the exile, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon. They returned gradually to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town (Ezra 2:1). The people in the First Return settled in the neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Twelve leaders are mentioned, eleven here and Sheshbazzar at the close of Chapter 1. The number can hardly be insignificant. The number twelve (tribes, apostles) is deeply significant. Those leaders were representative of Isra’el – the people of God. Already, ADONAI seems to be anticipating a time when the nation will fall into the historical past and the righteous of the TaNaKh will gather as one, called into fellowship with one another and their Messiah (see the commentary on Acts Al – The Ruach Ha’Kodesh Comes at Shavu’ot).³²

They came with Zerubbabel, a natural leader of such a company (Ezra 2:2a): The name in Akkadian means “seed of (born in) Babylon” and was not uncommon at that time. He was a grandson of king Jehoiachin (see the commentary on Jeremiah Du – Jehoiachin Ruled For 3 Months in 598 BC) and therefore a direct descendant of King David (see the commentary on Revelation Fi – The Government of the Messianic Kingdom). Though generally described as the son of Shealtiel (Ezra 3:2), he is also described as the son of Pedaiah (First Chronicles 3:19). He may have been the latter’s nephew and heir, or his legal son as the result of a levirate marriage. Zerubbabel was the ruler under Darius (Haggai 1:14).

Jeshua (Ezra 2:2b): A shorter form in Hebrew of Joshua. He was the first son of the High Priest Jehozadak (Haggai 1:1, 2:2 and 4). His father, Seraiah, was put to death at Riblah by Nebuchadnezzar (Second Kings 25:18ff and First Chronicles 5:40).

Nehemiah (Ezra 2:2c): He is not the Nehemiah of the book by that name.

Seraiah (Ezra 2:2d) means “YHVH is Prince.” This was the name of Ezra’s father who may be intended here. Nehemiah 7:7 has Azariah.

Reelaiah (Ezra 2:2e) is paralleled in Nehemiah 7:7 as Raamiah.

Mordechai (Ezra 2:2f): based on the name of god of Babylon, Marduk (Jeremiah 50:2). This could not have been Queen Esther’s uncle, for she would not become queen for another half century and her uncle wasn’t even born yet.

Bilshan (Ezra 2:2g) is probably the Akkadian Bel-sunu, meaning “Their Lord,”

Mispar (Ezra 2:2h) is paralleled in Nehemiah 7:7, a feminine form of Mispereth,

Bigvai (Ezra 2:2i) see Ezra 2:14 below,

Rehum (Ezra 2:2j) is a shortened form for “God has been compassionate.” Nehemiah 7:7 has Nehum, which is probably a scribal error,

and Baanah (Ezra 2:2j).

The number of men of the people of Isra’el (Ezra 2:2): Presumably the laity as distinct from the priests and Levites,

the sons of Parosh – 2,172 (Ezra 2:3): The descendants of Parosh represented the largest family of priests returning to Babylon. As a common noun the meaning is “a flea.” A branch of this clan accompanied Ezra in the Second Return (Ezra 8:3). One member is mentioned among those who assisted in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 3:25) and some of them were guilty of intermarriage (Ezra 10:25),

the sons of Shephatiah – 372 (Ezra 2:4), Shephatiah means “YHVH has judged.” Other members of the family returned with Ezra (Ezra 8:8),

the sons of Arah – 775 (Ezra 2:5), Arah means “wild ox.” As the name appears elsewhere only in First Chronicles 7:39 and has been found in documents from Mesopotamia, it may have been adopted during the Exile,

the sons of Pahath-moab: Literally, “governor of Moab.” It is assumed that the founder of this clan had been ruler over part of that country. From Ezra 8:4 we learn that some members of the clan returned with in the Second Return with Ezra. And the sons of Jeshua and Joab – 2,812 (Ezra 2:6): The conjunction is not in the text here, but it does occur in the list in Nehemiah 7:11. Jeshua and Joab were subdivisions of the clan. There may be the descendants of the tribe of Reuben who were deported from the province of Moab by Tiglath-pileser III (First Chronicles 5:3-8),

the sons of Elam – 1,254 (Ezra 2:7): as a personal name it occurs in First Chronicles 8:24 and some think that same man is meant here. Elam was the name of the country in southwest Iran in the area of Susa (Ezra 8:7, 10:2 and 26; Nehemiah 7:12, 10:14).

the sons of Zattu – 945 (Ezra 2:8),

the sons of Zaccai – 760 (Ezra 2:9): The name recalls that of the father of the famous Rabban Jochanan. Zaccai may mean “pure” or may be a shortened form of Zechariah (YHVH has remembered),

the sons of Bani – 642 (Ezra 2:10): Bani is a shortened form of Benaiah (YHVH has built). In Nehemiah 7:15 the name is Binnui,

the sons of Bebai – 623 (Ezra 2:11), Bebai means, “pupil of the eye,”

the sons of Azgad – 1,222 (Ezra 2:12), Azgad means “Gad is strong,” and is either a reference to Gad, the god of fortune, or to the Transjordan tribe of Gad. This name occurs only here and in Nehemiah 7:17,

the sons of Adonikam – 666 (Ezra 2:13): Adonikam means “my Lord has arisen.” Of this clan a section remained behind and returned later with Ezra (Ezra 8:13),

the sons of Bigvai – 2,056 (Ezra 2:14), Bigvai is a Persian name meaning “happy,” was borne by the Persian governor of Judea addressed by the Jews of Elephantine in 407 BC,

the sons of Adin – 454 (Ezra 2:15), Adin means “voluptuous,”

the sons of Ater, Ater means “Lefty,” (Judges 3:15, 20:16), of Hezekiah – 98 (Ezra 2:16), Hezekiah means “YHVH is my strength.” Belonging to the clan of the family whose head bore that name,

the sons of Bezai – 323 (Ezra 2:17), Bezai is a shortened form of Bezaleel, meaning “in the shadow of God,”

the sons of Jorah – 112 (Ezra 2:18): Jorah means “autumn rain.” Instead of Jorah, Nehemiah 7:24 has Hariph,

the sons of Hashum – 223 (Ezra 2:19). Hashum means “broad nose.”

There are those today who might wonder why more was not made of the messianic overtones of Zerubbabel’s presence. As the lineal descendant of the royal house and heir to the throne of David (First Chronicles 3:19), questions concerning his role in the new community would surely have arisen. This was clearly the case in the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah 1-8. Was he the shoot from the stump of Jesse (see the commentary on Isaiah Dc – A Shoot Will Come Up from the Stump of Jesse), the promised Messiah so fervently looked for by Isaiah? The text is silent on this point and hints at the growing notion by the righteous of the TaNaKh after the exile that Isra’el was no longer to look for individuals for its salvation. Hezekiah and Josiah had not succeeded in permanently stemming the tide of stubbornness, and neither would Zerubbabel nor the Maccabees. More and more, Israelites became aware that their hope was to be founded on a relationship with ADONAI alone.

Seen in this way, the list serves the practical purpose of assuring the restored community that they had not arrived back in the Promise Land for no reason, but were in fact solidly established upon their ancestral roots as emphasized by their family genealogies and the cities from which they had come – as we will see in the next file (see Am – The Geographical Place-Names Who Returned). Therefore, they were not cut off from the ancient promise of land and posterity made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), but rather they were the raw material from which ADONAI would now fulfill His glorious promise.³³

Numbering the Exiles
Who Returned Under Zerubbabel

Ezra 2: 1-70

536 BC During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

Several prophets had spoken fervently about the return of the exiles to the Promised Land (Jeremiah 50:17-20; Ezeki’el 20:33-44). However, the most passionate and descriptive oracles on this theme come from Isaiah. Frequently he described the return to Palestine as a Second Exodus (Isaiah 48:20-21 and 52:11-12). But we do not possess many hard facts about the character of the refugees or the character of their return journey. Why did some return while others stayed behind in Babylon? Did all the exiles of the First Return come in one group, or did they return to the Land in small groups over time? Was the Second Exodus as wonderful as that described in Isaiah Chapters 40-55?

The Chronicler had little interest in those matters. His focus was on the character of the returning righteous of the TaNaKh. But even at that, he was very selective. He tells us almost nothing of the great leaders of the First Return: Sheshbazzar, Zerubbabel, and Jeshua the high priest. It is obvious that he was not writing to satisfy our thirst for the details. His great concern was to demonstrate that ADONAI is with those who establish and preserve a pure society. A “pure society” means, positively, loyalty to YHVH through obedience to the Torah and proper Temple worship; negatively, a “pure society” means separation from the people who would pollute the congregations of God.

The people who belong: Many today have little appreciation for the genealogical lists in the Bible (Ezra Chapter 8; First Chronicles Chapters 1-9). The names are not only ancient and unfamiliar, but more importantly, they represent a different way of looking at life. Today we place great emphasis on the individual. Ancient societies, however, placed greater importance on the family and clan. In the ancient societies there were no “free-floating” individuals. Everyone is a member of some family and comes from some place. These were people who understood themselves in terms of a family, and were known and valued by others as an individual who came from a specific place. The character of every one of them was known by their background, because (it was believed) their ancestors lived on through them. Naturally, the presence of a non-Israelite family in the genealogy would raise serious questions because they would carry foreign elements into the community. Later (see Ao – The Generosity of the People of God), the issue of descent was an extremely important issue for the Jews who were establishing themselves in the Land.

Genealogy and membership in Isra’el: Genealogical information was important to ancient Isra’el because it protected the community from a disruptive person – the person would destroy the community. This screening by genealogy didn’t always work because some people didn’t live up to the character of their ancestors. For the most part, however, it was believed that those who came from established Jewish families would be good members of the community. Although exceptions were recognized, Isra’el shared the belief with other ancient societies that “the apple does not fall far from the tree.” King Solomon put it this way: Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it (Proverbs 22:6).

Synagogue and church membership: In our day many messianic synagogues and churches share the concern of the Second Exodus. These congregations don’t want to allow people to become members who are not committed to their fundamental beliefs. One purpose of membership requirements in synagogues and churches is to screen people who want to become members. The requirement may be flexible and generous, but all the same requirements are there to preserve and protect the core beliefs of the community from those who would try to change them. On the one hand, a religious community that pays no attention to the preservation of its fundamental values and beliefs will eventually lose its character – its life. But on the other hand, a community that focuses too much on its distinctiveness may also suffer loss by becoming so exclusive that it refuses to receive people who deserve to be welcomed. Not surprisingly, a community living under threat and living on the edge of existence is tempted to embrace the latter policy.

Genealogy, a reminder of God’s grace: The descendants of the people who are named in the first eight chapters of First Chronicles are reminded that they belong to a select community – the people of Isra’el whom YHVH has chosen as His own people (Deuteronomy 7:6), the apple of His eye (Zechariah 2:12). To the Hebrew mind, this demonstrates in the clearest way the specificity of ADONAI’s love and concern that lies at the heart of the gospel. The genealogical listings in Ezra 2, Nehemiah 7, First Chronicles 1-8, Matthew 1:1-7 and Luke 3:23b-38 highlight dramatically the words spoken to Moshe by YHVH, “Now then, if you listen closely to My voice, and keep My covenant, then you will be My own treasure from among all people, for all the earth is Mine. So as for you, you will be to Me a kingdom of cohanim and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6).

Who was included and who was excluded: The book of Ezra-Nehemiah describes a community that was formed around Jewish families there were in exile (see my commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Rule Babylonian Rule). The leaders made a serious attempt to keep out those who did not qualify, but they also tried to include all who actually did belong. This concern can best be seen in the cases of people who said they were priests, but were unable to prove it through genealogical records. They were not immediately cast out. The final decision was made with the consultation of the Urim and Thummim (see the commentary on Exodus Gb – The Urim and Thummim). So, on the one hand, the community appears to be very strict on the matter of membership; but on the other hand, they could also quite gracious when they celebrated the Passover at the dedication of the Temple. So the children of Isra’el who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the impurity of the [Gentile] nations to seek ADONAI the God of Isra’el (Ezra 6:19-22).

The true Isra’el, the righteous of the TaNaKh: Although we must allow for the possibility of exceptions and modifications, for the most part the community of Isra’el that formed in the Promised Land following the decree of Cyrus was limited to Jews who had been in exile. However, Ezra and Nehemiah were not the first to identify the Jewish exiles as the righteous of the TaNaKh. Earlier Jeremiah had the same belief. He considered the Jews who went into exile to be the good figs as opposed to those who remained in the Land, whom he labeled the bad figs (see the commentary on Jeremiah Ei – Two Baskets of Figs).

The names had a religious significance: This long list of names appears to have a religious and legal significance. As already stated, it served a religious purpose in that it established the identity of those who belonged to the congregation of Isra’el. The list, which is headed by twelve names (Nehemiah 7:7) indicates that the righteous of the TaNaKh thinks of itself as continuing in some manner the tradition of the twelve tribes of Isra’el.

But the names also had a legal significance: The decree of Cyrus (see Ah – Cyrus Decrees: Rebuild the Temple) assigned the responsibility for the rebuilding of the Temple to the exiles (Ezra 2:1-4). Offer of help from those who did not belong to the exiles were rejected (see At – Opposition during the Reigns of Cyrus and Ahasuerus). The refusal was probably made on religious grounds, that is, fear of foreign religious traditions infecting their faith, but it was based on legal grounds. The decree of Cyrus, specified that only the righteous of the TaNaKh were to build the House of ADONAI, the God of Isra’el (Ezra 1:3). Although the refusal created resentment and opposition, the legal basis was solid. At one point, Tattenai, the governor of Trans-Euphrates (Ezra 5:3-6), was inspecting the building project and asked: Who gave you the authority to build this House and to complete this structure? They also asked them, “What are the names of the men who are constructing this building” (Ezra 5:3-4)? The decree of Cyrus provided the answer to the first question, and the list of names in Ezra 2:1-70 covered the second.

Isaiah and Ezra: This description of the restored community appears dull beside the story of Isaiah. His colorful and energetic language excites our faith. YHVH is on the move with His people – leading them in a new Exodus (see the commentary on Isaiah Ix – How Beautiful on the Mountains are the Feet of Those Who Bring Good News). He is a God of great power (see the commentary on Isaiah Hg – He Sits Enthroned Above the Circle of the Earth), but also most tender to those worn down by the captivity (see the commentary on Isaiah Hh – But Those Who Hope in the LORD Will Renew Their Strength). Opposed to the dull list of names that confronts us in Ezra 2, stands the open and intimate relationship between ADONAI and the people in Isaiah 43:1-7 and 54:5-8 for example. It is a temptation to assume that if Isaiah had lived to guide the exiles back on the Second Exodus that the results would have been quite different from that of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. Maybe, but then again, maybe not.

The difference between Isaiah and the leadership of the Second Exodus was just a matter of emphasis. One the one hand, Isaiah spoke of the downfall of Babylon and the glory of the release from captivity, but says nothing specific about what was to be done when the returnees reached the Promised Land. On the other hand, the book of Ezra-Nehemiah focuses on the restored community in the Land, but don’t give us a hint of the drama of the return itself. Although we cannot say that Isaiah would have fully agreed with the policies of the later leaders of the exiles, it appears that he would have supported the establishment of a Temple community. It is also likely the prophets who ministered before the Babylon Captivity, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezeki’el, would have also endorsed the building of a new Temple.²⁹

These names were the living plants of Isra’el, roots and all, for replanting. But the fundamental motive for this careful grouping was not social, but a matter of faith. This holy nation, the righteous of the TaNaKh, had been given a new chance to live up to her calling. By returning to Palestine to establish a new Temple community, they announced their refusal to let the exile discourage their faith in the promises of God. They believed that the past deserved a future, and they were determined to work with ADONAI to create that future.³⁰

The Return to Isra’el
Under Sheshbazzar
Ezra 1: 5-11

The return to Isra’el under Sheshbazzar DIG: Why did the Ruach Ha’Kodesh only stir up a small remnant of Israelites? How did this stirring-up repeat itself in the Second and Third Returns? In what ways did this Second Exodus mirror the First Exodus? What do you make of the missing or un-counted articles in verses 7-11a (see Second Kings 25:13-15)?

REFLECT: God “stirred up” the hearts of kings and families alike to do his will. How has God “stirred up” your heart? If you must wait, as Isra’el did, for God to restore your place in His service, are you content to do so? Or do you push for change?

537 BC During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah From a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

Nearly two hundred years after the kingdom of Isra’el had conquered by Assyria, the remains of the little kingdom of Judah, which had always included members of all the twelve tribes, still had some cohesion and could rightly bear the name of Isra’el (Ezra 1:3b and 2:2b). Then the LORD, as though to emphasize that it was not by might, nor by power, but by His Ruach, ADONAI-Tzva’ot (Zechariah 4:6 spoke to that very generation) stirred up only a remnant into action. This whittling down of numbers and power, ever since the glory days of the kings, is reminiscent of the way God reduced the size of Gideon’s army when they defeated the Midianites (Judges Chapter 7).²³ Thus, only a small group returned and many pious and prosperous Jews remained in Babylon.

Just as ADONAI had stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm, which enabled the First Return to Jerusalem (1:1b), so then the patriarchal leaders of Judah and Benjamin, along with the kohanim and the Levites – everyone whose spirit God had stirred up – arose to go up to build the House of Adonai in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:5). Generally speaking the Jewish exiles were from Judah and Benjamin; however, all of the righteous of the TaNaNk from the northern Kingdom of Isra’el migrated down to the southern Kingdom of Judah and were also taken captive (First Chronicles 9:3).

It is important to recognize that in the First Return led by Zerubbabel, in the Second Return led by Ezra, and in the Third Return led by Nehemiah, it was always the gracious prompting of Ruach ha-Kodesh that led the remnant home to Jerusalem. The Second Return will begin with God’s prompting of the Persian king to act compassionately toward Isra’el by granting Ezra everything he requested because the hand of ADONAI his God was upon him (Ezra 7:6b). Similarly, in the Third Return, Nehemiah will again express the conviction that Ha’Shem was responsible for the gracious support of the Persian throne when he stated: The king granted me the request because the good hand of my God was upon me (Nehemiah 2:8b).

Continuing with the theme of the Second Exodus, one of the ways in which the Chronicler depicts the return to Yerushalayim is for those Jews who stayed behind in Babylon to strengthen the hands of the returnees with vessels of silver, gold, goods, cattle and valuable gifts, besides all that was willingly offered (Ezra 1:6). This strongly points to plunder the Egyptians (Exodus 3:21-22, 11:2 and 12:35-36; Psalm 105:37). In both the First Exodus under the leadership of Moshe, and the Second Exodus under the leadership of Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel, the needs of the people of God were met, whether for the hazardous journey or for the reestablishment of worship.

In many ways the clearest expression of the connection between the First Exodus and the Second Exodus appears in the returning of the vessels from the Temple in Tziyon that Nebuchadnezzar had carried off was war trophies (Second Kings 24:13, 25:13-16; Second Chronicles 36:10-18; Jeremiah 52:17-19). Then King Cyrus brought out the vessels from the House of ADONAI that Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and placed in the treasury of his god (Ezra 1:7; Dani’el 1:2). Those vessels supposedly symbolized the superiority of the Babylonian gods over YHVH, the God of Isra’el. It was this superiority that Babylon could flaunt on occasion. This is strongly suggested by Dani’el 5:1-4, which relates King Belshazzar’s toasting to the power of his gods with the very vessels that had been removed from Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC). But his prideful toast didn’t last long because on that very night King Belshazzar of the Chaldeans was slain (Dani’el 5: 30).The return of those vessels would be a powerful symbol of both the restoration of worship and continuity with the past that the budding community so desperately needed to see.²⁴

But how could the Jews have been so filled with the conviction that Isra’el would indeed be restored, even after complete destruction, unless there were prophecies to believe in. So these exiles believed Isaiah when he said: Get out of Babylon, flee from Chaldea! With a shout of joy, proclaim this, send it out to the end of the earth, saying: ADONAI has redeemed His servant Jacob (Isaiah 48:20)! They trusted in God’s Word when the prophet wrote: Leave, Leave! Get out of there! Touch no unclean thing. Go out of [Babylon’s] midst. Purify yourselves, your who carry the vessels of ADONAI. For you will not go out in haste, nor will you go in flight, for ADONAI will go before you, and the God of Isra’el will be your rear guard, just like the First Exodus (Isaiah 52:11-12). So far as we know, no people except Isra’el has ever been restored to their homeland after such a clean break. And if there were any remaining doubt, we now have a Fourth Return in 1947. No one disputes the fact that it was a firmly held rabbinic belief in their ultimate return as a nation to Palestine that brought the Jews back to their ancient home in recent generations.²⁵

King Cyrus of Persia had them brought out by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out for Sheshbazzar the prince (Hebrew: nasi) of Judah (Ezra 1:8); the uncle of Zerubbabel (First Chronicles) who had risen to an important position in the government. It was not unusual for a Jew to be given a Babylonian name, as was the case with Zerubbabel. It is clear from this statement that Cyrus worked through official channels by commanding the treasurer of Persia to release the vessels. Mithredath appears to have been charged with the task of returning Babylonian temple treasures to the various peoples who were restored by Cyrus’ decree (see Ai – The Decree of Cyrus) to their homelands.²⁶

Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel were the leaders of the First Return of settlers. In the eyes of the government, and in any report submitted to it, Sheshbazzar would have been responsible for the building project. He had been appointed governor of Judah by King Cyrus (Ezra 5:14), but later Zerubbabel was appointed governor by King Darius (Haggai 1:1, 14 and 2:2, 21). Therefore, it seems that Sheshbazzar stayed in Jerusalem until the vessels for worship were safely transferred back to Jerusalem, and the foundations of the Temple had been laid (Ezra 5:16). Then, as some point, we don’t know exactly when, he walked off the pages of the Bible. He might have merely gone back to Babylon, or he might have simply faded into the background as Zerubbabel became more of a dominant figure in the narrative. But either way, we never hear from him again.

When Nebuchadnezzar carried off the vessels from Jerusalem in 586 BC his scribes made a careful inventory of them. The actual figures in the Hebrew text add up to less than half the recorded total; 2,499 rather than 5,400. Perhaps the Chronicler, in using the inventory list, may have copied only part of the list but included the total of 5,400 in the last verse. There were:

gold basins were basket-shaped cups used to collect the blood of the slaughtered lambs – 30

silver basins – 1,000

silver knives used in the ritual slaughter of animals – 29

gold bowls were used by the priests to wipe the sacrificial blood from their fingers on the edge of these bowls after sprinkling. The Hebrew noun kephor is said to be connected with the Talmudic root meaning to wipe – 30

other silver bowls either in kind or shape – 410

then other smaller and less significant vessels were listed – 1,000

In all there were 5,400 vessels of gold and silver. But not every item was returned. The Ark of the Covenant wasn’t among the inventory. It contained a jar of manna, two tablets of stone upon which the ten commandments had been written, and Aaron’s rod that had budded (Hebrews 9:4). The Ark was never seen again after the Babylonian conquest of Yerushalayim. It had almost certainly been destroyed.

Sheshbazzar brought them all along when the exiles were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:9-11). We know nothing about the details of Sheshbazzar’s journey. Judging from Ezra’s later journey (Ezra 7:8-9), the trip probably took about four months. The caravan would have proceeded from Babylon up the Euphrates River, and then down through the Orontes Valley of Syria to Palestine.²⁷

The return of these items to Jerusalem was no small thing. The vessels represented the people’s hope of a rebuilt City and a rebuilt Temple, which, as a result of the exile, was monumental. Yet, even more significant were the people who returned with those items. For those who carried them back, most of whom had never seen Solomon’s Temple or the city of Jerusalem, the journey was one of faith. There were few guarantees about any aspect of their journey.

As the chapter closes with the words from Babylon to Jerusalem, a new era began for the people of God. Nothing could signal this more than the return of the vessels of worship. ADONAI had returned to them in favor (see the commentary on Isaiah Hd – That Her Hard Service Has Been Completed), but the journey that lay ahead of them was of greater significance than the journey to the City of David. Jerusalem had become a symbol of God’s City, just as Babylon had become the symbol of the fallen world’s city. However, there were no promises on their return. They had no homes to go to! They needed to trust the LORD’s guidance and provision. They needed to step out on a journey of faith, looking to YHVH every step of the way. It was a pilgrimage to a City in ruins, but in their hearts it brought to mind the true nature of God’s promise of the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10). With this journey every believer can identify. And uniquely, it is a journey Yeshua took for us.

After the Visigoths sacked Rome in the fifth century, many believers who had placed too much hope on the success of the empire were in a deep state of shock. In that atmosphere, the Church Father Augustine (354-430 AD) wrote one of the most important books in all of history, “The City of God.” It presented human history as one giant conflict between what Augustine called the “city of man” and the “City of God.” All of human history is ultimately a battle between Babylon (the city of man) and Jerusalem (the City of God), and only the latter would triumph. The closing pages of the Bible record Babylon’s downfall (see the commentary on Revelation Em – Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She Has Become a Home for Demons).

And within these words lies the great divide between the way that leads to death and the way that leads to life. As the righteous of the TaNaKh left Babylon on their journey to Jerusalem, they were indicating that a clear choice had been made (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Dw – The Narrow and Wide Gates). They had chosen the way of life, the City of God. And the question that rings in our ears as we read this chapter is clear. What city have we chosen (see the commentary on Hebrews Dc – The Earthly Sinai and the Heavenly Tziyon)?²⁸

The Decree of Cyrus
Ezra 1: 1-4

The decree of Cyrus DIG: Was Cyrus a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? How does Cyrus’ decree strike you (a) Déjà vu (see Second Chronicles 36:22-23)? (b) Usual? (c) Noteworthy? (d) Legally binding? (c) Predictable (see Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10)? In what sense is Jeremiah’s prophecy fulfilled by Cyrus? By the “people of any place? By their neighbors? By God? Who moves whom to do what? Compare this decree with its “memo” version in 6:3-5. What is the difference?

REFLECT: Has God ever used unbelievers in your life to affect you? How so? Which factors from Cyrus’ story have also shaped who you are: (a) Building projects? (b) Mercy toward others? (c) Service offerings? (d) Family ties? Explain. What does the polytheist Cyrus believe about the locale of the Lord? What do you believe about God’s “primary address” or sphere of influence?

538 BC During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah From a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia (1:1a). The scroll begins with the Hebrew conjunction waw (and), and the rabbis teach that this fact may indicate that Ezra is a continuation of Dani’el. Born in Elam, Cyrus was a Persian by descent from his great-grandmother. Although he had by this time been king of Elam for twenty years, of Media for eleven years, of Persia for ten years, and had now conquered Babylon, he is described as king of Persia, the most important lands over which he ruled. This made the Persians a world power. Dani’el had prophesied that Babylon would fall to the Persians (Dani’el 5:25-31). Darius Once Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 BC, he ended Babylonian dominance of Isra’el (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Rule Babylonian Rule). In order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,”After seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will visit you – to bring you back to this [Palestine].

ADONAI stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia (Jeremiah 51:11; Haggai 1:14; First Chronicles 5:26; Second Chronicles 21:16 and 36:22) to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing for future reference (1:1b). The official written document was then given to the communities as proof of the proclamation. Consequently, there were actually two such documents, the first one here, and the second, a memorandum from Cyrus, also known as Darius, to the treasury authorizing the funds to resume the work in 520 BC (see Bc – King Darius Endorses the Rebuilding of the Temple).¹⁴ That memorandum would play a vital part in a later crisis eighteen years later. But meanwhile, the voluntary return of the Jews to their land of promise is the climax of this present chapter.

Seen against the backdrop of ancient history, however, there is little to commend regarding the boldness of Cyrus’ claim. The motivation, at least from Cyrus’ point of view, was merely political. As the long inscription known to us as the Cyrus Cylinder (a lengthy inscription on a cylindrical tablet now in the British Museum) makes plain, the Persian throne returned all the exiled communities without distinction and covered the initial costs of the rebuilding of their sanctuaries. Whereas the Babylonians did what many other conquerors had done; they removed a large portion of the population to their own homeland in order to prevent an uprising, and brought their conquered gods back to Babylon as a trophy. The Hittites took the statue of Marduk when they conquered the city of Babylon. The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the temple of Dagon (First Samuel 5:2). Since the Jews did not have a statue of YHVH, Nebuchadnezzar carried off the Temple vessels instead. The Hebrew of Second Kings 24:13 indicates that he cut up the larger pieces of gold to facilitate their transportation back to Babylon (Second Kings 25:13; Jeremiah 52:17).¹⁵

The Persians, however, thought it was better to provide the conquered peoples with a measure of self-determination and religious autonomy in the hope that it would instill a feeling of loyalty. Whereas their images had been treated as trophies by his predecessors, he who restored them to their “sacred cities,” rebuilt their temples and repatriated their worshipers. So if religious motivation was mingled with political cunning it was entirely in terms of his own polytheism. From the famous Cyrus Cylinder the proud words of the proud monarch cry out, “Let all the gods, which I have brought to their cities pray daily to Bel and Nabu for my length of days.”¹⁶

In the book of Isaiah, ADONAI calls Cyrus His “anointed” (see the commentary on Isaiah Ic – This is What the LORD says to Cyrus His Anointed). If Isaiah’s hearers were shocked earlier at Cyrus’ being called “God’s shepherd” (Isaiah 44:28), they must have been even more so at his now being called “My anointed.” This title had previously been reserved only for priests, prophets, and kings of Isra’el. Could God possibly use a Gentile to accomplish His purposes? Yes! That is exactly the point that Isaiah is making. God is not the LORD of Isra’el alone; He is the God of the whole world. Isra’el’s election is not merely for herself, and thus neither is her deliverance necessarily affected by herself. It is this sense in which anointed is used here; Cyrus has been especially chosen and empowered to carry out the purposes of God. In that sense he is ADONAI’s chosen instrument through whom God’s gracious purposes will be accomplished, especially that through him YHVH will be revealed to the world. To subdue the nations before him (Cyrus) and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut (Isaiah 45:1c). The true Messiah will bring spiritual deliverance to Isra’el, but Cyrus, pointing us to the true Messiah, would bring physical deliverance to Isra’el.¹⁷

This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth (1:2a). From this language, it might seem that Cyrus was a believer in YHVH. But he was not. His policy was to please the subject nations that he had conquered and appears as their liberator. To the Babylonians, he said that he conquered them at the command of their god Marduk. So it was therefore natural, that when addressing the Israelites, he would describe himself as the person chosen by their God to fulfill their long-cherished hope.

And He (very emphatic in the Hebrew) has appointed me to build a Temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of His people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the Temple of the LORD, the God of Isra’el, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them (1:2b-3). ADONAI had not forgotten His promise to save His people (see the commentary on Isaiah Hu – I Am the LORD, Your Holy One, Isra’el’s Creator, Your King).

But it must have been extremely difficult for those who decided to return to Jerusalem. Most had no homes or property there that they could call their own.

The majority of the [Jewish] survivors decided to stay in Babylon, especially the second and third generation, who did not wish to leave the land of their birth. In addition, there is more than a hint here that many of the enterprising Jews had taken Jeremiah’s advice (Jeremiah 29:5-7) and had become exceedingly successful in their undertakings. Hence, they were reluctant to return to the Land of the fathers.¹⁸ They were to provide the returnees to Jerusalem with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the Temple of God in Jerusalem (1:4). It was this kind of cooperative effort among the early Israelites that enabled the Tabernacle to be build (Exodus 35-36). But God’s stirring did not diminish their required obedience; rather, it merely drew attention to it. This showed that both the exodus back to Jerusalem for the returnees and the provision of the ones who stayed behind, ultimately proceeded from the prompting of the LORD.¹⁹

While we are impressed by the courage and devotion of those who returned, we cannot view those who stayed behind to live out their lives in Babylon as disobedient. Notice that there is no criticism in Ezra-Nehemiah of those who did not make ‘aliyah (immigrate to Isra’el). Those who do not hear God calling them do what others are doing are not necessarily wrong.²⁰

This reminds us of the Exodus from Egypt when Ha’Shem miraculously took the nation out of bondage and had the Egyptians aid them with gifts of silver, gold and clothing. Now YHVH was affecting a new “Exodus,” again bringing His people who had been in bondage back to the Promised Land, much as He had done under Moses and Joshua. The Israelites had been in bondage to Babylon because of their failure to keep the commandments of the Torah that Moses had given them during the first Exodus.²¹

Once more, it was the sovereignty of ADONAI working in the life of the nation. It may have been Cyrus who had issued the decree for the Jews to return to Yerushalayim; but from another point of view – and far more important – it was the LORD’s doing. Like the old Yiddish adage, “Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” or, “Man Plans, and God Laughs,” despite our most careful planning, God is in control. And in this situation, at no time did God lose control.

From the point of view of the exiles, it was reassuring that God had not forgotten them, nor were they beyond His reach. What a blessing it is to know that even in the darkest of places, ADONAI can overrule politicians and leaders to turn events around to favor the church of Yeshua Messiah! God had a plan, and not even Cyrus could impede it; in fact, he was part of it. From one point of view, these events were the result of human planning and ingenuity; from another point of view, it was the hand of YHVH.

The initiative of mankind and the sovereignty of Ha’Shem are parallel events. Without violating our free will, God ensures that His sovereign will prevail. How He does this is a mystery to us, but it is the consistent teaching of Scripture.

God keeps working out all things according to the purpose of His will (Ephesians 1:11).

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For the One working in you is God – both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).

Even if pure evil is intended by someone, Ha’Shem may override it to ensure His good purpose, as in the case of Joseph, who said to his brothers, You yourselves planned evil against me. But God planned it for good (Genesis 50:20).

Sadly, the same is true of the crucifixion of Yeshua. Peter told his Shavu’ot audience that this Yeshua, given over by God’s predetermined plan and foreknowledge, was nailed to the cross by the hand of lawless men (Acts 2:23). 

We sin and are responsible for our actions, yet Ha’Shem is not the author of sin, but it’s Judge. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God” – for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted when he is dragged away and enticed by his own desire. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is full grown, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow (James 1:13-17). 

The cause of Isra’el’s downfall was no accident. The prophet Amos made this clear to the northern Kingdom facing the threatening might of Assyria: If there is calamity in a city, has not ADONAI caused it (Amos 2:6b)? The Babylonian exile itself was the result of Judah’s rebellion. YHVH came in judgment as He had threatened to do (see the commentary on Jeremiah Dy – Wineskins and the Threat of Captivity). God’s sovereign involvement at every point did not negate Judah’s responsibility for her failure.

Confused? Yes, to some extent! How many of us can say we understand this? Our free will and God’s sovereignty are both true. It is an antimony, meaning two things that seem to be opposite, but both are true. For example, the Trinity is an antimony, God is One (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), yet there is obviously a plurality in the Godhead. So even though our free will and God’s sovereignty is hard for us to understand, it is, nevertheless, it is a most encouraging truth. Do you really want to believe that in your darkest hour God is not in full control? No, of course not! We act according to our own will and ability, but at the same time, YHVH acts to accomplish His sovereign will and purpose. And that is a most reassuring thought. In the final analysis, His will is done. The future that God has willed is certain.²²

Cyrus Decrees: Rebuild the Temple
Ezra 1: 1-11

Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(to see link click Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah From a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

It had been nearly seventy years since the first deportation of Jews by the Babylonians to Mesopotamia (see the commentary on Jeremiah, to see link click Gt – In the Thirty-Seventh Year of the Exile Jehoiachin was Released from Prison). Though the initial years were surely difficult, the second and third generations of Jews born in the exile had adjusted to their surroundings. Most had become so comfortable that they refused to return to Judah when given the opportunity, others prayed for and desired to return.¹² They longed to worship ADONAI together and offer sacrifices in their own Temple according to their own Torah and traditions. So the chapters of Ezra tell the story of the second exodus, one of the most important events in Jewish history, and thus in God’s redemptive plan.¹³

Isaiah prophesied that Jews would return and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem two-hundred years before Cyrus was born (see the commentary on Isaiah Ia – The Deliverance by Cyrus the Great). So in 538 BC when the Babylonian empire passed from Nabonidus to Cyrus king of Persia, also known as Darius the Mede (Dani’el 5:1-30), the new king’s first act was to appease the Jewish population by reversing the policy of his predecessors. The kings of Babylon had been in the habit of forcibly removing conquered people and transplanting them in other desolate regions of the empire, or within the walls of Babylon. The new policy served the double purpose of removing a dangerous source of hostility from the center of the empire, and dispersing grateful subjects into every quarter of the dominion. The Jews were not the only people to benefit, but they probably appreciated it more than any other subject nation.

The First Return
Ezra 1:1 to 6:22

538 to 515

538 BC Cyrus was king of Persia (Ezra 1:1). He conquered Babylon and made Persia a world empire, confirming what Dani’el had prophesied (Dani’el 5:25-31). Darius was viceroy of Cyrus in Babylon at that time.

Leaders: Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel

Decree of: Cyrus (538 BC) and Darius (520 BC)

Company: About 50,000

Purpose: Build the Temple

Problem: Samaritan opposition

Compiled by: The Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(to see link click Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah From a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).

The volatile story of First and Second Kings, a matter of nearly five centuries, had ended tragically with the plunder of Jerusalem (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC), the fall of the monarchy and the exile to Babylon of all that made Judah politically viable. It was a death to make way for a rebirth. So begins the Ezra-Nehemiah narrative that records the return from exile (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule) to the Holy City of David and the beginnings of a new birth. As the drama unfolds, above all, and through all, we see the sovereign hand of ADONAI at work.

Forty-seven years after the Babylonians destroyed Yerushalayim and deported many of the Jews to exile in Babylon, Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, who had conquered the Babylonians and ruled most of the then-known world, allowed the Jews to return to their ancient homeland. They returned in waves. Sheshbazzar, the governor of Judea, led the first wave of people and laid the foundations of the House of God in Jerusalem (5:16). Not only did Cyrus permit the rebuilding, he even paid for much of it (Ezra 6:4). Then, years later, Zerubbabel, the Jewish governor (Haggai 1:1), returned with a second wave and actually rebuilt the Temple. The process took some time, some twenty-two years, continuing after Cyrus’s death. Darius confirmed the earlier monarch’s decree permitting the Temple to be rebuilt, despite Samaritan opposition (Ezra 4–6).

Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel were the leaders of the First Return of settlers. In the eyes of the Persian government, and in any report submitted to it, Sheshbazzar, would be responsible for everything that was done. He was appointed governor by Cyrus (Ezra 5:14), but after transporting the Temple vessels back to Jerusalem, and supervising the laying of the foundations of the House of God (Ezra 5:15-16), he faded from the scene. After that, the people would have looked to Zerubbabel and Jeshua the high priest, their own fellow Jews and descendants of their kings and priests. So in Ezra 3:1-13 the rebuilding was rightly credited to Zerubbabel and Jeshua, whereas in 5:14-16, with equal justification, it is reported to the authorities as the work of Sheshbazzar, whose official responsibility it was, and whose name, rather than theirs, could be verified from the archives (5:17).

The greater part of the book of Ezra, though it bears his name, tells of the pioneers who came back from exile to Jerusalem before him. We shall not meet Ezra until Chapter 7. By then, some eighty years of settling into the Promised Land will have gone by, and he will come as a consolidator and reformer; not a Temple builder like his predecessor Zerubbabel, nor a rebuilder of walls like Nehemiah who came after him.¹¹

Ezra-Nehemiah Chronology

539 BC Cyrus comes to power in Babylon (Dani’el 5:30-31)

538-515 BC First Return under Zerubbabel  (Ezra 1:1 to 6:22)

538-537 BC Cyrus’ decree to begin construction of Temple (Ezra 1:1-4)

537 BC Return under Sheshbazzar (Ezra 1:11)

536 BC Zerubbabel returns with 49,897 (Ezra 2:2)

536 BC Zerubbabel began to build the altar (Ezra 3:1-3)

536 BC Zerubbabel begins building the Temple (Ezra 3:8)

536 BC Samaritan opposition during Cyrus’ reign (Ezra 4:1-5a)

521 BC Opposition in the days of Darius (Ezra 4:5b and 24)

520 BC Haggai calls the people to build God’s House (Haggai 1:1-2:9)

520 BC Work resumed on the Temple under Darius (Ezra 5:1-2)

518 BC Zechariah calls for obedience and observance ()Zechariah 7:1-8:23

515 BC The Temple is completed and dedicated (Ezra 6:15)

486 BC Opposition in the days of Ahasuerus (Ezra 4:6)

 A 57 year gap between the First and Second Return

480 BC Ahasuerus was defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Hellespont

478 BC Esther becomes Queen between Ezra 6 and 7

478-474 BC Esther’s deliverance and Mordecai became Prime Minister

465 BC Accession of Artakh’shasta to the throne

458-457 BC The Second Return under Ezra (Ezra 1:1 to 6:22)

458 BC Artakh’shasta issues decree for Ezra to return (Ezra 7:1-6)

458 BC Ezra departs from Babylon (Ezra 7:7)

458 BC Ezra arrives in Jerusalem (Ezra 7:8-9)

458 BC The book of the Torah is read (Nehemiah 8:1-12)

458 BC Feast of Sukkot (Nehemiah 8:13-18)

445 BC The Israelites Confess Their Sins (Nehemiah 9:1-37)

458 BC The people are assembled (Ezra 10:7-15)

458-457 BC Ezra reforms carried out (Ezra 10:16-44)

A 12 year gap between the Second and Third Return

445 BC The twentieth year of Artakh’shasta (Nehemiah 1:1)

445 BC Nehemiah approaches the king – Nehemiah 2:1

445-432 BC The Third Return under Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7 and 12-13)

445 BC Artach’shashta issues decree for Nehemiah’s return (Nehemiah 2:1)

445 BC Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:11)

445 BC Nehemiah appointed governor of Judah (Nehemiah 5:14)

445 BC The wall is completed (Nehemiah 6:15)

433 BC Nehemiah returned to Persia (Nehemiah 13:6)

445-433 BC Malachi rebuked the Jews (Malachi 1:1-2:17)

432 BC Nehemiah returned to Tziyon and final reforms (Nehemiah 13:7)

400 years of silence until the coming of John the Immerser in Mark 1:4

The dates of the high priests: There are critics who object to this timeline on the basis of the identity of the high priests. Eliashib was high priest during the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:28). Yet Ezra 10:6 says that Ezra spent the night in the room of Johanan, the son of Eliashib, whom some assume to have been the high priest at that time. Johanan may even have been the grandson of Eliashib (taking the Jonathan of Nehemiah 12:11 as identical with Johanan of Nehemiah 12:22). According to the Elephantine Papyri, a Johanan was high priest in Jerusalem in 401 BC. This would place Ezra later than the period of Nehemiah.

However, this argument, based on the identity of the high priests, rests on two assumptions. First, that Johanan was high priest in the time of Ezra, and secondly, that Johanan was Eliashib’s grandson. The first is not stated but assumed because Ezra stayed in his chamber. The second requires a correction of the text in Nehemiah 12:11 and the assumption that in Ezra 10:6 and Nehemiah 12:23 we should read “grandson” instead of “son.” This is possible, but not very probable in this context. Again, we simply do not have enough information. Even those who use this argument regard it was more probable but less than proven. Nevertheless, sing 458 as the starting point, a Johanan I would have been high priest during the time of Ezra and an Eliashib II would have been the high priest during the time of Nehemiah. Both names were repeated later in the succeeding generations.¹⁰

The Theology of Ezra-Nehemiah

The Purposes of Ezra-Nehemiah: Since the author seems to have used the Ezra Memoirs (EM) and Nehemiah (NM), the question arises about the purpose of each of these writings. The reasons may be somewhat different for the memoirs; for example, the NM may constitute, at least in part, Nehemiah’s report to the Persian king. When we try to determine the comprehensive motives for the book, however, we find that the EM and NM are quite in accord with the purposes of the final compiler and author.

The Continuity of God’s Plan and People: One of the primary objectives of Ezra-Nehemiah was to show that the Israelite community that had existed before the exile (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule) would continue to exist after the exile. Thus, they would continue to see ADONAI’s redemptive works. This was a new exodus. As soon as the new Temple, which took the place of Solomon’s Temple, was completed (see Ba – The Completion of the Temple), they celebrated the festival of Passover (Ezra 6:19-22). Later, after reading the Torah Scroll of Moses, the people celebrated the festival of Sukkot (Nehemiah 8:13-18). These feasts remember Ha’Shem’s great saving acts in the exodus.

This new exodus proved to the exiles that they represented the continuation of Ha’Shem’s redemptive plan. Hence, God’s providential care is repeatedly emphasized. It was YHVH who was responsible for the decree of Cyrus (see the commentary on Isaiah Ia – The Deliverance by Cyrus the Great). He also secured the permission for construction to continue (Ezra 5:5, 6:14 and 6:22), and for Ezra and his group of exiles to return to Yerushalayim (Ezra 7:27). He even protected them on the way (Ezra 8:22). It was the LORD who secured Nehemiah’s appointment (Nehemiah 2:8) and guided all the details of the construction of the wall (Nehemiah 4:14 and 20). ADONAI frustrated the plans of the Jewish enemies and preserved the Jewish community (see Cc – Samaritan Opposition to the Building of the Walls of Jerusalem). Just as we find throughout the writings of the prophets, the Chronicler interpreted history in terms of God’s actions.

In fact, the author emphasized that YHVH can even use foreign rulers to fulfill His purposes for the Jewish community. This can be seen in the edict of Cyrus (Ezra 1:6), in Artaxerxes’ letter to Ezra (Ezra 7:11-27), and in the many details of Nehemiah’s mission (Nehemiah Chapters 1-6). The LORD’s sovereignty encompasses the entire world, all the nations, to ensure the continuation of His redemptive plan through the Jewish people.

This continuation of the people of God also meant the continuation of the covenant of God. The little Jewish community that returned from the exile was receiving the blessings of that covenant as described in the scroll of Deuteronomy (see Bm – Ezra Read the Torah Scroll of Moses). The prayers of Ezra 9:6-15; Nehemiah 1:5-11, and Nehemiah 9:5-37 demonstrate their deep understanding of that covenant. You are Adonai, the God who chose Abram . . . and You made the covenant with him . . . You have fulfilled Your words, for You are righteous (Nehemiah 9:7-8). Both Ezra and Nehemiah recognized and confessed that the people broke the covenant, and for that reason suffered the Babylonian exile. However, they appealed to Ha’Shem’s covenant mercy and promises for the reestablishment of the covenant community.

In fact, the new situation under foreign rule meant that the Jewish people became again more strictly a covenant community, and not a nation as they were in the monarchy. The identity of the Israelites in exile did not depend on their political institutions or identity as a nation but on their special covenant relationship with ADONAI.⁹ In God’s providence, this was a step in the preparation for the coming of Yeshua, the start of the Messianic Community (see the commentary on Acts Al – The Ruach Ha’Kodesh Comes at Shavu’ot) where Ha’Shem will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more (see the commentary on Jeremiah Eo – The Days are Coming, declares the LORD, When I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Isra’el).