Ezra 7-10
Today we get:
- Intro to Ezra (the actual guy)
- Ezra's trip back to Jerusalem
- Ezra breaks up happy families
Ezra 7
1 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
...
5 The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:
Ezra is a direct descendant of Aaron, so he has claim to the Kohen title.
6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.
Oh, THAT Ezra. he was a scribe, we already are under the impression that he was the guy who put together the books of Chronicles. (Which is why they have such a Levitical slant to them).
8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
Oh, this king was Artaxerxes. This really was Artaxerxes, not Smerdis. This Artaxerxes was ruler of Persia from 465 to 424. Ezra went to Jerusalem in 457. Remember the temple was completed in 516, about 60 years earlier.
10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
Ezra seems to like to talk about himself in the third person.
Artaxerxes gave Ezra a letter, it promised Ezra and those with him free passage from Babylon to Jerusalem, without having to stop for tolls or having to pay any import fees either. Artaxerxes also gave him lots of silver and gold to refurbish the temple.
23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
Artaxerxes, like Cyrus seemed to want to appease every god there was.
Artaxerxes also put Ezra in charge, to set judges and leaders. He also gave Ezra impose the Law of Moses, punishable by death if need be.
Ezra 8
This chapter is a genealogy chapter, with a list of some of the people who went to Jerusalem.
1 These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.
There were about 5000 people who went with Ezra.
15 And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.
But, aren't Ezra and the priests "sons of Levi"? The answer is KINDA. The priests and Ezra (the HIGH priest) couldn't be expected to do work. They need "sons of Levi" to carry stuff for them and to do the work that people of their POSITION couldn't be expected to do. For some reason, the manual labor branch of the tribe of Levi didn't want to go back to Jerusalem.
So Ezra drafted a bunch.
18 And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;
Odd, the sons of Levi were Gershon, Merari and Kohath (Ezra was of Kohath). Mahli was of Merari.
19 And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty;
Well, why didn't Ezra just say they were cousins.
21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.
Ezra is now talking in the first person.
Before going on their journey, Ezra had the people fast for 3 days, (is fasting for three days wise before going across a desert?)
22 For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.
Remember, they were taking a bunch of gold and silver and things for the temple, so they needed some protection, but Ezra didn't want to ask for some guards because the jews were lazy.
Ezra then measured out the metal and gave it to some priests, for them to watch until they got to Jerusalem.
31 Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.
Well, they didn't need the guards, the fasting paid off.
Before they went into Jerusalem, they camped on the outskirts of the city for three days.
36And they delivered the king's commissions unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God.
Ezra 9
Ezra breaks up families!
1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
So the people that went back took wives of Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Egyptians, Amorites and Moabites.
Moabites; Ezra had a problem with people marrying Moabites?
2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.
Wow, he sure did make a big deal out of this.
3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.
Ezra was so angry about it that he ripped off his clothes, ripped the High Priest mantle, and pulled the hair out of his head (and his beard; remember before our discussion about beards?)
Well, Ezra goes off on the people.
7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
Ezra readily admits that they deserve it.
8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
He said, God was being nice, and relieving them of some of the pain of being slaves (although technically they weren't really slaves under Persia, they were really just people displaced from their homes, who were pretty much free to go back at any time under Cyrus, then Darius and now under Artaxerxes.)
11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
He was paraphrasing
Leviticus 20:23-24.
12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
It's odd to me, that Ezra would harp on this issue, after he was the person who probably wrote Chronicles, which is all about the Judah kings. David being a Moabite and all. David's father was Jesse. Jesse's father was Obed. Obed's mother was Ruth, a Moabite. If Ezra was around instead of Samuel, David would never have been allowed to be king.
Ezra 10
1 Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.
Ezra apparently put on a great show with his weeping.
2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
What hope is there? Perhaps Shechaniah said that maybe one of them might produce the next David, in their mingling with the Moabites?
3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
Uh, nope, Shechaniah recommended (well, not really recommended but COMMANDED) that they put away all their wives that they took from the locals.
5 Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.
The Levites were the people who would carry out Ezra's law. (Remember, Ezra had permission from Artaxerxes to kill people who wouldn't follow Ezra's rule).
6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.
Johanan, the son of Eliashib. Eliashib would have been the resident high priest before Ezra got there. I bet Eliashib was rather embarrassed to have allowed such transgressions to happen under his watch.
Ezra then gave the people 3 days to get rid of their wives and children.
10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
The people were like "yeah, we're sorry".
Then they sent their wives and kids off, like when Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness (I don't know if they were provided with a loaf of bread and a bottle of water).
17 And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.
Every "strange" wife was gone by then.
Because of their sin, they offered a ram.
Ezra is nice enough to provide a list of everyone who took a "strange wife".
Happily, you won't find anyone in that list who is the offspring of Zerubbabel (which is good, because Zerubabbel is in both lists of the genealogy of Jesus); making it Boaz the marry-er of a Moabite and Obed as the halfbreed!
So what have we learned today?
1. Ezra really liked to enforce laws.
2. Ezra liked to talk about Ezra, yes, THAT Ezra.
3. Artaxerxes is FINALLY Artaxerxes.
YIC
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