Year 2, Week 27, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 27, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Ezra 7-8.

Today’s reading resumes the Book of Ezra. Ezra 1-6 covered a period of time from about 538 BC to 515 BC recording the first group of returnees and the work they accomplished in rebuilding the Temple. As we return to Ezra 7, which unfolds about sixty years after Ezra 6 or about 458 BC, Ezra is a part of the second group of returnees. In fact, while the Book bears his name, Ezra 7 is the first time that Ezra is specifically mentioned. Artaxerxes, who probably wasn’t even born when Cyrus allowed the first group to return to Jerusalem, is now the King of Persia. Artaxerxes grants Ezra and an estimated 5,000 others return to Jerusalem: “Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra…went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked” (Ezra 7:1,6a). Ezra 7 records the letter that Artaxerxes sent with Ezra (who was a Zadokite priest of Aaronic descent) outlining the authority that he had to organize governmental structures in Jerusalem. Ezra 8 records a list of who journeyed back to Jerusalem with Ezra, as well as some of the dangers and challenges during their journey, but the chapter ends with the returnees back in Jerusalem where they worship the LORD: “At that time those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.” (Ezra 8:35). They began their journey with prayer and fasting and ended with grateful worship.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was a phrase used throughout to describe the reason behind the success of Ezra’s endeavors: “for the hand of the LORD his God was on him” (Ezra 7:6b). This phrase is used five more times in today’s reading (and twice in the Book of Nehemiah). While Ezra had the favor of King Artaxerxes, there is no question that the real cause behind Ezra’s tasks was the favor of the LORD: “the LORD, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked.” As the journey begins, we are told: “For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him” (Ezra 7:9). Ezra’s own testimony attributes the outcome to the LORD: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem, and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me” (Ezra 7:27-28). When the requested Levites join Ezra for the journey, it is clear who is behind this fulfillment: “And by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen; also Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons; besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites” (Ezra 8:18-20). When Ezra decided to not ask the King for protection, he was confident that he would be protected: “For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him” (Ezra 8:22). When Ezra arrives in Jerusalem, we are told: “Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days” (Ezra 8:31). From start to finish, and every issue along the way, it is clear who gave his Ezra success.

But the hand of the LORD upon Ezra not only explains the successful outcome of Ezra’s journey, it also explains the kind of person that Ezra was: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). This tripartite description of the commitment to study, obey, and teach means that Ezra’s heart was full of qualities like loving obedience, a teachable spirit, a commitment to the Lord, and a pursuit of righteousness growing as the fruit of a life yearning for the law of the Lord. Ezra would seek to bring true spiritual reform to the returnees who were back in Jerusalem. And the reforms he taught, he first lived out himself, and what he lived out, he first made sure they were true to the Scriptures. And Ezra had this kind of heart because of whose hand was upon him: “for the good hand of his God was on him” (Ezra 7:9b).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe