Old Testament: The Exile and Return

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Well, tonight, we come to the end of our journey through the Old Testament. I'm not sure; it's either been six or seven messages that we have walked our way through this amazing part of the Scriptures we call the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures. We're doing that from really, from a height where we can get an overview of its great movements.

We've divided the Old Testament into nine major movements, and so far, we have examined the first seven of those movements. We began by looking at the period of universal dealings, when God dealt with all man as a unit in the first 11 chapters of Genesis.

Then we looked at the patriarchal period and in Genesis 12 to 50 as God chose one family through whom He would put Himself on display, and through whom He would make Himself known.

In Exodus 1, slavery in Egypt, a period of 400 years when God's people languished in Egypt, and many of those years in slavery. Then came from Exodus 2 through the end of Deuteronomy, the Exodus under Moses - that great display of the power of God, picturing His redemption as He brings His people out from their slavery into the land that He promised them.

Conquest and division of Canaan was the fifth of those cycles, and it's recorded in the book of Joshua as, under Joshua's leadership, God's people take over the Promised Land and divide it up.

Then comes the darkest time in Israel's history, the lowest point, the period of the judges when there was no central government, there was no king in Israel and, therefore, there was tribal leadership, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And you can read the dismal results of that exercise in the book of Judges and even in Ruth.

That's followed by the seventh period, the period of the monarchy. And this is a period that's broken down into two parts. There's the United Monarchy, those three kings: Saul, David, and Solomon who reigned over all 12 tribes at the same time. And then the Divided Monarchy, when the kingdom was split under Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and ten tribes in the north and two tribes in the south. We looked all through that period of time.

Now, tonight, we study the final two movements of Old Testament history. Last week we took a break from its history to look at poetry and prophets. Tonight, I want to finish the final two movements in Old Testament history. And they are the Babylonian exile and the return from exile or the restoration period under Ezra and the Nehemiah.

Now, let me just remind you that if you want to really get your arms around Old Testament history, if you want to know when things occurred, you need to do two things. First of all, you need to have a basic understanding of the flow of Old Testament history. We've been giving - I've been giving you that. The next thing you need to do is have some sort of texts in the timeline of Israel's history on which you can hang your understanding of how it flows. Here are eight dates. I know most of us are not big on memorizing dates. If you will memorize these eight Old Testament dates, then you will know essentially when and at what time in its history everything occurred.

First of all, you have Abraham's birth in 2166 BC. And then fast forward to the Exodus in 1446 BC. The monarchy begins in 1051 BC - that's Saul. And then you have 120 years of the monarchy, those three kings: 40 years Saul, 40 years David, 40 years Solomon. And then in 931, Solomon dies, and the kingdom is divided. Then you have those two, the north and the south, existing alongside of each other until 722, when the northern kingdom, Israel as it's called, falls to Assyria. And then in 586 Judah, or the south, the southern kingdom falls to Babylon. And then there's 538, the decree of Cyrus to allow the Jews to return from Babylonian captivity and go back into their land. And then finally, Old Testament events end around 420 BC.

If you know those dates, then you can take just about anything else you know from Old Testament, at times, and plug it in. For example, the prophets. We studied last time that the prophets tend to collect just before the fall of the north and the fall of the south, because God was telling them, warning them, graciously appealing to them to repent and also offering an apologetic. So, when you know these dates, you know essentially when the prophets were. You see how that works? So, it really - these dates, if you'll work on these dates, it will give you a framework for understanding the flow of all Old Testament history.

Now, let's go ahead then and look at the eighth, the next to the last major movement in Old Testament history. It's the exile of Israel. The exile of Israel. Now, remember that in 722 the... Sorry, there's something missing. I don't know how that happened, but... The exile of Israel... In 722 BC, the northern ten tribes were destroyed by the Assyrians. And although the south didn't fall as soon as the north did, because of the ongoing sin of idolatry that was true of the south as much as the north, she too was destined to fall. And the prophet Jeremiah prophesied that Israel as a nation, primarily the south, the southern two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, were to be carried off captive for 70 years in Babylon.

Listen to Jeremiah 25:11. This is the first prophecy of the time of this Babylonian exile. Jeremiah writes, "This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years." So, Jeremiah said, "It's coming!" Just like the north was destroyed, the south is going to be destroyed, and it's going to be in exile for 70 years.

Now, why 70 years? Well, we learn from both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, as well as you go back to the law in Leviticus, and you learn that God had commanded that the land itself be given a Sabbath year every seventh year. It was to rest. You remember? They weren't to plant; they were to live off of what had been planted the year before, and they were to give the land rest every seventh year. Well, they had not done that. From the time of Eli, the time really of Saul, the first king, they had failed to do that. That's a period of 490 years. There were, within that 490 years, the equivalent of 70 years of Sabbath years that should have been observed, and they weren't observed. And so, in 2 Chronicles 36:21 we read this that for the fact that those Sabbath years had been ignored, 70 Sabbath years in that 490-year period had been ignored, God would cause them to be removed from the land and it would have its rest. So, it was God's way of saying, "You didn't obey My word. You didn't trust Me. You thought you needed to work on the seventh year rather than trusting Me to provide as I promised I would." It was disobedience but, specifically, that's why the 70 years.

Most of the people of the southern kingdom of Judah were carried off as captive to Babylon. Now, the captivity happened in three stages or three distinct deportations. The first deportation was in the year 606-605 BC. Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem and put the city under siege. While the siege was ongoing, Nebuchadnezzar received word that his father had died. And so, he had to leave the siege, take his armies, and return home in order to secure the throne - return to Babylon to secure his father's throne. But as he decides to leave, he decides to take with him a few of the best and brightest Jewish young men in order to train for leadership. That group included Daniel and his three friends we read about in the early chapters of Daniel's prophecy.

Now, why would God do that? Well, it was God's grace to His people. He was preparing the way for His people. He said they were going to go into Babylonian captivity, but first He sends Daniel and his three friends. Because of Daniel, the captivity of the Jews in Babylon would not be nearly as hard or difficult as it would have otherwise been, because by 586, when Nebuchadnezzar comes back and takes the majority of the people to Babylon, Daniel is already second in power in Babylon - the most powerful - the second most powerful man in the empire. And because of Daniel, the people of God enjoyed, really in Babylon, a great measure of peace and even prosperity. They lived in their own homes. They were able to prepare and have their own fields and their own livelihoods.

So, Daniel became for Israel and Babylon what Joseph had been in Egypt. You just see the mercy of God in both of these cases. He had a plan for His people. You know, this just reminds us, why do we not trust our God? Why do we wonder about our own circumstances as though God doesn't have a plan? Look at the plan He had for His people.

The first deportation included Daniel. The second deportation came in the year 597 BC - the first in 606-605, the second in 597 BC, just a few years later. And the reason this one happened is Judah refused to pay its annual tribute to Babylon. You can see that these kings were not the brightest. You know, they weren't the sharpest knife in the drawer. They keep refusing to pay tribute. So, Nebuchadnezzar returned to punish the city. And on this second occasion, he took 10,000 captives. He took the most skilled, the most powerful, the most influential, and this included Ezekiel - Ezekiel, who would be called to be a prophet while living in exile in Babylon.

Then the third deportation was the ultimate and final. It came in the year 586 BC. This was when, once again, Judah refused to pay its annual tribute, so Nebuchadnezzar came with the full force of his fury and his armies. This is when the siege happened. This is when you can read about the lamentations of Jeremiah and see how desperate the circumstances the city came, and Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city of Jerusalem and its temple. And he carried off to Babylon the majority of the population, leaving in the land only the poorest and the most infirmed.

Now, at this point with this third deportation, Israel's independence as a nation came to an end and the time of the Gentiles began. From this time forward, they would largely be under the control of Gentile domination.

Also, during this period, between the second and the third deportations, between 597 and 586 BC, one of the most tragic events in Israel's history happens. You remember, back in Exodus (in Exodus 40), Moses completed the Tabernacle then (the tent). And the glory cloud, that powerful demonstration of the presence of God, descended upon the Tabernacle and took up residence in that tent around the year 1444 BC. The Holy of Holies became the throne room of Yahweh, Israel's King. And from that time, the glory cloud always resided in the Tabernacle. And later, when Solomon completed the temple, that glory cloud took up residence in the temple as well. But in the year 592, the glory cloud departed - departed from the temple and even from the city of Jerusalem.

Turn to Ezekiel. I want you to see this. It's tragic. Ezekiel 10:3-4. Ezekiel has this vision of the glory of God departing from the temple and Ezekiel is filled with these magnificent visions of the glory and greatness of God. And, here, in verse 3: "Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court. Then the glory of the Lord [Yahweh] went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord." So, you can see; God is beginning to leave. The visible presence of God is beginning to leave His people.

Look at verse 18: "Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them." Again, you get this picture, coming out of the throne room, out through the temple, out to the threshold, and now out to the very edge of the temple compound itself.

Turn over to chapter 11:22: "Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. The glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city." This is what we call the Mount of Olives. So, you see the visible manifestation of the presence of God leaving His people. Because of their sin and their idolatry, He, their King, is abdicating His visible throne in their presence.

It all surrounds His decision to give His people into captivity. Why? Why did God allow His people to be carried off into Babylonian captivity? Well, it's because of His faithfulness to the covenant that He made with them at Sinai. Listen to Deuteronomy 11:26-28: "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known." There's the issue. And in that covenant that He made with them at Sinai, the greatest curse of all was captivity in a foreign land. And God said when it's all done, that's what will happen. And so, the people of God go into 70 years of Babylonian captivity.

Now, most of the details of these 70 years are not recorded for us in the narrative of Old Testament history. We only get little glimpses of what happened during those 70 years. We get them in Daniel 1-6. If you read the first six chapters of Daniel, you see a little bit of what happened. You also see it in the book of Ezekiel, and you even get a glimpse of it in certain Psalms, especially Psalm 137. We do know this, that during the period of the exile, two prophets ministered to God's people in Babylon. One was Daniel who, remember, went on that first deportation back in 606-605 BC and was there when the bulk of them arrived in 586 and already was essentially Prime Minister of Babylon at that point. And the other was Ezekiel. And Daniel - can you see why these books have the themes they do? God's people are captive in Babylon and Daniel writes a prophecy and the theme of his prophecy is: God is sovereign over the history of all the nations and the empires. He's just reminding them that Babylon is not in charge; Yahweh is. And then Ezekiel writes and condemns them for their sin - that's why they're where they are - but also brings consolation and even the promise of future restoration. So, you see how their messages fit with the ministry God gave them.

Now, God's people suffered in Babylon for 70 years, but then came the Persian ruler, Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Great and his Medo-Persian empire stretched from the Aegean Sea to India. And on the day October 12, 539 BC, Cyrus' army conquered the great city of Babylon and the great Babylonian empire fell.

Xenophon describes, a secular historian describes how the Persians managed to penetrate that great city of Babylon's defenses. I wish I had time to describe to you the defenses of the city of Babylon. It was impenetrable. That's why the people of Babylon were holding a party inside, even though there was an army outside, because it was believed no one could penetrate the defenses that Babylon had.

But here's how it happened. Xenophon writes that the Medo-Persians deliberately chose the night of an annual feast. You remember that feast is recorded in Daniel 5 and the feast of Belshazzar. They chose the night of an annual feast knowing that all the people would be either drunk or distracted. And then they had been preparing for this day because, upstream, the Euphrates River flowed under the wall of the city of Babylon, providing a constant source of water and out through the other side, and it was impossible to navigate on that river, to get an army through that area.

And so, what the Medo-Persian army did is, in preparation for that feast day, they had begun even weeks before to dig a diverted canal upstream. They kept it sealed so the water of the Euphrates continued to flow, but they dug this canal that, at a moment, could be opened up and the water would flow through that canal rather than through its normal path. And so, at the right moment on that day, October 12th, they diverted the flow of the river Euphrates and the water level of the river going under the wall fell very quickly. And it didn't take long for the army, the Medes and the Persians, to wade in under the walls where the Euphrates River had once flowed.

Amazingly, once they were inside the city, they found that there were a series - inside the city itself, there were a series of brass and bronze gates that were closed at night to prevent armies from making progress through the city. But when they got into the city, they discovered that those inner gates were all open. Why? Well, there are a lot of conjectures, but we know why. Because 150 years before the events of October 12th, 539, 150 years earlier, Isaiah the prophet explained exactly how it would happen. And Isaiah (think about this now), 100 years before Cyrus was born, Isaiah addresses Cyrus by name.

You've got to see it. Turn to Isaiah. Isaiah 44. Again, remember, Isaiah writes this 100 years before Cyrus is born and 150 years before the events of that fateful night occurred. Isaiah 44:24: "Thus says the LORD [Yahweh], your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb [talking to Israel], 'I, the LORD [Yahweh], am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone, [verse 26] Confirming the word of His servant and performing the purpose of His messengers. It is I [watch this] who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited!' [Remember, right now, she's not inhabited. All the people are in Babylon.] And of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built.' And I will raise up her ruins again.' [God says, "I'm going to do this"]. It is I who says to the depth of the sea, 'Be dried up!' and I will make your rivers dry.'" God is the one who inspired the Medes and the Persians toward that plan.

Again, think of when this was written. Now, watch verse 28: "It is I who says of Cyrus [here's his name!], 'He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.' And he declares of Jerusalem, 'She will be built,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'" Chapter 45, "Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings [watch this]; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 'I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord [Yahweh], the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me. I am the Lord [Yahweh], and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; [and here's why] that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other... I am the Lord [Yahweh] who does all these [things].'" What an amazing prophecy. And it unfolded exactly as the prophet Isaiah wrote.

You see, what I read about in the end of chapter 44 about Jerusalem being rebuilt, being repopulated, well, this was God's plan because, in God's providence, Cyrus and the Persians had an entirely different approach from the Babylonians. They had a policy of repatriating the peoples whom they've conquered. And so, in the year 538, a year after they captured the city of Babylon and brought the kingdom and empire Babylon down, Cyrus issued a decree that allowed the Jews to return to their land. And the 70 years of Babylonian captivity came to an abrupt end, exactly as God had said. Amazing! Amazing to see! Remember, Isaiah writes 100 years before Cyrus is born, 150 years before those events unfold. And God says, "I will cause My people to return and to rebuild." And that's exactly what transpired.

Now, there's disagreement about exactly how to calculate the 70 years. There are two basic options, and in the end, it doesn't matter a lot, but let me just give them to you. Option number one is to calculate it from the first deportation in 606 BC to 536 when the second temple foundation was laid. That's one option. You remember the decree to allow them to go back to the land was in 538 but two years later, is when they finally laid the foundation of the temple. That's one possibility. Option two is to calculate from the final deportation, the third, in 586 BC, to the year 516 when the second temple was finally completed. Either way, it was a 70-year period because of the 490 years without a Sabbath year.

So, the Babylonian exile ended, and that brings us to the ninth and final movement of Old Testament history: the restoration of Israel to the land or its return. Now, this final phase of Old Testament history is recorded for us in two books: Ezra and Nehemiah. Now, in our Bibles, Ezra and Nehemiah are two books. But Ezra-Nehemiah are considered one book by many of the ancient Jewish writings. For example, Josephus lists them as a single book, Ezra-Nehemiah, Ezra/Nehemiah. Josephus does, the Jewish Talmud does, the Septuagint does, the Hebrew scribes do. In fact, Origen, one of the early church fathers was the first to separate them into two books. So really, we're looking at one book, Ezra-Nehemiah.

Ezra actually wrote chapters 1-6 of the book that bears his name as history. He didn't live during that period of time. We'll talk about that. And chapters 7-10, he wrote as an eyewitness. He did live in those events and he's writing as an eyewitness. Nehemiah 1-13 consists of Nehemiah's personal memoirs, and so it reads like memoirs as well. So that's where these events come from and how they recorded. Together, these two books (one book in Jewish thinking) provide a narrative of the restoration of God's people from the 70 years of Babylonian captivity back to the land of Israel.

The restoration, like the exile occurred in three phases. Essentially, there were three returns. The first stage, the first return, is in Ezra 1-6. And that return was under Zerubbabel. It was right after Cyrus' decree to repatriate the land. That first stage lasted about 20 years, and during that stage, the temple was rebuilt. About 50,000 Jews returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. The prophets during that time were Haggai and Zachariah. Then there was a 58-year gap, a 58-year gap, and during that gap is when the events of the book of Esther occurred.

Then the second stage of the return from captivity is recorded in Ezra 7-10. It's under Ezra. It happened in about the year 558 BC, I'm sorry, 458 BC. It lasted for about a year. And Ezra returns.... There's the temple already rebuilt. He returns to restore worship. About 2000 went back with Ezra.

And then the third stage of return... By the way, there was a gap between the second and third stages of about 13 years.

The third stage of return is recorded in Nehemiah 1-13. Of course, it's under Nehemiah's leadership in about the year 445 BC, a period of about 12 years is how long Nehemiah lasts, a little longer. And Jerusalem, the city itself, is fortified. So, the first return, the temple is rebuilt. The second return, worship is restored. And then, in Nehemiah, is the third return, Jerusalem is fortified. And Malachi prophecies during the time of Nehemiah.

Now, Ezra writes like a historian. He wrote the book of Ezra. He writes like a historian. There are official lists that are recorded for us, and I've cited some of the references here on the slide. There are seven official letters throughout Ezra's writing. There are his own official memoirs in chapter 7-10. So, he writes like historian, but he is not solely a historian because the book of Ezra-Nehemiah, which Ezra probably put together (he pulled Nehemiah's personal memoirs together with his own). The book of Ezra/Nehemiah spans a period of 108 years. But he only touches on about 28 years and completely ignores 80 years. In other words, he specifically selected events to communicate because he had a purpose, a central purpose.

In Ezra-Nehemiah, there are two major recurring concepts, two supporting themes. One is the hand of God and the other is the word of God. You see these things recurring constantly throughout Ezra-Nehemiah. The hand of God and the word of God.

Let me show you. Let's look, first of all, at recognizing the hand of God. Just look in the book of Ezra at how many times we're reminded of this. Here are examples. In Ezra 1:1, God stirred up Cyrus; 1:5, whose spirit God stirred up; chapter 6:22, God turned the heart of the king; chapter 7:6, the hand of God; chapter 7:9, the good hand of God; chapter 7:27, God puts such a thing in the king's heart; chapter 8:18, the good hand of God. In Nehemiah you see the same thing. In chapter 2:8, the good hand of God; chapter 2:12, God put something into my mind, Nehemiah writes; chapter 4:15, God frustrated their plans (his opponents); chapter 2:18, the hand of God has been favorable to us. So, you see this, the hand of God. In other words, you see God moving behind the scenes. That's the idea. You didn't actually see God's hand; you saw Him at work in the events that transpired.

You also see a constant appeal to the word of God, and this is completely unlike before the captivity. Remember, the people of Israel disregarded the word of God before the captivity, but now there is an appeal to the word of God. Again, here are some examples from the book of Ezra. Chapter 1:1, this was to fulfill the word of the Lord to Jeremiah; chapter 3:2, as it is written; chapter 3:4, as it is written. You begin to get a feel almost to the New Testament, don't you? This is the first time we see this sort of thing. Chapter 3:11, the people ordered their praise after what Jeremiah wrote; chapter 5:1-2, the people responded to the prophet; chapter 6:18, as it is written; chapter 7:23, a Persian king demands obedience to God's law; chapter 7:25, a Persian king authorized the teaching of God's law; and chapters 9-10 are about conformity to God's law; Nehemiah 5:7, they realize they're violating the usury laws, the laws of loaning that are in the Old Testament, and they immediately repent. They were taking advantage of the poor. And in chapters 8 and 9, you see the theme of the priority of God's law. So, there are these two emphases that weave throughout Ezra-Nehemiah.

Now, here's the purpose of Ezra-Nehemiah. It's to show the people of God how God normally works. Think about this. If you're an Israelite, if you're a Jewish person before this stage in history, what are you used to God doing? The magnificent, the grand, miracles, the exodus. They were accustomed to miraculous intervention and to direct revelation. Let me say that again. They were accustomed, before this, to miraculous intervention and to direct revelation. That's what they expected.

But guess what? After the exile, God isn't parting anymore Red Seas. This is not the exodus. The return from Babylon was no exodus. But, and here's the point, God's divine providence and the people's response to His word are no less a work of God than those works of miracles and that direct revelation where God spoke from the skies. That's the point. This is God's normal way of working. God uses His providence, His ordering of events, and His word to accomplish His will in the lives of His people.

It's interesting. Ezra's name means "Yahweh helps". How does God do that? By His word and His providence. And that's it! The hand of God, the word of God, the hand of God, the word of God.

Folks, this is our lives. This is how God works in our lives. I love Ezra-Nehemiah because God isn't working miracles today in the way He did in the time of Moses or even in the time of Christ. So, how is God working? He's working in your life and mine the same way He worked in Ezra-Nehemiah - by His providence, behind the scenes, doing what He does to shape the direction of our lives, and His Word. His providence and His Word.

An outline of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah is this. You have Ezra rebuilding the worship of God and, in chapters 1-6, preparation of the temple for worship and, in chapter 7-10, preparation of the people for worship and then, in Nehemiah, you have rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. So, Ezra: rebuilding the worship of God; Nehemiah: rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

Let's look at it together. Let's start with the book of Ezra. This - chapters 1-6, are the return under Zerubbabel and its preparation of the temple for worship. That picture you see on the screen there is actually the Cyrus Cylinder that has been recovered and discovered. And here's an excerpt from the Cyrus Cylinder. This is what Cyrus wrote, "I return to these sacred cities, the sanctuaries of which have been in ruins for a long time, the images which used to live therein, and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I also gathered all their former inhabitants and returned them to their habitations. May all the gods, whom I have resettled in their sacred cities, ask daily, Bel and Nebo, for a long life for me."

So, this guy is clueless in terms of the true God but, remember what we read in Isaiah? "I will lead you by the hand. I will cause Jerusalem to be repopulated. I will cause it to be rebuilt." Here's God, behind the scenes, working through pagan king, to accomplish exactly what He promised would happen. No obvious miracle, but every bit as miraculous. God had promised restoration and God accomplished it through Cyrus. When the timing is right, Cyrus conquered Babylon and in his first year he did something... Listen carefully. In Cyrus' first year, he did something that had probably never happened before. He not only decided to repatriate and rebuild Israel's temple, but to do so at Persia's expense. That's truly a miracle.

Now, we come to chapter 2 of Ezra and there is a list of those who return with Zerubbabel in that first return. There were about 50,000 Jews. Understand, this is probably not even a majority of those who are living in Babylon. Many of the Jewish people living in Babylon probably stayed because of their lucrative businesses and their comfortable lives. You can read how that unfolds even in the book of Ezekiel. So, they stayed but 50,000 return.

This is the route they would have taken, up over the desert, from the Euphrates valley, up over the desert and down into the land of Israel. When they arrived, everything was not rosy. In fact, you get to chapter 4, and they run into opposition. Their enemies are called the Samaritans.

Who are the Samaritans? Well, the Samaritans are people whose ancestors were the result of intermarriage between the Jews left in the north after the 722 defeat and destruction by Assyria. So, Jews who were left there, a few were left, and intermarrying with imported Assyrian colonists - those people the Assyrians brought from all other countries they had conquered and put there, they intermarried, and out of that came the Samaritans. And the Samaritans end up being long-term enemies of the Jewish people, and that happens here in Ezra 4.

Let me give you a summary of the various attempts at different times to oppose God's people. This isn't chronological but it's the forms that opposition takes that are common to all times. By the way, there is so much to be learned here because we live in these times. Look at the way opposition against God's people came.

First of all, there was distraction. Haggai records that the people were building their own homes and farming their own land and completely forgot about building the temple. Distraction. Then there is compromise. Look at chapter 4. Look at Ezra. Turn to Ezra 4. You kind of track with me here. Ezra 4:2, compromise: "Let us build with you..." "Let us build with you. Let's dialogue." Then there's discouragement. Look at chapter 4:4. There's sneers and mocking. Chapter 4:4 goes on to describe intimidation and threats. They frightened them from building. Verse 5: "[they] hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia..." We're talking about lobbyists and attorneys in modern terms. Then in verses 6-23, there are letters written to Persia, letters written to the king saying, "You don't know what's going on here. You better check up on things. These people aren't doing what you think they're doing." Then there's an actual expression of physical force. If you look at verse 23: "...they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force of arms."

Folks, all of these things are very likely in our lifetimes. Some of them already happen, others of them I think will happen. Understand, this was God's will. It was God's will for these people to be there doing what they were doing. But that didn't mean there wouldn't be opposition and that doesn't mean that we will not face opposition. There was opposition even in doing God's will.

Verse 24 says that Israel's enemies were successful: "Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased..." It stopped for somewhere between 10 and 16 years. We can't be specific. They'd completed a little more than a foundation at this point.

Now, in chapter 5, the building resumes. But it's not coincidental, because in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 5, we learn that God sent prophets, Haggai and Zachariah, who told them it's time for you to finish rebuilding the house of God. In addition, notice verse 5 of chapter 5: "But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews..." In other words, the resumption of building was the gracious design of God. So, through the prophets and through God's providence, it continues.

In chapter 6, the temple is completed. It was completed in the year 516 BC, 20 years after it was begun. Remember, there was a break in the building. When you hear about the temple periods, the First Temple period was Solomon's Temple. It was built in about 959 BC and lasted till it was destroyed in 586. The Second Temple period was Zerubbabel's simple temple, that was then modified and embellished (really rebuilt by Herod), but that's still called the Second Temple period. It began in 516 BC until Herod's Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.

Now, 58 years pass between Ezra 6 and Ezra 7 and, in that 58 years, Esther happens. Ezra-Nehemiah happens primarily in the land of Canaan, the Promised Land; Esther's events occur in Persia with the Jews who remain there.

Now, that brings us to Ezra 7, Ezra 7-10. These are Ezra's memoirs. Remember, chapters 1-6, he wrote his history; he wasn't there. Chapter 7-10, he's absolutely there and he is preparing the people for worship now that the temple has been rebuilt. In Chapter 7:11-26, you have another one of those decrees. This is Artaxerxes' decree, and it is a detailed, official record of the king's incredible generosity.

I wish I had time to walk you through it in detail, but I just want to kind of outline it for you. He goes on to talk about his generosity of the people of Israel. He authorized them to return, he authorized the transport of Persian assets, he established the proper use of those assets, and he even authorized the use of government funds to accomplish this. Again, this is miraculous. And then you have his generosity to the government treasurers, or through them. He established a government budget for the project, and he even exempted the people who worked in the temple from taxation. With Ezra, he gave Ezra authority to set up a provincial government, and to make political judicial appointments, and authority to carry out the punishment of lawbreakers. Ezra becomes, essentially, the governor.

How could that happen? Well, look at chapter 7:27. I love Ezra's explanation. He says, "Blessed be the Lord [Yahweh], the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to adorn the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, and [He (God)] has extended lovingkindness [steadfast love] to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty princes. Thus I was strengthened [here it is] according to the hand of the Lord my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me." You know what Ezra is saying? He's saying, "God did this in His providence. God did this. He pulled the strings of the hearts of these people to make this impossible thing happen."

In chapter 8, Ezra returned in the year 458 BC with 2000 people. But when he arrived, he discovered something that was very troubling. He discovered there were mixed marriages. The people had intermarried with all of the "ites" of the land of Canaan. Now, don't misunderstand. The issue was not racial. The issue was religious. What was at stake was the continuation of the covenant nation and the worship of the true God.

You'll see that in a moment, because in chapter 9:3-4, Ezra was distraught. He tore his clothes. He pulled out a portion of his beard and hair, and he sat down appalled. And then he prayed. And we learn what he was really thinking in his prayer. Look at Ezra 9, verses 7 and following. This is a prayer of confession. In the middle of it, he says, "Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day. But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord [Yahweh] our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg [I love that!] in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. 'Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land which you are entering [here was the issue] to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity. So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons...'"

Why? Because it will pollute the destruction of the true God. And we saw that. We saw that unfold in the rest of Old Testament history. That's the concern. And so, what happens? Well, in chapter 10 he made the people take an oath to deal with this sin. They even consented to divorce their pagan, unbelieving wives and return them to their families. You say, wait a minute, is this the exception? Are these unbiblical divorces? No, they're not unbiblical divorces for two reasons. One, because they are idolaters they are involved, as all idolaters were in Old Testament times, immorality. That was part of the worship. In addition, they didn't want to live with their husbands if they were commanded to leave the worship of their gods. And so, these are in line, even with New Testament teaching on divorce. But they divorce them and put them away.

Now, somewhere in this timeframe, the book of Chronicles was written. The author was probably Ezra, and the book of Chronicles covers the monarchy just like the books of Samuel and the Kings do. But Chronicles was written to the Jews living in Judah after the return from exile.

Now, think about this. Again, use a sanctified imagination. Put yourself in the place of the Jews. They were greatly discouraged. They had inherited the Davidic covenant, but there was no Davidic king on the throne. Instead, there was a Persian appointee. They had a temple, but it was a hut compared to the glory of Solomon's Temple, and there was no Ark, and there was no glory cloud. There was just this simple brick building. They had a hope of a Messianic kingdom, but none of it had materialized. And so, Chronicles comes along and is a book of hope and encouragement. In spite of the unpromising circumstances in which they found themselves, the Davidic covenant was still in effect, and they had a hope for their future. That's what Chronicles is about.

So, just to summarize, in the period of the restoration of the return, the Persian kings allowed Israel to return to Palestine in order to rebuild the temple under Zerubbabel, in Ezra 1-6, to purify their worship under Ezra, in Ezra 7-10, and to rebuild and re fortify the city of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. And that happens and unfolds, of course, in the book of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah. Turn with me to Nehemiah's book. We read in verse 4 of chapter 1 that Nehemiah fasted, wept, and prayed because of the conditions of the city of Jerusalem. And in verse 11, he gave a specific request to God: grant me success and compassion before this man. Now, who is this man? Notice verse 11 says, "[he] was the cupbearer to the king".

How in the world did a Jew get such an important role in Persia? Well, Esther was the king's stepmother. And so, again, you see God at work behind the scenes. Here's Nehemiah testing the food for the king. He has such a trusted position and it's because God is at work.

Chapter 2:1, four months later in March/April of 445, somewhere in there, Nehemiah... Remember, now, Nehemiah knew of the king's paranoia that that had stopped Ezra and what Ezra wanted to do. So, Nehemiah took a subtler approach. And after three months, he showed his sadness finally. But notice chapter 2:2, the king noticed and asked, "Why?" There's another miracle. Verse 3, Nehemiah explains. And look at verse 4. Folks, this doesn't happen. The king says, "What do you request [want]?" Verse 5: "Let me return and rebuild." Now, if you hadn't read this before, what would you say would be the odds of the King of Persia saying yes to the request of his Jewish cupbearer? Well, look at verse 6: "...it pleased the king [him] to send me..."

But Nehemiah wasn't done. He went on to ask for letters to the governor, in verse 7, and a letter to Asaph to supply timber from the government funds for the project. How do you explain this whole conversation? Look at verse 8 of chapter 2. The end of the verse: "...And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me." In verse 9, Nehemiah arrived, about August 445 BC, in the land.

Now, when you get to chapters 4-6 of Nehemiah, chapters 4-6, they chronicle the opposition that he faced. Again, opposition. There was external opposition; there were powerful men who were opposed to him. You'll see in chapter 4:2, two of them are named: Sanballat. I'm sorry, in verse 1, Sanballat, who was the Governor of Samaria, and there were other powerful men as well - Tobiah, verse 3. And there was also internal opposition. You'll find Nehemiah was subject to discouragement. He was subject to fear. The people were as well. And the people were guilty of even sin. There was external opposition and internal opposition. Chapters 4-6 describe it.

Why? Why wouldn't Nehemiah record this lengthy chronicle of opposition? To show that the rebuilding was humanly impossible. And so, you have Nehemiah's constant prayers. They underscore that God has to do this and that He is working behind the scenes. Chapter 4:15: God frustrated their plan. Chapter 4:20: our God will fight for us.

And so, after that opposition - go over to chapter 6, chapter 6:15. The wall was completed in 52 days, less than two months. Now, verse 16 of chapter 6 is really the key to understanding Nehemiah. How did they complete the wall? Notice it: "...this work had been accomplished with the help of our God."

If you think of the city of Jerusalem in the time of Christ, it was somewhat like a square. That's not what was true in Nehemiah's time. In Nehemiah's time, picture something more like a football standing on its end, and the top of it was where the temple was, and then the city stretched out to the south, a smaller area than the footprint of the city in the time of Jesus. But it was rebuilt in 52 days. You can see that the green represents the city of Jerusalem in the time of Christ. And you can see that that pink area represents what was rebuilt in Nehemiah's time. That's the shape of the city in his time.

Nehemiah 7-10: God directs His people through His word. Look at chapter 8:1. On October 8, 445 BC, Ezra brings all the people together. And in verse 7 you learn that he read from the law of God and explained it. And according to verse 3, he did this from daybreak until noon.

By the way, this is the foundation for expository preaching. They read the text; they explained the text. There was a platform that was elevated. There was a podium. They read the text; they explained the text. That's why we do what we do. It goes back to Moses. I could take you back to Deuteronomy 1, but it finds its root here in this passage. Our Lord did the same thing on Sabbath day after Sabbath day, He went to the synagogue, the next consecutive text was read, and then He explained it. He taught. This is why we do what we do. This is the pattern from the beginning, and it's clearly set here.

In response, verse 9 says, the people wept when they heard the word of God. Nehemiah and Ezra called for a celebration instead - "Don't weep. Let's celebrate!" And then they gather the next day to study, and they discovered the Feast of Booths - they were supposed to be keeping and they hadn't been. And they immediately responded in obedience. Notice, "as it is written", "according to the ordinance".

Now, folks, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to get the point. The point of this chapter is, obey the Word of God. Chapter 9 records the people's prayer of confession. It's one of the most beautiful prayers in Scripture. Their confession is essentially this: "God, You have continually shown Your grace and power. We have refused to keep Your law." And then the people covenant together, in writing, to obedience to God, especially in the areas where they most struggled: intermarriage, keeping the Sabbath, and providing for the temple and its service.

In chapters 11-12 of Nehemiah, the city itself is repopulated, the walls are dedicated, and there's a great celebration. Now, between chapter 12 and 13 of Nehemiah, there's a time gap of 14 years. Nehemiah returns to Babylon. When he comes back, in chapter 13, guess what he finds? For his second term, he found the people had been unfaithful in the three very areas where they had committed, in writing, to be obedient to the Lord. And so, God raised up a prophet during Nehemiah's time, Malachi, and Malachi called the people to repent and prepare for the coming of the Lord.

Now, let me conclude this way. The message of Ezra-Nehemiah is that God is at work among His people, and He directs them by His providence and simple obedience to His Word. Do you ever get discouraged? Do you ever look at the miracles in Scripture and then look at your own life and kind of wonder, "God, why can't I enjoy that? Why can't I see some of that?" Listen, be comforted. God's work in Ezra-Nehemiah is exactly the same as God's work in our lives. There are no clear miracles. There's nothing huge. There's no exodus. But God is every bit as much at work. The hand of God at work, behind the scenes in His providence, shaping and directing our lives, and directing us through His Word in order to accomplish His purpose. This is how we're supposed to live - seeing the hand of God, shape and direct our circumstances, and living in obedience to His Word. Trust His providence. Obey His Word.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for Your amazing goodness to us. Thank You that You have given us these books. You've given us this history to remind us of how You work and how You work in our lives. Father, help us to trust You more. Help us to lean on Your providence and to obey Your Word, and then to step back and see You do in our lives exactly what You did in the lives of the people of Ezra and Nehemiah's time. We thank You, oh God, for Your goodness. In Jesus' name, Amen!