Institutes of Theology | Session 4 - Wisdom Literature–Return from Exile

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We continue our survey, a sort of aerial overview of the Old Testament, how the history and message of the Old Testament looks from, say, 30,000 feet. To help us do that, we have divided the Old Testament into nine major movements. Universal dealings, where God's dealing with humanity as a whole, from Genesis 1 to 11. Then the Patriarchal Period, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the sons in Genesis 12 to 50. Slavery in Egypt, those years that are described only in one chapter, Exodus 1, and then the Exodus under Moses, Exodus chapter 2, all the way through the end of the Pentateuch, the book of Deuteronomy. The Conquest and Division of Canaan and Joshua. The Period of the Judges, the darkest period in Israel's history, in Judges Ruth and 1 Samuel 1 to 8. And then last time we looked at the Monarchy, the United Monarchy under the three kings, under Saul and David and Solomon, and then the rest of the monarchy, the Divided Monarchy where the kingdom of Israel was split into two, the ten northern tribes and the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, and how that unfolded in 1 Kings 12 through 2 Kings. So that's where we've been so far. Now, we're going to go several places tonight, but I want us to begin by stepping away from that timeline, stepping away from the history of the Old Testament to study the 22 books in the Old Testament that are not history. Those are, first of all, 5 books that we call wisdom literature. Poetry or wisdom literature. And then we need to consider as well the basic message of the 17 books that we call the major and the minor prophets.

So let's begin tonight with the wisdom literature. The wisdom literature. What are we talking about? We're talking about 5 books. The book of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. And wouldn't you know it, they're conveniently grouped in your Bible, so you can remember exactly what they are. Now here are the themes, the overarching themes of these books. Job is about sovereignty and suffering. Psalms, a pattern of personal worship. Whether it's corporately with God's people, or individually in your own heart. Proverbs, wisdom for the details of life. Ecclesiastes, the vanity of life in a fallen world. And then Song of Solomon, the joy of married love. So that's an overview of where we're going with these five books of wisdom, literature, or poetry. But let's dive in just a little deeper. Again, it's a little frustrating for me as a teacher. You know I love to go slowly, but we're not going slowly tonight, so here we go.

All right, let's start with Job. It's about sovereignty and suffering. What is the relationship between the suffering of this life and God's sovereign purpose? And how do those come together and connect? There's so much here, because this is the world we live in. But the setting of this book of Job, it's set, the actual scenes unfold during the patriarchal period, about 2000 BC. How do we know that? Well, there's several reasons. Job, we find out, lives for 140 years, which is more connected to that period of time. Job's wealth is measured in his possessions. Job's family follows a kind of clan system. The geography that we're given in Job is non-Israelite. And there are references here. You can look these up. They'll be in your notes in what you have there. And the name used for God in Job is El Shaddai, 47 times in the Old Testament, but 31 times in the book of Job. So all of those things help us date the setting of these events, and they occur during the, or it occurs, I should say, during the patriarchal period.

But when was it written? Well, scholars disagree about exactly when it was written. There are three primary options that are offered. Some say it was during Jeremiah's time in the 7th century BC. Others say, no, it was around the time of the exile, either during the exile, exilic, or just after the exile, post-exilic, in the 5th or 6th century BC. And then there is the option which I leaned toward, and that is it was written during the 10th century BC, during Solomon's reign. We have other of the wisdom literature, obviously, that were written during that period of time. It seems to make the most sense that that's when it was written. The author, then, is either Solomon or unknown. There were several men who were noted for their wisdom in that time period. We'll touch on some of them in a moment. Could have been one of them.

The purpose of this book is why do the righteous suffer? Why do we who love God are committed to God, why does God let us suffer in this life? For some of you, this is far more than a theoretical question. It's a very practical, daily question. The characters in the book of Job all propose their own answers to why the righteous suffer. First of all, you have the narrator, the one who is putting this book together. And it's clear when you read chapter one and chapter two that the narrator is telling us that suffering is a direct result of conflict in the spiritual realm over which we have no control. You see Satan go before God and accuse Job, and Job is defended by God, but then God allows Satan some latitude in his life for His own purposes. So that's one answer.

But then Job's friends show up. And Job's friends and everybody needs a friend like this, they say the suffering, all of them, all the three main friends, say that suffering must be the result of sin. Now guys, that's called retribution theology. Retribution theology is the idea that I can look at someone's life and tell whether God is pleased with them or not. If they are prospering, then God loves them and thinks they're wonderful. If on the other hand, they're suffering, then there's some issue in their life or God wouldn't be doing that to them. Now what's the obvious problem with that? Well, let's start with the life of Jesus Christ, for one. Let's start with Paul. You've read that litany of the things he faced, and on and on it goes. That is not a legitimate theology, but that's where they're coming from. Suffering must be the result of sin.

So Eliphaz says, if you sin, you suffer. And he bases his conclusions on the assumption of his own experience. And again, you can go look up these passages. You'll see that he's appealing to his experience. This is what he's seen, what he's known. Bildad says to Job, you must be sinning. And this is based on the assumptions of his traditions. Zophar says you are sinning, and this is based on the assumptions of his religious convictions. So they all basically are making the same assumption and the same accusation against Job. 

Now, Job himself, he has a different perspective. As he looks at himself, he knows that he has, while he's not perfectly righteous, he is more righteous than his friends are accusing him of, and there's no hidden sin in his life. And so he's looking at it, going, this suffering doesn't match the theology of, you know, God as good and rewarding the righteous. And so he's struggling with that. 

A fourth individual that comes along here in this story is Elihu. This is a young friend, the fourth friend, who gave counsel that was wiser than those who were older than he, and he confronts Job. He recognizes in Job that while Job is a righteous man, God said there was an unrighteous and more righteous in his generation, he's also tempted to self-righteousness, thinking, I don't really deserve what's happening to me. And Elihu says, don't focus on the cause of suffering, but the result. God is purifying and teaching the righteous. So he gets closer than anyone else to the real issue. 

But then God steps on the scene, and I love those chapters beginning in chapter 38. And you know, what do we kind of expect God to do? We expect him to come on the scene and go, Job, you're one of my favorites. You know, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. But what does God say? He says, “Answer me! Stand up and let me confront you! Who do you think you are to question me?” And then God goes through this litany of ways that he is wise and powerful and sustaining all things. And really what he confronts Job in is, you need to trust me. And he basically says everything, including suffering, is meaningful, even if you can't see it. And so you need to trust me. Look at what I have done and am doing. I can manage your life. It's really what God says. 

And that's the ultimate, isn't it, for all of us. Turn to Job's conclusion. Turn your Bibles to Job chapter 40, verse 1. “Yahweh said to Job, ‘Will the fault finder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it!” Job was, I think, unintentionally reproving God. He was trying to straighten God out. God, you shouldn't be letting this happen to me. “Then Job answered the Lord and said, ‘Behold, I am insignificant. What can I reply to you? I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken, I will not answer. Even twice, I will add nothing more.’” And here's God. “Yahweh answered Job out of the storm and said, ‘Gird up your loins like a man. I will ask you, and you instruct me. Will you really annul my judgment? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?’” And then he goes on to say, look, you want to be God? Then here's what it requires. So you're not, let me be God. Trust me to be God and to order and structure your life. And Job does eventually repent.

Go over to chapter 42, verse one. “Job answered Yahweh and said, ‘I know that you can do all things. There's no purpose of yours that can be thwarted. “Who is this that hides council without knowledge?” Therefore, I have declared what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Here now, and I will speak. I will ask you, and you, God, instruct me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I retract and I repent in dust and ashes.”

What the end story of Job is, men, is there is suffering in the world. God is in charge of it, and God is big enough and strong enough and wise enough and good enough that you can trust him. That's the message of Job.

That brings us to Psalms. Psalms is a pattern of personal worship. Now, when you look at when the Psalms were written, there's a range. The earliest Psalm was written by Moses, Psalm 90, so around 1410 BC, right after the Exodus. And the newest Psalm, if you will, was sometime after 500 BC, Psalm 126, which records the realities of the exile. So you have this full range, but most of the Psalms were written about 1000 BC during the reigns of David and Solomon. So think about that. The Psalter that you have in your Bible is around, for the most part, it's around 3000 years old. And yet those Psalms about God are just as fresh today as when they were written.

The organization of Psalms is into five books, or five divisions. Book 1, Psalms 1-41, creation, sin, and redemption. There's a lot of comparison, and some relate the first book of Psalms to the book of Genesis. Book 2, Psalms 42-72, Israel's ruin and redemption. Very much like the book of Exodus. Book 3, chapter 73-89, the holiness of Israel's sanctuary. And again, compared to Leviticus. Book 4, Psalms 90-106, God's sovereign rule of the nations. As you see it unfold in Israel's case, in the book of Numbers. And then Book 5, Psalms 107-150, the praise of God and the sufficiency of His Word, which obviously relates to the book of Deuteronomy.

Now, we know these are divisions because each of the divisions is followed by a doxology. If you go and look at the last psalm in each of these divisions, you'll see there's an obvious transition from one book to the next book of Psalms. Other evidences point to the division and growth. For example, there are often concluding statements like this one, Psalm 72:20, “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.” Clearly now you're leaving one group of Psalms and moving to another.

Now, when you look at the Psalm titles, it's important to understand that those Psalm titles, and I don't mean... Here, let's look at one. Look at Psalm 5, just as an example. Now, in my New American Standard Bible, you have sort of a summary of the Psalm that the translators inserted, Prayer for Protection from the Wicked. And then, there's the title to the Psalm, “For the choir director; for flute accompaniment, a Psalm of David.” That's the title, and there are titles to many of the Psalms. It's important for you to know that those titles are part of the canonical text in the Hebrew Bible. In other words, the rabbis treat those titles as part of the inspired text.

In addition, the New Testament treats them as scripture. Several times, Jesus and other others in the New Testament will draw conclusions about the significance of the psalm from the title itself. And we definitely know these titles are from antiquity. They're written in the third person, so they were written after the event. But the Septuagint translators, those who in the second or third century BC, translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, whatever those terms meant, some of the terms we encounter in the titles were so old even then, they didn't know what they meant. So they'd been around a long time. So we consider those titles. You'll notice often when we read the Psalms in our services, we'll read the title as well because it's really considered part of the canonical text, as well as verse one.

Now, there are a number of authors of the Psalms. David wrote 75 of the 150. Solomon wrote 2, Psalms 72 and 127. Twelve of the Psalms were written by the sons of Korah, a Levitical family, descendants, you remember, of the rebel that the earth opened up and destroyed in Numbers 26. Asaph wrote 12 of the Psalms. He was a choir leader from the tribe of Levi. Heman the Ezrahite wrote Psalm 88. He founded the choir of the sons of Korah. And then Ethan the Ezrahite, Psalm 89, founded one of the three choirs as well. So you can see there's a mix of authors. Moses, as I said, wrote the oldest Psalm, Psalm 90, and then 48 of the Psalms are anonymous. So a lot of different authors of the Psalter.

Now, when you look at the Psalms, why, why do we have the Psalter? The purpose of the Psalms, I would put this way, a divinely intended record and pattern of man expressing himself to God. You want to know what it looks like to really express your own heart to God? You have right here in the Psalms a full pattern of that and in a total range of emotion. I mean, some of the Psalms, the psalmist is at the very bottom. I mean, he is, he's scratching to look up, right? And then there are other times when he's at the very top of the mountain and he's celebrating the goodness and the greatness of God. That's what the Psalms were intended to do. In fact, you remember James, James said, is any among you joyful? Then let him sing Psalms. Let him sing. Let him rejoice. And is any among you distressed and in a different position? Then let him pray. So whatever our emotions are, they're to drive us to God one way or the other.

And you see that in the Psalms and the expression of the heart. And the Psalms provide as well a pattern of personal and corporate worship. Many of the Psalms are individual but are sung in corporate worship. And many of them are corporate. “We” and “our” and are also sung in corporate worship and prayed individually. So it all intermingles in the expression of the Psalms.

Unity in the Psalms is really worship. That's really what the Psalms are about. The object of worship is obviously the Lord. It is the recognition of God's person. Now guys, let me just tell you something that I don't even remember who told me this years ago. It's a long time ago. But it's revolutionized my approach to the Psalms, and I would urge you to consider this. When you're reading a Psalm, be looking for these things. First of all, names of God. What is he called? What are the names that are given? And what are the significance of those names? Secondly, look for His attributes. When it says God is, make a note. What is he? What is it saying he's like? And then thirdly, His acts. When it says God did this, let that be an instruction to you. So as you go through the Psalms, ultimately who God is, what he's like, what he's done, His names, His attributes, His perfections, and His acts, those should drive you to worship. So be looking through the Psalms for those. Regardless of the theme of the psalm, you want to tie that theme back into those realities. Who is God? What is he like? And what has he done? Or what is he doing? Those things will revolutionize your worship if you'll look for those things in the Psalms. 

There's also a lot of emphasis on Christ in the Psalms. You remember after the resurrection in Luke 24, Jesus taught His disciples all things about him in the Old Testament, including the Psalms. Some of the obvious ones, Psalm 2, Psalm 110, Psalm 22 about Jesus’ suffering on the cross. Those are magnificent psalms. Those are, there are others, but those are a couple that stand out to me. The other part of Psalms is our response to God. And what you find in that response is God requires, if you're going to come and worship him, you have to have clean hands and a pure heart. In other words, your heart has to be right with God, and you need to be living in a way that overall, you don't have to be perfect, but overall, you are living in righteousness. You're living in a way that honors him. 

Then there has to be a heart that longs for God. You know, God isn't interested in your jumping through the hoops and doing what he's commanded. He's interested in your heart, and that's what matters. Remember what he said to David, a man after His own heart? He says, man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. God's looking at your heart, men, and what he expects from you in your response is a heart that longs after him, and a heart, the last point there, a heart that is rehearsing internally these truths about God. Your life isn't about you, it's about him, and so you're thinking about what you're learning about him, and you're returning that back into worship and praise, just like David did, just like the other psalmist did. So that's an overview of the Psalms. So much richness there. Let's move on to the Proverbs of Solomon.

Proverbs of Solomon, wisdom for the details of life. The word “proverb,” the title, the Hebrew root of the word proverbs means “to be like.” It has a wide range of meaning. It can refer to folk sayings, allegories, laments. It can be a comparison, an object lesson, a truism. One thing to keep in mind with the proverbs is they're not ironclad promises. There are proverbs that summarize how things normally work in the world, but they're not guarantees. You know, a lot of parents, they read the text in Proverbs 22 that says, raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old and not depart from it, that's a promise that my child's gonna come to faith. Well, first of all, that's not really what that Proverb says. Proverbs is really saying, if you will train up a child according to his own way, that is, if you will educate him and bring him along in keeping with his own gifts and skills, then when he's old, he's still gonna be doing that, because it's who he is, it's what he's like. But even if you interpret it the traditional way, it's in Proverbs. It's normally true, but it's not a guarantee. So be careful in how you handle the Proverbs. 

The authors of the Proverbs, you have a number that were written and compiled by King Solomon. There were others written by Solomon and later compiled by King Hezekiah. And then you have those collected and compiled by Solomon. And then you even have Proverbs 30, written by Agur and King Lemuel, Chapter 31. And there's even an anonymous poem at the end of the Book of Proverbs. So a number of authors.

Now, why Proverbs? What's its purpose? Go to Proverbs Chapter 1. Proverbs Chapter 1, in the introduction, in Verses 1 through 6, you have laid out the purpose of Proverbs. In Verse 2 is a summary. There's a mental purpose to know wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding. And there's a moral purpose. The mental purpose is to discern the sayings of understanding. The moral purpose is to know wisdom and instruction. Then, verses 3 through 6 sort of fill that out and explain it. The moral purpose is explained in verses 3 through 5. The mental purpose in verse 6. So just breaking that down a little bit. Here's the mental purpose of Proverbs. Verse 2 says, you'll be able, if you really get into Proverbs, you will be able to discern the sayings of understanding. And then verse 6 fills that out and says, you'll be able to understand a proverb, a figure, words of the wise, riddles. You're going to know how to think in the language of the sages of Israel. That's the mental purpose. It'll help you think. It really will. If you get into Proverbs and you force your mind to deal with it, it'll help you mentally exercise yourself to understand hard things.

But it also serves a moral purpose. And it's captured in those two words in verse 2, wisdom and instruction. Wisdom has to do with the content of what Proverbs delivers. That Hebrew word for wisdom occurs 153 times in the Old Testament. In Exodus 35, it's used of a skill, like a skill to do a craft, something that is a trade. In Psalm 107, it's used the same way. You know, the sailors, you remember the sailors get caught in that storm on the Mediterranean, and it says they reach the end of... they come to their wits' end. Literally, they come to their wisdoms' end. They come to the end of their skill as sailors, and all they can do is just hang on and hope they survive. So, the word wisdom is really “skill.” And in Proverbs, it's the skill to live in the details of life in a way that pleases God. 

The word “instruction” isn't about content. It's about method, how Proverbs delivers this wisdom. This word is used 50 times in the Old Testament. It's usually oral instruction, and sometimes it's physical discipline, but mostly it's oral instruction. That's what Solomon's doing here. He is teaching us using oral instruction how to gain wisdom, the skill for the details of life, living in a way that pleases God. That's why you have all of those insights into the little affairs of life, like don't go to your neighbor's house with a loud voice in the morning. That's wisdom. That's skill in knowing how to live. And of course, you have the full range as well. The fear of the Lord, verse 7, is the beginning of knowledge.

So, that's the book of Proverbs. That's what it's intended to deliver. The first ten chapters are the sort of lessons, and then beginning with chapter 11 and following, you have the individual Proverbs that are grouped, more than most people think they're grouped, but there's still some difference in subject as you kind of weave through the book of Proverbs.

That brings us to Ecclesiastes. I think the most misunderstood book in the Old Testament. It's about the vanity of life in a fallen world. I love the book of Ecclesiastes. Honestly, understanding it revolutionized my own life and understanding of life in this world. Let's talk about it. First of all, the title of Ecclesiastes comes from the Septuagint. That's its title in the Septuagint. The Hebrew title is Koheleth. Koheleth in Hebrew literally means “the preacher,” one who speaks to the assembly. The author is clearly Solomon. You see that in several places. The date in which he wrote it was probably late in his life near 931 BC before his death. 

But what is the purpose of the book of Ecclesiastes? There are several common interpretations.  First of all, some say, Ecclesiastes is man's reasoning apart from revelation. In other words, there's a book in the Bible that just tells you how fallen man thinks, and that's this book. So it's just giving you insight into how they think. It's to expose the best wisdom that an unregenerate man can have reflecting on life. I think there's a huge problem with this view, and that is there is no warning in the context to avoid the contents. Instead, we are urged to think like this, to practice this. That's not what happens in other places in the Scripture when we are given the words or thinking of those who are God's enemies. We're told to be careful. This is not the way you should think. So that, I don't think that holds up. But that was very common when I was growing up. 

A second view is that the Book of Ecclesiastes shows the vanity of life apart from God. The vanity of life apart from God. The purpose then of this book is evangelism. To show you, look, if you live without God, this is how bad it's going to be. Don't do that. The flaw with this view is that the very name in Hebrew, Koheleth, is one who speaks to the assembly, one who speaks to God's people. 

I think the best view of this book, and I've done a number of messages, you can find them online, is it's the vanity of life even with God. The vanity of life even with God. For those who know him, the purpose then is to provide us a divinely inspired philosophy of life. You want a philosophy of life, Ecclesiastes does it beautifully. Now, the reason I can say this is because the key phrase in Ecclesiastes that helps us understand it is the phrase “under the sun,” which occurs again and again. That defines the limits of his investigation. He knows there's a God, he acknowledges there's a God, but he's talking about life in a fallen world under the sun and telling us what it's like here.

The major propositions, think of it, think of the book of Ecclesiastes like this. It's like there are two parallel railroad tracks running through the entire book. And as you weave through the book of Ecclesiastes, those two railroad tracks, those two themes keep running throughout the whole book, and they bring you to a conclusion. What are those two propositions? The major propositions, number one, life is a gift from God to be enjoyed. Life is a gift from God to be enjoyed. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verse 24. “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God, for who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?” Life is a gift from God. Enjoy the gift. That's a theme that recurs again and again.

That's one of those tracks that runs through the movie Ecclesiastes. But if that's all you get, you've missed his message, because the other message is life may be a gift, but life in a fallen world has serious limitations. What are those limitations? Well, the main expressions of those limitations are, put this way, first of all, life is vanity. This is how the book begins, Chapter 1, verse 2. This is how it ends, Chapter 12, verse 8. Life is vanity. The Hebrew word is breath or vapor. It's a metaphor. So in Ecclesiastes, life shares one of the attributes of breath. It's either transitory and fleeting, here today, gone tomorrow, or it's meaningless or futile or it's incomprehensible. You just can't get your arms around it. You can't understand it. You can't really dive into it.

And the point of the similarity depends on the context. All three of those are used, those three sort of images of breath are used in different contexts in the book, and it varies. The other expression is “chasing after wind.” This refers to that which is exhausting but utterly futile. Now, when I say that, that sounds cynical, right? Pessimistic. But there's a reason. What you need to understand is there is a theological proposition or presupposition behind this limitation in the world we live in. And that is the fall, the fall of man. Chapter 1, verses 14 and 15. Life in the world is crooked and lacking. It's crooked and lacking. Why? Ecclesiastes 7, verse 29. God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices. You see, the problem is that the world and life in it is not what it once was or will ultimately be because of man's fall into sin. That's the backdrop for the book of Ecclesiastes. By the way, that's exactly what Paul says in Romans 8, right? The whole world groans. The whole world is subjected to vanity, he says. He uses that very word in Romans 8. Ecclesiastes is not sub-Christian. It's saying exactly what Paul says in Romans 8, but in the language of the Hebrew poets. 

So, what are the limitations of life? First of all, life is not ultimately satisfying. There's a proverb in the book of Ecclesiastes that talks about this idea that you think you're getting one thing and you get something else. I've always used the analogy. It's like when you walk, you know, there used to be that you have these bakeries in the mall. You know, now you, you know, malls are kind of out. But you know what I mean. You walk past this bakery, and what hits you is this amazing smell. And you think, I'm going to go in there, and I'm going to buy the thing that tastes like what I smell. But you never do. You never do. Life is like that. It never really delivers. It never fully satisfies in what it promises. You work hard to get that promotion. You think, that's going to do it. That it’s going to be what really satisfies. It's not going to satisfy you. And on and on it goes. That's life. Life is a gift, but it's not ultimately satisfying because of the fall. 

Secondly, man can't know the mysteries of life. Again and again, Solomon talks about, look, you don't know what's going to happen. In fact, you may give your entire life to your business and framing up everything, and then you hand it to somebody who's a fool and they destroy it in a few weeks. Solomon, that happened with him. His son destroyed it all. So you can't know the mysteries of life, and you can't know the future. Those are the limitations of life.

So what is our response? What is Solomon telling us in terms of how to respond? Ecclesiastes is not the work of a cynic or a hopeless existentialist. Solomon looks realistically at life, and then he points us to the way of faith. At its heart, the Book of Ecclesiastes is a call to faith. You see, often, brothers, we expect life here to make sense. And when it doesn't make sense, we think something's wrong with me or something's wrong with God. And when it doesn't make sense, we lose our joy. We no longer enjoy God's good gifts. Things often don't make sense because we live in a fallen world. 

So, how do you respond? Well, when life doesn't satisfy, believe that God is good, and life is His good gift to us. When you don't know what's coming, you don't understand life's mysteries, believe that God is sovereign, and He's wise, and He has a plan. A sovereign God is putting all of life together. Chapter 3, verse 14. Look at it. Solomon says, “I know that everything God does will remain forever. There's nothing to add to it. There's nothing to take away from it, for God has so worked that men would fear Him.” You see, when you don't understand, you can trust. We have a sovereign, wise God who's weaving life together. And even though you can't know the future, you can believe that God does what is right, that He's faithful, and that He'll bring it all to an end. He will ultimately bring all to its best and greatest end. So men, life is a gift from God, but life has serious limitations because we live in a fallen world.

So, what do you do? Enjoy the gift, but never find your joy in the gift. Find your joy in the giver. Look at Ecclesiastes. Here's the conclusion. Ecclesiastes, chapter 12. Where do those two train tracks end? Life is a gift to be enjoyed, but life has serious limitations? Here's the conclusion, verse 13 of chapter 12. “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is this. Fear God and keep His commandments.” Have a relationship with God. Keep His commandments, “because this applies to every person, for God will bring every act to judgment,” everything which is sin, whether it's good or evil. In other words, enjoy the gift that is life. Don't let the problems of life sour you, but don't expect it to satisfy. Only God can do that. Keep your eyes focused on him. That's the message of the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Now, that brings us to the Song of Solomon, the theme, the joy of married love. The title in Hebrew, in the Septuagint, and in the Latin Vulgate is Song of Songs. That's a superlative. It means the greatest of songs. Solomon, we're told, wrote over a thousand songs. This is the greatest. This is the coup de gras, so enjoy it. The author of it is clearly Solomon. He's referred to by name seven times in the Song of Solomon. He's specifically identified as the groom in chapter three, verse 11. And he's referred to as having unprecedented wealth and luxury, which fits Solomon as well in chapter three.

Now, the circumstances of the Song of Solomon are this. It takes place in the city of Jerusalem and up in the hill country of lower Galilee, where the woman lived. It covers a period of about one to two years. You have the first spring mentioned in chapter two. You have the second spring in chapter seven. It really describes the betrothal. We've been looking at that in Matthew, so I won’t explain that. It describes the betrothal, the wedding, and early marriage of Solomon. This could be any time during Solomon's reign, from 971 to 931, but I think it's probably likely this was his first wife, because he later had 699 wives and 300 concubines, and let's just face it, it's going to be a little hard to get this excited at that point. So I think this is early. The Song of Solomon, the characters are Solomon, obviously, a Shulamite maiden, and probably a resident of the Jezreel Valley up near Galilee. Her family was apparently employed in the vineyards of Solomon, so you see a little intrigue going on here, right? The daughters of Jerusalem, probably royal servants, appointed as the bride's attendants, and they kind of provide color commentary through the book. You know, if you like football, you know you got the guy who does the play-by-play, and you got the color commentator. The daughters of Jerusalem are kind of the color commentators here in the book. Then you have the brothers of the bride, stepbrothers maybe, and maybe her supervisors in the vineyard.

So, what is the point then of this book? A common interpretation, first of all, there's the allegorical interpretation. From a Jewish standpoint, this book is only about God's love for Israel. That's the allegorical Jewish view. The allegorical Christian view is this book is only about Christ's love for the church. And this is where some of those phrases that show up in old songs come from. Lily of the Valley, Rose of Sharon, they're from this book. A second common interpretation is the typological interpretation. And it says, look, no, it's based on historical circumstances, but it's ultimately intended to be a type, a picture of Christ's love for His bride. And then the third common view is the historical didactic view, which says this is based on the historical relationship of Solomon and his probably first wife. It is an ode to, it is instructions in, the joys of married love. I think this is, if you read the book, this is obvious.

Now, there are ways since our relationship to Christ as the church is likened to a husband and wife, there are ways in which you could say there are points of analogy, but there are a lot of points of analogy in this book that have no relationship to Christ and His church. So, it's about the joys of married love. It describes, you know, it describes an early fight between the couple and how they're reconciled, and they come back together. It's a beautiful book, but it really celebrates God's good gift. There's actually a book in the Bible on the sexual relationship in marriage and what that looks like in the celebration of that. That is a reminder that it's not something we came up with, it's something God created. And as Hebrews says, the marriage bed is to be honorable, held in honor among all and to be undefiled. 

Now, there are some things in here that are a little hard to understand, like climbing the palm tree and grabbing hold of the clusters of grapes. What are those? Well, understand, you need to know that there are dead metaphors. What is a metaphor? Well, it's when you liken one thing to another. You remember Jesus during His ministry, talking about Herod, King Herod, said, “Go tell that fox.” That's a metaphor. In that case, the topic is Herod, and the image is fox. And when you're trying to discern what Jesus meant, you have to say, OK, I got it, Herod the king, fox. What's the point of similarity between a fox and Herod? Pretty obvious, right? In that case, it's sly, deceptive, crafty. Now, there are two kinds of metaphors. There are live metaphors, meaning when you say it, the image still comes to mind. And then there are dead metaphors, where only the similarity comes to mind. For example, when I say traffic jam, what do you think of? You don't think jam? OK, jam. I got that. OK, strawberry, grape. No, traffic jam. It's a dead metaphor. You don't think of what it's really describing. You only have that ultimate picture of a traffic jam. Many of the metaphors in this book are live metaphors, but there are many that are dead metaphors, where you read it and you go, man, that doesn't sound very romantic. But remember, that's how metaphors work. Some of them are just dead metaphors. They just conjure up a picture, and you know what they mean. And so, in their context, that's how many of those work. So just be aware of that as you go through there and you read some of those metaphors. 

What's going on in the book of Song of Solomon? Well, you have the courtship. This is from John MacArthur, this outline. You have the courtship in chapter 1 verse 2 through chapter 3 verse 5. Then you have the wedding, chapter 3 verse 6 to 5:1. And then you have the marriage in 5:2 to 8:14. And as I said, you have early in chapter 5 and early chapter 6, you have the first major disagreement, the restoration, they're growing in their relationship. So you see the whole picture. You see their physical relationship, obviously, in the joy of married love, but you see more than that. You see their inner relationships with family and friends. You see how they work through their disagreements. So it really is a beautiful book talking about the joy of married love.

Now, those are the writings of poetry, but that brings us to the writing prophets of Israel. 

The writing prophets of Israel. First of all, you need to understand they were very key in the structure of the nation. God had three basic offices in Israel. There were kings, and there were priests, and there were prophets. Samuel was the first prophet. He began, in fact, the school of the prophets. And the primary role of the prophet was being God's mouthpiece to the king and the priest and making sure they were accountable to the scripture. When you think about “prophet”—first of all, let's look at the English word prophet. It is actually a transliteration of the Greek word for prophet, prophetase, which comes from two Greek words, pro before and phame, which means to speak. So literally, a prophet is one who speaks before or could even be who speaks for another. So literally, that's what a prophet is.

That's why more than 3,800 times in the Old Testament, you read expressions like this. “The Word of the Lord came to.” “The mouth of the Lord has spoken.” “The Lord says.” The Lord spoke to so and so.” “Hear the Word of the Lord.” You see, a true prophet spoke for God. In fact, Jeremiah 1:4-10 says, “I have put my words in your mouth.” That's prophecy. Everywhere in the Bible, that's prophecy. I have put my words in your mouth. Now, prophecy then is revelation from God. It comes in two distinct forms. There is predictive revelation that tells us something about the future, and there is moral or ethical revelation, which is still revelation from God, but isn't talking about the future. It's talking about the sins of the people right now, the things that need to be addressed and dealt with.

Now, the timing of the prophets. There are 16 writing prophets from Isaiah to Malachi. Eleven of the sixteen prophesied before the exile. They were especially clustered before the fall of the North and the fall of the South. We talked about that last time. Why? It's an apologetic for Yahweh and His power, because remember, the prevailing view of the countries in the ancient world was that if one country defeated another and took it captive, then what was true? “Our God is bigger and greater than your God, or we wouldn't have been able to capture you.” So Yahweh announced the captivity of His people before it happened and explained why and that he was in fact the real force behind it. So because of that, you have prophets before the exile. They're called pre-exilic. Don't be afraid of that term. It just means before the exile to Babylon, before 605 BC.

Now, the numbers in parentheses, or the numbers here attached to these names give you the estimated chronological order in which the prophets wrote. But you'll see there are prophets to Edom, Obadiah, to Assyria, Jonah, and Nahum, to Israel in the north: Amos and Hosea. To Judah in the south: Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk. That's before the exile.

Then you have during the exile. They're called exilic prophets from 605 to 536 BC. They wrote to the Jews who were in Babylon, in Babylonian exile. And they're Daniel and Ezekiel. Now, after the exile, post-exilic, from 536 to 404 BC in the end of Old Testament history, they wrote to the Jewish remnant who returned from Babylon to the land of Israel: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Very convenient that they're the last ones in your Bible. Right? It helps you know where they are.

Now, the four major prophets. (Now, why do they call major and minor? It's not because some are really important, and others aren't. Major, because they were big enough that they needed to have their own scroll. Minor, because all twelve of them can be written on one scroll. Okay? So it's not like some are important and some aren't. It has to do with their length.) The four major prophets are giving us five books in the Bible and five messages. Isaiah, the theme of Isaiah is salvation, both temporal salvation and spiritual salvation. Of course, ultimately revealing in the Messiah, the one who Isaiah 53 would be a guilt offering for His people. Jeremiah, its theme is God's final warning before judgment comes. You remember he's just before the exile. Lamentations is Jeremiah's lament over the city of Jerusalem after it's destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. Ezekiel is condemnation for the people's sin, consolation, and the promise of future restoration to encourage the people. And then Daniel, God's sovereignty over human history. 

Now, the minor prophets, the 12 minor prophets, here's their message. Hosea is talking about God's loyal love to His people, how he can't give them up. Joel, the day of the Lord that's coming. Amos, social injustice in Israel in the north. Obadiah, judgment on the neighboring country of Edom. Jonah, God's mercy on repentant Gentiles, and Nineveh, obviously. Micah, the justice of God versus the injustice of Judah, the tribes in the south. Nahum, eventually Nineveh is destroyed. Habakkuk, Habakkuk really wrestles with the fact that God's going to use the Babylonians to punish His people when the Babylonians are worse than His people in Habakkuk's mind. So he's struggling with that. Zephaniah, future global judgment, looking to the future yet. Haggai, a call to rebuild the temple after the Babylonian captivity. Zechariah, Israel's comfort and glory, preparation for the Messiah. And then Malachi, call for repentance and waiting for the Messiah. It actually falls between Nehemiah 12 and Nehemiah 13.

So what's the prophet's message? Don't miss this. Here's the big picture. Here's what they're telling us about God. Number one, they're telling us about God's patience. God is warning the people in advance. He's telling them, repent. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. You see God's patience.

Secondly, you see God's grace, because again, the prophets are not only confronting their sin, but they're calling them to repentance and to salvation. Turn to me, God says, and be saved. All the ends of the earth. Justice and judgment. If you don't repent, justice and judgment are coming. That's still the message of the New Testament. And then finally, and I love this, the prophets detail God's steadfast love and His faithfulness to His promises. He will be faithful to His people. He will be faithful to His promises. That's the message of the prophets.

Now, just to remind you where we are in terms of the flow of Old Testament history, we've looked at the monarchy, the united and divided monarchy. And now, in our last session here this evening together, we're going to study the two final movements in Old Testament history. And that is the Babylonian exile, which runs from about 605 BC down to 538 BC. That's when the children of Israel, the southern tribes, are taken off captive into Babylon. And then, the restoration period, when they return to the land under Ezra and Nehemiah, from 538 down to near the end of Old Testament history, about 404 BC. 

Now, just to remind you, if you really want to get your arms around the Old Testament, I recommend that you memorize these eight dates. If you memorize these eight dates, and you have the general flow of history we've covered, you'll know when everything's occurring. You have Abraham in 2166, the Exodus in 1446. (By the way, the reason we know the Exodus is in 1446, put it in your notes, 1 Kings 6.1. We know when Saul's reign was, and David's and Solomon's, and you can do the math from the reign back to the Exodus. Gives you the number of years. So you can find it there.) Then you have in 1051, the monarchy begins 931 with the death of Solomon. The kingdom is divided between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 722, Israel falls, the northern tribes fall to Assyria. 586, Judah falls to Babylon. And then 538, you have Cyrus' decree to tell the Israelites they can return to the land of Israel. And then around 420, Old Testament events end. So if you know those dates, and you understand the rest of what I've covered, you can sort of figure your way out and around, knowing what's gonna happen. 

So let's look then at the eighth major movement in Old Testament history. The Exile of Israel. Now remember that in, as we just saw, in 722 BC, the northern ten tribes had been destroyed by the Assyrians. And although the south didn't fall as soon as the north, because of her idolatry, she too was destined to fall. And the prophet Jeremiah prophesied that Judah would spend 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah 25:11. “This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon 70 years.” Why 70 years? Was there a significance? Absolutely. Go back to 2 Chronicles, chapter 36:20. “Those who had escaped from the sword [Nebuchadnezzar carried away to Babylon], and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia.” Why? Verse 21: “To fulfill the Word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation, it kept Sabbath until 70 years were complete.” What that tells us is Israel was judged, carried off into Babylon because of her idolatry, but it was for 70 years as a judgment for the 490 years in which the 70 Sabbath years, every seventh year the land was to have a Sabbath rest, they didn't do that for 490 years. It had been ignored. So, that's why 70 years, one for each of those that had been ignored. 

Now, most of the people of the Southern Kingdom, of Judah, were carried off by Nebuchadnezzar as captives to Babylon. But understand that the exile happened in three stages, or three distinct deportations. The first deportation is in 606, 605 BC. This is when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem. He puts the city under siege, but word reached him of his father's death. So he had to return to Babylon and secure the throne. But he decided to take a few of the best and the brightest Jewish young men back to train for leadership in Babylon. And that included Daniel and his three friends. 

Now, by the way, this was God's amazing grace to His people. Because of Daniel, their captivity would not be so hard, so difficult, because Daniel was part of preparing the way for God's people. By 586, when most of the people were carried off to Babylon, Daniel was already the second most powerful man in the Babylonian empire. Daniel became, for Israel and Babylon, what Joseph had been for them in Egypt. And so, it was a grace of God, the way that all transpired. And Daniel gets there early, and like I said, by the time they get there, the most of them get there in 586, he is already a powerful man in the land of Babylon.

That's the first one. The second deportation happens in 597 BC. Nebuchadnezzar, when he captured a land, he demanded that the nation pay heavy tribute, and it was to be collected on an annual basis. Judah refused to pay its annual tribute, and so Nebuchadnezzar returned to punish the city. He took 10,000 captives from the most skilled, powerful, and influential, and this included Ezekiel, who would be called to be a prophet while living in exile in Babylon. So the first, 606, 605, just some of the leaders that he could build into leadership included Daniel and his friends. The second included Ezekiel, but about 10,000 captives. The third deportation comes, and the greatest comes in 586 BC. Once again, Judah refused to pay its annual tribute to Nebuchadnezzar.

So Nebuchadnezzar this time returns, and he destroys the city, he destroys the temple, and he carried off to Babel in the majority of the population, leaving only the poorest and the most infirm there. At this point, 586, Israel's independence as a nation ended, and the times of the Gentiles really began. During this period, between the second and the third deportations, one of the most tragic events in Israel's history occurs. Let me just remind you of it. 

You remember the glory cloud. We first talked about the glory cloud back in Exodus 40. Moses completed the tabernacle. It led them through the wilderness, but when Moses completed the tabernacle, the glory cloud, the symbolic presence of God, descended and took up resident in that tent that was called the tabernacle in about 1444 BC. The Holy of Holies was the throne room of Yahweh. And from that time, the glory cloud always—or the Shekinah—always resided in the tabernacle. Later, in the form of the glory cloud, God took up residence in Solomon's temple in 1 Kings 8. So the tabernacle, and then later, when the temple is built, God does the same thing there, this physical manifestation of His presence.

But in 592 BC, the glory cloud departed from the temple, and even from the city of Jerusalem, because of her sin. Go to the prophet Ezekiel. Look at Ezekiel 10:3. There's a beautiful picture in verses 1 and 2 of the temple itself and all that was there. But look at 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 [this visible manifestation of God's presence], 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.

Now go to verse 18.

Then the glory of Yahweh 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. [You remember that amazing vision in Ezekiel chapter 1] And they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of Yahweh's house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. 

So we've come from inside the temple, the glory cloud has now departed to the threshold, and now to the gate to the temple.
Go over to chapter 11. Chapter 11 and verse 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 Yahweh went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain, which is east of the city.” You see this picture, the Spirit of God, that this visible manifestation of God's presence in the Shekinah, this glory cloud, this glowing, blazing cloud, is now withdrawing from the temple, and it's leaving the city of Jerusalem. This is in the words of Samuel. It's Ichabod. The glory is departing. Tragic. Because of their sin. 

Why did God allow His people to be carried off into captivity? Because of His faithfulness to the covenant he made with them at Sinai. Listen to Deuteronomy 11:26-28. He says, “See, now I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh 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.” And the greatest curse of all, the worst and the greatest, was captivity in a foreign land. Deuteronomy 30, verses 11 to 20. 

Now, most of the details of the 70 years of captivity in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar are unrecorded in the narrative of the Old Testament history. But we get little glimpses. If you want to see kind of what it was like, read Daniel 1-6. There you have Daniel's story while he was in Babylon. Read the Book of Ezekiel. And certain of the Psalms, for example, Psalm 137 will give you a little insight into what was going on during those 70 years of captivity. 

During the period of the exile, during those 70 years, two prophets ministered to God's people in Babylon. One of them was Daniel. Remember, he was taken in the first deportation in 605-606. And he became a powerful man. And he writes a book. I love Daniel because the point of Daniel is God's sovereignty over all of human history, over every empire, every ruler. What a lesson for him. What a book for him to write. Think about the context in which he lived life. His nation had been overrun by the Babylonians, by one of the greatest kings to ever live, Nebuchadnezzar. And in that context, he reminds us, no, there's only one most high, and he's God, and he is in charge of all of human history. Ezekiel writes during that same time period to encourage the people, yes, to condemn them for their sins, to console them in the midst of the captivity, and to promise restoration is coming. God's not done with you as a people. And so both of these books were amazing encouragements to God's people. 

God's people suffered in Babylon for 70 years, and then came the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Great. His Medo-Persian empire stretched from the Aegean Sea to India. On October the 12th, very close to this date, October the 12th, 539 BC, Cyrus' army conquered the great city of Babylon, and the Babylonian empire fell, and the time of the Medo-Persian empire came into place. The historian Xenophon describes how the Persians penetrated Babylon's defenses. You can read the story. It's an amazing story. You can read the overview of it in Daniel chapter 5, where Belshazzar is the son of Nabonidus, and he's on the throne when it falls, and you can read how it unfolds.

But Xenophon gives us some interesting details. He tells us how the Persians were able to take that magnificent city of Babylon. I wish I had time to describe for you the city of Babylon. It had two walled systems, and the walls were so big, you could drive chariots across the top of them. And there were two penetrating wall periods with a no man's land between them. And it was like impossible. There was a river that went around them. I mean, it looked like it was impregnable, and that's why they celebrate, even though the Persians are outside the walls in Daniel chapter 5. 

But Xenophon tells us that the Persians deliberately chose the night of an annual feast, knowing that the people would be drunk and distracted. And they upstream, they dug a canal, and they diverted the Euphrates River that flowed normally under the walls and through the city. They diverted it. At the right time, the water level fell rapidly, and the Medes and the Persians waded in under the walls. Amazingly, once they were inside the city, they found that this series of brass gates that led into the inner city, those brass gates were open. They had not been properly locked. Why? Well, 150 years before the events of that fateful night, Isaiah the prophet explained exactly how it would happen. Isaiah even addressed his explanation to Cyrus by name, although Cyrus wouldn't be born for another 100 years. Turn to Isaiah chapter 44.

I love this, so powerful, as our God explains what he's going to do, and he talks to the very man who's going to do it. 44:24. 

Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the one who formed you from your womb, “I, Yahweh, am the maker of all things, and I'm going to do what I'm going to do,” He says. Verse 26, “Confirming the word of His servant, performing the purpose of His messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘she shall be inhabited, ‘and of the cities of Judah, ‘they will be built. I will raise up her ruins again.’ It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘be dried up,’ and they will make your rivers dry.

Now watch verse 28. 

“It is I who says of Cyrus,” [and remember, this is 100 years, he's written 100 years before he's born, and 150 years before the events occur.] “It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘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.’ Thus says Yahweh to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand to subdue nations before him, to loose the loins of kings, to open doors before him, so that gates will not be shut.”

God says, I'm going to open the gates. I'm giving you the city, and it's so you will send my people back to their land when their judgment is over. It's amazing. I wish I had time to read the whole passage, but you get the point.

In God's providence, Cyrus and the Persians had an entirely different approach from the Babylonians. Rather than taking captives from their land back to their land, back to Persia, Cyrus instead believed in repatriating the peoples who had been conquered. And that's exactly what happens. In 538 BC, 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. 

Now, there is some disagreement about how to calculate those 70 years. There are two options. Jeremiah 25:11 says it will be 70 years. option one is to calculate it from the first deportation in 606 BC to 536, which is when the second temple foundation is laid. So they come back, they get the temple foundation laid, so they can begin rebuilding. Option two is from 586 BC, the third and final deportation, to 516 BC when the second temple is completed. One of those is true. We can't be absolutely sure. So the Babylonian exile ended.

Now, that brings us to the ninth and final movement in Old Testament history, The Return and Restoration to the land, the return of Israel from Babylon back to Israel and her restoration into the land of Israel. This final phase of Old Testament history is recorded in two books. The history of it is recorded in two books, Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah. Now, Ezra and Nehemiah are actually considered as one book by Josephus, the Jewish historian writing for the Romans. The Talmud treats it as one book. The Septuagint treats it as one book. The Hebrew scribes all treat it as one book. So think Ezra slash Nehemiah. Origen, the church father, 185 years after Christ, was the first to separate them into two books. 

Ezra wrote chapters 1 to 6 of his book as history. He wasn't there. He wasn't in the land at the time. And he writes chapters 7 through 10 as an eyewitness. He was there. Nehemiah 1 to 13 consists of Nehemiah's personal memoirs. Together, these 2 books provide a narrative of the restoration of God's people from the 70 years of Babylonian captivity to the land of Israel. 

Now, the restoration, like the exile, occurred in 3 phases, or 3 distinct returns. You can see it captured here. Again, these charts will be available for you in your notes, so you don't have to write all this down. I'm not even going to go through it all, but it will be there for you. You can see the captivity. Then you have the first stage of the return. It happens in Ezra 1-6. It happens under a man named Zerubbabel. It lasts about 20 years, from 538, when Cyrus issues the decree to return, to allow them to return to Israel from Babylon, to 516. The temple is rebuilt during that time, and about 50,000 of the Jews return. The prophets during that time are Haggai and Zechariah. Then you have an interval between Ezra 1-6 and Ezra 7-10. You have an interval of about 58 years, and that's when Esther is written, the events that unfold in the Book of Esther occur. Then you have the second stage of the return, Ezra 7-10. This is under Ezra's leadership, about 458, 457 BC., it's a period of one year. Worship is restored, so the temple has been rebuilt. Ezra restores the worship, about 2,000 return with him. And then you have a 13-year interval again, and that brings you then to the third stage, Nehemiah 1-13, obviously under Nehemiah, from 445 to 432 BC., about 12 years, Jerusalem is fortified, and in this period of time, the prophet Malachi writes. Now, this gives you, and I'm not going to go through this, but this gives you a little timeline, the years moving down the middle, and then you can kind of see when the events are unfolding and look at it in more detail if you want to do that. There's the second stage of it. But these two charts cover what I just covered a moment ago, just in a different visual form.

So, Ezra, let's look at it first. Ezra the scribe, one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He was responsible for bringing what we know as the Old Testament of the Hebrew Scriptures together in the way that we have it. Now, Ezra writes like a historian. He gives us official lists, and I've listed some of the texts where you can find those. He records seven official letters from the archives, and then in chapters seven to ten, you have his official memoirs. But he's not solely a historian, because the book of Ezra/Nehemiah actually spans 108 years total. But his book touches on only 28 of those years and ignores 80 of them. Why? Because he selected specific things to communicate a central message. In Ezra/Nehemiah, folks, don't miss this, in Ezra/Nehemiah, there are two recurring concepts. One of them is recognizing the hand of God, God moving behind the circumstances in His providence to accomplish His purpose. And the other is an appeal to The Word of God. Let me just show you how this unfolds.

Let's take the first one, recognizing the hand of God. It occurs in both Ezra and Nehemiah. Remember, they're one book. So in Ezra, you have God stirred up Cyrus, whose spirit God stirred up. He turned the heart of the king. I'm not giving you all the passages. You can get them in your notes here, but I'm just giving you the phrases. The hand of God was at work. The good hand of God. He put such a thing in the king's heart. The good hand of God. All of those phrases occur in Ezra. In Nehemiah, you see it again. The good hand of God. God putting into my mind. God frustrated their plans. The hand of God had been favorable to us. What these books are telling us is that God is working behind the scenes. He's working in people's hearts and minds in their circumstances to accomplish His purpose. The hand of God is at work. You don't see it. You see the results of it. Keep that in mind. Okay? 

The second theme that weaves through these two books is an appeal to the Word of God. And this is unlike what you'll find before the captivity. This was not what you read in Kings. All right? But here it is. Ezra. And again, I'm not going to give you each reference number. I'll just give you the sort of summary. This was to fulfill the Word of the Lord to Jeremiah. As it is written, as it is written, people ordered their praise after Jeremiah. People responded to the prophets as it is written. A Persian king demands obedience to God's law. A Persian king authorizes the teaching of the law. Chapters 9 to 10 of Ezra are about conformity to the law, even when there's no prophet. And then, Nehemiah talks about violating the laws, and they repent. And chapters 8 to 9 really has its theme, the priority of God's Word and God's law in the life of God's people. 

So, what's the point then? Here it is. Ezra and Nehemiah's purpose was to show the people of God, don't miss this, guys, how God normally works. Read the rest of the Old Testament, and what do you find? You find miracles and direct revelation. But God was no longer parting the Red Sea The return from Babylon was no Exodus. There was no mighty defeat of the Egyptian armies. There was none of that. The miraculous was gone. Instead, there was divine providence. God working behind the scenes to accomplish His purpose, and the people's response to God's Word.

Guys, those two realities are no less a work of God. You know, we want to see a miracle. Well, it's miraculous when God in His province structures and orders of life to accomplish His will, and when He leads His people to obey His Word. God uses His providence, His ordering of events and circumstances and people, and His Word to accomplish His will in the lives of His people. Ezra's name means “Yahweh helps.” How? By His Word and His providence. By the good hand of God and the Word of God. 

So here's an outline of the book of Ezra/Nehemiah. You have the rebuilding of the worship of God in Ezra. You have the preparation of the temple for worship in chapters one to six under Zerubbabel, and then you have the preparation of the people for worship in chapters seven through ten under Ezra. Then you have in Nehemiah the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem for its protection.

So let's look at these two books quickly. Ezra one to six is the return under Zerubbabel, preparation of the temple for worship. Cyrus decrees when he takes Babylon, he decrees the repatriation of the Jews. Here is an excerpt from the Cyrus cylinder that has been discovered in archaeology. This is what he wrote: “I returned to these sacred cities, the sanctuaries of which had 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 to them their habitations.” And here was his motive: “May all the gods whom I have resettled in their sacred cities ask daily Bel and Nebo for a long life for me. This was his new policy, repatriation. So, that's exactly what unfolds. God had promised restoration. God accomplished it through Cyrus. And when the timing was right, Cyrus conquered Babylon by God's providence. We read it in Isaiah. And in his first year, he did something that had probably never happened before. He decided to repatriate and to rebuild Israel's temple at Persia's expense. This is because of the good hand of God. 

Now, in Chapter 2, we have a list of those who returned with the rubble, about 50,000 people, probably not even a majority. I think most of the Jews stayed in Babylon because of their lucrative businesses and their comfortable lives that had come to fruition under Daniel and his influence. But for those who did travel home, here's what the route looked like. You can see it starts over in the right lower corner in Babylon, and then you can follow the lines over a north, kind of circling the north of the desert and dropping down into Israel. That would have been the route home. 

Now, once they arrived home, things were not all favorable. There were enemies, there was opposition. Chapter 4 describes the enemies that are the Samaritans. Now the Samaritans—we run into them in the New Testament as well—the Samaritans were those whose ancestors were the result of intermarriage between the Jews left in the north after 722 and Assyria destroyed the north, and the imported Assyrian colonists. So, they intermarried, and the result was the Samaritans.

Now, let me give you a summary here of the various attempts at different times for opposition to God's people. It's not chronological, but the reason I give you these guys is don't be surprised when we see these forms of opposition today in our world. This is how opposition to God and His people have always looked.

There's distraction. They're building their own homes. They're farming their own land rather than rebuilding the temple. There's compromise. Let us build with you. There's discouragement, sneers, mocking. There's intimidation and threats. There's undermining their reputation. Chapter 4 verse 5 says they hired counselors. Think lobbyists, attorneys who pled against them. There were accusations. There were letters written to Persia. And there was physical force. Guys, what I want you to see is there is opposition even in doing God's will. You know, some people think, you know, if this is hard, this can't be God's will. No, that's just not true. Chapter 4 verse 24, because of all that opposition, Israel's enemies are successful, and the building stops. This is shocking.

The rebuilding of the temple stops for between 10 and 16 years. They had built little more than a foundation. In chapter 5, the rebuilding resumes, not by coincidence, it's because God sends Haggai and Zechariah to prophesy, to say, you need to start rebuilding the temple again. And it happens, the eye of their God, the resumption is the gracious design of God. Chapter 6, the temple is completed around 516 BC, 20 years after it was begun. 

Now, just to remind you, sometimes you'll read about the first temple period. That was Solomon's temple from 559 to 586 BC when it was destroyed. When you hear about the second temple period, it's Zerubbabel's temple, and that was later modified and rebuilt by Herod, and that's the temple we see in the New Testament era before it was destroyed in 70 AD. So, you had two temple periods, the first temple period, the second temple period. There are 58 years, as I told you before, between Ezra 6 and 7. That's when the events of Esther occur. Ezra and Nehemiah occur primarily in Canaan. Esther's events occur in Persia. So, that's kind of a summary of what's going on there. 

In Ezra 7-10, we now come up to Ezra's life, and these are his memoirs. This is, in 7-10, the preparation of the people for worship. The temple's been rebuilt. Now, he comes to prepare the people for worship. In chapter 7, you have a detailed record, official record, of the king's incredible generosity. This is Artaxerxes' decree. First of all, to the people of Israel, he authorized the people to return. Now, think about this, guys. This is a pagan king. He authorized the people to return. He authorized the transport of Persian assets. He established the use of those assets. He authorized the use of government funds to accomplish this. Then, to the government treasurers, he established a government budget for the project and exempted the temple personnel from taxes. To Ezra, he gave him authority to set up a provincial government to make political and judicial appointments and authority to carry out punishment of lawbreakers. I mean, God, the hand of God is at work in amazing ways.

This is like, this doesn't happen. Imagine our government deciding, you know, Countryside, that's a great church, and they're trying to plant churches. Let's fund their budget to plant churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Don't hold your breath. This is the hand of God at work here to accomplish and fulfill His promises. 

Chapter 7, look at Ezra 7. Ezra 7 and verse 27. “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to adorn the house of Yahweh, which is in Jerusalem, and has extended steadfast love to me before the king and his counselors, before all the king's mighty princes. Thus, I was strengthened [Here it is again] according to the hand of Yahweh, my God upon me. And I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.” This is a story of God's amazing providence. All this happened because of what God was doing. 

Chapter 8, in 458, Ezra returned to the land with 2,000 people. And when he gets there, in Chapter 9, he discovers mixed marriages. The people had already married all the “-ites” of the land, you know, all the different people groups in that land. Now, the issue, don't misunderstand it here, the issue was not racial. The issue was religious. What was at stake was the continuation of the covenant nation, the worship of the true God. So, Ezra, you go to chapter 9, verses 3 and 4, Ezra is distraught. He tears his clothes, pulls out his beard and hair, and sat down appalled, and then he prays. I wish I had time to read this prayer. Ezra, chapter 9, verses 7 through 12. He just pleads with God, and he says, God, we don't deserve anything you've done, but we're continuing to plead for your grace. And he asks for God's forgiveness. And as a result of that, in chapter 10, he made the people take an oath to deal with this sin.

They even consented, by the way, to return their pagan, unbelieving wives to their families. Now, some people read Ezra 10 and the kind of divorce that happens there and go, what's the biblical grounds? Well, they were idolaters. That meant, by definition, they were immoral. That's what idolaters did. I described that earlier to you in our study. They committed immorality even in the temple. That was part of their worship. And they were unwilling to stay if they couldn't worship their own gods. And so the people of Israel put away their foreign wives.

Now, somewhere in this time frame, the book of Chronicles was written, probably by Ezra, probably around 450 BC or so. And it covers the monarchy like Samuel and Kings, but Chronicles was written to the Jews living in Judah after the exile. And they were greatly discouraged. And this book encourages them. Read Chronicles, and it's like you're reading a whitewashed version of Kings. Right? Why? It's to encourage them. God is faithful. He was faithful to them. He's going to be faithful to you.

They had a temple, but it was a hut compared to Solomon's temple. There was no ark. There was no glory cloud. They had the hope of the Messianic kingdom, but none had materialized. So Chronicles was a book of hope and encouragement, saying, God is still at work. You have a future.

So in the period of the restoration then, the Persian kings allowed Israel to return to Palestine, to rebuild their temple under Zerubbabel, to purify their worship under Ezra, and to rebuild and re-fortify the city of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. 

Old Testament history comes to a close with the career of Nehemiah the builder. Nehemiah the builder. You remember chapter one. Turn to Nehemiah chapter one, verse four. Nehemiah fasted and wept and prayed, and he has a specific request in verse 11. “Grant me success and compassion before this man.” Who is this man? Who is Nehemiah? He's cup bearer to the king. Now, how did a Jewish person get such an important role in this land? Well, remember Esther? Esther was the king's stepmother. So God, again, the hand of God, is at work behind the scenes to accomplish His purpose. Chapter two, verse one.

Four months later, this had been March, April of 445, he takes a subtler approach. He shows his sadness in chapter two, verse one. Verse two of chapter two, the king notices and asks why. There's a miracle for you. The king noticed that one of his men was sad and asked why. Verse three, Nehemiah explains. And folks, verse four, this just doesn't happen. What do you want? Verse five, “Let me return and rebuild.” Now, if you hadn't read this chapter before, what would you say would be the odds of this king saying yes to that? Verse six says, “It pleased him to send me.” Verse seven, Nehemiah wasn't done. He asked for letters to the governors and a letter to Asaph to supply timber for the project. How do you explain this whole conversation? Look at chapter two, verse eight. “The king granted it because the good hand of God was upon me.” Verse nine, Nehemiah arrived then about August of 445 BC. 

Chapters four through six chronicles the tremendous opposition that he faced in trying to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. External pressure from powerful men, Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. And then there was the internal struggles, sin among the people, discouragement, fear. Now, why such a lengthy chronicle of opposition? It's to show that the rebuilding was humanly impossible. Nehemiah's constant prayers underscore again that God is working behind the scenes. Chapter four, verse 15, God frustrated their plans. Chapter four, verse 20, our God will fight for us. So in chapter six, verse 15, the wall was finished in 52 days. Imagine that. 52 days. Verse 16 is the key to understanding Nehemiah. How did they complete the wall? Look at 6:16. It was accomplished with the help of our God. God is at work. Now, here's what that wall would have looked like in terms of the area it would have covered. If you look at the green on the slide, that's an approximation of what the wall in Nehemiah's time would have looked like. You remember when David captured it, it was that little sliver over there on the right side, the city of David. And now it's grown into this magnificent city. 

Chapters 7 through 10 describe the rebuilding or reviving of the people, and the theme of this is that God directs His people through His Word. Again, you see how these themes keep circling. The good hand of God and God’s Word. I love Nehemiah 8. It's a powerful lesson on the importance of God’s Word. Turn there with me. This is one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament. It really establishes the framework for our own worship.

Nehemiah 8, verse 1. “All the people gathered as one man at the square, which was in front of the water gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. He read it from before the square, which is in front of the water gate, from early morning until midday in the presence of men and women, those who could understand, all the people were attentive to the book of the law.”

Verse 4, “Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium, which they had made for the purpose.” And then you have the Levites who surrounded him. Verse 5, “Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people.”

(By the way, as I've mentioned before, this is why we do some of the things we do. This informs our worship. There was a podium, both so he could be seen, but also it was a message that he was the spokesperson for God. He was elevated, not because he was personally better, but because when he was speaking, he was speaking on behalf of God, God's Word. That's why I stand on a platform, not because I'm better than you are. That's why when the rest of the service, I'm sitting down there with you, because I'm one of you. But when I'm teaching the Word of God, I am the mouthpiece for God through His Word to you. And a wooden podium, that's why we have a wooden podium and not a plastic plant stand.)

Verse 6, “Then Ezra blessed Yahweh the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen and Amen,’ while lifting up their hands. They bowed low and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground.” And then verse 7, “The Levites explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place.” They read from the book of the law, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading. They read it, they explained it; They read it, they explained it. This is the framework for why we do what we do, why I do what I do every Sunday. It comes from Moses through Ezra to us. 

Now, in chapter 8, verse 13, they gather the next day to study, and they discovered there is a command for the feast of booths. And they immediately responded in obedience. As it is written, they say, according to the ordinance. Guys, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to get the point. Obey the word of God.

In chapter 9, there's this powerful prayer of confession, one of the most beautiful prayers in all of scripture. And their confession there is, “God, you have continually shown your grace and power, and we have refused to obey you.” It reaches its crescendo. Again, I wish I had time. Read when you get home tonight. Read Nehemiah chapter 9, verses 32 to 38. Such a beautiful reminder of the greatness of God and His faithfulness to His people. 

In chapter 10, the people covenant themselves in writing to obedience, especially in the areas of their most flagrant disloyalty, intermarriage, keeping the Sabbath, and providing the necessary money for the temple service. So that sounds good, right?

Well, chapters 11 and 12, they repopulate the city of Jerusalem, they dedicate the walls, they have a big celebration. Between chapters 12 and 13, there's a gap of about 14 years. Nehemiah returns to Babylon. And in chapter 13, upon His return for a second term, he found that the people had been unfaithful in the three exact areas they had just made a covenant in writing. But God raised up a prophet during Nehemiah's time, the last book of our Old Testament, Malachi. And Malachi called the people to repent and to prepare for the coming of the Lord. 

Now, let me summarize all of this, guys. The message of Ezra/Nehemiah, please don't miss this. This is our world. This is our life. The message of Ezra/Nehemiah is that God is at work among His people. How? Not with miracles, not with splashy things. He directs them by His providence and simple obedience to His Word. That reality is supposed to provide help for us. That's the meaning of Ezra's name. And comfort, that's the meaning of Nehemiah's name.

Help and comfort. How? Listen, guys, do you ever get discouraged? Do you ever look at the miracles in Scripture, and then at your own life, and wonder, where is God? Ezra/Nehemiah is here to comfort you. God's work in Ezra/Nehemiah and in our lives is no less amazing than miracles. It's just harder to trace His hand. But His hand is at work in amazing, powerful ways. 

The God of Israel is at work in your life. How? He's using His Word and His providence. His hand behind the scenes, moving the pieces, arranging the sort of decor of your life to accomplish His sovereign purposes. This is who our God is. Your response to this, trust His providence and obey His Word. It really does come back to this, guys. Trust and obey. “Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” That's the message of Ezra/Nehemiah. And, guys, I love these books because this is where we live. This is your life. This is my life. No splashing miracles, but the hand of God working His way and telling you through His Word what you should do. And it is just as amazing.

Let's pray together. Father, we are amazed. We are amazed at you, at your wisdom, at your power, at your providence, at your word. Father, we have journeyed through much of the Old Testament tonight from a really high altitude. But, Father, that has enabled us to see so much about you. Lord, I pray for each of us as men. Lord, help us to embrace the message of Ezra/Nehemiah, that this is how you work today. It's how you worked then. It's how you worked today. It comes down to your hand, moving the pieces on the chessboard of our lives to accomplish your purposes and your Word that tells us what we need to do. Father, help us to trust and obey. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.