Ezra: The Perils, Politics, and Promise of New Beginnings - Bible Study Blog

Lesson 2 – Wednesday, January 17

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Ezra 5: Tattle-Tail Tattenai

1. Zerubbabel, with the blessing of the prophet Haggai, resumes reconstruction of the temple. Tattenai, the governor, questions them but does not order them to stop construction. He dispatches a letter of inquiry to King Darius to confirm what Zerubbabel and the works had told him. 

Ezra 6: Darius’s Decree

1. Darius issues a decree, confirming King Cyrus’s orders for the temple to be rebuilt, with all costs paid from the royal treasury. Anyone who interferes will be punished by death. 
2. Verse 14: Reconstruction is completed on September 21, 520 B.C.E., about 3½ years after it began. 
3. Verse 21: The Passover is celebrated with those who had renounced the gods of their Gentile neighbors. This likely included Samaritans. This inclusion will not last.

Ezra 7: Ezra the Teacher

1. Verses 1—5: Ezra is sent from Babylon to Jerusalem by King Artaxerxes of Persia. The long genealogy demonstrates Ezra to be a descendent of Aaron, as well as a man of stature and authority among the exiles. This may also be a reason why Artaxerxes sent him. “This Ezra” will act as chief priest in this new era for God’s people. What the text does not say is that there were civil and ecclesiastical authorities already in place, who suddenly find themselves out of a job.
2. Ezra arrives about sixty years after the events of chapter 6. Zerubbabel is likely dead, as we do not hear from him again.
3. Verse 13: “any of the Israelites” – Artaxerxes does not prohibit anyone of Jewish ancestry to return to Jerusalem.
4. Verse 25: Ezra is vested with royal authority to govern Jerusalem, impose taxes (except on the Levites), enact Jewish law, and administer civil and capital punishments. 
5. Verses 27-29: The book bearing Ezra’s name will now be read from his point-of-view. 

Chapter 8: Ezra’s Resettlement

1. The descendants of fifteen individuals are listed, numbering about 1,496 men, excluding women and children. The fact that these families are named demonstrates that they were prominent and wealthy. 
2. Verse 16: There were no Levites in the caravan, likely because many Levites fled from Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to sing and perform the songs of Zion for him. Hence, some Levites from Casiphia are invited to join the caravan. 
3. Verses 21—22: even with their significant numbers, the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem would have been dangerous, particularly since they had been sent with an unfathomable amount of silver, gold, and provisions. Ezra is overcome with shame for even thinking of having asked Artaxerxes to send with them an armed escort. Knowing the degree of danger they faced, Ezra proclaims a fast and led God’s people in prayer. 
4. Verses 24—31: Ezra entrusts the silver, good, and valuable articles to the care of Sherebiah, the head of one of the families of Levites who joined the caravan from Casiphia. 
5. Verse 31: Sure enough, they encountered enemies and bandits along the way. Nevertheless, God protects them.
6. Verse 34: Now that Ezra and his caravan have arrived in Jerusalem, the silver, gold, and sacred articles are turned over to the priests at the temple. Sherebiah and his kinfolk were faithful in their stewardship of the wealth Ezra had entrusted them. 
7. Verse 35: The exiles who returned offer burnt offerings to the Lord.
8. Verse 36: Ezra and the returned exiles also present letters from the king, which establish Ezra’s authority over the temple, Jerusalem, and the surrounding territories. This decree, along with the vast amounts of wealth they delivered from the king, will likely create conflict among those who had power and authority when they arrived—perhaps even some who were personally appointed by Zerubbabel.

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Here's where we are thus far:

1. The emperor sends exiles to rebuild Jerusalem. He appoints leaders (Zerubbabel and Ezra). They are given a significant amount of resources and authority to oversee the rebuilding and exercise local governmental authority over the people. 
2. There are already people living in the land who clash with the returning exiles and oppose their efforts. Groups that clash include: those who were there first vs. those who returned; persons of wealth and prominence versus common people; peoples deemed to be the remnants of true Israel versus those deemed not. 
3. There is an expulsion of peoples from the new temple community.

Ezra 9: Ezra’s Prayer about Intermarriage

1. Verses 1—4: Ezra learns that the people of Israel, including Levites, had intermarried with neighboring peoples “with their abominations.”
1. Intermarriage is strictly forbidden in the Law of Moses, cf. Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:1-4.
2. Marriage in the ancient world was never supposed to be based on romantic love alone. You didn’t marry to gratify yourself as much as you married out of honor and duty to your kin and community. When you married a foreign spouse, you married their gods.
3. They have “mingled the holy race with the peoples around them.” Today, such a statement would be quickly condemned as racist and in-line with Nazism. It will be a struggle for us to understand the situation from Ezra’s point of view.
2. Verse 12: Ezra confesses that the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the exile was God’s punishment for God’s people having intermarried with foreign peoples.
1. I find it striking that Ezra does not confess the sins of violence, oppression, and injustice which are condemned by the major and minor prophets (Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 59; Jer 9:6, Ezra 7, Amos 2:6 & 8:6). 
2. Do you believe Ezra is treating intermarriage as the root cause of Israel’s sins, or does he believe it to be the worst of all the sins they committed?

Ezra 10: Confession and Expulsion

1. Verse 1: Ezra’s public acts of contrition cause a stir among the peoples, who join him weeping bitterly and confessing the sin of intermarriage.
2. Verse 3: The people make a new covenant before God by sending away “all these wives and their children.” 
1. “Their children” demonstrates the harshness of the ruling. Like Ishmael in Genesis, children of foreign marriages are denied a place among the people of God and sent away.
3. Verses 6: Ezra is distressed over what he and the people are about to do, so he goes away, mourning and fasting in private.
4. Verses 7—16: While Ezra continues to fast and pray, his officials ordered everyone guilty of intermarriage to assemble in Jerusalem within three days.
1. Four of Ezra’s prominent officials oppose the ruling, either because they wanted to protect their family members or because they believed the ruling was too harsh. One of them, Meshullam, is among those who are expelled.
2. Ezra appoints men of the family heads (likely those who returned to Jerusalem with him) to be an investigative panel that would make the final rulings as to who would be expelled.
3. 110 men are ruled to have been guilty of marrying pagan wives.
5. Do you believe the edict is excessive and cruel? 
6. What role, if any, do you believe fear played in this decision?
7. Could this expulsion have been about politics, economics, and power instead of righteousness?