Message 3
Scripture Reading: Ezra 1; Ezra 2; Ezra 3; Ezra 4; Ezra 5; Ezra 6
In this message we will consider the first return of the captivity, the return under the kingly leadership of Zerubbabel.
The return of the captivity under the leadership of Zerubbabel was according to the decree of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1-4; 2 Chron. 36:22-23).
Cyrus made this decree in his first year (Ezra 1:1a).
Cyrus made this decree because God stirred up his spirit (v. 1b). This stirring up was a work of the hiding God.
This decree was a fulfillment of the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah that Israel would return after the seventieth year of their captivity in Babylon (v. 1b).
In his decree Cyrus ordered the captives of Israel to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of God there (vv. 2-4). Because Cyrus was such a person, in the book of Isaiah he is considered a servant of God to fulfill God’s purpose (Isa. 45:1-4, 13).
In verses 5 and 6 we have a word concerning the response of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, the priests, and the Levites.
Everyone whose spirit God had stirred up rose up to go up to build the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem (v. 5). This surely was God’s move, for He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to make the decree and then stirred up the spirits of all the leaders of the three tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.
All the Israelites around them strengthened their hands with their offerings of their precious vessels (v. 6).
In verses 7 through 11 we see the cooperation of King Cyrus. He cooperated by returning the 5,400 vessels of gold and silver of the house of Jehovah, captured by Nebuchadnezzar from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods (vv. 7, 11). He handed over the vessels, by enumerating them to Sheshbazzar (Zerubbabel — 2:2), the prince of Judah, to be brought back to Jerusalem for the house of God (1:8-11; 5:13-15).
In 2:1-67 we have a clear and accurate record of the number of the captives who returned under Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah (1:8), the governor of the former kingdom of Judah (2:2, 63). Of the Judites, the Benjaminites, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants (vv. 3-58), the total number was 42,360, besides their male and female servants and the male and female singers (vv. 64-65). In addition, 652 common people and three houses of priests who could not give evidence of their fathers’ houses were included with those who returned under Zerubbabel (vv. 59-63).
Verses 68 and 69 speak of the willing offering of some of the heads of the fathers’ houses, after their arrival at the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem, for the house of Jehovah to restore it on its foundation. This means the heads of the fathers’ houses willingly offered their precious things to God for the rebuilding of the temple.
Ezra 3:1-6a is concerned with the rebuilding of the altar of God.
They rebuilt the altar in the seventh month of the year of their return (v. 1a).
The children of Israel gathered from their cities to Jerusalem as one man (v. 1b). Not only the returned captives but also the Jews who had not been captured came to Jerusalem to rebuild the altar.
Joshua the high priest and his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel the governor and his brothers built the altar of the God of Israel upon its bases, as written in the law of Moses, the man of God. Then, for God’s satisfaction, they offered burnt offerings on it to Jehovah, as written in the law of Moses (vv. 2-3). Here we see that they did everything according to God’s word.
They kept the Feast of Tabernacles and offered the daily burnt offerings and the offerings of the new moons and of all the appointed feasts of Jehovah (vv. 4-6a). This indicates that they recovered the worship of God, which had been lost for at least seventy years.
In verses 6b through 13 we have a record of the rebuilding of the house of God.
They hired stone hewers and carpenters, and they supplied the Sidonians and the Tyrians the daily necessities for them to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to Joppa (v. 7).
In the second month of the second year after their return, they began to rebuild the house of God with praise to Jehovah by the priests (vv. 8-13). Many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, the old men who had seen the first house, the original temple of God, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid, and many shouted aloud for joy (v. 12). The people could not discern the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people (v. 13).
Chapter four gives us an account of the frustration to the rebuilding of the house of God.
The adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, people brought from Babylon and Assyria by the king of Assyria to inhabit Samaria (2 Kings 17:24), who imitated Israel in seeking God and sacrificing to God, pretended to help the rebuilding of the house of Jehovah, but they were rejected by Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses. The enemies hired counselors to frustrate the rebuilding throughout all the days of Cyrus king of Persia until the reign of Darius king of Persia, and in the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem (Ezra 4:1-6). This typifies that today when we come back to the recovery to build the house of God, some nearby ones would make proposals that are mostly frustrations. This is Satan’s subtlety. In his time, Zerubbabel saw through these proposals and rejected them.
In the days of Artaxerxes, a party of the inhabitants of Samaria and the rest of the lands beyond the River (maybe of the same adversaries in verse 1) wrote to Artaxerxes against Jerusalem. Artaxerxes decreed to stop the rebuilding of the house of God by force and power; and the work of the house of God ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia (vv. 7-24).
The rebuilding work continued through the encouragement and help of the prophecies of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (5:1-2).
Ezra 5:3—6:12 tells us of the confirmation of the decree of Darius king of Persia. After the people stopped the work, they were encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to continue the rebuilding work. At the same time this work was confirmed by the decree of Darius king of Persia.
The rebuilding was questioned and referred to Darius king of Persia by Tattenai, the governor beyond the River (that is, west of the Jordan) and his companions (vv. 3-17).
In 6:1-12 we have Darius’s checking of the decree of Cyrus and his confirmation to encourage and speed up the rebuilding. After being questioned about the rebuilding, Darius checked and confirmed the decree of Cyrus, finding out that Cyrus had issued a decree to release Israel from captivity so that they could go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of God. Darius confirmed that there was such a record, and his confirmation encouraged and sped up the rebuilding.
Verses 13 through 15 describe the completion of the rebuilding of the house of God.
The rebuilding was completed in prosperity through the prophesying of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (vv. 13-14).
The work of rebuilding the house of Jehovah was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king (v. 15).
Verses 16 through 18 speak of the dedication of the rebuilt house of God.
The dedication of the rebuilt house of God was with the joy of the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity in celebration (v. 16).
The dedication was also with the offerings for the dedication and a sin offering for all the tribes of Israel (v. 17). This indicates that as they were offering burnt offerings for God’s satisfaction, they could not forget their sin and therefore offered a sin offering.
Finally, the rebuilt house was dedicated with the setting up of the services of the priests in their courses and of the Levites in their divisions, as written in the law of Moses (v. 18).
The account of the return of the captivity under the kingly leadership of Zerubbabel concludes with the keeping of the Passover by the children of the captivity (vv. 19-22). The Passover was a most important matter.
They kept the Passover by having their priests and Levites purified and themselves separated from the defilement of the nations in the good land (vv. 20-21).
They continued with the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for Jehovah had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God (v. 22). The king of Assyria was Darius king of Persia, because Assyria was at that time a part of Persia.
Today very few believers care for the building up of a proper local church in their locality as the house of God. This means that God is kept homeless. He does have a home in the heavens with the angels, but He needs a home with the humanity of His heart’s desire. God wants to have such a home.
We in the Lord’s recovery do not like to see the saints scattered individually. The particular intention of the recovery is to have all the saints in the recovery come together in their localities to be built up together as the house of God in so many cities. Through such a house God will have His kingdom.
We need to have a desire to be freed from self and the natural life in order to be built up with others (see Hymns, #840). To be built we need to be adjusted, disciplined, corrected, and transformed. Then we will be able to come together to be built as the house of God in many localities.
