Ezra
Many Preferred The Comfort of Babylon
Zerubbabel was the undisputed leader of this group of returning Jews to Jerusalem and he was officially appointed governor of this new settlement. This chapter lists the names the families of those who returned. The entire company is said to have totaled 42,360 (v. 64). This is e …
People Confessed Their Sin to God
While Ezra was down on his knees in front of God’s temple, praying with tears in his eyes, and confessing the sins of the people of Israel, a large number of men, women, and children gathered around him and cried bitterly (v. 1). Shecaniah son of Jehiel from the family of Elam sa …
Ezra Expressed Sorrow in His Prayer
The rest of the chapter contains Ezra’s prayer. It is in its entirety one of confession of sin, with no petition or request of any kind. Although Ezra was not personally guilty of these sins, he identifies himself with his people in his prayer. He acknowledged that all the horrib …
The Work on The Temple Progresses
Governor Tattenai, Shethar Bozenai, and their advisors sent a report to King Darius wishing him the best (vv. 6-7). They tell how they went to Judah, where the temple of the great God is being built with huge stones and wooden beams set in the walls (v. 8). Everyone is working ha …
Rebuilding of Jerusalem Opposed
Every attempt to revive true religion will stir up the opposition of Satan, and of those in whom he works. The adversaries were the Samaritans, who had been planted in the land of Israel. It was plain that they did not mean to unite in the worship of the Lord, according to His wo …
Pagan Wives Put Away
Here is a list of the priests who had agreed to divorce their foreign wives and to sacrifice a ram as a sin offering (vv. 18-44). Although putting these pagan wives away was a severe solution, it appears that it only involved 113 of the approximately 29,000 families. This list of …
Resistance to Building The Temple
When the Samaritans heard that the Jews were making good progress in building the temple they came to them with an offer of assistance. Outwardly they pretended to be friendly and cooperative while in reality they intended to hinder and stop the work. Zerubbabel, Joshua and the o …
The Temple is Dedicated
Governor Tattenai, Shethar Bozenai, and their advisors carefully obeyed King Darius (v. 13). With great success the Jewish leaders continued working on the temple, while Haggai and Zechariah encouraged them by their preaching (v. 14). And so, the temple was completed at the comma …
Restoration of The Temple Resumed
As this chapter opens Artaxerxes, the king who had forbidden the Jews to work on the temple, had been slain and a new king, Darius, had been on the throne for over a year. However no attempt had been made to start building again because everyone was discouraged including the lead …
The Temple is Completed
Darius commanded that the records be searched to determine if Cyrus had actually made a decree permitting the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem (v. 1). The document they sought was not found in Babylon but in Ecbatana, the capital of Media Province, where the Persian kings ma …