Lessons From Ezra – Lesson 12
Last week we read Ezra 7:26. And there is an important Bible study principal that I want to quickly talk about concerning it.
Ezra 7:26 And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
Question does it matter who is speaking in the Bible?
Some make the mistake and say it’s in the bible or they will say I am sorry you don’t like that but it is bible. Or if the bible says it, then that settles it.
But hold on a minute. Just because it is in the Bible does not mean that God is telling you to do that. But some will say, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and all of it is profitable, and all means all.
Yes Under the inspiration of God all scripture is given. Every verse God has something for us to learn. And one of the things that God wants us to learn from is the lies, fibs and yes even errors of those that went before us.
The Bible does not lie, but the Bible records the lies of others. One example is the man who told David that he killed Saul. He was lying and the Bible accurately recorded his lie.
Aaron lied and said I threw the gold in the fire and out came this calf. That is not what happened. Aaron melted the gold and fashioned the calf. The Bible just accurately recorded the lie that Aaron said.
When Adam and Eve sinned, she blamed the serpent and Adam blamed the wife and Adam blamed God because He gave her the wife. The blame game was accurately recorded. But the fault rests upon Adam. We know that for sure from the New Testament.
So yes it really matters a lot when you read your Bible to know who it is that is talking.
- Is it God talking? This is always the first question. If there is no human speaker, then it is the narrator. And in the Bible the narrator is God.
- The second question is, is it a man talking on behalf of God. Is he God’s man saying Thus sayeth the Lord.
- Is it just a fallible sinful man speaking. And be careful. A fallible sinful man can say some good things and it appears that he has good understanding and is wise and then bam. He drops something really foolish and bad.
Ezra 7:26 is a perfect example of all of this. Ezra 7:26 is the king of Persia talking and in the verses right before this the king showed that he knew a lot. He knew all about the sacrifices and what was required. And the king said some good and wise stuff.
So you could be reading along going, this is great. Amen and Amen. And not being on your guard 7:26 could throw you.
Last week when we read it I mentioned that 7:26 shows that though this king said some good stuff but that this verse shows that his faith and understanding was still lacking a great deal.
And everyone here just nodded their head in agreement. To us it is a no brainer that what the king said was wrong. We all have the Holy Spirit inside of us. That still small voice confirming that. Let’s read verses 25 – 27.
Ezra 7:25 And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not.
Teaching the word of God to those who know it not. Good thing. Then the king says something bad.
Ezra 7:26 And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
Now Ezra comments on the king’s declaration.
Ezra 7:27 Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:
Some might only look at the first part of Ezra’s response and say see it was a good thing in the king’s heart. Careful now. read all of Ezra’s response.
Ezra is very careful and clarifies exactly what he is talking about. What is the good thing.
to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:
So Ezra is talking about all the help and supply the king is giving for the Temple.
Ezra completely ignores the bad thing that the king said and Ezra does not even comment upon it.
We can all see that verse 26 is a bad thing that the king said and it is not what God wants at all.
Ezra 7:26 And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
It is so clear to us. But not everyone gets it.
Can you name me 3 large groups in history who have gotten this wrong?
3 groups who actually did what Ezra 7:26 said and thought they were doing God’s will.
I will give you a hint. All 3 groups are religious but lost. All 3 did not believe in salvation by faith and grace. They did not believe that it is not of works, it is the gift of God.
Catholics
John Calvin
Puritans in America.
All 3 of those group forced religious rules on people and severely punished those who disobeyed their orders. They did not understand that forced religion is wrong and it not what God is after.
Not understanding the Bible study principal of paying attention to who is speaking has caused the suffering and death of untold millions thru the centuries.
Now let’s move on and finish up our lessons on the book of Ezra.
Ezr 7:6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.
Ezra is one of the greats. He really is. Not much is ever preached about him. Many Christians in most churches could not tell you anything about him. That is a shame because we can learn much from his life and example.
There is a Bible study principal called the law of first mention. The first time something or someone is mentioned there are often fundamental truths mentioned about that thing or person. Ezra is an example of this.
The first time he is mentioned we learn he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses.
- So he knew the scriptures and he knew how to handle them, teach them, and understand them.
- He believed that the Lord God of Israel had given the scriptures. He believed they are the Word of God.
- The hand of the Lord God was upon him.
Ezr 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
- Ezra was no hypocrite. He seeked the law to actually do it.
- With Ezra it was a heart matter
- Ezra had a concern for others. He wanted them to know and experience a walk with God also. He wanted to teach others. And not for money. Not for a career.
So in Ezra’s first mention in only two verses we know the character of who this guy is. We know right away what makes him tick. What is his motivation and how he thinks.
That is a compact amount of info about him. That is not everything that we will learn about him, but God gets us off to a great start in only two verses.
I really believe that our country would be a different place today if more preachers would learn from and follow Ezra’s example.
After God introduces Ezra to us, we saw last week how Ezra goes to the king and how God worked in the king’s heart to grant Ezra’s desire.
And the first thing after that we see Ezra do is get help.
Ezr 7:28 And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.
This is another great thing that we learn about Ezra. It is not all about him. He realizes that the job is too big for any one man.
He does not seek the preeminence. Ezra wanted not only others to help him, but he wanted the best. He did not seek men who knew nothing that he could blindly lead and boss around. No he wanted smart men and chief men. Ezra wanted leaders.
I have known many who are not that way. They want help, but none that are even close to their level. They want to be top dog. And they want everyone to know it. And so when they make staff hiring decisions they will not hire anyone remotely close to their level.
In chapter 8 many respond and come to help Ezra. In verses 1 thru 7 there are 1496 men listed.
But none of them are Levites and Ezra is sincere about doing the Word of God the way the Word of God says to do it and so he needs some Levites.
So the camp does not move until the right men are found. In verse 16 Ezra specifically asks for men of understanding and asks for chief men. So Ezra is looking for great men of God and leaders. Men equal to or better than himself.
Ezra is putting God’s work and the service of God’s people above himself or his pride. This is just another reason that God’s hand was upon Ezra.
And good men came.
Ezr 8:18 And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;
And did you notice Ezra gives credit to God for it. That is another great trait of Ezra. He did not put any glory for anything upon himself. He gave God acknowledgement and praise for everything that God did.
Hopefully you are seeing why I like Ezra so much.
So now they are ready to go. They have the men and they have all the donations that came in but there is a problem.
There was not police always a few min. away. The roads were dangerous and full of thieves and cutthroats. And they really have a target on their back.
What the king said and what was given them was public knowledge. They are going to be traveling thru some rough country and they have literally a huge fortune with them. And they don’t have any protection.
So what is Ezra going to do.
Ezr 8:21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.
Ezr 8:22 For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.
Ezr 8:23 So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.
He had told the king that God was with them for good. If Ezra asked the king for an escort, then how much faith did he really have in God being with them for good.
Ezra took asking for man’s protection as a bad testimony and a poor demonstration of not only his own faith in God but in God’s character.
Ezra wanted God to be high and lifted up in the eyes of man. Ezra wanted men to see that God is real and God does care and God will help you and be with you and protect you in His work.
So instead of asking for man to deliver him from this problem, Ezra took it to God and notice they fasted and prayed.
Ezra did not do even this alone. Ezra believed in and trusted in the spirituality of others. Ezra believed that God was with others and that God would also listen to others. That the prayers of others were just as important and effective with God as his prayers were.
When Ezra felt they had prayed enough he assigned others to take charge of the gold for the trip. And it was a lot.
Ezr 8:25 And weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered:
Ezr 8:26 I even weighed unto their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels an hundred talents, and of gold an hundred talents;
Ezr 8:27 Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold.
Ezr 8:28 And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto the LORD; the vessels are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering unto the LORD God of your fathers.
Ezr 8:29 Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and chief of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD.
Ezr 8:30 So took the priests and the Levites the weight of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.
Like I said earlier. It was a lot of money. But God moved and no one bothered them on the trip. God came thru once again.
After the gold is delivered to the Temple. Ezra delivers the letters of the king’s commissions to the enemy governors.
Ezr 8:36 And they delivered the king’s commissions unto the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God.
And the governors do what the king’s letters said and they furthered the people and the house of God.
Things are going good but there is a huge problem that Ezra had no idea about ahead of time.
Ezr 9:1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
Ezr 9:2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.
Ezr 9:3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.
Ezra just could not hardly believe it. The men had defied God in this. Verse 9 says doing according to their abominations.
So this is not a racial issue. Anyone could at that time become a Jew. Color did not matter, the people group you were born into did not matter. Ruth became a Jew, Rahab had become a Jew and a large number of people became Jews during Esther’s time.
The problem was the women they married still worshipped their horrible false gods and they were doing the abominations that their gods required and doing it in their homes and teaching it to their children.
Ezra goes into almost a type of mourning. He does it out in the open. And God moves. God works in the hearts of people and God brings the conviction.
This is another thing that Ezra understood. Ezra let God move. Ezra depended upon God to work in hearts and bring conviction. Ezra did not try to force or manipulate, use trickery or psychiatry or any other of man’s means.
Ezr 9:4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
Ezra was not pretending. This sin was serious. If let to continue, it would mean that they would cease to be Jews. The worship of the true God would stop. The future promises that God gave could not be fulfilled.
So Ezra let it affect him personally. The horror and shock of it was real to Ezra.
Ezr 9:5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,
Ezra went to the only one who could help. He went to God. His prayer is recorded for us. It is a prayer full of the truth of their past and of their current situation.
It is a prayer that recognized that they are playing with fire here. A prayer that fully and openly admits their sin. It is a prayer that does not make excuses. That God would be justified of bringing the same punishment to them or even worse.
It is also a prayer that recognized God’s power to fix this and appeals to God’s mercy. This is one of the great prayers that is recorded in God’s precious word.
Ezr 9:6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
Ezr 9:7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
Ezr 9:8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
Ezr 9:9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
Ezr 9:10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
Ezr 9:11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
Ezr 9:12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
Ezr 9:13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;
Ezr 9:14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?
Ezr 9:15 O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.
Ezr 10:1 Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.
This was a powerful prayer. One that came from the heart. Tears were flowing from Ezra and from others as he prayed to God.
What they were doing was going to cause all kind of hurt to the people. All of the wickedness that these women were doing and bringing into all of those homes.
The people then admit their wrong.
Ezr 10:2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
Ezr 10:3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
Ezr 10:4 Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.
Ezra then delegates men to be in charge of cleaning this up.
Ezr 10:5 Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.
Ezra knows this will be difficult. Ezra needs the hand of the Almighty to move. Ezra needs God to help men be strong and Ezra needs men to be wise on how they handle this.
So what does Ezra do? What is his role in this going to be. Ezra is going to do the most important thing. Out of all the hard work that must happen to clean this up. Ezra is going to work at the most important thing.
Ezra is going to pray and pray and pray while this is getting fixed.
Ezr 10:6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.
The leaders have all the men come to a gathering and Ezra addresses them. And Ezra keeps it short and clear. He simply tells them they have broken God’s law.
Ezr 10:10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
Ezr 10:11 Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.
Ezr 10:12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.
Ezr 10:13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
Remember how the blessing of the later rain and the early rain and the land producing for them was tied to that land and to their obedience. They are in terrible sin and God sends a terrible rain. So bad that they cannot even stand outside.
So what happens. They clean it up. God blesses. The land produces once again. And Ezra teaches the word of God at Jerusalem. And the men that Ezra brings with also teach the word of God.
For 15 years life goes on and they all teach and teach and teach.
Then after 15 years Nehemiah shows up. And the people get on board and they build the wall. And then the people have a revival. And ask for Ezra to come read the word of God.
They ask the man who had been patiently teaching them for 15 years. They asked the man who they had watched for 15 years and seen that he was the real deal. A man of God who walked with God.
And they have one of the greatest revivals that is recorded in all of the word of God.
Now by looking at the whole story, we can see that huge rival did not come out of nowhere. God worked ahead on that for years and years. God used Ezra for 15 years to lay the foundation for it.