Nehemiah And Ezra

Intro: In the book of Nehemiah in chapters 1-7 we have become acquainted with many individuals.

However, in Nehemiah chapter 8 God steps in the picture. That is what takes place in Nehemiah chapter 8…

• This has nothing to do with Nehemiah working;

• This has nothing to do with Ezra working.

• This has nothing to do with the Levites working.

This has everything to do with God working!!!

The people have worked hard and sacrificed much to rebuild the walls and the temple in Jerusalem. God knows the sacrifices they have made and now God is sending a revival among them and God is pouring out His Spirit upon His people.

• It's been ninety years since Zerubbabel first led the captives from Babylon back to Jerusalem.

• It's been seventy years since the completion of the second temple.

• It's been thirteen years since the return of Ezra and his ministry.

There have been some bright spots in this period from Zerubbabel until the completion of the temple.

But now what God is doing is truly supernatural.

In Nehemiah 8 that great man of God Ezra appears in the book of Nehemiah. We have some questions for Ezra, such as:

• Ezra where have you been for the past thirteen years?

• For that matter, where has he been for the last seven chapters of the book of Nehemiah?

There's been no mention of him. Nehemiah left Babylon six months ago. Nehemiah has been back for four, perhaps five, months. The temple has long since been completed. Now the wall is now complete and we hear about Ezra the priest.

Look at Nehemiah 7:1 Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed. I am sure that some said to Ezra the priest, “Yea, the hard work of the wall is now complete and now Ezra shows up”

But I can assure you that Ezra was not goofing off during that time, the reason he had not showed up he had a different job than Nehemiah.

Nehemiah is a choleric. He's more of a doer. He's a builder and he is a politician...he's a governor.

Ezra is a completely different character.

• Ezra is a scribe.

• Ezra is a priest.

• Ezra is a Bible teacher and preacher and proclaimer of the word of God.

And it seems to me deeply significant what's about to occur, because there's going to be a passing on of the torch now.

The fact is, we will not hear any more of Nehemiah. (Oh, there are four mentions of his name in the rest of these chapters, but they’re in the third person and every single one of them merely refers to the fact that he was governor at the time.)

But his involvement, and his personal involvement…and even the chapters that close don't come from his personal records.

As we've seen the earlier chapters seem to have come from his own personal memoirs. But when we get chapter eight Nehemiah, Nehemiah slides out of the picture.

Actually what's happening is God raises up one and pushes back another. He brings one under the limelight for a season and pushes another back.

He does that with Haggai, the prophet. The entire ministry of Haggai takes place in the space of four months. He seems to come from nowhere and then he seems to disappear again.

From this passage tonight I want to show you three things…all of them begins with the letter “E”. The first is...

I. Ezra.

Again, as it has already been stated Ezra for the first time he's appeared in the book of Nehemiah. We want to ask all sorts of questions, such as, “What has he been doing for the past thirteen years?”

The wall and the temple has been built and now Ezra the priest shows up.

Notice what happens when he shows up in Nehemiah 8:1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Notice two things:

(1) And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate;

It is a wonderful thing when “ALL the people will gather as ONE MAN…” But they had a request for Ezra…

(2) “…And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

This is the moving of God. They wanted Ezra to share with them the scriptures.

Illus: This would be like on a Sunday morning we have a church full of people and when the church service is over, instead of people rushing to their cars to head for the restaruants they would say, “Preacher, can you continue to preach God’s Word, we are more hungry for the Word of God than we are for physical food.”