WWelcome back. It’s good to see you again. For those who were not here last week, I will introduce myself again. I am Ezra. I am, by vocation, a priest and a scribe, a record keeper. I am also a teacher of the Law. I served the Lord during the Restoration, the most exciting time in our history since the Exodus.
Last week, we saw how the Exile fulfilled between eight hudred and nine hundred years of prophecy, from Leviticus to Jeremiah. Centuries of prophecy became our history. One prophecy we did not look at is in Isaiah 44.
“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, Who formed you from the womb... Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall fulfill all My purpose;’ saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid,’” Is 44:24, 28.
Josephus wrote in his “Antiquities of the Jews” (11:1:2) that Cyrus read this prophecy in Isaiah, naming him over a hundred years before he was born, and "an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written..."
Not only did he have an earnest desire and ambition to fulfill what was written, he was determined to build a temple more massive than Solomon’s Temple.
“Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits, with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber,” Ezra 6:3-4.
This temple was to be twice as high and three times as wide as the first. If people fondly remembered the Solomon’s Temple centuries after it was built and decades after it was destroyed, perhaps they would be more impressed with Cyrus’ Temple. Last week, we saw that he allowed people to return home and take their idols with them because he wanted local people and local gods praying to his gods for his good. The Jews had no idols to return. Maybe he thought building a more massive temple would intimidate the God of Israel. Noooooooooo.
Cyrus’ reasons for building the temple don’t matter. God gave His people a priority. Build the temple. He stirred the heart of the king to make it possible. They started well. They prepared for building. They laid the foundation. They started only to give up. They decided to add paneling to their walls before God’s house even had walls. They decided it was not yet time to build the temple.
God called two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to call the people back to work. As I wrote in my book,
“The work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia... Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them,” Ezra 4:24; 5:1-2
Haggai was first to express God’s displeasure. Notice, in particular, the date and God’s choice of words in referring to the people.
“In the second year of Darius the King, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’ Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways,’” Haggai 1:1-5.
God’s choice of words is revealing. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”
Are their any fathers here today? Suppose your wife greeted you at the door with, “Guess what OUR child did today.” Suppose on another day she greeted you with, “Guess what YOUR child did today.” Is there any difference between those two greetings?
The first indicates pride. The second indicates displeasure. When God says “these people” instead of “My people” He is not pleased with them.
In the ancient middle East, the glory of a temple was thought to reflected the glory of a god. A bare foundation reflected no glory. When these people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord, they are saying the time has not yet come to give God glory. God commands them, “Consider your ways.”
Paneled houses may not sound like a luxury in twenty-first century America, but wood was scarce in Jerusalem. The scrubby trees that could be found were not suitable for paneling. I was not there, I don’t know, but maybe they even sank so low as to use the wood that Cyrus imported for the Temple.
So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia, Ezra 3:7.
Cedar trees from Lebanon would certainly make better paneling than anything that could be found locally.
Did you notice the date for Haggai’s first sermon? “In the seconnd year of Darius the King, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month...” Hag is the most precisely dated book in the Bible. His dating reflects Neo-Babylonian and Persian styles. Haggai dates each sermon to the exact day of Darius’ reign.
The Neo-Babylonian and Persian style used a lunar calendar. Archaeologists have uncovered a vast number of their new moon tablets that include enough astronomical data to synchronize that calendar with yours. Haggai’s first sermon was August 29, 520 BC. His last was December 18, 520 BC.
Haggai’s ministry in Jerusalem lasted less than 4 months. Only twenty-three days after his first sermon, God’s people began to rebuild. He was one of the few prophets to see quick success. Three more sermons and his work was done.
Haggai reproved the people for their failure to build. Zechariah encouraged them to build with visions of future glory. Haggai and Zechariah may have been different in every other way, too.
Haggai is always called “Haggai the prophet,” even in his own book. Outside the two chapters he wrote and two verses in my book he is unknown in modern times. You know nothing of his family, his parents, his ancestors, or his tribe. It’s possible he was from an undistinguished, largely unknown, family.
Zechariah was called “the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo,” Zechariah 1:1. Iddo was a well known priestly ancestor.
You know from Zechariah 2:3-4 that he was a young man. Haggai 2:3 may suggest that Haggai remembered seeing the Temple before it was destroyed in 586 BC. “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?” That would make him in his 70s, 80s, or older as he ministered in 520 BC.
Joyce Baldwin wrote in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, “He may have been an old man, given the most important work of his life just before his death. The authority he commanded and his single minded preoccupation with the Temple rather tend to bear this out.”
You may be in your 70s, 80s, or beyond. You may be from an undistinguished family. You may be unknown outside a small circle of friends and family. Are you listening for God’s call? God may choose to use an older, unknown today. He may choose to use you as He did Haggai in 520 BC. Are you listening for His call?
You may be considerably younger. You may be from a prominent family. God may choose to use you as He did Zechariah in 520 BC. Are you listening for His call?
Zechariah joined Haggai in encouraging the people to complete the Temple. Then he announced prophecies about the Redeemer and the future blessings of Israel which we do not have time to consider.
When you struggle with discouragement, read Zechariah. Beyond depressing messages of judgment is an ultimate message of overwhelming hope. God gives you the same hope He gave His people 2500 years ago. When you, as they, look past present challenges to future glories, you should be revived. I wish we had time to consider it tonight.
Rebuilding the Temple began in 536 BC. They lay the found, then people spend sixteen years on their houses. Twenty-three days after Haggai’s first sermon, work resumed. Four years later, the work was finally completed.
“And this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the King, Ezra 6:15.
The next reference to time in my book is 7:8, 10-13.
“and Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the King... Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel. This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe... ‘Artaxerxes, King of Kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. ‘Peace. And now I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.’”
The sixth chapter of my book occurred “in the sixth year of the reign of Darius.” The seventh chapter occurred “in the seventh year of the King... Artaxerxes.”
Darius began to rule in Sept, 522 BC. His sixth year, when the Temple was completed, would be about 516 BC.
Artaxerxes began about 465 BC. His seventh year would be about 458 BC.
The Temple was completed in 516 BC. Almost 60 years later, Artaxerxes allowed me to lead a second remnant to Jerusalem about 458 BC. This is the first time that I appear my own book.
Artaxerxes may not have been entirely benevolent in letting me lead a remnant back to Jerusalem. He may not have been completely benevolent in sending a gift to the Temple.
After Artaxerxes became king, Egypt rebelled against the unproven leader. Israel was on the land bridge between Egypt and Persia. Artaxerxes may have wanted more people in the way of an advancing Egyptian army. The gold and silver given to the Temple may have been given to buy Israel’s loyalty.
There is an almost sixty year gap between chapters 6 and 7. Between Darius and Artaxerxes, we have Xerxes and the events of Esther.
“In those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, in the third year of his reign... Esther 1:2-3.
Ahasuerus is his Hebrew name. Xerxes is his Greek name. Even now I won’t even try to pronounce his Persian name. Xerxes reigned from 486 to 465 BC. He had a banquet for six months in 484/483 BC. His queen disappointed him and he banished her.
Between the third and seventh years of his reign, between Esther 1 and 2, he tried to conquer Greece. The banquet in chapter 1 may well have been an extended strategy session to plan the invasion. After he failed, Heroditus says he returned home and sought solace in his harem (Histories, ix. 108). That is consistent with his reputation for being passionate and capricious and with Esther 2 and following.
As I said last week, no period of secular history parallels biblical history more clearly and intimately than the time of the Restoration. I also said that none of this was a surprise to God. Daniel wrote, “‘...in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.’ and now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. and when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. and as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity,” Daniel 11:1-4.
Xerxes was the fourth king. His empire spread from India to Ethiopia. A noticeable gap in his kingdom was Greece. Have you heard of the battle of Marathon? The Greeks defeated Xerxes father, Darius, in the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, just four years before he began to rule. Xerxes was determined to succeed where his father failed.
Last week I said that I like what English speaking Christians have done with the word “history,” making it “His story,” the story of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Redeemer. This is an excellent example. Many people know the battle of Marathon was the inspiration for the modern, twenty-six mile race called the Marathon. Not many people know that God used it to set in motion the events of Esther and the events leading to the Septuagint.
Xerxes was determined to conquer Greece. Another Persian invasion inspired deep-rooted Grecian hatred which eventually made it possible to unite the fiercely independent city-states so Alexander the Great could conquer the known world. After Alexander died, his empire was divided among his four generals, not his posterity. As we shall see, all these events prepared the world for the coming Redeemer.
Xerxes’ capricious nature is illustrated by Herodotus, who records his first attempt to cross the Hellespont on his way to Greece failed when a storm destroyed his pontoon bridge. He ordered the Hellespont, the strait, the water in the strait, to be whipped three hundred times. His soldiers went in with chains and gave the water three hundred lashes.
When he returned to Susa in defeat, Queen Vashti was not there to console him. Esther 2 tells us he regretted his capricious decision to banish her. This led to the beauty contest that Esther had no say in entering.
“After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king's young men who attended him said, ‘Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king...’” Esther 2:1-2.
The young men went on to suggest details for a beauty contest. The winner would be the new queen and all the other contestants would go into his harem. Do I need to say that having the most beautiful virgins in 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia brought into his harem appealed to the passionate king?
“This pleased the king, and he did so,” Esther 2:4.
The winner of this beauty contest would become the queen of an impetuous king who might banish or kill her on a drunken whim. The losers would join his harem. This is no Cinderella story and Xerxes is no prince charming.
The contestants were placed in a special harem to receive beauty treatments. Each night a different virgin was brought to his chamber. The next morning, she went into his regular harem.
“In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem,” Esther 2:14.
God Himself selected the winner.
“and when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti, Esther 2:16-17
In the NT we are told, “and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose... What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:28, 31
Esther probably had a secure life with cousin Mordecai. She probably had “once upon a time” and “happily ever after” dreams. Nothing in scripture indicates that those dreams included being forced into a king’s harem. How could this work for good? Where is the slightest evidence that God is for her?
Sometimes, God puts us in places we wouldn’t expect, don’t like, and wouldn’t have chosen. Sometimes it’s a result of disobedience. Sometimes it’s a result of submission, of being willing to be used by God anywhere at any time. Sometimes, we may not be sure which is the case.
Wherever you are, God has a plan for your life. Whatever your situation, all things will work for good if you love Him, if you are called according to His purpose.
Just as we did not have time to consider more of Zechariah’s prophecies, we do not have time to consider the rest of Esther’s story, my role as a teacher after the days of Esther, Nehemiah’s contribution by rebuilding the walls of Jericho, or Malachi’s ministry. I must hasten to close.
During the Rest the covenant is renewed. It was the cov made with God’s people led by Moses. Nehemiah and I record the same failures to live up to the covenant that had caused the exile! God’s people still had lessons to learn about devotion, repentance, and providence. Jeremiah, who prophesied the Restoration even before the exile had come to pass, prophesied about a new covenant.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34
This is the covenant you enjoy today, salvation by grace through faith. Since Genesis 3:15 God has promised a Redeemer to make this covenant possible. Adam was a sinner. He could not save himself. We are all sinners. We cannot save ourselves. We need Jesus, the promised Redeemer, to save us. The Bible is the story of God’s redeeming love. The Old Testament is the story of redemption prepared.
During the Restoration God redeems, He separates, His people from all others through the building of the wall. God redeems them to Himself through building the Temple and repeated calls to devotion. During the Restoration we never again read of God’s people following idols, though marrying pagans brought them close. At times, His people are closer to a theocracy than any time during the monarchy. At times, they recognize that God is their King!
Still, they are sinners, and they prove it again and again. They are not able to redeem themselves. The once-for-all Redeemer has not yet come. God prepares his people to give birth to the Redeemer. He prepares the world to receive the Redeemer.
In the Restoration, God prepared His people to give birth to the Redeemer. God spent four hundred years preparing the world to receive the Redeemer. They’re called silent yrs because there was no prophetic voice, but God continued to work.
Xerxes’ attempt to conquer Greece united rival city-states against a common enemy. Unity made Alexander the Great’s conquests possible. Through the conquests of Alexander, Greek became the common language of the world. It continued to be the common language even in the Roman Empire, a great aid for future Christian missionaries.
By the grace of God, many of his scattered people did not return. Many forgot how to read Hebrew. To meet their need, a Greek translation of the Hebrew scripture, the Septuagint, was written. Since Greek was the common language even in the Roman Empire, and the Old Testament was the only scripture of the first Christians, a Christian missionary had scripture to preach in the common language of the world.
After the breakup of the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire rose. Roman roads, even better and more extensive than those built under Darius, not only aided world commerce, they too helped Christian missionaries reach the world.
Finally, in the fulness of time, into a relatively peaceful Roman world, the Prince of Peace, the Redeemer, would come.
God knew the end of the Exile before it began. He knew the rise of Alexander before the first Medo-Persian king. God knew how He would redeem the world before the foundations of the world.
God is still working. He knew the future of Israel each step of the way. Looking back, we see how His inspired prophecy became our history. We should have trusted Him each step of the way.
Jesus came first as Redeemer. God used His people and even pagan people to prepare the world. Jesus will come again. That prophecy is future history. It will happen. God wants to use you to prepare the world again. You should trust Him each step of the way.
He may call you to be a Haggai or Zechariah, ministering in old age or youth. He may call you to be an Esther, ministering in circumstances you would not have chosen for yourself, circumstances that leave you wondering what good can possibly come from them. Trust Him. God is still working. He still has great blessings to give. Will you claim them?
Thank You, Father, for planning our redemption even before the foundations of the world.
Your people often failed. They gave up on building the Temple. They gave up on building the wall. They gave up on following Your Word. You revived them. Your people today are prone to failure. You call for total devotion but Your people are distracted by electronics and politics. Revive Your people today.
We only partially understand today. You completely understand tomorrow. Help us to learn from Your Word. Help us to understand what we can and to trust You for the rest. As You lead, help us to follow.
Over 2000 years, from Abraham to the incarnation, You used Your chosen people to prepare the world for the first coming of Christ. For almost 2000 years, from the resurrection to this moment, You have used Your people to prepare individuals for the second coming of Jesus. Please help us to share Your redeeming love.
In the name of Jesus, Your Son, the Messiah, our Redeemer we pray. Amen.elcome back. It’s good to see you again. For those who were not here last week, I will introduce myself again. I am Ezra. I am, by vocation, a priest and a scribe, a record keeper. I am also a teacher of the Law. I served the Lord during the Restoration, the most exciting time in our history since the Exodus.
Last week, we saw how the Exile fulfilled between eight hudred and nine hundred years of prophecy, from Leviticus to Jeremiah. Centuries of prophecy became our history. One prophecy we did not look at is in Isaiah 44.
“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, Who formed you from the womb... Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall fulfill all My purpose;’ saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid,’” Is 44:24, 28.
Josephus wrote in his “Antiquities of the Jews” (11:1:2) that Cyrus read this prophecy in Isaiah, naming him over a hundred years before he was born, and "an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written..."
Not only did he have an earnest desire and ambition to fulfill what was written, he was determined to build a temple more massive than Solomon’s Temple.
“Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits, with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber,” Ezra 6:3-4.
This temple was to be twice as high and three times as wide as the first. If people fondly remembered the Solomon’s Temple centuries after it was built and decades after it was destroyed, perhaps they would be more impressed with Cyrus’ Temple. Last week, we saw that he allowed people to return home and take their idols with them because he wanted local people and local gods praying to his gods for his good. The Jews had no idols to return. Maybe he thought building a more massive temple would intimidate the God of Israel. Noooooooooo.
Cyrus’ reasons for building the temple don’t matter. God gave His people a priority. Build the temple. He stirred the heart of the king to make it possible. They started well. They prepared for building. They laid the foundation. They started only to give up. They decided to add paneling to their walls before God’s house even had walls. They decided it was not yet time to build the temple.
God called two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to call the people back to work. As I wrote in my book,
“The work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia... Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them,” Ezra 4:24; 5:1-2
Haggai was first to express God’s displeasure. Notice, in particular, the date and God’s choice of words in referring to the people.
“In the second year of Darius the King, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’ Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways,’” Haggai 1:1-5.
God’s choice of words is revealing. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”
Are their any fathers here today? Suppose your wife greeted you at the door with, “Guess what OUR child did today.” Suppose on another day she greeted you with, “Guess what YOUR child did today.” Is there any difference between those two greetings?
The first indicates pride. The second indicates displeasure. When God says “these people” instead of “My people” He is not pleased with them.
In the ancient middle East, the glory of a temple was thought to reflected the glory of a god. A bare foundation reflected no glory. When these people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord, they are saying the time has not yet come to give God glory. God commands them, “Consider your ways.”
Paneled houses may not sound like a luxury in twenty-first century America, but wood was scarce in Jerusalem. The scrubby trees that could be found were not suitable for paneling. I was not there, I don’t know, but maybe they even sank so low as to use the wood that Cyrus imported for the Temple.
So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia, Ezra 3:7.
Cedar trees from Lebanon would certainly make better paneling than anything that could be found locally.
Did you notice the date for Haggai’s first sermon? “In the seconnd year of Darius the King, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month...” Hag is the most precisely dated book in the Bible. His dating reflects Neo-Babylonian and Persian styles. Haggai dates each sermon to the exact day of Darius’ reign.
The Neo-Babylonian and Persian style used a lunar calendar. Archaeologists have uncovered a vast number of their new moon tablets that include enough astronomical data to synchronize that calendar with yours. Haggai’s first sermon was August 29, 520 BC. His last was December 18, 520 BC.
Haggai’s ministry in Jerusalem lasted less than 4 months. Only twenty-three days after his first sermon, God’s people began to rebuild. He was one of the few prophets to see quick success. Three more sermons and his work was done.
Haggai reproved the people for their failure to build. Zechariah encouraged them to build with visions of future glory. Haggai and Zechariah may have been different in every other way, too.
Haggai is always called “Haggai the prophet,” even in his own book. Outside the two chapters he wrote and two verses in my book he is unknown in modern times. You know nothing of his family, his parents, his ancestors, or his tribe. It’s possible he was from an undistinguished, largely unknown, family.
Zechariah was called “the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo,” Zechariah 1:1. Iddo was a well known priestly ancestor.
You know from Zechariah 2:3-4 that he was a young man. Haggai 2:3 may suggest that Haggai remembered seeing the Temple before it was destroyed in 586 BC. “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?” That would make him in his 70s, 80s, or older as he ministered in 520 BC.
Joyce Baldwin wrote in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, “He may have been an old man, given the most important work of his life just before his death. The authority he commanded and his single minded preoccupation with the Temple rather tend to bear this out.”
You may be in your 70s, 80s, or beyond. You may be from an undistinguished family. You may be unknown outside a small circle of friends and family. Are you listening for God’s call? God may choose to use an older, unknown today. He may choose to use you as He did Haggai in 520 BC. Are you listening for His call?
You may be considerably younger. You may be from a prominent family. God may choose to use you as He did Zechariah in 520 BC. Are you listening for His call?
Zechariah joined Haggai in encouraging the people to complete the Temple. Then he announced prophecies about the Redeemer and the future blessings of Israel which we do not have time to consider.
When you struggle with discouragement, read Zechariah. Beyond depressing messages of judgment is an ultimate message of overwhelming hope. God gives you the same hope He gave His people 2500 years ago. When you, as they, look past present challenges to future glories, you should be revived. I wish we had time to consider it tonight.
Rebuilding the Temple began in 536 BC. They lay the found, then people spend sixteen years on their houses. Twenty-three days after Haggai’s first sermon, work resumed. Four years later, the work was finally completed.
“And this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the King, Ezra 6:15.
The next reference to time in my book is 7:8, 10-13.
“and Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the King... Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel. This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe... ‘Artaxerxes, King of Kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. ‘Peace. And now I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.’”
The sixth chapter of my book occurred “in the sixth year of the reign of Darius.” The seventh chapter occurred “in the seventh year of the King... Artaxerxes.”
Darius began to rule in Sept, 522 BC. His sixth year, when the Temple was completed, would be about 516 BC.
Artaxerxes began about 465 BC. His seventh year would be about 458 BC.
The Temple was completed in 516 BC. Almost 60 years later, Artaxerxes allowed me to lead a second remnant to Jerusalem about 458 BC. This is the first time that I appear my own book.
Artaxerxes may not have been entirely benevolent in letting me lead a remnant back to Jerusalem. He may not have been completely benevolent in sending a gift to the Temple.
After Artaxerxes became king, Egypt rebelled against the unproven leader. Israel was on the land bridge between Egypt and Persia. Artaxerxes may have wanted more people in the way of an advancing Egyptian army. The gold and silver given to the Temple may have been given to buy Israel’s loyalty.
There is an almost sixty year gap between chapters 6 and 7. Between Darius and Artaxerxes, we have Xerxes and the events of Esther.
“In those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, in the third year of his reign... Esther 1:2-3.
Ahasuerus is his Hebrew name. Xerxes is his Greek name. Even now I won’t even try to pronounce his Persian name. Xerxes reigned from 486 to 465 BC. He had a banquet for six months in 484/483 BC. His queen disappointed him and he banished her.
Between the third and seventh years of his reign, between Esther 1 and 2, he tried to conquer Greece. The banquet in chapter 1 may well have been an extended strategy session to plan the invasion. After he failed, Heroditus says he returned home and sought solace in his harem (Histories, ix. 108). That is consistent with his reputation for being passionate and capricious and with Esther 2 and following.
As I said last week, no period of secular history parallels biblical history more clearly and intimately than the time of the Restoration. I also said that none of this was a surprise to God. Daniel wrote, “‘...in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.’ and now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. and when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. and as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity,” Daniel 11:1-4.
Xerxes was the fourth king. His empire spread from India to Ethiopia. A noticeable gap in his kingdom was Greece. Have you heard of the battle of Marathon? The Greeks defeated Xerxes father, Darius, in the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, just four years before he began to rule. Xerxes was determined to succeed where his father failed.
Last week I said that I like what English speaking Christians have done with the word “history,” making it “His story,” the story of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Redeemer. This is an excellent example. Many people know the battle of Marathon was the inspiration for the modern, twenty-six mile race called the Marathon. Not many people know that God used it to set in motion the events of Esther and the events leading to the Septuagint.
Xerxes was determined to conquer Greece. Another Persian invasion inspired deep-rooted Grecian hatred which eventually made it possible to unite the fiercely independent city-states so Alexander the Great could conquer the known world. After Alexander died, his empire was divided among his four generals, not his posterity. As we shall see, all these events prepared the world for the coming Redeemer.
Xerxes’ capricious nature is illustrated by Herodotus, who records his first attempt to cross the Hellespont on his way to Greece failed when a storm destroyed his pontoon bridge. He ordered the Hellespont, the strait, the water in the strait, to be whipped three hundred times. His soldiers went in with chains and gave the water three hundred lashes.
When he returned to Susa in defeat, Queen Vashti was not there to console him. Esther 2 tells us he regretted his capricious decision to banish her. This led to the beauty contest that Esther had no say in entering.
“After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king's young men who attended him said, ‘Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king...’” Esther 2:1-2.
The young men went on to suggest details for a beauty contest. The winner would be the new queen and all the other contestants would go into his harem. Do I need to say that having the most beautiful virgins in 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia brought into his harem appealed to the passionate king?
“This pleased the king, and he did so,” Esther 2:4.
The winner of this beauty contest would become the queen of an impetuous king who might banish or kill her on a drunken whim. The losers would join his harem. This is no Cinderella story and Xerxes is no prince charming.
The contestants were placed in a special harem to receive beauty treatments. Each night a different virgin was brought to his chamber. The next morning, she went into his regular harem.
“In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem,” Esther 2:14.
God Himself selected the winner.
“and when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti, Esther 2:16-17
In the NT we are told, “and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose... What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:28, 31
Esther probably had a secure life with cousin Mordecai. She probably had “once upon a time” and “happily ever after” dreams. Nothing in scripture indicates that those dreams included being forced into a king’s harem. How could this work for good? Where is the slightest evidence that God is for her?
Sometimes, God puts us in places we wouldn’t expect, don’t like, and wouldn’t have chosen. Sometimes it’s a result of disobedience. Sometimes it’s a result of submission, of being willing to be used by God anywhere at any time. Sometimes, we may not be sure which is the case.
Wherever you are, God has a plan for your life. Whatever your situation, all things will work for good if you love Him, if you are called according to His purpose.
Just as we did not have time to consider more of Zechariah’s prophecies, we do not have time to consider the rest of Esther’s story, my role as a teacher after the days of Esther, Nehemiah’s contribution by rebuilding the walls of Jericho, or Malachi’s ministry. I must hasten to close.
During the Rest the covenant is renewed. It was the cov made with God’s people led by Moses. Nehemiah and I record the same failures to live up to the covenant that had caused the exile! God’s people still had lessons to learn about devotion, repentance, and providence. Jeremiah, who prophesied the Restoration even before the exile had come to pass, prophesied about a new covenant.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34
This is the covenant you enjoy today, salvation by grace through faith. Since Genesis 3:15 God has promised a Redeemer to make this covenant possible. Adam was a sinner. He could not save himself. We are all sinners. We cannot save ourselves. We need Jesus, the promised Redeemer, to save us. The Bible is the story of God’s redeeming love. The Old Testament is the story of redemption prepared.
During the Restoration God redeems, He separates, His people from all others through the building of the wall. God redeems them to Himself through building the Temple and repeated calls to devotion. During the Restoration we never again read of God’s people following idols, though marrying pagans brought them close. At times, His people are closer to a theocracy than any time during the monarchy. At times, they recognize that God is their King!
Still, they are sinners, and they prove it again and again. They are not able to redeem themselves. The once-for-all Redeemer has not yet come. God prepares his people to give birth to the Redeemer. He prepares the world to receive the Redeemer.
In the Restoration, God prepared His people to give birth to the Redeemer. God spent four hundred years preparing the world to receive the Redeemer. They’re called silent yrs because there was no prophetic voice, but God continued to work.
Xerxes’ attempt to conquer Greece united rival city-states against a common enemy. Unity made Alexander the Great’s conquests possible. Through the conquests of Alexander, Greek became the common language of the world. It continued to be the common language even in the Roman Empire, a great aid for future Christian missionaries.
By the grace of God, many of his scattered people did not return. Many forgot how to read Hebrew. To meet their need, a Greek translation of the Hebrew scripture, the Septuagint, was written. Since Greek was the common language even in the Roman Empire, and the Old Testament was the only scripture of the first Christians, a Christian missionary had scripture to preach in the common language of the world.
After the breakup of the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire rose. Roman roads, even better and more extensive than those built under Darius, not only aided world commerce, they too helped Christian missionaries reach the world.
Finally, in the fulness of time, into a relatively peaceful Roman world, the Prince of Peace, the Redeemer, would come.
God knew the end of the Exile before it began. He knew the rise of Alexander before the first Medo-Persian king. God knew how He would redeem the world before the foundations of the world.
God is still working. He knew the future of Israel each step of the way. Looking back, we see how His inspired prophecy became our history. We should have trusted Him each step of the way.
Jesus came first as Redeemer. God used His people and even pagan people to prepare the world. Jesus will come again. That prophecy is future history. It will happen. God wants to use you to prepare the world again. You should trust Him each step of the way.
He may call you to be a Haggai or Zechariah, ministering in old age or youth. He may call you to be an Esther, ministering in circumstances you would not have chosen for yourself, circumstances that leave you wondering what good can possibly come from them. Trust Him. God is still working. He still has great blessings to give. Will you claim them?
Thank You, Father, for planning our redemption even before the foundations of the world.
Your people often failed. They gave up on building the Temple. They gave up on building the wall. They gave up on following Your Word. You revived them. Your people today are prone to failure. You call for total devotion but Your people are distracted by electronics and politics. Revive Your people today.
We only partially understand today. You completely understand tomorrow. Help us to learn from Your Word. Help us to understand what we can and to trust You for the rest. As You lead, help us to follow.
Over 2000 years, from Abraham to the incarnation, You used Your chosen people to prepare the world for the first coming of Christ. For almost 2000 years, from the resurrection to this moment, You have used Your people to prepare individuals for the second coming of Jesus. Please help us to share Your redeeming love.
In the name of Jesus, Your Son, the Messiah, our Redeemer we pray. Amen.
