Theme: The Hand of God with Ezra
Text: Ezra 7:1-10
Greetings: The Lord is Good and his love endures forever!
Introduction:
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are ONE BOOK in Jewish Old Testament. But Christian Canon has made them as two separate books. Ezra’s name was given as title to one book and another as Nehemiah. But only Ezra chapter 7 names him.
The arrival of Ezra was in 458 BC, and he carried with him an authentic letter of the King. The traditional view assumes a gap of almost sixty years between the events of chapter 6 and chapter 7. It is historically believed that the events of the book of Esther took place between Ezra 6-7.
He was commissioned by King Artaxerxes to teach and enforce that Law among those who claimed to be loyal servants of YHWH, namely the previous returnees from Babylon and those locals who had united with them in the true worship of YHWH. The hand of God was involved in the life of Ezra. Today, I would like to remind everyone of the following:
The Lineage of Ezra - Ezra 7:1-5
The Leadership of Ezra- Ezra 7:6-9
The Legacy of Ezra - Ezra 7:10
Ezra’s Lineage, Leadership and Legacy conveys his past, his present and his future. The same way our past, present and future teach us a lot of lessons. We can’t do anything with our past generations and their life. But, we can do something noteworthy, noble things during our lifetime, the future is what we are today.
1. The Lineage of Ezra - 7:1-5
“…Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:”
This list doesn’t have all the forefathers of Ezra. Some of the generations are left out. We don’t know the reason why certain names which are found in 1 Chronicles 6 have been omitted in this list. The time between the Exodus and Ezra must have exceeded one thousand years, and cannot have been covered by 16 generations rather 27 generations. There are six names between Meraioth and Azariah mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:7-10. Ezra 7:3 gives a gap between Seraiah and Ezra.
Seraiah appears to be the high priest of Zedekiah, who lived at least 130 years before Ezra. Three or four names are probably missing in this place.
However, one important message is passed on to us that Ezra was a direct descendant both of Aaron and also of Seraiah, who were the High Priests of the First and the last before the Exile. The lineage has a few important personalities namely, Eleazar, and Phinehas, and Zadok.
Eleazar, the third son of Aaron, came to prominence after the deaths of his older brothers, Nadab and Abihu, who died for presenting an unsolicited offering to the Lord, the “unholy fire” (Leviticus 10:1). Eleazar was named chief over the leaders of the Levites (Numbers 3:32). Eleazar received mentoring for decades from Aaron and Moses and worked with Joshua, three of Israel’s greatest leaders. His name was mentioned more than 60 times in the books of Exodus through Joshua.
“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’’(Numbers 25:10-13).
Another notable person in this list is Zadok, who was a priest under David whom Solomon appointed as a chief priest in place of Abiathar, who supported the rebel Adonijah (1 Kings 1:7-8; 2:35). Prophet Ezekiel regarded the Zadokites as free from idolatry (Ezekiel 44:15-16). Zadokites held the office of high priest till 171 B.C. The Sadducees were named after Zadok, and the Qumran community looked for the restoration of the Zadokite priesthood.
2. The Leadership of Ezra – 7:7-9
‘After this’ (v.1), this statement marks an interval of 57 years between Zerubbabel and Ezra. He had a number of associates with him travelling from Babylon (Ezra 7:7). Ezra 7:7 “And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.”(7:13, 27-28).
The King entrusts Ezra with the money that was freely given by the king himself and his seven counsellors, and collected among his subjects, for the service of the house of God (Ezra 7:14, 21).
This tells us that not only did Ezra go to Jerusalem, he was actually sent by Artaxerxes to gather information for the king and his seven counsellors. King granted Ezra days of leave from his job, and gave him authority to go up to Jerusalem, and as many of his exiled countrymen as pleased to go up with him. He gives him authority to enquire into the affairs of Judah and Jerusalem.
So, we read in Ezra 7:9 “For upon the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.”
The direct distance between Babylon and Jerusalem is about five hundred miles, yet the travellers had to pass through nine hundred miles, going northwest along the Euphrates River and then south. Ezra credited his successful journey (lasting four months) to God’s good hand of blessing on him. Ezra carried with him that government money. This money was to be spent on sacrificial animals and the promotion of temple worship at the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.
Ezra was commanded to be careful, but also given latitude to make his own decisions about how to best spend the money he came with. Through a royal decree, King Artaxerxes fully authorizes and finances temple worship, instructing officials to show diligence and providing generous resources so that the house of God might function without impediment. In all this, we see that Artaxerxes went to great lengths to promote the operations of the temple in Jerusalem.
The name of Ezra stands very high in Jewish tradition. He was regarded as the second Moses. The first Moses liberated Israel from Egypt, and the second Moses led exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem. He was better than any other man-in his generation.
Ezra compiled the Pentateuch from various written and oral traditions which he had gathered. The Jews say that Ezra collected and collated all the copies of the law he could find out, and published an accurate edition of it, with all the prophetical books, historical and poetical, prophecies that were given by divine inspiration, and so made up the canon of the Old Testament.
Ezra had God given wisdom. (Ezra 7:25).
He was a distinguished reformer (Ezra 8:28-29, 9:2, 4, 5, 15, 10:1, 11-12). He declared to his people that they are holy and their things are holy.
3. The Legacy of Ezra - Ezra 7:6, 10
Ezra was a descendant of Aaron, the priest. He was brought into Babylon. He really was a scholar of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Torah, particularly from Genesis to Deuteronomy. Therefore, he was called a scholar, a scribe, and a teacher of the word.
His grasping power was so high. For the Jewish culture of that day, a skilled scribe was an expert in the Law of Moses, someone who was like a highly trained lawyer in the word of God.
The term scribe denotes a person skilled in the study, practice, and teaching of the Torah. It was a position that gained importance in the post exilic community and increased in influence through the time of Jesus.
Scribes were important and influential, and they had three main duties: to preserve the word of God, to teach the word of God, and to administer the word of God (in the sense of interpreting and applying it).
Ezra’s highest commendation was that he was a skilled student of the Pentateuch, an honourable practitioner of its commands, and an effective teacher of its laws. We see a threefold intention of Ezra. Ezra devoted to study the Law, Observing it, and to teaching God’s word. He was a well-trained expert in the word of God. Ezra did not only study it, but he lived it out and taught it.
Ezra called a fast with his followers (Ezra 821-23). After fasting he appointed 12 leading priests.
According to the Hebrew or Israel tradition, Ezra was the president of the council of Jews, later known as Sanhedrin. These were holy men who put together the Old Testament. There were about 120 men who got together with whom God used. As the president of this council, Ezra gathered and took all the writings, the ones that should be put into the Old Testament.
This is a very important undertaking because after this, there was a long period of silence which lasted for 400 years. There was no prophecy until the Messiah came. Tradition says that Ezra laid the foundation for the synagogue and the way it runs until today, so he is really a much respected figure. He wrote the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and probably Chronicles too.
To promote the work of the temple in Jerusalem, Artaxerxes commanded that priests and other workers at the temple be given tax-exempt status. He exempts all the ministers of the temple from paying taxes to the government (Ezra – 7:24).
Conclusion:
Ezra was a well settled person. He had his own family, he had a good name and fame among the exiles. He was well versed with the law of the Land so well as the Law of the Lord, Torah. He was a spiritual leader, fasted. He acknowledged the hand of God (Ezra 8:31-32). He had got along with the leaders (Ezra 7:28).
