7/15/2011 7:10:37 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: He (God) directed a pagan leader
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezra 7:11-28
Message of the verses: “11 ¶ Now this is the copy of the decree which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, learned in the words of the commandments of the LORD and His statutes to Israel: 12 "Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace. And now 13 I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. 14 "Forasmuch as you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God which is in your hand, 15 and to bring the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, 16 with all the silver and gold which you find in the whole province of Babylon, along with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, who offered willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; 17 with this money, therefore, you shall diligently buy bulls, rams and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings and offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. 18 "Whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do according to the will of your God. 19 "Also the utensils which are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem. 20 "The rest of the needs for the house of your God, for which you may have occasion to provide, provide for it from the royal treasury. 21 "I, even I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the provinces beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it shall be done diligently, 22 even up to 100 talents of silver, 100 kors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt as needed. 23 "Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons. 24 "We also inform you that it is not allowed to impose tax, tribute or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, Nethinim or servants of this house of God. 25 "You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the River, even all those who know the laws of your God; and you may teach anyone who is ignorant of them. 26 "Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him strictly, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of goods or for imprisonment."
“27 ¶ Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, 28 and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty princes. Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the LORD my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.”
I would like to write about verses 7-9 because there was not commentary on these verses in yesterday’s SD and as I follow the outline from Dr. Wiersbe’s book (“Be Heroic”) there is no commentary. It was mentioned in yesterday’s SD that the phrase “the hand of the Lord my God was upon me” was mentioned six times in chapters 7 & 8 of Ezra, and one of those times is found in verse nine. In verses 7-9 we see some of those who were going to leave Babylon and go to Jerusalem. It also shows the time that it took to go on this journey, which took four months as it was 1000 miles to travel and much was desert land. The journey began in the Julian calendar Mar./April and ended in July/Aug. One can imagine the heat from this time of the year they had to endure in order to complete this journey, a journey that in today’s time would take only a couple of hours in an air plane.
Now I want to get into the verses from today’s SD and these verses were originally written in Aramaic, at least verses 12-26 as this was the decree that was given by the king. In verse eleven there is a mention of a copy of the decree as the original was kept in Babylon.
Dr. Wiersbe breaks this section into four sub-points and that is the way that I will follow. This section shows how the God of Heaven dealt with King Artaxerxes, and it was in the same way that He dealt with Cyrus and Darius as He was moving in these kings heart in order to fulfill the covenants that were made with Abraham, and David and also the New Covenant that would be made through Jesus Christ.
The first sub-point is entitled “Authorization” and it covers verses 11-12, and 25-26.
One can be assured that King Artaxerxes was very impressed with Ezra and he could see that the Lord was upon this priest of God and therefore he gave Ezra the decree to go to Jerusalem and even to set up laws there that if we’re not followed could have the death penalty imposed. One can surely see that the hand of God was upon Ezra. In verses 14 and also 25 it speaks of the law of God being in Ezra’s hand and this could refer to the scrolls that Ezra had in his hand that were present when he spoke with the king.
“Liberation” is the second sup-point and it covers verses 13-14. This would be the second wave of exiles to return to Jerusalem as the first left in 537 with 50,000 people and now this wave of exiles is 1500 men along with women and children, and there task was to work on the walls of Jerusalem. In 444 Nehemiah would leave Babylon and finish the job which would be a fulfillment of the great prophecy in Daniel nine, as least a fulfillment of part of that great prophecy.
“Compensation” is the third sub-point and it covers verses 15-26. I suppose that if one thinks of this in human terms one would not believe how all of this was worked out by the Lord, but I believe that the key in finding out why the king did this is seen in verse 23b and this portion is highlighted in yellow in the verses written above. In those days there were gods that were attributed to different nations and all but one of them were idols, and so the king must have believed that the God of Israel was powerful and would protect he and his sons from harm and this seems like the logical reason for the king doing this deed.
“The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts.” The post exile prophet Haggai wrote this and it is found in Hag. 2:8, but the proof of this as far as these exiles are concerned can be seen in verses 15-26 as the king of Persia was bankrolling this project. Only the Lord could have worked this out. Even the officers “beyond the river” were ordered to contribute to this cause with things needed for the sacrifices to the Lord. The mention of 100 talents of silver is about four tons of silver.
When the first wave of exiles left Babylon they were given articles to be used in the temple, and now there was given to these exiles even more articles that were originally taken from the temple in 586 by the Babylonians who conquered Jerusalem that year.
One more thing that King Artaxerxes did for these returning exiles was to decree that none of the priest, Levites, or temple singers had to pay taxes.
The last sub-point is entitled “Celebration” and this is found in verses 27-28. “27 ¶ Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, 28 and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king’s mighty princes. Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the LORD my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.” This truly sounds like a celebration to me.
Dr. Wiersbe points out that this is the first occurrence of first-person narrative in the book; it continues through 9:15. Knowing this helps one to understand this book better. It is fitting after getting to know Ezra better by reading his book that there was no words of bragging how he got this all done, but he gave all the glory to the Lord.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have mentioned my study of John 15 in other SD’s but I can see this teaching of Jesus that was given to His disciples on “abiding in the Vine” in order to produce fruit in this section of Ezra. Here is how I see this and surely want to do in my life too. In Ezra 7:10 that was part of yesterday’s SD I can see that Ezra had a great desire to study the Law of God in order to practice it in his life and to teach others about this too. In Jesus’ teaching in John 15 He desires His followers to “abide or remain” in the Vine and this requires study to understand this. Abiding in the Lord will take effort and time, however just as one can see the “fruit” that the Lord produced through Ezra through his remaining in the Lord, then this can be repeated in my life and the life of other believers who follow this teaching.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Abide in the Vine.
2. Continue to learn contentment.
3. Give myself to the Lord this day for worship and for service.
4. Proverbs 3:5-6.
5. Psalm 139:23-24.
6. Ephesians 6:10-18.
7/15/2011 8:33:22 AM
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