The Message Remix (145 page)
Authors: Eugene H. Peterson
This is exactly the message of GOD that Jeremiah had preached: the desolate land put to an extended sabbath rest, a seventy-year Sabbath rest making up for all the unkept Sabbaths.
King CyrusIn the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—this fulfilled the message of GOD preached by Jeremiah—GOD moved Cyrus king of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom; he wrote it out as follows: “From Cyrus king of Persia a proclamation: GOD, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has also assigned me to build him a Temple of worship at Jerusalem in Judah. All who belong to GOD’s people are urged to return—and may your GOD be with you! Move forward!”
INTRODUCTIO NEZRAHistory had not treated the People of Israel well and they were in decline. A superpower military machine, Babylon, had battered them and then, leaving their city and temple a mound of rubble, hauled them off into exile. Now, 128 years later, a few Jews back in Jerusalem had been trying to put the pieces back together decade after weary decade.
But it was not going well at all. They were hanging on by their fingernails. And then Ezra arrived.This is an extreme case of a familiar story, repeated with variations in most centuries and in most places in the world. Men and women who find their basic identity in God, as God reveals himself in Israel and Messiah, don’t find an easy time of it. They never have. They never will. Their identity is under constant challenge and threat—sometimes by hostile assault, at other times by subtle and smiling seductions. Whether by assault or seduction, the People of God have come perilously close to obliteration several times. We are never out of danger.Because of Ezra, Israel made it through. God didn’t leave Ezra to do this singlehandedly; he gave him substantial and critical help in the rescue operation in the person of Nehemiah, whose work providentially converged with his. (Important details of the Ezra story are in the memoirs of Nehemiah, the book that follows this one.) The People-of-God identity was recovered and preserved. Ezra used Worship and Text to do it. Ezra engaged them in the worship of God, the most all-absorbing, comprehensive act in which men and women can engage. This is how our God-formed identities become most deeply embedded in us. And Ezra led them into an obedient listening to the text of Scripture. Listening and following God’s revelation are the primary ways in which we keep attentively obedient to the living presence of God among us.Ezra made his mark: Worship and Text continue to be foundational for recovering and maintaining identity as the People of God.From:
Ezra was a priest and Bible scholar—not the ivory-tower sort, but a man with the faith and guts to lead a four-month, nine-hundred-mile journey through dry and bandit-ridden country. Beneath his quiet, private, bookish exterior lay a passionate, determined soul committed to helping the people live what the Scriptures taught. God’s whole story mattered to him, and he could trace that story through his own family line back to Moses’ brother.To:
The Jews had recovered just eight hundred square miles of their country, and a third of that was desert. Not much to sustain an economy. The neighbors were either hostile or eager for them to intermarry and assimilate. “Your god is okay, our gods are okay” was the tolerant attitude. There were so few Jews and so many non-Jews that unless the Jews resisted both assault and subtle seduction, they would likely assimilate and disappear within a generation or two.Re:
About 538-457 B.C. The Persians invaded Greece in 490 B.C. Athens repelled that assault in the famous Battle of Marathon, but the war went on for decades. Athens helped throw the Persians out of a major Egyptian city in 459. With Egypt in revolt and Greece helping, the Persian king needed Palestine to stay loyal. The next year he sent Ezra, a loyal subject of Persia, to Palestine. Ezra took with him a load of gold and silver and the authority to appoint a reliable government.
001
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—this fulfilled the Message of GOD preached by Jeremiah—GOD prodded Cyrus king of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom. He wrote it out as follows:
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—this fulfilled the Message of GOD preached by Jeremiah—GOD prodded Cyrus king of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom. He wrote it out as follows:
From Cyrus king of Persia, a Proclamation: GOD, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has also assigned me to build him a Temple of worship in Jerusalem, Judah. Who among you belongs to his people? God be with you! Go to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build The Temple of GOD, the God of Israel, Jerusalem’s God. Those who stay behind, wherever they happen to live, will support them with silver, gold, tools, and pack animals, along with Freewill-Offerings for The Temple of God in Jerusalem.
The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone, in fact, God prodded—set out to build The Temple of GOD in Jerusalem. Their neighbors rallied behind them enthusiastically with silver, gold, tools, pack animals, expensive gifts, and, over and above these, Freewill-Offerings.
Also, King Cyrus turned over to them all the vessels and utensils from The Temple of GOD that Nebuchadnezzar had hauled from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods. Cyrus king of Persia put Mithredath the treasurer in charge of the transfer; he provided a full inventory for Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah, including the following:
30 gold dishes
1,000 silver dishes
29 silver pans
30 gold bowls
410 duplicate silver bowls
1,000 miscellaneous items.
All told, there were 5,400 gold and silver articles that Sheshbazzar took with him when he brought the exiles back from Babylon to Jerusalem.
002
These are the people from the province who now returned from the captivity, exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried off captive. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his hometown. They came in company with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.
These are the people from the province who now returned from the captivity, exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried off captive. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his hometown. They came in company with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.
The numbers of the returning Israelites by families of origin were as follows:
Parosh, 2,172Shephatiah, 372Arah, 775Pahath-Moab (sons of Jeshua and Joab), 2,812Elam, 1,254Zattu, 945Zaccai, 760Bani, 642Bebai, 623Azgad, 1,222Adonikam, 666Bigvai, 2,056Adin, 454Ater (sons of Hezekiah), 98Bezai, 323Jorah, 112Hashum, 223Gibbar, 95.
Israelites identified by place of origin were as follows:
Bethlehem, 123Netophah, 56Anathoth, 128Azmaveth, 42Kiriath Jearim, Kephirah, and Beeroth, 743Ramah and Geba, 621Micmash, 122Bethel and Ai, 223Nebo, 52Magbish, 156Elam (the other one), 1,254Harim, 320Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 725Jericho, 345Senaah, 3,630.
Priestly families:
Jedaiah (sons of Jeshua), 973Immer, 1,052Pashhur, 1,247Harim, 1,017.
Levitical families:
Jeshua and Kadmiel (sons of Hodaviah), 74.
Singers:
Asaph’s family line, 128.
Security guard families:
Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai, 139.
Families of temple support staff:
Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,Keros, Siaha, Padon,Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,Uzza, Paseah, Besai,Asnah, Meunim, Nephussim,Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,Barkos, Sisera, Temah,Neziah, and Hatipha.
Families of Solomon’s servants:
Sotai, Hassophereth, Peruda,Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth-Hazzebaim, and Ami.
Temple support staff and Solomon’s servants added up to 392.
These are those who came from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer. They weren’t able to prove their ancestry, whether they were true Israelites or not:
Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda, 652 in all.
Likewise with these priestly families:
Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai, who had married a daughter of Barzillai theGileadite and took that name.
They had thoroughly searched for their family records but couldn’t find them. And so they were barred from priestly work as ritually unclean. The governor ruled that they could not eat from the holy food until a priest could determine their status with the Urim and Thummim.
The total count for the congregation was 42,360. That did not include the male and female slaves, which numbered 7,337. There were also 200 male and female singers, and they had 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys.
Some of the heads of families, on arriving at The Temple of GOD in Jerusalem, made Freewill-Offerings toward the rebuilding of The Temple of God on its site. They gave to the building fund as they were able, about 1,100 pounds of gold, about three tons of silver, and 100 priestly robes.
The priests, Levites, and some of the people lived in Jerusalem. The singers, security guards, and temple support staff found places in their hometowns. All the Israelites found a place to live.
The Building Begun: “The Foundation of the Temple Was Laid”003
When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled into their towns, the people assembled together in Jerusalem. Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brother priests, along with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his relatives, went to work and built the Altar of the God of Israel to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it as written in The Revelation of Moses the man of God.
When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled into their towns, the people assembled together in Jerusalem. Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brother priests, along with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his relatives, went to work and built the Altar of the God of Israel to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it as written in The Revelation of Moses the man of God.
Even though they were afraid of what their non-Israelite neighbors might do, they went ahead anyway and set up the Altar on its foundations and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings on it morning and evening. They also celebrated the Festival of Booths as prescribed and the daily Whole-Burnt-Offerings set for each day. And they presented the regular Whole-Burnt-Offerings for Sabbaths, New Moons, and GOD’s Holy Festivals, as well as Freewill-Offerings for GOD.
They began offering Whole-Burnt-Offerings to GOD from the very first day of the seventh month, even though The Temple of GOD’s foundation had not yet been laid.
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