Graham continued his fascinating exploration of history, of circumstances and of God around the time of Ezra. Well worth a listen!

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Ezra Part 2

Ezra 1:1-11

“…everyone whose heart God had moved…” v5

Introduction

It is thought that Ezra wrote this book after the events. If so, though Ezra does not appear in this book until chapter 7 he tells us an important detail about these events. God moved the hearts of the people to return.

Question – what do you imagine he means by this? What did they experience, or what did Ezra observe?

1) Why did God want them to return?
This land was to be the stage set ready for the coming Messiah

2) Why did they return?
There were reasons why they may have not wanted to return. Cyrus issued the decree but they could have said, “No thanks, what about our garden, nice house, and the shops nearby?”

About the Babylonian empire Cyrus took over:

Nebuchadnezzar II the main Babylonian ruler mentioned in the Bible. He succeeded his father Nabopolassar who died while Nebuchadnezzar was on a military campaign against Egypt in Palestine.

Nebuchadnezzar made three attacks against Jerusalem. The first attack against Jerusalem was in 605 BC during the reign of King Jehoiakim, he took some captives including Daniel and his three friends. He confiscated some of the sacred vessels of the temple in Jerusalem. He trained these captives for government service. In ancient times, is was customary for a conquering nation to capture princes from the conquered lands who would be trained and educated. When the throne of the conquered nation became available, the captured princes, now friendly towards his conquerors, would be installed as king.

The second invasion was in 597 BC when King Jehoiakim rebelled and was killed. He seized a much larger portion of the Temple’s treasures. This time Nebuchadnezzar took even more captives from the upper class of Judah including the new king Jehoiachin. Ezekiel the prophet went into captivity at this time.

In 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar came for the last time. King Zedekiah had become rebellious. Determined that rebellion would never rise again, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Judah. At the end of a long siege, he leveled Jerusalem and completely destroyed the temple. Most of the survivors were taken to Babylon as slaves.

Nebuchadnezzar reigned for 44 years. Under him the Babylonian Empire reached its greatest strength. Using the treasures which he took from other nations, Nebuchadnezzar built Babylon, the capital city of Babylonia, into one of the leading cities of the world.

The famous hanging gardens of Babylon were known to the Greeks as one of the seven wonders of the world. Perhaps it was a result of their skill with the use of water. The Babylonian’s had piped water to their homes and household cooling systems (air conditioning).

The Babylonian astronomy was among the most advanced in the ancient world. By 2200 BC the equator was divided into three hundred and sixty degrees. they had named the twelve months of thirty days each after the zodiacal signs. 2234 B. C. they had discovered the solar circuit. Their standard work on astronomy was in seventy-two books and was called the illumination of Bel and is now preserved in the British Museum.

Their mathematics was highly complex, and a tablet, named ‘Plimpton 322′, reveals that the Babylonians may very well have known Pythagoras Theorem more than a thousand years before Pythagoras ever lived.

Babylonian mathematics refers to any mathematics of the peoples of Mesopotamia (situated in present day Iraq), from the days of the early Sumerians to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. Our knowledge of Babylonian mathematics is derived from some 400 clay tablets unearthed since the 1850s. The majority of recovered clay tablets date from 1800 to 1600 BC, and feature fractions, algebra, quadratic and cubic equations, the Pythagorean theorem, and the calculation of Pythagorean triples and possibly trigonometric functions.

The duo-decimal system was invented by the Babylonians. A tablet from the library at Larsa gives a table of squares and cubes correctly calculated from one to sixty. They were the inventors of the dial for measuring time. All the peoples of antiquity derived their systems of weights, measures and capacities from them. Their mathematical tables stand unchanged in our text books today.

Glass-making was a respected craft in Babylonia, and many famous buildings, like the Ishtar gate, was made of over 20,000 bricks, covered in shining blue glass, and adorned with artwork in gold and bronze.

It is believed they would have understood how to manufacture a telescope, as a lens was discovered in the ruins of Babylon.

Babylon fell to Cyrus in one night (more of that another week) when Jerusalem still lay in ruins with its temple destroyed.

Why would anyone want to return to the country of their parents, where all lay in ruins and they would probably face hardship?

The returners would not have had the long view of the centuries that lay ahead that we know about. So much was depending upon their obedience. To fail to return would have been to fail the exodus, the leadership of Moses, the battles of Joshua, the sacrifices of those who had died so far.

Because they heard the call of God. How? Had they heard of what God was up to with Daniel? See Book of Daniel chapter 6 to see how God was moving the heart of Cyrus/Darius (note, in book of Daniel Cyrus is called Darius).

See John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

John 10:3,4 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

Psalm 25:9,14 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

3) The people returned
The people responded as communities. The church body, corporate actions like prayer, worship, hearing public reading of scripture. They travelled in groups. Whole communities travelled – shared sense of national identity, see 3:2.

3:8,9. Families worked together.

The people responded as individuals.

See Ephesians 6:13 13 Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

When one person make a stand others are effected. The people moved as a community, who responded in obedience first? Not all followed, some stayed there in Babylon.

  • Hear your call.
  • Know your call.