Podcast

After the completion of the wall, in the month of Tishrei, the people gather before the Water Gate to dedicate themselves as the people of God. It is around this time that the Festival of Booths occurred in the time of Moses, but the feast had fallen into disuse, as well as the day of atonement.

The people call for Ezra to bring the book of  the law and read the law and pledge themselves to the Lord. Ezra raises the book, and praises the Lord and all the people fall and bless God. The Levites went into the crowd to help the people understand the word of God. When the people understood this law, they wept.

The famine in Israel was deep enough that farmers are going into debt and some are requiring extreme amounts of collateral to cover their debts. Nehemiah is so concerned that he demands that all debt collections stop and the payments are reversed.

As the building of the wall comes to a close, Sanballat, through his agents, tries to convince Nehemiah to discuss Nehemiah and Judah’s role in the area, but Nehemiah saw that it was a trick to derail his work. Nehemiah goes to meet with Shemaiah, who was homebound, Shemaiah suggests that they go to the temple to discuss, but Nehemiah knows that they want to make it seem as though he is seeking sanctuary, and refuses.

The wall is finished, and a census is taken. Again, some who claim to be priests but whose lineage is unknown are excluded from the priestly functions until a priest can consult the Urim and Thummim.

Nehemiah came in to a dispirited land and brought about a seemingly unanimous decision to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Even Jews as far away as Gibeon and Mizpah came to assist in the rebuilding, though some were more dedicated than others. Even what little some may do is made more difficult by a famine in the land.

Sanballat, a Samaritan, prepares to launch an attack on the Jews who are rebuilding the temple, but the plan is discovered. The rebuilding is interrupted, and Nehemiah sets up a patrol to protect the rebuilding process.

Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem and evaluates the work to be done but does not immediately tell anyone of his plans. When confronted about the rebuilding of the temple, Nehemiah tells his critics that God will restore the Jews to Jerusalem. It is when Nehemiah begins this rebuilding that Daniel’s messianic prophecy of seventy weeks of years begins.

Nehemiah is known for his intercession, an important facet of leadership.

Nehemiah came to prominence as a leader of the Jews 13 years after Ezra’s time. Powerful men had taken issue with Ezra rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, which had contributed to a decline of Ezra’s influence. Nehemiah, cup bearer to Artaxerxes, pleads to the king to rebuild Jerusalem, since Judah’s neighbors were exploiting the unprotected nature of the city. Artaxerxes agrees, perhaps believing that having a friendly leader in Judah would protect him from his enemies.

Ezra has a meeting with some of the leaders of the group returning to Israel where they discuss the plans for the return and take a tally of some of the gifts they are bringing with them. It is with this group that Ezra would later meet and discuss the fact that many of the people had returned married to people who were practicing a pagan worship. Ezra declared that these marriages with people who were actively worshiping foreign gods could not stand.

Ezra was a priestly scribe of some import in the Jewish community in exile who was moved to bring his people back to the law. He comes to Israel in the seventh year in the reign of Artaxerxes I, 60 years after the completion of the temple. The Persian empire makes special provisions for the Jewish faith and for Ezra in particular.

As God’s people, the Jews are called to be consecrated and separated, not adulterated by people of other religions. As such, no foreign wives may be taken by the Jews, unless they change and are converted to Judaism.

Zec 4:6-10 tells Zerubbabel that he will restore the temple, but by God’s power, not by his own. The people of the lands around Israel attempted to frustrate or co-opt this building of the temple for the with their own worship. This harassment would go on in some form for around 70 years.

Playing on the fears of the Persians, they were able to halt construction on occasion, but God shepherded the rebuilding of His temple and it was eventually completed.

Paramount importance was placed on creating an altar to God, as Moses had commanded of the original altar. This is appropriate, since sacrifice is the Old Testament way that sinful men can approach a holy God. These sacrifices are ways that men would pray that God would remember the covenant.

The book of Ezra continues with the story of the people separated (or set aside) for God, starting with a census. Some were not able to prove their lineage, and were given a separate designation. Professed priests who fell into this category were excluded as unclean until the Urim and Thummim could be consulted. These people came back to a dry, desolate land with high ideals and many gifts for the restoration of the land, but they would be called to a greater purity than many were prepared to undertake.