Ezra 3-4
Welcome! Today we continue our series into Ezra, focusing on Chapters 3 and 4. Last week we looked at Chapters 1 and 2, and we gave the setting for the events in Ezra and Nehemiah. We looked at the big picture of the relationship between God and the people He had chosen to forge a relationship with, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Israelites. Through Jacob’s son, Joseph, God saved the people from famine by having them settle in Egypt, and then through Moses and, after him, Joshua, God saved the people from the tyranny and slavery of Pharaoh by bringing them out from Egypt, ultimately to the promised land. But in getting there, and in staying there, the people were almost continually in rebellion to God.
Welcome! Today we continue our series into Ezra, focusing on Chapters 3 and 4. Last week we looked at Chapters 1 and 2, and we gave the setting for the events in Ezra and Nehemiah. We looked at the big picture of the relationship between God and the people He had chosen to forge a relationship with, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Israelites. Through Jacob’s son, Joseph, God saved the people from famine by having them settle in Egypt, and then through Moses and, after him, Joshua, God saved the people from the tyranny and slavery of Pharaoh by bringing them out from Egypt, ultimately to the promised land. But in getting there, and in staying there, the people were almost continually in rebellion to God.
God’s provision of the promised land to the people led by Moses was conditional on their following God, and after centuries of disobedience, from the times of the judges through the times of the increasingly corrupt and wicked kings, finally God said “enough.” He allowed the Assyrians to overrun the Northern Kingdom of Israel, including its capital in Samaria, and then, about a century later, He allowed the Babylonians to be overrun the Southern Kingdom, Judah, including its capital Jerusalem, and they fell to Nebuchadnezzar. As it says in 2 Chronicles 36, they killed with the sword even in the Temple, and they carried away all the articles from the Temple. They set fire to the Temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and they destroyed all the palaces and other things of value. The remnant of people who survived the assault were captured and carried into exile to Babylon and they became slaves and servants.
After 70 years from the initial incursions into Judah, about 50 years from the final capturing of Jerusalem, the Persians under Darius overtook the Babylonians. When I think about these events, I can’t help thinking about a scene in Stars Wars Episode I, the newer trilogy, where the good guys are traveling in an underwater submarine vehicle thing being chased by a giant fish, when a much bigger fish attacks the giant fish and they get away. One of the people, I think it is Quai Gon, says, “There’s always a bigger fish.” Well, I think it’s not a bad comparison. At this point in Israel’s history, the Israelites are that tiny submarine, the Babylonians were the giant fish, and the Persians were that much bigger fish.
And so, the Persian named Darius, at the beginning of his reign, made a decree that those descended from those Israelites could go back and rebuild their temple and live there. There is archaeological evidence that he did this with multiple groups of people overtaken by the Babylonians. In his letter in Ezra Chapter 1 he credits God, the real God, the God that the Israelites worship, with this decision, but in reality it may have been done simply for political reasons; by giving the land back to the Israelites, the Israelites could be more trusted to remain as an obedient part of the Persian empire than the Babylonians who remained there were likely to be.
And so, we saw last week that Ezra Chapters 1 and 2 describe, in great detail, who and what went back to Jerusalem. Many of the articles from the Temple were returned to the people, but the Ark of the Covenant and its contents, the two tablets of stone, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the Urim and Thumim, the stones/breastplate or whatever exactly it was that had helped the people to know God’s will in specific situations, these things were gone. But the people went, around 50,000 of them, the people of Israel and the people of Judah together, ending a bitter split that had endured for hundreds of years, in fulfillment of a prophecy in Jeremiah 50.
The people gave sacrificially for the work of rebuilding the temple, and people went back to the home towns of their families. And so let’s pick up the story in Ezra 3:1.
When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem. Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. – Ezra 3:1-2
We don’t know how much time lies between the end of Chapter 2 and the beginning of Chapter 3, but we are clearly talking weeks or months, not years, because of the wording “when the seventh month came.” The seventh month in the Hebrew calendar is Tishrei. By the way, today is the 4th day of Tishrei. Many important Hebrew holidays occurred in Tishrei, holidays instituted by God Himself back in the days of Moses. I don’t think it is a coincidence that it is the seventh month that these holidays occur; the number seven was associated with rest, completeness, provision, from the beginnings of Genesis. The Sabbath day was the seventh day of every week. And I don’t think it is a coincidence that Noah’s ark came to rest on Mount Ararat in the seventh month, perhaps the first time we see God saving a group of people, one of many foreshadowings of the saving work of Christ on the cross.
From Leviticus 23, the Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the year, was commemorated on the first day of the seventh month, Tishrei. We may think it strange that the New Year isn’t celebrated on the first day of the first month; after all, isn’t that what a new year is? But we do the same thing when we talk about a new fiscal year beginning on July 1 or a new school year beginning in August. The 10th day of Tishrei was the Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur. And on the 15th day of Tishrei, and continuing for eight total days, was the Feast of Tabernacles. Burnt offerings were a part of both the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. And so, for these days, as it says, “as one man,” the people dropped what they were doing, rebuilding their own homes, preparing their fields, and raising livestock in their home towns, and came to Jerusalem, to the site where the Temple had stood. And so as to be able to celebrate these holidays as proscribed in the Law, for the first time in generations, they began to build an altar.
Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. – Ezra 3:3-4
Regarding the Feast of Tabernacles, Leviticus 23 says that they are to live in booths for the duration of the week-long festival, “so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt.” In so many ways, this was like a new Exodus; how much more meaning they must have felt when they celebrated the festival, thinking about how God had brought them out of Babylon. And I suspect many of them were living in little more than booths in their hometowns as they began the rebuilding process. How poignant the worship must have been! How overwhelmed with gratitude many of them must have felt!
But there is a trial here too. Do you see it? It is in the first three words. “Despite their fear.” They were afraid. Why? They were being watched. To the people who had taken up living around them over the last 50 years, they were intruders. Some of them were their enemies over centuries. And to go up on a high place, this hill in Jerusalem, and to worship while being watched, was unnerving. They were exposed. They were vulnerable. But despite their fear, they did it.
They did it by faith in God. They did it because they were thankful to God. They loved Him. And perfect love casts out fear. You know, God loves it, just absolutely loves it, when we do things for Him despite our fear. A few weeks ago the children came up here and recited their summaries of all the books of the Bible by memory. I know some of them were scared. But they did it despite their fear. Sharing your faith, letting people know you are a Christian, moving conversations to spiritual topics, knocking on doors during our outreaches, all these things can be scary. But God loves it when you do them despite your fear. I encourage you to do these things despite your fear of the peoples around you.
After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred feasts of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid. – Ezra 3:5-6
Verse 6 says this started with the first day of Tishrei, Rosh Hashanah, the New Year. It was a new year and a new spiritual beginning for them, a new life devoted to God.
Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia. – Ezra 3:7
Many verses speak of the cedars of Lebanon. Joppa, or Joffa, is a port city with a driving distance of about 47 miles from Jerusalem. Today Joffa is the coastal part of Tel-Aviv, the second largest city in Israel. To get a sense of déjà vu, look at this verse:
"Now let my Lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised, and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them in rafts by sea down to Joppa. You can then take them up to Jerusalem." – 2 Chron. 2:15-16
The logs here are elsewhere explained to be cedars. This verse describes how Solomon’s Temple was built; the exact same way. No second-rate building materials here; they were following the pattern set by Solomon.
In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work, appointing Levites twenty years of age and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord. – Ezra 3:8
It took time for the money to get to the people who would cut the trees, and it took time to transport the trees by water and then over land from Joppa to Jerusalem. But now the supplies are coming, or they are here, and they are beginning the work. The Levites are supervising, some as young as 20 years old. I want to point out that this is work. Hard work! They need to clear away the remains of the Old Temple. This in itself is a large job. Then they need to prepare the land for setting the foundations of the new temple. All of it physically demanding, construction site type work. And this was a complicated job. These people weren’t professional temple builders. None of them had ever done this before.
Jeshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together in supervising those working on the house of God. – Ezra 3:9
When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: "He is good; His love to Israel endures forever." – Ezra 3:10-11a
Now this is something you don’t see on a construction site every day! Although you read of the slaves in America singing spiritual songs while they worked. In modern day America, though, this is unheard of. Maybe we should try it on the next church work day (minus the trumpets and cymbals). Actually, I would think the cymbals would become tiresome, but that’s just me.
I just want to point out one other thing here. Note that the Levites and priests are not saying, “Good job, Jacob! You’re doing great, Jonathan! Hey, you are all such good workers!” No, they are not praising themselves; they are praising God. I think our culture sometimes goes overboard on praising people for doing the work they are supposed to be doing. This is not to say we should never praise people; the Apostle Paul in his letters sometimes likes to boast in others. But it is easily possible to go overboard on this. In contrast, you can never go overboard in praising God.
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. – Ezra 3:11b-13
These may be my favorite verses in Ezra. It moves me just to think of the scene. It is very rare that you see any elderly person weeping for joy. Now imagine thousands of them doing this. It was a precious moment, precious in the sight of God.
Note that there is no ingratitude here. Those old-timers could have said, “Well, it’s a start, but this is nothing compared to the grandeur of Solomon’s temple. It’s never going to look anything like that looked. I remember the crowds, the worshipers, everything; this today is nothing like that. I wish it was like the good-old days.” There’s none of that here. Why? Because their focus was on the goodness and kindness and mercy of God! That God should let them see this day! It reminds me of Simeon and Anna, seeing the Christ child and rejoicing at being given the opportunity to see the beginning of God’s redeeming work.
I have another thought about these verses that I’ll come back to at the end of the message.
Now I almost wish that we could stop here, at Chapter 3, and not go on to Chapter 4, and just say they all lived happily ever after. But that would not be honest. So let’s continue.
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, "Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here." – Ezra 4:1-2
Now this is very duplicitous. These people offering help are clearly identified as enemies. Why would they offer to do this? We aren’t told, but we can be sure their reasons were not good. And if you read between the lines, you can get a pretty good idea of what is going on. Esarhaddon had been one of the five great kings of Assyria; the others were Shalmanser, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Ashurbanipal. Esarhaddon had been king about 150 years prior to this moment. Why do they bring him up? The key phrase is “who brought us here.” They are saying, “Hey, guys. What are you doing? We’ve been here for the last 150 years.” There is a veiled message here about just whose homeland this is.
What were these people like? From other sources we know they were syncretists, pluralists, people who combine what they see as the best parts of various religions and combine them together in a way that suits them. These were not Jews. Some of them were what became known in Jesus’ day as Samaritans. They were violating the commandment about not having other gods before them in an extreme way. And so what is the Israelites response?
But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, "You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us." – Ezra 4:3
Over and over the Israelites in the past had violated God’s commands about staying separate from the “locals,” from adopting their cultural practices, because it would lead to exactly this kind of behavior on the part of the Israelites. This time, they chose correctly, and they backed up their position with Cyrus’ decree.
Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. – Ezra 4:4-6
Did the people take it well? To say no is a great understatement! This process of rebuilding, which had started with no opposition, now became a constant battle. The battle occurred both in Jerusalem and abroad. They played the game of dirty politics. And they kept at it.
And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language. Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: - Ezra 4:7-8
Now the flow of these passages gets a little confusing, so let me try to explain it. Cyrus to Darius to Xerxes to Artaxerxes is a span of about 100 years. Ezra 4:7 through 4:23 takes place at the end of the 100 years. But in 4:24 we are going to jump back 100 years to the story at hand. So the story we are going to look at now is 100 years future to our main story, but it points out the ultimate fruit of this ongoing opposition.
Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary, together with the rest of their associates—the judges and officials over the men from Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa, and the other people whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates. – Ezra 4:9-10
(This is a copy of the letter they sent him.) To King Artaxerxes, From your servants, the men of Trans-Euphrates: The king should know that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring the walls and repairing the foundations. – Ezra 4:11-12
Furthermore, the king should know that if this city is built and its walls are restored, no more taxes, tribute or duty will be paid, and the royal revenues will suffer. Now since we are under obligation to the palace and it is not proper for us to see the king dishonored, we are sending this message to inform the king, so that a search may be made in the archives of your predecessors. – Ezra 4:13-15a
In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place of rebellion from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed. We inform the king that if this city is built and its walls are restored, you will be left with nothing in Trans-Euphrates. – Ezra 4:15b-16
The king sent this reply: To Rehum the commanding officer, Shimshai the secretary and the rest of their associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates: Greetings. The letter you sent us has been read and translated in my presence. I issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place of rebellion and sedition. – Ezra 4:17-19
Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them. Now issue an order to these men to stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order. Be careful not to neglect this matter. Why let this threat grow, to the detriment of the royal interests? – Ezra 4:20-22
As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop. – Ezra 4:23
Remember, all this takes place roughly 100 years in the future relative to our main story. Now, based on this fact, what can we say about when the book of Ezra was written? Well, it had to be written more than a hundred years after our main story. It is likely that he was bringing it close to the present for his readers.
What is this like? It is like if I were writing in the 1960s about slavery in the times leading up to the civil war, how hard it was on those who were slaves, and then I jumped to the present day and talked about modern hardships (in the 1960s) that Blacks still faced. It would be saying, “The hardships these people faced have gone on for 100 years.” If I were speaking to them, I would be, in effect, saying, “What you experience now is just part of an ongoing struggle.” It’s not a perfect analogy, but I think it is close enough.
Ezra is saying, look, you guys know what these guys were going through. Here (100 years ago) is where it all began. Let’s look at how they responded, and maybe you will learn something that applies to you. They dealt with building the Temple; 100 years later it is over building the city and its walls. In both cases, though, opposition is opposition. Discouragement is discouragement. Trials are trials.
And so, we are than yanked back into our story, back to the building of the Temple.
Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. – Ezra 4:24
Look again at verse 4: Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. What can we conclude? It worked! They stopped.
The people were afraid and discouraged. Construction stopped. This is a dramatic change from the building, the praising God, the tears of joy, even the clanging cymbals. What happened? Yes, there was opposition, scheming. They probably spoke to people, giving warnings. They may have just stood around and stared. But it isn’t what they did that caused the Israelites to stop building. They weren’t physically forced to stop. They gave up.
We will pick up on this next week, but I cannot leave you here. Let me just give you one verse you probably have heard many times.
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33b
What does “take heart” really mean? The word in Greek is tharseo. Literally, it means, be encouraged! Be of good cheer! Why? Just because Jesus tells us to? No. It is because Jesus has overcome the world. You know, discouragement can be a pattern we fall into. I suspect some of us are more or less discouraged most of the time! This is not how we are supposed to live. I have often heard it said that joy is not based on our circumstances. Yes, it is not based on our temporary circumstances. But it is based on the bigger picture of our circumstances. What are our circumstances? We are Jesus’. We are under His care and ultimate protection, and He has overcome the world. This is a huge thing! I pray it would sink in how huge it is.
If you do a word search on tharseo it is very interesting. It appears 8 times. Every time, Jesus says it. To individuals who didn’t know Him, Jesus said, “Take heart! I am forgiving you of your sins!” “Take heart! I am healing you!” To the disciples Jesus said, “Take heart! The person you see walking on water is I!” “Take heart! I have overcome the entire world!” And to the Apostle Paul, Jesus said, “Take heart! You will be My witness, even in Rome!” In every case, it is “Take heart! Put your eyes on Me!” And this is always the answer for the discouraged Christian.
And this leads me to my closing thoughts. Look again at Ezra 3:11-13.
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. – Ezra 3:11b-13
From I Cor. 3:16: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives within you?” The foundation of this house of the Lord, of you, is Jesus. I want you to look around this room. You are looking at God’s temple being built. It is a work in progress, but it is being built. Now, if you have a mirror in your purse, for makeup or whatever, take it out. Look at yourself. If someone next to you does not have a mirror, let them look at themselves. You are looking at God’s temple being built. It is a work in progress, but it is being built, by God Himself.
If half of the Israelites wept aloud at the sight of the foundation of the temple being laid, and the other half shouted out loud for joy, how should we respond when we see each other? How should we respond when we see ourselves? Listen, if you really start to look at yourself as God’s temple being built, if you really start to look at other believers as God’s temple being built, it will have a profound effect on how you live. This week, I would encourage you, every time you see another believer, to remind yourself that you are looking at God’s temple being built. And I would also encourage you, every single time you look at a mirror this week, even when you have bed head or no makeup or bags under your eyes, to tell yourself, I am looking at God’s temple being built, see if it does not impact your life. Take heart! Be of good cheer! Jesus has overcome the world, even you.
After 70 years from the initial incursions into Judah, about 50 years from the final capturing of Jerusalem, the Persians under Darius overtook the Babylonians. When I think about these events, I can’t help thinking about a scene in Stars Wars Episode I, the newer trilogy, where the good guys are traveling in an underwater submarine vehicle thing being chased by a giant fish, when a much bigger fish attacks the giant fish and they get away. One of the people, I think it is Quai Gon, says, “There’s always a bigger fish.” Well, I think it’s not a bad comparison. At this point in Israel’s history, the Israelites are that tiny submarine, the Babylonians were the giant fish, and the Persians were that much bigger fish.
And so, the Persian named Darius, at the beginning of his reign, made a decree that those descended from those Israelites could go back and rebuild their temple and live there. There is archaeological evidence that he did this with multiple groups of people overtaken by the Babylonians. In his letter in Ezra Chapter 1 he credits God, the real God, the God that the Israelites worship, with this decision, but in reality it may have been done simply for political reasons; by giving the land back to the Israelites, the Israelites could be more trusted to remain as an obedient part of the Persian empire than the Babylonians who remained there were likely to be.
And so, we saw last week that Ezra Chapters 1 and 2 describe, in great detail, who and what went back to Jerusalem. Many of the articles from the Temple were returned to the people, but the Ark of the Covenant and its contents, the two tablets of stone, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the Urim and Thumim, the stones/breastplate or whatever exactly it was that had helped the people to know God’s will in specific situations, these things were gone. But the people went, around 50,000 of them, the people of Israel and the people of Judah together, ending a bitter split that had endured for hundreds of years, in fulfillment of a prophecy in Jeremiah 50.
The people gave sacrificially for the work of rebuilding the temple, and people went back to the home towns of their families. And so let’s pick up the story in Ezra 3:1.
When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem. Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. – Ezra 3:1-2
We don’t know how much time lies between the end of Chapter 2 and the beginning of Chapter 3, but we are clearly talking weeks or months, not years, because of the wording “when the seventh month came.” The seventh month in the Hebrew calendar is Tishrei. By the way, today is the 4th day of Tishrei. Many important Hebrew holidays occurred in Tishrei, holidays instituted by God Himself back in the days of Moses. I don’t think it is a coincidence that it is the seventh month that these holidays occur; the number seven was associated with rest, completeness, provision, from the beginnings of Genesis. The Sabbath day was the seventh day of every week. And I don’t think it is a coincidence that Noah’s ark came to rest on Mount Ararat in the seventh month, perhaps the first time we see God saving a group of people, one of many foreshadowings of the saving work of Christ on the cross.
From Leviticus 23, the Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the year, was commemorated on the first day of the seventh month, Tishrei. We may think it strange that the New Year isn’t celebrated on the first day of the first month; after all, isn’t that what a new year is? But we do the same thing when we talk about a new fiscal year beginning on July 1 or a new school year beginning in August. The 10th day of Tishrei was the Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur. And on the 15th day of Tishrei, and continuing for eight total days, was the Feast of Tabernacles. Burnt offerings were a part of both the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. And so, for these days, as it says, “as one man,” the people dropped what they were doing, rebuilding their own homes, preparing their fields, and raising livestock in their home towns, and came to Jerusalem, to the site where the Temple had stood. And so as to be able to celebrate these holidays as proscribed in the Law, for the first time in generations, they began to build an altar.
Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. – Ezra 3:3-4
Regarding the Feast of Tabernacles, Leviticus 23 says that they are to live in booths for the duration of the week-long festival, “so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt.” In so many ways, this was like a new Exodus; how much more meaning they must have felt when they celebrated the festival, thinking about how God had brought them out of Babylon. And I suspect many of them were living in little more than booths in their hometowns as they began the rebuilding process. How poignant the worship must have been! How overwhelmed with gratitude many of them must have felt!
But there is a trial here too. Do you see it? It is in the first three words. “Despite their fear.” They were afraid. Why? They were being watched. To the people who had taken up living around them over the last 50 years, they were intruders. Some of them were their enemies over centuries. And to go up on a high place, this hill in Jerusalem, and to worship while being watched, was unnerving. They were exposed. They were vulnerable. But despite their fear, they did it.
They did it by faith in God. They did it because they were thankful to God. They loved Him. And perfect love casts out fear. You know, God loves it, just absolutely loves it, when we do things for Him despite our fear. A few weeks ago the children came up here and recited their summaries of all the books of the Bible by memory. I know some of them were scared. But they did it despite their fear. Sharing your faith, letting people know you are a Christian, moving conversations to spiritual topics, knocking on doors during our outreaches, all these things can be scary. But God loves it when you do them despite your fear. I encourage you to do these things despite your fear of the peoples around you.
After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred feasts of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid. – Ezra 3:5-6
Verse 6 says this started with the first day of Tishrei, Rosh Hashanah, the New Year. It was a new year and a new spiritual beginning for them, a new life devoted to God.
Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia. – Ezra 3:7
Many verses speak of the cedars of Lebanon. Joppa, or Joffa, is a port city with a driving distance of about 47 miles from Jerusalem. Today Joffa is the coastal part of Tel-Aviv, the second largest city in Israel. To get a sense of déjà vu, look at this verse:
"Now let my Lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised, and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them in rafts by sea down to Joppa. You can then take them up to Jerusalem." – 2 Chron. 2:15-16
The logs here are elsewhere explained to be cedars. This verse describes how Solomon’s Temple was built; the exact same way. No second-rate building materials here; they were following the pattern set by Solomon.
In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work, appointing Levites twenty years of age and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord. – Ezra 3:8
It took time for the money to get to the people who would cut the trees, and it took time to transport the trees by water and then over land from Joppa to Jerusalem. But now the supplies are coming, or they are here, and they are beginning the work. The Levites are supervising, some as young as 20 years old. I want to point out that this is work. Hard work! They need to clear away the remains of the Old Temple. This in itself is a large job. Then they need to prepare the land for setting the foundations of the new temple. All of it physically demanding, construction site type work. And this was a complicated job. These people weren’t professional temple builders. None of them had ever done this before.
Jeshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together in supervising those working on the house of God. – Ezra 3:9
When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: "He is good; His love to Israel endures forever." – Ezra 3:10-11a
Now this is something you don’t see on a construction site every day! Although you read of the slaves in America singing spiritual songs while they worked. In modern day America, though, this is unheard of. Maybe we should try it on the next church work day (minus the trumpets and cymbals). Actually, I would think the cymbals would become tiresome, but that’s just me.
I just want to point out one other thing here. Note that the Levites and priests are not saying, “Good job, Jacob! You’re doing great, Jonathan! Hey, you are all such good workers!” No, they are not praising themselves; they are praising God. I think our culture sometimes goes overboard on praising people for doing the work they are supposed to be doing. This is not to say we should never praise people; the Apostle Paul in his letters sometimes likes to boast in others. But it is easily possible to go overboard on this. In contrast, you can never go overboard in praising God.
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. – Ezra 3:11b-13
These may be my favorite verses in Ezra. It moves me just to think of the scene. It is very rare that you see any elderly person weeping for joy. Now imagine thousands of them doing this. It was a precious moment, precious in the sight of God.
Note that there is no ingratitude here. Those old-timers could have said, “Well, it’s a start, but this is nothing compared to the grandeur of Solomon’s temple. It’s never going to look anything like that looked. I remember the crowds, the worshipers, everything; this today is nothing like that. I wish it was like the good-old days.” There’s none of that here. Why? Because their focus was on the goodness and kindness and mercy of God! That God should let them see this day! It reminds me of Simeon and Anna, seeing the Christ child and rejoicing at being given the opportunity to see the beginning of God’s redeeming work.
I have another thought about these verses that I’ll come back to at the end of the message.
Now I almost wish that we could stop here, at Chapter 3, and not go on to Chapter 4, and just say they all lived happily ever after. But that would not be honest. So let’s continue.
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, "Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here." – Ezra 4:1-2
Now this is very duplicitous. These people offering help are clearly identified as enemies. Why would they offer to do this? We aren’t told, but we can be sure their reasons were not good. And if you read between the lines, you can get a pretty good idea of what is going on. Esarhaddon had been one of the five great kings of Assyria; the others were Shalmanser, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Ashurbanipal. Esarhaddon had been king about 150 years prior to this moment. Why do they bring him up? The key phrase is “who brought us here.” They are saying, “Hey, guys. What are you doing? We’ve been here for the last 150 years.” There is a veiled message here about just whose homeland this is.
What were these people like? From other sources we know they were syncretists, pluralists, people who combine what they see as the best parts of various religions and combine them together in a way that suits them. These were not Jews. Some of them were what became known in Jesus’ day as Samaritans. They were violating the commandment about not having other gods before them in an extreme way. And so what is the Israelites response?
But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, "You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us." – Ezra 4:3
Over and over the Israelites in the past had violated God’s commands about staying separate from the “locals,” from adopting their cultural practices, because it would lead to exactly this kind of behavior on the part of the Israelites. This time, they chose correctly, and they backed up their position with Cyrus’ decree.
Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. – Ezra 4:4-6
Did the people take it well? To say no is a great understatement! This process of rebuilding, which had started with no opposition, now became a constant battle. The battle occurred both in Jerusalem and abroad. They played the game of dirty politics. And they kept at it.
And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language. Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: - Ezra 4:7-8
Now the flow of these passages gets a little confusing, so let me try to explain it. Cyrus to Darius to Xerxes to Artaxerxes is a span of about 100 years. Ezra 4:7 through 4:23 takes place at the end of the 100 years. But in 4:24 we are going to jump back 100 years to the story at hand. So the story we are going to look at now is 100 years future to our main story, but it points out the ultimate fruit of this ongoing opposition.
Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary, together with the rest of their associates—the judges and officials over the men from Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa, and the other people whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates. – Ezra 4:9-10
(This is a copy of the letter they sent him.) To King Artaxerxes, From your servants, the men of Trans-Euphrates: The king should know that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring the walls and repairing the foundations. – Ezra 4:11-12
Furthermore, the king should know that if this city is built and its walls are restored, no more taxes, tribute or duty will be paid, and the royal revenues will suffer. Now since we are under obligation to the palace and it is not proper for us to see the king dishonored, we are sending this message to inform the king, so that a search may be made in the archives of your predecessors. – Ezra 4:13-15a
In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place of rebellion from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed. We inform the king that if this city is built and its walls are restored, you will be left with nothing in Trans-Euphrates. – Ezra 4:15b-16
The king sent this reply: To Rehum the commanding officer, Shimshai the secretary and the rest of their associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates: Greetings. The letter you sent us has been read and translated in my presence. I issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place of rebellion and sedition. – Ezra 4:17-19
Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them. Now issue an order to these men to stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order. Be careful not to neglect this matter. Why let this threat grow, to the detriment of the royal interests? – Ezra 4:20-22
As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop. – Ezra 4:23
Remember, all this takes place roughly 100 years in the future relative to our main story. Now, based on this fact, what can we say about when the book of Ezra was written? Well, it had to be written more than a hundred years after our main story. It is likely that he was bringing it close to the present for his readers.
What is this like? It is like if I were writing in the 1960s about slavery in the times leading up to the civil war, how hard it was on those who were slaves, and then I jumped to the present day and talked about modern hardships (in the 1960s) that Blacks still faced. It would be saying, “The hardships these people faced have gone on for 100 years.” If I were speaking to them, I would be, in effect, saying, “What you experience now is just part of an ongoing struggle.” It’s not a perfect analogy, but I think it is close enough.
Ezra is saying, look, you guys know what these guys were going through. Here (100 years ago) is where it all began. Let’s look at how they responded, and maybe you will learn something that applies to you. They dealt with building the Temple; 100 years later it is over building the city and its walls. In both cases, though, opposition is opposition. Discouragement is discouragement. Trials are trials.
And so, we are than yanked back into our story, back to the building of the Temple.
Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. – Ezra 4:24
Look again at verse 4: Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. What can we conclude? It worked! They stopped.
The people were afraid and discouraged. Construction stopped. This is a dramatic change from the building, the praising God, the tears of joy, even the clanging cymbals. What happened? Yes, there was opposition, scheming. They probably spoke to people, giving warnings. They may have just stood around and stared. But it isn’t what they did that caused the Israelites to stop building. They weren’t physically forced to stop. They gave up.
We will pick up on this next week, but I cannot leave you here. Let me just give you one verse you probably have heard many times.
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33b
What does “take heart” really mean? The word in Greek is tharseo. Literally, it means, be encouraged! Be of good cheer! Why? Just because Jesus tells us to? No. It is because Jesus has overcome the world. You know, discouragement can be a pattern we fall into. I suspect some of us are more or less discouraged most of the time! This is not how we are supposed to live. I have often heard it said that joy is not based on our circumstances. Yes, it is not based on our temporary circumstances. But it is based on the bigger picture of our circumstances. What are our circumstances? We are Jesus’. We are under His care and ultimate protection, and He has overcome the world. This is a huge thing! I pray it would sink in how huge it is.
If you do a word search on tharseo it is very interesting. It appears 8 times. Every time, Jesus says it. To individuals who didn’t know Him, Jesus said, “Take heart! I am forgiving you of your sins!” “Take heart! I am healing you!” To the disciples Jesus said, “Take heart! The person you see walking on water is I!” “Take heart! I have overcome the entire world!” And to the Apostle Paul, Jesus said, “Take heart! You will be My witness, even in Rome!” In every case, it is “Take heart! Put your eyes on Me!” And this is always the answer for the discouraged Christian.
And this leads me to my closing thoughts. Look again at Ezra 3:11-13.
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. – Ezra 3:11b-13
From I Cor. 3:16: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives within you?” The foundation of this house of the Lord, of you, is Jesus. I want you to look around this room. You are looking at God’s temple being built. It is a work in progress, but it is being built. Now, if you have a mirror in your purse, for makeup or whatever, take it out. Look at yourself. If someone next to you does not have a mirror, let them look at themselves. You are looking at God’s temple being built. It is a work in progress, but it is being built, by God Himself.
If half of the Israelites wept aloud at the sight of the foundation of the temple being laid, and the other half shouted out loud for joy, how should we respond when we see each other? How should we respond when we see ourselves? Listen, if you really start to look at yourself as God’s temple being built, if you really start to look at other believers as God’s temple being built, it will have a profound effect on how you live. This week, I would encourage you, every time you see another believer, to remind yourself that you are looking at God’s temple being built. And I would also encourage you, every single time you look at a mirror this week, even when you have bed head or no makeup or bags under your eyes, to tell yourself, I am looking at God’s temple being built, see if it does not impact your life. Take heart! Be of good cheer! Jesus has overcome the world, even you.
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