Rededicating

Ezra 5-6

Welcome! We are continuing our series on Ezra and Nehemiah. Last week, we looked at how the Israelites, back in Jerusalem after 50 to 70 years of exile, begun to rebuild the Temple. But we also saw how opposition led to them feeling afraid and discontinuing the work. One of the things we saw last week was how the people procured giant cedars from Lebanon, and I mentioned that I would try to look up what specifically they were used for. Well, we know that the new Temple was modeled after Solomon’s Temple. The building of this Temple was assisted by the Phoenician king of Tyre, Hiram, who was friends with both David and Solomon; Hiram built a palace for David and two palaces and the Temple for Solomon. For this reason, you can learn more about the structure of these buildings by studying Phoenician architecture from this period.

In I Kings 5:8-10, you can read of Solomon writing to Hiram and asking him to send his men to Lebanon and cut down cedars for him, along with Hiram’s reply that he was willing to do it provided his men were supplied with food. We saw last week how enormous these trees were; it took an army of Hiram’s men to do this. In 2 Chronicles 2:8-10, Solomon writes back to Hiram and tells him that he is sending tons and tons, quite literally, of food, and in 2 Chronicles 2:16, Hiram explains that he will send the cedars by tying them together in rafts and floating them down to Joppa, the same place that they were brought for the Temple that was being rebuilt.

As for what they were used for, you can find this in I Kings 6. In verse 9, it says that a ceiling in this three-story-tall building was made of beams and boards of cedar, and that an internal three-story-tall structure was made and joined to the outside stone walls by cedar beams. In verse 15-16, it says that the inside walls were covered with cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling. And the inner room, the Holy of Holies, was built in the rear of the temple, and its walls were also cedar, going from floor to ceiling. Verse 18 describes how the cedar panels in the inside of this room was completely covered with cedar so that the stone walls could not be seen, and it describes how the panels were intricately carved with pictures of gourds and flowers. And the altar itself was also covered with cedar panels.

Anyway, this may be more information than you want to know, but for me this is fascinating. With regards to the Temple being rebuilt, it is logical to assume that everything described in these verses was being imitated as much as possible financially and manpower-wise. And you will see some proof of this in the passage we read today.

There are many more details in I Kings 6 about the stone and about how various parts were covered with gold. As for what was put in Solomon’s Temple, details of this can be found in I Kings 7 and 2 Chronicles 3. Most of the work requiring skilled labor, interestingly, was done by Phoenicians under Hiram. With this rebuilding, however, the situation appears to be quite different. As we saw last week in Ezra 4, Assyrians living in the area, described in the passage as enemies of Israel, offered to help, but the leaders of the Israelites refused their help, saying that they alone would do the work, as King Cyrus had commanded them to. This led to the opposition that made them afraid, and as it says in the last verse of Ezra 4, 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.

How much time was this? From what I have read, this is a period of 14 or 15 years since the Israelites’ return to Jerusalem from Babylon. That’s a pretty long time! It reminds me of a very large multi-lane freeway that comes to an abrupt stop in Pasadena, California, where I grew up. The builders were racing along building this thing until South Pasadena made a lawsuit, because they didn’t like how the freeway would have divided the city in half and razed hundreds of homes. This happened before I was born, and so all growing up I could see this freeway whose work had come to a standstill. I think of the kids growing up in Jerusalem at this time seeing the same thing with the Temple; what a sad situation! Ezra 5 begins with this:

Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them. – Ezra 5:1-2

So God didn’t leave the Israelites fearful and dejected, but spoke through prophets, specifically Haggai and Zechariah. I want to take a detour and look at Haggai Chapter 1.

In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: - Haggai 1:1

You see how perfectly integrated this is with Ezra? Jumping to verse 3:
Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" – Haggai 1:3-4

Paneled houses? Paneled with cedar? It makes you wonder. Let me read through the rest of this chapter.

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." – Haggai 1:5-6

This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the Lord. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty. "Because of My house, which remains a ruin while each of you is busy with hi sown house. – Haggai 1:7-9

"Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands." Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. – Haggai 1:10-12

Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: "I am with you," declares the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. – Haggai 1:13-15

This is all so wonderfully clear! So they finally got back to “work.” (In contrast, that freeway in South Pasadena has been prettied-up at the point it terminates, but it still just suddenly empties you onto regular streets.)

How does this passage apply to us? Does it apply to us? Well, I don’t know about you, but, verses 3 and 4 make me squirm. The picture of people living in their own paneled houses, devoting themselves to just the daily living of life, to the neglect of the things of God, can aptly describe countless people in every age, from the time this was written until now. I find it telling that these people, at least at first, were motivated to stop building the Temple by fear, yet there is no mention of this fear in Haggai Chapter 1. Fear does not seem to be an excuse even worth mentioning. And as these people learned, there are greater things to fear. I mean this in a godly, a good way. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. These people became wise and put their priorities back in order. And this is a lesson for all of us.

And so, returning to the Ezra passage, we see that the people went back to work and the prophets stayed there, helping and encouraging them. I would encourage you this week to read through Haggai as well as Zechariah, which is the book right after Haggai in your Bible, to see more of the prophetic messages. Here are a few of my favorites from Haggai:

'Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,' declares the Lord. 'Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' declares the Lord, 'and work. For I am with you,' declares the Lord Almighty. 'This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.' – Haggai 2:3-5

This promise is for us too: God is with us. God’s Spirit remains not only among us but in us. We too have nothing to fear, when we remember this.

Now, remember how last week and the week before I mentioned how the Israelites didn’t have the Ark of the Covenant and other key items? The people may have wondered if God’s Spirit would ever again fill the Temple. Listen to this:

'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the Lord Almighty. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the Lord Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the Lord Almighty. – Haggai 2:6-9a

Now, “the desired of all nations” refers to God’s Spirit, but I also believe that the ultimate fulfillment of this verse was when Christ came to the Temple; even today, He is the “desired of all nations,” and the glory of Christ, although veiled by His body while on earth, was glory that cannot be surpassed. The glory in that dirty manger with the Christ child was infinitely greater than the glory of even Solomon’s Temple if the Spirit of God was not there. And the glory of the Holy Spirit in our hearts today is no less, because it too is the very Spirit of God. I hope these thoughts encourage you.

Continuing in Ezra:

At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to them and asked, "Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?" They also asked, "What are the names of the men constructing this building?" But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received. – Ezra 5:3-5

This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, the officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius. The report they sent him read as follows: To King Darius: Cordial greetings. The king should know that we went to the district of Judah, to the temple of the great God. – Ezra 5:6-8a

The people are building it with large stones and placing the timbers in the walls. The work is being carried on with diligence and is making rapid progress under their direction. We questioned the elders and asked them, "Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?" We also asked them their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information. – Ezra 5:8b-10

This is the answer they gave us: "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our fathers angered the God of heaven, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon. – Ezra 5:11-12

I love this verse. Why? Because the people are humble; they are repentant; they are honest. They admit that it was their own sin that led to their downfall. They are not trying to cast things in the best light, but are just laying it out there. This kind of honesty is a powerful witness, even today. Sin does not destroy our witness, if it is accompanied by repentance. It changes it, but it doesn’t destroy it. Continuing on with the letter, and in it, the Israelites’ explanation for why they were building the temple:

"However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. He even removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon." – Ezra 5:13-14a

"Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, and he told him, 'Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.' So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished." – Ezra 5:14b-16

Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter. – Ezra 5:17

It’s interesting, isn’t it, how there are all these letters preserved in the Bible? One of the good things Darius did, by the way, was to build “royal roads” throughout the Persian Empire designed especially for delivering things like letters. One of these roads was 1700 miles long; each of these roads eventually had what we would call “rest stops” where you, if you were on a royal errand, could exchange your horses for fresh ones. And so, we read that, now that the Israelites were building again, opposition began again as well. The surrounding people didn’t like it.

King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it: Memorandum: In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: - Ezra 6:1-3a

Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be ninety feet high and ninety feet wide, with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God. – Ezra 6:4-5

So, they found the proof, just as the Israelites had said. Here is how Darius’ letter continues:

Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you, their fellow officials of that province, stay away from there. Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site. Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God: – Ezra 6:6-8a

The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail, so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons. – Ezra 6:8b-10

I love this! Their attempts to shut down the Israelites only led to even greater support! You can be sure that Tattenai and Shethar-Bozenai were not happy about this.

Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house and he is to be lifted up and impaled on it. And for this crime his house is to be made a pile of rubble. May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem. I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence. – Ezra 6:11-12

Again, we can question the motives of Darius for this decree, whether it was tinged with political expediency, but who cares? God works in many ways. The bottom line is that God was rewarding their getting back to work despite their fears and challenges and was helping them, just as the prophets had said.

Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. – Ezra 6:13-14

The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. – Ezra 6:15-16

Finished at last! It took about 4 years once they started building again. And of course, the goal wasn’t to finish for the sake of finishing, but for the sake of building God’s house, the place of God’s Spirit. Compared to the vast nation of Persia and the other empires, this Jewish remnant in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas was tiny. But God loves to do big things with the tiny, great things with the meek, excellent things with the humble.

For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses. – Ezra 6:17-18

For comparison, how many animals were sacrificed at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple? You can find this in I Kings 8 and II Chronicles 7. Are you ready for this? 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep or goats! That a lot different than a few hundred! And also compare the situation – in Solomon’s time, the nation of Israel was powerful. Their king, Solomon, was known throughout the Middle Eastern world, even into Africa and parts of the Far East. Now they had no king at all.

But I have to think that God was more pleased with this little group than he had been with Solomon and the people then. I think it is so telling that they sacrificed twelve goats, one for each tribe, as sin offerings. There was joy in this dedication, it says so in verse 16, but there was also a continuing repentance, a continuing sober reflection, a continuing purposeful returning to God. I know that God was tremendously pleased with this.

Do you struggle with seeing how joy and this sober mood can go together? It has to do with what your joy is in. If your joy is in yourself, in what you have accomplished, then no, it is not compatible with humble repentance. The Israelites were not joyful because of what they had done in completing the Temple. Their joy was in the Lord, because He is good, He is merciful, He is loving, He is forgiving, and He is holy. This kind of joy doesn’t even really think about self.

On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their brothers the priests and for themselves. So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel. – Ezra 6:19-21

It is highly unlikely, and there is no evidence, that the Israelites celebrated Passover while in exile. Although the first Passover was in homes, once the Levitical Law was established, the Passover sacrifice of lambs had to be done at the inner court, at first of the Tabernacle, and then, at the Temple. Estimating that there were about 70,000 Israelites there at that time, and noting from the Law that one lamb was slaughtered for every 10 people, we are looking at about 7000 lambs.

This is tiny compared with, for example, what Josephus describes around the time of Jesus: 3 million people who came to Jerusalem (or were already there), and 275,000 lambs slaughtered on Passover. Josephus said the blood of these sacrifices ran down behind the Temple into the valley below like a river. But even here, 7000 is a lot of lambs. As the passage says, it is only the Levites who slaughter the lambs, and from the first part of Ezra, there were only 73 Levites. (There might be a few more now, who have come of age, since it is about 20 years since they first returned to Jerusalem.) But it is a big job. It takes a long time. The Levites are dressed in white when they start, but they are colored mostly red by the time they are done.

The lamb is drained of its blood, into a basin, and the basins are passed, one after another, from priest to priest until they get to the altar, where the blood is thrown at the base. The blood drips downhill, not a river, but not just a trickle either. The lambs are hung on hooks around the walls of the sanctuary. If there weren’t enough hooks, two men would stand side by side with a stave, something like a yoke, a crosspiece, between them, and the lamb was hung on this. Try to picture this – does it remind you of anything? In either case, the Lamb was then flayed, and the fatty portion was taken and given to the priest, who would place it on the altar of burnt offering. Imagine the smell of fat dripping into a barbecue and picture lots of smoke, and you get the picture. And then the skin was removed, and the remaining carcass, whole, except for the skin and the fatty portion, was given back to you to take it to where you were staying, either your home, if you lived in or close to Jerusalem, or in temporary lodging. And then you roasted this carcass, whole, and you would celebrate the Passover meal along with the bitter herbs and the unleavened bread, and tell the story of how God redeemed His people, bringing them out of the slavery of Egypt, how the avenging angel killed the firstborn of all except those who had sprinkled the blood of the lamb on their doors/doorposts.

How powerful this first Passover in generations must have been! How symbolic for them, who had also been saved from bondage. Remember that these people were former slaves and servants. And now they were free, and they were again in the Promised Land. How powerful for them to realize that without the shedding of blood, there was no forgiveness of sin. And, for those few prophets that God had given eyes to see, how symbolic of the future Lamb who would take away the sins of the world.

For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel. – Ezra 6:22

There is that word, again, joy. These wasn’t a rededicated Temple, these were a rededicated people. And if these people were filled with joy, how much more should that describe us! We too are a rededicated people, for that is what Christians are. We will talk more about joy in Nehemiah, but I just want to say that if you are a Christian, someone who has given yourself to Christ, then you are eternally forgiven, you are eternally reconciled with God. This may sound strange, but you have the right to experience joy. Jesus died to give you eternal life, zoe; that is, eternal joy. The more you really reflect on what God has done for you, the more you reflect on His goodness, His love, and how much He cares for you, the more you will discover the joy of being a child of God; the more you too will celebrate with joy.