Leaving Behind

Ezra 9-10 

Welcome! Today we will look at the last two chapters of the book of Ezra. As a brief review, Ezra starts with the decree of Cyrus, after 50 or 70 years of exile (depending on from where you start counting), that allowed the Israelites to go back to Jerusalem. We saw how they overcame persecution and trials to rebuild the temple, and how, after a period of about 80 years after the decree of Cyrus, Ezra came with a group of exiles to Jerusalem to serve as high priest at the rebuilt Temple. Once there, they sacrificed burnt offerings at the Temple to the Lord, thankful beyond words for how the Lord had protected them (and all of the valuable artifacts for the Temple they had carried) and, more fundamentally, for how the Lord had given the Israelite people back what had been lost due to the forsaking of God by their ancestors some 150 years prior.

After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, "The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness." – Ezra 9:1-2

Bringing Along

Ezra 7-8

Good morning, after a week off to take communion and have a sharing time, we're back to our series on the book of Ezra. Today, we get to meet Ezra, the man himself. Before we get started, let's take a moment and pray. I encourage you to take a moment and ask the Lord to speak into your own hearts. Let's bow silently for a minute.

Father God, that is our prayer. Speak Lord to us. We are yours. Thank you that Your Word accomplishes its purpose and that it does not return void. Bring the truth and lessons of Ezra to us in the present day. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, let's go directly to Ezra chapter 7, and meet Ezra.

After these things … Ezra 7:1

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.

Rebuilding

Ezra 3-4Welcome! 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. 

Returning

Ezra 1-2

Welcome to our new series, Ezra and Nehemiah! As we begin this series, I want to talk a bit about how we will approach these books of the Old Testament. First of all, we want to directly understand what these books are saying. These are narrative books, historical books. They tell the true story of one point in the history of God’s dealing with people. We want to understand what happened; we want to understand the context of what happened in light of the rest of Old Testament history; to the degree that Scripture tells us, we want to know why the things that happened did happen. And we want to know how the things that happened led to what happened next. This approach to Scripture, seeking to understand its direct meaning, is critically important.