Rebuild: Ezra 5, 6

Overview of Chapter 5-6

Theme Verse:

for the LORD had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Chapter 4: Looking Back (and Forth)

1-5: 536 BC: Temple Building under Darius

vv.6-23: Fast forward 80 years:

Temple has been around for several decades

Focus on the opposition Jews discovered

v. 24: 535-520BC: Back to King Darius

Temple Rebuilding stops

v. 24 Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Jarring chronological jumps.

Ezra 5-6: Temple Narrative Continues

Ezra 7: Flash forward again to City/Walls Narratives under King Artaxerxes

Chapter 5:

vv. 1-2: 520BC: Rebuild begins but with Immediate Opposition

Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

Haggai’s first oracle: August 29, 520BC

Work started October 17, 520BC

Haggai 1:2: “These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.”

Haggai 1:4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

1980s: look panels were all over the place.

Haggai 1:5;7: “Consider your ways”

Haggai 1:8 “Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord.”

Zechariah 1:16 “Therefore, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.”

vv. 3-17: Opposition demands Proof Rebuild can Continue:

3 At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” 4 They also asked them this: “What are the names of the men who are building this building?” 5 But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

3-5: Tattenai asks for a building permit

Tattenai: Governor of Transeuphrates CLICK TO PICTURE:

Leader over even Babylon

Ushtani: Higher official over Babylon and Ebernari

Ezra 5:5 “But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.”

Governoers like Tattenai= Eye

Answer found in Ezbatana=Former Captial of Media

6-17: Letter to Darius

To Darius the king, all peace. 8 Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. 9 Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’

WITHIN THIS LETTER, IS A QUOTE GIVE BY JEWISH LEADERS TO DEFEND THEMSELVES:

v. 11: This is a rebuild! We were here before.

v. 12: Nebuchadnezzar deported them

v. 13: King Cyrus permitted their release from Babylon

LETTER CONCLUSION:

17 Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”

Chapter 6: Darius’ Response to Tattenai:

vv . 1-5: A Record Proves the Rebuild Must Continue

Ezra 6:1–5: Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in Babylonia, in the house of the archives where the documents were stored. 2 And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record. 3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits, 4 with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. 5 And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God.””

Where’s the Build Permit??

Not in Babylon

Letter found in Ezbatana: Summer home for Persian Kings

vv. 6-12: Darius Demands any Opposition to Back off

v. 6: “Keep away” from the Jews

v. 8-9: “The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from Beyond the River.”

v.9 “And whatever is needed—bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require—let that be given to them day by day without fail.”

v. 11 Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.

Jews dedicate the House of God

…14 And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; 15 and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

16 And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel 12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.

Sept 21, 520 BC: Rebuilding begins

March 12, 515BC: Build concludes (after 70 years)

Only 4.5 years after Haggai first told them to get going!

16x: “House of God”

10x: “Decree”= Building permit

They stopped prioritizing their own Paneled Homes

They stayed focused on the Lord’s Home

God’s House Begins Operation

19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. 20 For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. 21 It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the LORD, the God of Israel. 22 And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

vv.19-22: Passover:

Language changes back to Hebrews (followed by Aramaic—since 4:8)

Nothing like the first dedication

22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep in Solomon’s day

100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, 12 male goats

For the LORD had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

God Turns His Eyes Towards His People:

5:5 But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

Inspectors like Tattenai in Persia= “King’s Eye”

God Turns the Hearts of the Nations

Ezra 6:21 “It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by every one who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.”

God makes us Joyful

Carry out the Rebuild with Diligence

Installed Leadership

Did so “by the book” (v. 18)

Worshipped with Diligence

Nigeria: How many Christians have died there this year?

“Let the Stones Roll!”

Threat given to anyone who thwarts the growth of the Church:

“fastened erect to it and flogged.” NEB

BDB: “Crucifixion”

Hanging

Tattenai: Kidner: “Had acted responsibly throughout, in making the inquiry, waiting for confirmation (5:5), and giving full effect to the decree.”

Providence of God

Ezra 6:14 “And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia;”

End of a Generation of Jews

God stirred the people and Cyrus