1-OT 40 Ezra

Lesson #40 - Ezra 2019 Before starting this lesson, read the book of Ezra 1 - 10. Feel free to skip over the long lists of names. You may find it helpful to read the book, go thru the lesson and then read the book once again. Since it is a short book, it will not be difficult to do. Thruout these lessons, we have seen that the Bible is like a library. The books are arranged by topic. This means that even tho we are always moving forward in time, the books do not always come one after another. If the topic changes, the book will be in a different section. Y LAW HISTORY R ET PO LAW HISTORY POETRY Y OR PROPHECY PROPHECY Y EC LETTERS LETTERS PH ST For example, the last topic of the Old Testament is about the HI RO P prophets. We have had many of their books. But now we are HISTORY Paul’s LETTERSGeneral PROPHECY looking at the lives of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. They live near the end of Old Testament times. But they are not prophets. They are part of Jewish history, so their books are in the history section, near the front and middle of the Old Testament. A basic concept to remember - The books of the Bible are not organized by time. They are organized by topic. This lesson is about EZRA He is a Jewish priest and scribe in the 400’s BC. He is born in Babylon c. 480 BC and dies in Jerusalem c. 400 BC. As an Levite scribe… He will go thru Jewish civil records and use some of them to form part of the Jewish sacred writings. He will make copies of the Old Testament books. Writing each word by hand, he knows the content and context. So he is also qualified to be a teacher of the Old Testament books. It is why Jewish scribes were known as teachers of the law. It is while Ezra is in Jerusalem, c. 450 BC, that he goes thru the historical records of the 500’s and 400’s BC. Then guided by the Holy Spirit, he takes parts of them to form the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. This lesson is about the book of EZRA The Topic - The Jews’ return to Jerusalem. The Outline The Jews’ return under Zerubbabel. Chapters 1-6 The most important event was the restoration of the temple. This happened in the 500’s BC, some 50 years before Ezra was born. He takes his information from historical records that are stored in the temple. The Jews’ return under Ezra himself. Chapters 7-10 The most important event is the restoration of their spiritual lives. This happened in the 400’s Ezra takes the information from his own historical journals. THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE - 539 BC Cy ru s We looked at chapters 1-4 when we studied the book of Haggai. But we did not cover everything. So even tho we moved ahead to the 470’s BC with the story of Esther, we need to go back to the 500’s for some important history. BC 5 5 3 3 6 0 Babylon DESERT 2 Darius Gt. 5 2 Haggai Zechariah 1 4 8 6 Xerxes Esther 4 BC 6 5 Sixty years before the days of Esther, Cyrus, a Persian army general conquered Babylon and the Babylonian empire. It happened in the 530’s BC. s River Euphrate Way This was something no one thought could ever happen. Babylon was the largest city of that time, some 4 square miles. Part of the Euphrates River ran thru the city. Part of the river created a moat around the city. Around the outer edges of the city were 3 walls, each one 300 feet high. The 2nd and 3rd walls had double doors or gates made of bronze. Except for special occasions, they were always closed and locked Temples with bars of iron. al ssion Proce To do the impossible and conquer Babylon, Cyrus and his troops diverted the Euphrates River. Then they used the dry riverbed to go under the outer wall. When they came to the bronze gates on the next walls, they found palace them unlocked. The iron bars were not in place. When they came to the palace itself, there were no guards and the doors were unlocked. Belshazzar Ishtar gate N the king, the soldiers and leaders were having a big party. The soldiers had been in such a hurry to go to the party, they forgot to lock the gates. With everyone drunk at the party, the city was left open and defenseless. As a result, Cyrus and the Persian troops killed the king and took over the capital city of Babylon. This was in 539 BC. 1/4 mile MEDO-PERSIAN EMPIRE 536 BC Babylon Cyrus then named a man to organize the government while he put the rest of the Babylonian empire under his control. Daniel was brought out of retirement to work for the new Persian government in Babylon. After 3 years, in 536 BC, Cyrus moved into the palace and took over as the first king. This is where Ezra 1:1 begins. In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, (that the Jews would be in exile for 70 years), the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus …to make a proclamation. God moves the heart of Cyrus. He does it thru Daniel who is now 89 years old and still working in the palace. Scripture loves to show us we are never too old to be used by God. Over the last 3 years, Persian leadership, including Cyrus, has come to respect and listen to Daniel. This gives Daniel a unique opportunity. He takes a scroll from the Jewish sacred writings and shows part of it to Cyrus. Ordinarily Jewish sacred writings would never interest a Persian king. After all, the Persians had their own sacred writings. But this would be different. Daniel has the scroll of Isaiah and reads part of it to Cyrus. We have it in our Bibles in Isaiah 45:1 This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut. I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. Isaiah had written this 150 years earlier, in 691 BC. Imagine the shock as Cyrus sees his name and the exact description of how he had conquered Babylon. The bronze gates were open - the bars of iron had not been in place. He stripped the king of his armor, meaning he killed king Belshazzar. It happened just as the God of the Jews had said. Daniel continues - chapter 45:4 For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I, God, call you, Cyrus, by name and bestow on you a title of honor, tho you do not acknowledge Me. Cyrus was not a true believer. He accepted the God of the Jews as the highest God, but not as the only God. Daniel then takes Cyrus back a few columns in the scroll. For us it is chapter 44:28 and God is speaking. …Who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt and of the temple, let its foundations be laid - meaning let it be rebuilt. What did Cyrus think of these verses? Josephus, a Jewish historian in 100 AD, said in his book Antiquities of the Jews, Cyrus knew he should rebuild the temple by his reading the book Isaiah left... Accordingly when Cyrus read this and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written... 2 God uses Daniel and the words of Isaiah to move the heart of Cyrus. THIS IS WHY Cyrus proclaims, The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of His people among you, the Jews - may His God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 1:2 Notice, the Persian king says Jerusalem is the place of the God of Israel. Every ancient major empire - Assyrian, Babylon, Persian, Greek and Roman - recognized Israel as land belonging to the Jews and belonging to the God of the Jews. Since it is a Jewish scribe and a Jewish historian that make these claims about the Jews, skeptics might question them. This is why we also look at history. In the British Museum, in the Iranian Room, in London, England, there is a CYRUS CYLINDER cylinder called the Cyrus’ Cylinder. It is filled with writing by Cyrus himself. On it, he says, I returned to the sacred cities on the side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been in ruins for a long time… and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I also gathered all their former inhabitants and returned them to their cities. So what Ezra and Josephus write, is consistent with the statement by Cyrus on his cylinder in the British Museum. Ezra, chapters 1 and 2 tell about the king’s decree for the Jews. There is a list of those who leave Babylon and what they take with them. According to Ezra 1:4, Cyrus also commanded that all the neighbors of those who were leaving, should give them money, supplies and donations for the building of the Temple. This would have include both Jewish and Babylonian neighbors. THE RETURN OF JUDAH TO THE LAND 536 BC 50,000 Judah 50,000 Jews make the trip. When they arrive in Jerusalem, they donate most of the gifts for the building of their temple. They work hard and soon have the temple foundation in place. But then the enemies from the area start to create problems. The enemies want this land for themselves. They know if the temple is completed, the Jews will become established and grow stronger. So their goal is to stop the building of the temple. Chapter 4:1 clearly states these people are enemies of the Jews. In verse 2, these enemies approach Jewish leaders saying, 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. But the Jewish leaders reply, 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. The Jews’ answer sounds harsh, uncooperative - even arrogant and narrow-minded. If these people worship Yahweh, why not let them help in building God’s house? The Jews should be glad for their co-operation. The answer is found in the history of these people. As they said, they are Gentiles that the king of Assyria had brought in some 200 years earlier, in 722 BC. They lived in Samaria in the north and became known as Samaritans. They brought with them the worship of their pagan gods. They intermarried with the Jewish poor that had remained in the land. (2 Kings 17:24, 33, 41.) After 200 years, the Samaritans are now a mixed race of people, part Jew and part Gentile with a mixed religion of Jewish and pagan beliefs. It is these Samaritans, who have approached the Jews in the book of Ezra saying, we want to help build your temple. After all, we worship the same God that you do. This is partially true - they do worship Yahweh. But they do not worship Him exclusively. If the Samaritans help build the temple, they will have a right to worship there and put their idols there. This idolatry would automatically make the Temple unholy. The Jewish leaders and people choose to do what is right, no matter what. They reply, no, you cannot help us build the temple. We will build it ourselves. This is the spiritual side. Now the practical side. The goal of the enemies is to stop the building of the temple. This offer is not to help but to sabotage the work. The Jews are right in refusing their help, from both the spiritual and practical points of view. 3 When their plan of sabotage fails, the enemies set out to discourage the Jews and make them afraid 4:4. they hire counselors or lawyers to go back to Persia to influence Cyrus against them. 4:5 It never says the lawyers actually go back; the threat is all they need. Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the 2nd year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. 4:24 The Jews stopped building the temple out of fear of the enemy. Then they got involved with their homes and personal lives. Nothing more is done for 15 years. God then uses Haggai and Zechariah to rebuke and encourage the people. They begin building in the 2nd year of Darius the Great. Ezra chapters 5-6 tell how the enemy now tries to hinder the work using Darius the Greatt. But Darius, instead of stopping the work, re-issues the decree to build, gives financial aid and orders an end to all opposition. With this, the Jews finish the temple in 4 years - in February 516 BC. Summary of Ezra 1-6 Most of the chapters are about the 20 years from the start to the finish of the Temple, from 536 to 516 BC. This includes the 15-year delay and the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah. Chapter 6 ends in 516 BC 58 years Chapter 7 begins in 458 BC Events of Ezra 7-12 Chapter 7 begins with the words after these things. When you see this phrase in the Old Testament, it usually means many years later. In our western culture, we would have started the verse, After 58 years… During 10 of these 58 years, Esther and Mordecai were in the Persian government in Susa. Xerxes, Esther’s husband, was king for 21 of those years. When he died, his son born of a Persian woman, comes to power - a man named Artaxerxes I. It is in chapter 7, we finally meet Ezra himself. He has written chapters 1-6 as history, taken from the historical records. Chapters 7-10 are Ezra’s story. Ezra works for this king in the capital of Babylon. Six times in chapters 7-10, Ezra makes the comment that the good hand of God is on him. In between the lines he is saying, I work for Artaxerxes Longimanus - his hand - his power goes thruout the Persian empire. But I also work for Yahweh God. His hand of power extends even further and it is God’s hand that is over my life. Medo-Persian Empire 539-331 BC Cy ru s Chapter 7:7 tells us it is the 7th year of Artaxerxes, 458 BC. This Artaxerxes had a 2nd name - Longimanus, which meant a long hand. Being a king with a long hand, was a way to say his power and authority reached a long way - to the far corners of the kingdom. 5 5 3 3 6 0 2 Darius Gt. Xerxes Artaxerxes 1 5 2 1 Hag. 4 8 6 Zech. 4 6 5 Esther Ezra 4 2 5 Babylon Susa It is thrilling to see God’s pattern from the time He sent His people into exile in Babylon until the end of the Old Testament. God was putting His people in the palace of Gentile rulers. Daniel was in the palace thruout all 70 years of the Babylonian empire and the first 6 years of the Persian empire, from 606 to 536 BC. Fifty five years later, God put Esther and Mordecai in the Persian palace in Susa, from 483 – 473 BC. Fifteen years later, Ezra and Nehemiah are in the Persian government starting in 458 B. Both Babylonian and Persian kings had knowledge of God, with the opportunity to believe in Him. These kings respected and valued the Jews. It is why king after king gave them opportunity to return to their land. 4 4 0 0 Artaxerxes the king will use Ezra to protect the Jews’ civil life in 3 ways To oversee the welfare of all Jews in the empire. The king believes if he sends an offering to the Jewish God and His temple in Jerusalem, then the Jewish God will protect him and help him stay in power. Ezra is the Jews’ representative, so the king sends him to Jerusalem with the offering. To develop and teach civil laws for the entire area, based on the laws of Moses. And you, Ezra, in accordance with the wisdom of your God, which you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates - all who know the laws of your God. And you are to teach any who do not know them. 7:25 Persian kings believed the land known as Judah belonged to the Jews. Artaxerxes says anyone can live in the land of the Jews, but they must live under Jewish laws. To make sure Jewish history is being recorded. The king needs to know what is being accomplished. It is March, 458 BC, when Ezra and 5,000 Jews go from Babylon to Jerusalem. They leave in the first month and arrive in Jerusalem the 5th month. (7:9). This tells us large groups take about 5 months to make this 6-700 mile trip. They cover about 6 miles a day, 6 days a week. They always travel the “fertile crescent”, meaning they follow the roads northwest along the Euphrates River where food and water would be available. No one traveled directly west because it was pure desert and uninhabited. Ezra and the Jews that come with him, settle into life in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. Persian Empire 458 BC Babylon Judah Susa exiled Jews God will use Ezra to protect the Jews’ spiritual life in 3 ways Ezra protects Jewish spiritual life in their families After just a few months in Jerusalem, Ezra learns that some of the Jews have married Gentile women from the pagan nations around them. By now the 50, 000 Jews who came back under Zerubbabel, have been in the land some 75 years. Those 50,000 have expanded to over 500,000 1 (see note at end of lesson). So it is the 3rd and 4th generations – the Jewish grandsons and great-grandsons who have inter-married. Ezra, as Jewish priest, is both grieved and angry. First he is grieved that his people could forget God’s mercy and grace. It was because of idolatry that God had sent them into exile for 70 years. But then He let them return and have a fresh start. Now, in just 3 generations, they are in danger of rejecting God and going back into idolatry. But Ezra is not only grieved. He is also angry as he thinks of the damage this is doing. Jewish men who married these pagan women have had children. The wives are teaching the children to worship their pagan gods which involves human sacrifice and gross immorality. If it continues, the Jews will be absorbed into this culture and practice. Ezra, in his day, cannot imagine the full consequences of this action. However, from our vantage point, the disaster is evident. Both Mary and Joseph are going to come thru Zerubbabel’s family line - the line of David. If Zerubbabel’s line starts marrying into these people, the royal line of David would be lost forever. Jesus would be born, but with no Jewish royal line existing, He could never be King of the Jews. This is yet another attack of Satan. He is using this inter-marriage to keep Jesus from being Messiah King with a Kingdom. However, this is not the only danger. Some of the Jewish priests have married pagan women. 9:1 The mothers are teaching the children to worship their pagan gods. Since the role of priest passed from father to son, the sons who worship these idols will grow up to be priests who will lead the nation to worship idols. Spiritual leadership of the Jews would be destroyed in just one generation. This is why Ezra reacts and gathers the people together. 5 Ezra confesses the sin of their nation. O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to You, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. Verse 13 What has happened to us (the exile) is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt. And yet our God, You have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this. - You have let us return to the land. Shall we again break Your commands and intermarry with the peoples who commit such detestable practices. Would You not be angry enough with us to destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor? 9:6, 13-14 He reminds the people of God’s holiness and justice. This prayer is unusual because never once does he ask God to forgive them. In fact he does not even mention the actual words - love, mercy or grace. He does this on purpose. Up to this point, the people see nothing wrong with what they are doing. Thru his prayer Ezra wants them to see the absolute holiness of God and their terrible unholiness. Until they see they need forgiveness, there is no point is asking for it. So in his prayer, Ezra emphasizes their disobedience and the Holy Spirit convicts the people. Then Shecaniah said to Ezra, we have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. 10:2 The people are specific. They name their disobedience and say it is wrong. Shecaniah continues, But in spite of this, there is still certainty for Israel. Remember, in the Bible, the word hope means certainty. The people are saying, We have certainty that if we admit our sin, God will be faithful to forgive our sin. But admission is not enough. Now they have to do something about it. Ezra tells the people that all Jewish men who have married pagan women have to come to Jerusalem. Because so many come, there is no way they can deal will all of them in a couple of days. As a result, everyone is sent home and families return city by city or area by area. Each case is decided and judged on its own merit. It takes Ezra and the Jewish leaders from December until April to look at each situation. 1 From the more than 500,000 Jews now in the land (see note at end of lesson), there are many situations where the pagan wife has already renounced her idols. Or during the time of meeting with Ezra, she decides to follow Yahweh God alone. But in 113 cases, involving some 5-600 children, the wives do not want to give up their idols. So it is these women and children who are sent back to the security and safety of their families where they can practice their religion and culture. The children are sent with them because in all cultures of that area, women had custody of the children. They are not killed because the Jewish men never told them they had to give up their idols. The Jews had married these women. But the chapter does not say they now divorce the women. These marriages had been in violation of God’s command, so God does not recognize it as a marriage. By sending the women and children away, in effect, God is annulling the marriage. Obviously it is painful for these men to lose their wives and children. But pain and sorrow are the price for disobeying God. Only when they deal with their disobedience, can they have restoration of their spiritual lives. Only then can God once again bless them. Ezra protects Jewish spiritual life in their families Ezra also protects Jewish spiritual life in their sacred writings By the 400’s, there are hundreds of scrolls of Jewish literature, written by hundreds of Jews. Some of the books claim divine authorship - others do not. Over the years, Jewish scribes have protected all the books the Jews believe to be sacred. Now a scribe is needed to make the final decision and put all of the sacred books together in some kind of order. It is Ezra who goes thru all the scrolls and confirms which books are God-given. He then divides them into 3 groups or topics - law, prophets and writings. The Holy Spirit gives Ezra wisdom to form the Hebrew canon meaning the 1st group of Jewish sacred writings - what becomes the Hebrew Bible - our Old Testament. 6 HEBREW WRITING CONSONANTS HEBREW ‫ב‬ Ezra's ‫ג‬ BC 1200 700 To further protect these sacred writings, God uses Ezra to make changes in the Hebrew alphabet. Up to his time, Hebrew consonants were rounded or written at an angle. Thruout the centuries, different people wrote them in different ways so it became difficult to recognize what the letter was. Ezra develops a squared form of the Hebrew alphabet, which is still used today. 450 Another problems was that only consonants were written. Without any written vowels, the reader had to figure out from the context, which word the writer intended. This left room for error. HEBREW VOWELS So Ezra adds vowels by putting them either above or below the consonant they followed. This is crucial because 200 years later the Hebrew sacred writings were translated into Greek. Without the written vowels, the translators could have made thousands of errors. But when the time came for the translation, all Hebrew manuscripts had squared letters and written vowels. God used Ezra to protect the accuracy of Scripture. Most scholars also believe Ezra is the author of Psalm 119 - the longest chapter that emphasizes the importance of Scripture. ‫גב‬ BG ‫בג‬ ‫ ג‬..‫ב‬. ‫ב ג‬. BG a BG e BG i Ezra protects Jewish spiritual life in their teaching After 70 years in Babylon and then returning to Jerusalem, many of the Jewish men practiced their faith but did not remember Jewish laws and the teachings from Deuteronomy. Those who were in Jerusalem and lived near the temple had no problem. They could get instruction any day they wanted. But as time passed and people lived further away from Jerusalem, they only came to the temple for holy days. The rest of the year, each father was responsible for instructing his family in the Jewish faith. But so many did not have the knowledge. In addition, they were all speaking Aramaic, the language they began using in Babylon. They could not read the Old Testament scrolls in Hebrew or understand the teachers who quoted them in Hebrew. So Ezra developed a plan. Anywhere Jews lived, if there were 10 Jewish men, 13 years or older, a meeting house should be built. Then a man called a rabbi or teacher who had been trained, would read the Old Testament in Hebrew and explain it in Aramaic. Religious instruction would be available for men, women and children at this meeting house. The meeting house was called a synagogue, meaning gathering of people. Ezra develops them at the end of the Old Testament. c. 400 BC. From that time to present day, Jews have had synagogues as their place of prayer, worship and teaching. Our churches today developed from the idea of Ezra’s synagogues. They are local places where people can meet to worship, pray and receive instruction. Even the form of liturgy that our churches use, came from Jewish synagogues. As Ezra developed the synagogue, he knew a lot of people would be giving instruction in many places. There was a danger teachers could change Jewish practices, holy days or their sacred writings. To further protect Jewish teaching, he formed a group of 120 men who became known as the Great Synagogue. They had oversight of all the synagogues, to make sure Jewish practice and teaching did not change. Two hundred years later, the number was reduced to 71 and renamed the Council or Sanhedrin. God used Ezra to give Jewish teaching and also to protect it. Today, Orthodox Jews consider Ezra one of their great heroes like Moses and David. God used him in a unique and special way to permanently influence Jewish life, culture and faith. EZRA’S INFLUENCE INFLUENCE Hebrew alphabet Synagogue Sanhedrin Hebrew canon Psalm 119 Ezra also has instruction for us Gentiles as well. However let me start out by explaining that one part of his instruction does NOT apply to us today. Ezra dealt with the problem of marriage between Jewish men who followed God and women who worshipped pagan idols. He said that if the wife refused to follow God, she and the children were to be sent back to her home and family so she could practice her faith there. Today we also have marriages between believers and non-believers, but this is not the action God wants us to take. 7 God’s instruction for the Church comes from Paul in 1 Corinthians 7. If an unbelieving spouse wants to stay in the marriage, the couple should stay together. If the unbeliever wants out, he or she should leave and the believing spouse should not try to prevent it. If the lives of the believing spouse or children are in danger physically or emotionally; if their spiritual life is being endangered or destroyed, then God must come first. The believing spouse needs to seek annulment, separation or divorce. Yes, it will be painful, but that is the price of disobedience - It is the price of marrying an unbeliever. The instruction of Ezra that DOES apply to us - we also should be protecting the faith As Satan wants to destroy the Jews, he also wants to destroy the Christian message. He is sending clever and charming teachers who proclaim feel-good, success-oriented gospels. They quote a phrase or verse of Scripture, but always out of context. Books and movies tell us God is love. He is not judgmental. Everyone will spend eternity with God, no matter what they believe. In our day, we are getting a true message by some and a false message by others… …about Jesus, …why He came, …why He was on the cross …about the Bible. If we claim to accept the Bible as God’s Word, we need to be clear what God has said. About Jesus False teachers say Jesus was a wonderful teacher, our example, a good man, a prophet like other great prophets. God says Jesus is humanity and deity, equal with the Father in character. He was virgin-born. The 2nd Person of the Trinity. Why He came False teachers say Jesus came, to make the world a better place, so we could all love each other; He came to save the world from poverty, injustice and self-destruction. He is one of many ways to God. God says Jesus came because His payment was the only way to be forgiven by God. Why He was on the cross False teachers say Jesus’ death was an example; it was an accident; He was a martyr; He was misunderstood. God says Jesus was on the cross to make payment for our sin. Only His payment could be adequate and complete. About the Bible False teachers say the Bible is for the past; we have new revelation from new apostles and prophets. We can decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. There are no absolutes. It’s OK to take a phrase or verse out of context to make our ideas acceptable or sound spiritual. God says the Bible is His Word; it is still the guide book and authority for our lives. Its teaching needs to be in the context of the book and chapter. We are living in spiritually dangerous times There are movies, books and teachers that distort God’s truth in order to lead us from it. However, there are other movies, books and teachers who are giving God’s truth to build us up in the faith. We continually need the Holy Spirit and discernment to recognize the difference. Ezra leaves us with the warning, Guard - protect the faith that has been given to you. 8 EXTRA INFORMATION FOR THE STUDIOUS AND INQUISITIVE 1 From pages 5 and 6 The Jews number over 500,000 - How I arrived at that number. I started with the assumption of 5 children per family 50,000 Jews who came ÷ 7 = 7143 units 7143 x 2 = 14,286 parents 7143 x 5 = 35,715 children (total 35715 + 14286 = 50,000) st 1 generation 35,715 children came to Jerusalem. As adults would form 17,857 couples x 5 = 89,000 children 2nd generation form 44,643 couples x 5 = 223,218 children 3rd generation of 223,000 form 100,000 couples x 5 = 500,000 children 9