Off-ramp from Exile
Notes
Transcript
Change in Powers
Change in Powers
Yet, we see God’s sovereignty throughout
Assyrians had conquered Israel—God judging Israel
Had tried to defeat Judah—not able to do so
Babylon conquered Assyria (Babylonian Bugs v. Nineveh Gnats, 612 BC)—God judging Assyria
Babylon conquered Judah; Jerusalem fell in 586 BC—God’s judgement on Judah, His own people; the dwelling place of His Name…the Temple of Yahweh
A Change in Politics
A Change in Politics
Followed on the heels of the change of power
Assyrians dispersed those they conquered—diluted the gene-pool, attempt to destroy cultural/religious identities and loyalties
Babylonians exported and exploited their conquered peoples—best and brightest served their culture, tolerated religious identities…most of the time…
Persians conquered nations filled with displace people groups; repatriated and restored the religious identity of their conquered peoples—happy subjects are loyal subjects
Thus began the restoration, 539 BC edict of Cyrus
No Change in Providence
No Change in Providence
We can trace the hand of God up to this point
We have dealt with the foretold exile
God answered Habakkuk’s complaint of the state of the nation of Judah with this:
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
Habakkuk was appalled; but God explained Himself
This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.
Clearly see it going past this point
Now, God turns the tide…which has already been prophesied by Isaiah;
who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,
and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’ ”
BTW, Isaiah wrote only until about 680 BC, about 150 years before Cyrus came to power!
(not going into the arguments about deutero-Isaiah)
One of Cyrus’ earliest acts was to begin restoring people to homelands; rebuilding temples
No indication that Cyrus was a believer in the One True God
More likely a polytheist
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
Josephus, writing in Antiquities, believes that Cyrus had seen this writing and it fell into his motivation…not proven
More likely, he wanted favor from all the gods…bribery
However 1:1
…the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus...
That’s what we have, that’s what we know
It was the LORD’s doing…Jehovah God!
They were not only sent back v. 3; it was purposeful—like we’ve seen before!
There was a purpose for the exile; a purpose for the return
…and rebuild the house of the LORD...
The people around the Israelites were told to be generous to them
And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
…and they were!
And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered.
Reminiscent of the Exodus from Egypt
The cost of the temple assumed by Cyrus (nation)
Not totally clear in v. 2—but understood by later developments
In chapter 6, this was clarified after a bit of a work stoppage by hostile forces
In correcting the unjust stoppage, Darius put upon the regions around Jerusalem, the cost of providing for the workers as well
There had been preservation of the articles of worship
Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.
Some glitches in numbers between lists here and elsewhere; able to be resolved
God moved the people to respond
Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.
He also preserved the histories
Chapter 2 laid out some necessary genealogy
Priest and Levites had to be properly installed to reestablish worship
Though there are some indications of other records remaining, Benjamin and Judah have the best tracking—Jesus would be of the lineage of Judah; the record intact
We have the genealogies of Matthew and Luke to track it
But there should be …
A Change in (our) Perspective
A Change in (our) Perspective
Not trying to overwork the connection to our present day situation and the Exile
But…there are still things to be learned
We can see some of the things the exiles had to learn
Patience
Patience
Yeah, I know…
Most of us know the KJV, “tribulation worketh patience…
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
The underlying Greek word encompasses both terms and more
“Steadfast endurance” may be the most descriptive way to put it
When the Lord sends tribulation, He expects us to tribulate for a while
The nation of Israel tribulated for 70 years…we’ve been how long?
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
Part of progression
The faithful exiles still had character and thus, hope—and it was rewarded in the acts of Cyrus
It shows up again in Galatians
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Uses a different underlying Greek term…very similar in meaning
…right smack in the middle of the components of the fruit
NOTE: component of fruit; not one of the fruits
We cannot see into the hearts of the exiles
We can see how they acted in some of the historical books, and make some intelligent guesses
The Connection
The Connection
The faithful among the exiles—not perfect by any means were those who believed in the promise
That God would deliver
That He would send Messiah...
Through that remnant, the line of David was retained
We can survive all sorts of things by being faithful
We may not be the best, brightest or biggest; but we are concerned only about being faithful
Faithful to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
The patient endurance is a product of that faith..