The First Return (Zerubbabel's Return)

To Be Whole Again   •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Timeline

As usual, we are going to keep coming back to our timeline just to remind ourselves where we are in our journey.
Last week we looked at Ezra 1 and the preparation for the return to Jerusalem
Now here in Ezra 2 we are going to take sort of a 30,000 ft view of things and look at the first return with Zerubbabel

Text

Ezra 2:1-70
Ezra 2:1–70 CSB
These now are the people of the province who came from those captive exiles King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported to Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the Israelite men included Parosh’s descendants 2,172 Shephatiah’s descendants 372 Arah’s descendants 775 Pahath-moab’s descendants: Jeshua’s and Joab’s descendants 2,812 Elam’s descendants 1,254 Zattu’s descendants 945 Zaccai’s descendants 760 Bani’s descendants 642 Bebai’s descendants 623 Azgad’s descendants 1,222 Adonikam’s descendants 666 Bigvai’s descendants 2,056 Adin’s descendants 454 Ater’s descendants: of Hezekiah 98 Bezai’s descendants 323 Jorah’s descendants 112 Hashum’s descendants 223 Gibbar’s descendants 95 Bethlehem’s people 123 Netophah’s men 56 Anathoth’s men 128 Azmaveth’s people 42 Kiriatharim’s, Chephirah’s, and Beeroth’s people 743 Ramah’s and Geba’s people 621 Michmas’s men 122 Bethel’s and Ai’s men 223 Nebo’s people 52 Magbish’s people 156 the other Elam’s people 1,254 Harim’s people 320 Lod’s, Hadid’s, and Ono’s people 725 Jericho’s people 345 Senaah’s people 3,630 The priests included Jedaiah’s descendants of the house of Jeshua 973 Immer’s descendants 1,052 Pashhur’s descendants 1,247 and Harim’s descendants 1,017 The Levites included Jeshua’s and Kadmiel’s descendants from Hodaviah’s descendants 74 The singers included Asaph’s descendants 128 The gatekeepers’ descendants included Shallum’s descendants, Ater’s descendants, Talmon’s descendants, Akkub’s descendants, Hatita’s descendants, Shobai’s descendants, in all 139 The temple servants included Ziha’s descendants, Hasupha’s descendants, Tabbaoth’s descendants, Keros’s descendants, Siaha’s descendants, Padon’s descendants, Lebanah’s descendants, Hagabah’s descendants, Akkub’s descendants, Hagab’s descendants, Shalmai’s descendants, Hanan’s descendants, Giddel’s descendants, Gahar’s descendants, Reaiah’s descendants, Rezin’s descendants, Nekoda’s descendants, Gazzam’s descendants, Uzza’s descendants, Paseah’s descendants, Besai’s descendants, Asnah’s descendants, Meunim’s descendants, Nephusim’s descendants, Bakbuk’s descendants, Hakupha’s descendants, Harhur’s descendants, Bazluth’s descendants, Mehida’s descendants, Harsha’s descendants, Barkos’s descendants, Sisera’s descendants, Temah’s descendants, Neziah’s descendants, and Hatipha’s descendants. The descendants of Solomon’s servants included Sotai’s descendants, Hassophereth’s descendants, Peruda’s descendants, Jaalah’s descendants, Darkon’s descendants, Giddel’s descendants, Shephatiah’s descendants, Hattil’s descendants, Pochereth-hazzebaim’s descendants, and Ami’s descendants. All the temple servants and the descendants of Solomon’s servants 392. The following are those who came from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer but were unable to prove that their ancestral families and their lineage were Israelite: Delaiah’s descendants, Tobiah’s descendants, Nekoda’s descendants 652 and from the descendants of the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, the descendants of Barzillai—who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and who bore their name. These searched for their entries in the genealogical records, but they could not be found, so they were disqualified from the priesthood. The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim. The whole combined assembly numbered 42,360 not including their 7,337 male and female servants, and their 200 male and female singers. They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys. After they arrived at the Lord’s house in Jerusalem, some of the family heads gave freewill offerings for the house of God in order to have it rebuilt on its original site. Based on what they could give, they gave 61,000 gold coins, 6,250 pounds of silver, and 100 priestly garments to the treasury for the project. The priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, and some of the people settled in their towns, and the rest of Israel settled in their towns.

Message

1. Legacy

Leave a legacy, a lasting mark for the generations to come
Now both of these points are really going to be seen throughout this entire chapter but I want to bring out a few phrases and sentences from within the chapter to talk about this point
Ezra 2:1
“These now are the people....they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town...”
Ezra 2:68-70
“some of the family heads gave freewill offerings for the house of God in order to have it rebuilt on its original site....the people settled in their towns, and the rest of Israel settled in their towns.”
I want to use an analogy to illustrate the significance of this moment and this idea of legacy
Have you ever been on a vacation for like a week or longer? Because if you have you have probably experienced one of if not both of these 2 experiences....
The need for a vacation from your vacation (because now somehow you are more tired than when you left
This great desire just to be back home, in your house place, in your own bed, with your own food...
Its that 2nd feeling I want to talk about. Its weird how we get tired of the things we see around us and want an escape, so we leave and yet we are gone for a week before we just want to be back home…and this is even the case with vacations that are fun and places you REALLY wanted to go...
Now take that feeling....and multiply it exponentially...
Because Israel didn’t go on a vacation away from home for a week....they were taken in Exile as slaves for an entire generation.
That desire, just to be home again, had to be overwhelming…to tell the stories of home to the next generation…the one born in Exile who knew nothing other than Exile and slavery…and to tell the stories of home and freedom to them...
This is what we are seeing here, not just the feeling of wanting to be home but finally, after 70 years…going home
“each to his own town”
What was happening is even bigger than just returning home....but returning home to leave a different legacy than those who came before them...
Because those who came before them…their legacy was the sin that led the entire nation into slavery
But now to return and try to make a new legacy for themselves and the next generation...
This is why this is so important for us today....You cannot just think about yourself; you need to be thinking about your grandchildren’s grandchildren
Because this was in part what happened to Israel…do you think if the generations had thought about what these current generations in Ezra & Nehemiah would have to endure, they would have been so quick to abandon the LORD?
Sin is individual yes, but we cannot think that sin does not have affects on the next generations.
Both of these ideas of legacy, of faithfulness or of sinfulness…are communicated in Exodus 20:5-6 where God is communicating the 10 commandments to the people as the boundaries for the people to follow as they journey towards the promise land.
Exodus 20:5–6 CSB
Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.
Yes we remain faithful to the LORD first and foremost for His glory because He has called us to…but that doesn’t mean the LORD has not encouraged us to be faithful for the sake of future generations
This is the choice of legacy Israel faced....faithfulness bringing blessing upon the coming generations or sinfulness bringing disaster upon the next generations.

2. Lineage

Remember your lineage; Not just who you came from but also what
And just like with Legacy, we see this in both a positive and negative light.
The negative light, we see towards the end of this chapter in Ezra 2:59-62 of people claiming their descendents from Israelites but had no proof of such including those claiming to be in the line of the Levities who then had to be disqualified from priestly work as their lineage could not be proven.
Now we could speculate as to why but its not helpful because its not mentioned as to the reasoning. All we know is that we are seeing a broken lineage. Of those claiming to be in the line of the Levities but having no evidence to provide for that so they are disqualified.
To the positive light, we have this list of names (covering the majority of the chapter), but here it isn’t just as a list of names but rather of descendents of people. Names likely marked by the either the founding member, or an extremely important member or otherwise
We also see how lineage is not just who but what you came from in Ezra 2:1
“These are now the people…who came from those captive exiles…deported to Babylon.
These weren’t just descendents returning for no reason, and they weren’t just random people returning from exile...
These were descendents of those who got Israel sent into Exile, returning to leave a legacy, to be made whole again with the LORD.
All of this is about people. That’s why I spent the time to read 70 verses of names. God was bringing His people back to be whole again....not to restore a building and walls.
Remember we have to get our order of operations....God wants to restore relationship with people....THEN His people to do His work that He has prepared for them.
See here, we see these themes of legacy and lineage playing out in this chapter:
We see that the people of are driven to return to a desolate land they once called home…a land desolate because of their sin. They are driven back in hopes to rebuild and restore things back into relationship with the LORD
But as I think through these themes and this narrative it points me, as it should point you, to a greater fulfillment of these themes and this narrative.
What am I talking about? I’m talking about Jesus of course!
You see all people, everyone born on this earth has a lineage and an inherited legacy. Romans 5 says
Romans 5:12
Romans 5:12 CSB
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
That is our natural inheritance, the unavoidable reality we are all faced with
Truly understanding the nature of legacy and lineage, means first and foremost to understand the sinful nature at which we inherited at birth and the legacy that leaves us....death and eternal separation from God.
But unlike how Israel returned in hopes that there would be restoration, I can say we have a certainty of of restoration in Christ.
1 Peter 1:3-4
1 Peter 1:3–4 CSB
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
So let me ask you, what is your legacy and lineage? Can you say, you have been given a new birth, been given a new legacy and lineage in Jesus who gives an inheritance that is unfading and imperishable?
If not, can I encourage you to follow Jesus today.
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