Ezra, Nehemiah

EZRA

EZRA THE PRIEST LEADS THE RETYRN TO JERUSALEM FROM CAPTIVITY IN BABYLON

The book of Ezra takes place AFTER the Jews returned from their seventy years of captivity in Babylon. He was appointed to take charge of the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the Jewish nation and later Nehemiah came to rebuild the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

Ezra is called a scribe. A scribe was more than someone who made copies of important documents, both civil for the government and secular for the Temple. Being a scribe meant that he was a scholar, a teacher of the Word of God, a Rabbi or teacher.

Let me digress here and explain how a scribe would make copies of Scripture. They used only clean animal skins to write on, no pig skin, etc. Pigs, if you recall, were ceremonially unclean.

Each column of writing could have no less than forty-eight, and no more than sixty lines.

The ink must be black and made of a special recipe.

They must say each word aloud as they are writing it. I imagine this helped them to stay focused.

There must be a review within thirty days and if as many as three pages required corrections, the entire manuscript was to be redone. This reminds me of the times when a teacher would read a few pages or paragraphs of something I had written and grew disgusted with is and gave it back to me, unread. If there were errors in in three pages, the whole document was considered useless.

The letters, words and paragraphs had to be counted. The middle paragraph, word and letter must correspond to those of the original document.

The documents were stored in a sacred place (temple or synagogue).

No document containing God’s Word could be destroyed; they were stored or buried in a genizah (Hebrew for “storage”).

Did all of these procedures in making copies help ensure their accuracy? Until 1948 the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible dated back to 895 A.D. when a young boy came across some scrolls inside a cave west of the Dead Sea. Known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, these manuscripts dated back to 900 years earlier, to 100B.C. What did the scholars find when they compared the two copies? The copies were accurate and consistent in their translations. This gives up confidence that what we have today is what was given years ago.

Now, let’s go back to the term genizah or place of storage for the Scriptures. In 1896, at the Ezra Synagogue in Cairo Egypt, they found the greatest Jewish treasures ever, documents from the medieval Middle East. This discovery was likened to 20th century discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. I imagine that there are Jewish groups today who still store copies of documents until they can be properly destroyed. Perhaps it is similar to when we in America have a worn our American flag. We are not to simply toss it into the trash. It has to be burnt in a respectful way. Usually Boy Scout units and American Legion posts will properly dispose of your worn flag.

Let’s get into the content of the Book of Ezra.

Ezra 1:1-2 "The Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing . . . he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah." This king is referred to as God’s anointed and the Lord’s shepherd.

Was King Cyrus of Persia a Jew? No, but God can use the non-believer to do his will. God led the Kings of Persia to tell Ezra and Nehemiah, "OK guys, you can go back home. And by the way, take all of this stuff that was taken from your temple years ago. Have a nice trip." Well, that isn't a direct quote, but you get the point.

Ezra 1:5 says that "everyone whose heart God had moved-prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem." Notice that not everyone left Persia. If you recall, Jeremiah told the Israelites to get settled in to their new homes because they were going to be in captivity for seventy years. Well, by the time of Ezra some didn't want to return to Jerusalem. The city was a mess and many of these people may have grown old, had health problems, etc. and couldn't see themselves giving up what they had for the hardships that awaited them in Jerusalem. But even those who couldn't return at least helped those who did. In verse 6 it says, "All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings." It reminds me of when Mom and Dad send their kids off to college with a car full of stuff.

In Ezra 3:3 you will notice that the people continued to work, in spite of the fact that they were scared, fearful of the enemy. They were in a city that was much rubble and they had yet to build a wall around it to protect them from their enemies.

Ezra 3:11 us a key verse. “With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: ‘He is good; his love to Israel endures forever.’ And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.” They also observed of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Ezra 4 finds enemies trying to hinder the rebuilding of the temple. Notice in verse 2 it says, "They came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, "Let us help you build." This was a trick. They weren't interested in helping the Jews. In verse 4 they set out to discourage the people and to make them afraid to go on building. They even sent a letter to the king of Persia saying, "Look, if these Jews rebuild, they will rebel against you, not pay taxes and become a great big pain in your neck." So, construction stopped. Later, the new king of Persia, Darius found the original letter authorizing the Jews to return and build the temple and he sent a letter that said, "Let the temple be rebuilt . . . do not interfere with the work on this temple of God" (Ezra 6:3, 7). So the temple is completed and the Passover is celebrated.

Wouldn't it be great when you come up against opposition to your ministry that you could pull out a letter from the President that says, "TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: DON'T GET IN THIS PERSON'S WAY!"

Ezra 7:6, 10 Ezra was “a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses” . . . v 10 “For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel." Here we see that Ezra was a scholar/teacher.

In Ezra 7:13 you will see that the people of God were referred to as “the Israelites.” If you recall, the nation of Israel split into two nations, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Israel went into captivity to Assyria in 721 B.C. Judah was invaded by Babylon in 581 B.C. Now, those who returned from Babylon are called Israelites. Is this confusing? Well, when the Israelites were taken to Assyria (II Kings 17:6), not everyone was taken. Many of the Israelites headed south to Judah (II Chron. 34:6-9). Others remained in Israel. The reason I’m bringing this up is because the cult that I was a member of, the Worldwide Church of God, founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, taught that the ten tribes of Israel were ended up migrating to Europe and that the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim are modern day U.S. and Britain. This is entirely bogus. The tribes were never “lost” in the first place. The book of James is written to the “twelve tribes.” The book of Acts uses the term Judea and Israel interchangeably. And here in Ezra those who returned from Babylonian captivity are called Israelites.     

Chapter 10 

In chapters nine and ten we find the problem of intermarriage. Why did the men intermarry with non-Israelites? Perhaps it was because there were so few women who returned with the men. This reminds me of the problem the Chinese government created for their people. If you recall, there was a time when couples were allowed to have only one child. Since most couples wanted sons, the baby girls were aborted or allowed to die after birth. Now, a few decades later, we find young men with no women to marry. What did Ezra have the Israelites do with these foreign women? Women were kicked out, with their children. Mothers were given custody of the kids. If you recall, when Hagar was sent away from Sarah and Abraham she had custody of Abraham’s son, Ishmael. Verse 11 “foreign wives” might be pagan wives, implying not only a different nationality, but adherence to a different religion. About 100 couples were involved in this intermarriage, less than half a percentage, mostly laity.

We had to address a similar issue in Tanzania. Some of the pastors in our Pastor Training Program have had Muslims converting to Christianity. The problem was that some of the men already had several wives. What would you advise the pastors in such a situation? The people live in horrible poverty. To discard family members might mean death for some. My advice was to have the men choose one woman to be his real wife, but to continue to care for the others and the children, treating the women as sisters.

Our next book deals with a contemporary of Ezra, a man named Nehemiah.

NEHEMIAH

THE REBUILDING OF THE WALL AROUND JERUSLAEM, JOINED EZRA IN LEADING A REVIVAL

In this book we find Nehemiah returning from Persia to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls around the city and join Ezra in leading the people in a revival.

Nehemiah is serving the king of Persia as his cupbearer, a servant who is in charge of serving the King his wine or whatever. It sounds like he was the royal bartender. This position may not appear to be a very prestigious one, but I would suggest that it is similar to a title of someone in the service of King David who has the title of being the kings’ “friend.” In I Chron 27 we see a list of King Davids’ overseers, one was in charge of the herds, others were in charge of government property, vines, olives, farmland, etc. Then in verse 34 we see, “Hushai the Arkite was the king’s friend.” Hushai and David go back a long way together. If you recall, in II Sam 15-18 Davids’ son Absalom rebelled against him and tried to take over the throne. Hushai sought to join David's company. David, however, persuaded Hushai to return to Absalom and offer him his allegiance. So he goes to Absalom and offers to serve him. In chapter, Absalom has to decide whether to attack David, while he is weak and weary (which is the advice of Ahithophel) or to take the advice of Hushai, which was to gather a larger army before he attacks Davids’ more experienced soldiers. Absalom took the advice of Hushai which gave David and his army time to rest and regroup. Ahithophel was so upset that his advice wasn’t taken that he went home and killed himself.

So, Hushai was the kind of friend that David trusted completely. He could say things to the King that others on his staff could not. Every leader needs to have someone on his staff who can speak openly and freely, to tell the leader what he needs to hear. This reminds me of the relationship that John F. Kennedy had with his brother, Robert Kennedy. There has to be someone near the king or president who can say in private what others would be afraid to say. If you recall the Bay of Pigs disaster early in the Kennedy administration, you can see the danger of what is called Groupthink. Group think is when there is subtle pressure to all agree and to not express any criticism. Imagine if a General expresses an opinion and then askes his staff what they think about a subject. I know that I’m digressing here, but group think can led our government into the Bay of Pigs disaster and it could have led the early church into a disastrous decision in Acts 15. You might recall that the church had to come together to discuss whether or not Gentiles Christians had to obey the Law of Moses. The early believers were Jewish and kept the Law of Moses. Once the church expanded into Gentile areas, some were convinced that the Gentile Christians had to follow the Law of Moses. There was a group discussion where everyone could have their say on the subject before Peter stood up and gave his opinion. If Peter had gotten up first to express his strong opinion that the Gentiles had to obey the Law of Moses, which would have shut off all discussion, everyone would feel compelled to agree. The bottom line is that leaders should create an atmosphere where others are able to express their thoughts without fear of destroying their careers.

Before I move on from the subject of Hushai, I want to show you something that I came across about Hushai from, of all places, the CIA website. Yes, the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency.

Here is what it says:

The Tale of Hushai the Archite

APPROVED FOR RELEASE 1994

CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM 2 JULY 96 SECRET

No Foreign Dissem

The influence agent in Biblical times.

THE TALE OF HUSHAI THE ARCHITE

C. N. Geschwind

Since the publication of the Studies article, "Wanted: An Integrated Counterintelligence" in the summer of 1963, there has been an increase of community interest and concern about that most dangerous and least publicized of all agents, the "agent of influence."

Accordingly, it seems appropriate to review the story of the first influence agent operation on record. This operation was set up by King David and is recounted in II Samuel, 15-18. This account is a good deal more circumstantial and detailed than the frequently cited cases of Rahab the Safe House Keeper (Joshua 2: 1), and Delilah the Penetration Agent (Judges 16: 5). Futhermore, besides its historical and human interest, this operation reminds us of the efficacy of simplicity, audacity, speed, and the exploitation of human frailties in this kind of enterprise. Here is what happened, when King David played for time to counter his son Absalom's surprise attack.

The Situation

Davids’ handsome and popular son, Absalom, having waited many years in vain for his father to go the way of all kings, formed a conspiracy to kill him and usurp the throne. King David soon became aware that Absalom had assembled a large revolutionary force from among the men of Israel, and that the King's best privy counsellor, Ahithophel the Gilonite, had defected to Absalom. Upon hearing of this counsellor's defection, King David prayed that the "counsel of Ahithophel might be turned to

foolishness" but he also gathered his loyal generals and bureaucrats and fled. Absalom thereupon occupied the royal palace.

Mounting the Operation

When David stopped to pray in the course of his flight, Hushai the Archite, an aged counsellor, came to him with his coat rent and earth upon his head, professing grief and loyalty which the King evidently knew to be sincere. King David said to Hushai, "If thou return to the city and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, oh King, as I have been thy father's servant hitherto'. ... then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel ... and what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the Palace, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, who have with them their two sons, and by them ye shall send unto me everything that ye can hear."

Capturing the Dupe

When Hushai the Archite had made his way to the palace, he approached Absalom, who knew him well, and said, "God save the King!" Absalom asked, "Is this thy kindness to thy friend, David. Why wentest thou not with thy friend?" Hushai replied, "Nay, but whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel choose, his will I be and with him will I abide ... as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence." And so Hushai the Archite was accepted as a defector and reestablished as a counsellor.

The Influence Operation

At the council of war which Absalom called, Ahithophel advised Absalom as follows: "Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night and will come upon him while he is weary and weakhanded and will make him afraid. All the people that are with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only. I will bring back all the people unto thee." This proposal reportedly pleased Absalom and all the elders well, but they must have had some doubts and second thoughts as to where the glory would land, for Absalom said: "Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith."

Hushai lost no time in exploiting the distrust, jealousy, fear, and guilt complexes inherent in the situation, saying: "Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war and will not lodge with the people. Behold, he is hid now in some pit or in some other place and it will come to pass when some of (our men) be overthrown at the first that whosoever heareth it will say, `There is slaughter among the people that follow Absalom!' And even he that is valiant shall utterly melt, for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man. Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee from Dan even to Beersheba as the sand is by the sea for multitude and that thou go to battle in thine own person. So shall we come upon him in some place . . . as the dew falleth on the ground and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one. Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city and we will draw it into the river until there be not one small stone found there."

Now, Absalom and "all the men of Israel" thought this advice was better than the advice of Ahithophel, no doubt in part because it gave everybody a piece of the action, and when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was rejected, he went home, "put his household in order and hanged himself' rather than get into a stenching contest with a skunk. While this demonstrated Ahithophel's foresight, it also put Hushai the Archite fully in the driver's seat. A little effective counterintelligence work on Ahithophel's part might have yielded bigger dividends.

The Espionage Action

Like Alger Hiss millennia later, Hushai the Archite was not content to stick to the relatively safe business of influence operations, but had also to dabble in espionage. Hushai immediately called on Zadok and Abiathar the priests and told them: "Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus I have counselled. Now therefore send quickly and tell David not to lodge in the wilderness but speedily pass over (the Jordan)." The sons of these priests, the couriers Jonathan and Ahimaaz, were staying under cover outside the royal city, and received this message via "a wench," not otherwise identified. An informer observed this contact and reported it to Absalom, who sent out an investigative force. The couriers were aware of the leak and sought help from a village woman who hid them in a well. When the investigators queried the woman she said, "They went that-away," or words to that effect, and the search went astray. The couriers then hastened to King David, who promptly crossed the Jordan and mobilized a desperate army.

The Pay-off

Eventually Absalom brought a large, but inexperienced force into battle against the tightly organized forces of the King in terrain in which the King's professionals had every advantage, producing twenty thousand corpses: "The wood devoured more people that day than the sword ... " Among the casualties in the woods was Absalom himself, who appears to have been something of a beatnik, for he had long golden tresses of which he was very proud, and by which he got caught in a tree. There General Joab found and killed him, ending the insurrection. Since Hushai's accomplices subsequently prospered, it is reasonable to assume that he also retained an honored place in the restored administration and ultimately retired with a large pension. General Joab, however, did not fare so well, for King David bore him a lethal grudge for killing Prince Absalom. Perhaps the King saw his renegade counsellor Ahithophel as the real villain in the piece.

Isn’t this something? We have people within the CIA studying the Bible to learn about spying and espionage.

The CIA website also has a story entitled A Bible Lesson on Spying by John M. Cardwell. 

In this paper it tells the story of Rahab in Jericho.

Now, let’s get back to Nehemiah. I think a kings’ friend and his cup bearer, were in very powerful positions for two reasons. One, the king trusted them completely and second, both of them had access to the king. If you wanted to get a message to the king, you could contact either of these two men. These two men had access and in capitals, access is power. Joseph used the cupbearer to get a message to the Pharaoh in Genesis 40:1. 

Nehemiah 1:3 finds Nehemiah receiving a report of the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem. He is told that the people are in trouble and disgraced because they haven’t even built a wall around the city. Back in those days, if you didn’t have a wall around the city you were very vulnerable to an attack and were not considered a real city.

This report troubled Nehemiah. In chapter 2 Nehemiah is taking a glass of wine to the king and the king asked him in verses 1-2, “What’s wrong, you look depressed?” What does this comment say about the king? I get the impression that he is a sensitive person who is not always thinking about himself. He notices that something is bothering Nehemiah and expresses concern. Before Nehemiah answers he says a quick, silent prayer and tells the king what he wants (verses 4-5). In verse 7 Nehemiah goes for broke. Besides asking for a leave of absence to go to Jerusalem to rebuild he asks for letters from the king giving him safe passage and, while he was at it, some building material to do the job.

When Nehemiah was done, do you think there was a bit of tension in the air? How do you think theking would react? How long did the King take to make his decision? Would he flatly turn down the request? Would Nehemiah’s job be at risk? If this was a television series, this would be a good time to end the episode and keep everyone waiting until next week. Well, because “the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my request.” Not only did he give Nehemiah what he wanted, he authorized his military to provide him with an escort. This is because he had been appointed governor of the province (5:14).

I have to interrupt to tell you a quick story. When I worked for Dow Chemical they had a program that paid for anyone to go back to school and earn a graduate degree. I enrolled in the program to work on my Doctor of Ministry degree. After a few courses the program administrator said that they can no longer pay for my program since the degree was not business related. But, they said, if your district supervisor wants to allow you to write it off on your expense account that is for him todecide. Well, I must have caught my manager in a good mood, because he authorized me to write off all of my expenses for my degree. Perhaps “the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king (district manager) granted my request.” If I recall, it amounted to about $15,000.

So, Nehemiah makes it to Jerusalem and at night he inspects the walls (2:15). In verse 17 he says to the people, “We’re in trouble . . . we have no gates to protect us.” The people replied, “Let’s start rebuilding.” This is a great example of leadership. When I was in the Army, one of my positions was teaching leadership to incoming officers. The army had a very simple definition of leadership. It was, “influencing others to accomplish a mission.” This is what Nehemiah did. If only we could get our political “leaders” to do the same.

It didn’t take long for critics to come along and try to discourage them. They came to mock and ridicule them and accuse them of having evil motives, of rebelling against the king. The ridicule continues in chapter four. Nehemiah and the people did two things. They prayed for safety and posted guards to protect themselves. They held a weapon in one hand and a tool in the other. It sometimes bothers me when there is a need, there are those who say, “We’ll pray for you” but they do nothing to help. It reminds me of the pastor who visited a member of the church in the hospital and he said, “We will pray for you.” The patient replied, “I can pray for myself, go to my home and mow my lawn.”

Nehemiah had to deal with another issue, that of hunger and the abusive treatment by wealthy landowners. Apparently the landowners were charging interest on loans and keeping the poor impoverished. Nehemiah gathers the landowners together and tells them that what they are doing is not right (5:9-11). If you recall, Moses taught that you are to loan to your brothers but you are not to charge interest on the loan. Why? Because the only time someone would borrow back then was to purchase the necessities for life itself. To charge interest was taking advantage of the very poor.

In verse 14 Nehemiah tells them that even though he was appointed to be the governor, he didn’t act like previous governors by being heavy handed in his leadership or even taking advantage of the perks that were allowed. He was not going to be a burden for his people, but a servant. We find more opposition to Nehemiah in chapter 6. The enemies suggested, “Hey, let’s meet somewhere for coffee and talk about this project.” His reply is classic. He knew that they had set a trap for him. He responded by saying, “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.” In other words, “I’m too busy to waste my time with critics like you.” The enemies sent out this “invitation” numerous times and got the same reply.

Nehemiah and his workers kept at the task and in only 52 days, the wall was completed (6:15). This must have been a great accomplishment because when their neighboring nations heard about it, they realized that it must have been done “with the help of our God” (v 16). So, unlike many government projects, this project was completed ahead of schedule and probably under budget.

In chapter 8 we find Ezra reading to the people the Law. He stood on a high platform (v 4) and all the people stood up (v 5). In some churches the congregation still stands when the Bible is read. Not only did Ezra read to them the Law, he explained it to them so that everyone could understand what it meant (v 8). I’ve been to the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, an Orthodox Church in Minsk, Belarus and noticed that there are no pews there. Everyone stood. There were pictures (icons) on all of the walls and pillars. It appeared more like an art gallery than a church.

In chapter 10 Nehemiah has to deal with the issue of intermarriage and buying and selling on the Sabbath (v 30-31). They also instituted a temple tax or sorts, organized the rotation of service in the temple and collecting of the tithes of their crops.

In chapter 13 there is another reform. Tobiah, one of the enemies of Nehemiah, was actually allowed to live in a storage room of the temple. In verse 8 it says, “I was greatly displeased (an understatement) and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.” I would love to see this on YouTube. It reminds me of the time Jesus cleared out the temple of the money changers. Nehemiah also learned that the Levites were not being paid so they simply walked off the job and returned to heir homes. The Sabbath was not being honored as it should have been and there were problems of intermarriage.

I mentioned earlier that the CIA has used the Bible to learn some lessons about spying and counterespionage. I think that this book could be used to teach leadership. Nehemiah certainly was very effective in “influencing others to accomplish a mission.”