24-2 Chronicles 34 – Nehemiah 3
Jun. 6, 2009
We will begin our study this week near the end of the Book of 2 Chronicles in Chapter 34. Last week we looked at the reigns of the kings of Judah when the kingdom was divided. This week we will study the last few kings and look at the return of the Jewish people from Babylon after their seventy years of exile. In Chapter 34 Josiah has succeeded the evil King Amon on the throne of Judah. Josiah was a good king and sought the Lord from his youth. He was only eight years old when he began to rule Judah. By the twelfth year of his reign he purged the land of all the idols and carved images. The text says he ground them to powder and scattered the dust on the graves of those who worshipped them. When he returned to Jerusalem in the eighteenth year he set out to repair the temple. He placed men in charge of the task. One man, Hilkiah found the book of the law given to Moses that had been lost for many years. When the king finally heard the words of the law he tore his clothes in mourning for how far the people had fallen from the Lord. He spoke these words in Chapter 34: 21 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord which is poured out on us because our fathers have not observed the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.” Hilkiah and the rest of the people Josiah spoke to went to Huldah the prophetess to find out what the Lord had to say about the king’s request. God said the people would be punished and evil would be brought on the place for what the people had done. Josiah though, would live a life of peace because of his prayer and obedience. Josiah’s reign was good. He made a covenant with the Lord to follow His commandments. He had the people also make the same commitment. Josiah had the people observe the Passover as Hezekiah did earlier. Near the end of his reign Josiah decided to intervene in a conflict between Egypt and the men of Assyria. Neco the king of Egypt and his army were passing through Judah on their way north to fight Assyria. Josiah was killed by an archer during the battle. Egypt then took control of Judah and removed their new king. Neco placed the kings brother on the throne who was evil and did not follow the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon then came against Judah and took the new king and the treasures of the temple back to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar then placed another evil king over Judah. Finally he came and defeated Judah and carried the people away to exile in Babylon. Zedekiah was king at the time and rebelled against Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar crushed the rebellion and carried away all that was left in the city. The temple was burned along with the other buildings in Jerusalem. The city was left all but empty for seventy years until the time Cyrus the king of Persia allowed the return of the captives to Jerusalem. This ends the Book of 2 Chronicles. We will now begin the Book of Ezra and the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after the time of the Jewish captivity. The Book of Ezra was written about the history of the Jewish people from the year 538 B.C. through 458 B.C. During the exile of the people of Judah in Babylon, Persia had defeated the Babylonian king and taken control of world power. Possibly because of the testimony of Daniel and the other captives the new king sent out a proclamation allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. The text says in Chapter 1 that the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus the king to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. Cyrus also brought out the vessels of the temple that were stolen by Nebuchadnezzar and gave them to the returning people. The return was led by Zerubbabel the Levite priest. Chapter 2 lists the people who were brought back to Jerusalem, where they were from, and their number. When the people returned and were settled in the seventh month, the altar was restored and the continual sacrifice to the Lord was reinstated. The people celebrated the Feast of Booths at the prescribed time. In the second year of the peoples return to Jerusalem work began on the restoration of the temple. Solomon’s temple had been destroyed and burned by Nebuchadnezzar during the captivity so a new foundation had to be laid to support the new structure. The people rejoiced when they saw the work completed, but the old men who had been in Jerusalem before the exile wept because the new temple was to be only a shadow of the splendor of the earlier temple. The Ark of the Covenant was missing, and also the Shekinah Glory of the Lord’s presence was no longer there. In Chapter 4 it was recorded that the former enemies of the Jewish people in the land wanted to help with the work on the temple. This was not an effort to join with Israel, but they wished to continue the corruption that caused the Lord to send His people into exile in Babylon years ago. The Jews refused their help and their enemies frightened and frustrated the people from working on the temple from this time until the reign of Darius in Babylon. The people that had remained in the land did not want the Jews to regain their former control and power they experienced during the time of King Solomon. A letter, in Aramaic, was written to Artaxerxes the king of Persia to falsely warn him of the threat the Jews activity was to his kingdom. The king answered the letter and halted work on the temple. Restoration work on the temple ceased for sixteen years. In Chapter 5 Haggai and Zechariah prophesied to the people and work resumed on the temple. The Persian governor of the land asked the Jews who gave them the authority to rebuild their temple. The text says in Chapter 5:5 “But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report could come to Darius, and then a written reply be returned concerning it.” Tattenai the governor sent the report to Darius and awaited his reply. In the report the Jews told the story of how King Cyrus had issued the decree to rebuild the temple. Darius read the report in Chapter 6 and searched the archives for the decree of Cyrus. The decree was found and Darius the king honored its words. He sent a reply to Tattenai instructing him to leave the restoration work on the temple alone and that the work was to be financed by the royal treasury. The temple was completed and dedicated with much celebration among the Jews living in the land. The returned exiles gathered in Jerusalem and celebrated the Passover and also the Feast of Unleavened Bread that followed. The people rejoiced because the Lord had turned the heart of the king of Assyria towards them to rebuild the house of God. After this time the author of this book, Ezra traveled to Jerusalem from Babylon. Ezra was a skilled scribe and priest who was well versed in the Law of Moses. He had set his heart to go up to Jerusalem to teach, study, and practice the Law. Artaxerxes issued a decree and gave it to Ezra that allowed anyone who wished to return to Jerusalem. Ezra was charged by Artaxerxes to rule over the city and to appoint magistrates and judges over the people. It’s hard to believe that an unbelieving king of the Persians would send a man to teach the laws of God to the people. Chapter 8 lists the people who returned to Jerusalem with Ezra. He had to send to Babylon for some Levites because none could be found in the land. Ezra proclaimed in Chapter 8:21-23 “Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.”So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty.” The people made the journey safely and the treasure was placed into the temple in Jerusalem. The end of the Book of Ezra covers the issue of mixed marriages among the Jews and the people of the land. The Samaritan people were created from such unions. The issue of mixing with people other than Israelites had been the problem with God’s people from the beginning. When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt they allowed a mixed multitude to follow them. When Joshua led the conquest of the Promised Land the people did not obey the Lord and destroy all their enemies. The downfall of King Solomon came from his association with foreign women. And also many of the kings of both Israel and Judah turned from the Lord and worshipped the gods and idols of God’s enemies. Ezra realized this fact and even though God hates divorce the people were encouraged to dissolve the mixed unions and separate and purify themselves before the Lord. This ends the Book of Ezra. We will now start the Book of Nehemiah. The Book of Nehemiah is also believed to have been written by Ezra the scribe. The book covers the rebuilding of the city walls of Jerusalem about fourteen years after the events in the Book of Ezra. Chapter 1 opens with Nehemiah, the royal cupbearer to the king of Persia mourning over the condition of the walls of the city of Jerusalem where his brothers had returned from. He prayed that the Lord would cause the king to have compassion on him when he went in to ask about the walls of the city. In Chapter 2 the opportunity arose for Nehemiah to ask about the walls of Jerusalem and the Lord was faithful to grant his request. Artaxerxes agreed with Nehemiah’s request and sent him to Jerusalem to inspect the walls. The Persian officials of the city did not like the idea of anyone seeking the welfare of the Jews. The official’s names were Sanballat and Tobiah. Nehemiah came to Jerusalem and was there three days. He did not tell anyone why he was there and he and a few men rode a circuit around the city to inspect its gates and walls. When the officials saw Nehemiah they mocked him and asked him if he was rebelling against the king. Nehemiah answered in Chapter 2:20 “The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.” Chapter 3 lists the men who Nehemiah assigned to do the work on the gates and walls of the city. Many of the people of the city were assigned the section of the wall or the gate near their home to repair. This ends our study for this week. Next week we will finish up the Book of Nehemiah, and cover most of the Book of Esther.