00A.02 Ezra 2

Ezra 2:1-70 This very long chapter mainly consists of lists of names, most of them completely unknown to us. But God is pleased to take account of those who took this great step, those who went up out of the captivity, to Jerusalem (Ezra 2:1). No doubt is was a very difficult decision to take. Much spoke against it. Just think about these arguments:

First of all, there was the comfort argument. You might also call it the argument of tradition and custom. It runs as follows:

"We are settled in Babylon. We have been brought up here and, for some of us, our parents have been brought up here. We have got used to things. How can we leave everything behind, just to go to what is a strange place to us?" But is it comfort and custom that should tip the balance, or should we ask what God’s will is?

Then there is the minority argument. This argument is still very popular today, especially in large religious institutions:

"How can a minority be right? When Israel left Egypt, they were 600,000 men plus families. When they entered the land of Canaan, they were about the same number[1]. Since then, the people must have grown. And now there were just 43,000 who think Jerusalem is the place to be". But faith does not look to the numbers for guidance, but at God’s word. The unity argument sounds particularly spiritual. It runs along the following lines:

"You cannot leave in the name of unity. It is clear that not all will go to Jerusalem, some just can’t and some just won’t. Therefore, if you leave for Jerusalem you cause a division."

Well, we will see later that the unity of the people of God was expressed at Jerusalem. The first priority is to do God’s will. If everybody does, there will be unity. If some don’t, then those who are in Jerusalem still take account of the whole people (they offer 12 he-goats for 12 tribes although only two tribes were represented, Ezra 6:17 and Ezra 8:35). The unity of the people of God is most valuable, but this objective does not justify disobedience to Christ. The ’why Jerusalem’ argument, again, has a voice for our time. This is how it goes:

"After all, what is so special about Jerusalem? Nowadays, it is just a place of ruins, full of rubble. It would be far easier to start from scratch, somewhere on a green field site."

Admittedly, this argument has a lot going for it. It sound so logical and pragmatic. Things have gone badly wrong, so why not start a new church, why not found an organisation that does not suffer from the same shortcomings? But is this the voice of faith? If God has chosen Jerusalem, then faith does not attempt to find something ’better’ or ’easier’. Likewise, it may seem easier today to start ’something new’. But God’s thoughts are unchanged and all He wants us to do is to return to the old principles first set out by Him, even if there is much ’rubble’ in the way. But for those whose spirits God raised up, all of these arguments were defeated by the faith argument: God has chosen Jerusalem, and that is where we want to be!!! And God took note carefully of all those who overcame the many counter-arguments and who went up. It is good to see that there were priests among them (Ezra 2:36), and also Levites (Ezra 2:40). It is good to see a recovery of priestly activity among the people, as well as of levitical service. But Levites always seem to be in short supply. Here we find just 74 Levites for about 4,000 priests (and we will find an even greater shortage in Ezra 8:1-36). Those who are willing to be engaged in practical work for the benefit of the people of God are notoriously few. But praise the Lord there are some!

There were also singers (Ezra 2:41), so that praise could be given to God, and porters (Ezra 2:42) who would be responsible to keep everything out that would interfere with the Lord’s glory. And God even takes account of those we might have forgotten: the Nethinim (Ezra 2:43) and Solomon’s servants (Ezra 2:55). These may not have been of Jewish descent, and they were occupied with lowly service. But God is pleased to mention all the names of the fathers of those who went up to Jerusalem. Similarly, in the body of Christ, members have different tasks, duties, and abilities, and the most prominent ones may not be the most important ones (1 Corinthians 12:1-31).

Then a difficult situation arose. There were priests who sought their registers (Ezra 2:61) and who were not able to prove their descent. Without genealogies, they were not able to prove that they were entitled to be priests. What was to be done?

First of all, it is important to see that this sort of problem would not have arisen in the early days, the reason being that, back then, everyone knew who the priests and their families were. It is only because the exercise of priestly service had been interrupted for 70 years and because of all the confusion that had come with the Babylonian captivity, that this problem could arise. In other words, it was a consequence of the ruin of the people (and, of course, a certain negligence on the part of these priests - if indeed they were priests - to keep their documents together). An added difficulty was that they no longer possessed the Urim and Thummim, as they used to, which would have allowed them to find out the truth.

It is essential to realise that the church, as far as its practical testimony and state go, is in ruins today. We no longer live in the early days when no ’strange elements’ would have dared to try to join themselves to the Christians (Acts 5:13). We no longer live in days were 3,000 are converted by one sermon (Acts 2:41), or in a day where God confirms the message through sign gifts (Hebrews 2:4). Under the circumstances, the best course of action is to take account of our weakness and not to pretend to have what we do not have (Ezra 2:63). It must have been hard to refuse those priests but doing so just demonstrated that they put God first, not human feelings.

It is beautiful to read in Ezra 2:68 that "they came to the house of God". What house, one might ask. The temple had been burnt many years ago and nothing had been rebuilt. But they had come to the right place, and in God’s eyes this is where His house has to be and is. And when they got there, "they offered freely" (Ezra 2:69). This is another feature of this revival. There is a genuine interest in the things of God, in His work. And we read that "they gave after their ability" (Ezra 2:70).