Ezra 2
RileyEzra 2:1-70
THE ORDEREzra, Chapters 1 and 2.THE relationship of Ezra to Chronicles is evident. There is not a hint of break between them. Chronicles ends,“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of Heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up” (2 Chronicles 36:23),and Ezra opens,“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of Heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah” (Ezra 1:1-2).If it were not for the name Ezra, here introduced, one would never know that he had changed Books. In fact, Ezra is additional chronicle.
It is the record of temple-building and involves the revival of the national spirit and the quickening of religious interest. Ordinarily, such revivals originate with prophet or priest.
Here, however, it originates with the king, and, strange to say, with a king who was no Israelite, but who seems to have been a monotheist.Beyond all question, if we knew the Divine reasons for doing things, we would discover that they are always perfect reasons.A king was the best adapted man to originate and see carried to a successful issue this particular revival, since it was a revival that began on the material rather than on the spiritual side and looked to the creation of a house—a physical assembly place—for God’s people, rather than to a soul-quickening; although it must forever be accepted as a fact that the material was but a means to spiritual ends.In considering this building order, we are impressed by the following facts!First, Cyrus received it from God,“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of Heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house” (Ezra 1:2).This order, then, came from God. When did a revelation ever come from any other? When did a revival ever originate with any other? If men are inspired, God inspires them. In matters of revelation this is doubtless done in two ways: First, a direct message from the lips of the Lord, and second, a stirring of the spirit in the heart of His chosen medium. It would seem in the text that the latter was the method here employed.
But the language is, “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing”. However, it is not at all certain that God did not speak audibly to Cyrus, for, by the pen of inspiration, we are told in the last verse of Chronicles, “The Lord God of Heaven * * hath charged me to build Him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah”.It is not at all unusual to have special revelation attended by a special revival.
In fact, we should say that that was the method God commonly employed—a revelation and a revival. In truth, these can never be separated. Present-day revival, when it takes place, is always the product of revelation. It is the answer to the preaching of the revealed Word. It is the fulfilment of the Divine promise,“As the rain cometh down, and the snow from Heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:“So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth” (Isaiah 55:10-11).There are people who seem to think that a revival will surely result if the Spirit of God falls upon the people. Possibly, and yet, let it not be forgotten that His coming assures a fresh proclamation of the Word.
Witness Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. In the early part of the chapter, the Spirit of God has fallen.
This is evidenced by “a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind”, filling “all the house where they were sitting”, and further proclaimed in the tongues of fire that sat upon each of them. And yet, it was an answer to the preaching of the Word in a tongue wherein each was born, and the mighty proclamation at the lips of Peter that thousands were convicted and twenty-five hundred were immediately converted.There is never a revival apart from revelation. They have a common origin. They both come from God and they commonly come together.This revelation came to the king. Cyrus was able to say, “The Lord God of Heaven * * hath charged me to build Him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah”, and the record of it in Ezra is, “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing” (Ezra 1:1).There are people who seem to think that God has nothing to do with world governments, or world governors. They overemphasize certain features of revelation and remind us that the humble are commonly made the subjects of His revelation, and the agents of His will, saying, that “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called” (1 Corinthians 1:26), but it is well not to forget the qualifications of Scripture here. “Not many” is not to be read, “not one”.
Again and again in Old Testament times, God appeared to Kings. In fact, He seldom ignored that honored official if he happened to rule over God’s people.There are those who seem to think that no building program that looks to spiritual ends can ever be accomplished save by a consecrated people.
On the other hand, God’s great building programs have often been wrought out by the will and work of the poorly consecrated, the imperfectly yielded, and sometimes the imperfectly instructed. Solomon’s temple will forever remain the sample construction of the ages for spiritual purposes, and yet Solomon was a very deficient saint.The period through which we are passing at the present is particularly a building period. Never in the history of Christianity have such expensive and attractive temples been erected as during the last ten years, and yet, it is confessedly a time of apostasy from the faith. To be sure, these temples are put up, most of them, with the intention of making them the mediums of a modernistic message. But who can tell what God may have in store for them?A few years, if the Lord delay, and all this folly of modernism will have passed; men will have seen the end of their own philosophies and have sickened at the sight of the same, and the very buildings that are being constructed for false propagation may yet be filled with audiences that seek His face and find His favor.In material progress, the kings of the earth are the most capable contributors. Cyrus could do here what no other living man could do, and God stirred him up to accomplish the same.
The kings of finance in America today are being equally stirred to lay their money on the altar of building enterprises. They may not know the whole of the Divine purpose; they may not see the Divine objective, but God knows and sees, and may be the very one who has stirred them up to these marvelous undertakings.This action was in fulfilment of prophecy.
A student of the Bible needs to keep chronology before his face. He needs to relate history to prophecy and prophets to kingly periods. A student of this particular part of the Bible needs to know that Jeremiah preceded Cyrus by three-quarters of a century. His word was even then written and accepted as Divine, and the Book of Ezra calls attention to that fact in the language,“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing” (Ezra 1:1).Turn, now, to Jeremiah 25:12, and you read,“And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolation”.And in Jeremiah 29:10-14, we read again,“For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.“Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.“And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.“And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I mil turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive”.God never forgets a promise, nor permits a prophecy to fail of fulfilment.ISRAEL GAVE TO CYRUSThey knew a building was required; they understood the place was appointed, and they knew the program included them.They knew a building was required. That was the thing that had been charged upon Cyrus. There are people who can’t understand why God wants to limit Himself to a house.
Knowing, as they do, that He dwelleth in all space, they repudiate any thought of location for Him. But let it be understood that God Himself suggests these limitations.
They are not the thought of the king. They are a part of revelation Divine, and they are also an essential to human understanding. God does dwell in infinite space, but man cannot follow Him there, or even find Him. It is in answer to their limitations that He locates Himself, and it is to make them sensible of His presence, in the midst, that He appoints their assemblies. Who shall ever reckon the number or character of benefits bestowed on assemblies and sanctuaries? Who will ever compute the importance of church houses in Christian progress?The place of this temple was appointed. “In Jerusalem, which is in Judah”.Who will say that the location of a house is a matter of minor concern?
The tragedy of Christianity is at this point. Visit any city you will in America and one-half its church houses were evidently located by men who never consulted God.
They are off to one side; they are around the corner; they are in the untraversed district; they are where lots could be bought cheaply; they are not where the people are congested, where the throngs pass! What a shame! What a crime! Take the hearts of the great metropolises of America. They are black holes. Churches have moved away from them, and business has moved on to the very cite where the sanctuary should stand, and once did stand.
Some trustee of the church, in order to relieve himself from making larger contributions, possibly from making any at all, lead the forces that determined the cheap location.How many times the central down-town church lot has been sold for a sufficient sum to construct a house in some out-of-the-way section! The plethoric purse has been left untouched, and the Divine appointment of place has been despised.
It is God’s right to say where His house shall stand, and as God, in the olden day, located the temple at the very center of all Israel’s interests, so God now would do if designing men would but let Him.The builders also were Divinely selected—the willing workers of God’s people.“Who is there among you of all His people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (He is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.“And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:3-4).How beautiful the record!“Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.“And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered (Ezra 1:5-6).This is a better report than usually characterizes the history of building enterprises. There are professed Christians, supposed spiritual descendants of Judah and Benjamin, who think that the world ought to build the church, and who proceed straightway to put on a lecture course, thereby to inveigle the cash out of non-Christian pockets, or to hold a series of oyster suppers and thereby take away silver in turn for thin soup; or, if you please, employ picture shows and approach as nearly the putrid as public opinion will tolerate, that money may be made for God’s building.When did such a program ever find in revelation a defense of itself? When and where did God ever approve of such procedure? No! when God’s house is to be builded, God’s people are to do it. The old men—fathers of Judah and Benjamin—and the young men, strong in the faith, are to unite their endeavors; the priest and the Levite, they are to join with the laymen in laying the foundation, and in putting in place the finial. The silver and the gold with which God has blessed them is to be. willingly brought, and the altar of sacrifice is to receive only gifts of love.
Such is the procedure here suggested, surely!But, in finishing this chapter, and in considering the next, let us seeTHE KING AND ISRAEL UNITEDCyrus made the first contribution. This contribution represented two essential features of Christian experience—repentance and faith.
These vessels had been in the hands of his predecessor and had been godlessly employed. They belonged, however, to the house of the Lord, and had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar out of Jerusalem, out of the holy sanctuary and prostituted to the ends of personal employment, as with Belshazzar (Daniel 5:1-4), or devoted to the service of idols, as intimated in verse 7. This iniquity Cyrus evidently repented and turned from the worship of gods to faith in the true God—the God of Israel. It was no mean contribution:“thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,“Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.“All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbaszar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:9-11).Oh, how many men there are who have taken away from God’s sanctuary what belonged in it; who have kept for their own use, or have employed in the service of Venus, or Gambrinus, and other unclean gods, that which belonged originally to Jehovah, and which should now be in His service.And yet, what is there that does not belong to Jehovah? What of wealth that He did not create; what of talent that He did not give?
Joseph Parker thinks that in the day of the restoration of all things, men will bring back gold, art, music, miracles, reason, science—they all belong to Him; they should all be on His altar.Oh, young man, matchless in your ability to touch the business world with a magic wand, and make it yield great heaps of gold, remember the silver and the gold are the Lord’s. And oh, young woman, blessed with a brilliant intellect, or sacredly endowed with rhythmic sense that makes music as natural to you as breath, or art as easy as vision; don’t carry off these sacred gifts and lay them on unclean altars, devoting them to false gods, but bring them to Him whose they were and whose they are and whose you are.Kings are not to be exceptions here, but to be examples rather.
When God’s house is in need, kings of finance are not to lag back, but to lead the procession; they are not to wait and see what the people can do without them, but they are to set an inspiring example and prove what the people will attempt with them. Watch that, then, and take your next step.Israel came quickly to Cyrus’ help. This statement covers the whole of Ezra 2. Let not the student stumble over this genealogical list; over the long difficult names of the children of the province that went up out of captivity and came again unto Jerusalem. They are set down that you might see who they were, and how many, and that you might appreciate the great procession as it marched toward Jerusalem. This genealogical table shows their heads of families, and enumerates descendants.
It also involves more than numbers; it records talents. The Levites are there; the singers are there.“Forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore.“Beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women.“Their horses were seven hundred thirty and six; their mules, two hundred forty and five;“Their camels, four hundred thirty and five; their asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.“And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place” (Ezra 2:64-68).How marvelous the statement, they gave after their ability!
That’s the very law of the New Testament. And how beautiful the collaboration of labors,“So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities” (Ezra 2:70).But, there is also a suggestion here that we cannot pass over in silence. It is found in the Nethinims.A building enterprise proves a genealogical touchstone to them.“These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.“And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim” (Ezra 2:62-63);in other words, until a priest arose who had at his command the instruments of decision, the sacred stones that were supposed to tell for or against any proposition. But let us see this clear lesson in the text. Every time a building enterprise of any considerable proportions is undertaken, it will prove the people, those whose genealogy is fully established, who have been begotten by the Holy Spirit and thereby made children of the King; they will come and gladly lay their offerings upon the altar to the Lord. That same building enterprise will prove those who have another spirit, but who have never known regeneration, and who, therefore, belong not to the family of God, but to the house of the flesh, and who, in self-love, will refuse to make sacrifices.There are many ministers who hesitate to undertake a building enterprise because they know this truth.
They know that when a great load is to be lifted and a great undertaking is to be carried through, division, discussion, controversy, contention are certain. Some will want to go forward; others will want to stand still, and bitterness ensues.
On that account, the fearful minister draws back and often consents to give up an enterprise that he believes to be in the interest of truth and for the honor of God.But is there not another side to this same proposition? Is it not worthwhile for the pastor to find out who of his people are the Lord’s? Is it not better to have it openly understood who they are, also, that cannot establish their spiritual genealogy? Is not a smaller church better than a larger mixed multitude? Are not a few hundred consecrated Christians more to be coveted in church fellowship than a few thousand of the godly and unregenerated, mixed?There have been a few building enterprises in America devoted exclusively to spiritual ends that have exceeded in extent or expense those of the First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, and the Northwestern Bible School. At this, the end of thirty-one years as pastor of the church, and twenty-five in the presidency of the school, I bear truthful testimony to the fact that these building enterprises have brought, among other blessings, this, as one of great value.
They have tested my people; they have proven the loyal; they have uncovered the disloyal. And in these great buildings, that cover almost two blocks, there stands an eternal memorial to the spiritual genealogy of the men who have made them possible.
And while it is a history not written in stone, doubtless the Divine archives have kept a perfect record of it, namely, the history of the Nethinims—men who were once with us, but who, when the enterprise came, preferred another dwelling place and left the true Israel to carry the load Divinely appointed, and come eventually into the blessing Divinely bestowed.