Ezra chapters 7-10 (ch 8-10)

Right, chapter 8, let's speak about chapter 8. Now if I just divide chapter 8 for you again, I would divide chapter 8 into three sections and I want us please just to focus on the central section here in chapter 8. So verses 1 to 14, I don't think we need to say much if anything about this, but this is what I would call an archive, an archive of the various leaders that were coming back to Jerusalem. And as we said, there are about 1,500 males, just a little bit less, plus the Nethanim and the Levites and so on. So maybe 5, 6, 7,000 in total.

If you add in the women and the children, they're all coming back under this second wave. So you've got the archive of the leaders, verses 1 to 14. Verse 31 to 36, their arrival in Jerusalem.

They've been on a journey that's going to take them a long time, four months. And when you get to verse 31, and as Frank has just said, what a delight this must have been for a man like Ezra, who had just thrilled his soul with the scriptures all his life, and now he's coming back to the place of the name. And he's able to offer sacrifices, burnt offerings, and he's able to do that according to the law.

Remarkable, tremendous. But in the middle, and this is what I want to focus on, in the middle, verses 15 to 30, we've got the assembling in Babylon. So what Ezra is doing is he's assembling all the people together for their journey to Jerusalem.

They're going to go up from Babylon, that's verse 1, about 900 miles, took them 109 days, four months. They wanted to depart on the first day of the first month, didn't work out. They left on the 12th day of that first month, and they're all going to assemble in Babylon.

So could we focus, please, just on verses 15 to 30, that assembling in Babylon. Do you remember, I want to talk to you about stewardship. So you've got the idea of the service of the Levites, the fact that the Levites were missing, and the Levites had to be called.

If you could say something, please, about those missing Levites, and possibly sometimes about servants that go missing in relation to the house of God and the assembly. And then, of course, you've got the seeking of God, 21 to 23. They're going to seek the face of God before they undergo this arduous journey.

And then, finally, you've got the stewardship of the priests and all of the silver and the gold and the vessels that were counted out and weighed out to them. So let's focus on that central section, and maybe something first about these Levites, please. I wondered if the Levites didn't really lose their purpose in Babylon.

There was nothing to serve. There was nothing going on. They just amalgamated into the everyday life, and they liked it that way.

They just disappeared. So they lost something almost of their spiritual purpose, you mean, because there wasn't a temple and so on. Got engaged in many other kinds of purpose, you know, with their own homes and so on, but lost a spiritual purpose, and that's a challenge.

How would you make the application to the assembly today, would you think? Well, they were the ones that were doing the heavy lifting, and it's a whole lot easier to let someone else do it. Yeah, yeah, and we all have a stewardship. Let's not forget that.

You know, there are many stewardships that we have in terms of the word of God and so on. We can speak about that, but we all have responsibility. We all have spiritual gift.

We all have responsibility to be building into the local assembly, to be serving in the local assembly, to be exercising priesthood. So we all have responsibility, and pray to God that we don't lose the energy of that responsibility. In chapter 7, we focused in on Ezra and how that he was very conscious of the hand of God upon him, his knowledge of the word and so on.

The last verse of chapter 7, and I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. Verse 15 of the next chapter, and I gathered them together to the river. It was a result of the good hand of the Lord upon him that he had this exercise to bring other men with him.

Just the point that in the things of God, it's not a one-man band. We need to work with our brethren. But just look at that verse 15, I viewed the people.

So how many shepherds do we have here in this gathering? I don't know. How many elders do we have here? How many overseers do we have here? Isn't it remarkable that Ezra, he discerned what was lacking. He just gazed.

He viewed the people. He said, hang on, there's something lacking here, and we might have to just, we might have to delay the journey to Jerusalem. We might have to let, it still only took four months, but we might have to delay because there's something lacking.

Now, very interesting where you get to the New Testament, a man called Barnabas, he did the same thing in Antioch. He said in Acts chapter 11, he surveyed the company and he said, there's something lacking here. He said, we need a man to teach.

So they got a man in to teach, didn't they? Isn't that amazing? Just surveying the company and shepherds, overseers, please, you should be constantly surveying the spiritual requirements of the assembly and the flock. What can we do to meet the needs of this assembly? That's the very meaning of the word, overseer. While there might be an immediate need for teachers and teaching to be given in the assembly and the solution to that, godly men are brought in with the knowledge of the word, gifted men, and they give teaching.

That's good. But that should only be a temporary solution, should it not, in God's assembly. In order that local men are raised to perform in that way.

Correct. Yeah. Was that how the methonym had come in even? It was because of that lack, right? And so, I mean, there's even a question as to how their origin, I don't know, some suggest they were from Midianites or something.

Gibeonites. Yeah, Gibeonites. Yeah, I think that's right.

Joshua 9 there, right? Exactly. Yeah. And they're almost a step down because they were the servants or the hard laborers, weren't they? Yeah.

In the temple and around the temple and the Levites were the servants to the priests and so on. Yeah. So, let's just say something about these Levites.

Ezra sends a committee, right? So, you've got verse 16 and he then sent unto, verse 17, he then sent unto Iddo, the chief at the place Cassiphia, whatever this might have been. It could have been some sort of Jewish study center, we just don't know. And it's almost as if Iddo is the headmaster of the Jewish study center, right? So, he sends men and he says, I want you to see if there was any that would consider a ministry in Jerusalem.

Now, these men are found and they're coming out but a lack in willing servants. It's often said, right, in the assembly that it's just, you know, you might have an assembly of 20, you might have an assembly of 40, you might have an assembly of 60 and it's just, well, it's just three or four or five, 10% that do all the work in the assembly. That's shameful, isn't it? But this is an old story.

There was a lack of willing servants. But please, just look at this man. Chapter 8, verse 18, there was a man found, his name was Sherebiah.

Now, when you've got the context and you're making a spiritual application, the meaning of names can be very, very useful. Sherebiah means the Lord has delivered. The Lord has set free.

I wonder if this man was acutely aware of what God had done spiritually in his life. I'm thinking about redemption now, salvation. The Lord has set me free.

The Lord has delivered me. That's what his name means. And then look at him.

He was a man of understanding. That word means insight. A man of capacity, a man for rational thought, a man of discretion, and a man of discernment.

That's what we need in servants, by the way. Men who are discerning, men who are discretionary, men who understand, men who have insight, men who are willing just to put their hands to the plow. That was Sherebiah.

So that's the service of the Levites. So why didn't he go himself of his own volition at the beginning? That is the question. So that question we leave.

What did they need? I'm making the application to the assembly. Sometimes, sometimes there just needs to be a need that is seen or a need that arises. And when that need's pointed out, then there was a willingness in the heart of the man to go.

When he was aware, Brother Dan, of the need, it was brought to his attention. This dear man, Edo, he comes to him. He says, now, Ezra's going up.

There's people requested and required to go up with him. Will you go up? He was willing at that stage. And that's why we need shepherds, isn't it? Just to point out where the need is, where the need is required so that folks can see that.

Sorry, Brendan. Before we move on with the Levites and missing, practically speaking, there's a lot of young people here today. And many of you are from little assemblies.

So we're talking about remnant things and small things in a sense. Why is it that we want to go to a bigger assembly? I'm just going to challenge your heart. Do you want to go to a bigger assembly because there's less to do? Yeah, exactly.

You see, what's taking place in oftentimes a little assembly is there's so much work to do. And you've seen that in your lifetime. And you've seen your grandpa and you've seen your grandma and you've seen your mom and dad work and work and work.

And that's not for you. That's what you're thinking is, I want to go to a bigger assembly where there's more people and there's more activities. Because where I go, it's just nothing but hard work.

Don't let that be your attitude. Amen. Don't let don't go there.

It's all about putting your shoulder to the work where you are. Amen. And when you're in a larger assembly, it's very, very easy to sit back, relax, take it easy.

Others will do the work. And what you start to find is when you're in an assembly, our assembly now is just between 35 and 40 in fellowship, which isn't particularly large, I suppose. But you start to find actually that when you get in an assembly that large, that there's not enough work sometimes to go around.

And folks are actually wanting to serve and labor and they can't because there's not so much work. People are in their proper place and so on. But assemblies are lampstands.

They are valuable. They're golden lampstands. Christ values them.

And it doesn't matter how big that assembly is. It's valuable to the person of Christ. And where God has put us, may he put a work to our hands and may we be fervent in engaging, serving in that work.

It was actually the opposite of being easy here as the chapter unfolds further. Verse 21. Good.

Thank you. Right. Yeah.

Then I proclaimed a fast there by the river of Hava. Yeah. So that wasn't easy.

They were going to afflict their souls. Now, could you maybe say a little word on this idea of fasting? And is there a place for that today to just a little help on that? Because it has come up recently. So from the service of the Levites 15 to 20, we're thinking about seeking God 21 to 23.

Now, you'll notice that it says, verse 21, I proclaimed a fast there that we might afflict ourselves. And he wants to seek of God a right way for us. Isn't that lovely? A straight or a safe journey for us.

And of course, what Ezra is doing in praying and fasting is he is expressing a confidence and a dependence, a confidence in God and a dependence upon him. So he's humbling himself before God. Now, when it comes to fasting, there are in the New Testament, I'm thinking now, there is one or two examples of fasting in the New Testament.

So Acts chapter 13, for example, when Saul and Barnabas were sent out on their first missionary journey, they prayed and they fasted. But certainly there is no New Testament commandment that is binding on believers to fast. I would rather say and better say that when it comes to the New Testament, it really is the principle of surrendering things that are legitimate.

So surrendering legitimate pursuits, legitimate time. And sometimes the people of God are so engaged in the work of God, they're so engaged in the study of scripture or they're so engaged in tracting or they're so engaged in a conference like this. Now, we haven't really missed out on food, have we? But the principle of surrendering things which we might otherwise have been engaged in because we're dedicated to the work of God, that's what's happening here today.

So in a sense, that principle of surrendering certain legitimate things because we're engaged in the work of God is fasting. And certainly there is no New Testament encumbrance upon us. In the epistles, no mention of it.

The word in 1 Corinthians 7 is omitted. So it's not something that's binding upon us. It was Jewish practice.

But nevertheless, like you've applied it here today to us, well, we could be doing other things. But we have foregone that and here we are around the word of God. I know of a brother who, to give himself to study and prayer, he deliberately shuts out social media.

That's a good thing. Yeah. And he actually calls that fasting.

But again, it's not. So that's the principle. Surrendering legitimate pursuits perhaps, I wasn't saying social media was a legitimate pursuit, but surrendering some legitimate things.

In order that I might be more devoted to Christ. That's the principle of fasting. Can we just move on? And a brother, please, because I want to get to chapters 9 and 10.

Just one point. You did mention this question about not asking for... I did. You're helping this man out here.

Well, in one sense, is it because of his own testimony that was at stake? I think so. Yeah. And so he had actually spoken to the king.

I'm in verse number 22. We had spoken to the king saying, the hand of our God is upon us. And because of his testimony to the king, he wasn't prepared to ask the king for a band of men that would go up with him.

Now, Nehemiah hadn't done the same thing. No. Nehemiah hadn't made that protestation to the king.

And so because of that, that's the slight distinction. I think that's right. That's 14 years later.

And would you allow me this? And I think it's maybe just a variation on that line, but I completely agree with that. For Ezra, this is a religious matter. Yes.

This is a spiritual matter. This is the God that I worship. And I've stated these things about this God.

And therefore, I'll show you that this is real to me. Nehemiah was a little bit more of a political matter. Can I ask you a question with regard to that then, Dan? Because when we come to Brandon's Bible reading tomorrow afternoon, Nehemiah chapter eight, he stands up publicly.

Now, you have told us that here they are, and they're going to go up, and we're going to see them reaching the city and the sanctuary, etc. Why is it that we have no record of that being done publicly for 13 years? Of what being done publicly? So when we get to Nehemiah chapter eight, the people say, bring the book. The people say, as they bring the book, I opened the book.

Nehemiah goes through some of the structure. There's the pulpit of wood that is standing. There's the 13 men, men six and seven on either side.

He stands. He opens the scriptures. Why is it from this 458 period that we have no record of that until we get to 444? I don't know why there's no record of it, but he did it.

And I think we know he did it because of the start of chapter nine. Good. Because at the start of chapter nine, the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves.

The princes came saying, now, how do they know? Because I take it that when Ezra returned, he got down to the business of teaching the law and the word of God, and that stirred up the heart and the conscience of the people. So they came. They said, we disobeyed this.

So although it's not publicly recorded that he did that, I take it from chapter nine, he did do that. So the very fact that they came to him in Nehemiah chapter eight and said to the man, bring the book. Oh yeah.

It had an exercise in it. So the very fact that they came to him to do it publicly was the manifestation that he had done it privately. And they knew that this is the man that is able to open the scriptures, bring the book because he had taught it privately.

And because the teaching had been done privately, this separation could be made in their lives. Very good. And just the last bit, if a brother could say something, we must, because Ezra is full of it, right? But verses 24 to 30, part of this assembling in Babylon, just before they go up to Jerusalem, just say something about weighing out all of the silver and the gold and the vessels, by the way, utterly remarkable, 850 talents of silver, a hundred talents of gold.

If you think about the modern day weight and value of that material, you are into probably the hundreds of millions of us dollars worth of silver and gold. That is remarkable, by the way, remarkable, but it's all weighed out. And again, when you get to Jerusalem, it's all weighed out this idea of stewardship, but what can we learn from that? What's the application of that? So these had nothing to do with the temple vessels that we looked at earlier, right? The temple vessels had already been weighed out and had already been brought up.

This was an offering in verse number, what versus 25. This was a heave offering, which had been given to them specifically to meet physical need when they got to the city. Very good.

Very good. And why are we weighing it all out? Why are we counting it all out? Why are we weighing it all out very specifically? And then again, when we get to Jerusalem, second Timothy two, hold fast the form of sound words. There's a weighing to be done on a weighing to be done again.

And treasures have been committed to us. Haven't they? So we're in second Timothy two treasures such as the word of God have been committed to us. And what had been committed by Paul to Timothy, the same commit now to faithful men, isn't it? Not just a little bit less or a little bit more.

Don't add to it. Don't sub the same. And so they're weighing out all of this valuable material because it must be the same.

So in the stewardship of these priests, they are proved they are being proved to be absolutely according to the stewardship that they've been given. And those precious things were under threat. I'm at verse 31 now.

And the hand of God was upon us. He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and of such as lay in wait by the way, those precious things were preserved. And the God that preserved them, that literal gold and so on, he's able to preserve truth when we set our heart to please him.

Dan, anything to say on two vessels of fine copper, the end of 27 precious as gold copper is nowhere near us. But he's saying what's the idea behind that? Yes, I don't know. The margin Mr. Newby's margin says desirable, doesn't it desirable as gold? So maybe it was a rare, a rare commodity, though, at that day in that day, I don't know.

They seem to be very distinct to two vessels. Yeah, the Persians were into their silver, weren't they? More so, but copper, I don't know. And notice, by the way, do you remember what Haggai had said? Or what the Lord had said through Haggai, the silver is mine.

The gold is mine, saith the Lord. Well, you've got a little bit of that here into the millions, right? That's being brought up to Jerusalem, right? We'll move on, please, because we've only got this is by design. Again, isn't it marvelous? We've only got 10 minutes just to think about these last two chapters, Ezra chapter nine, and Ezra chapter 10.

So we are we're not so much thinking about this, this idea of scripture or stewardship. But in Ezra chapter nine, we're going to be thinking about supplication. And in particular, the supplication, the intercession of Ezra, he was a great man of prayer.

And we need that today amongst God's people. And then of course, chapter 10, we'll say something to about separation. So you say, right, what is all this problem? And I'll say something, please, just about the pollution of mixed marriages.

So when you come to chapter nine, and I think really the chapter divides very simply verses one and two, you've got the prayer or the prayer is coming. Sorry, you've got the pollution. It speaks about the pollution of these mixed marriages.

So verse one says, the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, they have not separated themselves from the people of the lands. And they are doing according to their abominations, which refers that word abomination refers to idolatry, blatant idolatry, and the abhorrent practices, all the practices that were associated with that idolatry. So here are people of the land who are associated with idolatry.

Now, when it goes on to say in verse one, even the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, it's not suggesting that those peoples are still in the land, but rather it should read like this. They're doing detestable things, which are similar to those which the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, etc. had done.

So in verses one to two, you have these mixed marriages and the pollution of them. Then when you get to verses three to 15, and I'll leave my brethren to say something about this. You have the prayer, the prayer then of a mourning priest.

Now I want to say something, and this is one of those burdens which is very important. So far in Ezra, we have had opposition from without. Now in the book of Ezra, we have got trouble coming from within, coming from the people of God.

Now you trace that through the New Testament, please. You trace that through New Testament epistles. For example, the epistle to the Philippians.

You see, in Philippians, Paul says, I am concerned about your testimony, your witness in the gospel. He says, I am concerned that your conversation, your behavior should weigh the same as the gospel that you preach. He says, here's the problem.

You've got adversaries on the outside and they're attacking you. He says, you have a lack of unity, disunity, disharmony on the inside. And he says, if anything is going to affect your testimony in the gospel, it will be the attack from without and it will be the disunity from within.

Now that's Philippians, that you've got exactly the same premise that runs through Ezra and runs through Nehemiah. You've got attack from without, and then you've got all the trouble from within. Let's just say this, tension among God's people, disharmony and disunity amongst God's people can ruin, ruin a testimony and can affect the preaching of the gospel and the testimony in the gospel.

And that's what we've got going on here. I think Brother John, you're probably first in. Go ahead.

No, I'm going to take up two aspects relating to the person of Christ. So maybe, maybe yours is more practical. Well, I was drawing a parallel just to my thinking, would this be okay? When Israel came out of Egypt, Balaam couldn't curse Israel, a direct assault.

But the more subtle way was to cause mixture with the daughters of the people of Moab, right? And there was Amorah. Who was the man that was raised of God to deal with it? Phineas. Phineas.

Yes, priest. Who is the ancestor of Ezra? Phineas. Phineas.

Good. So, so the point I'm going to ask brother Dan, this idea of the holy seed, verse number two, that expression, it only occurs once in one other occasion. Isn't that right? Isaiah chapter six.

So, so one of the reasons behind this whole business of these marriages and all of this problem is this, this was a satanic attack on the line through which Christ is coming. Now, what Satan has done, picking up William's point, what Satan has done is this. He knows if we can just corrupt the line here, he's attempted this right through the scriptures.

Genesis three. He's attempted it when the children were put to death. Exodus chapter one, there's been an attack on the lineage through which Christ is coming.

And this is just the latest one. And that's why Ezra, the man of the book was so incensed because he knows if this goes ahead, the line through which the Messiah is coming is put under attack. Now, in light of that, it was at the time of the evening sacrifice.

Verse number five, that's the meal offering. Isn't that correct? At the time of the evening oblation, Ezra says here, I arose up from my heaviness. I fell upon my knees.

It's the glory linked to the person of Christ in all his fullness. The faultlessness of the meal offering presented at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. This man says in the fullness of that, I presented myself before the separation of that person, the separation of the person of Christ.

So we're running out of time. I do want to say something here, which especially for the young people may not have been evident. You say, what was the problem here? Particularly here are some pagan peoples and these pagan peoples that are already in the land or around Jerusalem.

They're associated in idolatry and they're associated with false gods and they're associated with all the sexual immorality that goes alongside idolatry and all of that. You say, what's the problem with coming back to Jerusalem and intermarrying with some of these individuals? Well, it was the problem of separation and the distinction of the people of God and preserving the holy seed of God's people. And ultimately, the seed who would come is the person of Christ.

Ezra through this prayer, and I'm conscious of the time now because I think it's quarter past, we've got to finish. Yes, it is. So Ezra's prayer, he's constantly referring to the law, the law, the law.

We've broken the law. We've broken the commandments of God. What's he referring to? He's referring, I think, not so much to Deuteronomy 24, but there might be a spirit of that in it.

He's referring more, I think, to Deuteronomy chapter seven. And in Deuteronomy seven, the come into the land and in the land, there'll be Canaanites, there'll be Hittites, there'll be Perizzites and all the rest of it. Do not intermarry with these individuals.

Why? Simply because those women would introduce their idolatry and their immoral practices into the people of God and any children that were being born as a result of those alliances and those marriages, they too would be brought into that idolatry. And the holy separated seed that belong to God, holy people would be contaminated by an unequal yoke. And the law provided, the law provided for the putting away of those pagan wives and even the children that might have been born from them.

Now, we don't have time particularly to discuss this, but you have a look at the prayer of Nehemiah. You just have a look, please, at his grief. Sorry, Ezra, the grief of Ezra.

You look at the way that he was, verse three, he was appalled. He was astonished. He was horrified at this.

People today do not get as upset as they should about sin. Now, let's just make the application. Young people, the word of God commands against unequal yokes.

Never make a liaison. And never enter into a marriage with those who don't belong to the law. You see what can happen.

And the contamination of that and the separation of God's people is absolutely paramount. And it's not just a marital separation in terms of an unequal yoke. By the way, the unequal yoke was two animals.

Yes. I've said this before to somebody who was saved or said he was saved. He was marrying somebody who wasn't saved.

I said it's an unequal yoke. She did not like that. She thought I was saying that she was inferior to him.

That's not what it means at all. The unequal yoke is the idea of two animals of a different size, different shape, different ability, different strength, different character, yoking them together. Well, they're never going to be able to plow as effectively as a yoke of oxen together, which are the same character, size, shape, strength, and so on.

If you put together a believer and an unbeliever, whether that's marriage, whether that's a business relationship, whether it is your societal relations, what you do in your leisure time, you are of a different character. You are of a different nature. You are of a different behavior.

It's an unequal yoke. And it will end in more than likely the destruction of your witness, your testimony, your work perhaps, life's work for the Lord. You say, what a shame.

And Ezra is so burdened, the weight of this sin. And he's confessing it as if it's his sin. He's confessing on behalf of the people, isn't he? He's confessing that sin in a wonderful prayer.

Could I ask you, we're closed, but go ahead, Frank. Thanks. Just going back, it says that they trespassed against our God.

It's interesting. It wasn't even against the law. They trespassed or transgressed.

They went beyond. Now, just to make two statements about this, very important, especially for younger ones. God said it's not good for man to be alone.

Right back, you go back, all right? So marriage is of the Lord. But the important thing is this, in going beyond, they were taking wives that they should not have had. So they were doing something that God had said it's not good for man to be alone.

So they were going beyond. That's number one. Number two is that how do you militarily, when you want to sideline the enemy, it's far better to wound them than to kill them.

Because when you wound them, you have two men now that are disengaged. Two men that become ineffective. One to carry the wounded person.

Why am I saying that? You get an unregenerate woman with a saved person, not only as a disobedience, but they will sideline that person. They will render their effectiveness. They will hinder them and vice versa.

All right, husband and wife, wife and husband. But let me just take one more and go beyond a little more. Because the New Testament takes it even further.

There's a lot of young people here who say, well, I'm going to marry, I'll marry a believer. That's not what the New Testament simply says. In the Lord.

It's in the Lord. It's not just in Christ. It's not just because he or she is a Christian, but there is a spiritual aspect of obedience.

They own the Lordship of Christ. Thanks. Yeah, that's what I... Exactly.

Go on, William. Yes, that was the very point I was going to make, and the Lord overruled and answered it away.