Ezra | Rebuilding the Temple: Hope and Heartbreak in the Book of Ezra

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Why did Ezra oppose intermarriage in the Bible?
What was the significance of rebuilding the temple in Ezra's time?
How did the Israelites return from Babylonian exile?

The book of Ezra is a powerful narrative about the return of the Israelites from Babylonian exile, focusing on their efforts to rebuild the temple and renew their commitment to God’s covenant. Led by key figures like Zerubbabel and Ezra, the people encounter significant challenges, including opposition from neighboring groups and internal strife. Zerubbabel leads the charge to rebuild the temple, but the result is a far less impressive structure compared to Solomon's original temple, leaving many disheartened. Ezra's role is centered on spiritual renewal, emphasizing the importance of knowing and adhering to God's law. He focuses on teaching the people, promoting fasting, prayer, and repentance as essential elements for restoring the community’s relationship with God. One of the major issues he tackles is the problem of intermarriage with non-exiled Jews and foreign nations, which threatens to compromise the community’s spiritual integrity. Through communal repentance and covenant renewal, the people strive to avoid repeating the mistakes of their ancestors. Ezra’s story reminds us of the importance of faithfulness, the consequences of sin, and the transformative power of repentance.

#Ezra #BiblicalNarrative #SpiritualRenewal #RebuildingTheTemple #PostExile #Repentance #CovenantFaithfulness #GodsLaw #OldTestament #JewishHistory

Transcript

 Ezra

Ezra

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, welcome to God's Whole Story. This year, we are doing a journey through Scripture, book by book. Each week, you will get a deeper dive into one of the books of Scripture so that you can see God's whole story. If you like the content you're receiving, we would love to have you partner with us.

We'd Look in the show notes for a way that you can support us financially. So we can continue to provide this content for you. Hope you enjoy this episode. Hey, today we are looking at the book of Ezra. And before we dive into the book of Ezra, what we want to do is give you a slight update on Chelsea, uh, because for the last several weeks, you've been stuck with us, two jokers, and we have, uh, very confidently proclaimed that.

Not having Chelsea is less good. We have very confidently proclaimed that. So if you're still with us, thank you for the endurance. Uh, extra credit, extra credit for everyone. Yeah. But unfortunately Chelsea still not with us today. And you guys don't know this, but we do. This is a different recording session than the [00:01:00] last time.

Uh, so in the, in the way of just personal updates, uh, Chelsea recently became a. Full time school teacher. Uh, what are her, what, what subjects is like she does English, social studies and Bible. Okay. And, and full time for sixth grade, right? Yes. So, um, super excited. We are very excited for what's going on in Chelsea's life.

It seems like it's a great fit for her. And, um, it also is like a huge life adjustment because she was working part time before that. Um, if, if you know, a school teacher, or if you are a school teacher, you know, that, that is not a, uh, Eight to five gig, eight to four gig. Like it is a whole life kind of gig and she has a pretty full plate.

So we, and especially being a first year teacher, exactly. Especially being a first year teacher. Um, so we definitely miss Chelsea. Uh, officially she is definitely still a part of the podcast. So like, like we're just, uh, kind of navigating, uh, life updates, you know, like, like we do this in our spare time. We are [00:02:00] in my basement.

at night. We are when it's not, uh, you know, we're not doing our full time gigs or whatever, but, um, that's a personal update on Chelsea. Personal update on me and my family is we are having our fifth child very soon. So in other words, you might just be hearing from me soon. I might be in my own basement talking to myself, but we are working very confidently on plans.

Probably what you'll be hearing very soon is, uh, Like a lot of different voices, like some guests. Um, we might pull some people in to round out the crew. Uh, but actually I would say we're excited about that. Like we're looking forward to getting a couple more people on the podcast. More voices are, is a good thing.

So never fear. Uh, We, we still believe that Chelsea will be back. We're just not sure when. Of course. Of course. And the last time we recorded, we thought, eh, it'll just be this one time, uh, but it's obvious she has a lot on her plate and we want to be respectful of what she has on her plate and she's still part of the podcast.

We're just waiting for her to come back. That's all. Absolutely. So [00:03:00] yeah, as Ryan, as you already introduced, we're talking about the book of Ezra today. Woohoo! And, uh, Actually, it was interesting that we're, we're going to do Ezra and Nehemiah in two separate episodes because we're doing book by book, but initially they were one book, uh, written by one author, and it's generally written to, about the people who have returned from exile, and then to them and their families.

Their future descendants, as far as how to live in out of Babylon again, how to live now that they're back in the land. Uh, and so the book of Ezra and, and Nehemiah, they actually follow three different leaders. We're going to talk about two of them in Ezra, one of them in Nehemiah. Guess which one we're going to talk about Nehemiah.

Um, let me think probably Zerubbabel. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Spoiler. So now we've got a guy you might not have heard too much about. Zerubbabel, he's got a really cool name. Uh, maybe we could bring that one back and Ezra. We're going to look at. Those two guys in the book of Ezra, Nehemiah, of course in the book of Nehemiah, they all face opposition [00:04:00] as they come back They're they have tasks.

They have hope they're excited to come out of out of 70 years of captivity in Babylon And they have these dreams to rebuild But often a lot of times our dreams when it mixes with reality, it doesn't work Come out exactly as we hope. Then we're going to see that we're going to see opposition and we're going to see some elements of hope, uh, that didn't go as well as they expect it.

So I always like calling their temple, the, the janky, not as good temple. Yes. And we're going to see that because, wow, they, it wasn't quite what they had in their memories, what they experienced before. Yeah, if to get us started there was a a very historical event that actually Enabled them to come out of Babylon When Cyrus issued a proclamation that they could be set free.

This is actually a proclamation that fulfills Previous prophecy. Yep So Jeremiah 25 before they even [00:05:00] went to exile Jeremiah prophesied that they would be there 70 years And so when Cyrus issues his decree It does enable them to go which Even in this, this is hopeful, like that this part of the prophecy is fulfilled.

Like, think of all the other prophecies that guys like Isaiah, uh, Jeremiah, Ezekiel did that, that point towards the Messiah, that point towards the new Jerusalem. The fact that this one came true, as with all prophecy, gives even greater degree of certainty that those things that are not yet seen will also come true.

Is this the one like Cyrus is actually prophesied by name. So Cyrus is prophesied, uh, by name in Isaiah. Yeah. But even that is why, like by name? Yes. Yeah. Which is wild. Yes. Uh, there, there's not that many people that are prophesied by name in scripture. And when Isaiah prophesied it, which is off the top of my head, Isaiah was earlier.

So, I mean, we're talking 400 years. Yeah. Like it's not like he was like, Oh yeah, that guy. Yeah. Like [00:06:00] this is. It's not, it's not like even next generation. Right, right. Just everybody in this family, name your kid Cyrus so this works out, like, It's like 400 years in advance. Right. Uh, I, I, just to catch everybody up, Um, you're talking about Jeremiah, we haven't covered Jeremiah yet, Um, it, like it could feel like we're taking like a weird, Like what is going on here?

Because you're talking about all these guys that we haven't even gotten to yet. Can you just speak into that? So, because we're not, we're going, uh, in order through scripture, not necessarily chronological, just taking the books from the Canon. So, so the way they go, we're, we're in all the historical books and we're going to walk through the entire history before we actually ended up back in some of the prophets.

So we're going to refer to some of the prophets, even though we haven't gone through those books yet. Right. Um, so if we were doing this chronologically. We want to be having this conversation until quite a bit later in the year for a bit. Yeah. And that's the other thing I would add to it is like some time has passed.

So, uh, we will [00:07:00] have just wrapped up second Chronicles in last week's episode. Uh, sometime has passed 70 years to get to here. Yeah. And so there's a little bit of a hop in the narrative. Um, and, and we're going to pick up coming back. Yeah, well, even within the book of Ezra, there's, Zerubbabel happens and then 60 years later is when Ezra comes.

So even in this one particular book, it's over a 60 year span. Uh, so yeah, by then we're looking at 130 years, uh, from when they went into exile. So yeah, Ezra chapter 1 through 6 is focused on Zerubbabel. Cyrus issues a decree and Zerubbabel is the one to lead them back to rebuild the temple. Uh, they lay the foundation, they end up, uh, dedicating the temple.

And Ryan, as you, you kind of alluded to what, what did you label this new temple? It's the Janki temple. The Janki. This is the Janki temple. For those who don't know Ryan's slang. It's less good. Um, it is, it is clearly less opulent. Uh, go from Janki to opulent. How about that? Okay. [00:08:00] Um, it's just, it's. It's not what used to be.

And Ezra actually records the response that some of the people who had seen the former temple had. They were actually quite sad. Yes. They were, there was weeping, right? They wept. Yeah. They literally wept. Um, and it, there was like, The opulence and kind of the decor of the temple, but there was also one significant thing that if any Israelite would have remembered the Leviticus temple and the Solomon's temple, there was one thing that was significantly absent from this particular temple.

What is it? The presence of God, the presence of God, kind of a small thing. I was like, wait a minute. Lampstands or? Yeah, no, I'm not talking about one of the little, little details or furnishings here. Yeah, like the presence of God never filled this temple, or at least it is not formally recorded for us to read about.

It's not formally recorded and it's probably somewhat safe to assume because the [00:09:00] other times it was a very visible presence, very visible filling. Yes. I mean, it was like almost kind of apocalyptic kind of things like clouds and thunder and lightning and that kind of stuff. Uh, you know, we don't have that.

I think what's interesting about that. So God is gracious in that he, from the very beginning, he told the people, if you disobey my commandments, You will be removed from this land. And so when they go into exile, God fulfills his promise. Like he, like he told them they agreed with him. Um, and in his grace, he allows them to come back.

What's interesting is that even in his grace in allowing them to return, things are visibly different. And they, I would guess like, especially those people that were weeping in the presence of the new temple, they are every day, you know, like the temple is like the center of their Lives and culture and like every day they're being reminded of the effects that their sin [00:10:00] had on their lives.

So, like, yeah, it's awesome. They got to return to land that that is fantastic. That is God's commitment to his own promises and God's commitment to his people, but there's still visible evidence of. The consequences of sin. And I just think it's really interesting. Um, I, I think we see that consistently throughout the Bible that God is gracious, God is forgiving, and yet there's still consequences.

Yeah. And I think as we see even these hopeful signs that are happening, like they're rebuilding a temple, they're going back, like there is still the promises that they had throughout prophecy that would have like talked about like a, a land of perfection. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, That doesn't seem like this is a brand new temple, kind of basically probably talking about the kingdom of God for all of eternity.

Well, they start to realize, okay, maybe this isn't actually that final fulfillment. Because one of the interesting things in this part of Ezra that actually kind of jumped out to me this time [00:11:00] is there were some of the Israelites that had been left behind. They weren't taken in exile. So these would have been some of the poor of the land.

They came to Zerubbal and wanted to help them. Rebuild the temple and he said no you can't do it and it's like you even there you see this like division of no You didn't go through exile with us Even though they were still Jewish, right? And so he wouldn't even let them help and it's like, okay That's not really when we talk about New Jerusalem New Temple That's not really the picture that the prophets had of this life of peace and everyone's welcome vision So yeah, it's like oh, we're still on broken sinful planet That actually kind of jumped out at me this time around, uh, that I was like, Oh man, like these guys just wanted to help.

And they were, they were still even Jewish. It wasn't like foreigners wanting to. And Zerubbel said, no, thanks. We got this. Um, man, there's probably some application in there. Probably. Um, how many times we have other people in the kingdom of God, but because of slight differences, we say, no, thanks. I'll tell you [00:12:00] what, uh, Jenny and I on our, uh, daily podcast.

We walk, just recently walked through like Galatians, Ephesians, um, Galatians is super explicit on like, Hey, like your first and foremost identity is followers of Christ. And so while there are obvious differences and in the early church, there were obvious differences, um, in, in. Cultures in backgrounds in beliefs they had come from.

And the first and foremost thing is like, you are now a Christian, a follower of Christ. Your primary identity is follower of Christ. All the other stuff follows him behind. So. Yes, there are divisions and yes, they overlooked those divisions. It's actually odd that they were not able to do that here in returning from exile.

I mean, but I mean, there's nothing like that that happens today. Right. I mean, we don't divide ourselves over non essential. Things among followers of Christ at all, right? Yeah, obviously not. I mean in case you might not understand the art of sarcasm I just want to call out we are being both being very sarcastic [00:13:00] Unfortunately, I have had the experience where I've worked in a country that didn't understand sarcasm So I do feel need to call that out Um, so, okay.

So that's basically what Zerubbel does. He goes back, he helps them rebuild the temple. There's a little bit of a sense of disappointment there. It's not quite what they hoped for. About 60 years later, uh, Ezra is sent back and his main goal is to not rebuild a building. Uh, but his main goal in his heart is to teach the law and to rebuild the people to, to restore the covenant.

Um, and so he goes back, uh, and finds kind of has some really great. Reforms of renewing the covenant, teaching them the law. Uh, but then also there are some things that he finds out that people aren't doing, people aren't following that. So what, what part of this section do you really enjoy Ryan? I just, like, I always resonate with like, Like as we're returning to teach the people, the law is kind of this like grand [00:14:00] sweeping narrative.

And if you read it, if you read through the book chapter to chapter, I think that feels like a high point in it. And what always gets my attention again, like Jenny and I are going through the, Jenny's my wife, by the way, we're going through the, the new Testament. Um, so you're doing that because you have your own podcast, right?

So It often sticks out to me that like right belief is actually central to who we are and the only way that we can ensure that we have right belief and even sometimes, even sometimes knowing God's word, that is tricky. Um, but I just, you know, like, like you'll hear people talk about, Oh, God is love and God's forgiving.

God is gracious. And, and yes, yes. To all those things. Um, But always in key central times in the history of the people of God, renewing their understanding of sound doctrine is critical. And I think you see, as we're doing that, I love that, um, there's, there is like this pivot to, instead of restoring a building, let's restore people.[00:15:00]

And. A critical part in restoring that people is making sure they understand God's word. Like God's God's revealed law. And that is still critical to us today. Like it, like if you, if you do not love how culture is going, if you do not love what you see in the world, um, a critical piece of changing that is recommitting to and re understanding God's revealed word that like, that's why we're passionate about this, you know, we, we want you to know what the Bible says.

We want you to know what every weird nook and cranny in the Bible says. So that you can act accurately, understand who God is and therefore like how to worship him and follow him and love him and, and, and believe in him. Um, so I just, I get excited about that stuff. It's, I guess it's kind of niche and nerdy maybe, but I get really excited about it.

And I, I also think it seems like you're trying to wind me down here. Chris, I'm just like, I'm just agreeing. That just might be a little nerdy, but I love that. Uh, Fasting is apparently a critical role in, in this renewal. They, they make a point of [00:16:00] praying and fasting several different times, um, particularly for protection.

Cause they, they actually were like involved in like a dangerous setting and like the travel was. Um, but, but prayer and fasting and, and understanding God's law is a huge piece confessing their sin is a huge piece. I think chapter 10 like resonates a lot with the, the confession of sin. And a lot of those things are not always flashy in our faith practice.

Um, but, but, um, Those specific things actually, like understanding God's word, praying and fasting, like fasting specifically, uh, confession of sin. They actually seem to pop up every time there's a significant movement of God. Even, even if you, if you want to come out of movements in the Bible and look at movements across human history, um, even some of the biggest revivals, you could look at some of like the, the huge ones in the early Americas, um, prayer.

Fasting focus on God's word, uh, group confession, like real repentance from like, they're, they're huge and they're critical. So I like pointing that out. I think one of the things that's interesting here is like, as we've been journeying [00:17:00] throughout scripture, when we hit these moments where the covenant is renewed, like people kind of refocus on God, like we get really excited because it happens so infrequently.

Well, yeah. And If you remember all the way back when God gave the law, they were meant to kind of read the law aloud and kind of almost do a covenant renewal once a year. But even if we just start post David, like there's like three times, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. They did not do a great job with it. Even this one, this is 60 years after Zerubbabel brought the exiles back.

So they're already returned and they've already returned it. It takes them 60 years. To do this so like that probably is why some of like when they do it It's such a big thing like there's so much mourning so much fast I mean when you're repenting of 60 years worth of sins It's a little bit easier to do that on a more of a regular basis Yeah, just if we keep kind of the picture of like the this is one of the highlights This is like a great [00:18:00] moment when they do this But it was actually supposed to be a regular occurrence and it should have been critical to their return Like you you would think when they returned they would have seen that as very valuable I mean, yeah, like hey, we just got out like that should be something or hey, we just got back.

Yeah Yeah, very interesting Now, of course, with this kind of covenant renewal, there's also like some of the ways that Israel isn't being as faithful, that kind of pops up in the particular one that's called out at the end of, uh, Ezra has to do with marriage. Right. Uh, and there are, there, there's a couple of different forms that are called out.

One is that there, as we mentioned before, there's some tension between the exiles and the non exiles. So after some of these guys came back from Babylon, they, some of them married non exiles. So you've got. Marriages, they're still all Jewish God worshipers, but there, some went through the 70 years, some didn't.

Uh, and then you've got some of them marrying foreigners, marrying [00:19:00] people who worship other gods. Why, why would that be of concern to Ezra? Well, uh, this seems to be the same old problem where Ryan just laughs at my, my obvious question. Well, you know, I, I think it is interesting. I always like pointing out that the, the laws about intermarriage, um, they can easily be painted in a negative light very easily.

Um, but God's laws about intermarriage are actually about worship, not about. Marriage relationships. Obviously it affects marriage relationships. It definitely does. Um, so I don't, I don't want to seem like I'm shy about that, um, but it's always about your heart being drawn away to other gods. And what's interesting to me about that is if, if you've been tracking with us episode by episode, we, we kind of made a big deal about the fact that Solomon had many other wives from many other places and worshiped many other gods.

And so you could, you could actually, I think. Easily make the case that [00:20:00] they ended up in this situation partially because of foolish intermarriage because again, because it's not about marriage, it's about worship. Um, and, and here they are saying like, Hey, this is not, we cannot do this again. And so, you know, it's, it's easy to read these, uh, chapter, it's easy to read the headings actually, and be like, what is going on here?

And the divorce decree issued. Yeah. And then read these, these, um, read the actual chapter and be like, what is going on here? But I think it is important to call out. Um, that, that these, these, I mean, one, this is God's law. Like, like God did say, this is how you should conduct yourselves. And when God says that you should probably follow that.

Um, but two, his concern is not races and peoples and places. It's, it's, um, idol worship. It's false gods. The, the. Uh, intermarriage that's happening here has nothing to do with, with ethnicity or race. It has to, that's the word I couldn't find. It has to do with God. Who's your God? Yes. It's a Buddhist marrying a Muslim.

Yes. [00:21:00] Like you, even, even in that two distinctly non, non Christian religions, like that's going to be a problem in the marriage. Right. Because you are both going different directions and God knows that. Uh, and so he, he says like, One of the, one of the Ten Commandments is that you should worship the Lord, your God, only.

Yeah. And how can you do that in your marriage if you're worshiping different gods? Right. So, yeah, and of course, you know, when they do issue these divorce decrees, it feels very harsh. Um, we will find in Mal, Malachi, that God hates divorce. Mm hmm. Um, because it, it's damaging, of course, but also entering into marriages where you worship different gods is, you're damaging, damaging, uh, it's not healthy.

And I think particularly this one is called out because it was like, haven't we just gone through this? I just got out of exile for 70 years because of this very thing. So yeah. The book of Ezra is, there's a lot of like, [00:22:00] hope they're released, they rebuild the temple, they renew the covenant, but then there's also kind of that, that conflict that comes with like, it crashes into reality of we're still on a sinful planet, we're still dealing with sinful people, but yet the ultimate fulfillment of hope is still yet to come.

Right. These are Movements towards that ultimate fulfillment of hope which of course would be Jesus and then eternity But we're not quite there yet So there's there's hope in Ezra and there's reality And it's it's a bit of both, but don't miss the significance of How cool this this is? Was that they renewed the covenant they declared their faithfulness to God and when you do that Sin also needs to be addressed.

Yes Yes, so so that's a little bit about Ezra uh Next week we're going to talk about nehemiah So we will uh see that part of what used to be one book as you're in nehemiah We'll see that part of the rebuilding story and the hope and the [00:23:00] reality that comes with the book. See you next week