Ezra
Author: Ezra
Ezra records the return from Babylon, the rebuilding of the temple, and Ezra’s reform in Jerusalem.
Outline
The first return (1–2)
Cyrus lets the exiles go, and the families who return are listed with the vessels of the house.
The altar and the temple (3–6)
The altar is set up, work on the house stops under opposition, and Darius lets it finish.
Ezra arrives (7–8)
Artaxerxes sends Ezra with the law, gifts for the house, and authority to appoint judges.
The marriage crisis (9–10)
Ezra confesses the people’s marriages to neighboring peoples and leads them to separate.
Key verses
Ezra 1:1–3
Cyrus’s proclamation sends the exiles to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
Ezra 3:11
When the temple foundation is laid, the people shout that the Lord’s steadfast love endures.
Ezra 7:10
Ezra is described as a man who set his heart to study, do, and teach the law.
Ezra begins with the decree that closed Chronicles. In the first year of Cyrus, the Lord stirs the Persian king to let the Judean exiles return and build the house in Jerusalem. Cyrus also brings out the vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken. Sheshbazzar is charged with them. A list of returnees follows: families, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants, with the names of those who could not prove their genealogy. The return is not a crowd. It is a counted community, and the counting matters because the altar and the priesthood depend on knowing who is who.
In the seventh month Jeshua and Zerubbabel build the altar and keep the Feast of Booths before the temple itself is standing. In the second year they lay the foundation. The older priests and heads of houses, who had seen the first house, weep. Others shout for joy. The sound is mixed, and it is heard far off. Neighbors then hire counselors to frustrate the work. Through the reign of Cyrus and into the reign of Darius the house stops. The opposition writes to Artaxerxes and accuses Jerusalem of being a rebellious city. The work is halted by force of law.
The prophets Haggai and Zechariah stir Zerubbabel and Jeshua to start again. Tattenai, the governor beyond the river, asks who gave them permission and writes to Darius. A search in the archives finds Cyrus’s decree. Darius orders the work to continue and the cost to be paid from royal revenue, with animals supplied for sacrifice. The house is finished in the sixth year of Darius. The returned exiles keep the Passover. The first half of the book is about a building. It is also about whether a Persian filing cabinet still contains the document that lets the building stand.
Ezra himself does not appear until chapter 7, in the reign of Artaxerxes, decades after the temple’s completion. He is a scribe skilled in the law of Moses. The king’s letter lets him take any Israelite who wishes to go, to carry silver and gold for the house, and to appoint magistrates who know the law. Ezra gathers leading men at the river Ahava, finds no Levites at first, sends for some, and proclaims a fast because he was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers after telling the king that God’s hand is on those who seek him. They arrive in Jerusalem and deliver the vessels by weight.
The last crisis is not a building delay. Officials tell Ezra that the people, including priests and Levites, have married women of the peoples around them. Ezra tears his garment and prays a prayer that does not defend the community. He says God has been merciful in leaving a remnant, and the remnant has broken the command. The people assemble in the rain, admit the wrong, and agree to put away the wives. A list of the men follows. The book ends on that list, not on a celebration. The house is built. The community that will worship in it is still being sorted.