Summary Nehemiah's Arrival Nehemiah 13

Nehemiah 13:6 "But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:"

Verses 1-3 refers back to Deuteronomy when the Ammonite and Moabite refused to help the children of Israel as they came out of the wilderness. It was when Balaam was involved with putting a curse on Israel but God turned it to a blessing.

Deuteronomy 23:3 "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD forever; v4 Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee."

So Nehemiah came to Jerusalem and found the Ammonites and Moabites mingled with the Jews and cast the out of the congregation.

Verse 4-9 is about Tobiah who was the servant of the current governor. He had allied himself with Eliashib, a priest who had charge over the chamber of the house of God. The chamber was supposed to be used for offerings but was made into a home for Tobiah. Nehemiah cast his stuff out of the temple.

v8 "And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber."

We are seeing here the fiery character of Nehemiah. He was chosen by the king to be his cupbearer for a reason. He was surely a strong man.

v10-14 deals with the food the Levites were suppose to be getting. They were not getting their portion of food and so had to return to the fields to gather for themselves so they could eat. Nehemiah set that right so they could again do their job.

v11 "Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the House of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place."

Verses 15-22 deals with the sabbath. People were doing stuff on the sabbath they should not do and were making it a day of deal making like a flea market. Nehemiah stopped the activity and again threatens to get physical if they do not comply.

v21 "Then I testified against them; and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath."

Verses 23-31 concerns the Jews being married to wives of other nations. The children could not even speak the language of the Jews. Nehemiah got pretty rough with them. He expressed his deep concern that the men would be drawn away by the wives as even Solomon was.

He proposed the question: v27 "Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?" In verse 36 he calls them "...nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin."

In verse 28 Nehemiah found out that the high priest was married to the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite and so he "...chased him from me."

So after going through the book of Nehemiah, we find a little about the person Nehemiah. He seems to have come into Judah with the blessings of the king and like a whirlwind wasting no time with diplomacy to fix what he say was wrong. After all, he had given the king a time for when he would return.

That closes the book of Nehemiah for now. Next we go to Esther (pronounced with the 'h').

Malachi 3:16 "Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name."

Nehemiah recounts his arrival and deeds.
Dedication of wall.http://oldoldstory.blogspot.com/2009/03/dedication-of-wall-nehemiah-12.html

Down by the River Ezra 8

Ezra 8:15 "And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people and the priests and found there none of the sons of Levi."

Ezra is setting off on his journey with Artaxerxes', the king, approval. He is gathering those he will take with him and found that there were no Levi's among them. They needed the Levi's to offer sacrifices and do service in the house of the LORD as prescribed by Moses.

v17 "And I sent the with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia and I told them what they should say unto Iddo and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God."

I am not sure who Iddo was but he had a lot of pull in the neighborhood. So did Ezra.

v18 "And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding..."

Also, a number of other people to minister, as Ezra requested. Once Ezra had the right people to go up to Jerusalem with him, he made the effort to prepare them and to seek the LORD. He declared a fast.

v21 "Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance."

The situation is this, they were traveling with their family and with the treasures for the house of the LORD. There were reasons for highway robbers to be interested in attacking them. Ezra separated men to take the treasure and to guard it safely to Jerusalem. Ezra did not want to ask for the kings help because he had already told the king that God would care for them.

v23 "So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was entreated of us."

v31 "Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way."

We are seeing names we remember from previous studies i.e. Eleazar, Phinehas.

Included in this chapter is the genealogy of those who went up to Jerusalem and the amount of the sacrifices made: i.e. 96 rams, 77 lambs, etc. It was a big event.

Zechariah 4:6 "Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."

Ezra gathers his company to go to Jerusalem.

Ezra's Authority Ezra 7

v6 "This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him."

Artaxerxes, king of Persia, gave Ezra the authority to take anyone who wanted to go with him, to Jerusalem. He also had legal authority to exact judgment on anyone who hindered or did not obey his commands in building the house of the LORD. He also had authority over the treasures to be taken to Jerusalem. It was a monumental task and the LORD had put in the heart of the king to give him the monumental power to fulfill the task. Ezra traced his roots all the way back to Aaron. He also studied to know the law.

v10 "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments."

We must remember that it has been 70 years. Many of those carried away have died and their children were raised in a foreign land. They probably were not all taught the law.

Here is the blank check given to Ezra

v18 "And whatsoever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God."

v23 "Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

Ezra does not take credit for getting all this accomplished.

v27 "Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. v28 And hath extended mercy unto me..."

Ezra was a scribe, although I have had trouble figuring out the sequence of events and kings, it seems to me that the first part of Ezra is Ezra's description of what happened, then in this chapter he starts to tell the story from a personal point-of-view. I am not sure about that though.

Zechariah 6:15 "And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts, hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God."

Ezra's authority to build the temple.

Decree to Build Ezra 6

Ezra 6:1 "Then Darius the king made a decree and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon."

This search was made in response to the letter where the counselors complained that the building had started again and also to see if there was an order from Cyrus as the Jews said.

It resulted in finding the roll giving the order. That was one decree. The other decree, the main one came from the LORD of hosts and we have touched on it in the books of Haggai and Zechariah.

The house of the LORD was to have an amazing foundation as described in King Cyrus' decree. v3-4 "In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber; and let the expenses be given out of the king's house;"

A cubit is about 18 inches or actually 18 inches. So you would add 1/2 foot to each number making the foundation 90 feet high and 90 feet wide. That is a strong foundation. The church is built on such a foundation where Jesus is the chief cornerstone.

Not only did the governors have to let the Jews build the temple but they had to pay their expenses while they did so. (I wonder if those lawyers got fired.)

v8 "Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered."

Just one more thing. To enforce these two decrees, the king placed a penalty of death on anyone who tried to stop the building.

v11 "Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon, and let his house be made a dunghill for this."

So the building went forward unhindered and the elders setup the sacrifices and people in their proper offices.

v15 "And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king,"

So once the legal matter was settled, it took about 4 years to finished the house of God.

Zechariah 2:10 "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD."

Temple rebuilding is finished.

Building Resumed Ezra 5

Ezra 5:1 "Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.

We will need to look at parts of these two books of the Bible to see what they said. They are located near the end of the Old Testament just before Malachi.

v2 "Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them."

At this time it seems there were four men working on the temple: Haggai, Zechariah, Zerubbabel and Jeshua (Joshua in the mentioned books).

Then came the adversaries and confronted the builders wanting to know who told them they could start building again. Remember Cyrus told them to do so, then Artaxerxes stopped them after the governors told the king that it would take away his revenue. Now Darius is on the throne and the LORD has encamped at Jerusalem to see to the building.

v5 "But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius: and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter."

The letter to Darius from the counselors of the governors included the report that building had resumed against the orders of the previous king but it also included the testimony of the elders who told how Cyrus had ordered the building of the temple. It included a challenge to the king to search the records to see whether it was true. This goes to a legal term called a precedent. It means that if it has been done in the past by law makers, it can be done again based on that action, or something like that.

v17 "Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the king's treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter."

The counselors asked for a ruling from the judge, in this case the king. The answer in the next chapter is not what they were expecting and dramatically turned the tide in favor of the children of Israel.

Ezra shows us what is happening in the physical world. Behind the scenes, so to speak, there is also action which we have to go to the prophets to find. As example, we will look at some verses in Zechariah:

The Lord speaking: Zechariah 1:15 "And I am sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction." The LORD intended to punish his people for their sin, he used the other nation to do so, but he was not pleased when they took it on themselves to increase the punishment.

v16 "Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem."

These chapters are very interesting: We have the LORD of Hosts, two angels and a prophet talking.

Chapter 2:3 "And behold the angel that talked with me went forth and another angel went out to meet him v4 And said unto him Run, speak to this young man, saying Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein. v5 For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her."

The tide has turned away from the heathen and in favor of the builders. Of course, it was the LORD who made the difference. We will close with this verse from Chapter 3:8 "For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

Temple work resumes.

Adversaries Ezra 4

Ezra 4:1 "Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; v2 Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither."

That sounds good on the surface. These people were brought in to possess the land while Israel was in captivity. They were not loyal to the nation Israel but to their own purses. I do not know what their motive was for asking to help but I think it was not out of worship. When they were told they could not help, they got together with their lawyers to stop the work which tells me they were not for it in the first place.

v5 "And hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even unto the reign of Darius king of Persia."

Lawyers can sure drag things out even if they do not have a case. It just takes having the money to pay them. Now, sometimes a lawyer is good if you are going up against a lawyer. Judges like having those who can talk legal jargon. But that is a subject for another day and another place. Nevertheless, it was a hindrance for Israel in building the temple.

v7 "And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of their companions, unto Artaxerxes king of Persia, and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue."

The letter is full of double talk and truth mixed with untruths but the essence of it was that having the temple built would give rise to a great nation that would take away the revenue the king was getting. And also the tribute these people were getting as well.

v16 "We certify the king that, if this city be builded again, and the walls thereof set up, by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river."

King Artaxerxes got the message and stopped the building. So for a time the work did not go forward but the prophecy would be fulfilled and incredibly, the people would end up getting paid to do the building. It reminds me of when Moses' mother ended up raising her son for Pharaoh's daughter, at least for a while.

Jeremiah 29:12 "Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you."

Work on temple is stopped for a time.