Read Ezra Ch. 1 and Ch. 3-7. What difficulties do the Jews face as they try to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple? What helps them overcome these difficulties? Note especially the role of leaders like Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Haggai, Zechariah, and Ezra himself. Also note the contrasting attitudes of Persian leaders, e.g., Cyrus and Artaxerxes.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Ezra (extra credit)
Read Ezra Ch. 1 and Ch. 3-7. What difficulties do the Jews face as they try to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple? What helps them overcome these difficulties? Note especially the role of leaders like Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Haggai, Zechariah, and Ezra himself. Also note the contrasting attitudes of Persian leaders, e.g., Cyrus and Artaxerxes.
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One of the major difficulties that the Jews face as they are rebuilding the temple is the inevitable--opposition from neighboring peoples. It's likely that, for the 70 years that the Jews were exiled, someone claimed the land of the Jews for themselves. When the Jews returned and started to rebuild, showing their intention of staying their permanently, these neighboring peoples became jealous and notified King Artaxerxes of the actions of the Jews. However the way they present the Jewish people is tricky--the authors of this letter only mention that the Jews had a history of rebelling against rule and committing sin. They failed to mention that one of Artaxerxes' predecessors, King Cyrus, had royall decreed that the Jews should return, rebuild, and be left alone.
The Jews overcome these difficulties 1) because theyre stubborn and arent going to let a letter stop them from building (5:2), 2)because they themselves contacted King Artaxerxes and reminded him of the decree of King Cyrus, and 3) because it was the will of God that the temple be rebuild, it was prophecy being fulfilled.
Cyrus permits the Israelites to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem and returns them the golden vessels which had been carried off by Nebuchadnezzar. The adversaries of the Jews make efforts to hinder the Jews from building the Temple. A letter is written by the Samaritans to Cambyses II to obtain a prohibition of the construction of the Temple, and the work is interrupted.
The whole company numbered 42,360, besides their 7,337 menservants and maidservants; and they also had 200 men and women singers. They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys (Ezra 2:64-67). These numbers say it all. The Jews could be resilient, because of the sheer numbers of people they had.
The Jews face much opposition from their enemies. Ezra 4 says that the people's around them set out to discourage the people of Judah. Counselors were hired to work against them and to frustrate their plans. Also during the reign of Xerxes the enemies of the Jews made accusations against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Then during the reign of Artaxerxes a letter was wrote to him by his associates that the building of Jerusalem and the temple must stop. They claimed that his royal revenues would suffer because the Jews will rebel against him and won't pay their taxes or tributes. King Artaxerxes orders the work on Jerusalem and the temple to stop. The Jews overcome these obstacles by trusting God and not giving up. They also had the backing of King Cyrus and was brought to King Darius's attention and they were able to keep building during his reign. Also, nothing is impossible with God, he always has a way.
they faces there fair of oppostion when trying to build this temple. it seemed that some of it was from jelous nehbors, or the nehbors just feeling threated by it some how. as if the unity of them bulding this was a threat and needed to be delt with. they did over come this however by being very persistiant. they easily could have just stoped when they felt agression from others, but they didnt they fought for there right to buid they were given the charge to build this so they stoped at nothing to do it. it was ordered by king cyrus and they used that to there advantige.
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