I recently finished reading Esther – an awesome tale of stepping out in faith and of obedience being rewarded. She really did not know if she would live when she went to stand in the Kings inner court. She did everything she could to prepare; fasted, prayed, got others to do the same on her behalf. And then she literally stepped out in faith. It’s a great reminder that obedience is always rewarded. I was rewarded for obedience yesterday in a big way, although my challenge was very small. My fibromyalgia symptoms have recently flared up. I have not been sleeping much and have generally felt pretty bad. Yesterday I made it to church for my parenting bible study, and then contemplated going home. Worship had started, and I decided to stick it out. Within a minute, literally, of my starting to worship, the pain stopped. God is so merciful and so gracious. Aside from the pain being gone – and staying gone, and the best night of sleep I have had in at least a month! – I got to hear a really fabulous sermon about God’s sovereignty. You can hear it on this website. Enjoy!

They couldn’t prove their heritage; they (and their fathers) had not valued it enough to preserved any records or proof. We’re talking only 70 years here – if this was important to them, they would have had proof. But now that it’s time to rebuild, they want to be priests.

The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, though they could not prove their fathers’ houses or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nekoda, 652. Also, of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, and the sons of Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name). These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. (Ezra 2:59-62)

You may have heard the saying, “If they were rounding up Christians, would you be taken?” Would they find a dust-free Bible in your house, sermon notes tucked inside? Would anybody testify against you? (I’m batting 500 here – I doubt anyone would testify against me but I have the rest covered. Still working on it…) I think it’s interesting that this was not true for these guys, and it’s obvious they didn’t have a clear understanding of what the priesthood really meant or they wouldn’t have applied for the job. Today, they would be televangelists, with the “glory” of public speaking, money, and a perceived position of authority, without the responsibility of shepherding a flock. Was it Solomon who said there was no new thing under the sun?

Ezra was “a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD the God of Israel had given.”

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do
it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. (Ezra 7:10)

Ask, and you shall recieve. Ezra was commissioned by King Artaxerxes to do that very thing. Ezra aspired to a position of leadership (to teach) and consequently chose his companions with care:

I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. These are the heads of their fathers’ houses, (Ezra 7:28 – 8:1)

Having arrived, Ezra found that the people he had so wanted to teach, were sorely in need of it. They – especially the officials – had intermarried with the local population. This was not a problem of snobbery or marrying beneath themselves, after all, plenty of people in the Bible married foreigners including Moses. The problem was that the women they married were worshippers of other gods. The problem was that they were again committing the very sin that caused them to be ejected from the promised land in the first place! Because he knew the Word, Ezra immediately understood the problem, and was grieved:

As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God, saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem. “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? O LORD the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.” (Ezra 9:3-15)

Ezra may not have personally committed the sin, but as a man in a position of leadership, began to repent of it – he took responsibility for those under his care. God blessed this, because the people repented also, divorced the women and sent them away, returning to God’s ruling authority.

As Christians and God’s elect, aren’t we called to the same thing? Shouldn’t our hearts be breaking, and shouldn’t we be repenting the sins of our nation? I think the reason we are not, is that we aren’t Ezra – we’re the officials who have intermarried. What would it take to be another Ezra? Being steeped in the Word so we can clearly identify sin, and fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. Choosing our companions with care, that they support and build us up, not drag us down. Courage to confront sin when we see it. Loving the sinner so much that we pray for them and grieve for their sins as if they were ours.

When the builders started to lay the foundation of the Temple, the priests
in their robes took their places with trumpets in their hands, and the Levites
of the clan of Asaph stood there with cymbals. They praised the LORD according
to the instructions handed down from the time of King David. They sang the
LORD’s praises, repeating the refrain: “The LORD is good, and his love for
Israel is eternal.” Everyone shouted with all their might, praising the LORD,
because the work on the foundation of the Temple had been started. Many of the
older priests, Levites, and heads of clans had seen the first Temple, and as
they watched the foundation of this Temple being laid, they cried and wailed.
But the others who were there shouted for joy. No one could distinguish between
the joyful shouts and the crying, because the noise they made was so loud that
it could be heard for miles. (Ezra 3:10-13)

After all the cycles of rebellion, repentance, and restoration in previous books, the eviction notice served in 2 Kings 21: 11-15 was finally executed. But when Cyrus became emperor, the Lord told him to let His people go – and unlike Pharoah, Cyrus complied. But this exodus was not to complete freedom, as it had been the first time. Even when the Israelites got back home, they were still subject to Cyrus’ rule. On the whole, they were happy about their current circumstances – but the above passage makes me wonder if they ever “got it” that they had brought this on themselves. They are finally rebuilding the temple, and they younger generation, who had been without one for their whole lives, could not have been happier. But the older folks couldn’t find it in themselves to rejoice that God was being merciful to them. Oh, no. They cried and wailed because the new temple would not equal the old in terms of beauty and glory. If in a rage you throw a vase on the floor and shatter it, then later regret your outburst and glue the pieces together, you shouldn’t be surprised that it is not in brand-new condition. Matthew Henry’s take on all this:

Yet it was their infirmity to mingle those tears with the common joys and so to
cast a damp upon them. They despised the day of small things, and were
unthankful for the good they enjoyed, because it was not so much as their
ancestors had, though it was much more than they deserved. In the harmony of
public joys, let not us be jarring strings. It was an aggravation of the
discouragement they hereby gave to the people that they were priests and
Levites, who should have known and taught others how to be duly affected under
various providences, and not to let the remembrance of former afflictions drown
the sense of present mercies. This mixture of sorrow and joy here is a
representation of this world.

I think it comes down to learning to be grateful for God’s dicipline. We are not required to enjoy it, but if we’re wise we’ll be grateful and thankful.