Summary of Ezra – notes taken during a one-hour stop-over at Melbourne airport

Julie Swannell

I’m surprised how a book which may seem obscure and difficult at the beginning of the month can be quite accessible by the end of the month, with the help of our book club friends.  When I first tried to read Ezra on July 1, I really struggled with the language and the ideas presented.  Then, when I sat down quietly to review its pages the other day, I really enjoyed catching up

with the characters and situations.

1.      Chapter one introduces Cyrus, king of Persia and his treasurer Mithredath; the prophet Jeremiah; Nebuchadnezzar – who had ransacked and destroyed the temple at Jerusalem; and Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.  I particularly like the King James Version’s way of describing what was going on in verse one: “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia” and in verse five: “the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin....with all them whose spirit God had raised”.

2.      As we have learnt already from our book club, chapter two recounts the people and their possessions.  We hear again about Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, also about those who returned to Jerusalem after the exile, including Zerubbabel and Nehemiah.  We find out about the enormous numbers of people (over forty-two thousand plus servants, maids, and musicians) and their considerable possessions (including hundreds of horses, mules, camels and asses).  I like that the people returning are referred to as a congregation, which the Hebrew lexicon tells us refers to an assembly of people, a company, or a crowd of nations.

3.      Chapter three observes that by the seventh month they were all gathered together and Jeshua, the priests, and Zerubbabel and others, organised what we might call daily prayer meetings (“daily burnt offerings..according to the custom, as the duty of every day required”).  They then engaged masons and carpenters while the Levites were set to forward the work of laying the temple’s foundation while the congregation (especially those “ancient men that had seen the first house”) prayed with great joy and weeping.

4.      Every worthy enterprise seems to attract its share of opposition.  (See Scott Preller’s article “Awake to Love” in the August edition of The Christian Science Journal.)  So in chapter four, we learn about “weakened hands”, “trouble”, and “frustration”.  A false report (“they will not pay toll”) is sent to the new king (Darius) and the work stops.

5.      With the help of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the building work resumes.  What fighting spirit, even in the face of accusations from governor Tatnai “Who hath commanded you to build this house?”  But they knew that God was guiding them.  They had to continue. Extraordinarily, a letter went to king Darius and he set off to search for Cyrus’ decree which had authorised the restoration all those years before.

6.      The decree (“roll”) was found in the Median province’s palace of Achmetha and the result was that King Darius (reigned from 550 - 486BC) ordered that the workers be allowed to continue without further interference or hindrances, all expenses were paid, and they were given all they needed “day by day without fail”.  Above all Darius decreed: “let it be done with speed”.  As the work proceeded, “they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah..and they builded, and finished it...” in Darius’ sixth year.

7.      Enter Ezra, in Artaxerxes’ seventh year. (Artaxerxes reigned from 465 – 424BC.)  Ezra “had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments”.  He was a “ready scribe” and a priest and was given a commission from the king to organise the government and worship in Jerusalem.  The commission required that the work “be done speedily” and “diligently”.  Ezra had to set up the legal systems and was required to do so “after the wisdom of thy God”.

8.      Ezra is speaking in chapter eight.  He seems to seek God’s hand in all his assignment.  He remarks - “by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding” and “I proclaimed a fast..to seek of him [God] a right way for us...and he was intreated of us”.

9.      Ezra took his commission very seriously and may have felt responsible for the behaviour of the people, the “remnant”.  When they got out of line, he “fell on his knees” and prayed along these lines: “our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem”.

10.   The result of Ezra’s prayer was a promise from the people that they admitted their mistakes and promised they would try to do better.  “As thou hast said, so must we do.”  Unfortunately, it does not appear by the end of the book that things were completely under control.....