Ezra – Part 1
The First Return of A Remnant to Rebuild the Temple
Memory Verse Ezra 1:1-3 {Now in the first year of
Introduction Last week we concluded our study of the book of 2 Chronicles. It ends with the sad story of the captivity of the people of the southern kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. However, the last verses tell us of the Lord’s promise through the prophet Jeremiah that there would be a return of His people after a period of 70 years. Now we come to the book of Ezra. It is a continuation of the history given in 2 Chronicles. This book begins with the return of the first group of Israelites from their captivity in Babylon under Zerubbabel. It ends with the return of the second group of the remnant under Ezra. We want the Lord to teach us something from these two returns in our two lessons from the book of Ezra.
Lesson and Application for the SR and MD Classes
(1) The captivity of God’s people. (2 Kings 17:5-18; 2 Chronicles 36:13-20) In our last lesson on the book of 2 Kings, we learned that the people of the northern kingdom of Israel were taken as captives to Assyria. The southern kingdom of Judah went on for more than 100 years. During that time, the Lord continued to send His prophets to warn His people of their sinful ways. In spite of the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah whom we have studied, the people kept returning to sin against the Lord their God. They did not listen to the Lord. They disobeyed His commandments and continued to worship idols; they provoked (caused) the Lord to anger. (By then, the strongest nation in that part of the world was Babylon. It also ruled Assyria.) The Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar (NEB-u-kad-NEZ-er), the king of Babylon, to come and attack Jerusalem. As we learned last week, Nebuchadnezzar captured the people of Judah and took them to Babylon to be slaves to him and his descendants. He took away all the precious things from the Temple and set it on fire. God was merciful and faithful to the covenant He made with the people of Israel (with Abraham, through Moses, and later with David). Otherwise, this would have been the end for the Israelites. They were redeemed by God out of Egypt and cared for by God for over 1000 years. Now they were removed far away from the land of Canaan where God had settled them. It was not only their loss, but also God’s. Because the Temple, where God had put His name, was destroyed and His people were gone, God was no longer called the God of heaven and earth. He was only called the God of heaven. It seemed that God had no part on earth anymore. It was all 1 Ezra – Part 1 because of the sins of His people. Like the people of Israel, we often do not realize how our sins affect God. We rob Him of what He wants, as well as robbing Him of His glory and honor. Even though it seemed to be the end for the people of Israel, God did not give them up. God knew that the only way His people would learn their lesson was through the captivity. Babylon was full of idols. God said, “If you want to worship idols, go to the land of idols.” The Jews (the Israelites were now called Jews) became so sick of idols in Babylon, they never worshiped idols again. Before they were led away as captives from Jerusalem, God spoke through Jeremiah (29:10), “When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you. Then you will call upon Me and pray to Me. When you seek Me with all your heart, I will be found by you, and I will bring you back from captivity.” God’s love for His people never changed.
(2) The royal proclamation. (Ezra 1:1-4; 2 Chronicles 36:21-23; Daniel 9) Today we come to the book of Ezra. In order to understand the events in this book, we need to look in the book of Daniel. Daniel was living during this time. He understood Jeremiah’s prophecy that Jerusalem was to be desolate (lie wasted) for 70 years. (God told His people that every seventh year, the land was to have a rest and not be farmed. But they disobeyed. The 70 years of captivity were to make up for these years of Sabbath rests that the people had not kept.) Daniel realized the 70 years were almost over, and it was time for the return of God’s people to rebuild Jerusalem. So Daniel began to pray earnestly to the Lord. Daniel prayed, “O Lord, You are the great and awesome God. You keep Your covenant of love with all who love You and obey Your commands. You are merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against You. See all the terrible things that have happened to us and the desolation (ruin) of the city that is called by Your Name.” God was indeed faithful. He heard Daniel’s prayers. God moved the heart of Cyrus, the king of Persia, to issue a royal proclamation about the rebuilding of God’s House and thus fulfill God’s promise through Jeremiah. Why did Cyrus do that? At that time, Daniel was serving in Cyrus’ court (palace). It was most likely that Daniel told Cyrus what God had said through Jeremiah, as well as the prophecy about Cyrus 250 years before through the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 44:28 God mentioned Cyrus by name, saying, “He is My shepherd, and he will accomplish all that I please. He will say to Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’ and tell of the Temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.’ ” Even though Cyrus did not know God, he must have been impressed. So King Cyrus made a proclamation throughout his empire. He said, “The Lord God of heaven has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem. Who is there among you of all His people? Now let him go up to Jerusalem and build the house of the Lord God of Israel.” By this proclamation, any of God’s people, who wanted to, could now return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. He ordered those who did not wish to return to supply gold and silver, goods and livestock, and freewill offerings for the Temple. 2 Ezra – Part 1
(3) The response of a remnant. (Ezra 1:5-11) In answer to Daniel’s prayer, God not only moved the heart of Cyrus, He also stirred the hearts of a remnant (a small part that is left) of the people in captivity. God made them want to return to Jerusalem. It was not easy, because Jerusalem was in ruin, and the people had settled down in Babylon. They had good homes and even synagogues where they could gather to worship God. The only thing they could not do was to offer sacrifices to God for their sins. That could only be done in the Temple in Jerusalem. Many responded: family heads of Judah and Benjamin, priests and Levites. But out of all the Jews that were in Babylon, only about 50,000 people wanted to return. They prepared to take the long trip (about 700 miles) back to Jerusalem to rebuild the House of the Lord. (For us today, 700 miles is not far, maybe 2 hours by plane or 1 day by car. But in those days, the people had to walk or ride on donkeys.) Even though God Himself had stirred their hearts, their response was very precious to Him. So the Lord had their names or their family names recorded in Chapter 2. To us, they are only names, hard to pronounce. But these names belonged to real people, and someday the Lord will reward each one of them for what they did. All their neighbors gave them things to take with them for the journey and to help in the rebuilding. King Cyrus gave them the gold and silver articles belonging to the Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem 70 years before. From this we see how faithful God was and always will be to His promise. The desire of His heart, then and now, is to have a dwelling place among His people. Sometimes we make God wait, like those 70 years, because we are rebellious. If we do not cooperate with Him, He will leave us, as He did with those who decided to stay in Babylon. But He will stir the hearts of others, like the remnant who returned to rebuild His Temple. Those who did not return missed out. So let us respond and not miss out when God calls His people to go on with Him in His plan.
(4) The first return under Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2) Those people went back under the leadership of Zerubbabel (Ze-RUB-bah-bul). His name means “born in Babylon.” He was the grandson of Jehoiachin (Je-HOY-ah- kin). Jehoiachin was also known as Jeconiah (JEK-o-NYE-ah, as given in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 1:12). He was the next to last king of Judah. He was taken captive to Babylon and put in prison for 37 years. Then the king of Babylon released him and gave him a seat of honor, eating at the king’s table (2 Kings 24:15;25:27-30). So Jehoiachin probably knew Daniel and so did Zerubbabel, his grandson. Zerubbabel had never seen the Temple or the city of Jerusalem. Most likely, he heard Daniel speak of the Name of God, the will of God, the House of God, and the glory of God. As Daniel shared these things, the heart of the young Zerubbabel must have been stirred. He had a burning desire for God and His glory. God was preparing him to be a leader with an understanding of who God was and what His will was for His people. So when the proclamation came from King Cyrus for people to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, Zerubbabel was ready and 3 Ezra – Part 1 willing to go. Today the Lord is also seeking young hearts He can train to be spiritual leaders in the future, to help lead His people back to Him.
(5) The Temple rebuilt. (Ezra 3-6) After Zerubbabel and the people came back to Jerusalem, the first thing they did was to rebuild the altar of God. They knew that they had to offer sacrifices to atone for their sins first; then their worship would satisfy the Lord. They were aware of many enemies around them. But despite their fear, they built the altar. They sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and the evening sacrifices, in accordance with the Law. Then they celebrated the Feast of the Tabernacles to remember how the Lord had faithfully led their ancestors through the wilderness, and had now brought them through the long journey from Babylon back to Jerusalem. In the second year, they laid the foundation for the Temple. The older men, now in their 80’s or 90’s, wept. They remembered the beautiful Temple that was destroyed. They were deeply moved when they saw the foundation being laid again. The younger people, who had never seen the Temple, shouted for joy. When the enemies of God’s people heard that the remnant was rebuilding the Temple for the Lord, they came to disrupt (stop) the work. They discouraged the people and made them afraid to go on building. After Cyrus died, those enemies wrote a letter to the new king, accusing the people of plotting a rebellion. So the king issued an order to stop the rebuilding work. Thus the work on the house of God came to a standstill. About 14 years later, God raised up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, whose books we will study in the future, to encourage the people. Then the building work resumed (continued). Their enemies wrote again to Darius, who was the king then. This time the record of the proclamation by Cyrus to build the Temple was found. So Darius issued a decree (order) to those enemies of God’s people saying, “Do not interfere with the work on this Temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site. Moreover, I hereby decree that the expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury so that the work will not stop. Whatever is needed—for burnt offerings to the God of heaven or by the priests—must be given them daily without fail.” So we see that God moved sovereignly (as the supreme ruler) to fulfill His purpose. He even caused the enemies to supply what was needed so His work could move forward. In 4 years, the Temple was finally finished. Today God is building His spiritual house. He is calling His people to share in this work, like the remnant. Will you let the Lord prepare you, so you can take part like Zerubbabel? There are enemies today also, who do not want to see God’s house built. But we can take courage as we hear the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel through the prophet Zechariah, “ ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” If we cooperate with the Lord, His house will be built.
4 Ezra – Part 1
Lesson and Application for the PM and PS Classes
(1) God’s people became captives in Babylon. We have been learning about the southern kingdom of Judah. Some of the kings were good, like Hezekiah and Josiah. They obeyed the Lord and led the people to worship God. Many of the kings were bad. They did not listen to the Lord. They disobeyed God’s commands and worshiped idols, so the people did the same. The Lord let Nebuchadnezzar (NEB-u-kad-NEZ-er), king of Babylon, attack Jerusalem. He took the people of Judah to Babylon to be his slaves. He took away all the precious things from the Temple and set it on fire. He destroyed the city of Jerusalem. The people of the northern kingdom of Israel had been taken away to Assyria many years before. Now all God’s people were captives in far away lands. God’s people must have been sad to be slaves so far from home. Do you know that God was sad too? His people were gone and the Temple, His house on earth, was destroyed. It seemed as if God had no place on earth anymore. It was all because His people sinned. When we sin, we make God sad too. So we must be careful how we behave. We do not want God to lose His place in our hearts. Was this the end for the Israelites? No. God knew that His people needed to be captives to learn an important lesson. Babylon was full of idols. The Jews (Israelites were now called Jews) became so sick of idols, they never worshiped idols again. Before they were taken away from Jerusalem, God made a promise through the prophet Jeremiah. “After 70 years in Babylon, I will come and keep My promise to bring you back to Jerusalem. For then you will pray to Me. When you seek Me with all your heart, I will be found, and I will bring you back from captivity.” So we learn that God never stopped loving His people. We can see this from the book of Ezra.
(2) King Cyrus of Babylon made a royal proclamation (announcement). Daniel also lived during this time. He knew that the 70 years Jeremiah prophesied about were almost over. It was time for God’s people to return and rebuild Jerusalem. So Daniel began to pray with all his heart. He said, “Lord, You are the great and awesome God. You keep Your covenant (agreement) of love with all who love You and obey Your commands. You are merciful and forgiving, even though we have sinned against You. See all the terrible things that have happened to us and the ruin of Jerusalem.” God heard Daniel’s prayers. Daniel was serving in King Cyrus’ palace. He probably told King Cyrus about Jeremiah’s prophecy. God used Cyrus even though he did not know God. King Cyrus made a proclamation throughout his kingdom. He said, “The Lord God of heaven has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem. His people may go to Jerusalem and build the house of the Lord God of Israel.” Now any of God’s people, who wanted to, could go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple.
(3) A remnant answered the proclamation. God’s people had settled down in Babylon. Even though they were slaves, they
5 Ezra – Part 1 had good homes and synagogues where they could worship God. To return to Jerusalem was not an easy decision, because they would have to leave their nice homes. But God made a remnant (a small part) of the people in captivity want to return. About 50,000 people decided to make the long trip back to Jerusalem to rebuild the House of the Lord. God was very pleased with these people so He had their names or their family names recorded in the Bible. All their neighbors gave them things to take with them for the journey and to help in the rebuilding. King Cyrus gave them the gold and silver things that belonged to the Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem 70 years before.
(4) God prepared Zerubbabel to lead the first return. Zerubbabel (Ze-RUB-bah-bul) was the grandson of Jehoiachin (Je-HOY-ah-kin), the next to the last king of Judah. Zerubbabel probably knew Daniel. When he was a young man, Zerubbabel learned about Jerusalem, the House of God, and the glory of God from Daniel. Daniel taught Zerubbabel who God was and what His will was for His people. So when the proclamation came for people to go rebuild the Temple, Zerubbabel was prepared to lead the remnant. Today God is building His house, the church. He wants His people to share in this work, as the remnant did. He is looking for young hearts He can train to help lead His people. Will you let the Lord train you, so He can use you when you grow up?
(5) The Temple was rebuilt. Zerubbabel and the people came back to Jerusalem. The first thing they did was to rebuild the altar of God so they could offer sacrifices for their sins. Then they could worship the Lord again. Many enemies were around them. They were afraid but they built the altar anyway. They sacrificed offerings according to God’s Law. Then they had a feast to celebrate how the Lord faithfully brought them through the long journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. Next, they laid the foundation for the Temple. The old men remembered the beautiful Temple that was destroyed. Now they wept because they were glad the foundation was being laid again. The younger people, who had never seen the Temple, shouted for joy. When the enemies of God’s people heard that the remnant was building the Temple for the Lord, they came to stop the work. They made the people afraid to go on building. After Cyrus died, the enemies wrote a letter to the new king, complaining about the people. So the king commanded them to stop rebuilding the Temple. Some time passed. The enemies wrote again to Darius, another king. This time the proclamation Cyrus made to rebuild the Temple was found. So Darius told the enemies of God’s people, “Do not stop the work on this Temple of God. Let the Jews rebuild this house of God.” Besides letting the rebuilding work go on, Darius ordered that the Jews be given anything that they needed for the building of the Temple and for burnt offerings. The Temple was finished in 4 years. So we see that no enemy could stop what God wanted. He made sure that His will was done.
6 Ezra – Part 1
Activities SR Class: Give each student the prepared form with the memory verse and lesson outline for today’s lesson. Have the students take notes during the lesson presentation.
The activity — “The First Return of the Remnant” may be done at home in addition to homework.
MD Class: Give each student the paper with today’s memory verse. Have the students copy the verse. Have each student write down a few key words from today’s lesson on the board and copy all the words onto their paper under the section “Bible Words”.
Do activity — “The First Return of the Remnant.”
When completed, have the students put the papers into their folders. Collect the folders. They will be given back to the students later.
PM Class: Give each child a piece of paper with today’s memory verse. Have the students copy the memory verse and learn the memory verse together.
Do the activity — “Cyrus’ Proclamation.”
Color the activity — “King Cyrus Making an Announcement.”
Collect the papers from the children and insert in their folders. The folders will be given out later.
PS Class: Learn today’s memory verse.
Color the pictures — “King Cyrus Making an Announcement” and “The People Worship God in Jerusalem.”
Sing some appropriate songs with the children.
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