Ezra 1/2 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Ezra 1:1-5

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfil the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

2 ‘This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

‘“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. 4 And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.”’ 5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites – everyone whose heart God had moved – prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. 

A. Find Out:

1. How long had Cyrus been king at this point? v.1a
2. Why did he make a proclamation? v.1b
3. What did he say God required of him? v.2
4. What did he say God’s people could do? v.3
5. Who was to provide for this? v.4
6. Who prepared to go? v.5

B. Think:

1. Turn back & read 2 Chron 36:20-22. How long had the Jews been in captivity in Babylon ?
2. What two ways is God seen to be moving in this passage?
3. Find a map and see how far it is from Babylon to Jerusalem

C. Comment:

In these amazing few verses, we see the Lord moving in two different ways. First of all, we see him moving in the heart of a non-Jewish king. We don’t know how it was that God moved on Cyrus’s heart. Possibly it was through Daniel’s influence (see Dan 6:28), possibly he had the Isaiah prophecy (Isa 44 & 45) brought to him. Perhaps it was just that God put thoughts into Cyrus’s mind. What ever it was, he has it in mind to let the Jews return to Jerusalem, specifically to rebuild the Temple.

Second, we see the Lord moving the hearts of the Jews in Babylon to WANT to return. We shouldn’t assume they would naturally want to go because they had really settled in Babylon and many of them would have actually been born there and possibly felt secure there. No, this is a move of God!

So we have here a significant sovereign move of God that prompted people (note, not forced people) to move in such a way that His long-term plans would be fulfilled, and in many ways it was against what was natural for those people to do. The Lord still had plans for the nation of Israel, into which His Son would come, so He wants it reconstituted in the Promised Land.

D. Application:

1. God can turn the hearts of the most proud and stubborn.
2. God works on a long-term basis.

Passage: Ezra 1:6-11 / 2:1,64-70

6 All their neighbours assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god. 8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

9 This was the inventory…

11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

2.1 Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to their own town.

2:64 The whole company numbered 42,360, 65 besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 200 male and female singers. 66 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 67 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.

68 When they arrived at the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings towards the rebuilding of the house of God on its site. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver and 100 priestly garments.

70 The priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.

A. Find Out:    

1. Who contributed silver, gold and goods? v.6
2. What did Cyrus contribute? v.7
3. How many articles of gold & silver went? v.11
4. How many people returned? v.64
5. How many singers did they have? v.65
6. Who gave what when they got to Jerusalem? v.68,69

B. Think:

1. Why do you think their neighbours gave them so much?
2. What do you think the leaders must have felt as they received all the Temple articles to take back?
3. Why do you think they specifically had singers?

C. Comment:

First of all we see the generous giving to the Israelites by their neighbours in Babylon. The reason for their giving so generously may have been: i) Cyrus told them to give v.4, ii) the Lord may have prompted them, iii) they may have been glad that these were going and not them.

Second, we see all the Temple articles of silver and gold that Cyrus gives them to take back. The leaders must have had a sense of awe as they realise i) the enormous value they have to take with them ii) that these belong to God and are the originals from the temple that was sacked seventy years before. When people and kings give generously you know that this MUST be a mighty work of God.

Finally we see the large number of people returning. No small group this! This is enough for a reasonable size town. Why the Singers? They are obviously going to do a lot of praising the Lord as they rebuild the temple and re-establish temple worship. Note that when they got back to Israel they didn’t just settle in Jerusalem, they each went back to their old towns. Although seventy years have passed they still know their personal history and know where their homes are, and it is to there that they each go. What must they have felt!

D. Application:

1. When people give financially it is a clear sign of God’s activity.
2. When God promises He will restore His people, He will do it!