Ezra 5 – 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 5:1-2 / Haggai 1:1-15

1 Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

Hagg 1:1-15

1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest:

2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘These people say, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.”’

3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’

5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’

7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured,’ says the Lord. 9 ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labour of your hands.’

12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.

A. Find Out:

1. Who prophesied to whom? v.1
2. What had the people said? Hag 1:2
3. What had they been doing? v.4,6
4. With what results? v.6,9a
5. What was the reason? v.9b,10
6. What was their response? v.12

B. Think:

1. The people had stopped building under the pressure of opposition. What had they then done?
2. What had God felt about that?
3. What do we learn from this passage about the place of prophecy in the life of the church?

C. Comment:

We’ve gone to Haggai to catch the full import of what was happening. The work is at a standstill, so the Lord speaks through his prophet. He makes various things clear.

First, that the people have settled down, and are looking after themselves and don’t give any thought to the temple any longer. They seem almost glad to have accepted the opposition so they can look after themselves.

Second, everything they do comes to nothing. They are farming but get little produce, they earn money but never have enough, they look to their well-being but are never satisfied

Third, the reason for this is that God is frustrating their activities. They ought to be rebuilding the Temple and because they are not, God is with-holding His blessing. We sometimes assume that a God of love will just keep on blessing despite our sin. We are mistaken!

The people are stirred by the prophetic word and respond to it and the building work continues again. Prophecy has that power to release faith. Do we allow it in our churches? Do we encourage it? If not it is perhaps no wonder our faith levels are often so low.

D. Application:

1. Me first, God second, results in my poverty.
2. God first, me second, results in my blessing.

Passage: Ezra 5:1-5

1 Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

3 At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to them and asked, ‘Who authorised you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?’ 4 They also asked, ‘What are the names of those who are constructing this building?’ 5 But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.

A. Find Out:

1. Who were encouraging the leaders? v.1,2c
2. Who went and questioned the leaders? v.3
3. What did they first ask? v.3
4. What did they then ask? v.4
5. Why didn’t the leaders stop working? v.5   

B. Think:

1. How was the Governor’s first question different from the opposition they had received previously?
2. Why would taking their names be threatening?
3. Why, in practical terms, do you think they were not put off by this questioning?

C. Comment:

We have noted again, first of all, that the rebuilding continues because the prophets of God clearly bring God’s word to the builders and this inspires them to press on with the work again. The prophetic now-word released faith and confidence in them for the work.

Next we saw in this reading, the Governor of the area coming to see what they are doing. Obviously he hadn’t been informed that Cyrus had released them. When he questions them he accurately notes what they are doing and doesn’t accuse them of rebuilding Jerusalem . We should also note that his questions are less hostile than those that had come previously.

However, they nevertheless could have left the Jews feeling afraid. This attack on the rebuilding is a challenge by authority. Authority asks, who authorised you? Do you remember Eve was challenged with “Did God say?” (Gen 3:1). Jesus was challenged with “IF you are the Son of God” (Mt 4:3). The world says to us, “Who says?”. However the word of God has so touched them that they are not put off by this questioning. We too, need to be sure of God’s word so that we are sure who we are when our authority is challenged.

D. Application:

1. Satan will challenge our authority. We are children of God (1 Jn 3:1)
2. We need, like Jesus, to be able to say, “it is written” (Mt 4:4)

Passage: Ezra 5:6-17

6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, the officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius. 7 The report they sent him read as follows:

To King Darius:

Cordial greetings.

8 The king should know that we went to the district of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The people are building it with large stones and placing the timbers in the walls. The work is being carried on with diligence and is making rapid progress under their direction.

9 We questioned the elders and asked them, ‘Who authorised you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?’ 10 We also asked them their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

11 This is the answer they gave us:

‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.

13 ‘However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. 14 He even removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon. Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, 15 and he told him, “Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.”

16 ‘So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.’

17 Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

A. Find Out:

1. How does the governor describe the Lord? v.8
2. Who had the people told him they were? v.11
3. Why did they say the Temple had been destroyed? v.12
4. What had Cyrus done? v.13
5. What did the Governor ask the king to do? v.17

B. Think:

1. What do you think is the tone of the Governor’s letter to the king in  Babylon ?
2. How is that seen in the letter?
3. Why do you think he writes like this?

C. Comment:

The letter from the Governor of the area to the king in Babylon is not what we might have expected. It is very open and honest and unbiased.

He first of all reports exactly what has been done to the Temple . He then reports what the builders have told him i.e.

• that they are rebuilding what was there before
• that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it as the judgement on Israel
• that King Cyrus had ordered its rebuilding

He then simply ask the king to check if this is all true and tell him what he should do. It is a remarkable letter in its lack of opposition to the Jews. It is quite different from the letter later sent complaining about the city walls being rebuilt. Why? Well, first of all, it is simply a Governor exercising his duty. Second, there are indications that this man respects the Lord. Third, it comes after the prophets have prophesied. The Lord has spoken His will and now enables His people to do it.

It challenges us, by its integrity, to be honest and open in the same way in respect of those that we are not naturally friendly with, to not distort the truth about them, but be completely righteous towards them.

D. Application:

1. Opposition may be people legitimately carrying out their work.
2. When God speaks His will, He then enables us to do it.