Ezra 6 – 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 6:1-12

1 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:

Memorandum:

3 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:

Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, 4 with three courses of large stones and one of timber. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. 5 Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.

6 Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. 7 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.

8 Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God:

Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. 9 Whatever is needed – young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem – must be given them daily without fail, 10 so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.

11 Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. 12 May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.

I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.

A. Find Out:

1. What was found by the king’s search? v.2
2. What had Cyrus actually specified? v.3,4
3. What did Darius first tell the Governor to do? v.6,7
4. What did he then instruct? v.8-10
5. How did he back this up? v.11
6. And what curse did he declare? v.12

B. Think:

1. How did Darius go to a lot of trouble in this matter?
2. What do we learn from Cyrus’s memo that we didn’t know before?
3. How does Darius back up the previous king?

C. Comment:

      First of all we see king Darius ordering a wide search to be made in the records (which he needn’t have done!) and then finding the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the Temple. Darius had perhaps been having dealings with God already (see Dan 6) and appears to give his commands with much understanding of the Lord. Daniel’s influence in the royal court may be having much wider repercussions, affecting Jerusalem , than he might have thought.

     This memorandum of Cyrus tells us that he not only instructed that it should be built but he specified its size and construction, and ordered it be paid for out of the royal treasury as well.

     Having found this, Darius backs up that previous decree with several instructions:

i) to keep away from the building work

ii) to provide provisions for the workers

iii) to deal with anyone who disobeys.

      The Lord is still very much in this rebuilding work! He is moving, not only among the workers in Jerusalem , but also back in the royal court. There is an amazing inter-working here of the Spirit of God in the two places.

D. Application:

1. God can deal with the mightiest of men for His own purposes!
2. Remember that today. He is Lord!

Passage: Ezra 6:13-18

13 Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. 14 So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. 15 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

16 Then the people of Israel – the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles – celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. 17 For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

A. Find Out:

1. How did the Governor respond to the letter? v.13
2. How were the leaders continually encouraged? v.14
3. When was the Temple finished? v.15
4. What did they all do on its completion? v.16
5. How did they do this? v.17
6. What further did they do? v.18

B. Think:

1. Through how many kings’ reigns had the Temple building gone on?
2. What had been the thing that had encouraged them and kept them on  with the work?
3. Now it was complete what were they making sure they did?

C. Comment:

      History tells us that the Temple took 21 years to rebuild. This was not so much that it was a large building but the builders had been put off on occasion by enemy activity and this had delayed its completion. Lesson 1: when you are building, even though it is at God’s decree, the enemy will seek to stop you in your efforts.

    Now however the temple is complete. We should note that it had been progressed because of the word of God that had kept coming through the prophets to stir the people on. We too, need that encouragement today. Lesson 2: when the opposition is there we need the now-word of God confirming the original word and encouraging the people on to complete what God has said.

    Next we observe their great joy at its completion and their desire to be obedient to all that God had spoken previously through Moses and to re-establish the priesthood and sacrifices. They desire to be whole-hearted before God and obey all he has said in His written word as well. A good example to follow. Lesson 3: success is a great motivator or praise and adoration, and God wants us to be successful and complete all He has told us to do!

D. Application:

1. Opposition is overcome by the word of God declared and followed.
2. Success is an excellent motivator, and God wants it for you.

Passage: Ezra 6:19-22

19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. 20 The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. 21 So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbours in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel. 22 For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

A. Find Out:

1. What was celebrated, when? v.19
2. Who had done what? v.20a
3. What did they do for everyone else? v.20b
4. Who ate it and why? v.21
5. What did they then do? v.22a
6. Why? v.22b

B. Think:

1. Read Num 28:16,17 Why were Israel doing this according to this?
2. Why were they doing it according to today’s passage?
3. What did the Passover celebrate and indicate to the Jew?

C. Comment:

      The temple has been completed, the house of God has been reinstated, the dwelling place on earth of God (in their eyes) is back in its rightful place in Jerusalem . It is significant therefore, that as soon as they complete the dwelling place of God they celebrate on the designated day, the Passover, the feast that remembered the start of their being called into nationhood out of Egypt. It was the Passover that opened the door for them to leave Egypt and become the people of God. it reminded them of THE first great, mighty work of God in calling them into being as His people.

     Following Passover, they celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread for the following week as the Law instructed them to do. This feat again reminded them of how they had left Egypt hastily and travelled at speed out of that land into the desert on their way to the Promised Land. As they celebrate it now there must be within them a sense that at last, once again, they are on their way again with God. This is the start of a new era for them, now they have been put back in their own land and the temple is now there at the heart of their national life. Sadly, this time, the glory of the Lord did not fill the temple as it had done the first one (see 2 Chron 7:1). This is a different day.

D. Application:

1. God does give us chances to start over again.
2. The second time round will not be the same as the first.