The Hand of God in Prophecy
By Glenn Davies & Clay Willis
Ezra,
Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah
The
Hand of God Revealed – Preparing for the Birth of the Messiah
We were both astounded to learn that the “minor prophet” books of Zechariah and Haggai were written by the same prophets that show up working with Ezra and Nehemiah. Perhaps others have noticed that those prophetic books were contemporary, at least in some sense, with the books of Ezra and Nehemiah but we’ve never found any writing where anyone made much of this. We found that this fact changes – to some degree – how one must view all four books.
Furthermore, there is good reason to believe that some or all four of these men had some contact with Daniel in Babylon during the captivity and to a lesser degree, but still relevant, it makes Daniel contemporary with their writing.
Even more astonishing was Glenn’s discovery that there are a great many parallels between the prophecy of Zechariah and the prophecy of John as recorded in the book of Revelation. We will explain more on this subject later.
The two books of Ezra and Nehemiah are fairly short (ten chapters in Ezra and thirteen in Nehemiah) and if you are anything like us, you will want to “fast forward” or skip all the genealogy parts, which are (thankfully) not lengthy and while perhaps interesting historically speaking, are mostly unrelated to the events that transpired during the time of rebuilding of Jerusalem.
Those tedious parts could be skimmed over. However, among some of these details there are some important points about the incredible lengths to which God – “the Holy One of Israel” – went to restore the Babylonian captives – a relative handful of Jews – back to their homelands and original estates in Jerusalem and its surrounding cities after 70 years of captivity.
There’s also some really tedious stuff in places with all
the details of all the various vessels of gold etc. that represent all the
paraphernalia necessary for the proper worship of the Israelite God. But they were restored to them in quite an
interesting way – illustrating the “hand of God” in action. That’s where their story becomes really
intriguing!
Why was it
important that the Jews and their culture be restored to Jerusalem?
The way that God set about the rebuilding of the temple of Solomon as described in the book of Ezra, and later the entirety of Jerusalem itself as described in the book of Nehemiah – is nothing short of miraculous. Brick-by-brick, stone-by-stone, with precious metals and expensive timbers and donations of unprecedented and almost unlimited funds by their captor's kings, what Ezra and Nehemiah reveal could only have been accomplished by “the hand of God”!
It looks very much like Jesus – who was the “Holy one of Israel” in Old Testament times – performed a great many “miracles” for these Jewish returned captives many years before His first recorded official miracle of turning the water into wine as Jesus – God born as a man in the New Testament.
We’re going to open our story with the first several verses in chapter one of Ezra. It really does get fascinating in places with regard to the phenomenal, seemingly unlimited grace, permission and even support, of formerly hostile kings – Cyrus of Persia and later Artaxerxes and Darius.
Giving almost unlimited funds to the Jews from their own treasuries to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem is nothing short of incredible! They virtually gave them a “blank check” and said, “Here, take anything you want – even all the treasury if need be.”
Later, the story heats up when the all of these kings’ own countrymen object to the unprecedented favor – Nebuchadnezzar being the first, then King Cyrus and the others granting phenomenal privileges to these captives. This phenomenon is expanded and paralleled when one considers that Daniel – captured as a small boy and a prisoner in Babylon – rose to high government office in this pagan government and remained so throughout his life.
We begin to understand that if the hand of God had not been present and extremely active at this point – that if these vital, pivotal points in Biblical history hadn't seen such extraordinary intervention by God – then there would have been no Jews in Jerusalem or in Palestine for Jesus to have been born of the Jewess Mary for His “first coming”.
When you realize the magnitude of this and that it was for the ultimate benefit of all mankind, it gives you a better appreciation of just how much intervention there was and how much there must be in our modern nations that goes largely unobserved or even appreciated by most of us – such as the phenomenal blessings upon God’s people.
The descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been the recipients of the richest lands in the whole world with natural and national resources second to none. When we also consider the spiritual resources God has made available through some of the tenets of Christianity that were given to the English speaking peoples, incorporated into their laws and governments, the unprecedented ongoing protection afforded them is staggering.
After these opening verses and a few detailed letters that are important to understanding the whole theme and feel of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we’ll just hit the highlights and you can fill in any blanks by reading through the actual books themselves leaving out the tedious bits if you so choose.
A little later, we’ll explain all this is vital and necessary to a better understanding of the book of Revelation.
The hand of God “revealed”
We’ll now illustrate the necessary points that show
that it is the “hand of God” that makes one a true “servant” of God, prophet or
otherwise.
In the
first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill 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 to put it in writing:
"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. Anyone of his people among you--may his God
be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the
LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any
place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and
gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of
God in Jerusalem." NIV Ezra 1:1-4
God also “stirred up the spirit” of the Jewish leaders or as Ezra put it:
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. NIV Ezra 1:5
There are no specific prophecies (foretelling the future) in these two books under either Ezra or Nehemiah's names and neither is called a “prophet”. Ezra was actually a scribe (writer and scholar) and a priest.
We've underlined what was written in the first verse for the simple reason that extraordinary things and events were afoot in those days. Not only was Cyrus – the Persian king – influenced directly by God by “stirring up his spirit” (this happened more than once) but also God's spirit was at work later with another king, Artaxerxes, and in Darius' time as well.
King Darius had to be “reminded” of Cyrus' written decree and proclamation [Ezra 5:17] made those many years before: when they discovered the proclamation in the royal archives, they went to amazing lengths and great trouble and effort to give the Jews similar help as was given at the start of Cyrus' reign.
King Cyrus was extremely generous and even gave the Jewish captives a yearly grant of funds from the royal treasury and had all his own citizens support the Jews rebuilding of the temple [Ezra 3:7].
In the last verse of the third chapter of the book of Ezra it is said that the Jews were so overjoyed after having laid the foundations that they made such a ruckus celebrating in the old manner that King David taught [Ezra 3:10 and 3:13], their old enemies began to gather against them.
At first, they tried subterfuge [Ezra 4:1-3] and when that didn't work, they sent “hate mail” and accusations against the Jews [Ezra 4:4-10] to their kings and rulers asking them to stop the building of the temple. They even hired people to hinder the re-construction attempts (perhaps the equivalent of modern day lawyers) during the reign of at least two kings.
Then the peoples around them set out
to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They
hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the
entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of
Persia.
At the beginning of the reign of
Xerxes, they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel [possibly nobles or
local governors] and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to
Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic
language. NIV Ezra 4:4-7
They probably thought the Jews wouldn't be able to read the letter or know what was going on – pretty devious of them really.
The surrounding people of the land were certainly persistent and determined not to let the Jews build, weren't they? This makes their kings’ (not just one but three successive kings) determination to give the Jews every possible assistance and funding out of their treasuries under the unhappy and watchful eyes of their strongly objecting populace that much more inexplicable and extraordinary. It must have been baffling for all those concerned in those surrounding provinces.
In chapters 4 & 5 letters of protest and accusations against the Jew's temple rebuilding project were flying back and forth so thick and fast that Artaxerxes was at last persuaded at last to stop the Jews and he halted the building completely. [Ezra 4:23-24]
These people surrounding Jerusalem who were trying their best to stop the rebuilding of the temple and city are the ancestors of the people who were called “Samaritan” in Jesus’ day. They were universally despised by the Jews.
That helps to explain the poignancy of the story of the “good Samaritan” [Luke 10:30-38] in the New Testament in which Jesus showed that the person who helped others was one’s “neighbor”, no matter what the person’s background. “Love your neighbor as yourself” – a commandment Jesus listed as second only to the commandment to love God – also was given new meaning by this parable.
The letter to king Artaxerxes and the introduction to it in the verse before it show one reason why the Jews of Jesus' time loathed and hated the Samaritans. The Samaritans were originally the inhabitants of many far-away lands, who were settled into that region that formerly belonged to the other ten tribes of Israel by the Assyrian Empire [II Kings 17:23-34].
The introduction [in verses 8-10], and the letter we’re quoting are quite revealing: these peoples that were re-settled into Samaria might have been foreigners to the Jews but they were subjects or citizens of the Persian Empire and of King Artaxerxes. They joined with many others under the rule of Artaxerxes in writing to the King of Persia to make their accusation of imminent rebellion on the part of the Jews:
Rehum the commanding officer and
Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king
as follows:
Rehum the commanding officer and
Shimshai the secretary, together with the rest of their associates--the judges
and officials over the men from Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the
Elamites of Susa, and the other people whom the great and honorable
Ashurbanipal [a ruler of the Assyrian Empire, which Babylon conquered and which
was in turn conquered by the Medo-Persians of whom Artaxerxes was king]
deported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates.
(This is a copy of the letter they
sent him.)
To King Artaxerxes, from your
servants, the men of Trans-Euphrates:
The king should know that the Jews who
came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that
rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring the walls and repairing the
foundations. Furthermore, the king should know that if this city is built and
its walls are restored, no more taxes, tribute or duty will be paid, and the
royal revenues will suffer. Now since we are under obligation to the palace and
it is not proper for us to see the king dishonored, we are sending this message
to inform the king, so that a search may be made in the archives of your
predecessors. In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious
city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place of rebellion from ancient
times. That is why this city was destroyed. We inform the king that if this
city is built and its walls are restored, you will be left with nothing in
Trans-Euphrates. NIV Ezra 4:8-16
It makes you wonder where or from whom Ezra got a fully translated copy, doesn’t it? He was very well educated and perhaps he spoke and read Aramaic but in any event, they got a copy of the letter and read it.
The message was plain enough. These people who were subjects of Artaxerxes had the Jews pegged pretty well didn't they? In view of what happened 150–200 years later with the Maccabees rebellion and then about 500 years later just prior to 67-70 AD, what this king's subjects said amounted to a “prophecy” or prediction based on past history and knowledge of the Israelite history.
These Samaritans and hostile neighbors of the returned Jewish captives, of which there were about 49,000 in round figures including their personal servants [Ezra 2:64-65], could see exactly what would happen even if their king couldn't.
Perhaps saying that Artaxerxes, their king, would be “dishonored” was a bit over the top but they obviously felt he was ignorant of the Israelite history as well and got their point across by educating him on the facts of Israelite history. As far as they were concerned, nothing good would come by the Persian king restoring Jerusalem and the temple! Is it any wonder that there was such enmity between the Jews and Samaritans of Jesus' day?
Here is the scripture containing Artaxerxes response:
Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to
Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria,
and unto the rest beyond the river, Peace, and at such a time.
The letter, which ye sent unto us, hath been plainly read before
me. And I commanded, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city
of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and
sedition have been made therein.
There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which
have ruled over all countries beyond the river; and toll, tribute, and custom
was paid unto them. KJV Ezra 4:17-20
The king sent this reply:
To Rehum the commanding officer, Shimshai the secretary and the
rest of their associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates:
Greetings.
The letter you sent us has been read and translated in my
presence. I issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this
city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place of
rebellion and sedition. Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the
whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them.
NIV Ezra 4:17-20
We underlined the verse because it seems Artaxerxes was shocked to learn that the Jewish Israelites of old had extensive territories of their own and were actually rulers in their own right before his time so perhaps he did, indeed, need educating by his clever subjects. His actions upon learning this were pretty swift and final:
Now issue an order to these men to
stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order. Be careful
not to neglect this matter. Why let this threat grow, to the detriment of the
royal interests? NIV Ezra 4:21-22
These “good Samaritans” must have taken great delight in carrying out the king's orders by force of arms as these last verses show:
As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to
Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to
the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop. Thus the work on the
house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the
reign of Darius king of Persia. NIV Ezra 4:23-24
This background not only shows the “hand of God” in action but also shows the type of trials a prophet of God might face and underlines the type of character a prophet might need to do God’s will against all odds. Well let's see what unfolds shall we?
Enter Ezra and the prophets into the picture
There is actually a strong parallel between the book of Revelation and the book of Zechariah. Zechariah even fills in a few details about the “two witnesses” from Revelation and provides some details that are not in that book about modern nations – specifically the Jews.
We believe Zechariah's prophecies show the role, or part, the modern day Jews are going to play in the second coming of Jesus Christ to this earth in our future. This firm belief is not as extraordinary as it might seem at first.
Zechariah was one of the two prophets (Haggai being the other) that were “prophesying to the Jews” and perhaps helping in the building of the temple [Ezra 5:1]. Not only that – all the prophecies that they gave were recorded in two books in the Bible under their names were given by them at the exact same time as they were present in this dramatic period of Biblical history [Ezra 1:1; Nehemiah 1:1]; Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 1:1].
Quite a number of these prophecies were given to them “in the second year of the reign of Darius” [Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 1:1] and strangely enough, it appears that some of Zechariah's prophecies foretell of the birth of God as the man Jesus in some amazing detail!
So it can be clearly seen and shown that the God of the Old Testament – who was born to Mary as God’s son, Jesus – was preparing for His coming as the Messiah.
The first two verses of Chapter 5 of Ezra set the scene for some really intriguing events that occurred in Darius' time:
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. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and
Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And
the prophets of God were with them, helping them. NIV Ezra 5:1-2
This period of Biblical History was so crucially important to God that He had not one but two prophets to assist Ezra, Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the others in building this temple on the site of the original temple built by Solomon. This temple was nowhere near as impressive as was Solomon's. But the “hand of God” intervened again and in about 20 B. C., caused King Herod (an Idumean and not a Jew) to renovate the temple these people built to make it even more impressive.
It was so impressive that it caused the apostles in Jesus' day to comment on the magnificence of the building in their time [Mark 13:1; Luke 21:5] and they likely would have known of the book of Ezra, being devout Jews, and would have known the whole story that went into its building.
They, the disciples, must have literally been horrified and astonished at this prophecy of Jesus' in their day:
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples
came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.
"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell
you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be
thrown down." NIV Matthew 24:1-2
This also supports the almost certainty that all of the New Testament
scriptures were written before the destruction Jesus prophesied occurred in 67
– 70 AD because not one of them writes one word or makes one inference of the
destruction of the temple.
Considering all the trouble and effort God expended in Ezra and Nehemiah's day to influence three Persian, gentile kings to allow the Jews to rebuild both the temple and Jerusalem itself, and then to influence Herod, the Idumean, to renovate it to near that of Solomon’s splendor, it's still quite amazing that God later sent another gentile army – the forces of the Roman Empire – to completely demolish both Temple and Jerusalem yet again. But we see the “hand of God” bringing the Old Covenant to a close and scattering the Jews over the world once more in 67-70 AD
Was it the “hand of God” that, in 1948, restored the Jews once again to the land of Palestine? The jury is still out on that one but it possibly makes that event even more amazing! It’s obvious to any unbiased observer that something or someone is influencing their destiny and national fortunes to a remarkable degree.
King Darius makes some totally incongruous and totally inexplicable declarations and threats to his own people!
In Darius' and Ezra's time the “good Samaritans” were at it once again: a different set of Samaritan rulers attempted to stop the Jews once more by not only writing to the king but by gathering and reporting the names of the Jewish “ringleaders” [so called by those Samaritans], and were probably hoping the king would punish those ringleaders and bring everything to a screeching halt.
At that time Tattenai,
governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to
them and asked, "Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore
this structure?" They also asked, "What are the names of the men
constructing this building?"
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.
NIV Ezra 5:3-5
These Samaritan governors thought that all they had to do was send a nasty letter to Darius their king – like previous governors had done – and the Jews would be stopped once again as in Artaxerxes' day.
They were in for a rude awakening. When God sets His mind to doing something He doesn't just get His “hand” involved but “watches over” and oversees every detail. God’s plans always succeed whether the intent of those involved is to obey God or not and, in fact, whether those involved have ever heard of God – and even if no one notices or understands that God is involved in “human affairs”.
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. The
report they sent him read as follows:
To King Darius: Cordial
greetings.
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.
We questioned the elders
and asked them, "Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore
this structure?" We also asked them their names, so that we could write
down the names of their leaders for your information.
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. But because our fathers angered the God of heaven,
he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who
destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon."
"However, in the
first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this
house of God. 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, 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.' 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."
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. NIV Ezra 5:6-17
What inspired the Jews to give such a bold answer to the governors when they knew that what they said would be reported to King Darius in the worst possible light? None other than the prophecies as recorded in the writings of Haggai and Zechariah.
Apparently the Jews of that time didn't think at first that the time had come to act -- as this verse in Haggai shows:
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 Jehozadak, the high priest:
This is
what the LORD Almighty says: "These people say, `The time has not yet
come for the LORD's house to be built.'" NIV Haggai 1:1-2
After a bit of persuasion on God's part, apparently, as verses 3-11 show, God again stirs up the Jews:
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua
son of Jehozadak, 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.
Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger,
gave this message of the LORD to the people: "I am with you,"
declares the LORD.
So the LORD stirred up the spirit of
Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of
Jehozadak, 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, on the
twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. NIV
Haggai 1:12-15
The result of all this “stirring up of the spirit”, and Haggai's and Zechariah's prophecies, was of course the letter to Darius mentioned above and God wasn't kidding when he said this in Haggai:
`The silver is
mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. NIV Haggai 2:8
Darius' reply to the Jews and its significance to our day are crucial to understanding what is missing or omitted from the book of Revelation. Zechariah's revelations in his book of prophetic writings show clearly the depth and intensity of divine intervention like that which is shown in these two seldom read or noticed books of the Bible: Ezra and Nehemiah.
King Darius then issued an
order and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. A
scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this
was written on it:
Memorandum:
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 ninety feet high and ninety feet wide, with three courses
of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal
treasury.
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.
Now then, Tattenai,
governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you, their fellow
officials of that province, stay away from there. 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
what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this
house of God: The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the
royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not
stop. Whatever is needed--young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings
to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and oil, as requested by the
priests in Jerusalem--must be given them daily without fail, so that they may
offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of
the king and his sons.
Furthermore, I decree
that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house and he
is to be lifted up and impaled on it. And for this crime his house is to be
made a pile of rubble. May God, who has caused his Name to
dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lift 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. NIV Ezra 6:1-12
It is only by our knowledge that the “hand of God” is guiding this entire action that these statements by Darius may be explained. This is otherwise inexplicable behavior for a pagan, gentile king of such stature, who was a world ruler and whose captives were a completely subjected and conquered people with no status whatsoever. He owed the Jews nothing and could have done pretty much whatever he wanted with them – including genocide if that was his wish – there was theoretically nothing to stop him.
Instead he threatens his own subjects with execution if they didn't comply with giving the Jews everything they desired in the way of unlimited funds and support to worship a God who wasn't the god of Persia!
These three kings are mentioned in secular history and yet there doesn't seem to be any record or acknowledgement of all these events in the days of these kings except for the Biblical record. Since the Bible is not recognized as true history in the eyes of this world's scholars, it is not regarded as fact. And yet it was obviously very important to God to have it recorded in His Word, the Bible, for posterity – and for other reasons unknown to many.
Ezra himself actually came onto the scene and was given authority and favor in the seventh year of the reign of king Artaxerxes by none other than the king himself (not discounting God's influence on Artaxerxes' mind and spirit of course).
It's not necessary to deal with the last three chapters in Ezra in any detail but when combined with information in Nehemiah, they do show, or at least give some clues, to the qualities of character necessary for a true servant of God in any age. But it is in the seventh chapter of Ezra where the most important quality comes into play and that the phrase 'hand of God' is used in connection with the mindset a servant or indeed a prophet of God must have.
In Ezra's case the short genealogy in the first five verses of chapter seven shows his claim to being a “legitimate” priest of God is valid, but we still have no answer as to how God selects a “prophet”. It follows logically that there just might be common denominators that apply as a pre-requisite to being a “prophet of God” in any age: the “hand of God” must rest upon that individual. Ezra, although not a prophet, uses this description of himself:
He [Ezra] was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which
the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he
asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him. NIV Ezra 7:6
The phrase is repeated:
He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the
first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for
the gracious hand of his God was on him. NIV Ezra 7:9
Nehemiah uses the same phrase throughout his story. Nehemiah was not a priest or scribe but just an ordinary guy – a lowly slave and the king's cupbearer, just another one of the Jewish captives – whom God later made into a ruler or governor overseeing the re-construction of Jerusalem under extremely trying circumstances. The whole story can be read in Nehemiah and that story in itself is quite fascinating in places. Here's the same phrase repeated by him:
And may I have a letter to Asaph,
keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the
gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence
I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me,
the king granted my requests. NIV Nehemiah 2:8
I set out during the night with a few
men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for
Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. NIV
Nehemiah 2:12
So here is just another clue in the making of a true servant or a prophet of God and what sort of character they must have or be given to enable them to do extraordinary things in any age or era. It's interesting that Nehemiah never told anybody what his intentions were at the time.
The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing,
because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or
officials or any others who would be doing the work. NIV Nehemiah 2:16
It would seem that Nehemiah was pretty much a “maverick” in the sense that he did whatever God put in his heart to do – regardless what anyone else was doing – and yet still working in the best interests of all concerned but not particularly mindful of whether or not he had anyone else's approval.
Humble “cup bearer” he might have been, but he certainly didn't lack courage and boldness [two other requirements for a prophet?]:
Then I said to them, "You see the
trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with
fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in
disgrace."
I also told them about the gracious
hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us start
rebuilding." So they began this good work. NIV Nehemiah 2:17-18
There's that phrase again in slightly different wording: “the hand of God”.
This story of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah show the depth of involvement that God put in this special period in Biblical history. According to the prophet Haggai, it is almost on a par with the exodus from Egypt of the ancient Israelites in terms of God's direct involvement at that crucial period.
Why it's necessary to establish this point will be made abundantly clear after the last quote from the letters – Artaxerxes' letter to Ezra to be precise – because both Ezra and Nehemiah were given unprecedented and inexplicable favor among gentile kings. This all ties into what is missing from the Book of Revelation and to what Zechariah’s prophecy supplies to fill in some of those details for our time and our age.
What the prophet Haggai says here is also important for our time:
`This is what I covenanted with you
when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not
fear.'
"This is what the LORD Almighty
says: `In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the
sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all
nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD
Almighty.
`The silver is mine and the gold is
mine,' declares the LORD Almighty.
`The glory of this present house will
be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty.
`And in this place I will grant
peace,' declares the LORD Almighty." NIV Haggai 2:5-9
God keeps His end of bargains. He does not break the covenants He makes with man even though man fails to hold up his end of the deals. The old covenant or Old Testament was still clearly in force at that time – whatever punishments were dealt out to ancient Israel and Judah previously, notwithstanding.
For an analysis of the “blessings” and “cursing” promised in
that old covenant read pages 31 – 35 of The Hand of God. The scriptural reference is Leviticus
26:3-39.
Did the introduction of Christianity and Jesus' first coming shake up all nations? The evidence of that speaks for itself, doesn't it?
God promises to give peace in “this place”, i.e., Jerusalem, but the re-built temple no longer exists having been destroyed once again in the late 60's-70's AD. So what is meant by “in this place will I grant peace”? The giving of the holy spirit freely to those who seek God in the New Covenant age ties into all this and also the fact that Jerusalem will once again be holy during the millennial reign of Jesus in the “Stone Kingdom” of God.
Artaxerxes' letter to Ezra shows the depth of God's involvement and a
shocking point about Revelation becomes obvious in Zechariah’s prophecies
This is a copy of the letter King
Artaxerxes had given to Ezra the priest and teacher, a man learned in matters
concerning the commands and decrees of the LORD for Israel:
Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the
priest, a teacher of the Law of the God of heaven: Greetings.
Now I decree that any of the
Israelites in my kingdom, including priests and Levites, who wish to go to
Jerusalem with you, may go. You are sent by the king and his
seven advisers to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the Law of
your God, which is in your hand. Moreover, you are to take with you the silver
and gold that the king and his advisers have freely given to the God of Israel,
whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, together with all the silver and gold you may
obtain from the province of Babylon, as well as the freewill offerings of the people
and priests for the temple of their God in Jerusalem.
With this money be sure to buy bulls,
rams and male lambs, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings,
and sacrifice them on the altar of the temple of your God in Jerusalem.
You and your brother Jews may then do
whatever seems best with the rest of the silver and gold, in accordance with
the will of your God. Deliver to the God of Jerusalem all
the articles entrusted to you for worship in the temple of your God. And
anything else needed for the temple of your God that you may have occasion to
supply, you may provide from the royal treasury.
Now I, King Artaxerxes, order all the
treasurers of Trans-Euphrates to provide with diligence whatever Ezra the priest,
a teacher of the Law of the God of heaven, may ask of you--up to a
hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a
hundred baths of olive oil, and salt without limit. Whatever the God of
heaven has prescribed, let it be done with diligence for the temple of the God
of heaven. Why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and of
his sons? You are also to know that you have no authority to impose taxes,
tribute or duty on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple
servants or other workers at this house of God.
And you, Ezra, in accordance with the
wisdom of your God, which you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to
administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates--all who know the laws
of your God. And you are to teach any who do not know them.
Whoever does not obey the law of your
God and the law of the king must surely be punished by death, banishment,
confiscation of property, or imprisonment. NIV Ezra
7:11-26
Can you imagine Hitler – had the Third Reich been successful in WWII in conquering the English-speaking people of the world – granting us freedom to go back to our lands and homes and worship our God in peace and give us untold wealth and support from his own people to do so? We hardly think so!
In fact it is only the English speaking peoples who have ever restored former conquered enemies to their original lands and helped them rebuild – no other nations have ever done that for their enemies!
That's why these two books of Ezra and Nehemiah take on new meaning in understanding how and shows God to be intricately involved in the affairs of men.
Nehemiah reveals another aspect or two of the character that a prophet – modern or ancient – must have
Most of the so-called minor prophetic books of the Old Testament begin with "The word of Lord that came to" or, as in Isaiah "the visions of Isaiah". Ezekiel has a slightly different beginning but still mentions visions that came to him in his introduction. Jeremiah doesn't actually say he was a prophet but that he was a priest [Jeremiah 1:1], but the second verse says “the word of the Lord” came to him also. Nor does Daniel, which is written in the third person at the beginning and for most of the book.
But all are acknowledged as prophets of God. Nahum, Habakkuk, and Malachi refer to their prophecies in their introductions as the “burden of the Lord” [KJV’] or “an oracle” [NIV] that came to them. No doubt Jonah might have felt some sentiments along those lines when he reluctantly delivered his “burden” or “oracle” to the Ninevites even though he opened his book in almost the usual manner.
Ezra was a priest and Nehemiah was not a prophet as such but each holds a place in the Bible in almost equal importance as far as recognition of his work and life of those times as the other two prophets of that time, Haggai and Zechariah.
That all important one or perhaps two aspects of character
[in addition to those already stated in this article] that every prophet
of God must have will be set out under this next heading. It doesn't matter whether we are referring to
Old or New Testament prophets or prophets of God in any age or era.
Nehemiah's humble beginnings and the prayer that set him on a path to a destiny involving the “hand of God”
The entire first chapter of Nehemiah describes one of those qualities of character:
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of
Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I
questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also
about Jerusalem.
They said to me, "Those who
survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and
disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned
with fire."
When I heard these things, I sat down
and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of
heaven. Then I said: "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God,
who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands,
let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is
praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I
confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have
committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not
obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. Remember the
instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, `If you are unfaithful, I will
scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands,
then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them
from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my
Name.'"
"They are your servants and your
people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. O Lord,
let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer
of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success
today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."
I was cupbearer to the king. NIV
Nehemiah 1:1-11
What kind of comment could follow such a heartfelt prayer as
this one written and recorded by a Jewish man nearly 2500 years ago?
Perhaps only that this was a prayer worthy of any saint or modern day
Christian.
Did you catch the real depth of meaning in that phrase, “who delight in revering your name”, that Nehemiah wrote here? The KJV translates that phrase as “who desire to fear your name”. The sense of awe coupled with fear is contained in the Hebrew word translated as “fear” by the KJV and is better understood in the NIV translation.
Does God put the desire to worship Him and stand in awe of all His creation in an individual? The old English language doesn't always convey the depth of meaning adequately in some cases but the word fear does indeed serve to demonstrate the deep respect and awe any servant of God should have towards his maker.
And what quality of character comes from or is an end product of deep respect and total awe and reverence (or 'fear' of God as the KJV would render it) of the creator of all life? Isn't it humility?
It's fairly easy to see why the books of Ezra and Nehemiah wouldn't hold the interest that the New Testament does and become neglected or overlooked by Christians because there are more of those tedious genealogies relating specifically to the Jews in places in both books that would mean little to Christians at large.
For example, chapter 7 of Nehemiah has 73 verses and only the first 6 would be of any interest at all and even then only remotely. Likewise large portions of chapters 10, 11 & 12 are taken up with things that would perhaps only interest historians, but in ignoring or overlooking the rest of Nehemiah, Christians are missing the points of these books entirely.
They are missing the significance and the importance we believe the book of Zechariah plays in filling in details not found in the book of Revelation. We think missing these details has made most Christians completely unaware that – prophetically – those verses hold the key to the fate of not only the Jews but America and the British Commonwealth countries – countries and peoples whose fates and destinies lie intricately intertwined in the Bible and our modern times.
Was 70 years a cut-off point of no return? Would the Jews have lost their identity and religion like the lost ten tribes of Israel?
Seventy years might not seem like a long time under normal circumstances, but national captivity hardly qualifies as normal circumstances and a lot can happen or indeed be forgotten in that relatively short time period. Seventy years is equal to roughly one third of the time that America and Australia have existed as nations.
Seventy years is an especially long time if your captors
didn't allow you to practice your religion and the customs of your conquered
lands. Furthermore, since the life span
of man was set at “three score and 10” – seventy years – almost all of the
people who were age twenty or over when taken captive would die during that
time. A whole new generation would arise who had only known a life as a
captive.
Things moved at a much slower pace in Biblical times and eras. In the last century we moved from the horse and buggy age at the beginning of the century to the space age in approximately – you guessed it – seventy years. An awful lot can happen in our modern fast paced world in a very short space of time and the indications are that things and events are telescoping and progressing even faster than most – if not all of us – can keep up with.
What is clearly brought out in the two books of Ezra and Nehemiah, especially in the later chapters, was that the Jews of the captivity including this small remnant of returned captives had already lost much knowledge of the laws and customs of those that their fathers practiced before the captivity. This was brought on by an already declining tendency to ignore God's way of life and teachings by those pre-captivity ancestors.
What is further brought out in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah (who were all contemporaries in this remarkable story of the restoration of some 42 thousand Jewish people to the Holy land) is that it resulted in a fully functioning Jewish nation and society that was absolutely essential to be present for Jesus to be born a Jew in the circumstances that he was.
What is shown in these books is that 70 years was none too soon to bring back from captivity even a small group of servants of God that were dedicated to restoring the truth and way of life that God taught his people Israel in Old Testament times.
The Holy One of Israel could just have easily restored some Jews a few hundred years later from that captivity but would they have been able to “kick start” their religion and society again after so long a time and after many generations?
Nehemiah becomes not only a governor but also something of a folk hero under the “hand of God”
Did the God of the Old Testament, the Holy One of Israel, answer Nehemiah's heartfelt prayer? You bet He did! And in a big way!
We'll let the scriptures themselves tell the story, add a few comments, another quote or two and then give a very detailed and very clear explanation of exactly how this very rich and detailed ancient Biblical history will very shortly impinge on and effect each and every one of our lives today – Christian and non Christian alike –and even the Jews in our modern world. I’ll also explain exactly how our future is going to be played out just before Jesus returns His government to this planet permanently.
In the month of Nisan in the twentieth
year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and
gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; so the king
asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can
be nothing but sadness of heart."
I was very much afraid, but I said to
the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when
the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been
destroyed by fire?"
The king said to me, "What is it
you want?"
Then I prayed to the God of heaven,
and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has
found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers
are buried so that I can rebuild it."
Then the king, with the queen sitting
beside him, asked me, "How long will your journey take, and when will you
get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
I also said to him, "If it
pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so
that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I have
a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to
make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and
for the residence I will occupy?"
And because the gracious hand of my
God was upon me, the king granted my requests. NIV Nehemiah 2:1-8
Not only did Nehemiah get everything he requested of the king for whom he was merely a slave/servant/cup bearer and a captive Jew with no real rights whatsoever, but king Artaxerxes supplied him with an escort with at least one captain and soldiers and even a certain amount of authority bound up in the letters he carried, as this next verse attests. It does show that though he was a slave, the King thought a lot of him.
So I went to the governors of
Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king's letters. The king had also sent army
officers and cavalry with me. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the
Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone
had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.
I went to Jerusalem, and after staying
there three days I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told
anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no
mounts with me except the one I was riding on. NIV Nehemiah 2:9-12
During those three days Nehemiah checked out the utter destruction and desolation that was the city of Jerusalem, except for the Temple of Solomon which Ezra came to re-build under Artaxerxes’ auspices nearly 14 years earlier in the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign. That was apparently all Ezra's group (which included the two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah) had managed to repair and rebuild in all those years, possibly because of the obstruction and opposition of those inhabitants previously mentioned in Ezra’s account.
All of this may well have a bearing on why God draws all nations in our future to the battle of Armageddon [the scene of WW3?], which centers on Jerusalem and its environs.
The present terrorists we (the English speaking peoples and the Jews) are currently seeing in our daily news are predominantly of Arab origin after all and this long standing enmity between the Jews and the Arabs well may be the spark that does ignite a great deal of destruction ahead for many nations.
We need to add a couple more quotes from Nehemiah to set the scene for Zechariah's amazing prophecies and the outcome of what very may well turn out to be what would have been the beginning of World War Three were it not for God’s future intervention and who suffers exactly what destruction. Combined with the book of Revelation, we believe it may lay out our world's future.
Continuing in Nehemiah:
But when
Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard
about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?"
they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?"
I
answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his
servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem
or any claim or historic right to it." NIV Nehemiah 2:19-20
These are pretty strong words and in chapter 4 things come to a head in no uncertain terms:
When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became
angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of
his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, "What are those feeble
Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they
finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of
rubble--burned as they are?" NIV Nehemiah 4:1-2
That’s exactly what the Jews did under Nehemiah!
So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height,
for the people worked with all their heart. NIV Nehemiah 4:6
Could it have been
the strong, positive example and encouragement of at least one dedicated
priest, two dedicated prophets and one dedicated former cup bearer – turned governor – who were all under the
influence of “the hand of God” that had something to do with the people's will
to renew their acquaintance with
their God and determination to once again serve their maker?
Let's see:
But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs,
the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls
had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all
plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble
against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet
this threat.
After I looked things over, I stood up
and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't
be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for
your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."
And each of the builders wore his
sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with
me. Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people,
"The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from
each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us
there. Our God will fight for us!"
So we continued the work with half the
men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At
that time I also said to the people, "Have every man and his helper stay
inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen
by day."
Neither I nor my brothers nor my men
nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he
went for water. NIV Nehemiah 4:7-9, 14, 18-23
Nehemiah went on to do much more than the above in his duties as a governor and made many reforms including abolishing usury (interest) that the nobles were levying upon their own people at that time. He lead the people under great opposition from the Arab neighbors around them and personal threats, plots and counter plots against his life, which even included a prophetess and prophets on their Arab enemy's side. Through it all he showed great courage as these last few quotes show:
But I
said, "Should a man like me run away? Or should one like me go into the
temple to save his life? I will not go!"
I
realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me
because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me
so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad
name to discredit me. NIV Nehemiah 6:11-13
This was a devious trick by the Arabs: scare your opponents by sending opposing prophets against your enemy. It might have worked had not Nehemiah known who the true God responsible for real prophecies was.
And in that little scenario we have one of the answers to an earlier question: How did the people of those times know who was a prophet of God's and who were fakes?
Jesus in His day stated:
My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: KJV John 10:27
Those who are under “the hand of God” and those who are influenced and led by the Holy Spirit know the truth when they hear it – provided, of course, that they are on close terms with their creator as Nehemiah obviously was at that time.
What was the end result of all the threats and attempted manipulation by Nehemiah's enemies?
So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in
fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding
nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that
this work had been done with the help of our God. NIV Nehemiah 6:15-16
With the “hand of God” controlling events, nothing and nobody can change His purpose.
Both Ezra and Nehemiah were shocked at how much of their religious heritage and teachings had been lost in captivity
What would seem to Christians of today as just an amusing account of some Jewish priest [Ezra] in these Biblical times getting a little over excited and flustered over what is nothing to us these days, i.e., marriage of believers to non-believers, takes on a little more dramatic importance and significance when considered in the light of what it meant for the preservation of the Jewish religion. It was no small matter to these men of God.
The account of Ezra's episode began in chapter 9 and runs till the end of the book. Nehemiah even backed Ezra's play as these few verses at the end of Nehemiah's book in chapter 13 show:
Moreover, in those days I saw men of
Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. Half of their children
spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and
did not know how to speak the language of Judah. I rebuked them and called
curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made
them take an oath in God's name and said: "You are not to give your
daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in
marriage for your sons or for yourselves. Was it not because of marriages like
these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no
king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel,
but even he was led into sin by foreign women. Must we hear now that you too
are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by
marrying foreign women?"
One of the sons of Joiada son of
Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. And I drove
him away from me.
Remember them, O my God, because they
defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the
Levites. So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and
assigned them duties, each to his own task. NIV Nehemiah 13:23-30
This wasn't a racial purity question as many might at
first think but a religious purity one because it was the inter-marriage to
those who brought with them false beliefs and teachings which corrupted God's
true ones that was at stake. This is
much the same way that modern Christianity has strayed from the true paths that
the original apostles of Jesus taught in the New Testament gospels.
God doesn’t seem to have a problem with interracial marriage
as such – just mixing true beliefs with false that a partner can sometimes
bring to the marriage. From its very
beginning the nation of Israel had always taken in strangers or
foreigners. If they became Israelites
and followed all of God's teachings and customs and gave up their own false
beliefs, they were allowed to live at peace and were treated no different than
original citizens.
But it is not good to marry and rear children with those who have different or contradictory beliefs. As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth:
Do not be yoked together with
unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what
fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ
and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What
agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple
of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among
them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
"Therefore come out from them and
be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive
you."
"I will be a Father to you, and
you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." NIV 2
Corinthians 6:14-18
The Jews of Nehemiah's day had to re-learn truth just as modern Christianity and the Jews of today must also do
Chapters 8 & 9 of Nehemiah show the extent of this loss of pure religious beliefs but I'm only going to quote these last verses from Nehemiah chapter 8 to emphasize of this point.
All the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate.
They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the
LORD had commanded for Israel. So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra
the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and
women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till
noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men,
women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively
to the Book of the Law. Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built
for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah,
Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah,
Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam. NIV Nehemiah 8:1-4
Although Haggai is not mentioned in the list of priests and Levites standing beside Ezra, Zechariah, the prophet, is there – second to last on the list of names.
Ezra opened the book. All
the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened
it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the
people lifted their hands and responded, "Amen! Amen!" Then they
bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
The Levites--Jeshua, Bani,
Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah,
Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah--instructed the people in the Law while the people
were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear
and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.
Then Nehemiah the
governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the
people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not
mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to
the words of the Law.
Nehemiah said, "Go
and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing
prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the
LORD is your strength."
The Levites calmed all the
people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."
Then all the people went
away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great
joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
On the second day of the
month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites,
gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law. They
found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the
Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month and
that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in
Jerusalem:
"Go out into the hill
country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from
myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths"--as it is written.
So the people went out and
brought back branches and built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their
courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water
Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim.
The whole company that had
returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son
of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And
their joy was very great. Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra
read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days,
and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an
assembly. NIV Nehemiah 8:5-18
This is just one of the Holy day ceremonies that was restored during Nehemiah and Ezra's time and other holy days were likewise re-discovered by these Jews at that time [as chapter 9 indicates] and put into place once again as the rituals of the Hebrew religion.
This is the last we’re going to quote from Nehemiah in this article or even Ezra. Was it necessary to quote the entire 8th chapter? Yes, we believe so. Why?
Because it illustrates these people were deadly serious about returning to their roots and to the true religion of their ancestors, and that they had to relearn what they had lost, overlooked or forgotten or what their parents had failed to pass on to them.
Conclusion of
Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah & Haggai
It must be understood that almost every one of these returnees to the holy land were all born in captivity. Whatever information they had about their original religion would have been handed down from the elderly survivors from the captivity. It seems that God made absolutely sure that at least one of the principal actors on that ancient stage [Ezra] had accurate records in the form of a copy of the Torah given to the Hebrews by Moses.
Why is this important? Notice that we said “Hebrew religion” rather than “Jewish religion” above.
Simply put, God does not have one religion for the Jews and a different religion for the other ten tribes of Israel, i.e. the “lost ten tribes” – the English speaking peoples who are the descendents of those lost ten tribes. The western world, which includes the English speaking peoples, has a different religion from the Jews of today. We don’t think anyone will dispute that simple and obvious statement.
The Holy One of Israel saw to the restoration of the Old Testament religion to the Jews of Ezra's time so that it would be in place for His first coming so that He could be born a Jew. The Christianity that we see around us today is clearly totally different from the Jewish/Hebrew religion.
Now we know that the New Covenant has no need for the Levitical priesthood. As the writer of Hebrews explains in chapters 6 through 10, Jesus is the “high priest” of the new covenant religion and the rituals and sacrifices of the old covenant have no efficacy for us today.
But, this question remains: Is the Christian religion we have in western society the religion that God intended His modern English speaking peoples to have? Or to put it even more bluntly another way, has God changed His religion entirely?
Today’s Christianity barely recognizes the Ten Commandments – most completely ignore the fourth commandment to keep the Sabbath holy – and pays scant attention to the teaching and principles laid out by God through Moses. Have we not lost a great deal by treating our religion – Christianity – as complete different from the religion celebrated by Ezra, Nehemiah and the Jews returned from captivity?
We must consider that God never changes and everything He does is perfect and that includes the religion of the Old Testament.
We have a pressing desire to know the answers to these questions and so too we think every other Christian should be looking into that selfsame question for their peace of mind if nothing else.
Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah were obviously guided by “the hand of God” to accomplish His purpose. Do you now understand what that purpose was?
It was to prepare Jerusalem, its people and the environment for the coming of the Messiah. Many things happened over the next 500 years: the Medo-Persian Empire was overthrown by Alexander the Great, his Empire split into four parts (as prophesied by Daniel) and the various rulers of those little “empires” wreaked havoc on each other and often on the Jews. Then, about 100 years or so before the birth of Jesus, Palestine and surrounding countries came under the hegemony of the Republic of Rome, which gradually gave way to the Roman Empire some 45 years before Jesus’ birth.
In all of these upheavals, with all the turmoil and the wars that raged over Jerusalem and Palestine, Herod the Great (74 – 4 BC), using Roman wealth, completed the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem to near its glory as in the days of Solomon. Furthermore, Roman hegemony was responsible for Roman citizens, such as the apostle Paul, to travel virtually unhindered throughout the Empire. This fact is largely responsible for the spread of the story of Jesus throughout the Empire and the rapid growth of Christianity.
The Hand of God set the stage very carefully for Jesus’ birth and paved the way for the knowledge of Him to become widespread.
Now we will turn to the prophecies of Jesus that have often been misunderstood. That misunderstanding has led many Christians to misinterpret other prophecies and into other failures like trying to predict the return of Jesus (to the embarrassment of the church and the delight of the enemies of Christianity) but misinterpreting one of His prophecies has led to obscuring one the greatest proofs of the veracity of the New Testament scriptures.