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Ezra 6:14 - 7:10 - The 2nd Temple is Finally Finished · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hi there, faithful listeners, thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for tuning in to the Bible Explained podcast on this lovely,
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  Speaker 1: lovely morning. All right, guys, go ahead and grab your bibles.
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  Speaker 1: We're gonna be reading Ezra chapter six and finishing up
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  Speaker 1: that chapter and also starting Ezra seven today, so we'd
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  Speaker 1: be reading portions from two chapters this morning. That's something
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  Speaker 1: I don't normally do, but I thought that it would
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  Speaker 1: be good to finish up the building of the temple
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  Speaker 1: and also discuss who Ezra was and why he was
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  Speaker 1: needed in Jerusalem. So we'll talk about all of that
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  Speaker 1: today right after a quick word from this sponsor. Alrighty,
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  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, grab your Bible out of the version that
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  Speaker 1: you prefer, and let's go ahead and turn to Ezra six,
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  Speaker 1: verses fourteen through twenty two. As usual, I'll be reading
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  Speaker 1: from the web and I'll read Ezra six first, and
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  Speaker 1: then later on in the episode, I will move into
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  Speaker 1: Ezra chapter seven. So let's go ahead and dive into
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  Speaker 1: Ezra six, starting in verse fourteen. The elders of the
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  Speaker 1: Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the
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  Speaker 1: Prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo. They built and
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  Speaker 1: finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: and according to the decree of Cyrus Darius and art Exerxes,
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  Speaker 1: King of Persia. This house was finished on the third
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  Speaker 1: day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth
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  Speaker 1: year of the reign of Darius the King. The children
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the children of the Captivity kept the dedication of this
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  Speaker 1: House of God with great joy. They offered at the
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  Speaker 1: dedication of this House of God, one hundred bulls, two
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  Speaker 1: hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and for a sin offering
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  Speaker 1: for all Israel twelve male goats, according to the number
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  Speaker 1: of the tribes of Israel. They set the priests in
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  Speaker 1: their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the
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  Speaker 1: service of God, which was at Jerusalem. As it is
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  Speaker 1: written in the Book of Moses, the children of the
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  Speaker 1: Captivity kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the
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  Speaker 1: first month. Because the priests and the Levites had purified
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  Speaker 1: themselves together, all of them were pure. They killed the
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  Speaker 1: passover for all the children of the Captivity, for their brothers,
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  Speaker 1: the priests, and for themselves. The children of Israel who
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  Speaker 1: had returned out of the captivity, and all who had
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  Speaker 1: separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations
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  Speaker 1: of the land, to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: Eight and kept the feast of unlovened bread seven days
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  Speaker 1: with joy, because Yahweh had made them joyful, and it
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  Speaker 1: turned the heart of the King of Assyria to them
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  Speaker 1: to strengthen their hands in the work of God, the
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  Speaker 1: God of Israel's house. For the last couple days of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: we've been talking about how all the nations surrounding Israel
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  Speaker 1: basically hated the Israelites and were especially unhappy that the
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  Speaker 1: Israelites were back in Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity
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  Speaker 1: in Babylon. Many of them had actually moved into Israel
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  Speaker 1: and occupied some of the land. Not to mention, the
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  Speaker 1: Samaritans that were in the land kind of considered it
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  Speaker 1: to be theirs. So what they were doing was trying
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  Speaker 1: to make things as difficult for the Israelites who had
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  Speaker 1: come back at possible. They were hiring counselors to conspire
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  Speaker 1: against them, they were threatening them, they were encouraging the
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  Speaker 1: kings to stop the building process in Jerusalem. They wrote
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  Speaker 1: letters to multiple kings. It actually says they wrote letters
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  Speaker 1: to three different kings. The first king was art Exerxes,
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  Speaker 1: who some scholars believed to be the son of Cyrus
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  Speaker 1: the Great or canvass And then after Cambuss died, they
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  Speaker 1: wrote a letter to Darius, and Darius actually wasn't having
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  Speaker 1: any of it. The letter to Campuses actually did work
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  Speaker 1: and the Israelites had to pause the building process for
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  Speaker 1: over a decade. And then Darius when he received the letter,
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  Speaker 1: it didn't work on him and actually had the opposite effect.
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  Speaker 1: It made him even more interested in helping the Jews,
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  Speaker 1: and he actually responded to the neighboring nations who sent
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  Speaker 1: him the letter, and he was like, do not mess
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  Speaker 1: with those Jewish people trying to rebuild temple. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: what you're going to do is give them provisions to
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  Speaker 1: help them build the temple on my order. So that's
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  Speaker 1: what ended up happening. Now, after Darius died, his son
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  Speaker 1: Aha Saras or King Xerxes, reigned, who happened to be
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  Speaker 1: Esther's husband, okay, Queen Esther, and according to Ezra chapter four,
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  Speaker 1: he also received a letter, though it does not say
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  Speaker 1: in scripture what that letter said or if King Xerxes
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  Speaker 1: did anything to actually stop the Jews. We don't know
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  Speaker 1: if he did or did not. So let's read about
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  Speaker 1: the Jews finishing up the Second Temple. Here in Ezra,
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  Speaker 1: chapter six, starting in verse fourteen, it says, the elders
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  Speaker 1: of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of
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  Speaker 1: Hagi the Prophet and Zechariah, the son of Edo. They
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  Speaker 1: built and finished it according to the commandment of the
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  Speaker 1: God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus
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  Speaker 1: Darius and art Exerxes, the King of Persia. This house
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  Speaker 1: was finished on the third day of the month Adar,
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  Speaker 1: which was in the sixth year of the reign of
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  Speaker 1: Darius the King. So all of that to say God
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  Speaker 1: was on the side of the Israelites. In fact, he
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  Speaker 1: told them he was on their side even before they
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  Speaker 1: knew that Darius the King was going to grant them
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  Speaker 1: permission to finish the temple, because God was speaking through
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  Speaker 1: the prophets, specifically through Hagai and Zechariah, giving the people
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  Speaker 1: encouragement to continue to build this temple. And so it
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  Speaker 1: says the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of
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  Speaker 1: Hagi the Prophet and Zechariah, the son of Edo. It
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  Speaker 1: says they built and finished it. Now, the author of
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Ezra, who happens to be Ezra, could
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  Speaker 1: also be talking about the rebuilding of the Jerusalem walls
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  Speaker 1: as well, like he's looking to the future, because Ezra
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  Speaker 1: wrote the Book of Ezra probably close to like sixty
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  Speaker 1: or seventy years maybe even more after the first Israelites
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  Speaker 1: returned to Israel from captivity. We'll talk about the timeline
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  Speaker 1: of that in a little bit. So Ezra could also
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  Speaker 1: be talking about they built and finished not just the Temple,
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  Speaker 1: but also the walls of Jerusalem as well, according to
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  Speaker 1: the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to
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  Speaker 1: the decree of Cyrus, Darius and art Exerxes, the King
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  Speaker 1: of Persia. Now we know that Cyrus and Darius were
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  Speaker 1: on the side of the Jews, and King art Exerxes
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  Speaker 1: mentioned here has not come into the picture yet, but
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  Speaker 1: he also was on the side of the Jews, and
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  Speaker 1: we'll talk about him later on in this episode, verse fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: This house was finished on the third day of the
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  Speaker 1: month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the
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  Speaker 1: reign of Darius the King, So this temple wouldn't have
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  Speaker 1: been nearly as grand as the first temple that Solomon built,
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  Speaker 1: but that didn't matter. The most important thing was to
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  Speaker 1: have a temple where the people could go and worship,
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  Speaker 1: and that is now what the people have. In spite
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  Speaker 1: of the fact that the temple is not as beautiful
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  Speaker 1: as the first temple. They didn't have as nice of
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  Speaker 1: things in order to build the temple. They didn't have
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  Speaker 1: as much resources as King Solomon did, who was the
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  Speaker 1: wealthiest king in Israel's history. They didn't have all that stuff,
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  Speaker 1: but still the temple was finished, it says in the
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  Speaker 1: sixth year of the reign of Darius the King. So
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  Speaker 1: without doing the math, I'm going to guess it took
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish people about twenty years after exile to actually
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  Speaker 1: build the temple, to finish the process of building the temple,
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  Speaker 1: because they had so many problems from the neighboring nations
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  Speaker 1: and king canvases that they had to get through. So
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  Speaker 1: it took them a very long time to finish building
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  Speaker 1: this temple, something that should should not have taken that
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  Speaker 1: much time, quite honestly. So now after many many years
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  Speaker 1: of building the temple. The people are overjoyed that it's
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  Speaker 1: finally done. And it says in verse sixteen that the
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  Speaker 1: children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the children of the captivity kept the dedication of
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  Speaker 1: this House of God with joy. They offered at the
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  Speaker 1: dedication of this House of God, one hundred bulls, two
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  Speaker 1: hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and for a sin offering
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  Speaker 1: for all Israel twelve male goats, according to the number
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  Speaker 1: of the tribes of Israel. Now, if you go back
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  Speaker 1: and read about the dedication of the temple, the first
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  Speaker 1: time it was built during Solomon's reign, there was like
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, a billion animals that people brought for
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  Speaker 1: the sacrifices. But the number for the second temple is
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  Speaker 1: significantly smaller and much more manageable, I can imagine, probably
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  Speaker 1: because the people were both poorer and there could have
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  Speaker 1: been a lot less priests that were able to offer
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  Speaker 1: the sacrifices, So naturally the sacrifice is coming in for
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  Speaker 1: the dedication of the temple would have to have been
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  Speaker 1: a lot smaller, a lot more manageable for the people
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  Speaker 1: at the time. Verse eighteen, they set the priests in
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  Speaker 1: their divisions, and the Levites in their courses for the
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  Speaker 1: service of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is
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  Speaker 1: written in the Book of Moses. So the priests and
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  Speaker 1: the Levites are now in the temple doing the jobs
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  Speaker 1: that they were supposed to be doing. Everything is coming
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  Speaker 1: back to the Israelites, and this is a big step
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  Speaker 1: for the Israelites in establishing their nation once again. It
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  Speaker 1: says in the next verse, the chill of the Captivity
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  Speaker 1: kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first
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  Speaker 1: month because the priests and the Levites had purified themselves
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  Speaker 1: together and all of them were pure. You might remember
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  Speaker 1: talking about how the priests and the Levites had to
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  Speaker 1: do like a ceremony in order to make themselves pure
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  Speaker 1: so that they could keep the Passover feast, which the
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  Speaker 1: Passover feast was one of the most important feasts in
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish calendar. This was a very important celebration, and
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  Speaker 1: the priests and the Levites had to become pure. They
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  Speaker 1: had to go through this ceremony in order to become
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  Speaker 1: pure so that they could actually sacrifice the Passover lamb
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  Speaker 1: for the people. And you might remember that when I
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  Speaker 1: think it was King Hezekiah back in Second Chronicles, when
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  Speaker 1: he kept the Passover, he actually did not keep it
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  Speaker 1: on the correct day because the priests and the Levites
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  Speaker 1: didn't go through the ceremonial washing and didn't make themselves
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  Speaker 1: clean or prepare themselves for a Passover, so they had
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  Speaker 1: to actually sacrifice the Passover on the second month of
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish calendar, not the first month. So you can
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  Speaker 1: see the level of dedication that these particular people have,
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  Speaker 1: and that's actually what the author discusses here in verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty one. The children of Israel who had returned out
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  Speaker 1: of the captivity, and all who had separated themselves to
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  Speaker 1: them from the filthiness of the nations of the land,
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  Speaker 1: to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, eight and kept
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  Speaker 1: the feast of unlovened bread for seven days with joy,
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  Speaker 1: because Yahweh had made them joyful, and it turned the
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  Speaker 1: hearts of the king of Assyria to them to strengthen
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  Speaker 1: their hands in the work of God, the God of
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  Speaker 1: Israel's house. So the people were very dedicated to this
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  Speaker 1: Passover celebration. It wasn't just Israel that was dedicating themselves
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  Speaker 1: to Yahweh during this Passover feast, but even some of
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  Speaker 1: the Gentiles, who it says, separated themselves from the filthiness
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  Speaker 1: of the nations to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: So it was not just the Israelites this feast. There
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  Speaker 1: are a lot of converts to Judaism as well. It's
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  Speaker 1: kind of what it sounds like. There are a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people at this point in time in Israel dedicating
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  Speaker 1: themselves to God. And some of these people could have
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  Speaker 1: been the people that were living in the land before
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  Speaker 1: the Jews came back home, maybe some Samaritans or some
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  Speaker 1: Afrosachites like we talked about the other day. It could
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  Speaker 1: have been different people groups actually becoming one with the
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  Speaker 1: Jewish nation to worship God, and they were separating themselves
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  Speaker 1: from the filthiness of their nations. And by filthiness, the
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  Speaker 1: author is talking about the idolatry of those nations, the
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  Speaker 1: worship of the demons, the human sacrifice, the sexual cults,
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  Speaker 1: and other terrible things that people would do to worship
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  Speaker 1: these idols. They were separating themselves from that in order
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  Speaker 1: to worship Yahweh. And it actually says that God made
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  Speaker 1: them joyful. It says they kept the feast of unloved
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  Speaker 1: bread for seven days with joy, because Yahweh had made
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  Speaker 1: them joyful and had turned the heart of the king
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  Speaker 1: of Assyria to them to strengthen their hands in the
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  Speaker 1: work of God, the God of Israel's house. Now some
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  Speaker 1: people take that verse to mean that we don't have
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  Speaker 1: free will, But I don't believe that this verse means
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  Speaker 1: that we have no free will, because God does not
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  Speaker 1: often change hearts of somebody who just outright rejects him.
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  Speaker 1: For example, the best one I can give is Pharaoh,
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  Speaker 1: king of Egypt. You know, back in the Book of Exodus,
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  Speaker 1: it says in scripture, before God hardened Pharaoh's heart, Pharaoh
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  Speaker 1: actually hardened his own heart and rejected Yahweh multiple times.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, it was four times that God gave
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh a chance, and then the fifth time that Pharaoh
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  Speaker 1: rejected God, God actually hardened Pharaoh's heart even more than
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh had hardened his own heart. And this has stated
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  Speaker 1: even more directly in Ezekiel eighteen thirty through thirty two,
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  Speaker 1: which says, therefore I will judge you, house of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: everyone according to his ways, says the Lord Yahweh, return
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  Speaker 1: and turn yourselves from all your transgressions. So iniquity will
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  Speaker 1: not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your
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  Speaker 1: transgressions in which you've transgressed, and make yourself a new
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  Speaker 1: heart and a new spirit. For why will you die,
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  Speaker 1: house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the
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  Speaker 1: death of him who dies, says the Lord Yahweh. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: turn yourselves and live. So that's God actually giving a
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  Speaker 1: warning and a command to his people. Turn yourselves away
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  Speaker 1: from all the terrible things you're doing, the sinful things.
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  Speaker 1: Make yourself a new heart and a new spirit. So
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  Speaker 1: people have to want a new heart, they have to
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  Speaker 1: want to follow God. Even in the case of Paul,
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  Speaker 1: you know who was Saul originally on the way to
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  Speaker 1: Damascus about to persecute all the Christians. God appeared to
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  Speaker 1: Saul on that road and blinded him and basically got
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  Speaker 1: through to him and changed him. But Paul says of
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  Speaker 1: himself that he did in fact have a fervor for God,
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  Speaker 1: even when he was going and persecuting all the Christians.
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  Speaker 1: He truly had a fervor for God. He was just
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  Speaker 1: doing it in the wrong way and was deceived and
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  Speaker 1: was not listening to the truth. So even in the
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  Speaker 1: case of Paul, he did in fact want God. He
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  Speaker 1: was just going about it the wrong way, and God
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  Speaker 1: changed his heart. So in Ezra chapter six, when it
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  Speaker 1: says that God filled the people with joy, and he
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  Speaker 1: also turned the heart of the king toward the people,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think that means that we don't have free
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  Speaker 1: will and that God just picks and chooses people to
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  Speaker 1: give joy and new hearts to. I think there's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of scripture to back up that we do have
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  Speaker 1: free will, that God gives us a choice. Are we
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  Speaker 1: going to follow him or are we going to reject
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  Speaker 1: Him and the truth entirely? And in the case of
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  Speaker 1: these people here first and foremost the Israelites, it says
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  Speaker 1: we're doing the will of God. It says right here
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  Speaker 1: that they separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations
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  Speaker 1: of the land to seek Yahweh, and God gave them
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  Speaker 1: joy because they were doing the will of God. And
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  Speaker 1: in the case of King Darius, it sounds like he
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  Speaker 1: also had at least some kind of heart for God,
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  Speaker 1: which we talked about the other day. When he gave
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  Speaker 1: his response to the Afrosakites who tried to slander the Jews,
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  Speaker 1: he said in verse twelve of the same chapter, May
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  Speaker 1: the God who has caused his name to dwell there
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  Speaker 1: overthrow all kings and peoples who stretch out their hand
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  Speaker 1: to alter this, to destroy this House of God which
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  Speaker 1: is at Jerusalem. So Darius had at least some heart
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  Speaker 1: for Yahweh, even though he probably very likely worshiped other
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  Speaker 1: gods as well and was misinformed. But still God turned
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  Speaker 1: his heart toward the people, because the Jewish people had
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  Speaker 1: a desire to do the will of God and to
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  Speaker 1: finish building this temple. So let's move on to Ezra
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  Speaker 1: chapter seven and read verses one through ten. Here I'll
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  Speaker 1: be reading again from the w e B. So here
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  Speaker 1: we go, now after these things in the reign of
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  Speaker 1: art Exerxes, King of Persia. Ezra the son of Sarayah,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkia, the son
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  Speaker 1: of Shaloum, the son of Zadik, the son of a Hetube,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son
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  Speaker 1: of Marioth, the son of Zariah, the son of Uzi,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Buki, the son of Abishai, the son
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  Speaker 1: of a Bishua, the son of Phineas, the son of Eliezer,
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  Speaker 1: the son of erin the chief priest. This Ezra went
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  Speaker 1: up from Babylon. He was a skilled describe in the
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  Speaker 1: Law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given,
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  Speaker 1: and the king granted him all his request according to Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: his God's hand on him. Some of the children of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: including some of the priests, the levites, the singers, the gatekeepers,
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  Speaker 1: and the temple servants, went up to Jerusalem in the
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  Speaker 1: seventh year of art Exerxes the king. He came to
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh
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  Speaker 1: year of the king. For on the first day of
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  Speaker 1: the first month, he began to go up from Babylon,
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  Speaker 1: and on the first day of the fifth month he
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  Speaker 1: came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his
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  Speaker 1: God on him. For Ezra had set his heart to
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  Speaker 1: seek Yahwei's law and to do it, and to teach
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  Speaker 1: statutes and ordinances in Israel. Now, one thing I should
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  Speaker 1: mention is that Ezra chapter six and Ezra seven has
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  Speaker 1: a time period gap of about fifty years because it
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  Speaker 1: completely skips past King Darius's end reign, and he reigned
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  Speaker 1: total for I think thirty five years, and then King
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  Speaker 1: ahasaras who is barely mentioned in the book of Ezra.
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  Speaker 1: He reigned for twenty one years, so fifty years approximately
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: has gone by from the end of Ezra six into
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Ezra seven. So again, let's go through the kingly chronology
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: of Ezra. First, it was Cyrus who was the one
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: who released all of the Jews from Babylonian captivity and
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: also created the Persian Empire. Then his son Canvases, who
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: likely stopped the Jews from building the temple for about
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: twelve years. Then there was Smurtis, who I believe gained
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: power to the throne for like a few months, and
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I don't really know the story with that guy. Then
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: I believe Smurtis was killed and Darius the First was
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: actually elected into office by all of the chief people
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: in Persia. And Darius the First was the guy who
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: encouraged the Jews to continue building the Temple to God,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: and the temple was finished under Darius the First. Then
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: his son Aha Saras reigned also known as Esther the
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Queen's husband, and after him was art Exerxes, who we
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: now talk about today in as Her chapter seven. Now,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: art Exerxes is kind of interesting because there is a
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: small possibility that Queen Esther was his mother, but more
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: likely he was probably the son of one of the
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: other wives of King aha Saris, because he had like
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: a million wives, because all the Persian kings did, so
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: it's a small chance that Esther was the mother of
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: art Exerxes, but even so she probably was a huge
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: influence in the palace. She had an uncle, a Jewish uncle,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: who served in the palace, and this Jewish uncle, named Mordecai,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: was a huge influence on Ahasaris. He did a lot
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: of good for the Jews in Persia, and so did
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Esther as well, So she would have been a big influence,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: quite honestly, in the Persian kingdom. So even if she
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: was not the mother of art Exerxes, he probably still
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: was very influenced by her, and that could have been
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: one of the reasons why he liked the Jews so much,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: because a couple things that art Exerxes did was firstly,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: he allowed Ezra, a very talented scribe, go to Jerusalem
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and to help the people there. And he also allowed
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: his cupbearer Niamiyah, who is also a Jew, go home
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem as well. That's talked about in Niemiah one
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: and two. If you turn over to Namiah chapter one,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: verse three and four, here's the state of Jerusalem during
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: this time period. They said to me, the remnants who
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: are left of the captivity there in the province are
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: When I heard these words, I sat down and wept
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: and mourned several days, and I fasted and prayed before
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the God of Heaven. And that is Neamiah talking about
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: his response to finding out Thatjerusalem isn't even close to
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: being rebuilt after many decades of the people going back
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: to the land. Yes, the Temple was built, but Jerusalem
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: was in a state of disarray. The walls of Jerusalem
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: were still torn down and the people were not building
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: them back up. And that was written during the same
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: time that Ezra lived. In fact, Ezra and Nehemiah very
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: likely knew each other. So Israel and Jerusalem weren't even
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: close to being rebuilt, though the Temple was finished. So
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Ezra and Nehemiah were very important key figures in finishing
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the building process of Jerusalem as a whole. Ezra was
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: a very skilled scribe, so he knew the laws backwards
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: and forwards. And according to Jewish history, Ezra became a
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: high priest of Israel, so he was needed his skills
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: were needed in Jerusalem. And then Namiyah, who served under
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: King art Exerxes the cup Bear. He went back to
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem after appealing to the king and ended up becoming
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the governor of Israel also. So these were two important people,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: the likely high priest and also the next governor of Jerusalem.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: So Ezra says made a request to the king, and
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: the king granted him all his request. According to Yahweh,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: his God's hand on him. And Ezra, who is the
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: author of the Book of Ezra, mentions that phrase twice.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: The good hand of God was on him. And I
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: don't think Ezra was saying all this because he was prideful,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: because he was holier than now, because he understood the
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: law better than other people. I think Ezra is saying
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: this because God's hand was ultimately on Jerusalem, and God
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: was going to use people like Ezra and Nehemiah to
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: rebuild Jerusalem completely, because God promised his people that they
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: would in fact have Israel back again, and Jerusalem the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: key city. It was important for it to have walls,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: especially in these days, because cities without walls would fall.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: So God's hand was on Ezra, and was on Nehemiah,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: and was on Jerusalem, so that they could in fact
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: rebuild the walls and make Israel a flourishing nation once again.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners, I'm going to let you all
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: go with a happy listening and God bless right after
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: this quick word from a sponsor. Okay, So we are
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: in the Book of Hebrews tomorrow, and we are talking
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: about so many fantastic themes in the Book of Hebrews.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: And I've been absolutely loving my time in Hebrews, more
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: so than I usually do. Actually, and you're probably like, Jen,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: you like all the books of the Bible. No, I'm
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: telling you, I really really like the Book of Hebrews.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: And I think I say that every single time. No,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I really like this book. I promise you know. Hebrews
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: has been fantastic. Though. We talked about the state of
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the modern Church yesterday on the podcast. We talked about
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: how God is going to judge the Christians and how,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: you know, Christians think that just because they become Christian
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: that they kind of have like a ability to do
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: whatever they want to do and sin however they want
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: to sin. But that is not true. God is going
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: to judge the Christians and that is what we talked
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: about yesterday, among so many other great topics in the
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Book of Hebrews. So I hope to see you guys
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: tomorrow six am or whenever you choose to wake up
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: and listen for another episode from Hebrews. Until then, happy
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: listening and God bless. I just want to take a
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: second to thank the team at Life Audio for their
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more. Oh