Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Ezra 7:11-28 - Introducing Ezra, the Powerful Scribe

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Ezra 7:11-28 - Introducing Ezra, the Powerful Scribe · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey, they're faithful listeners, and welcome to the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Explain podcast on this lovely Memorial Day morning. It's
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  Speaker 1: so funny. Last week I completely forgot that Memorial Day
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  Speaker 1: was coming up this week, and so it slipped my
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  Speaker 1: brain until about yesterday when I went to church and
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  Speaker 1: somebody was like, oh, hey, happy Memorial Day, and I
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  Speaker 1: was like, what, what do you mean? Is it really
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  Speaker 1: this week? So yes, it is, in fact Memorial Day today,
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  Speaker 1: and I hope you guys have a wonderful day and
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  Speaker 1: are able to enjoy the weather. We're going to be
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  Speaker 1: in the Book of Ezra today, finishing up chapter seven.
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  Speaker 1: Reading through the Book of Ezra on my own, I
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  Speaker 1: never realized how much power Ezra actually had to make decisions.
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  Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about all of that today,
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  Speaker 1: including this letter that Ezra gets where he is tasked
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  Speaker 1: with three things that he has to do from King
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  Speaker 1: art Exerxes. We'll get into this in just a moment,
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  Speaker 1: but for now, here is a message from a sponsor.
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  Speaker 1: All right, hopefully you had some time there to grab
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  Speaker 1: your Bible out of the version that you prefer. We'll
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  Speaker 1: be reading Ezra chapter seven today and I'll be reading
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  Speaker 1: from the web. So let's start in verse eleven and
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  Speaker 1: read to verse twenty nine. So grab your cup of
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  Speaker 1: coffee and let's give reverence to God's word together. Now
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  Speaker 1: this is the copy of the letter that King art
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  Speaker 1: Exerxes gave to Ezra the Priest, the scribe, even the
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  Speaker 1: scribe of the words of Yawai's commandments and of his
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  Speaker 1: statutes to Israel. Art Exerxes, King of Kings, to Ezra
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  Speaker 1: the Priest, the scribe of the law of the Perfect
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  Speaker 1: God of Heaven. Now I make a decree that all
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  Speaker 1: those of the people of Israel, and all their priests
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  Speaker 1: and the Levites in my realm, who intend of their
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  Speaker 1: own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you,
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  Speaker 1: because you are sent by the King and his seven
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  Speaker 1: counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the
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  Speaker 1: law of your God, which is on your hand, and
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  Speaker 1: to carry the silver and the gold which the King
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  Speaker 1: and his counselors have if really offered to the God
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, and all the
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  Speaker 1: silver and gold that you will find in the province
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  Speaker 1: of Babylon. With the free will offering of the people
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  Speaker 1: and of the priests, offering willingly for the House of
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  Speaker 1: their God, which is in Jerusalem. Therefore, you shall with
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  Speaker 1: all diligence buy with this money bulls, rams and lambs,
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  Speaker 1: with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and shall
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  Speaker 1: offer them on the altar of the House of your God,
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  Speaker 1: which is in Jerusalem. Whatever seems good to you and
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  Speaker 1: to your brothers to do with the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: silver and the gold, do that, according to the will
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  Speaker 1: of your God. The vessels that are given to you
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  Speaker 1: for the service of the House of your God, deliver
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  Speaker 1: them before the God of Jerusalem. Whatever more will be
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  Speaker 1: needed for the House of your God, which you may
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  Speaker 1: have occasion to give, give it out of the King's
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  Speaker 1: treasure house I even i art Exerxes, the King make
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  Speaker 1: a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the river,
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  Speaker 1: that whatever as are the priest, the scribe of the
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  Speaker 1: Law of God of Heaven requires of you, it shall
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  Speaker 1: be done with all diligence up to one hundred talents
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  Speaker 1: of silver, and to one hundred cores of wheat, and
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  Speaker 1: to one hundred baths of wine, and to w one
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  Speaker 1: hundred baths of oil and salt, without prescribing how much
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  Speaker 1: whatever is commanded by the God of Heaven. Let it
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  Speaker 1: be done exactly for the house of the God of Heaven.
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  Speaker 1: For why should there be wrath against the realm of
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  Speaker 1: the King and his sons. Also we inform you that
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  Speaker 1: it should not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or
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  Speaker 1: toll on any of the priests, levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants,
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  Speaker 1: or laborers of this house of God. You, Ezra, according
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  Speaker 1: to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand,
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  Speaker 1: appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people
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  Speaker 1: who are beyond the river, who all know the laws
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  Speaker 1: of your God, and teach him who doesn't know them.
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  Speaker 1: Whoever will not do the law of your God and
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  Speaker 1: the law of the King, let judgment be executed on
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  Speaker 1: him with all diligence, whether it is death or banishment,
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  Speaker 1: or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. Blessed be Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: the God of our fathers, who has put such a
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  Speaker 1: thing as this in the King's heart to beautify Yahwei's house,
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  Speaker 1: which is in Jerusalem, and has extended loving kindness to
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  Speaker 1: me before the King and his counselors, and before all
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  Speaker 1: all the King's mighty Princes. I was strengthened according to Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: my God's hand on me, and I gathered together chief
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  Speaker 1: men out of Israel to go up with me. So
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  Speaker 1: it's really funny about the Book of Ezra is that
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  Speaker 1: we've already gone through more than half of it and
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  Speaker 1: now finally in chapter seven out of ten chapters, the
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  Speaker 1: main character is being introduced, and that is Ezra himself,
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  Speaker 1: the author of this book. And we know he's the
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  Speaker 1: author of Ezra because of what he says here at
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  Speaker 1: the very end. He says, I was strengthened according to Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: my God's hand on me, and I gathered together chief
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  Speaker 1: men out of Israel to go up with me. So, yes,
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  Speaker 1: Ezra is the author of the Book of Ezra. And
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  Speaker 1: we talked a little bit about who Ezra was last week. Basically,
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  Speaker 1: he was a very very intelligent scribe, so he was
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  Speaker 1: somebody that could read languages very well. He was an
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  Speaker 1: expert in the Old Testament laws. He was an expert
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  Speaker 1: in everything that had to do with Judaism. Essentially, it
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  Speaker 1: says in verse six that he was a skilled scribe
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  Speaker 1: in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: had given, and the king granted him all his requests
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  Speaker 1: according to Yahweh, his God's hand on him. Now, just
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  Speaker 1: a side note on that verse. Some people think that
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  Speaker 1: Ezra was the one that actually compiled and composed the
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  Speaker 1: first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy. But
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  Speaker 1: what's interesting about that is Ezra himself says right here
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  Speaker 1: that God was the composer of those books. It says
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  Speaker 1: he was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses,
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  Speaker 1: which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given. So that
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  Speaker 1: means that Ezra was studying something that was already there.
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  Speaker 1: He did not compile it himself. He was already studying
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  Speaker 1: the laws of Moses and was an expert in the
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  Speaker 1: first five books of the Bible. And so because of
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  Speaker 1: how skilled he was in the Old Testament laws, it
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  Speaker 1: kind of sounds like he made a reputation for himself
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  Speaker 1: in Persia, and the king knew about him because he
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  Speaker 1: went to the king. And it says in verse six
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  Speaker 1: that the king granted him all his requests according to Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: his God's hands on him. It sounds like Ezra was
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  Speaker 1: granted permission to lead even more captives out of Persia.
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  Speaker 1: And into Israel. Now, the Jewish people had been going
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  Speaker 1: back to the land of Israel for many decades at
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  Speaker 1: this point. In fact, even the Temple was already built
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  Speaker 1: for about sixty years before Ezra even went to Israel.
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  Speaker 1: So Jerusalem and Israel were coming along. You know, many
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  Speaker 1: of the captives that lived in Babylon, that lived in
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  Speaker 1: Persia were already going back home, but they were going
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  Speaker 1: in waves, because you know, it's a dangerous journey. I
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  Speaker 1: believe it took Ezra four months to get back to
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  Speaker 1: his homeland from Persia, so it was not an easy
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  Speaker 1: journey by any stretch of the imagination. So Ezra was
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  Speaker 1: given permission to take even more of the captive Israelites
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  Speaker 1: back home to Israel and kind of lead the charge
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  Speaker 1: for this. And the reason the king allowed Ezra to
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  Speaker 1: go and to take Israelites with him is because because
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  Speaker 1: he wanted to see what was happening in Judah and Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: which is what it says right here in verse fourteen.
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  Speaker 1: You are sent by the King and his seven counselors
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  Speaker 1: to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law
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  Speaker 1: of your God, which is in your hand. So the
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  Speaker 1: Israelite nation was still a province of Persia. Persia still
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  Speaker 1: had control over Israel, and so the Persian king wanted
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  Speaker 1: to see what was happening in Israel and Jerusalem. And
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  Speaker 1: it sounds like he trusted Ezra to give him an
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  Speaker 1: accurate report as to what was going on back in Israel.
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  Speaker 1: And we also talked to last week about King art
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  Speaker 1: exer Sees and how Queen Esther may have actually had
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  Speaker 1: some influence on him. Interestingly enough, but he was also
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  Speaker 1: influenced by Niamiyah. Don't forget. Namiyah was his Jewish cupbearer,
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  Speaker 1: and he liked Niamiyah and ended up appointing Niamaiah to
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  Speaker 1: go back home, rebuild the city walls, and be the
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  Speaker 1: governor of Israel. So it sounds like Art Exerxes had
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  Speaker 1: some Jewish people in his court or close to him
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  Speaker 1: that he really did respect, which is why he had
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  Speaker 1: such a favorable opinion of the Jewish people, unlike most
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  Speaker 1: of the kings during this day and age. So now
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  Speaker 1: Ezra is given permission to lead this charge and to
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  Speaker 1: take more Israelites back home, and also to inquire of
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  Speaker 1: what is going on in Israel as well. So here
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  Speaker 1: is the letter that Art Exerxes gives to Ezra, and
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  Speaker 1: this is in verses eleven through twenty six. And this
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  Speaker 1: portion of scripture is one of the few portions that
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  Speaker 1: is not written in Hebrew or Greek, but it's actually
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  Speaker 1: written in Aramaic, because this is from the king's own court,
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  Speaker 1: which shows the validity of this letter. Actually a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more as well. So starting in verse eleven, it says,
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  Speaker 1: this is the copy of the letter that King art
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  Speaker 1: Exerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the
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  Speaker 1: scribe of the words of Yaway's commandments and of his
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  Speaker 1: statutes to Israel. Art Exerxes king of Kings, And that
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  Speaker 1: is what the kings of Persia used to call themselves,
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  Speaker 1: the King of kings. And that is typically a title
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  Speaker 1: that we attribute to Jesus, that he is the King
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  Speaker 1: of kings. But you can see how full of themselves
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  Speaker 1: these kings actually were, so art Exerxes, King of Kings,
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  Speaker 1: to Ezra the Priest, the scribe of the law of
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  Speaker 1: the Perfect God of Heaven. Now I make a decree
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  Speaker 1: that all those are the people of Israel and their priests,
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  Speaker 1: and the Levites in my realm, who intend of their
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  Speaker 1: own free will to go to Jerusalem. Go with you,
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  Speaker 1: because you are sent by the King and his seven
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  Speaker 1: counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the
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  Speaker 1: law of your God which is in your hand. So
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  Speaker 1: the seven counselors of the king mentioned right here were
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  Speaker 1: also mentioned in the Book of Esther as the seven
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  Speaker 1: princes of Persia. Interestingly enough, so it gives you a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of detail of how Persian court worked a
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  Speaker 1: little bit. It says, we appoint you to go back
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  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which
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  Speaker 1: is in your hand, and to carry the silver and
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  Speaker 1: the gold which the king and his counselors have freely
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  Speaker 1: offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: and all the silver and the gold that you will
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  Speaker 1: find in the province of Babylon, with the free will
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  Speaker 1: offerings of the people and of the priests offering willingly
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  Speaker 1: for the house of their God, which is in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: So it sounds like a bunch of people gave to
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  Speaker 1: Ezra a bunch of gold to offer to God, and
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  Speaker 1: they gave it willingly as well. Even though this king
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  Speaker 1: was a pagan king, most likely, even though his counselors,
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  Speaker 1: these seven counselors were pagan counselors most likely, as well
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  Speaker 1: as all of the Jewish people that weren't able to
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  Speaker 1: return to Israel at this point. They gave Ezra all
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  Speaker 1: of this gold and silver to carry along with him,
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  Speaker 1: not to pay Ezra, but to actually use it to
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  Speaker 1: offer sacrifice to God. And that is what the king
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  Speaker 1: says right here in verse seventeen. Therefore, you shall with
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  Speaker 1: all diligence, buy with this money bulls, rams and lambs,
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  Speaker 1: with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and shall
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  Speaker 1: offer them on the altar of the House of your God,
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  Speaker 1: which is in Jerusalem. So basically, he tells Ezra, you're
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  Speaker 1: going to take the money that I give you, and
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  Speaker 1: that my counselors give you, and everybody else gives you,
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  Speaker 1: and you're going to buy a bunch of lambs and
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  Speaker 1: bulls and rams and goats and whatever else, and you
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  Speaker 1: are going to offer these things on the altar of
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  Speaker 1: your God. In our behalf, we can't go to Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: to do this, so we appoint you to do this
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  Speaker 1: task for us. And you might be like, well, why
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  Speaker 1: would a pagan king want to give offerings to Yahweh? Well,
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  Speaker 1: because the Pagan kings often worshiped many different types of deities,
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  Speaker 1: and they probably thought that god that Yahweh was just
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  Speaker 1: any other deity. He was just the deity of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: And so in order to cover all of theirs, they
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  Speaker 1: want to please all of these different gods, including Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: including Bail, including I don't know every single god has
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  Speaker 1: fallen from my brain at this point in time, but
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  Speaker 1: there was like a trillion of them, whatever god of
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  Speaker 1: the region. They would send money to the people so
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  Speaker 1: that they could worship these gods and cover all of
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  Speaker 1: their bases, that they could please every god in all
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  Speaker 1: of the different territories that they owned, and it was
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  Speaker 1: probably no different here with Yahweh. Unfortunately, now it could
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  Speaker 1: be that King art Exerxes was a true Yahweh worshiper
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  Speaker 1: because of all of the people that were in his
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  Speaker 1: court that were Jewish that really influenced him. It could be,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm going to guess that like the other Persian kings,
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  Speaker 1: he probably worshiped many other gods and Yahweh was just
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  Speaker 1: included with his whole pantheon. So Ezra was given the
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  Speaker 1: task to use all of this money to buy the
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  Speaker 1: offerings so that he could offer them. I'm on the
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  Speaker 1: altar on behalf of the king and the king's sons
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  Speaker 1: and the king's counselors and whoever else the king wanted
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  Speaker 1: to offer four essentially, and it says in verse eighteen,
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  Speaker 1: whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to
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  Speaker 1: do with the rest of the silver and gold, do
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  Speaker 1: that according to the will of your God. So this
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  Speaker 1: money was not for Ezra. It was for the Temple
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  Speaker 1: of God specifically, So whatever wasn't used. After they purchased
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  Speaker 1: all of these different offerings and sacrificed them on the altar,
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  Speaker 1: Ezra was supposed to go and use the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the money to repair the temple, maybe to give to
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  Speaker 1: the service it says of the House of your God,
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  Speaker 1: which could be maybe paying the priests, buying sacrifices for
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  Speaker 1: other people, buying the flower for the showbread, or I
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  Speaker 1: don't know anything really. So the king was very generous here,
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  Speaker 1: and it also shows how much he trusted Ezra. So
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  Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what the relationship between Ezra and
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  Speaker 1: the king was, but to have been some kind of
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  Speaker 1: trusted relationship in order for the king to believe that
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  Speaker 1: Ezra would do what he was supposed to do with
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  Speaker 1: all of this money. Not to mention in verse nineteen,
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  Speaker 1: the king also gave a bunch of vessels for the
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  Speaker 1: service of the house. It says, the vessels that are
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  Speaker 1: given to you for the service of the House of
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  Speaker 1: your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem. Whatever more
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  Speaker 1: will be needed for the House of your God, which
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  Speaker 1: you may have occasion to give, give it out of
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  Speaker 1: the King's treasure house. So the king was fully sponsoring
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  Speaker 1: the I guess the repair of the temple. He was
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  Speaker 1: sponsoring the beautification of the temple as well, because don't forget,
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  Speaker 1: you know, this temple was far less grand than the
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  Speaker 1: one that Solomon had made hundreds of years before this.
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  Speaker 1: This little temple that was built in the days of
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  Speaker 1: Ezra seemed to be considered kind of shoddy to the
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  Speaker 1: people of the time. Especially. There's a verse that says
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  Speaker 1: the old men that went back to Israel, when they
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  Speaker 1: saw the little foundation that was made of the new temple,
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  Speaker 1: they cried, and it was not tears of joy. It
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  Speaker 1: was because they remembered the grandeur of the old temple
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  Speaker 1: and were distraught to see what the temple had come to. Essentially,
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  Speaker 1: so it was not as beautiful as a temple as
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  Speaker 1: during the days of Solomon. So it sounds like King
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  Speaker 1: our Exerxes is sponsoring the temple to become more beautiful
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  Speaker 1: through the pretty vessels that are given for the temple,
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  Speaker 1: and also the money that is given as well. And
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  Speaker 1: you might wonder what is making this king so incredibly
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  Speaker 1: generous to Ezra and to the Jewish people. Well, if
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  Speaker 1: you jump down to verse twenty seven pass the letter,
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  Speaker 1: it says, blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers,
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  Speaker 1: who has put such a thing as this in the
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  Speaker 1: King's heart to beautify Yahweh's house which is in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: So God placed this on King art exerxes heart. So
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  Speaker 1: maybe art Exerxes really was a Yahweh worshiper. It could be.
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  Speaker 1: But moving on in the letter, in verse twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: it says, I even I art Exerxes, the King, make
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  Speaker 1: a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the river,
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  Speaker 1: that whatever Ezra, the priest, the scribe of the law
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  Speaker 1: of God of Heaven, requires of you, it shall be
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  Speaker 1: done with all diligence up to one hundred talents of
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  Speaker 1: silver and to one hundred cores of wheat, one hundred
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  Speaker 1: baths of wine, one hundred baths of oil and salt,
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  Speaker 1: without prescribing how much. Whatever is commanded by the God
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  Speaker 1: of Heaven, let it be done exactly for the house
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  Speaker 1: of the God of Heaven, For why should there be
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  Speaker 1: wrath against the realm of the king and his sons. So,
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  Speaker 1: even if art Exerxes was not a monotheistic worshiper of Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: it does sound like right here he at least had
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  Speaker 1: a fear of Yahweh that he didn't want to anger him.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe God placed this on his heart and he knew
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  Speaker 1: he should do this thing, and if he didn't do
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  Speaker 1: this thing, that God would be angry with him. It
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  Speaker 1: is possible that that is how he felt. I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: but whatever it was, art Exerxes felt this call to
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  Speaker 1: beautify the temple to God and kind of went above
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  Speaker 1: and beyond to do it. Is what it sounds like
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  Speaker 1: right here. He even ordered the treasurers that lived around
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  Speaker 1: Israel to not give the tribute back to the king,
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  Speaker 1: but to give it to help beautify the temple to God,
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  Speaker 1: which is kind of cool. And then also in verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty four, it says we inform of you that it
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  Speaker 1: should not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: on any of the priests, levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: or laborers in the house of this God. So that
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: means that King art Exerxis made a decree that anybody
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: who worked in the temple, whether they were a high
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: priest or a singer, gatekeeper, or temple servant, they were
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: not supposed to pay any taxes. That's really neat. That's
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: kind of a cool little thing that the priests got.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Apparently that was a common thing that Persians would do,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: not just for the Jewish people, but any priest of
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: any cult. They had a habit of not forcing those
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: priests to pay taxes. So this extended to the Jewish
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: priests as well, which is really really neat. Man, I
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: wish I could pay no taxes. That'd be great. I
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: bet you all feel that way too. Verse twenty five,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: it says you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: who may judge all the people who are beyond the river,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: who all know the laws of your God, and teach
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: him who doesn't know them. So now Ezra has another
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: command from the king. The first command was to bring
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: the money back home to purchase the animals and to
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: beautify the temple. The second thing was to guide the
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Israelite exiles back home and kind of lead the charge
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: for that. And now the third thing was to appoint
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: magistrate and judges who could judge the people according to
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Yahweh's laws, and also to teach the people who don't
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: know Yahwei's laws. Maybe it could be that Ezra and
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the king were friends. Maybe it could be that Ezra
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: taught the king about the history of Israel, how they
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: had fallen away from God, that's why they were in exile,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: how they didn't know the laws of God. And maybe
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: that's why this was placed on King art Exerx's heart.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: But either way, because this letter is written in Aramaic
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: instead of Hebrew, it actually really shows the validity of
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: this letter, and scholars all agree that this letter was
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: in fact from King art Exerxes and that it follows
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Persian customs perfectly. And here's one last Persian custom to
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: end the letter here in verse twenty six, whoever will
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: not do the law of your God and the law
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: of the king, let judgment be executed on him with
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: all diligence, whether it is to death or to banishment,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. So he
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: just gave Ezra a ton of power. He said, Ezra,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: whoever does not listen to the laws of your God
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: or doesn't listen to my laws, the laws of the
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: King of kings, you have the authority. I give you
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: the authority to execute judgment on them with all diligence,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: even to death. You could put this person to death,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: and I will be behind you. That is what he's
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: telling Ezra right here. And a lot of people read
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: this and they think, why would the king give Ezra
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: this much power? Well, this was something again that Persian
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: kings had a tendency to do a lot of times,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: especially to priests. I guess the Persian kings liked moral order.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: They would give the priests a lot of power to
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: basically enact that moral order. And there was a document
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: found by King Darius the First who did this exact
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: same thing to an Egyptian priest. He wrote a letter saying,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I give you all the authority to make sure that
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the people follow the commands of whatever God, and if
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: they don't do it, and if they don't listen to me,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: then you can enact whatever judgment you want on them,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: even if it's death. So yes, this letter follows Persian
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: custom perfectly. Now, one thing I want you guys to
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: keep in mind, though, as we move forward into the
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Book of Ezra, is how much power Ezra actually had.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: He was able to potentially kill somebody if they did
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: not follow the laws of God. So keep that in mind,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: because that's a very important point that I've actually missed
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: reading through the Book of Ezra on my own, and
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: it might explain a few things that end up happening
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: a couple chapters from now, but I'm not going to
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: give away any spoilers just yet. Then, to conclude Ezra
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: seven with verses twenty seven through twenty eight, Ezra actually
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: blesses God for the amount of success that he had
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: with King art Exerxes and how he's allowed and able
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: to go back home with all of this power. He says,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: put such a thing as this in the king's heart
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: to beautify Yahwei's house, which is in Jerusalem, and his
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: extended loving kindness to me, before the King and his
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: counselors and before all the King's mighty princes. I was
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: strengthened according to Yahweh, my God's hand on me, and
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: I gathered together chief men out of Israel to go
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: up with me. So Ezra to conclude this, thanks God.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: And by the way, he switches back to Hebrew right here.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Only the letter was written in Aramaic. And then of
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: course Ezra switches to his native tongue Hebrew the end here,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: and he just thanks and praises Yahweh. He says, thank
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: God that I am able to go home, that I
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: am able to take all of these exiles with me,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: that the King has it on his heart to beautify
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: the temple to God, and that God has extended his
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: loving kindness to me by allowing the King and his
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: seven counselors to be kind to me and to be
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: kind to the Jewish people. But now we have finished
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: up Ezra seven, and we're going to move into Ezra
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: eight and nine in the following days. So I am
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: definitely looking forward to talking about the end of the
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: book of Ezra, because it really does switch hard like
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: the first eight chapters of Ezra are relatively very positive,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like things seem to be
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: going pretty well. You know, the temple is built, all
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: these people are coming back home. It seems like there's
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: hope once again. And then all of a sudden, everything
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: turns into a train wreck, as usual towards the end
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: of the book of Ezra. So we'll talk of all
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: of that in the following days. But faithful listeners, before
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I say happy listening and God bless to all of you,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: here is one last word from a sponsor today. All right,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, thanks for listening to that sponsor. I don't
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: know what is happening to me, but I'm telling you
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: I'm losing my voice today. And usually I try to
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: give at least a little bit of an excerpt at
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the end of the episodes to conclude everything. But I
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: think I'm just gonna let you all go. So have
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: a wonderful Memorial Day, all right. I hope you guys
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: are able to relax and enjoy the weather and enjoy
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: some barbecue and just spend the day outdoors and with family.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I will see all of you guys tomorrow morning, bright
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and early six am or whenever you choose to wake
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: up and listen for an episode from Hebrews until Tomorrow.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Happy listening and God bless. I just want to take
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: if you go to life audio dot com you will
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
• 25:05
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