Ezra 3
Dear RTB’ers,
Thank you, John, for covering for me yesterday. It was a travel day for Carol and me, going to our daughter’s home in Maryland where we will be grandkid-sitting for a few days. In addition, I had been ill Sunday night and Monday night and did not feel well enough to offer a beginning to Ezra. John (as always) did a great job in setting us up for our readings for the next three weeks.
We have often heard that the Babylonian exile was 70 years long. However, the time between the fall of Jerusalem (586 BC) and yesterday’s return of the exiles (537 BC) is only about 50 years. We account for the other 20 years by noting the first group of exiles taken by the Babylonians was around 605 BC, calculated from Daniel 1:1-4, In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah…, and continuing. (Thanks to my Study Bible for clarifying that 70-year number.) Jeremiah also mentions an earlier deportation of exiles in 29:1-7.
So today, almost the first thing that the returnees do is build an altar, presumably on the site of the destroyed temple. Was this a laudable return to their service and sacrifices honoring the God of Israel, the One True God? Ideally, yes. But one verse in particular caught my eye: They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. (v. 3:3) “Fear of the peoples of the lands…” It looks to me like their return to sacrificial offerings was their imploring God for protection in the face of opposition. Not a problem. I have seen for myself that my prayers in time of need often become prayers of praise for the God that I seek on a daily basis. “Need leads to praise…”, I suspect, is a common thread for many of us!
Finally, we close today with the beginning of the re-building of the temple. It’ll take some twenty years to finish what becomes known as “Zerubbabel’s temple”. We’ll read about that over the next couple of days.
Blessings.
Fred