Ezra 5-6
Dear RTB’ers,
Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. (v. 5:1; see also Ezra 6:14) I love it when Scripture confirms itself. We will be reading the prophetic books of Haggai and Zechariah immediately after we finish Ezra and Nehemiah, after a short Psalms interlude.
We saw opposition yesterday from Israel’s neighbors when the returning exiles started building the temple (laid the foundation). They caused that work to stop for almost two decades until Haggai and Zechariah prompted the leaders to get back to work. The opposition arose again and became the topic of three-fourths of our reading today. But the declaration from Cyrus in 537 BC and the research by Darius in 520 BC prevailed; the work continued and the temple was rebuilt and dedicated. And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. (v. 6:16)
In our previous readings we have seen Israel and Judah defeated and overrun by foreign armies. It’s nice to see the Lord God using two foreign kings, Cyrus and Darius, to bring His people back to Jerusalem and for them to support the rebuilding of His house. But as John so often reminded us in his 2023 posts, it was the Lord God at work putting these plans into their hearts: Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD. (Ezekiel 37:14b)
Blessings.