Ezra - Chapter 1
GOD BEGINS THE RESTORATION
Who is in charge of our lives? Most of the time, we seem to think that we are.
We value financial stability, stable jobs, a regular schedule, and we seem quite sure that all of these important areas are fully under our control.
Unfortunately some of us relearn this lesson of life the day the doctor says, “you have cancer”. At moments such as this one we may ask a common question which is,
“who is in charge here?”
The first chapter of Ezra answers this question as it begins to unfold the story of the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as the return of Jews to their promised homeland.
Verses 1-4 begin this strong lesson with the words of Cyrus, the king of Persia. Until 550 B.C. Cyrus rules a small portion of the Median Empire (Iran) until 539 B.C. When he moved militarily against the Persian Empire (Babylon / Iraq). The king of Babylon was so intensely disliked and the corruption of the land so widespread that when Cyrus led his troops against them, there appeared no resistance and without opposition Cyrus conquered Babylon.
Cyrus quickly gained favor with all the people when he rebuilt housing for the poor, granted full worship to all in their chosen way, and put into place a plan to rebuild sacred places previously conquered, as well as allowing free opportunity of captive peoples to go home. In terms of the Jews, he opened the door for their departure, ordered and financed the rebuilding of the Temple and returned all religious objects previously stolen when Babylon overran Judea.
Why would Cyrus adopt such a favorable and lenient policy toward the Jews? Cyrus has written that his hope was to gain favor with all gods by assisting peoples to return to their original worship traditions.
But there was a very interesting factor in the work of Cyrus to free the Jews and to assist them in returning to Jerusalem. Almost 170 years before Cyrus gave his directive to free the Jews and allow them to return as well as to grant the restoration of the Temple the Lord had His prophet Isaiah announce it and in that announcement to actually call the name of Cyrus (before he was born) as the pagan king He would use to arrange the return and freedom of His chosen people.
Isaiah 45:1-4:
“Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him: and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight: I will brake in pieces the gates of brass, and will cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.”
Ezra 1:1 teaches us that Jehovah God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to permit the return of the Jews. The historian Josephus wrote that the elders of the captive Jews came to Cyrus and showed him the scripture written long before using his name as the one who would free the Jews. When Cyrus gave the order to free the Jews, he was sure to include the statement that God in heaven had given him his kingdom and charged him to do His will to free His people. Scripture teaches that of the hundreds of thousands who were taken captive, 42,360 chose to go home. We should carefully note that God called Cyrus His anointed one.
In verses 5-11 we see that the heads of the houses (the tribes) arranged the group who would return. The teaching is clear that these were those whose spirits were moved by God to make the return trip. So God moved not only the spirit of Cyrus, but also the hearts of a portion of His chosen people to move home.
The final verse of chapter one says the sacred objects were given by Cyrus to Sheshbazzar, (likely the Persian name for Zerubbabel) who verse 8 notes as a prince. Verse 5:14 will later refer to him as governor.
God had promised through His prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:14) that the return would occur and now His promise is kept.
So who is indeed in charge?
Ezra shows that the sovereign will of God can move the heart of a king after delivering to him a kingdom without opposition. Not only human hearts but human history is under the full control of the Lord. His sovereign will done does not mean that problems are not to be seen along our life journey. We see in the NT, John 12:31 that Satan is considered the prince of this world and he works tirelessly to diminish both our faith and our lives. Yet Christians have always affirmed that God is truly in charge of His creation.
How and when God chooses to act to effect His will is beyond understanding given to us but through faith we remain sure He does so for His good purpose on our behalf.