Ezra - Chapter 8
EZRA RETURNS TO JERUSALEM
Chapter eight begins with Ezra's list of those who “... who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of King Artaxerxes.” He does not list each person by name but instead categorizes people according to their families. Typical of his culture he mentions only the males who journeyed to Jerusalem. The list identifies about 1500 men, so the entire group was likely about 5000 people.
They gathered by a river named Ahava and camped in this spot for three days. Ezra surveyed those who had responded to the invitation given and found none of the sons of Levi among them. Two leaders were chosen to visit Casiphia where they met with Iddo, the chief man, to advise of the need of Ezra to have temple servants with him and were blessed by God to return with a group of those needed. Thirty eight Levites joined, along with 220 Nethinim who were helpers descended from those appointed by King David.
Ezra, an expert in the Law, knew that only Levites were to carry the holy things for the Temple as commanded in Numbers 1 & 3. Based on this understanding Ezra recruited these men to be in charge of the Temple objects given by the current King to be returned to the new Temple.
Once the group had been gathered, Ezra “proclaimed a fast” so that the group would be humble before God and then be able to properly seek the protection of God for the coming journey. This was a journey of about 800 miles. Verse 22 teaches us that Ezra could have requested a military escort for protection, as Nehemiah did. Ezra showed his full trust in God to protect the group and verse 23 advises that God answered the prayer.
Now in verses 24-30 we see the description of the holy gifts they carried. In our previous chapter (7:15-19) we see the King of Persia gave substantial amounts of gold and silver. In these verses Ezra constructs a method of accounting to assure proper control of the precious cargo. Twelve leading priests and twelve Levites were directed to weigh the gifts which would be later weighed at Jerusalem to prove that gifts given were fully delivered.
Verses 31-36 provide the story of the arrival in Jerusalem. Upon arriving people whose ancestors had been originally carried away offered sacrifices to God in thanks for their return to the holy city. These sacrifices were made both as thanks for safety in the trip as well as a sin offering for cleansing from pagan contamination along the way.
Local officials, satraps, received the orders from the King positively and followed the King's orders as given.
We must note that when Ezra trusted God for something major, like the protection of the caravan in travel, he did not presume that since God, who knows all things, including their needs, will simply provide. Instead he called all to fast and pray and importantly to assume a humble demeanor of their hearts to approach God for His blessings. Only prayerful discernment reveals when and how to trust the Lord and only prayerful obedience reflects a truly biblical trust in God's care.
This important lesson in this chapter is clear as a reminder of the great confession of King David in Psalm 51 in which he says God wants only a broken spirit and a contrite heart to be evident as we approach Him.
Ezra gives us the example of integrity in leadership that we would do well to keep in mind.
Ezra inspires us to do the right thing, even if doing so causes us to require added time and effort before we begin any work for God.
Ezra challenges us to act consistently within our convictions. His making no request for military help for protection can be debated as to its wisdom, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that Ezra acted with full integrity according to his personal convictions.
Ezra was careful to account for the shortcomings of men in the journey. Men can be greedy and may in the presence of gold and silver try to find a way to profit themselves over serving God. Ezra knew this and he formed a way of accounting at the start of the journey and at the end of the journey to assure no human failure of character might diminish the mission for God
These special efforts to be consistent in accomplishing the work for the Lord will be seen in far greater depth in the coming two chapters. One of the finest characteristics shown by Ezra, who was chosen by God for this mission, is his consistency in putting his faith convictions above all other factors when serving the Lord.