Ezra 1

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Ezra 1:1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

• The proclamation of Cyrus for the building of the temple
• Ezra has to do with the coming out of Babylon = Babylon means confusion
• The return of the people of Judah = to the rebuild the temple
• Ezra confines himself mainly to the events connected with the Temple
• Nehemiah confines himself mainly to the events connected with the wall and the city
• Ezra comes first in the Canonical Order, because the Temple is more important than the wall, morally and spiritually.
• Nehemiah follows, because the wall is of secondary importance.
• Cyrus = The son of Astyages and Esther on the genealogy of the Persian kings.
• So named 200 years before he was born
• Isaiah 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
• The book of Esther precedes the book of Ezra-Nehemiah
• 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
• Ashamed = confused
• Ezra the high priest
• Ezra means help
• Jeremiah 29:9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.
  10 For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
  11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
  12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
  13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
  14 And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
  15 Because ye have said, The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;
  16 Know that thus saith the Lord of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity
  17 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

• Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth
• 2 Chronicles 36:23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.
• Hath given me = The son of Astyages (the venerable king = Ahasuerus) and Esther.
• Trained by Mordecai and Nehemiah, he was brought up in the knowledge of God and His Word.
• God of heaven = Appropriate in the mouth of Cyrus, and in contrast with all heathen inscriptions
• An house = This proclamation put first, as it is the great subject treated of by Ezra.

3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.

• Build = rebuild

4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

• Whosoever of the captive people remameth in any place
• Remaineth = is left
• The men of his place = his Persian neighbors.
• God = the true God

5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

• The chief of the fathers = those named in Ezra 2
• Chief = heads
• Judah and Benjamin = But the other tribes found representatives. 
• Where the terms "of Israel" and "all Israel" are used.
• In 1  Chronicles 9:3, Ephraimand Manasseh are mentioned by name.
• 1 Chronicles 9:3 And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh;

6 And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.

7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;

• 2 Kings 24:12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
  13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said.
• Jeremiah 27:18 But if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.
  19 For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city,
  20 Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;
  21 Yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem;
  22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

8 Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

• Sheshbazzar = was a Chaldean name of the prince of Judah.
• Not Zerubbabel, which means born at Babel.
• Probably = Nehemiah, for he was the son of Hachaliah and Zidkijah, and therefore a "prince of. Judah".
• Nehemiah 10:1 Now those that sealed were, Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah,

9 And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,

• Chargers = basons or bowls = Hence used of both a dish and a horse.

10 Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.

• Daniel 5:2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
• Jeremiah 52:18 The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.

11 All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.

• 2 Kings 12:13 Howbeit there were not made for the house of the LORD bowls of silver, snuffers, basons, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the LORD:
• Ezra 4:1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel;

• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.

 

•  The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

 

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25