There is evidence that Ezra and Nehemiah were a single book in the Hebrew and Greek texts, but some things point to two

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1 Rebuilding the City of God (Ezra-Nehemiah) WestminsterReformedChurch.org Pastor Ostella August 14, 2016 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, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: 2 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel-- he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem." 5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem. (Ezr.1:1-5) Introduction Taken as a single book, Ezra-Nehemiah 1 focuses on the city of David, the location of the temple where God dwelled with His people. In judgment through the Babylonians, God withdrew His presence from the temple at Jerusalem. Thus, the city and everything in it was toppled and left in ruins. Now in restoration, God returns to His people in the rebuilding of the altar, temple, and walls. His dwelling at the temple is expanded city-wide. Attention in Kings and Chronicles narrowed down from the twelve tribes to the tribe of Judah, and within Judah judgment centered on Jerusalem in representation of the nation. Understandably, in the return from Babylonian exile, Jerusalem is again on center stage. Thus, the title for this single narrative of Ezra-Nehemiah is rebuilding the city of God. Three phases of rebuilding are evident: the rebuilding of the altar (Ezr ), temple (Ezr ), and walls (Neh ). I. An altar for sacrifice The first section reports how the scene shifts from Babylon to Jerusalem by the stirrings of God according to what He promised through Jeremiah (1.1-3): 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, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: 2 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel-- he is the God who is in Jerusalem. For seventy years the land kept its Sabbaths, which refers to each seventh year of rest for the land from its usual productivity. Instead of having this rest once every seven years, the land has a forced time of non-productivity for seventy consecutive years. Cyrus is God s instrument of restoration. The task he sets for the returnees is to go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel (v. 3). Then two main events take place: a remnant returns to Jerusalem and they build an altar. A. First, a remnant returns The Lord not only stirred up Cyrus to authorize and finance the rebuilding of the house of God (as we read in the rest of the chapter, ), but He also stirred up a people to get up and go (1.5): Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem. In chapter 2, the returning exiles are identified for the roles they will have by divine appointment. B. Second, the remnant builds an altar There is evidence that Ezra and Nehemiah were a single book in the Hebrew and Greek texts, but some things point to two 1 books (Harrison, IOT, ). That said, the content suggests that one is incomplete without the other, which is enough to argue for preaching on them as a unit.

2 !2 Sheshbazzar is the first governor (1.8), but the altar is built under the next governor, Zerubbabel (3.1-6): When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then arose Zerubbabel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 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. 4 And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, 5 and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the LORD, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the LORD. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. Fundamentally, the returnees recognize their sinfulness and therefore the need for sacrifice, which is God s appointed means by which people may approach Him without condemnation. Understandably, the first thing they do in the homeland is build an altar and begin to sacrifice according to the Law of God. They have not only been stirred up to return to the Promised Land, they have also been stirred up in heart to draw near to the Lord. So, they acknowledge their sins and seek His forgiveness by way of sacrifice. Of course, buried deep in the sacrificial ritual is the fact that in the writings of Moses, the man of God, the promised redeemer (Gen 3.15) is a descendant of Eve through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The coming one will bridge the gap between earth and heaven (He is Jacob s ladder) by being the sacrifice on the altar (as the true Isaac), and by being raised from the dead. His resurrection is pictured in the deliverance of Isaac from the knife of judgment and of Jonah from the jaws of death after three days. Clearly, what we see unfolding in Ezra-Nehemiah is the work of God that shapes the histories of kings, governors, and people within very real and very difficult circumstances. In this context, the return to build the city of God begins where it ought with the altar of sacrifice. II. A temple for fellowship The first leg of the narrative ended with no temple (3.6b): the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. Therefore, the people have access to God without condemnation but the appointed place of fellowship with God in worship, the temple, lies in ruins. The rest of Ezra ( ) covers two main things that are necessary for proper worship: the temple must be rebuilt, and the people must be separated from foreign entanglements. A. On one hand, the temple must be rebuilt ( ) It takes a series of steps in which the work is begun, delayed, and completed. 1. Step one: the work begins with the backing of money given by Cyrus. Zerubbabel appoints workmen, gathers supplies, and sets the foundation in place. As I read , note the mixture of rejoicing and weeping: 10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the directions of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel." And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. This step in the process indicates that the entire project of rebuilding the city of God is provisional, temporary, and prophetic. Tempered joy regarding coming restoration is a sign that nothing like the largeness of Ezekiel s temple is presently in the making. But it is a joyful occasion; one that looks far beyond itself. 2. Step two: work on the temple is delayed ( ) The loud rejoicing mixed with weeping draws the attention of unfriendly neighbors. Governors of nearby Persian provinces complain to the current king in Persia (Darius) about the Jews and what they call the wicked rebellious city (4.12). So, the work on the temple is halted

3 !3 (4.24). At this point, Haggai and Zechariah prophesy and encourage the Jews in the name of the Lord to return to work, and they comply (5.1-2). Naturally, this leads to more complaints by the neighboring governors, but encouraged by the word of the Lord through His prophets, the Israelites (called Jews from word for their homeland of Judah) continued to work under the eye of God (5.5): But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach [the king] Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it. They decided to build as long as possible until they hear from the Persian capital. In the letter, their appeal to the decree of Cyrus was recorded. Upon receiving this letter, Darius finds the edict of Cyrus and recommissions the building of the house of God at Jerusalem (6.1-12). 3. Then, step three, the temple is completed ( ) This is the temple remodeled by Herod the Great. It is where Jesus taught the Rabbis as a youth and from which He removed the money-changers as an adult. It is dedicated ( ), and the Passover is observed ( ) in much celebration because (6.22): the LORD had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria [the Persian king who now rules Assyria] so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. At each stage of rebuilding (altar, foundation, temple), celebration occurs. Each stage is a taste of what is yet to come in the city of God. B. On the other hand, the people must be separated from foreign entanglements Building the temple structure is not sufficient for proper worship. To make up what is lacking is the job of Ezra who up to this point is absent from the narrative. He comes with one major objective, to forge the exiles into a holy people, another essential for the worship of those who have access to God by sacrifice. He enters Jerusalem (about 50 years after the completion of the temple) on the authority of king Artaxerxes (Ez 7.6-7): Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him. 7 And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. The hand of God was upon both the king and Ezra in an undertaking to beautify the house of the Lord ( ): Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem, 28 and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. He was commissioned to follow the law of God and act with wisdom and authority backed by the power of the sword ( ). Chapters 7-8 record the spiritual preparation of these exiles for the journey to Jerusalem, the journey itself, the arrival, and their thankful worship. It turns out that beautifying the house of God has a central focus on the people of God. Thus, Ezra s praised filled prayer includes confession of sin and a plea for mercy (9.1-15). Accordingly, chapter 10 summarizes the cleansing of the people of God by the distinct action of divorce in the cases where Israelites had married foreign women (about 180 men are identified by name). There are no walls to separate the people of God from those outside (as yet) so, the mention of a wall in 9.9 refers to the protective wall of God: to give us protection [ESV] is literally, to give us a wall [NAS]. Although God hates divorce, He authorizes these divorces to preserve a remnant from being absorbed into the surrounding culture. The larger dimension here is that the returning exiles in Jerusalem are to be a holy people, set apart from the world in a special way. 2 III. The rebuilding of the walls is the main story of the book of Nehemiah This second half of the single book documents the final stage in the building of the city of God. Accordingly, the people of God are given a place of protection in a walled-city where they Surely, this has to do with the role that Israel has as a national type and foretaste of the people of God in glory. It is what the 2 nation was to be according to Leviticus. Now the nation, represented by an elect remnant in Judah at Jerusalem, fulfills that role. Without the faithfulness of God s electing love, the descendants of Abraham would have perished and this role never realized.

4 !4 have access by sacrifice to fellowship with God. It should not surprise us to discover that the building of the walls is both literal and spiritual. A. First, the walls of the city are built literally Nehemiah is a cupbearer of the king of Persia, Artaxerxes (the same king that Ezra dealt with, as well as Esther), but his servant status should not obscure the fact that he was a Daniel and Joseph-like statesman of high caliber. Like them he was a man of God who governed with courage and wisdom. For example, he says in prayer: O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned (Neh 1.5-6). Therefore, bathed in prayer (2.4), he approached Artaxerxes and said (2.5), If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' graves, that I may rebuild it. Rebuilding the city ultimately means rebuilding the walls, the task he set out to do in Jerusalem ( ): Then I said to them [the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work, Neh 2.16] "You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision." 18 And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good [through the Persian king], and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, "Let us rise up and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good work. The good work is hard work. The wall around the city is built through tough times with much opposition. The workers have a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. But, the wall was finished in fifty-two days (Neh 6.15). It was accomplished with the help of our God (Neh 6.16). B. Second, the walls of the city are built spiritually Without walls, the city proper was sparsely populated (7.4). So, after the gates are put in place, houses are built and people from the surrounding towns are chosen to live within the newly fashioned city (11.1). But the people must be prepared to dwell with God in the city of God. Therefore, the Law is read by Ezra the priest under Nehemiah the governor at a great assembly of all the people (Neh 8-9). Ezra stood on a wooden platform (8.4), he blessed the Lord and all the people said, amen (8.6). Then the Levites helped the people understand the Law (8.7-8): and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 3 As they gained understanding, the people wept. So Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Levites calmed the people saying ( ): Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." 11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved. Chapter 9 records a summary of redemptive history, and covenant renewal as the outflow of finding comfort in the faithfulness of the covenant Lord. The remaining chapters (10-13) involve establishing good order for city life. Therefore, the statement in 11.1 is quite revealing: Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in the other towns. By driving the reading of the Law deep into the hearts of the people, the Lord created a holy city as a capstone of His redemptive work in the OT. Thus, an elect people with repentant, but joyful hearts, constitute the city where God dwells. Also telling is the celebration that occurs at the dedication of the wall. We should let some select verses ring in our ears (12.27): And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres (and 12.43): And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. Concluding implications and applications 3 Cf. the Eunuch with Philip saying, how can I understand the OT (Isaiah) unless someone explains it to me?

5 !5 OT redemptive history comes to a close in Ezra-Nehemiah with an embodiment of the promise to Abraham of Canaan compressed and reshaped into the promise of the walled city of Jerusalem. This unique city in the unfolding plan of God is restored when it has an altar, temple, and walls. It all comes together by the will and action of God in His faithfulness, love, and irresistible grace. In the end, the stated goal of Cyrus to beautify the city (Ez 7.27) is attained by the hand of God. It comes about in the midst of sin with sinners outside and inside the city walls, yet by grace a remnant of elect returnees from exile become the holy city of God. In a word, this narrative is about a holy people who have access to God for fellowship in a place surrounded by the protective walls of the covenant Lord that sets them apart from the unholy. Thus, this small beginning in a context of many trials brings Israel to her appointed place in the OT as a foretaste of future eternal glory in the city of God, the coming new Jerusalem. This city comes to fruition by the rebuilding of the altar, temple, and wall. At each stage of the process, celebration occurs. Each stage is a taste of more to come in the fulness of the city of God. It all accumulates as the foretaste of the future heavenly city. Lessons for you as the church today come in two ways from this narrative. 1) First, Ezra-Nehemiah presents you with the promise of the city of God This is a promise for each of you to embrace by faith. This is how you will receive the comfort of the Scriptures and find hope to give you a spring in your step on your journey to the city of God. 2) Second, from the context of this great promise the narrative presents you with many specific applications regarding worship, prayer, confession, covenant remembering, and covenant renewal as the people of God who now have the church as your mother for Paul says, the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother (Gal 4.26). The city of God that Ezra-Nehemiah anticipates is not only a future reality. We have come to it now as we journey toward its fulness yet to come (Heb ): But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. So, now on the way, renew your covenant with Christ and His church, embrace the promise, and with joyful singing keep your eyes looking forward to the city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11.10). May we fall down before the majesty of God acknowledging our sins, God s covenant faithfulness, and His provision of Jesus Christ, the Son of God as the sacrifice for sin in our place; may the Holy Spirit give us the comfort of the Scriptures and full assurance that we are marching to Zion to the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to dwell with Him forever, to the glory of the triune God, now in His church and for all eternity, amen.