Route Planner: Ezra - Nehemiah. Jonathan Halsey, Capernwray Hall

Transcription

1 Route Planner: Ezra - Nehemiah Jonathan Halsey, Capernwray Hall

2 Introduction * Ezra and Nehemiah were originally combined. Nehemiah has been known as Ezra II. * Overlap notably between Ezra 2 & Nehemiah 7:6-73 * Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 7 th year of King Artaxerxes I (458 BC) (Ezra 7:8); Nehemiah in the king s 20 th year (445 BC) (Nehemiah 2:1) * They re together at the reading of the Law and the dedication of the wall (Nehemiah 8:9 & 12:26,36) * Date of writing Ezra: approx. 440 BC; Nehemiah: approx. 430 BC. Author likely the same as 1 & 2 Chronicles.

3 Key People * Zerubbabel organized the rebuilding of the temple - helped by Jeshua (meaning The Lord saves ) * Ezra proclaimed the centrality of God s Word * Nehemiah made possible the rebuilding of the broken walls * Prominence of Levites ; Singers ; gatekeepers ; temple servants

4 Ezra Key Themes 1. Fulfillment of Prophecy (Ezra 1:1) Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10; Daniel 1:1 2. God moves hearts (Ezra 1:1,5) 3. Perseverance in the midst of Opposition and Fear (Ezra 3:3) 4. Some Praise; Others Compare (Ezra 3:11-12) 5. Further Opposition: Chapter 4 is a summary of the later opposition experienced by the Jews under the reigns of Cyrus ( BC) (v s 1-5); Xerxes ( BC) (v. 6) and Artaxerxes I ( BC) (v. s 7-23)

5 Ezra Key Themes 6. Encouragement and the Lord s Favour (Ezra 5:2) Haggai 2:1-9; Ezra 6:6-15; Haggai 1: The Example of Ezra a. He was devoted to God s Law and God s Hand was on him (Ezra 7:6, 7:9-10, 7:27-28; 8:18,31) b. He was humble, prayerful and trusting (Ezra 8:21-23) c. His response to other people s unfaithfulness (Ezra 9:3-6,15; 10:1)

6 Ezra Difficult Questions What s going on with the maths?! 1. If you add up the inventory in Ezra 1:9 it comes to 2,499, whereas in 1:11 it says in all there were 5,400 articles of gold and silver. It may be only the larger vessels were specified. 2. Why is the list of exiles different in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7? If you study the 2 lists, you ll see about 20% of the numbers are different. It s assumed a cipher notation was used. Vertical strokes for units and horizontal ones strokes for tens, which led to copying errors

7 Ezra Difficult Questions 3. The whole company numbered 42,360 (Ezra 2:64) This is around 12,000 more than the numbers given (in Ezra they add up to 29,818 and in Nehemiah 31,089). It could be that there were around 12,000 unspecified. In Ezra 2:61 there are no numbers given from among the priests, which accounts for some. Some have suggested that the groups explicitly counted were returned exiles from Judah and Benjamin, while the remainder were from other tribes.

8 Nehemiah - Introduction * Nehemiah means the Lord comforts. * He was the son of Hacaliah, which possibly means wait for the Lord. * He was a cupbearer to the king of Persia in Susa which is modern day south-west Iran. * The cause of his distress is likely to be the events of Ezra 4:7-23, rather than the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 2 Kings 25:10

9 Nehemiah Key Themes 1. The Centrality of Scripture and Prayer Nehemiah was encouraged by the promises of Scripture (1:5,1:9; 4:20: 9:7-8,17) and challenged by its warnings (1:7-8; 5:9; 9:30, 37; 13:17-18, 26-27). Contents of His Prayers * Adoration (1:5; 8:6; 9:3, 5) ( O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant of love ) * Thanksgiving (12:24, 27, 31, 40, 46) * Confession (1:4-7; 9:33-34) (includes himself: we including myself and my father s house ) * Petition (1:11; 2:4) * Intercession (1:6)

10 Nehemiah Key Themes Types of Prayer * Prayers of compassion (1:4) ( sat down and wept mourned ) * Persistent prayer (1:4,6) ( For some days ; day and night ) * Personal prayer (1:6) * Corporate prayer (1:7) * Power prayers (2:4) Lord help me! * Prayers of anguish (4:4-5; 6:14; 13:29) * Prayers of joy (12:43) * Prayers for protection (4:9) * Prayers of dependence (6:9) * Prayers of commitment (13:14; 22,31)

11 Nehemiah Key Themes The Impact of Prayer * It provides him with perspective (1:11) * It widens his horizons (2:4 God of heaven) * Sharpens his vision (2:12) * Shrinks anxieties (4:8-9) * He hurries to pray when there are griefs (1:4) * Confess past failures (1:6-7) * Discover future work (1:11) When we work, we work; but when we pray, God works. Max Lucado

12 Nehemiah Key Themes 2. Nehemiah s Confidence in God Nehemiah 2:20: I answered them by saying, The God of heaven will give us success. Nehemiah 4:20: Our God will fight for us! Nehemiah 7:5: So my God put it into my heart Nehemiah 8:10: Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

13 Nehemiah Key Themes 3. Nehemiah s Thoroughness Put its doors and bolts and bars in place (3:3,6,13,14,15) Ensures protection (7:2-3) 4. Nehemiah Feared God (5:15; 7:2) 5. Nehemiah had God s Favour and the King s Favour (2:8; 6:16) 6. Opposition (2:10;4:2-3) Sanballat: a Babylonian name meaning Sin (the moongod) has given life. He was governor over Samaria. Tobiah means The Lord is good

14 Nehemiah Key Themes 7. Nehemiah s Response to Opposition (4:4-6,9) The use of means ought not to lessen our faith in God, and our faith in God ought not to hinder our using whatever means he has given us for the accomplishment of his own purposes. Hudson Taylor 8. Nehemiah s Ability to Motivate, Organize Others and Lead by Example (3:1-22; 4:6,10-23; 5:6,15-16) 9. Further Opposition (6:1-14) 10. Celebration (8:17-18) 11. Confession (9)

15 Nehemiah Key Themes Nehemiah 9:5-37 has an example of a beautiful prayer. It looks at God s grace and power: * In creation * In the Abrahamic covenant * In Egypt & the Red Sea * In the Desert of Sinai * During the conquest of Canaan * Through the Judges * Through the Prophets * In the present situation

16 Nehemiah Key Themes 12. A Binding Agreement (10) * Not to intermarry * Not buy on the Sabbath, every seventh year not work the land * Give for the service of the house of our God * Bring firstfruits of crops and fruit to the house of the Lord * Bring the firstborn of sons and cattle * Tithe 13. Disappointed but Faithful to the End (13) Deuteronomy 23:3 Remember me with favour, O my God. (13:31)