Recap

So far in Ezra-Nehemiah we've read as the people returned to Jerusalem and started rebuilding the temple. King Cyrus of Persia defeats Babylon and is compelled by God to send some of the exiles back to Jerusalem. As the people left they were given gifts of silver and gold by their Babylon neighbours.

This echoed how the Egyptians gave the Israelites silver and gold when they left Egypt. We’re experiencing a second Exodus moment in Israel’s history. God was once again leading his people out of a foreign nation, back to the promised land.

We read through a whole chapter focused on the names who returned to Jerusalem. These names highlighted how God had maintained their family lines and their sense of identity while in a foreign land. Zerubbabel rises up to lead the people. Along with Jeshua, he reestablished the offerings, feasts, and festivals of the people realigning the people with God.

They appointed the Levites to work on the temple and started building the foundations of the temple. There was a massive celebration. This is it. All the promises God gave his people while they were in exile are now coming to pass. At least, that's how it seemed. But some of the older folk who knew what the old temple looked like wept. This new temple wasn't as good as the one they remembered, or the one that Ezekiel prophesied about.

Ezra 4-7

A group of people come to the Jews rebuilding the temple to offer their help. This group are a combination of the Israelites that were not taken into exile, and new people that had moved into the area over the last few years.

Ignore for the moment that this group are initially described as 'adversaries'. This is exciting. God had promised many times through the prophets that God would reunite Israel, both the northern and southern kingdoms, into one nation again. He also spoke of how people from other nations would come to Israel and be united in worship together. This must be that. We're seeing the beginning of God reuniting all these people back together again.

But the Jews that had come back from Babylon didn't see it this way. They saw these people offering help as lesser. Their worship wasn't good enough. They'd not been through what the Jews had been through, and so they tell this group that they want nothing to do with them. Once again, our hopes are met with disappointment.

Having been rejected, this group, now rightfully known as 'adversaries', decide to cause trouble for the Jews. They oppose them at every opportunity, and even send a letter back to the king in Persia. Artaxerxes is now king over Persia, and this group tells him that the Jews are rebuilding their city so that they can declare themselves independent of Persia and stop paying their taxes.

King Artaxerxes writes back, telling the Jews to stop building immediately. A little while later, king Artaxerxes is replaced by king Darius. Under Darius, some of the prophets come to the people to encourage them in their rebuilding efforts. The Jews once again start to rebuild.

The Persian governor over Israel is concerned by their efforts and asks them under whose orders have they started rebuilding. The Jews respond that they are rebuilding the temple of their God, and they were given permission to do so by king Cyrus. So the governor writes a letter to the new king Darius, asking him to check the archives to see if what the Jews say is correct.

Darius has his people look through the archives and finds the original decree from Cyrus. He then writes back to his governor saying that not only should no one stop these Jews from rebuilding their temple, but that if they ask for help, they should be given it. He then declares that if anyone tries to change what he has just decreed, a beam will be torn from their house, they will be impaled on that beam, and then their house will be torn down.

Inspired by this new support, the people continue working on the new temple and get it finished. On finishing the temple, the people celebrate, offering sacrifices, making sure the Levites and priests are all given the right responsibilities according to God's law, and then reestablish all the old festivals and feast, starting with the most important one, the Passover.

For all their flaws and mistakes, the people are trying their best to do right by God. And God is remaining faithful to them. He continues to give them support and favour. This is a valuable lesson for us. Yes, our mistakes can be costly and damaging. But as long as we're doing our best to remain faithful to God, he will continue to support us and be faithful to us.

Some time passes, and a priest called Ezra, who had remained in Babylon, feels burdened to travel to Jerusalem to teach people God's law. He enquires of the kings, now Artaxerxes II Darius' son, who sends Ezra off with is blessing. He also encourages any other Jews still in Babylon to return to Jerusalem if they want.

So Ezra returns to Jerusalem with a second wave of Jews. Artaxerxes sends them off with wealth to buy plenty to make as an offering when they first arrive back. Artaxerxes also tells his men in Israel to give the people whatever they need.

Finally, he tells Ezra to set up leaders and rulers over Israel. Wise men who will uphold the law of God and the law of the king. This is exciting. We have a priest returning to Jerusalem to teach the people God's word. Maybe now they'll know and understand what God is speaking over them, and they are less likely to make some of the mistakes we've already seen. Maybe.

Psalm 48

This psalm is attributed to the sons of Korrah and falls into the category of praise psalm. More specifically, it is a psalm of Zion, praising God’s holy city (see also Psalm 76, 84, 87, 122).

Psalm 48:1a - Introductory praise to God

Psalm 48:1b-8 - A celebration of Zion

Psalm 48:9-11 - Praise to God

Psalm 48:12-14 - Walk around God’s holy city

The psalm opens with praise to God. This sets the tone of the psalm, which then goes on to look at a specific part of God’s greatness, God’s holy mountain city, Zion.

The layers of imagery around the term Zion are many. The capital city of Israel, Jerusalem, is sometimes referred to as Zion (2 Samuel 5:7). 

But Zion is also described as being a mountain, as mountains were where people encountered God’s presence (think Abraham going up a mountain to sacrifice Isaac Genesis 22:2, or Moses going up a mountain to get the law from God Exodus 19:20).

Because of all this, Zion became the future hope of God’s people. One day there would be a city that was on a mountain where everyone was in God’s presence forever. It will be a new garden of Eden, a city temple on a mountain.

We see this imagery picked up in Revelation 21:9-27. It may be that this will be a literal city, or that this is a metaphor for what it will be like to live in God’s presence. Either way, it’s this imagery and hope that are the focus of this psalm. 

This city would be like a fortress to God’s people, and a source of fear to their enemies. The psalmist praises God for his faithfulness and love in his city temple. This love will reach out so that people across the earth will praise him.

The psalmist then calls out to those listening to ‘walk around Zion’. This may have been a call to familiarise yourself with God’s presence. As you consider the ‘ramparts’ and ‘citadels’, this become a metaphor for taking time to know God. The better you know God, the better you can tell others about him.

In this psalm, we see how the ancient Israelites grounded their spiritual encounters in visual imagery to help them better understand them. We also see the desire to be in God’s presence.