Ezra and Nehemiah

John F. MacArthur

• Publisher: HarperChristian Resources
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780718034924
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Études bibliques

The people of Israel were carried away to Babylon, where they lived as exiles and outcasts. God sent this judgment on His people because of their continued unfaithfulness to His word—but the day came when He called them to return to Jerusalem.

However, when they arrived there, they discovered things had dramatically changed for the worse. The Temple was destroyed, the city walls were torn down, and the land had been taken over by people who did not want them back. There was work to be done, and it was not going to be easy.

In this study, pastor John MacArthur will guide you through an in-depth look at the historical period beginning with Ezra's early return to Jerusalem, continuing through the teachings of Israel's prophets during the time, and concluding with Nehemiah and the people's rebuilding efforts in the city. Studies include close-up examinations of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and others, as well as careful considerations of doctrinal themes such as "Unequally Yoked" and "Worshiping God."

—ABOUT THE SERIES—

The MacArthur Bible Study series is designed to help you study the Word of God with guidance from widely respected pastor and author John MacArthur. Each guide provides intriguing examinations of the whole of Scripture by examining its parts and incorporates:

• Extensive, but straight-forward commentary on the text.
• Detailed observations on overriding themes, timelines, history, and context.
• Word and phrase studies to help you unlock the broader meaning and apply it to your life.
• Probing, interactive questions with plenty of space to write down your response and thoughts.

1

RETURN FROM EXILE
Ezra 1:1–11

DRAWING NEAR

What are some common distractions today that can keep people from following God’s will for their lives? How does a person overcome these distractions?

[Your Response Here]

THE CONTEXT

In 722 BC, God allowed the powerful Assyrian Empire to invade the kingdom of Israel, conquer all its territory, and carry its people away into slavery. The author of 2 Kings sums up the sad reason for these events: “The children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God. . . . Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight” (17:7–18). A little more than a century later, in 605 BC, God allowed the Babylonians to invade Judah for the same reason and begin to take its people into captivity. About twenty years after this time, Nebuchadnezzar carried the remaining Jews into Babylonian captivity.

From an outside perspective, it appeared that God’s people would be forever lost to history. Yet these events did not take God by surprise—nor did they occur without warning. Furthermore, in spite of the people’s sins, Jeremiah prophesied the Jews would remain in captivity for only seventy years. God said, “This whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity” (Jeremiah 25:11–12).

This study opens at the end of this seventy-year period, when God promised that His chosen people would begin to return to Jerusalem to rebuild His chosen city. However, by this time the mighty empire of Babylon had collapsed and been absorbed by another powerful empire: Persia, under the reign of Cyrus “the Great.” The year was 538 BC.

KEYS TO THE TEXT

The author of Chronicles (who most likely was Ezra) provides some background information on why the Jewish people were exiled. Read his words in 2 Chronicles 36:11–21, noting the key words and phrases indicated below.

THE LAST KING OF JUDAH: Our studies open with a look back at the Babylonian invasion of Judah—and the events leading up to it.

36:11. ZEDEKIAH WAS TWENTY-ONE: Zedekiah became king in Judah around 597 BC. He was the last king of Judah and ended a succession of wicked leaders. The nation of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms (Israel and Judah) after the reign of Solomon hundreds of years earlier. As mentioned in the introduction to this study, Israel had long since gone into captivity.

12. HE DID EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD: Many of the kings of Judah—and most of the kings of Israel—had led God’s people away from His Word into idolatry. The Lord had warned the Jews repeatedly that He would send them into captivity if they worshiped false gods.

JEREMIAH THE PROPHET: Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations to mourn the destruction of the temple, which occurred when Zedekiah was king (586 BC).

13. KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR: Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon at this time. Under his leadership, the empire grew to its greatest extent.

14. ALL THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE NATIONS: These abominations included idolatry, child sacrifice, sexual perversion, denial of God as the Creator, and many more sins. All these pagan practices are abundant in modern Western society.

DEFILED THE HOUSE OF THE LORD: God’s people had defiled His temple by incorporating pagan practices into their worship. This resulted in the Lord’s swift judgment.

GOD’S FAITHFULNESS: The people of Judah have been constantly unfaithful to the Lord, but God has proven completely faithful to them—even at cost to Himself.

15. RISING UP EARLY AND SENDING THEM: The Lord was constantly faithful to His people in spite of their unfaithfulness to Him. The figure of speech here suggests that He went out of His way to lead them back to Him, going to great lengths—and at immense cost—by sending prophets again and again to urge Israel and Judah to obey His Word.

BECAUSE HE HAD COMPASSION ON HIS PEOPLE: Here we learn why God went to such lengths to turn His people back to Him: because He loved them! We will see more of God’s compassion in the events leading up to the people’s return to Jerusalem and find that His hand of discipline was always tempered with grace. Yet His compassion is most clearly expressed in the life and person of Jesus Christ. God sent His only Son expressly to die for our sins—and there can be no greater expression of love than that.

16. MOCKED . . . DESPISED . . . SCOFFED AT: The world has always treated the things of God with contempt, and still does today, but God’s own people committed this sin. It was this contempt that ultimately brought His discipline on the nation of Judah.

17. THE KING OF THE CHALDEANS: This king is Nebuchadnezzar. Chaldea had been absorbed into the Babylonian Empire, yet the empire was interchangeably referred to by both names.

19. BURNED THE HOUSE OF GOD, BROKE DOWN THE WALL OF JERUSALEM: In 597 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar carried 10,000 people into captivity from Judah, including the prophet Ezekiel. (He had actually carried captives away from Judah in several waves, beginning in 605 BC.) Zerubbabel and Ezra would later lead people back to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding the temple, and Nehemiah would lead the work of rebuilding the city walls.

20. UNTIL THE RULE OF THE KINGDOM OF PERSIA: Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 BC. He allowed Jews to begin returning to Jerusalem the following year.

21. UNTIL THE LAND HAD ENJOYED HER SABBATHS: The Lord had commanded His people to allow their land to lie fallow every seven years. On this seventh year, they were to neither plant crops nor reap (see Leviticus 25:4–5). Evidently, they had failed to obey this command beginning around the time when Eli was high priest (c. 1107–1067 BC). The Lord had warned the Jews that He would enforce the Sabbath rest on His Promised Land if they failed to keep it (see Leviticus 26:27–46). Jeremiah later prophesied that the people would remain in captivity for seventy years—one year for every Sabbath they neglected (see Jeremiah 25:1–11). The exact number of Sabbath years was 490 years, the period from Saul to the Babylonian captivity.

Read Ezra 1:1–11, noting the key words and phrases indicated below.

THE PROCLAMATION: Seventy years later, the Lord raises up a Gentile leader—Cyrus, the king of the Persian Empire—who will begin to send the Jews back home.

1:1. IN THE FIRST YEAR OF CYRUS: The Lord had prophesied through Isaiah, saying of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd . . . saying to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid’ ” (44:28). These events occurred c. 538 BC.

BY THE MOUTH OF JEREMIAH: As previously mentioned, Jeremiah had prophesied the return of the exiles after a seventy-year captivity in Babylon. This period of exile likely began during the fourth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, c. 605 BC, when Jerusalem was captured and the temple treasures were taken. It ended with the decree of Cyrus to allow the Jews to return, thus spanning a period from 605/604 BC to 536/535 BC.

THE LORD STIRRED UP THE SPIRIT OF CYRUS: Throughout these studies, we will see how God used the deeds of men—both good and evil—to accomplish His sovereign purposes. Even when the circumstances seemed dark and hopeless, He was still in control and was still working out His promises for His people.

MADE A PROCLAMATION: This was the most common form of public communication and usually came from the central administration. The king would dispatch a herald, perhaps carrying a written document, into a particular city. The messenger would address the people by either going to the city gate (where people often congregated for social discourse) or gathering the crowds together in a square, occasionally by the blowing of a horn. The herald would then read the proclamation. In 1879, archaeologists recovered one such document called the Cyrus Cylinder, which was evidently some sort of general policy from Cyrus that commissioned people from many lands to return to their cities to rebuild the temples to their gods. Whether or not this document was an extension of the proclamation made to the Jewish exiles in this passage must remain a matter of speculation.

2. THE LORD GOD OF HEAVEN HAS GIVEN ME: Cyrus evidently recognized the sovereign hand of God in his life. He acknowledged that he himself held power in Persia only because the Lord had given it to him—even though he probably did not worship Yahweh as the only true God. Josephus, a Jewish historian, would later write that Daniel was Cyrus’s prime minister and that he read prophecies to the king that mentioned Cyrus by name—more than a century before Cyrus was born (see Isaiah 44:28). According to Josephus, this led Cyrus to make his decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem.

TO BUILD HIM A HOUSE: This refers to the second temple, which the Jews would begin to build after they returned to Jerusalem in the first wave led by Zerubbabel. During the first century AD, King Herod would commission a massive reconstruction effort in which he greatly expanded the temple mount. This second temple would stand until 70 AD, when, after the people rebelled, the Roman general Titus seized the city and destroyed the structure.

4. LET THE MEN OF HIS PLACE HELP HIM: Cyrus commanded the neighbors of the returning Jews to assist them with finances and goods for their trip and for the work of rebuilding the temple. This was reminiscent of the Israelites’ preparations for the exodus from Egypt, when the Lord had them ask their neighbors for gold, silver, and clothing (see Exodus 12:35–36).

THE EXILES RETURN: In response to Cyrus’s proclamation, many of the Jewish exiles decide to retur...