Devotionals: Ezra

A Sensible and Successful Plan

By Devotionals: Ezra

“So the exiles did as was proposed… and by the first day of the first month they finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women.” (Ezra 10:16, 17) Bible Reading: Ezra 10:7-44 An oath had been taken to put away all the foreign women and their children from among the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem and Judah, (Ezra 10:3, 5). To enact this, a proclamation was sent throughout the region calling for all the people to assemble in Jerusalem (v. 7). The threat of “forfeiting of property” and being “expelled from the assembly of exiles” was successful in getting “all […]

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Hope for Israel

By Devotionals: Ezra

“But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel” (Ezra 10:2) Bible Reading: Ezra 10:1-6 Ezra expressed his grief over the unfaithfulness of the exiles in intermarrying with foreign peoples around them by “praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God” (Ezra 10:1). Given his importance, it is not surprising that “a large crowd of Israelites – men, women and children – gathered around him.” Nor is it surprising that they were deeply affected by his grief, and like him, “wept bitterly.” This assembly of people might have remained in the grip of grief, but […]

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Guilty Before God

By Devotionals: Ezra

“Here we are before you in our guilt…” (Ezra 9:15) Bible Reading: Ezra 9:5-15 We left Ezra appalled at the unfaithfulness of his people – God’s people – in the matter of intermarriage with those living around them (Ezra 9:4). He had torn his clothes, pulled hair from his beard and head, and sat aghast before the Lord until the hour of the evening sacrifice. At that point, he rises, then falls on his knees and with hands outspread before the Lord, he prays (v. 5). His prayer is a sustained admission of guilt. Though he himself has not broken God’s command in […]

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Appalled at Compromise

By Devotionals: Ezra

“When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat down appalled…” (Ezra 9:3) Bible Reading: Ezra 9:1-4 Ezra, “the priest and teacher, a man learned in matters concerning  the commands and decrees of the Lord for Israel” (Ezra 7:11), had been charged by the King of Persia with inquiring about Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the law of the Lord for Israel (7:14).  Furthermore, he had been commanded to teach that law to those who did not know it, and to enforce its practice among the people (7:25, 26). This responsibility […]

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Set Apart to the Lord

By Devotionals: Ezra

“’You as well as these articles are consecrated to the Lord…’” (Ezra 8:28) Bible Reading: Ezra 8:24-36 We have already noted that Ezra and those with him returning from exile in Babylon were taking with them a large amount of gold and silver and articles for the temple in Jerusalem.  It made them liable to robbery by bandits along the way, and it also presented a temptation to the unscrupulous among them. The long journey would provide many opportunities for such people to devise ways of siphoning off some (or all) of the wealth for themselves. To guard against this, particular priests […]

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Humbling Ourselves before God

By Devotionals: Ezra

“There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble  ourselves before our God…” (Ezra 8:21) Bible Reading: Ezra 8:21-23 Ezra and those with him were ready to make their journey to Jerusalem. It would be long and hazardous, a journey in which they would face perils from their enemies and from bandits that prowled the route (Ezra 8:31). The fact that they had gold and silver and temple treasures with them made them prime candidates to rob. The natural thing for Ezra to do would have been to ask the king, who had shown himself so friendly […]

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God-Inspired Boldness

By Devotionals: Ezra

“Because the hand of the LORD my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leading men to go up with me to Jerusalem” (Ezra 7:28) Bible Reading: Ezra 7:27-8:20 Ezra recognized that the favourable reception of the Persian king towards the second emigration to Judea was no whim of human nature; it was because “the Lord… had put it into the king’s heart” (Ezra 7:27). Furthermore, he knew that he had been received with such favour by Artaxerxes “because the hand of the Lord my God was upon me” (v. 28). God was in this venture, working with him, through […]

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Honouring the God of Heaven

By Devotionals: Ezra

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put it into the king’s heart to bring honour to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way…” (Ezra 7:27) Bible Reading: Ezra 7:11-28 Ezra, the priest and teacher of the law of God, did not sneak away from Babylon and return to Jerusalem in secret. He went with the full knowledge and approval of the king. In fact, he went with a formal letter from King Artaxerxes endorsing his return and his special role among the Israelites already back in Judea (Ezra 7:11). This letter is amazingly generous […]

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The Hand of the Lord upon Him

By Devotionals: Ezra

“The king had granted him everything he had asked, for the hand of the Lord his God  was upon him” (Ezra 6:20, 22) Bible Reading: Ezra 7:1-10 With the temple restored and the worship reinstituted in Jerusalem, the Book of Ezra takes us forward some 58 years to a second emigration to Judea under Ezra in 458 BC. Ezra is introduced to us as a man with an impeccable lineage. He is a descendant of Zadok (who served under King David), and of Eleazar, the successor of Aaron, Israel’s first high priest (Ezra 7:1-5). There is no uncertainty about his entitlement to […]

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Cleanliness and Joy

By Devotionals: Ezra

“The priests and Levites purified themselves… For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread…” (Ezra 6:20, 22) Bible Reading: Ezra 6:19-22 These verses complete the first section of the Book of Ezra – that connected with the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. They describe the first Passover after the temple’s completion. Given what we are told in Ezra 3:5 (that sacrifices for “all the appointed sacred feasts” were made after the foundation of the temple had been laid), it is unlikely that this was the first time this feast had been celebrated since the return from exile. […]

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