Nehemiah remained in Babylon when Ezra left. It has been 13 years since that time and reports reach him of the state of Jerusalem. And it is dire. Persia is still under the rule of the same king, Artaxerxes, who granted Ezra his freedom. He respects Israel’s God and asked Ezra to offer sacrifices to […]
The second set of exiles has returned to Jerusalem. And there is sin AGAIN in the nation. Ezra is asked to deal with it. I know God had a reason for telling His people to remain separate during this time in His plan, but it sounds harsh to me today. The “Pure Race” is something […]
Ezra has finished his study and deeply desires to go on to Jerusalem and join the other returnees. God is calling him, and gives him favor for the journey. Ezra has been faithfully studying and writing Israel’s history of their return to the Promised Land. Now, he is going to get the opportunity to go […]
Ezra continues his investigation of the records of Persia. He sees the building of the House of God, its stops and starts, to its completion. We are continuing on with our ‘story within a story’ a little longer. Ezra continues his search of the archives and his imaginings of the time of rebuilding the House […]
Ezra reads in Babylon of those who went with Zerubbabel are starting to build the Temple. It is NOT going how they hoped it would. I was wondering in the beginning if Ezra went with the exiles, but he tells us himself, several chapters later about him joining the people. After carefully searching, I realized […]
