September 18, 2017

Insights on Today's Reading

Ezra 1 - God had prophesied that Cyrus would be the king who would make it possible for the Temple to be rebuilt, see Isaiah 44:28.  He gives the order for the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and accomplish this task, verse 2.  The people of Judah responded and Cyrus restored the stolen items taken from the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar. 

Ezra 2 - A detailed list is given of all those who would return from Babylon to help with the construction.  These would include priests, verses 36-39, Levites, verses 40-54, and some servants of Solomon, verses 55-60.  It is noted that some of the returning Jews could not support their lineage as real Jews, verses 59 and 62.

Ezra 3 - After the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem they gathered to restore their sacrifices, verse 2, and the Feast of Tabernacles, verse 4.  By the second year they had laid the foundations of the Temple.  The reaction was mixed:  joy from the younger Jews, and weeping from the older Jews who remembered what the Temple looked like years before, verse 13.