Let's turn now to the Book of Ezra.
The Book of Ezra, the first part, was
probably written by Ezra, but written from the
records.
Actually, at the time that Cyrus gave the
decree to build the temple, Ezra wasn't even
alive.
Ezra doesn't come into the story into a
first-hand account until you get to chapter
7.
The first six chapters deal with the first
of the repatriation of the nation Israel after
the Babylonian captivity.
Now in the first year of Cyrus, the
king of Persia, that the word of the
Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be
fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of
Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a
proclamation throughout all of his kingdom and put
it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus,
the king of Persia, the Lord God of
heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of
the earth, and he hath charged me to
build him a house at Jerusalem, which is
in Judah.
Now, he mentions here in order that the
word of the prophecy of Jeremiah might be
fulfilled.
And as you turn to Jeremiah chapter 25,
we find that the Lord had predicted that
they would be in Babylonian captivity for 70
years, Jeremiah 25, 11.
And this whole land shall be a desolation
and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve
the king of Babylon for 70 years.
And it shall come to pass when 70
years are accomplished that I will punish the
king of Babylon and that nation, saith the
Lord, for their iniquity and the land of
the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
And I will bring upon that land all
my words which I have pronounced against it.
And then also in Jeremiah chapter 29, verse
10, For thus saith the Lord, that after
70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will
visit you and perform my good word toward
you in causing you to return to this
place.
For I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord, they are thoughts
of peace, not of evil, to give you
an expected end.
And ye shall call upon Me, and ye
shall go and pray unto Me, and I
will hearken unto you, and ye shall seek
Me and find Me when ye shall search
for Me with all your heart.
And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord, and I will turn away your
captivity.
I will gather you from all of the
nations and from all of the places whither
I have driven you, saith the Lord, and
I will bring you again into the place
whence I caused you to be carried away
captive.
All right, now turn to Daniel chapter 9.
In the first year of Darius, the son
of Ahasuerus, the seed of the Medes, which
was made king over the realm of the
Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign,
I, Daniel, understood by the books the number
of years whereof the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would
accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
And I set my face unto the Lord
God to seek by prayer and supplications with
fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
And I prayed to God and made my
confession and so forth.
So that Daniel, knowing the prophecy of Jeremiah
that the period of captivity would be 70
years, during this period he began to seek
the Lord as to what part the Lord
might have him to play in the repatriation
of Israel.
Now, let's turn to Isaiah chapter 44, verse
28.
Now remember, now in the first year of
Cyrus, the king of Persia, the word of
the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might
be fulfilled.
Now in Isaiah 44, 28, Thus saith, or
that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd,
and I shall perform all my, and he
shall perform all my pleasure.
Even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built,
and to the temple thy foundation shall be
laid.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to
Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to
subdue nations before him, and I will loose
the loins of kings.
You remember how, O Belshazzar, it says that
his knees smote together the night that he
heard that the, he saw the handwriting on
the wall, and it says that his knees
began to smite one against another.
And so here's a prophecy of that experience
that Belshazzar had.
I will loose the loins of the kings
to open before him the two levied gates,
and the gates shall not be shut.
And I will go before thee, and make
the crooked places straight.
I will break in pieces the gates of
brass, and cut in center the bars of
iron.
I will give thee the treasures of darkness,
the hidden riches of secret places, that you
may know that I, the Lord, which call
thee by thy name, am the God of
Israel.
For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine
elect, I have even called thee by thy
name.
I have surnamed thee, though you have not
known me.
So, here the prophecy of Isaiah was uttered
two hundred years before this particular event where
we read now, in the first year of
Cyrus, the king of Persia, the fellow that
even according to Isaiah, the man that God
named, said, I have named you, even though
you haven't known me.
God named him two hundred, hundred and fifty
years before he was born, God named him,
and declared that he would be the one
that would allow the people to go back
and to start rebuilding the temple.
So, fascinating prophecies, many of the, you see
how much scripture is tied together in really
just the first verse here of Ezra, as
we see the prophecies of Isaiah, the prophecies
of Daniel, for Daniel predicted that the Medo
-Persian empire would overthrow the Babylonian empire, and
of course the prophecies of Jeremiah, the seventy
years of their captivity in Babylon, and then
that God would release them from that captivity.
So, it's exciting times in Bible history when
you come down to the point where God
is now fulfilling the things that he promised,
when you start seeing the things fall together,
when you know that the Lord said that
seventy years will be your time of captivity,
and you can count, and you know when
seventy years are up, you start getting excited,
alright, God's going to start moving, you know,
because the seventy years are about up.
When Cyrus is the name of the general
that takes over in Babylon, then you really
get excited, because you know that God said,
hey, I've called you by your name, and
I've surnamed you, though you haven't even known
me, and you will do my bidding, you'll
do my desires, and allowing the people to
go back from their captivity.
So, you see things beginning to come together,
and there's always a lot of anticipation and
excitement, and hey, the day in which we
live today is just that kind of a
day, because we see things coming together, and
it's exciting to see the things happening in
the world, because all of a sudden we
say, yeah, that's what the prophet Ezekiel said
was going to be.
Yeah, that's what the Lord said would happen
there in Isaiah.
Yes.
And you see how God is setting the
whole thing together, and we're moving again to
a period of history, just like it was
here in the first chapter of Ezra, where
God is getting ready to fulfill His promises
and His Word, and He has set the
stage.
Things are coming to pass, and there's just
an excitement in the air, because you know
that God's Word is being fulfilled around you,
and you know what's going to be happening
as God has declared these events.
They're going to take place, so we look
at the world today, and we realize that
Russia will soon be making a move into
the Middle East.
We know that Russia is going to attack
the Middle East, and for us as Christians,
it's really exciting, because we know what a
threat Russia is to our own security and
to our own peace, and to realize that
they're going to make this military mistake and
blunder in trying to take Israel first before
she goes against the United States.
We know what's going to happen, and so
we rejoice that God has given to us
advance warning, advance notices, so that we will
actually believe when we see these things happen.
Jesus said, I've told you these things before
they come to pass, so that when they
come to pass, you might believe.
And so it's always exciting to live in
those periods of history when God starts to
put things together, and you know, hey, this
is the time that the prophets were speaking
about.
These are the events God said were going
to take place.
Wow, this is it.
Look at that, you know, and you see
the whole thing beginning to just sort of
weld together, and it's just really exciting times.
Now, Daniel had predicted that the Medo-Persian
Empire was going to overthrow the Babylonian Empire,
and Daniel actually became a counselor.
He was a counselor in the court of
Nebuchadnezzar.
However, by the time that Belshazzar, his grandson,
came around, Daniel was sort of in retirement,
and when the handwriting came on the wall,
they brought Daniel in, and Belshazzar really didn't
know him.
Are you that Daniel that, you know, helped
my grandfather and so forth?
And Daniel then interpreted the dream for Belshazzar,
telling him that that night his kingdom was
going.
That was it.
He had had it.
His days were numbered and finished.
That was all for him, and he had
a very short span on the scene.
Daniel was probably at this time close to
90 years old, he probably lived to be
110, 115.
He lived to the time that the temple
was rebuilt, and he, because it was, as
we'll get tonight, it was Darius who gave
the order to start work again.
Cyrus gave the order to start, and about
50,000 of the Jews returned, as we
will be reading, and started rebuilding the temple
and resettling the land.
Then about, oh, then actually a Cyrus was
removed.
Another king came in who wrote and stopped
the building of the temple, and then Darius
came on the throne, and he wrote and
started the whole project again about 16 years
later.
Now it is the same Darius that was
a close friend of Daniel.
It was Darius the king who was tricked
into making the decree, if anyone prays to
any god other than me for 30 days,
you know, let him be thrown in the
lion's den, and he signed this proclamation, and
then they came and said, hey, there's a
guy down here that broke your law, and
he's got to go in the lion's den.
And he said, who is it?
It's Daniel.
And of course, he was grieved because he
loved Daniel, and he sought all day to
try and reverse things, but the laws of
the Medes and the Persians could not be
changed once they had been sealed.
And so he encouraged Daniel, and he said,
Daniel, the god you serve, he's able to
deliver you out of the hand of the
lions.
And Daniel said, don't worry, I'm an old
tough customer, you know, I'll get by okay.
So they threw Daniel into the lion's den,
and of course, the king didn't sleep all
night long.
He was really troubled over the whole thing.
And in the morning, went out early, and
I like it, the scripture said, and he
cried in a lamentable voice.
Oh, Daniel.
However the lamentable voice was.
He was just, you know, sort of in
a lament.
It was, is your God able to deliver
you?
And he says, ah, live forever, king, you
know.
God sent an angel down and stopped the
mouths of the lions, and I'm in good
shape.
So they brought Daniel out, and then the
guys that conspired against Daniel were tossed into
the lion's den, and before they could even
hit the bottom of the den, they were
devoured of the lions.
Now, this is the Darius that we will
get to in a little while, who gave
the order to start building again, even ordered
them to pay whatever money they needed to
help.
So we'll start putting this story together for
you as we move along.
So Cyrus the king made a proclamation that
whatever people there were of the Israelites who
wanted to return could go up to Jerusalem
and build the house of the Lord, the
God of Israel, for he is the God
which is in Jerusalem.
And whosoever remains in any place where he
sojourns, let the men of his place help
him with silver, with gold, with goods, with
beasts, beside the free will offering for the
house of God that is in Jerusalem.
So there rose up the chief of the
fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the priests
and the Levites and all of them whose
spirit God had raised to go up to
build the house of the Lord which is
at Jerusalem.
And all they that were about them strengthened
their hands with vessels of silver and gold
and goods with beasts and precious things beside
all that was willingly offered.
And Cyrus the king brought forth vessels out
of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar
had taken from Jerusalem.
And put in the house of his gods.
Even those did Cyrus the king of Persia
bring forth by the hand of Mithridath the
treasurer and numbered them unto the prince of
Judah and the number of them were thirty
charges of gold, a thousand charges of silver,
twenty-nine knives and so forth.
Now it was the policy of the Assyrians
and of the Babylonians when they conquered people
to take them out of their land and
to just place them in other lands that
they might lose their national identity and they
might lose any fighting spirit.
It was the policy of the Persians.
They were far more humane than were the
Assyrians or the Babylonians.
And the Persians policy was to sort of
repatriate the people.
Now it is mentioned here that those of
Judah the Levites and Benjamin.
Later on we'll find that it also mentions
those of Manasseh and those of Ephraim that
return.
I make mention of that because there is
what is referred to as the ten lost
tribes of Israel and those who try to
make an identity of the Anglo-Saxon nations
with Israel and say that we are a
part of the ten lost tribes.
The Bible never refers to ten lost tribes.
In fact in the New Testament there are
references to the twelve tribes which are scattered
abroad.
Greetings.
And there were people from the twelve tribes
that were living and still identified with those
tribes during the times of the New Testament.
And so you really don't have lost tribes.
That's sort of a misnomer that people have
developed saying the ten lost tribes.
Even here there were those from the tribe
of Benjamin which was well that was a
part of Judah and Benjamin were together but
then those of Manasseh those of Ephraim and
the Levites.
And of course you have the tribe of
Judah so that even already we have many
of the tribes identified and by the New
Testament Paul the Apostle said he was of
the tribe of Benjamin and he knew the
tribe from which he came and of course
there were the Levites and all during the
time of Jesus Christ.
So they may not know their identity today
as to which tribe they're from.
It isn't necessary.
It was only necessary to keep the tribal
distinctions until the coming of Jesus Christ.
It had to be that he was of
the tribe of Judah and once he came
forth from the tribe of Judah not necessary
to keep tribal distinctions any longer.
It was all fulfilled but God knows where
they are.
In fact God is going to seal them
12,000 from each tribe in just a
very short time as he gets ready to
put the final touches upon the whole earth
system before the return of Jesus Christ.
God is going to seal 12,000 from
each of the tribes of Israel 144,000
altogether.
So God knows exactly who they are where
they are and all even though they themselves
may not know what tribe they're from yet
the Lord does know.
So here they are returning to Jerusalem as
I said some 50,000 and in chapter
2 it gives you the names of the
people and the families that came and the
numbers that came with them.
Beginning in verse 36 to 39 you have
the priests that returned and then beginning with
verse 40 the Levites that returned and then
Solomon's servants that returned.
Now in verse 61 there were some of
the Levites that were returning who could not
find their names in the register.
Among those that were reckoned by genealogy.
They just couldn't find their names that is
they could not accurately trace their family history.
They could not trace themselves back to the
tribe of Levi.
Therefore they were as polluted and they were
put out of the priesthood.
They were not allowed to minister or to
function as a priest or to receive the
offerings, the tithes or the dues that were
given to the priest in those days because
they could not prove their pedigree.
They couldn't trace their names in the records.
And they were kept out of the priesthood
until such a time as they could find
a priest with the Urim and the Thummim
in order that they might inquire of the
Lord and determine if these men really belong
to the priesthood or not.
Now the Urim and the Thummim are this
thing that the priest, the high priest wore
upon his chest and the words mean light
and perfections.
Just what they were we really don't know.
But they would use the Urim and the
Thummim to inquire of the will of God.
Now the common theory is that it was
a little pouch with a black stone and
a white stone.
And they would ask a question and the
priest would say Lord give us a perfect
lot and he would reach in to the
little bag and pull out a stone.
If it was the black stone then the
answer was no.
If it was the white stone the answer
was yes.
And they used this method to ascertain the
will of God in certain things.
Keep asking questions keep pulling out the stones
and if you pulled out the white stone
then answer yes if you pulled out the
black stone the answer no.
And so this is what some have theorized
the Urim and the Thummim to be.
Just what it was we don't know.
It was a method by which the high
priest received God's answer for the people and
God's directions for the people.
It was some type of device by which
divine guidance was given to the people.
Now though we don't know exactly what it
was I do know exactly what it wasn't.
It wasn't a pair of glasses that Joseph
Smith found with twelve golden tablets that when
he put them on he could magically decipher
the hieroglyphics by putting on these glasses which
he said were the Urim and the Thummim.
That is not so.
During the time of Moses they didn't even
know how to make glass and it wasn't
a magic pair of spectacles to read the
hieroglyphics on the golden tablets.
But as I say what it was I
don't know.
I do know what it wasn't.
So there were about 50,000 who returned
at this first repatriation under Cyrus and going
back to build the temple plus they had
736 horses and 245 mules and 435 camels
and all.
And some of the chief fathers when they
came to the house of the Lord which
is at Jerusalem they offered freely for the
house of God to set it up in
his place.
And they gave after their ability under the
treasure of the work three score and 1
,000 drams or 61,000 drams of gold,
5,000 pound of silver and 100 priest
garments.
So the priests, the Levites and some of
the people and all the singers and the
porters and the Nethemims that dwelt in their
cities and all Israel in their cities.
So they returned and they took up an
offering.
Some of the wealthier families and all gave
as was their ability for the rebuilding of
the temple there in Jerusalem.
And when the seventh month was come, the
children of Israel were in the cities.
The people gathered themselves together as one man
to Jerusalem and then stood up Joshua the
son of Josedach and his brothers, the priest
and Zerubbabel the son of Shethiel and his
brethren and they built the altar of God
of Israel to offer burnt offerings thereon as
it is written in the law of Moses,
the man of God.
And they set the altar upon its bases
for fear was upon them because the people
whose countries they offer burnt offerings thereon unto
the Lord even burnt offerings morning and evening.
Now Zerubbabel was more or less the political
leader of the people who returned.
Zerubbabel was a grandson to the one
king of Israel, Jehoiachin.
And so had they followed the monarchy, he
would have been the king but he didn't
assume the position of a monarch but he
was the leader of the people in a
political sense whereas Joshua the priest was the
leader of the people in a spiritual sense.
Joshua was the priest leading them in spiritual
things.
Zerubbabel became more or less a governor over
this remnant of people that returned.
However, he was of the royal line of
David and could have assumed the position of
the king.
However, the monarchy had ended and is not
to be picked up again until Jesus Christ
comes and he will sit upon the throne
of David and God's promise to David that
there shall not cease one from his family
sitting upon the throne forever will be fulfilled
when Jesus comes again and establishes God's eternal
kingdom upon the earth.
And so if you will at this point
next week read the book of Zechariah you
will find where Zerubbabel and Joshua fit into
the picture.
They were the instruments that God used in
bringing the people back and in encouraging the
people.
These two men were vital instruments of God
and you will find more record concerning them
there in the prophecies of Zechariah and also
of this particular period of the building of
the temple.
You will find Haggai has a lot to
say about this.
So this week as extracurricular reading you might
want to go to Haggai and Zechariah because
it fits right into this general period.
So they gathered together and they started offering
sacrifices to the Lord even before the temple
was rebuilt.
They cleared off the area of the altar.
They began to offer the morning and evening
sacrifices because actually there was a lot of
hostility from the people around about them and
they were living in real fear and so
they were really seeking God's protection and started
offering sacrifices both morning and evening.
Now they kept the Feast of the Tabernacles
which of course is in October.
They were there it said in the 9th
month they came back.
So they started keeping again the Feast of
the Tabernacles the 10th month.
They offered the daily burnt offerings according to
the number that was required and so forth.
And the special offerings of the Feast and
all.
And everyone that willingly offered a free will
offering unto the Lord.
It is interesting how that all the time
the mention of giving to God is always
mentioned in a free will willingly.
Pressure is never right when it comes to
giving to God.
You should never give out of constraint Paul
said.
But as every man hath purpose in his
own heart so let him give.
And so it is a shame that the
church has adopted pressure tactics in trying to
get pledges out of people or get offerings
out of people or get support for God's
work.
And there are various types of pressure tactics
that are used.
There's a lot of weeping and wailing which
is a pressure tactic to get your sympathy
so that you'll send your money in.
And there's a lot of exuberance and hilarity
and all.
And push push push.
But it should never be.
Because so often if I give actually if
I give in order that I might be
seen of men to give.
If I'm giving in a public service because
everyone who is going to give so much
is going to stand up you know and
then you get your public recognition then after
I give it I feel bad.
I think oh my I really didn't want
to give that much and I can't afford
that and all.
And you begin to feel bad and then
you begin to resent what you gave to
God.
That's terrible.
God doesn't want anybody griping over what they've
given to Him.
And thus your giving should always be willingly
a free will offering unto the Lord.
And that's really the whole rule of giving
to God.
Freely of your own heart.
Not by pressure.
Not by constraint.
Not by someone begging or pushing.
But you're just determining in your heart I
want to give this to God.
And then doing it without any fanfare or
anything else.
Just hey Lord I love you and I
want to just give this to you and
Lord I just thank you for the opportunity
of giving and give freely unto God.
And always through the Old Testament it's emphasized
and of course the New Testament is declared
not by constraint.
Not by force but willingly let everybody lay
aside that which is purposed in his own
heart.
So the people gave in order that they
might start building the temple and they gave
money to the masons, the carpenters and they
hired actually men to go up to Tyre
and Sidon and to bring down some of
the cedar timbers in order that they might
start rebuilding even as Solomon had brought the
timbers from Tyre and Sidon for the building
of the first temple down to Joppa.
So now they are bringing more of those
timbers out of the area of Lebanon to
rebuild the temple.
And the second year of their coming to
the house of God at Jerusalem in the
second month Zerubbabel and Joshua and the remnant
of the brethren and the priests and all
they that were come out of captivity to
Jerusalem appointed the Levites from twenty years old
and upward to set forward the work of
the house of the Lord.
Then stood Joshua with his sons and his
brothers and they set forward the workmen in
the house of God and when the builders
laid the foundation of the temple of the
Lord they set priests in their apparel with
trumpets and the Levites and the sons of
Asaph with their symbols to praise the Lord
after the ordinance of David the king of
Israel.
And they sang together by course in praising
and in giving thanks unto the Lord because
he is good for his mercy endureth forever
toward Israel.
And all the people shouted with a great
shout when they praised the Lord because the
foundation of the house of the Lord was
laid.
And so you can get a mental picture
of this scene.
They came back to Jerusalem which had been
lying there desolate for seventy years.
So it just had become overgrown.
Some of the men that came back actually
had seen Jerusalem before its destruction.
They had seen the original temple.
Some of the very old men.
But most of them had never seen Jerusalem
before.
Only they came back to a city of
rubble.
The older men no doubt directed them to
the place where Solomon's temple had been built.
They cleared away the rubble and they laid
the foundation stones once more.
And they were so thrilled that the foundation
stones were laid.
That they had a big ceremony offering offerings
unto God.
The priest blowing on their trumpets others sounding
with their symbols.
And there were two hundred singers and so
they had no doubt several choirs and one
would sing and then another.
Praises unto the Lord as they were praising
God and as the choirs were singing.
The people were there worshiping God and just
so thankful that a center of worship was
being created once again where they could gather
before God and offer their offerings unto Him.
But as they were singing and praising the
Lord some of these old men who remembered
the glory of Solomon's temple the beauty and
the glory of that temple when they saw
the foundations and they realized hey you know
we're putting this thing together nickel and dime
and that one of Solomon's was so glorious.
These old men began to weep.
The younger fellows were all excited we're going
to have a temple again but the older
fellows remembering the glory that was passed the
glory that was lost.
They wept and so you have half of
them or not half but you have a
bunch of them weeping some of them yelling
and you couldn't tell the difference in the
noise whether or not they were weeping or
praising and all as their noise mingled together
but they made such a racket that it
was heard afar off.
And when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin
heard that the children of the captivity had
built the started to build the temple of
the Lord unto the Lord God of Israel
they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief
of the fathers and they said let us
build with you for we seek your God
as you do and we do sacrifice unto
him since the days of Esherhaddon the king
of Asher which brought us up hither but
Zerubbabel and Joshua and the rest of the
chief of the fathers of Israel said unto
them you don't have anything to do with
us to build a house unto our God
but we ourselves will build unto the Lord
God of Israel as the king Cyrus the
king of Persia has commanded us and the
people of the land weak in the hands
of the people of Judah and trouble them
in building now when the northern kingdom was
destroyed by Assyria the Assyrian king took the
people of the northern kingdom Israel and scattered
them throughout the world and they had brought
other people that they had conquered and settled
them in the land of the northern kingdom
became known as Samaria that was the capital
city and the people ultimately became known as
the Samaritans now when they came into the
land the wild animals began to turn against
the people and many of them were devoured
and they came to the king and they
said hey we can't get along with the
gods of the land the animals are turning
against us so send us some priests that
they may teach us how to worship in
order that we might worship these gods of
the land so that these wild animals won't
be eating our kids and all so they
the king of Assyria found some priest and
they brought them to these people who the
priest taught them the worship of God and
it said so they feared Jehovah but they
worshiped their own gods in other words he
was just made a part of their whole
total worship program but it wasn't a true
worship of Jehovah nor were they truly descendants
of Abraham or Israel so they did however
as a part of their total worship worship
Jehovah even as they were taught they did
have the sacrifices they did offer the sacrifices
and all because the priest taught them the
burnt offerings the peace offerings and these things
so they did do that and so when
these fellows came and were going to build
their temple they said hey we'd like to
help you because we worship your God too
but they worshiped God as a mixture with
a lot of other gods and so Zerubbabel
and Joshua and the chief men decided that
they didn't want their help now it would
be great if the church would maintain that
same attitude today we don't need the help
of the world in doing the work of
God but not all churches see it that
way and many are trying to conscript Satan
to come help them in their building programs
or whatever but God doesn't need any help
in accomplishing his program especially from those who
are not true servants of God and I
feel that it is wrong to go to
worldly people to try to conscript aid for
the work of God they refused to accept
their help now these are the same people
that in the time of Christ were called
the Samaritans and the Jews would not have
any dealings even after they returned they would
not have any dealings 400 years later when
when Christ came they still would not have
any dealings with the Samaritans and you remember
when Jesus met the woman of Samaria at
the well and said would you give me
a drink of water she said how come
you're asking me for a drink you're a
Jew I'm a Samaritan the Jews don't have
dealings with the Samaritans it is true the
Jews would usually when they were coming to
the feast from Galilee go clear on down
to the Jordan River and come all the
way along the Jordan River and then come
up from Jericho rather than take the shorter
route directly through Samaria because they just didn't
like to be around the Samaritans there was
a lot of bad blood between the two
now the Holy Spirit came upon the church
and in one of the early persecutions the
church was sort of scattered and Jesus had
said to his disciples when the Holy Ghost
comes upon you you shall be witnesses unto
me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and
in Samaria and unto the other most parts
of the earth so in the persecution as
the church was scattered Philip went up to
Samaria and began to preach Christ to the
Samaritans and many believed and were baptized when
they saw the miracles that were wrought through
the hands of Philip now when the church
in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had also
received the gospel they sent unto them Peter
and John for as yet the Holy Spirit
had not come upon them and when they
came they laid hands on them that they
might receive the Holy Spirit and that's when
Simon said hey I'd like to buy this
power that whoever I lay my hands on
they would receive too and Peter said your
money perish with you because you think that
the gifts of God can be bought with
money and told him to pray that God
would forgive him the bitterness the gall that
was in his heart so the Samaritans received
the gospel a great revival now at the
present time there are still about 200 Samaritans
still living they're almost extinct there's only about
200 of them living today they still live
in the area of Nablus which is at
the in the valley at the base of
Mount Ebel and Mount Gerizim and they still
believe that Mount Gerizim is the place where
God should be worshiped you remember the woman
by the well said to Jesus when she
realized that he was a prophet sir I
perceive that you're a prophet our fathers say
that we are to worship God in this
mountain Gerizim right above them there for they
were at Shechem or which is a present
day Nablus in that area our fathers tells
were to worship God in this mountain Gerizim
you say in Jerusalem where is God to
be worshiped and so they still today have
an annual Passover sacrifice and they sacrifice a
lamb at the top of Mount Gerizim still
to the present time they are called the
Samaritans as I said there are only about
200 of them left and they are pretty
much imbecilic they're pretty much imbeciles now because
of the close cross breeding they won't marry
outside and so their numbers continue to reduce
and they have just a lot of idiocy
among them because of this close cross breeding
but they still exist which is interesting about
200 Samaritans left so these were the people
they came to Joshua and Zerubbabel and they
said hey we will help you because we
worship your God too we will help you
build this temple and they consulted together and
they said nope we don't want your help
well their help being spurned then they turned
against them and did their best to defeat
their purposes of rebuilding they started really hassling
them and hindering in every opportunity so they
hired attorneys to frustrate their purposes to file
injunctions to get the court to file injunctions
make them have an EIR report and all
this kind of junk to just frustrate their
building efforts I'm sure that no matter what
they did they couldn't foul things up as
much as things can be fouled up with
our present governmental systems today if you want
to build anything it is just unreal what
they make you go through we are just
governmentalized to death it seems to be the
government's purpose to put everybody out of business
and to make everybody dependent on the government
that sounds good but then who is going
to pay the bills if the government makes
trying to be independent so difficult more and
more ordinances, OSHAs and everything else to come
and harass you I'll tell you they couldn't
harass them nearly as much as the government
harasses building projects today some of you may
be government employees the bureaucracy today is something
horrible we are just going to sink under
bureaucrats so
they sought to frustrate the purposes all of
the days of Cyrus the king of Persia
even until the time that Darius took over
the throne so in the reign of Ahasuerus
who is the Cambyses of secular history at
the beginning of his reign they wrote to
him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah
and Jerusalem and in the days of Ahasuerus
Artaxerxes who is also the previous verse Cambyses
of the secular history they wrote him a
letter in the Syrian tongue and they said
Artaxerxes the king thy servants the men on
this side of the river and at such
a time be it known to the king
that the Jews which came up from thee
to us have come to Jerusalem and they
are they are building the rebellious and bad
city they have set up the walls and
they have joined the foundations and be it
known now to the king that if this
city is built and the walls are set
up again then they will not pay their
toll or their taxes or customs so that
you will be endangered in receiving revenue now
because we have maintenance from the king's palace
and it was not meet for us to
see the king's dishonor therefore we have sent
and certified to the king these things and
we suggest that you search the book of
records and you will find in the book
of records and know that this city is
a rebellious city and hurtful unto kings and
provinces and that they have moved sedition within
the same in old times for this cause
the city was destroyed and we certify the
king that if this city be built again
and the walls are set up by the
means thou shall have no portion on this
side of the river then sent the king
an answer to Rehum the chancellor and to
Shimshai the scribe and to the rest of
the companions that dwell in Samaria and unto
the rest that are beyond the river peace
and at such a time the letter which
you sent to us has been plainly read
before me and I have commanded and searched
that and the search has been made and
it is found that the city of old
time has made insurrection against kings and that
rebellion and sedition have been made there in
there have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem
which have ruled over all the countries beyond
the river and toll and tribute and custom
was paid to them give ye now commandment
to cause these men to cease that this
city not be built until another commandment shall
be given from me take heed now that
you fail not to do this for why
should damage grow to the hurt of the
kings and so the copy of the letter
of Artaxerxes was read to the Reham and
to his companions they went up in haste
to Jerusalem to the Jews and they made
them to cease by force and power then
cease the work of the house of God
which is that Jerusalem so it ceased under
the second year of the reign of Darius
the king of Persia so during the time
of Cambyses the Artaxerxes the work was stopped
a period of perhaps 10 years or so
they had started they laid the foundation they
were building and they got this order to
cease and desist so they stopped the building
and in stopping the building they got then
involved in their own houses and fixing up
their own places and they started fixing up
their houses very nice and they just forgot
and left desolate the house of the Lord
and so if you will read Haggai chapter
one he is crying out against the people
for their forsaking the house of the Lord
is it time for you oh Israel to
dwell in your sealed houses while the house
of the Lord lies desolate behold take a
look at things because you have sowed much
but you're gathering little it seems like your
pockets have holes in them you can't keep
your money and you're always broke and you
never have enough and the reason is that
you've been spending everything for yourself and you've
just been letting God's house go desolate and
so Haggai is encouraging the people let's get
back and let's start building the temple once
again so it tells us here in chapter
five the prophet Haggai and the prophet Zechariah
they prophesied unto the Jews that were in
Judah and Jerusalem in the name of God
of Israel then rose up Zerubbabel the son
of Jethiel and Joshua and they began to
build the house of God which is at
Jerusalem and with them were the prophets of
God helping them now in the first effort
it was it was the priests that were
doing the work and now Haggai and Zechariah
the prophets have pitched in and they are
helping them to rebuild the house of God
and at the same time there came to
them Tatnai who was the governor on that
side of the river and Shetherbanznai and their
companions and they said unto them who commanded
you to build this house and to make
this wall and they said they said to
them what are the names of you men
you know that are making this building so
the guys came up you know like building
inspectors who commanded you to build it what
are your names fellows you know and started
to give them a bad time but the
eye of their God was upon the elders
of the Jews that they could not cause
them to cease till the matter came to
Darius and so they returned answer by letter
concerning this matter in the copy of the
letter that Tatnai the governor sent to Darius
the king they sent the letter unto him
wherein was written unto Darius the king all
peace now remember this is the Darius who
loved Daniel Daniel sat with him many times
had long conversations about God and the power
of God and Daniel a man of such
wisdom and such fellowship with God no doubt
Darius was well he was the scripture tells
us extremely impressed by Daniel loved him so
Darius gets this letter God moved the hashers
out of the way and put Darius on
the throne now and it said be it
known unto the king we went to the
province of Judea to the house of the
great God which is built with great stones
the timber is laid in the walls and
this work is going on fast and it
is prospering in their hands so we ask
those elders and said unto them who commanded
you to build this house and to make
up these walls and we ask their names
also in order that we could certify to
you that we might write the names of
the men that were chief among them and
thus they returned us an answer saying we
are the servants of the God of heaven
and earth and we build the house that
was built these many years ago which the
great king of Israel built it and set
up but after that our fathers have provoked
the God of heaven to wrath he gave
them to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king
of Babylon the Chaldean who destroyed the house
and carried the people away to Babylon but
in the first year of Cyrus the king
of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a
decree to build this house of God and
the vessels also of gold and silver of
the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar took out
of the temple that was in Jerusalem and
brought to the temple of Babylon those did
Cyrus the king take out of the temple
of Babylon and were delivered unto one whose
name was Bazar and he may have been
a governor and he said unto him take
these vessels go carry them to the temple
that is in Jerusalem and let the house
of God be built in this place it
says now if it seems good to the
king search and see if Cyrus Cyrus did
make such an order and you know let
us know quickly so that we can put
a stop to what's going on or let
us know the king's pleasure in this matter
so Darius the king made a decree and
search was made in the house of the
rules where the treasures were laid up in
Babylon and they found at in the palace
that is in the province of the meads
a rule and there was the record written
in the first year Cyrus the king the
same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning
the house of God at Jerusalem let the
house be built in the place where they
offered sacrifices the foundations be strongly laid the
height of it will be 90 feet and
the breadth of it 90 feet with three
rows of great stones a row of new
timber so let the expenses be given out
of the king's house and let the golden
and silver vessels which were in the house
of God which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of
the temple which is Jerusalem and brought to
Babylon let them be restored again to the
temple that is in Jerusalem everyone to his
place now therefore Tatnai the governor beyond the
river now he searched he found this in
the record so he writes back to Tatnai
and he said you and your companions let
the work of this house of God alone
let the governor of the Jews the elders
of the Jews build this house of God
in his place moreover I make a decree
that what you shall do to the elders
of these Jews for the building of the
house of God that of the king's goods
even of the taxes that you collect on
that side of the river and the expenses
be given to these men that they may
not be hindered so these guys were trying
to stop them but instead they were ordered
to give part of the taxes to them
to help them and that which they may
need both young bullocks and rams and lambs
for their burnt offerings for the God of
heaven wheat and salt and wine and oil
let it be given to them every day
without fail that they may offer sacrifices of
sweet savors unto the God of heaven and
pray for the life of the king and
for his sons and I have made a
decree that whosoever shall alter this word let
timber be pulled down from his house and
being set up let him be hanged there
on and let his house be made a
dunghill for this in other words anybody tries
to hinder them tear down his house and
take the timbers of his house make a
gallows and hang the guy on the gallows
now you remember in the book of Esther
how Haman sought to destroy the people of
God and he was hanged on a gallows
that he built in his backyard so hanging
was a form of capital punishment during that
period of time but rather than thwarting now
the building of God Darius no doubt because
of Daniel's influence ordered that they help them
that they give them expense monies that they
give them animals to sacrifice and pray for
Darius the king as they are praying there
before God let it be done with speed
and so the elders of the Jews built
and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai
and Zechariah and they built and finished it
according to the commandment of the God of
Israel according to the commandment of Cyrus and
Darius and this house was finished on the
third day of the month of Adar which
is the sixth year the reign of Darius
the king and the children of Israel the
priests the Levites and the rest of the
children of the captivity kept the dedication of
this house of God with joy and they
offered at the dedication of the house of
God 100 bullocks 200 rams 400 lambs for
a sin offering for all of Israel 12
he goats according to the number of the
tribes of Israel and they set the priest
in their divisions the Levites in their courses
for the service of God which is at
Jerusalem and the children of the captivity kept
the Passover on the 14th day of the
first month for the priests and the Levites
were purified together all of them were pure
and killed the Passover for all the children
of the captivity and for their brother in
the priest and for themselves the children of
Israel which were come again out of captivity
and all had separated themselves into them from
the filthiness of the heathen of the land
to seek the Lord God of Israel did
eat and they kept the feast of unleavened
bread for seven days with joy for the
Lord and made them joyful and turn their
heart of the king of Assyria unto them
to strengthen their hands in the work of
the house of God the God of Israel
now after these things in the reign of
our exert sees who is long of the
secular history Ezra went up from Babylon
and he was a ready scribe in the
law of Moses which the Lord God of
Israel had given and the king granted him
all of his request according to the hand
of the Lord is God upon him and
there went up some of the children of
Israel and the priest and the Levites and
the singers and the porters and the nephilim
unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of our
exert sees the king and he came to
Jerusalem in the fifth month which was in
the seventh year of the king for upon
the first day of the first month began
he to go from Babylon to the first
day of the fifth month he came to
Jerusalem according to the good hand of his
God upon him for Ezra had prepared his
heart to seek the law of the Lord
and to do it and to teach Israel
statutes and judgments so Ezra was called a
ready scribe he had sought his heart to
seek God and our exert sees a gave
had given to him permission to come on
back with another contingency of men about seventeen
hundred and fifty four plus their their little
ones and their wives are all their substance
so this is now the second return it's
a small one under Ezra coming back to
Jerusalem a favorite phrase and of course now
we get into chapter seven we get into
this is this is eighty years approximately after
the first people had come so the people
of course have been in the land those
that first return they've been out there for
about eighty years when Ezra comes on the
scene and he evidently has favor with the
king he is granted permission to go back
in order that he might teach and instruct
the people in the ways of the law
of God a popular phrase with Ezra is
the good hand of God upon him now
our exert sees gave Ezra the priest a
a decree verse twelve art exerts king of
kings unto Ezra the priest describe of the
law of God of heaven perfect peace at
such a time I make a decree that
all they of the people of Israel and
of his priest and Levites in my realm
which are minded of their own free will
to go up to Jerusalem go with you
for as much as you are sent of
the king and of his seven counselors to
inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the
law of thy God which is in your
hand and to carry the silver and the
gold which the king and his counselors have
freely offered unto the God of Israel whose
habitation is in Jerusalem and all the silver
and the gold that you can find in
all the provinces of Babylon with the free
will offering of the people and all the
priest offer willingly for the house of their
God which is in Jerusalem that you may
buy speedily with this money the bullets and
the rams lambs and their meal meal offerings
their drink offerings and offer them on the
altar of the house of your God which
is in Jerusalem and whatsoever shall seem good
to thee and to your brothers do with
the rest of the silver and gold after
the will of your God and so the
vessels also that are given thee for the
service of the house of God those deliver
before the God of Jerusalem and whatsoever more
should be needful for the house of thy
God which thou shall have occasion to bestow
bestowed out of the king's treasure house and
I even I are exerts he's the king
to make a decree to all the treasures
which are beyond the river that whatsoever as
with the priest described the law of God
of heaven shall require of you be it
done speedily unto a hundred talents of silver
to a hundred measures of wheat to a
hundred baths of wine to a hundred baths
of oil and salt without prescribing and whatsoever
is commanded by the God of heaven that
it be diligently done in the house of
the God of heaven for why should there
be wrath against the realm of the king
and his sons now why would he say
that because he said as really gone to
the king and said now the hand of
the Lord is upon all them for good
who seek him but if those forsake him
then you know the the punishment and the
wrath of God so he said why should
you know God's wrath be upon me go
ahead and do all of these things so
he also made the decree that they could
not tax the ministers the priest and all
of those who ministered in the house of
God there was not to be any taxes
or tolls or customs imposed upon them and
now Ezra after the wisdom of thy God
that is in your hand set magistrates and
judges which may judge all the people which
are beyond the river all such as know
the laws of God and teach them that
know them not and whosoever will not do
the law of thy God the law of
the king let judgment be executed speedily upon
him whether it be to death or banishment
or to confiscation of his goods or to
imprisonment and Ezra said blessed be the Lord
God of our fathers which hath put such
a thing as this in the king's heart
to beautify the house of the Lord which
is at Jerusalem and hath extended mercy unto
me before the king and his counselors and
before the king's mighty princes and he said
Ezra said I was strengthened as the hand
of the Lord my God was upon me
and I gathered together out of Israel the
chief men to go up with me so
Ezra no doubt had a very great favor
in the eyes of Artaxerxes and Artaxerxes gave
this marvelous decree giving unto Ezra money and
also commanding that those on the other side
give money also commanding that he could collect
a free will offering but it is interesting
to me that so few really decided to
go back with Ezra now as many as
one can return and only 1,754 wanted
to what had happened is that the Jews
had become so prosperous they started into businesses
and all up until of course the time
of captivity there were most of them just
farmers but here they started getting into businesses
and they started getting so prosperous and so
wealthy that they just really didn't want to
go back to the hardships of the land
the land of Israel was still offered just
a lot of hardship a lot of work
it was you know everything was rebuilding here
they were in Persia in this great and
glorious empire and they were wealthy they were
getting along so well they really didn't desire
to go back and so though they all
had the rights as many as want to
of their own free will to return may
do so at this time only 1,754
chose to do so the rest of them
just settling down comfortable prosperous not wanting to
go through the rigors of trying to rebuild
the land that had been desolated so in
chapter 8 it gives to us a list
of those who went with Ezra totaling out
about 754 of the males when you add
the priests that were added to later so
they numbered the people and they found out
that they didn't have any ministering priest among
them of the Levites and so they wanted
to take back some priest that could minister
also and so search was made and they
found these men and by the good hand
of our God upon us they brought to
us a man of understanding and his sons
who were the sons of Levi the sons
of Israel and so they returned with them
to the land but as they gathered at
the river and they were ready to go
they had collected a lot of money the
king had given them a lot of gold
and silver and he said then I proclaim
verse 21 if fast there at the river
of Ahava that we might afflict ourselves before
our God to seek a right way for
us and for our little ones and for
all of our substance for he said I
was ashamed to require the king of hand
of soldiers and horsemen to help us against
the enemies in the way because he had
actually told the king how great God was
the God that we serve you know he
is the God of the universe and he's
the God been bragging to the king about
God been witnessing to the king about the
power and the greatness of God and how
God watches over his people and how God's
hand is upon those for good who seek
after him and we're going to seek after
God and all and so the king you
know gave him all this gold and everything
else and now he has all this treasure
and he's got this long journey through this
land that is filled with nomadic tribes who
plunder all of the caravans that come along
they live off of these caravans and with
all of the wealth that he is carrying
he's really worried about it what if they
get plundered on the way you know and
they're going to have to move slowly actually
it took them four full months to make
the journey from the area there in Persia
to Jerusalem and with all this money so
he really had sort of painted himself into
a corner in bragging about God it would
be inconsistent to go back to the king
now and say would you mind sending a
bunch of soldiers and horsemen so we can
be protected from the enemy when they had
told him that God was able to protect
so they fasted and prayed and they then
began their journey so he took twelve of
the men and he divided the treasure among
them weighed out all of the silver and
the gold to these twelve men and he
instructed them to watch it and to keep
it and so we departed from the river
Hava on the twelfth day of the first
month to go to Jerusalem and the hand
of our God was upon us and he
delivered us from the hand of the enemy
and such as lay in wait by the
way and we came to Jerusalem and we
were there for three days now on the
fourth day the silver and the gold and
the vessels that were weighed in the house
of our God by the hand of Meramoth
the son of Uriah the priest and with
him was Eliezer the son of Phineas and
with him was Joseph the son of Joshua
and so forth and so they had these
guys bring the gold in and they weighed
it out and it was all there every
every ounce made it safely and they delivered
the king's decree to the king's lieutenants and
to the governors on this side of the
river and they furthered the people and the
house of God now when these things were
done the princes came to me saying the
people of Israel and the priests and the
Levites have not separated themselves from the people
of the lands doing according to the abominations
even of the Canaanites the Hittites the Perizzites
the Jebusites the Ammonites and the Moabites and
the Egyptians and the Amorites for they have
taken of their daughters for themselves and for
their sons so that the holy seed have
mingled themselves with the people of those lands
yea the hand of the princes and the
rulers have been chief in this in this
trespass now they came to Ezra and they
gave to him this awesome report for God
said to them when they had come into
the land that they weren't to take any
of the daughters for their own sons or
give their daughters to their sons to be
married that they were to be a separate
people a holy people unto God and they
weren't to have any inter marriages with the
other tribes the reason being that God was
preserving the holy seed for the coming of
his son also they were there
was the danger that they would begin to
worship the gods of the Canaanites and the
Perizzites and all so God forbid interracial marriages
only for the Jews and I think that
it's important that we point this out God
did not make a general prohibition of interracial
marriages there are those who try to make
out that inter racial marriages are against the
scripture that is not so it was only
for the Jews that God commanded them not
to marry interracially with those inhabitants of the
land but even Boaz the great grandfather of
David married a Moabitess and from that of
course Christ was in that line but the
prohibition was not to marry the people of
the land unless you know you turn to
their gods and turn away from the living
God so they bring the report to Ezra
now since they've returned these guys haven't been
keeping the law of God they've been marrying
these gals and actually the priest and the
chief leaders are some of the worst offenders
now the effect that this had on Ezra
was just overwhelming you see Ezra had come
back to teach them the law of God
he was a teacher and a ready scribe
and his whole purpose in returning was to
teach the people the law of God and
here they had been for 70 years in
captivity in Babylon because of their idolatry because
of their disobedience to God and now they've
been in the land again for just about
80 years but they're right back in their
old idolatry and it's just more than Ezra
can believe he's just astonished he when I
heard this thing I tore my clothes and
my mantle I pulled my hair out of
my head and off my beard and I
sat down astonished I can't believe this and
so he pulls out his hair his beard,
tears his clothes and just sits down there
astonished and then were assembled unto me everyone
that trembled at the words of the God
of Israel because of the transgression of those
that had been carried away and I sat
astonished until the evening sacrifice and at the
evening sacrifice I arose from my heaviness and
having torn my garment and my mantle I
fell on my knees and spread out my
hands unto the Lord my God and I
said oh my God I'm ashamed and I
blushed to lift up my face to Thee
my God for our iniquities are increased over
our head and our trespass is grown up
unto the heavens for since the days of
our fathers have we been in great trespass
unto this day and for our iniquities have
we our kings and our priests been delivered
into the hand of the kings of the
lands to the sword and to captivity as
a spoil to the confusion of faces as
it is today and now for this little
space grace has been shown from the Lord
our God to leave us a remnant to
escape and to give us a nail in
His holy place that our God might lighten
our eyes and give us a little reviving
in our bondage for we were bondmen and
yet our God hath not forsaken us in
our bondage but hath extended mercy unto us
in the sight of the kings of Persia
to give us a reviving and to set
up the house of our God and to
repair the desolations and to give a wall
in Judah and in Jerusalem and now oh
our God what shall we say after this
for we have forsaken your commandments which you
have commanded by thy servants and the prophets
saying the land into which you go to
possess is an unclean land with the filthiness
of the people of the lands and their
abominations which have filled it from one end
to another with their uncleanness now therefore give
not your daughters unto their sons neither take
their daughters unto your sons nor seek their
peace nor their wealth forever that ye may
be strong and eat the good of the
land and leave it for an inheritance to
your children forever and after all that has
come upon us for our evil deeds and
for our great trespass seeing that you are
our God have punished us less than our
iniquities deserve and you have given us such
deliverance as this should we again break your
commandments and join in affinity with the people
of these abominations what's not thou be angry
with us till thou has consumed us so
that there should be no remnant nor escaping
old Lord God of Israel thou art righteous
for we remain yet escaped as it is
this day behold we are before thee in
our trespasses we cannot stand before thee because
of this so Ezra's tremendous prayer unto God
shows that he does have a good knowledge
of the law of God which he came
to teach the people shows that he does
have a good concept of of the will
of God and of the purpose of God
for the people and offers his prayer before
God acknowledging that the judgments of God really
were merciful he did not judge them as
much as they deserve and here they're going
right back and doing the same thing God
what can I say you know we're we're
lucky that you haven't wiped us out completely
we're fortunate that we still exist and so
he he calls out unto God for the
people and so they come to him the
leaders and the people and they say we've
they said we've done a terrible thing and
so this was the remedy those who had
married wives from the land were to put
them away and their children it seems like
a very harsh measure indeed but they were
to divorce all of those wives that were
not Israelites and all of the children that
were born of them were to be put
out they said hey you know give us
a little time to do it because there's
quite a few of us that have trespassed
in this thing and so they took this
very stringent measure in putting them out now
I did mention that interracial marriages were only
forbidden to the Jews but there is for
we Christians the injunction be not unequally yoked
together with an unbeliever so you should never
go into a marriage with an unbeliever you're
just violating the law of God what fellowship
hath light with darkness what communion concourse hath
Christ with Belial but here a very stringent
and harsh measure was taken they put away
all of these wives and they said unto
him with a loud voice as thou hast
said so must we do they realized that
it was a divine imperative we must do
it it seems cruel it seems harsh but
it had to be done if they were
going to survive it was a matter now
of survival and so they took this cruel
harsh measure put away all the wives and
the children and separated themselves again unto God
and since that time though Israel is
guilty and the people have been guilty of
many sins they have not been guilty of
idolatry it seemed to be the cure finally
for an idolatrous people whose major sin was
that of idolatry and that seemed to be
a permanent cure for Israel as far as
idolatry was concerned now the names
of those that were involved are listed towards
the end of the book and thus we
get to the end of the book of
Ezra may the Lord bless you and watch
over you this week may his hand be
upon your life to strengthen you to guide
you may he use you as his instrument
to do his work may God fill you
with love and with understanding compassion of his
spirit may you walk in the spirit and
be led of the spirit of God this
week in Jesus name