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Bible Doctrine
Study Guides
Ezra
{In Jeremiah 31, we see the start of the death march from Ramah to Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC by King Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldeans. This may be Ezra himself as a teenager, but more likely it is actually the story of Ezra's father (father or his grandfather since the same word is used for each in the Hebrew) who was the son of Seraiah. Seraiah then would have been part of Jeremiah's congregation and part of this march (per Jeremiah 52 Seraiah was put to death by Nebuchadnezzar). His younger son (Ezra's father) experienced all the horrors of that march. Ezra was a mature believer and had an administrative career in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Then when Ezra was an older man, he led the people back into the land and wrote this book about the march (his as a boy or the story of his ancestor). Ezra is the author of Chronicles, the book of Ezra and Psalm 119 which is the Psalm describing the horrors of the death march his father endured.}
Chapter 1
{Note: From Zechariah we see that in536 BC, a decree from Cyrus the Great permitted the Jews to go back into the land. But Jews going back into the land never terminates the 5th cycle of discipline. It is the reconstruction of the temple which indicates the end of the 5th cycle - 2 Chronicles 36:22-27; Ezra 1:1-5. 535 BC, rebuilding of the temple began. Under the 5th cycle of discipline the nation Israel is never recognized by God.
In 539 BC, the neo-Chaldean empire was destroyed. This was the night of the handwriting on the wall - Daniel 5.
In 535 BC, there was opposition to the construction of the temple by the Samaritans (Orientals in the land who had mixed Jewish blood now).
The work was stopped for about fourteen years; 521 BC, the new Persian king, Darius Hystaspes. He was apparently a born again believer and apparently encouraged renewal of the work on the temple. Haggai's ministry was solely concerned with resumption of work on the temple. 516 BC, the temple was completed. The Jews started the 4th cycle of discipline in 721 BC and this took them to 585 BC. During that time they were minus doctrine, as described in Isaiah 5:13; Hosea 4:6. They were going into the 5th cycle of discipline because they were minus doctrine.
In 520 BC, the ministry of Zechariah faced a great mountain of opposition - which is going to be leveled by Bible doctrine and the ministry of the Spirit. Afterward would be a fantastic period of prosperity.}
{Cyrus
the Great Was a Believer}
1~~Now
in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,
that
the word of Jehovah/God
by
the mouth of Jeremiah
might
be fulfilled,
Jehovah/God
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia,
that
he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,
and
put it also in writing, saying, 2~~
"Thus
said Cyrus, king of Persia . . . Jehovah/God
'Elohiym/Godhead
of heaven
has
given me all the kingdoms of the earth
and
He has charged me to build Him
an
house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3
{issuing a challenge to the Jews to go back to their land}
Who is there among you of all his people?
His
'Elohiym/Godhead be with him,
and
let him go up to Jerusalem,
which
is in Judah,
and
build the house of Jehovah/God . . .
'Elohiym/Godhead
of Israel,
(He
is 'Elohiym/Godhead)
which
is in Jerusalem.
4
And whosoever remains in any place
where
he sojourns,
let
the men of his place help him with silver,
and
with gold, and with goods,
and
with animals,
beside
the freewill offering
for
the house of 'Elohiym/Godhead that is in Jerusalem.
5
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin,
and
the priests, and the Levites,
with
all them whose spirit 'Elohiym/Godhead had raised,
to
go up to build the house of Jehovah/God which is in Jerusalem.
6
And all they that were about them strengthened their hands
with
vessels of silver, with gold, with goods,
and
with animals, and with precious things,
beside
all that was willingly offered.
7~~Also
Cyrus the king brought forth
the
vessels of the house of Jehovah/God,
which
Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem,
and
had put them in the house of his 'elohiym/gods.
{Note: Cyrus restored these articles to the Jews as they are going back to the land.}
8
Even those did Cyrus, king of Persia,
bring
forth by the hand of Mithredath, the treasurer,
and
numbered them
unto
Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
9
And this is the number of them:
thirty
chargers of gold,
a
thousand chargers of silver,
nine
and twenty knives, 10
thirty
basins of gold,
silver
basins of a second sort four hundred and ten,
and
other vessels a thousand.
11
All the vessels of gold and of silver
were
five thousand and four hundred.
All
these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them
of
the captivity that were brought up from Babylon
unto
Jerusalem.
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