Ezra - Introduction

INTRODUCTION

The book of Ezra continues on from where the books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles end. It deals with the return of the exiled ISRAELITES to Judah and the building of a new temple in Jerusalem. It was written by a priest named Ezra, who had himself been an exile in Babylon. Some scholars believe that this same Ezra was also the author of 1 and 2 Chronicles.

In 586 B.C., the Babylonians conquered Judah and took thousands of its inhabitants into exile. The exiles remained in Babylon seventy years; for most of them, the hope of ever returning to their homeland must have seemed remote.

But then, according to God’s sovereign plan, the Babylonian Empire gave way to the Persian Empire. The Persian king then invited the exiles to return to Judah and rebuild their temple. However, only a minority of them—a remnant—decided to return. They returned in two groups: the first group returned in about 536 B.C.¹ under the leadership of Zerubbabel, a descendant of DAVID (Ezra Chapters 1–6); and the second group returned about eighty years later under the leadership of Ezra himself (Ezra Chapters 7–10).

Ezra describes the situation facing the returned exiles. They were a small religious community engulfed by a huge and powerful pagan empire. They had no king, nor was it possible for them to have one; they were merely a province of the Persian Empire. In their minds, the throne of David was gone forever.

However, a few of them realized that God’s COVENANT promises had not been canceled. So they set about to reestablish their nation. And at its center they reestablished the worship of their God. Thus their first order of business was to rebuild the temple.

The focus of the book of Ezra, therefore, is on the reestablishment of God’s covenant people in Judah, and on their need to maintain their FAITH and purity. It was their faith and purity that would demonstrate to the world God’s love and HOLINESS. It was to bless the world that God had raised up the nation of ISRAEL in the first place (Genesis 12:3). These returned exiles were to be God’s “salt” and “light” on earth (Matthew 5:13–16); they were to be God’s holy nation (Exodus 19:6). They were to keep the lamp of David burning (1 Kings 11:36) until his throne would again be occupied by the Son of David who was yet to come (Luke 1:30–33).

Overlying the labors and trials of the exiles was God’s great plan for the REDEMPTION of mankind. He was the One who had sent the Israelites into exile because of their idolatry; through those years of exile God had purged the idolatry from them. Now they were ready to return, and Ezra’s purpose in writing his book was to help the returning exiles remain faithful to their God.