THE BOOK OF EZRA
Lesson 2:
Chapters 3-4
Resumption of the Sacrificial Liturgy of Worship
Opposition from the Samaritans
Holy Lord,
In our liturgy of worship, we come to give You our
adoration and continue the intimacy of our covenant relationship with You, Lord.
It is the same demonstration of faith and devotion required of all generations
of the faithful in the rituals of worship You established in the old Sinai
Covenant and in our New Covenant rituals of worship instituted at the Last
Supper by our Savior, Jesus Christ. Throughout salvation history, You have
sent us men like Ezra to guide Your covenant people and prevent them from
straying from the path You determined for our salvation. Guide us, Lord, in
our study of the Book of Ezra. We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. Amen
+ + +
Watch, I shall bring them back from the land of the north and gather them in from the far ends of the earth.
With them, the blind and the lame, women with child, women in labor, all together: a mighty throng will return here!
In tears they will return, in prayer I shall lead them. I shall guide them to streams of water, by a smooth path where they will not stumble.
Jeremiah 31:8
In a higher
sense, the seventh month suggests the Holy Spirit's grace, which is described
in the prophet Isaiah and in the Revelation of Saint John as sevenfold. And
certainly in that month, after our captivity, we gather in Jerusalem, where we are
washed from our filthiness and the errors of vice, and protected by the defense
of good works and finally are illumined by the greater grace of that same
Spirit, so that we are lit in the love of supreme peace, which is contained in
the true unity: Jerusalem, indeed means "vision of peace."
St. Bede the
Venerable, On Ezra and Nehemiah, 1.3
After months journeying from Babylon, the returning exiles found the land of Judah in ruins. Their fields were overgrown, and their villages were either burned out when the Babylonian army conquered their nation or had deteriorated in the ensuing seventy years while their homeland remained vacant of habitation.(1) The citizens of Judah immediately reoccupied their ancestral towns and then, in the early fall, they prepared to celebrate the three sacred feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Shelters/Booths/Tabernacles in which the covenant people relived Yahweh's gift of the Law and Sacred Liturgy at Mt. Sinai.
Chapter 3: Resumption of the Sacrificial Liturgy of Worship
Ezra 3:1-7 ~ Rebuilding the
Altar and Resumption of the Twice Daily Tamid and the Sacrificial Liturgy at
the Festival of Tabernacles
1 When the
seventh month came after the Israelites had been resettled in their towns, the
people gathered as one person in Jerusalem. 2
Then Jeshua son of Jozadak, with his brother priests, and Zerubbabel son
of Shealtiel, with his brothers, set about rebuilding the altar of the God of
Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it as prescribed in the Law of Moses man of
God. 3 They erected the altar on
its old site, despite their fear of the people of the country, and on it they presented burnt offerings to Yahweh, burnt
offerings morning and evening; 4 they celebrated the feast of Shelters as
prescribed, offering daily the number of burnt offerings required from day to
day, 5 and in addition
presented the continual burnt offerings prescribed for the Sabbaths, for the
New Moons and for all the festivals sacred to Yahweh, as well as those
voluntary offerings made by individuals to Yahweh. 6 From the first
day of the seventh month they began presenting burnt offerings to Yahweh,
though the foundations of the Temple of Yahweh had not yet been laid. 7 They also contributed money for the masons and
carpenters, and food, drink and oil for the Sidonians and Tyrians for bringing
cedar wood from Lebanon by sea to Jaffa, for which Cyrus king of Persia had given
permission.
The rebuilding began under Davidic prince and Persian governor Sheshbazzar (1:8; 5:14-16), but after an interruption, the building resumed under the governorship of his nephew, Zerubbabel, and the priestly instruction of Jeshua. The combined leadership of Zerubbabel the Davidic prince and Jeshua, the chief priest, establishes an authoritative link to the era before the exile. Their first act in the restoration, physically and spiritually, was to rebuild God's holy altar of sacrifice and to reinstate the perpetual Tamid sacrifices morning and evening (afternoon) in obedience to the Law of the Sinai Covenant (Ex 29:36-42).
1 When the
seventh month came after the Israelites had been resettled in their towns, the
people gathered as one person in Jerusalem.
There were three sacred feasts in the seventh month of
Tishri in the Liturgical Calendar:
According to verse 4, the people gathering as "one" corporate covenant people in Jerusalem on the fifteenth day of the month of Tishri for the pilgrim Feast of Sukkot (in English, Shelters, also called Booths or Tabernacles). The dedication of Solomon's Temple in the tenth century BC was during the Feast of Shelters (1 Kng 8:1-2; 2 Chron 7:8), a God-ordained feast that remembered and celebrated the dedication of Yahweh's first Sanctuary at Mt. Sinai (Ex 40). In summoning the people to celebrate the Feast of Shelters on the site of the Jerusalem Temple, Jewish leaders deliberately invoked pre-exilic Temple practices to authorize the Second Temple as an authentic restoration of the Solomon's Temple.
Sukkot/Shelters was called a "pilgrim feast" because the
Law of Moses required all the men of the covenant family to gather from
wherever they lived at Yahweh's holy altar three times a year. See the Liturgical
calendar in the handout.
Question: What were the three pilgrim feasts? See
Ex 23:14-17; 34:18-23;
Dt 16:16;
2 Chron 8:13.
Answer: The three feasts in which every man of
the covenant had to appear before Yahweh's holy altar were the feasts of
Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Shelters/Booths/Tabernacles.
The Feast of Passover on Nisan/Abib 14 fell the day before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, celebrated from the 15th to the 21st, but Passover was not a pilgrim feast. Any member of the covenant or even a Jewish slave could present the Passover sacrifice at the Temple, but every man of the covenant had to attend the sacred meal on the first night of Unleavened Bread and attend the Temple festivities to make festival offerings for the next seven days of Unleavened Bread.
The next pilgrim feast was Weeks (Shavuot). In Jesus' time, the people called the Feast of Weeks by its Greek name, "Pentecost," meaning "fiftieth day" since it came seven weeks or fifty days (as the ancients counted) after the Feast of Firstfruits that Christians celebrate as Resurrection Sunday. In the seven God-ordained annual feasts of remembrance, God required every generation of the children of Israel to relive the events of the origins in the Exodus liberation and the covenant ratification at Mt. Sinai. You may recall at the pilgrim Feast of Weeks/Pentecost, forty days after Jesus' Ascension in AD 30, that Jewish pilgrims from across the Roman Empire came to Jerusalem to attend the feast and heard St. Peter's testimony of Jesus' Gospel of Salvation to take back to their towns and villages (Acts Chapter 2). See the chart on the Seven Annual Sacred Feasts and their New Covenant application.
Question: Does Jesus' Kingdom of the Church
require her citizens to remember their origins and relive those events in
sacred feasts? What are some of those feasts and what do they remember?
Answer: Yes. For example, at the Feast of the
Christ-mass, we remember and relive the events associated with Jesus' birth,
and during Holy Week and Easter, we remember and relive the events of Jesus'
Passion, death, and Resurrection. These feasts celebrate our origin as
Christians.
The requirements for observing the Feast of Shelters are in Leviticus 23:33-36 and Numbers 29:12-38. It was a seven-day feast from the 15th to the 21st with a sacred assembly on the eighth day of the 22nd. The people were to live in booths or shelters during the holy week of the feast in remembrance of the temporary structures they lived in on the exodus out of Egypt and during the almost two years they spent at Mt. Sinai. During their time at Mt. Sinai, they received the Law of the covenant, instruction in the liturgy of worship, and built the holy Sanctuary to shelter God's presence above the holy shrine of the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 20-40). When St. Peter asked Jesus in the Transfiguration event if they should stay and build booths on the mountain, it was probably because the Feast of Shelters was drawing near and Peter realized they didn't need to go to Jerusalem to celebrate since they were already in the presence of the divine (See Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36).
2 Then Jeshua son
of Jozadak, with his brother priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, with his
brothers, set about rebuilding the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt
offerings on it as prescribed in the Law of Moses man of God.
The priest Jeshua was the son of Jozadak/Jehozadak
(called Josedech in the books of Haggai and Zechariah) and grandson Seraiah,
the last High Priest of the Jerusalem Temple who was executed by the
Babylonians (1 Chron 5:40/6:14; 2 Kng 25:18-21; Jer 52:24-27). They rebuilt
the altar according to the instructions God gave Moses.
Question: What were God requirements for the altar
of sacrifice? See Ex 20:24-28 and Dt 27:5-6.
Answer:
Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, was a Davidic prince and
the grandson of King Jehoiachin/Jeconiah (2 Kng 24:8-9, 12;
25:27-30; 1 Chr 3:18; Ezra 2:2; 3:2;
Hag 1:1; Mt 1:11-12).
Question: What is Zerubbabel's link to St. Joseph,
the foster father of Jesus of Nazareth, and to the Virgin Mary. Why is that link
significant? See Mt 1:11-16 and
Lk 1:32-33; 3:23-27.
Answer: Zerubbabel is the link in the genealogies
of St. Matthew and St. Luke. St. Matthew's genealogy establishes Zerubbabel as
the Davidic ancestor of St. Joseph which validates Jesus' legal claim as an
heir of King David. St. Luke's genealogy shows him in the bloodline of the
Virgin Mary, establishing Jesus' physical link to King David.
Notice the listing of Jeshua's name before Zerubbabel in verse 2. Jeshua ranks before Zerubbabel in this passage because the context is about worship, which was the concern of the reigning chief priest. Usually, their names are listed in reverse order (see Ezra 2:2; 3:8; 4:3; and 5:2).
3 They erected
the altar on its old site despite their fear of the people of the country
They rebuilt the sacred altar on its original foundation
despite their fear of the Samaritans to the north who occupied the lands of the
former Northern Kingdom of Israel. Reestablishing rightly ordered worship was
the priority in the restoration, and the people were in dread of their Gentile Samaritan
neighbors disrupting the process. It was a realistic fear.
The origin of the Samaritans: After the Assyrians dispossessed the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel of their land and sent them into exile, they brought five groups of pagan peoples to occupy what the Assyrians called the Province of Samaria (2 Kng 17:24-41). The Samaritans adopted the worship for Yahweh (who they considered the local god of the land) but rejected the authority of the Temple in Jerusalem that despised them as heretics. They deeply resented the former citizens of the Southern Kingdom of Judah reestablishing the center of worship for Yahweh in Jerusalem.
and on it they presented burnt offerings to Yahweh,
burnt offerings morning and evening...
The first liturgical sacrifice the covenant people reestablished was the
whole burnt (consumed entirely on the altar fire) single sacrifice of the two Tamid
lambs (Ex 29:38-42; Num 28:4-8). In Hebrew, tamid means "standing" as
in continual or perpetual. It was the most important sacrifice in the entire
sacrificial system offered in a liturgical worship service in the morning and
evening (our afternoon since the Jewish day ended at sunset) for the atonement
and sanctification of the entire covenant community.
In the first century AD, Jewish theologian Philo of Alexandria wrote about the special significance of the Tamid sacrifice: Accordingly, it is commanded that every day the priests should offer up two lambs, one at the dawn of the day, and the other in the evening; each of them being a sacrifice of thanksgiving; the one for the kindnesses which have been bestowed during the day, and the other for the mercies which have been vouchsafed in the night, which God is incessantly and uninterruptedly pouring upon the race of men (The Works of Philo, Special Laws, I.35 [169]; emphasis added). It was the belief of the covenant people that the Tamid sacrifice was necessary so long as the Sinai Covenant endured, and then the Messiah would come and only the toda/todah "Thanksgiving" sacrifice and sacred meal would continue (Levine, JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus, page 43; Joseph Ratzinger, Feast of Faith, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1986, pages 58-59). For more information on how the Tamid sacrifice prefigures Jesus Christ and how He fulfills it, see the e-book "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice."
4 they celebrated
the feast of Shelters as prescribed, offering daily the number of burnt
offerings required from day to day, 5 and
in addition presented the continual burnt offerings prescribed for the
Sabbaths, for the New Moons and for all the festivals sacred to Yahweh, as well
as those voluntary offerings made by individuals to Yahweh.
The compulsory sacrifices included:
The voluntary sacrifices included an individual covenant member's:
See a complete list of the Levitical sacrifices in the chart Levitical Sacrifices and Offerings of the Old Covenant.
According to the Law, all sacrifices, even the Sabbath sacrifices and festival offerings, must be offered in addition to the daily Tamid lambs. It was a command repeated fifteen times in Numbers 28-29 (Num 28:10, 15; 23, 24, 31; 29:6, 11, 16, 19, 25, 28, 31, 34, 38).
The daily offerings of the Feast of Shelters for the week, after the offering of the morning Tamid sacrifice, totaled 71 bulls, 15 rams, 105 male lambs, and 7 goats as sins offerings. For the Sacred Assembly on the eighth day, the offering after the morning Tamid was 1 bull, 1 ram, 7 male lambs and 1 goat. During the eight days of the feast that concluded in a Sacred Assembly, the people brought votive/festival offerings to eat in communal meals during the week, freewill whole burnt offerings, and grain offerings. And to celebrate an individual's reestablished peace with God, they offered Toda ("Thanksgiving") communion/peace offerings. It was a meal consumed within the area of the Temple's foundation (in the presence of God) in which the offerer, his family, and others who joined with him, shared in eating the sacrifice with unleavened bread and drinking red wine (Lev 3:1-17; 7:11-15/7:1-5).
6 From the first
day of the seventh month they began presenting burnt offerings to Yahweh,
though the foundations of the Temple of Yahweh had not yet been laid.
The first day of the seventh month was September/October
538 BC, and the first of Tishri was the date of the Feast of Trumpets that
lasted one day. It celebrated the ingathering of the nation of Israel at Mt.
Sinai in a sacred assembly and a day of rest commemorated with trumpet blasts
and sacrifices as the covenant people presented themselves before the Lord for His
favor (Lev 23:23-25; Num 29:1-6).
7 They also
contributed money for the masons and carpenters, and food, drink and oil for
the Sidonians and Tyrians for bringing cedar wood from Lebanon by sea to Jaffa,
for which Cyrus king of Persia had given permission.
The participation of the Sidonians and Tyrians recalls
the Phoenician workers who contributed to the building of Solomon's Temple (1
Chron 22:4; 2 Chron 2:9, 14). Solomon also paid his workmen from Sidon and
Tyre in wheat and oil (1 Kng 5:11). The inspired writer sees the rebuilding as
a continuation of the First Temple. They gathered wages and supplies for the laborers
and purchased materials like the great cedar logs from Lebanon. The precious
cedar logs came with King Cyrus' permission because he was also the ruler of
the Persian Province of Lebanon. Lebanon also supplied the cedar for Solomon's
Temple. See the description of the materials for Solomon's Temple in
1 Kings 5:5-7:51.
Not only the altar foundation but the original
foundations of Solomon's Temple, with blocks of stone 12 to 15 feet long (1 Kng 5:17; 7:10), must have survived the Babylonian destruction. However, the point
of this passage is that the people resumed liturgical worship long before completing
or even beginning the rebuilding of the Temple.
Question: What does the immediate reestablishment
of liturgical worship without a Temple tell us that the people understood?
Answer: It is the liturgy of worship and not the
building that is only the setting for worship that is of the utmost importance.
Ezra 3:8-13 ~ Laying Stones on the Foundation of Solomon's Temple
8
It was in the second month of the second year after their arrival at the
Temple of God in Jerusalem that Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and
Jeshua son of Jozadak, with the rest of their brothers, the priests, the Levites and all the people who had returned to Jerusalem
from captivity>, began the work by appointing some
of the Levites who were twenty years old or more to superintend the work on the
Temple of Yahweh. 9 The Levites,
Jeshua, his sons and his brothers, with Kadmiel, Binnui and his sons, the sons
of Hodaviah, agreed to superintend the men working on the Temple of God. 10 When the builders had laid the foundations of
the Temple of Yahweh, the priests in their robes stood forward with trumpets,
and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise Yahweh according to
the ordinances of David king of Israel. 11 They chanted praise and thanksgiving to
Yahweh because for Israel, they said, "He is good, and everlasting in his
faithful love [hesed]." Then all the people raised a mighty shout of praise to Yahweh,
since the foundations of the Temple of Yahweh had now been laid. 12 Many of the older priests, Levites and heads
of families, who had seen the first temple, wept very loudly when the
foundations of this one were laid before their eyes, but many others shouted
aloud for joy, 13 so that nobody could
distinguish the noise of the joyful shout from the noise of the people's
weeping; for the people shouted so loudly that the noise could be heard far
away. [...] = Hebrew word for faithful, covenant love between Yahweh and His
people; see IBHE, vol. II, page.
8 It was in the
second month of the second year after their arrival at the Temple of God in Jerusalem
The second month in the Liturgical Calendar was Ziv (Iyyar),
our March/April. King Solomon also laid the foundations of the first Temple in
the month of Ziv (1 Kng 6:1). The ancients counted the first in any series as #1,
whether day or week or year, and even included part of a day or week or year in
the count. This method of counting without the concept of a zero place-value is
the reason the Bible records that Jesus was in the tomb three days from Friday
to Sunday instead of less than two days as we would count. Therefore, if they
arrived in 538 BC, the second year is 537 BC. Notice that verse 8 again gives precedence
to Zerubbabel over Jeshua in his role as the civil authority for the rebuilding
the Temple.
the Levites and all the people who had returned to
Jerusalem from captivity, began the work by appointing some of the Levites who
were twenty years old or more to superintend the work on the Temple of Yahweh.
King David set twenty years as the minimum age for a
Levite to assume ministerial duties (also see 1 Chron 23:24-27 and
2 Chron 31:17).
9 The Levites,
Jeshua, his sons and his brothers, with Kadmiel, Binnui and his sons, the sons
of Hodaviah, agreed to superintend the men working on the Temple of God.
The chief priests and the lesser Levitical ministers were
all descendants of Levi son of Jacob, but only the descendants of the Levite Aaron,
brother of Moses, could serve as chief priests (Ex 28:1). The other sons of
Levi became the servants of the chief priests, replacing the "firstborn sons"
of Israel after the sin of the Golden Calf (Ex 32:28-29;
Num 3:11-13; 18:1-7),
but they could not serve at Yahweh's holy altar of sacrifice which was only the
prerogative of the chief priests (Num 3:5-10).
10 When the builders
had laid the foundations of the Temple of Yahweh, the priests in their robes stood
forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to
praise Yahweh according to the ordinances of David king of Israel.
Cyrus provided the expensive embroidered textiles to make
the priestly garments (Ezra 2:69). Now that the building had begun and the
priests were clothed in their appropriate garments (Ex 28:1-43), the people
celebrated the liturgy of worship. They began with the priests blowing silver trumpets
(Num 10:2), the singing of the Levitical choir, and with bronze cymbals sounded
by the sons of Asaph (1 Chron 15:19). They praised Yahweh with music accompanying
the Levitical choir according to the liturgical reforms put in place by King
David, including the sons of Asaph who David selected to oversee the liturgical
music (1 Chron 16:4-6; 25:1-2, 6-7). Before King David's reforms, trumpets
announced the call to worship, but there was no music until David, warrior, poet,
and musician introduced the signing of the psalms accompanied by musical
instruments.
11 They chanted
praise and thanksgiving to Yahweh because for Israel, they said, "He is good,
and everlasting in his faithful love [hesed]." Then all the people raised a
mighty shout of praise to Yahweh, since the foundations of the Temple of Yahweh
had now been laid.
The Levitical choir and the people sang a Responsorial Psalm,
with the people singing the response from Psalm 136 For Yahweh is good, his
faithful love [hesed] is everlasting, his constancy from age to age. The
same phrase repeats in Psalm 136 twenty-six times.
God's "faithful love" is the Hebrew word hesed. Hesed is not the emotion or demonstration of ordinary human love; instead, hesed refers to the faithful covenant love of God, and the love returned to Him by those in the bond of the covenant relationship. The word is also used to express the bond between a man and a woman in the covenant union of marriage. See the document "Is Hesed the Same as Agape."
12 Many of the
older priests, Levites and heads of families, who had seen the first temple,
wept very loudly when the foundations of this one were laid before their eyes,
but many others shouted aloud for joy, 13 so
that nobody could distinguish the noise of the joyful shout from the noise of
the people's weeping; for the people shouted so loudly that the noise could be
heard far away.
The elderly members of the community who remembered the
magnificence of Solomon's Temple from their youth wept in grief over what they
knew was going to be a poor imitation of the Temple's former glory. But the
sight of the reinstated liturgical assembly filled the younger members of the
community with joy over the success of their beginning.
Chapter 4: Opposition from the Samaritans
The Persian Kings mentioned in Chapter 4 (in bold):
Ezra 1:1-4:7 is in Hebrew, but 4:8-6:18 is in Aramaic. Unfortunately for the Judahites, their friend and protector, King Cyrus the Great of Persia, died in battle on December 530 BC. His friends and adversaries remembered him as a wise and magnanimous ruler who respected the religions and customs of the peoples he conquered.
Ezra 4:1-5 ~ The Samaritans Contrive to Stop the Work on the Temple
1 When the enemies
of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building the Temple of Yahweh,
God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel
and Jeshua and the heads of families and said, "Let us help you build, for we
resort to your God as you do and we have been sacrificing to him since the time
of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here." 3 Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of
Israelite families replied, "It is out of the question that you should join us
in building a Temple for our God. We shall build for Yahweh, God of Israel, on
our own, as King Cyrus king of Persia has commanded us." 4 The people of the country then set about demoralizing
the people of Judah and deterring them from building; 5 they also bribed counselors against them to
frustrate their purpose throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia right
on into the reign of Darius king of Persia.
The Samaritans sent emissaries to offer to help rebuild the Temple, reminding the Jews that they had worshipped Yahweh since the Assyrians first transplanted them into Samaria in the eighth century BC (see 2 Kng 17:24-41). The Jewish leadership sent a letter refusing their offer and cited the Decree of Cyrus (verse 3) to support their legal claim to rebuilding the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. They did not want foreign interference especially from the Samaritans who they viewed as heretics, nor the contamination of the Samaritans' false religious practices. Jewish priest/historian, Flavius Josephus (1st century AD), explained that only the covenant people of Judah authorized to participate in the rebuilding of the Temple, but they told the Gentiles they would be permitted to worship at the Temple in the separate, outer "Court of the Gentiles" once it was completed (Antiquities of the Jews, 11.4.3).
Outraged at their refusal, the Samaritans set about trying to intimate the citizens of Judah and bribed Persian officials into delaying work on the Jerusalem Temple. Their tactics were successful, and work on the Temple project stopped from 537 to 520 BC.
In Jesus' time, the Samaritans continued to offer illicit worship to Yahweh, officiated by a non-Aaronic priesthood in a temple they built on Mt. Gerizim. When the Samaritan woman questioned Jesus about their differences, He told her "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews" (Jn 4:22).
Ezra 4:6-10 ~ The Anti-Jewish Tactics of Judah's Gentiles
Neighbors During the Reigns of Xerxes and Artaxerxes
6 In the
reign of Xerxes [Ahasuerus], at the beginning of his reign [in his accession year],
they drew up an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. 7 In the days of Artaxerxes, Mithredath,
Tabeel and their other associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia against
Jerusalem; the text of the letter was written in Aramaic writing and dialect. 8 Then Rehum the governor and Shimshai
the secretary wrote a letter to King Artaxerxes, denouncing Jerusalem as
follows: 9 "From Rehum the
governor and Shimshai the secretary and their other associates, the judges, the
legates, the Persian officials, the people of Uruk, Babylon and Susa, that is,
the Elamites, 10 and the
other peoples whom the great and illustrious Ashurbanipal
[Osnappar] deported and settled in the towns of
Samaria and in the rest of Trans-Euphrates [Beyond the River]."
[...] = IBHE, vol. III, page 1241.
In Hebrew, this king is Ahasuerus but Xerxes
in Greek. Osnappar is the name in the Hebrew text which is assumed to
be Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.(2)"Beyond the River" from the
perspective of Israel and the other nations of the Levant to beyond the great Mesopotamian
River Euphrates (Jos 24:2-3, 14-15; 2 Sam 10:16). However, from the
Mesopotamian perspective it included the regions of Aram, Phoenicia, Syria, and
Israel (1 Kng 4:24). The Persians also called this region Athura.
"Beyond the River" refers to the Persian Province southwest of the Euphrates River that included Judah and her neighbors; The narrative shifts forward in time to the period after the reign of King Darius I but before Ezra's mission. Section 4:8-6:18 incorporates several official Aramaic documents, the international language of this period. Verses 4:6-23 has nothing to do with the rebuilding of the Temple but with the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
Verse 6 moves forward to the reign of Xerxes I (485-465 BC) while verses 7-23 concern events under Artaxerxes I (465-424 BC). The appeal to Artaxerxes took place many years after the completion of the Temple rebuilding (completed in c. 517/16 BC), and pertained to the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem which is the concern of the Book of Nehemiah. The narrative then reverts in verse 24 to the reign of Darius I the Great (522-486 BC, the father of Xerxes I) in the second year of his reign, when the Jews, encouraged by God's prophets Haggai and Zechariah, renewed work on the Temple.
The anti-Jerusalem and its Temple tactics of Judah's neighbors continued into the reigns of Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I. They wrote a letter during the accession year of King Xerxes, but apparently did not receive a reply. They tried again during the reign of Xerxes' son Artaxerxes about twenty years later. Judah's neighbors accused them of fermenting a revolt against the Persian Empire with designs to embroil other vassal states their rebellion. In the passage, Trans-Euphrates should read "Beyond the River" and refers to the large Persian province west and south of the Euphrates River that extended as far as Egypt and included Phoenicia, Samaria, and Judah.
Xerxes is the Greek form of the Persian name by which history knows this Persian king. Most Bible translations render his name as Ahasuerus, the Hebrew form of the same Persian name (Ezra 4:6; the Book of Esther).
Xerxes/Ahasuerus was the husband of Esther in the Book of Esther and is best known historically for his coastal invasion of Greece in 480-79 BC. Revenge for Xerxes' invasion is the excuse Alexander the Great will use for his conquest of the Persian Empire in the fourth century BC. The beginning of Xerxes' reign in verse 6 refers to his accession year in 486 BC. The Assyrians, Babylonians, Judeans, and Persians followed an "accession year system. " They numbered the years of a king's reign by counting the beginning of a king's reign until the new year in their civil calendar as the "accession year" and with the next full year counting as the first year of his reign (see the document "Dating the Reigns of the Kings of Judah and Kings of Israel"). Xerxes' accession year was from December 486 to April 485 BC.
The letter is in Aramaic according to verse 7, and the Biblical text changes from Hebrew to Aramaic in verse 8. This section cites several Aramaic documents through Chapter 6. The repetition in the letter makes sense if verse 8 is the summary that typically appeared on the outer tag of the scroll while verses 11-16 contain the text of the letters itself.
The NJB assumes that Osnappar (verse 10) is Ashurbanipal (ruled 668-627 BC), the Assyrian king who transported five groups of Mesopotamian peoples into the region of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to become the Samaritans (2 Kng 17:24).
Ezra 4:11-16 ~ The Letter Sent by Judah's Opponents
11 This
is the text of the letter which they sent him: "To King Artaxerxes, from your
servants the people of Trans-Euphrates: 12
May the king now please be informed that the Jews, who have come
up from you to us, have arrived in Jerusalem and are rebuilding the rebellious
and evil city; they have begun rebuilding the walls and are laying the foundations;
13 and now the king should
be informed that once this city is rebuilt and the walls are restored, they will
refuse to pay tribute, tax or toll, thus the king will incur a loss; 14 and now, because we eat the palace
salt, it is not proper for us to see this affront offered to the king; we, therefore,
send this information to the king 15 so
that a search may be made in the archives of your ancestors: in which archives
you will find and learn that this city is a rebellious city, the bane of kings
and provinces, and that sedition has been stirred up there from ancient times;
that is why this city was destroyed. 16
We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are
restored, you will soon have no territories left in Trans-Euphrates [Beyond the
River]."
The letter is from the leaders of Persian Provinces in Mesopotamia as well as from the Phoenicians and Samaritans living in the Levant (verse 17) and perhaps even from the Persian province in the Trans-Jordan (east of the Jordan River). These people continually occupied the Levant and Northern Mesopotamia during the period of the Jewish exile and are concerned that the return of the Judahites will upset the balance of power in the region.
Question: What is the accusation they make
against the citizens of Judah?
Answer: The accuse them of a nationalistic temperament
that led to rebellion against their overlords the Assyrians and Babylonians in
the past, a pattern they are sure to repeat.
Question: Is their accusation concerning
Judah's history of rebellion unfounded? See
2 Kng 18:7-8; 24:1, 20.
Answer: No; it is a well-established
accusation historically. However, there is no evidence that the Judahites had
ambitions to tempt their neighbors to revolt against the Persians.
14 and
now, because we eat the palace salt, it is not proper for us to see this affront
offered to the king
The collective letter senders write that their
reason for accusing the Jews is because of their covenant loyalty to the Persian
King as their overlord. Partners in a covenant ratified the covenant treaty by
swearing an oath of allegiance followed by a sacred meal seasoned with salt as
a symbol of the durability or indestructibility of the agreement (see
Gen 26:29-30; 31:44, 53-54;
Ex 24:7-11; Lev 2:13;
Num 18:19; 2 Chron 13:5). In the Sinai Covenant,
the priests salted every sacrifice according to God's command (Lev 2:13; Ez 43:23).
Yahweh sealed His covenant with Israel in a sacred meal at Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:7-11), and Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant in a sacred meal at the Last Supper (Lk 22:19-20). In the Old Covenant, the covenant relationship continued with every generation in the Toda "Thanksgiving" sacred covenant meal of peace with God and continues in the New Covenant in Christ in the Eucharist "Thanksgiving" sacred meal.
15 so
that a search may be made in the archives of your ancestors: in which archives
you will find and learn that this city is a rebellious city, the bane of kings
and provinces, and that sedition has been stirred up there from ancient times;
that is why this city was destroyed. 16 We
inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, you
will soon have no territories left in Trans-Euphrates [Beyond the River]."
All major kingdoms kept historical records, and the
letter writers suggest the king can verify their claim against Judah by simply checking
the Persian and Babylonian archives. The archives would reveal that Babylonians
replaced two Davidic kings for acts of rebellion (Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin) and
destroyed Jerusalem in 587/6 BC because King Zedekiah organized a revolt
against Babylonian rule with the neighboring Gentile states and allied himself with
the Babylonian's chief enemy, the Egyptians. The crux of their argument is the
Province of Judah will rebel, as they have in the past, in an attempt to achieve
their independence, and other provinces will follow their example.
Ezra 4:17-24 ~ King Artaxerxes' Reply to the
Samaritans and the Citizens of the Trans-Euphrates Provinces
17 The
king sent this reply: "To Rehum the governor, to Shimshai the secretary, and to
their other associates resident in Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates
[Beyond the River]: Greetings! 18 And
now, the document which you sent us has been accurately translated for me, 19 and by my orders search has been made,
and it has been found that this city has rebelled against the kings in the past
and that revolt and sedition have been contrived in it; 20 and that powerful kings have reigned
in Jerusalem, governing the whole of Trans-Euphrates and exacting tribute, tax
and toll; 21 now give orders
for these men to cease work; this city is not to be rebuilt until I give the
order. 22 Beware of
acting negligently in this matter. Why should the harm grow, to endanger the
king?" 23 As soon as the
text of King Artaxerxes' document had been read to Rehum the governor, Shimshai
the secretary and their associates, they hurried to the Jews in Jerusalem and
stopped their work by force of arms. 24 Work
on the Temple of God in Jerusalem then ceased and was discontinued until the
second year of the reign of Darius King of Persia.
18 And
now, the document which you sent us has been accurately translated for me
Verse 18 suggests the senders wrote their letter not in
Aramaic but in the dialect of their regions or in a cuneiform transcription that
needed a translation. King Artaxerxes writes that he has verified the claims
they made in their letter. "Powerful kings" who governed the whole of Trans-Euphrates
and exacted tribute could only refer to Kings David and Solomon (who died in
930 BC). King Artaxerxes orders that all work on rebuilding the city is to
cease for the time being, and the order will be carried out by military force
if necessary.
24 Work on
the Temple of God in Jerusalem then ceased and was discontinued until the
second year of the reign of Darius King of Persia.
This verse continues from 4:5 and the narrative about the
Temple. Work on the Temple ended until the reign of Darius I (522-486 BC). During
the first two years of his reign, Darius had to fight for his right to the
throne (as recorded in the Behistun Inscription). It was only after he
stabilized the Empire that efforts to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple were permitted
in year two of Darius' reign (accession year = 522, year #1 = 521, year #2 =
520 BC). The prophet Haggai, at God's command, exhorted Zerubbabel to resume
rebuilding the Temple on August 29, 519 BC (Hag 1:1-5), and work began on
September 21 (Hag 1:15).
Questions for discussion or reflection:
Question: What do you do when you feel God has called you
to a particular plan or mission and forces rise up to prevent you from
continuing? Do you give up and give in, or do you persevere in prayer and submit
yourself to God's timing instead of the timing of your plan? Salvation history
is full of thwarted plans, but if those plans fulfill the will of God, He will
make sure His agent gets what he/she needs to complete the mission.
Question: What has replaced the Jerusalem Temple as the true presence of God among His people? See CCC 756, 797-98, 809, 1197.
Question: What is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit? See CCC 364, 1197, 1265, 1695, 2684.
Endnotes:
1. The Babylonians left behind the poor to maintain the
fields and vineyards of Judah. However, when Jewish rebels assassinated Babylonian
Governor Gedaliah and massacred the Chaldean (Babylonian) garrison, all the remaining
citizens of Judah fled to Egypt in fear of Babylonian retaliation (Jer 38:10; 41:1-18).
2. Ashurbanipal is not named elsewhere in the Bible, but he was probably the Assyrian king who freed King Manasseh of Judah from exile (2 Chron 33:11-13). He may be be the unnamed Assyrian ruler who brought the five Gentile groups to Samaria (2 Kng 17:24). He is known for the great library he founded at the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2018 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
Catechism references for this lesson:
The Sinai Covenant and the Law (CCC 1962-64)
Liturgy of worship (CCC 1069-72)
New Law/the Law of the Gospel (CCC 1965-74)
Jerusalem Temple (CCC 2580)