Skip to main content

Ezra and Nehemiah, Restoration

If you were to ask me which of the historical books in the Bible were the least studied, I'd venture a guess and say Ezra and Nehemiah. Books like Chronicles may be repetitive, but people do like to see the different take on certain stories. Even books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy, which are mainly law codes and speeches, have famous passages or interesting verses that we like to look at. 

Ezra and Nehemiah, however, simply get ignored. The interesting thing is people generally know what they are about. They can tell you that the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem's walls happen in these books. People generally just don't see the significance of it. When we ignore the books of Ezra and Nehemiah we ignore a crucial part in Israel's history as well as something central to God's character.

Background

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book. In fact they still are in the Jewish Scriptures. The book was largely written by Ezra, who was a scribe, with chunks written by Nehemiah. The books go together and really tell one big story.

Many see Ezra and Nehemiah as a continuation of Chronicles, also written by Ezra. Chronicles details Israel's history up to the exile, while Ezra and Nehemiah detail their return and rebuilding. Due to the time of the events described, Ezra and Nehemiah are probably some of the last books to be written before the 400 year gap to the New Testament.

Themes

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah center around three important people. They are Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. All three represent a different area of Judah's restoration.

Zerubbabel is the man who leads the people back to Jerusalem. He brings the people home. It is also under his watch that the temple is rebuilt. Zerubbabel personifies Judah's restoration to their homeland.

The next person to arrive on the scene is Ezra. He comes nearly fifty years after Zerubbabel leads the people back to Jerusalem. Ezra is a priest and a scribe. He knows the Word of God probably better than anyone on the planet at the time. When he arrives in Jerusalem he is shocked to find the people committing many of the same sins that led to the exile in the first place. Ezra becomes the religious leader during this time. He reintroduces the Law and teaches the people God's Word. Ezra personifies the restoration of Judah's morality, religion, and knowledge of God.

The final restorer here is Nehemiah. Zerubbabel brought the people home, Ezra brought the Law to the people, and Nehemiah helped restore Judah to a place of safety and influence. Nehemiah was a civil leader. He is best known for overseeing the reconstruction of Jerusalem's walls and dealing with their hostile neighbors. Nehemiah personifies the restoration of Judah's security and status.

The book's primary focus is not on these three men, but rather on God who used them. The credit and glory is always given to God for being the true restorer of Judah. Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah are all people who faithfully served God and who God used to fulfill his promise of restoration. The outlook at the end of these books is hopeful, since they people are confident that God has not forgotten his promises.

Theological Point

Our God is a God who restores. Despite all the sin and evil that infested Israel, God remained true to the promises he made to Abraham and David. He kept a remnant of Judah alive so that he might restore the relationship with his people. 

Restoration is important to more than just the exiles. Restoration is the center of God's plan for us. He wants to restore the relationship that has been broken by sin. He wants us to be his children again. He wants to restore the cosmos to its status before the fall. This is accomplished through Jesus Christ. 

Conclusion

When we skip the books of Ezra and Nehemiah we skip something vital about God's character. There are places in the Old Testament that speak of God's desire for restoration, but not that many that show what that looks like. The struggles and trials of the returning exiles mirror many of the struggles and trials we have today as we attempt to leave our sinful lives behind. 

The promise God gave the exiles holds true for us; no matter how broken we are or how lost we've become, God will bring us restoration.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Augustine of Hippo: Historical Friday

We pause our overview of the history of Christianity to talk about an extremely influential figure, whether we realize it or not. Augustine of Hippo, so called because he lived in the town of Hippo Regius, has had a tremendous amount of influence on Christianity in the western world. Many of the theological conversations we have in our churches today have been directly shaped by this man. Many of the terms and ideas we throw around originated with Augustine.  Today we are going to look at SOME of the ideas that Augustine has shaped. In reality this man has touched in some way or another every aspect of Christian thought. If I had to choose the most influential people on Christianity outside of Jesus and the Apostles, Augustine might very well be number one alongside Martin Luther. Before we get into the theological ideas, a brief biography is in order. Brief Biography Augustine's story is actually very interesting, one I cannot hope to do justice here. If you are intereste...
Post a Comment
Read more

Christ is Risen

This is the manuscript of a sermon I preached on Easter Sunday, 2021. All around the world people of every tribe, nation, and tongue gather to celebrate the pinnacle of history. Almost two thousand years ago to the day everything changed for the human race and indeed the cosmos. The word went out that death had been broken because Christ is Risen. Blessed by Providence we gather here today to celebrate the triumph of life over the powers of death and darkness. We gather to participate in the Resurrection Body of our Lord. We gather to behold the beauty of God displayed in the trampling of death by death on the cross, a victory of which we can be assured because Christ is Risen. Glory to the Father, glory to the Son, and glory to the Holy Spirit. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts overflow with adoration and praise for our Almighty God. We can rest assured in the comfort of his grace because Christ is Risen. Dear brothers and sisters if Easter Sunday is about ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Early Middle Ages: Historical Friday

The next segment of history that we are going to overview is the Early Middle Ages. This dates roughly from AD 450 to AD 1100. This is intended to be a very general overview. There are probably historians that would classify some other time period as the "Early Middle Ages" or a more specific time period. For our purposes this will cover the aforementioned time period. This was a very influential period in the history of Christianity. It saw the formation of what we now call the Roman Catholic Church and its separation from what we would now call the Eastern Orthodox Church. Before this time there was only ONE church. There weren't different denominations or groups. It is hard for us to think about in our modern context, but there was a time when Christianity was visibly unified. Brief History The first major thing to happen during this time period is the remaining three ecumenical councils. We discussed the first four several weeks ago. These councils discussed va...
Post a Comment
Read more