Hour 10
• The decree of Cyrus
–Isaiah’s Letter
• Ezra
--The Rebuilding of the Temple
• Nehemiah
--The Rebuilding of Jerusalem
• Ester
–The Drama
–Some surprises
• Although Esther comes after Nehemiah, its events antedate Nehemiah
by about 30 years. Esther made possible the work of Nehemiah:
Except for her, Jerusalem might never have been rebuilt, and there might have
been a very different story to tell to all future ages.
• If the Hebrew nation had been wiped out 500 years before it brought Christ into the world, it might have made a gigantic difference in the destiny of mankind!
• No Messiah for a lost world…
The Book of Ezra: The Rebuilding of the Temple
Cyrus II (“the Great,”)
• Established the Medo-Persian Empire
• Cyrus II (“the Great,” 559-530 B.C.) was the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. • Cyrus’ father, Cambyses I (600-559 B.C.), was king of Anshan, a region in eastern Elam Persia.
• Cyrus’s mother was Mandane, a daughter of Astyages, king of Media (585-550 B.C.).
• Cyrus was half Mede and half Persian, he uses that to wield an Empire
• When Cambyses died in 559 B.C., Cyrus inherited the throne of Anshan and,
• After unifying the Persian people, attacked his father-in-law, the weak and corrupt
Astyages.
• The Median general Harpagus, whom Astyages had previously wronged, deserted the king and brought his army to the side of the young Cyrus.
• Astyages was soon captured and the Persians took the capital city of Ecbatana in 550 B.C. without a battle.
• This was also to be the result at Babylon 11 years later.)
• Cyrus succeeded in welding the Medes and Persians into a unified nation. that continued for two centuries until the time of Alexander the Great (331 B.C.).
The Conquest of Babylon
• On October 12, 539 B.C., Cyrus’ general captured Babylon without a battle:
• The Persians diverted the River Euphrates into a canal upriver so that the water level dropped “to the height of the middle of a man’s thigh,” which thus rendered the flood defenses useless and enabled the invaders to march through the river bed to enter by night.
Isaiah 44:27, 28 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Herodotus wrote in 5th century B.C.
• They didn’t notice that they had been taken over for three days
Daniel greets Cyrus
• Daniel greets Cyrus and reads this letter that had been written 150 before his birth
“My Shepherd”: Unlike previous conquerors, Cyrus would prove favorable to the Jews
Isaiah 45:1,2 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
• Belshazrars loins were loosed when the “Hand writing was on the Wall” in Daniel 5
• Cyrus saw that happen 12 days prior to hearing this....
Isaiah 45:3-5
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret
places, that thou mayest 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 thou hast not known me. I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Cyrus’ Response
• Cyrus was duly impressed.
• He freed the captives and returned the vessels that had been plundered from the Temple 70 years earlier.
• He even gave them financial incentives to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple.
• Cyrus make donations to help rebuild the Temple
• Less than 50,000 Jews responded to this royal proclamation and returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel.
• “His Anointed”: a Gentile king!? “Subdue nations”: 46 nations, among which were the: • The 46 nations
Medes, Babylonians, Lydians, Carians, Caunians, Lysians, Bactrians, Sacae, Parthians, Hyracanians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, Arians of Heiat, Zerangians, Arachosians, Satagydians, Gandarians, et al.
“Loose the loins of kings”: Daniel 5:6!
When Isaiah wrote this Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed. Yet, here
he notes that even the foundation will be rebuilt (implying, at the time
of writing, that it will be destroyed).
2 Chronicles 36:22-23 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord 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, 23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.
Ezra 1:1-4 Now in the first year of Cyrus 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 his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 2 Thus saith Cyrus 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 an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
The Stele of Cyrus
• British Museum in London
This cylinder, discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in the 19th century, can presently be seen in the British Museum in London.
“...without any battle, he entered the town, sparing any calamity; ... I returned to sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time... and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I also gathered all their former inhabitants and returned to them their habitations.”
This decree is recounted in the book of Ezra
Ezra 1:2-3
Thus saith Cyrus 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 an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.”
Ezra - The focus is the Temple,.... not the city
• The focus is the Temple, not the city. That will be the burden of Nehemiah later…
• Ezra is the probable author of 1 & 2 Chronicles also: 1 & 2
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah = 1 book.
• He is credited with establishing the “canon.”
Return from Exile
• 538 B.C.: 49,697 under Zerubbabel.
• 515 B.C.: (23 years later); Temple finally rebuilt (Book of Esther).
• 483 B.C.: Ester: Without Ester, we’d never have the temple rebuilt.
• Except for her, Jerusalem might never have been rebuilt, and there might have
been a very different story to tell to all future ages.
• 458 B.C.: (57 years later); 2,000 additional under Ezra.
• 445 B.C.: (13 years later);
• Nehemiah obtains authority to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, to rebuild the wall to protect themselves.
• That’s the one that triggers the “70 Weeks of Daniel.”
A Model of Design?
That’s what the book of Ezra is all about
“Ye are the Temple of God”
Found seven times in Scripture:
1 Corinthians 3:9-17 9
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ....15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
1 Corinthians 6:19
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
2 Corinthians 6:16
What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
Ephesians 2:20
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Hebrews 3:6
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
1 Peter 2:5
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 4:17
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Deuteronomy 6:4,5
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
“one LORD” Unity as a bunch of grapes.
Our Personal Architecture?
We are instructed to “love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind.”
What does this mean?
You can’t determine the architecture of software by external means; you need the designer’s manual. [That’s why you can buy it at a store: you can use it, but not infer its internal design…]
• Terms of “software” architecture:
– Heart? kardia: in the Greek
Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:21; Romans 3:11-12; Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26-27; 11:19.
– Soul? psuche: Jeremiah 31:12; James 1:8; 4:8.
– Spirit? pneuma: 1 Peter 1:3,23; John 3:3; 1 Corinthians 6:17
– Mind? dianoya: “channel,” or “will power.”
See the following study of Solomon’s Temple as it relates to our personal architecture.
Some of these things are not in the Tabernacle
• Wooden Chambers in the Temple are used by the priests to store their personal things, including “idols”. They need to be cleaned out, so do ours’
• The Chambers which look like they are correlative to the “subconscious”, and the subconscious is not a Freudian concept, it’s in the scriptures in a dozen places.
• If they are not cleaned out, they will effect our behavior.
The Book of Esther:
“Something Hidden”
• Xerxes I is the Ahasuerus of Esther
Persia was an awe to the ancient world and Xerxes I is the Ahasuerus of Esther:
• Khshayarsha,
--Greek translation: Xerxes;
--Hebrew: Akhashverosh;
--English: Ahasuerus.
• Passionate extremes
–Gigantic ideas, and had a imperious temper
• He cut a canal through the Isthmus of Athos for his fleet
• He built a bridge over the Hellespont was destroyed by a tempest just after completion.
• Blindly enraged, he commanded 300 strokes of a scourge to be inflicted on the sea, and a pair of fetters to be thrown into it at the Hellespont; and then had the builders beheaded.
• Pythius, the Lydian, offered a sum equivalent to 5 ½ million towards expenses of a military expedition;
• Xerxes so impressed that he returned the money accompanied by a handsome present.
• When requested that he spare just one of Pythius’ sons from the expedition (the eldest), as sole support in his declining years,
• Xerxes ordered the son cut into pieces and the army to march between them.
Xerxes dishonored the remains of the heroic Spartan, Leonidas.
Book of Esther:
He was just the despot to dethrone Queen Vashti for refusing to expose herself before his tipsy guests; he was just the one to consign the Jewish people to be exterminated; and then swing to the opposite extreme of sanctioning Jewish vengeance on thousands of other subjects.
The Drama
• There was a lavish royal banquet.
• Queen Vashti refused to immodestly display herself and
• Forfeited her royal diadem.
• Esther, was an orphaned Jewish girl, raised by her cousin Mordecai, Ester was selected as her (Queen Vashti ) replacement.
• Mordecai tells Ester, “don’t let the king know that you are Jewish!”
• Mordecai thwarts a plot against the king
• Mordecai never gets acknowledged for that, but God’s timing is phenomenal!
Mordecai
• David declined to take vengeance Shimei a descendant of Saul (2 Samuel 16:5-13; 19:16-23).
• Mordecai was a descendant of Shimei, of the House of Kish, the father of King Saul, Mordecai is a product of David’s grace.
• He will ultimately confront Haman, the result of Saul’s failure to follow God’s instructions.
• Haman hates Mordecai, because he refuses to do obeisance to Haman…
This whole story is:
The Flesh vs. The Spirit
• Jacob and Esau, struggling since the womb (Genesis 25:21-34);
• Amalek descended from Esau (Genesis 36:12);
• Amalek fought with Israel at Rephidim (Exodus 17:8-16);
• Doom foretold (Balaam, Numbers 24:20;
• Moses, Deuteronomy 25:17-19).
• The whole book of Obadiah deals with this
• Saul’s Failure
– Instructed to destroy the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:1-3);
– Spared Agag, King of Amalekites
– Kingdom taken from Saul (1 Samuel 15:7-28);
• Haman was a descendant of king Agag (Ester 3:1).
The Deadly Threat
• Haman succeeds in getting the king to order the extermination of all the Jews.
• If he had succeeded there would be no Temple nor a Redeemer
• Mordecai prevails upon Esther to intercede:
– Mordecai tells her, “Thou art come for such a time as this.”
– Queen Ester says, “If I perish, I perish.”
• She asks for three days of fasting and prayer.
The Critical Moment
• Esther enters the inner court; she could be killed
• The king extends his scepter.
• She invites the king and Haman to a banquet.
• She demurs: she invites them to a subsequent banquet…
Her deferral sets the stage...
• Haman, in his gloating, prepares a gallows
• Implies impaling on a tree, for Mordecai;
• The Persians invented “Crucifixion”
• The Romans really ran with the idea of “Crucifixion”
• During the sleepless night, the king reviews the chronicles and realizes that Mordecai’s foiling the plot against the king was never rewarded…
What a Day Brings…
• A gloating Haman prepares a gallows.
• A sleepless king reads the chronicles
– Mordecai was never rewarded for his deed.
• Haman unknowingly specifies Mordecai’s reward.
• Haman is humiliated and nervous
The Second Banquet
• Esther asks for her life to be spared.
• An astonished king ponders Haman’s deceits.
• Haman falls on Esther’s couch to plead.
• The king, returning, misconstrues the move and orders Haman hanged...on the very “gallows” he built for Mordecai!
The Denouement
• Haman’s estate escheat to the crown:
– Set under Mordecai’s supervision.
• A second decree authorizes the Jews to defend themselves:
– 127 provinces, from India to Ethiopia;
– Magistrates of the King to assist them…
• Celebrated as The Feast of Purim.
The Ten Sons of Haman
Parshandatha Curious Self busy-body
Dalphon Weeping Self self-pity
Aspatha Assembled Self self-mobilized; self-sufficiency
Poratha Generous Self spend-thriftiness; self-indulgence
Adalia Weak Self self-consciousness; inferiority
Aridatha Strong Self assertiveness; insists upon one’s way
Parmashta Preeminent Self ambition; desire for preeminence
Arisai Bold Self imprudence
Aridai Dignified Self pride; haughtiness; sense of superiority
Vaizatha Pure Self worst of all: self-righteousness
The names of the ten sons exemplify, self traits that stand in the way of a relationship with God.
The Book of Esther
• The Name of God does not appear?
• Esther means “Something Hidden”
(hidden due to their Lo-ammi condition...Ironside, pp 110ff).
Hidden Codes:
• 5 Acrostics;
• 3 Equidistant Letter Sequences:
• The name of God is hidden no less than eight times in the text.
• Four times it appears as an acrostic, the hwhy (the famed Tetragammaton, “YHWH” or “Yahweh”
• or “YeHoVaH”); once as hyha (“EHYH” or “I AM”).
• It also appears as Meshiach (“Messiah”), Yeshua (“Jesus”), and El Shaddai (“The Almighty”), in equidistant letter sequences.
Esther 1:20
Initial letters (remember, Hebrew reads right to left): because the event was initial.
Written Backwards:
God was turning back the counsels of man.
Esther 5:4
Initial letters: God was initiating the action.
Written Forward:
God was ruling and causing Esther to act.
Esther 5:13
Final letters: Haman’s end was approaching.
Written Backwards:
God was overruling Haman’s gladness and turning back Haman’s counsel.
Esther 7:7
Final letters: Haman’s end had come.
Written Forward:
God was ruling and bringing about the end He had determined.
Pairings
1) Initial (facts are initial) 1) Backward (Gentiles)
2) Initial (facts are initial) 2) Forward (Israelites)
3) Final (facts are final) 3) Backward (Gentiles)
4) Final (facts are final) 4) Forward (Israelites)
Introversion
1) Words spoken concerning a queen;
2) Words spoken by a queen;
3) Words spoken by Haman;
4) Words concerning Haman.
There is structure everywhere you look!
Esther 7:5 Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, “Who
is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?”
In the Hebrew of this phrase, you find the word “I AM”
Esther 1:3 (An Equidistant Letter Sequence, interval of 8)
= Meshiach, Messiah 888
Esther 4:7 (An Equidistant Letter Sequence, interval of 8)
= Yeshua, Jesus
Esther 4:2 (An Equidistant Letter Sequence, interval of 7)
= El Shaddai, The Almighty
Esther 3:11-12 (An Equidistant Letter Sequence, interval of 6)
= haman v’satan ray’yach
“Haman and Satan stink!”
Something hidden....
Lessons from Esther
• God, although is not seen, operates invisibly behind the scenes, was clearly orchestrating His plan caring for His people.
• Mordecai was a result of David’s grace.
• Haman was the result of Saul’s failure.
• What are the implications for today?
A Chain of Gold (thanks to Pastor Joe Focht)
Edward Kimball had a burden for one of his Sunday school students to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. He went to see him at the shoe store where he worked and led him to Christ in the shoe store. His name?
Dwight L. Moody.
That young man, Dwight L. Moody, went on to become an evangelist whose ministry rocked two continents. While preaching in the British Isles, Moody spoke in a mall chapel pastored by Federick Brotherton Meyer. In his sermon Moody told an emotionally charged story of a Sunday School teacher he knew who personally went to every student in his class and won them to Christ. The message changed Pastor
Meyer’s entire ministry, inspiring him to become an evangelist.
Over the years, Meyer came to America several times to preach. Once in Northfield, Massachusetts a confused young preacher sitting in the back row heard Meyer say, “If you are not willing to give everything to God, are you willing to be made willing?”
That remark led J. Wilbur Chapman to accept the call of God on his life. Chapman went on to become one of the most effective evangelists of his time. A volunteer helped set up Chapman’s crusades and learned to preach by watching him. His name:
Billy Sunday.
Sunday eventually took over Chapman’s ministry, becoming one of the most effective evangelists of the 20th century. In the great arenas of the nation, Billy Sunday’s preaching turned thousands to Christ. Inspired by a 1924 Billy Sunday crusade in Charlotte, NC, a committee of Christians committed themselves to reaching that city for Christ. They invited Mordecai Ham to hold a series of evangelistic meetings in 1932.
A lanky 16 year old sat in the huge crowd one evening. Spellbound by the message of the white haired preacher who seemed to be shouting and waving his long finger directly at him. Night after night the youth attended and finally went forward and gave his life to Christ. That teenager’s name:
Billy Graham. Graham has doubtlessly communicated the gospel of Jesus Christ to more people than anyone else in the history of the world. Yet, remember how this sequence of events started: a nobody name Kimball, concerned for one of his students visited him at his shoe store. In doing that Kimball changed the world! Millions upon
millions have been affected by his decision to go to that shoe store and millions more will continue to feel the impact.
Can anything like that happen today?
The Book of Nehemiah:
The Rebuilding of the City
Although Esther comes after Nehemiah, its events antedate Nehemiah by about 30 years. Esther made possible the work of Nehemiah: Except for her, Jerusalem might never have been rebuilt, and there might have been a very different story to tell to all future ages. If the Hebrew nation had been wiped out 500 years before it brought Christ into the world, it might have made a gigantic difference in the destiny of mankind! No
Messiah for a lost world…
Nehemiah 1: 3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. 4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
“Jews” vs. “Israelite”
• After the Babylonian captivity, the terms “Jew” and “Israelite” are used interchangeably.
• Ezra calls the returning remnant “Jews” 8 times, “Israel” 40 times, and “all Israel” (Ezra 2:70; 3:11; 8:35; 10:25, et al.)
• Nehemiah calls them “Jews” 11 times,
“Israel” 22 times, and “all Israel” as being back in the land (Neh 12:47).
• Malachi calls the remnant = “the nation” (Malachi 1:1, et al.)
• Anna knew her tribal identity was of the tribe of Asher (Luke 2:36).
• Paul knew he was of the tribe of Benjamin, a “Jew” and an “Israelite” (Romans 11:1).
• The New Testament uses “Israel” 75 times and “Jew” 174 times.
• At the Feast of Pentecost Peter cries, “Ye men of Judea” (Acts 2:14);
“Ye men of Israel...” (Acts 2:22); and, “All the house of Israel” (Acts 2:36).
Kings of Persia
Cyrus the Great (Media/Persian) Ezra 1, Isaiah 45
Cambyses Ahasuerus of Ezra 4
Gaumata Artaxerxes of Ezra 4
Darius I “Hystaspis” Ezra 5, 6
Xerxes I Ahasuerus of Esther
Artaxerxes I (“Longimanus”) Nehemiah 2
Xerxes II
Darius II “Nothus” Nehemiah 12
Artaxerxes II “Mnemon”
Artaxerxes III “Ochus”
Darius III “Codomanus” Nehemiah 12
Antiochus IV
After murdering his brother, who had inherited the throne in the Seleucid dynasty, he
• Came to power in 175 B.C.
• In 170 B.C. Ptolemy VI of Egypt sought to recover territory then ruled over by Antiochus.
• So Antiochus invaded Egypt and defeated Ptolemy VI and proclaimed himself king in Egypt.
• He called himself Epiphanes, “the Illustrious One.” The Jews called him Epimanes, “the Madman.”
• He made Torah reading punishable by death,
• The Jews were ordered to offer unclean sacrifices and to eat swine’s flesh or be penalized by death.
• He slaughtered a sow on the Altar and erected an idol to Zeus in the Holy
of Holies =
• “The Abomination of Desolation” (Matthew 24:15), idol worship
• That precipitated the Maccabean Revolt
• This was his growth “in power to the south.”
• On his return from this conquest, trouble broke out in Jerusalem so he decided to subdue Jerusalem (“the Beautiful Land,”).
• The people were subjugated, the temple desecrated, and the temple treasury plundered.
• From this conquest Antiochus returned to Egypt in 168 B.C. but was
forced by Rome to evacuate Egypt.
• On his return he determined to make the land of Israel a buffer state between himself and Egypt.
• He attacked and burned Jerusalem, killing multitudes.
• The Jews were forbidden to follow the Mosaic Law in observing the Sabbath, their annual feasts, and traditional sacrifices, and circumcision of children.
• Altars to idols were set up in Jerusalem and on December 16, 167 B.C.
The Macabbean Revolt
Led by Mattathias, a patriotic priest, and his five sons;
• he died in 166 but his son Judas was a amazing military genius.
• After 3 years of fighting,
• They threw off the yoke of the Seleucid Empire, thus
• Establishing the rule of the Hasmonean priest-rulers for the next century (until Pompey’s
conquest of Judea, 63 B.C.).
• They rededicated the Temple: 25th of Kislev, 165 B.C. which is celebrated as Chanukah (John 10:22).
Chanukah has a Biblical reference by Jesus
Jesus’ Confidential Briefing
Four Disciples ask about His Return
--Peter
--James
--John
--Andrew
• Jesus’ Private Briefing is recording in three Gospels
Matthew 24, 25;
Mark 13, and
Luke 21
The Olivet Discourse
Matthew 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him
privately, saying, Tell us, When shall these things be? And What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Matthew 24:4,5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
The Key Event
Matthew 24:15, 16 When ye therefore shall see the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains...
This is a political event that will be seen all over the world.
Daniel 9
The Flight from Judea
Matthew 24:17-20 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And
woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day:
Jews: “In Judea, they will be celebrating this event on the Sabbath Day.”
The Great Tribulation
Matthew 24:21-22 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should
be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
The Roman Empire, Phase I
• 63 B.C. Pompey conquers Judea. Herod Antipater, an Edomite, appointed ruler.
• 40 B.C. Parthians conquer Judea.
• 37 B.C. Romans regain Judea.
Herod the Great succeeds Antipater.
• 31 B.C. Battle of Actium.
• With Octavian’s defeat of Mark Antony he becomes the undisputed master of the Roman world and adopts the name “Augustus”…
• ~2 B.C.? Registration and Census ordered.
• 7 A.D. Caponius appointed Procurator.
Removed legal powers of Sanhedrin.
“Woe unto us for the scepter has departed from Judah and the Messiah has
not come!”
The Priests thought the Word of God had been broken. However, a
young boy was growing up in a carpenter shop in Nazareth…
Next Hour: Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) and Lamentations.
Questions:
Which book deals with the frustrations of attempting to rebuild the Temple unprotected? Ezra is the book that deals with the frustrations of attempting to rebuild the Temple unprotected.
Summarize
• Decree of Cyrus Permitting the Jews return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple
• Contributions to those returning; Cyrus restores the holy vessels
• Chapter 2 Number of those returning
--Number of priests returning
--Number of Levites returning
--Number of the descendants of Solomon’s servants who returned
–Certain priests removed because of lost genealogy
--The whole assembly numbered was 42,360
• Chapter 3
--The altar set up and the ancient sacrifices restored
--Foundations of the Temple is laid, mingled with joy and weeping
• Chapter 4
--Adversaries seek to hinder the work by appeal to Artaxerxes
--Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote the letter
--Artaxerxes orders work on the Temple suspended
• Chapter 5
--Work on the Temple resumes through encouragement of the prophets
--Adversaries write to Darius
• Chapter 6
–Darius confirms the decree of Cyrus
–Temple completed and dedicated
–Passover restored
• Chapter 7
Ezra’s journey from Babylon to Jerusalem; his ancestry and companions
–Decree of Artaxerxes on Ezra’s behalf
–Ezra’s thanksgiving
• Chapter 8
--Ezra’s companions
–Ezra sends for the Levites and Nethinim
--Ezra proclaims a fast for the Lord’s protection
–Treasures committed to twelve priest’s
–Ezra arrives in Jerusalem and the treasure is placed in the Temple
–Governor’s are given the king’s decree
• Chapter 9
–God’s people fail to separate from the surrounding nations
–Ezra’s confession to the Lord
• Chapter 10
--Reconciliation to God through confession and separation
–List of repentant heads of families
Nehemiah is the book that in which the King gives Nehemiah the authority to rebuild the temple.
Nehemiah 1: 3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. 4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
Nehemiah 2:1
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. The king said to Nehemiah, Why are you sad, seeing that you are not sick?
• Nehemiah said to the king, that he was sad, because the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers, lies in waste, and the gates are consumed with fire. The king asked Nehemiah, “Do you have a request”?
Nehemiah then, asked the king, to allow him to go to Judah, the city of his fathers, that he may rebuild it.
• The king gives Nehemiah permission to return to Judah, and letters at Nehemiah’s request to allow Asaph the keeper of the king's forest to give him timber to make beams for the gates of the palace, and for the walsl of the city, and for the house that he shall enter into. Also, the king sent captains of the army and horsemen to accompany Nehemiah.
• Nehemiah was secretly in Jerusalem, three days, and spied the city with a few men under him. He went out by night to the gate of the valley, the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down. And the gates were consumed with fire. He went to the king’s pool and a few other places and viewed the wall.
• Nehemiah approached the rulers, the Jews, the priests, and the nobles, and petitioned them to assist him to build up the wall of Jerusalem, that they be no more a reproach.
• He told them of the hand of God which was good upon himself; as also the king's words that he had spoken to Nehemiah.
• And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
• Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah (the Ammonite servant) heard of it, it grieved them greatly that there was a man come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
Nehemiah2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.
• All of the men and women of Israel pitched in and began rebuilding all of the gates, the
pool of Siloah by king David’s garden and the towers as well as the wall.
• When, Sanballat heard that they built the wall, he was angry, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.
• Sanballat spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, “What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?”
• Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.”
• The Arabians, Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, came to fight against Jerusalem.
• The people prayed to God, and set a watch against them day and night. They set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. So half of the people built the wall while the other half kept watch, and as they built the wall they kept a weapon in one hand and built with the other hand.
• The people begin to cry and complain to Nehemiah because the nobles, priests and the rulers, exacted usury, from of them which caused their sons, daughters, lands, food, etc., to be sold. When Nehemiah confronts them, they agree to restore all, and will require nothing of the people.
In Nehemiah Chapter 6
• Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of Nehemiah’s enemies, heard that the wall had been built, and that there was no breach left in the wall.
• Sanballat and Geshem invited Nehemiah, to meet with them in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. Because they wanted to do him mischief.
• Nehemiah said,, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
• Yet they sent for him four more times; but the answer was always the same.
• Then Sanballat sent a false report stating that, the Jews were thinking of a rebellion (not knowing that they had a decree from the king to rebuild Jerusalem).
• Nehemiah simply stated that there are no such things going on and that the report
• Nehemiah simply stated that there are no such things going on and that the report was a false report, that was made up of Sanballat’s own imaginations. For he that Sanballat was trying to instill fear in the people to weaken their hands so that the work won’t get finished.
• Afterward. Nehemiah came into the house of Shemaiah who said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay you in the night.
• Nehemiah said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.
• Nehemiah perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against Nehemiah, Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
The wall is finished
• The wall was finished on the twenty fifth day of the month Elul, after fifty two days.
• When all their enemies heard that the wall was finished, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of God.
• After that the genealogy of Israel is given.
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