Overview of the Book of Ezra

Moore's Corner Church

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The overview of the week for this Sunday is the book of Ezra. Like Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, many believe that Ezra and the following book,

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Nehemiah, were one volume originally. But either way, whether that was the case, we're going to handle the two books individually.

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So Ezra is believed to be the author, big surprise, written around the 5th century

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BC. The theme of the book is the return of the remnant.

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Some have called this the second Exodus. If you remember, 2

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Chronicles ended with the Jews being taken away captive into Babylon where they remained for 70 years.

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The book of Ezra begins with the Lord stirring up Cyrus, the king of Persia, stirring up his heart to make a proclamation for the

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Jews to return to their homeland, where they were to rebuild the temple, because the temple was destroyed, the former temple, by the

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Babylonians. So that's the emphasis of Ezra, the rebuilding of the temple.

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Because he was a priest, that's where you would expect the emphasis to be. Now the emphasis of the book of Nehemiah is on the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

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So those books both record an extensive genealogical record in order to establish the priestly line back to Aaron.

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The key verse, or a key verse, of Ezra is chapter 7, verse 10, which says, For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the

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Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes in ordinances in Israel.

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The final chapters of the book then deal with the purifying of the

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Jewish community, since there had been much intermarriage with the heathen.

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The Jews had taken to themselves many pagan wives, and the issue is that they worshipped foreign gods.

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And in response, Ezra says to the Jewish men who had done this, he said,

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You have transgressed, adding to the guilt of Israel.

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And if you remember, it was the issue of foreign wives that started the whole problem in the first place with Solomon.

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So this action by Ezra in the providence of God was used to protect and preserve the messianic line of David.