Ezra chapters 7-10 (ch 7) — Daniel Rudge

Ezra’s Return and the Beautifying of God’s House

Now returning to the book of Ezra and chapter 7, the book of Ezra and chapter 7, I can see that some of you are following the example of Nehemiah chapter 8, that when the word of God was read, the people stood, and some of you are standing, good for you, that shows real reverence for the word of God, or maybe you're just late, I don't know.

Maybe you're late, so that's not reverence, that's irreverence, but there we are. Ezra, chapter 7, and we've got four chapters, so not just as demanding as John's reading, but Ezra 7, 8, 9, and 10, and we are seeking to beautify the testimony, Ezra 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Now we won't read, of course, all of these verses, but we'll perhaps read a selection of verses on the way through, Ezra chapter 7. Now verse number 1, and remember as John has said, and I'll talk about this in a moment, but Ezra divides into those two major sections as far as the chronology is concerned to 1 to 6 and then 7 to 10, and there's been a 60 year gap, or 58 year gap if you want to be specific, a 58 year gap between the last verse of chapter 6 and the first verse of chapter 7.

So a large gap, and remember that in that gap we have the book of Esther. Now chapter 7 verse 1, now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Saria, and you'll notice that his lineage is given here, and this establishes him as a bona fide priest, as a legitimate priest, and if you just follow down some of his genealogy, Saria, Azariah, Hilkiah, and then it comes down to Phineas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the chief priest.

This Ezra, he went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given, and that was just a thousand years ago, maybe just a little less than that, but coming up for, certainly in Nehemiah's day, exactly a thousand years since the law of Moses had been given at Sinai, and the king granted him all his request according to the hand of the Lord his God which was upon him, and there went up some of the children of Israel and of the priests and the Levites and the singers and the porters and the Nephilim unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.

Now I do like all of these various individuals, and we didn't have time in John's Bible reading to develop some of them, but here is a group of individuals that are working together, laboring together on the house of God, and I think we can make some very nice applications to the assembly.

And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king, for upon the first day of the month, or the first month, began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him.

So this is a journey that took four months, there was a little delay, we'll talk about that delay in a moment, but a journey that took four months. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

And what's recorded in the next few verses is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra, and that really was his authority to make that journey back to Jerusalem with the various things that he took associated with it.

So verse 27, blessed be the Lord God of our fathers. Now this is the first time that Ezra speaks in the book. So blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart.

There's the providence of God again, and this is what he's done to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. So we're building the house in the opening chapters of Ezra, now we are beautifying the house in these latter chapters.

And hath extended mercy unto me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.

Ezra’s Journey, the Levites, and Stewardship

Now he speaks about some of those chief men, verse 15 of chapter 8, and I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahabba, and we don't quite know what that is, but maybe a canal, maybe a river, which was a tributary running into Babylon or in the outskirts of Babylon.

And there abode we in tents three days. And I viewed the people and the priests, and I found there none of the sons of Levi. Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shammaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Yarub, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshulam, chief men, and also other men, men of understanding.

And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Cassiphia. Again, we don't know much about that at all, but it may have been a location where Jews were taught, educated, lived, I don't know.

And I told them what they should say unto Iddo and to his brethren, the Nephilim, at the place Cassiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God. And you understand that's because no Levites were found, and of course they were very important for the service of the house.

And by the good hand of our God upon us, there it is again, they brought us a man of understanding. I think we need to talk about this man. This man of understanding was called Sherebiah. Now the authorized version is slightly misleading there, but a man of understanding of the sons of Mali, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, who was called Sherebiah.

So he is this man, with his sons and with his brethren, 18 of them. So we're thankful that Levites were found. Verse 21, this is the preparation for the journey. Remember, this is the second wave of captives that are going back.

Nehemiah will be the third wave, Zerubbabel was the first wave, this is the second wave. So Ezra is taking back a group, maybe between 5 ,000 and 7 ,000 in total, if you're adding in women and children.

And just before they make the journey, a long arduous journey, Ezra says, I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava. I wonder if anyone was fasting this morning, just before they set out on their journey to come to the conference, that we might afflict ourselves before our God to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way. Now Brandon will tell you tomorrow, I have no doubt, Nehemiah didn't have a problem with that at all.

Nehemiah took a great escort up with him, but Ezra says, no, no, no, I'm ashamed of this. He says, I don't want an escort to go with us. Nehemiah did take an escort, and if Brandon can answer that one, I'd be thankful because I can't.

Anyway, because we had spoken unto the king saying, the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. So we fasted, and we besought our God for this, and he was entreated of us.

And then what you have in the rest of the chapter is, or almost in the rest of the chapter, but all of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, offerings for the house of God, and we thought a little bit about that in the first wave, they're all being measured out to the priests, and of course they're going to be measured and weighed back in when they get to Jerusalem.

So verse 31, then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month. So you see that there's been an eleven-day delay, and that was to gather the Levites together because they did want to leave on the first day of the month, but now it's the twelfth day of the first month.

But they departed to go unto Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. And we came to Jerusalem, and we abode there three days, rest, refreshment, and recuperation, I would think.

Now, on the fourth day, the silver, and the gold, and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meromoth, and so on, and that, of course, was to ensure that nothing at all was lost.

So that chapter is very much about stewardship, isn't it? Good stewardship in Ezra, and chapter eight. Now, the end of chapter eight, also the children, verse 35, of those that have been carried away which would come out of the captivity, they offered burnt offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he goats for a sin offering.

All this was a burnt offering unto the Lord, and they delivered the king's commissions, decrees unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side of the river, and they furthered the people and the house of God.

Ezra’s Prayer and the Problem of Internal Sin

So chapter seven really is all about Ezra. Chapter eight is all about the journey back to Jerusalem, and then the last two chapters of the book, chapters nine and ten, are sadly about a problem that they had that was internal.

Now, most of the trouble that we've had so far has been external. It's come from enemies and from the nations. We'll certainly see that in Nehemiah. But now we have a problem that has arisen in the company that has come back, and it's an internal problem.

Now when these things were done, chapter nine, verse one, the princes came to me, and some suggest that this was just a few months after they had arrived, that maybe that gave Ezra a chance and time to start to teach the word of God.

And as a result of that, the princes came to me saying, the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites, they have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites, for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed, now that of course is the remnant, that's the nation of Israel that remains, that has come back.

They're a separated holy people, but they have mingled themselves with the people of those lands. Yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment, my mantle, and I plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and I sat down, astonished.

Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away, and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice.

And then we've got the great prayer of Ezra, haven't we, a prayer of supplication, intercession. We won't read it all, but verse five, at the evening sacrifice, I rose up from my heaviness, having rent my garment, my mantle, and I fell upon my knees, and I spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

And he speaks about the trespasses of the people of God in the past, he speaks about the grace that God had showed them, verse eight, now for a little space, grace has been showed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and the fact that God had brought them out of captivity, and yet still, they were behaving in a way that had forsaken His commandments.

So verse 10, now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Thy commandments, which Thou hast commanded by Thy servants, the prophets. And then he comes down just to the end of his prayer, verse 15, O Lord God of Israel, Thou art righteous, for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day.

Behold we are before Thee in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before Thee because of this. And then of course chapter 10 is the putting right of this problem, this trespass, that the people of God had committed.

Separation and Restoration in Ezra 10

So chapter 10, now, when Ezra had prayed, when he had confessed, weeping, casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children, for the people wept very sore.

Now here is a lovely brother, I do like this man, and Shekiniah, he's one of those that just turns up on the page of Scripture, then he disappears. Turns up, disappears, but encourages the man of God in it.

Shekiniah, one of the sons of Elam, he answered and said unto Ezra, we have trespassed against our God, we have taken strange wives of the people of the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them according to the counsel of my Lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the law.

Arise, so he's encouraging Ezra, arise for this matter belongeth unto thee. We also will be with thee, be of good courage and do it. And so they make a proclamation, and that proclamation is made, and the people of God gather themselves together.

You'll notice from verse 9, it's all very atmospheric, isn't it? The people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and trembling for the great rain. And Ezra the priest stood up and said unto them, ye have transgressed, taken strange wives to increase the trespass of Israel.

Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. And all the congregation answered and said, as thou hast said, so must we do.

And the last verse, 113, guilty individuals are registered for us. In chapter 10, all these, verse 44, had taken strange wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children. Now that's the reading, those are the chapters, and we trust that God will add a blessing as he always does to the reading of his word.

Now I do want to make this introduction just a little bit shorter and briefer to what we did in Haggai. Just a word of apology, you might say, who is this man from England who dares just to lead two Bible readings for us with 15 minutes in between?

Well, I didn't dare and neither did I request, by the way, and in actual fact I'm wondering why I agreed, but I'm pretty tired. Nevertheless, you understand that we had to slightly reorganize the conference and the brethren who were able to come and so on, so it just so happened that two readings happened to fall to me, okay?

So I'm not trying to push myself forward or anything like that, and especially with Ezra 9 and 10, I'd rather be sat down with somebody else leading the Bible reading, but nevertheless, that's why I'm here.

Chronology and the Two Returns

Now very briefly, let's just talk about the chronology of the chapters. You've had this drummed into you, but you really need to get it straight in your mind, otherwise it doesn't really make as much sense as it should.

So we'll just talk about the chronology of the chapters. We've moved out of Ezra 1 to 6 and we're coming into 7 to 10. Remember, exactly there is a 58-year gap between Ezra 1 to 6 and Ezra 7 to 10. So a 60-year gap, and in that 60-year gap, remember that Haggai and Zechariah, they had to do with that first return, Ezra 1 to 6, and rebuilding the temple, but in that gap of 60 years, you find the book of Esther.

Now really good to read these things in a chronological order, and of course, Esther was during the reign of Xerxes or Ahasuerus, but now look at chapter 7 verse 1, Artaxerxes I, he is the king who is on the throne.

So there has been a 60-year gap between 1 to 6 and 7 to 10. Now bear this in mind as well, Ezra is going to minister for about 13 years until Nehemiah arrives. So when we come to Nehemiah tomorrow afternoon, Nehemiah is coming back to Jerusalem, that third wave of captives, and maybe just a handful with him, he is coming back to Jerusalem in either 445 or 444 BC, 13 years after Ezra returns.

So you're right in the middle now of these waves of captives that are coming back to Jerusalem. Now obviously, Ezra is selective, isn't he? And as he presents, and I agree that he's the penman of these books, as he presents his material, it's not an exhaustive record.

He is being selective and he is giving us lessons that we even in this day need to learn, spiritual lessons, when it comes to beautifying the testimony and the restoration of the house of God. Now having said that, I do want you to see some differences.

So we'll make a contrast and a comparison. That's the chronology of the chapters, but let's just make a contrast, but also a comparison between these sections. So Ezra 1 -6 primarily is dealing with a physical restoration of altar foundations.

But Ezra 7 -10 is much more interested in a spiritual reformation and a spiritual recovery of the people. So it's a little bit more physical in the opening chapters, it is more spiritual having to deal with a trespass in the latter chapters.

In the opening chapters 1 -6, Zerubbabel is the main man with Joshua. Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the high priest. In these latter chapters 7 -10, Ezra is the main man. And Ezra is a priest and he is also a scribe.

Ezra 1 -6, building the house. Ezra 7 -10, beautifying the house. John said this earlier, Ezra 1 -6, about 20 years, maybe 22 years. Ezra 7 -10, one year. That's all it is. So you've got the differences between the two.

Ezra 1 -6, a decree of Cyrus. Ezra 7 -10, a decree of Artaxerxes. But there are some similarities. So in Ezra 1 -6, you've got a chronicle and you've got a record of names and numbers that came back under the first exile or under the first return.

But Ezra 7 -10, and this time it's in chapter 8, you've got another record. More names, more numbers of folks who are coming back under the second return. The first return, about 50 ,000. The second return, maybe about 1 ,500 males.

You're heading up towards 5 ,000 or 6 ,000 or 7 ,000 when all the children and the servants and the females are added in and so on. So that's a contrast just between the sets of chapters 1 -6, 7 -10. Now the final thing I want to say is this.

Four Principles of Spiritual Restoration

Let me just talk to you very briefly about the content of these four chapters that we're going to speak about. I would suggest... Now I think possibly some people were very busy closing their Bibles and just sort of having a little drink of water at the end of Brother John's Bible reading.

Now there was a bit of gold there. That was, he called it, and I missed some of it, a road map to recovery. That was good. That was Ezra 1 -6. That's exactly what's happening in Ezra 7 -10. You've got a progression, if you like, of that road map to recovery.

And I suggest that in these four chapters, 7, 8, 9, and 10, there are four vital principles. And we're going to base the reading on these principles. There are four vital principles in the spiritual restoration and reformation of the people of God who are in the place of the name.

So let me say that again because that is what will make the practical application of this Bible reading, four vital principles, one that belongs to each chapter, four vital principles in the spiritual restoration, in the spiritual reinvigoration of the people of God who are in the place of the name.

So you say, what are these four principles? Well, here's the content of the chapters. Ezra 7 emphasizes the principle of Scripture, the Word of God. We're going to spend some time, and we're going to enjoy this, speaking about the man Ezra, this Ezra.

He is a ready scribe. As we've said already, the Word of God is at his fingertips. He is a man who is ready to teach the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given, chapter 7, verse 6. And because this was a man, a scribe, who was steeped in the Scriptures, that brought the good hand of the favor of God upon him and upon the people.

Isn't that remarkable? So there's principle number one. It is the principle you say, well, it's very dull. You're repeating yourself. Yes, and it needs to be repeated. It's the great principle of Scripture and the Word of God.

That will reinvigorate us for testimony in the place of the name. You say, what about chapter 8? Chapter 8, amongst other things, is about stewardship. Now you understand that Ezra wants to take a company back to Jerusalem, and he finds not one Levite in sight.

So there is no one who is going to be able to serve the house of God. And yet there's a man called Cherubiah. He was found. And ultimately 38 Levites were found to go back to Jerusalem, and we've spoken about why it was that they might not have wanted to go back.

But that too is about stewardship. It were Levites who had a responsibility before the Lord according to the Word of God. And some of them were not ready to live up to that responsibility. Stewardship.

That's challenging, isn't it? And there's a whole load more stewardship here in chapter 8 because, well, there was the silver and the gold and the vessels that the king had granted. And you say, well, I might be able to slip a candlestick into my pocket and no one will notice and I'll be rich when I get back to Jerusalem.

No, no. This is all about stewardship. There was weighted, or sorry, weighed unto them, the silver, the gold, the vessels, carefully counted out, guarded, weighed in, weighed out. Nothing will be lost.

It's all about stewardship. So that principle of stewardship will stand us in good stead today when we're laboring in the house of God. So these are the things I want to emphasize in the hour that we've got.

So Scripture, chapter 7. Stewardship, chapter 8. Chapter 9, you can't miss it. Supplication. How much do we need? And John has already said, if there's going to be revival, if we need revival, amongst the people of God, always begins in the sanctuary.

Always begins in the sanctuary. You say, but Brother Dan, there isn't one assembly gathering that's more important than another. Well, if Paul the Apostle was here, he'd say different. You know what he says in 1 Timothy 2, don't you?

He says, first of all, and he is not saying this is the first point of 15 points that I want to give you, Timothy. He says, first of all, primary importance. He says, prayer, supplication, intercession, giving of thanks be made for all men.

He seems to emphasize that when it comes to house of God, prayer is of primary importance. And when you get to Ezra, chapter 9, it's all about supplication. So we've got a problem of pollution. The pollution of mixed marriages.

And sadly, the leaders of the land, the princes and the rulers were chief in the trespass. And yet the chapter is not so much about their sin, the chapter is about the supplication of Ezra. And with a spirit of supplication, a shocked Ezra, he's astonished and he feels the weight of the word of God.

He confesses on behalf of his people. So scripture, 7, stewardship, 8, supplication, 9, separation, chapter 10. Now you can make all the applications that you like. I know it's in relation to divorce and marriage, and that will keep you awake till the end of the reading.

But the principle that we're going to bring out in Ezra, chapter 10, is the principle of separation. I love that man Shekeniah. He says there's hope. He says there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

And a covenant is made with God to put away all the strange wives, to put away the children that had been had by those strange wives. Unequal yokes were removed. And they were removed by a very careful and a very orderly investigation, and that included Ezra himself.

Now we didn't read some of those verses in chapter 10, but we're going to draw on the application of the principle of separation. So I'm almost done. That's the chronology of the chapters, the contrast between the chapters and the sections of Ezra.

The content of the chapters, that's what we'll be thinking about, 7, 8, 9, and 10. And then finally, can I just say please, the challenge of these chapters, if we haven't been challenged already, just go back to chapter 7 and look at verse 27.

"'Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart.'". This is a different king now, Artaxerxes. But what has he put in the king's heart? Well, to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem.

You see that word beautify? Normally, in the Old Testament, it's translated glorify. So it's been put in the king's heart to glorify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. If you're an assembly fellowship, you belong to house of God.

What's our responsibility? Well, our responsibility is to beautify that testimony. Our responsibility is to bring glory and honor to the one to whose name we meet. And you say, what glorifies, what beautifies the testimony?

Well, this is 1 Timothy 3. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. That's the great character of house of God today. It's beautified by godliness. And godliness should, must be seen amongst God's people.

So that's the great challenge of the chapters, isn't it? Are we glorifying the one to whom the house belongs? Are we in a fit spiritual state to contribute to its function? Now I'll sit down and maybe I'll just ask for some general overview comments about the book of Ezra, or at least about these last four chapters.

Then I'll say something briefly about chapter seven. And what I want to do, because we've got four chapters, we've got an hour. So what I want to do is I'll divide each chapter into its sections, and I'll maybe say something about one or two of the sections very briefly, but I want us please to focus our comments and focus our remarks on one particular section in the chapter, and I will highlight that section just as we come to it.

So, Brother Dan, just as an opening comment, one of the most interesting things about this King Artaxerxes actually occurs in chapter six. You read the verse to us in the former Bible reading. In chapter six and in verse number 15, verse number 14, it says, They built it, and they finished, this is the sanctuary, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.

Now that statement, at this point, Artaxerxes wasn't on the scene. Cyrus has been on the scene. We were introduced to Cyrus in chapter one, and then we were introduced to Darius when it came into chapter five and chapter six of this book.

Artaxerxes isn't upon the scene yet. But the statement is given there because, as you say, he's going to be used of the Lord to send this man, Ezra, back up to the land, and when this man, Ezra, goes back with the law of Moses in his hands to teach the people this glorification purpose or beautifying is going to occur, and so the three kings are linked together in one statement to show us that even though it's out of chronological order, it is stated in a scriptural order, a moral order, and a scriptural order to give us the purpose.

These three kings are linked to the beautifying of the nation. And the providence of God is linked to all of those three kings, isn't it? And the three letters they wrote and the commandments they wrote, so God is moving these great men, these great kings, absolutely.

This Ezra, we're given his genealogy here at the beginning of chapter seven. Interesting, okay, he's a priestly man, he can trace his genealogy through the likes of end of chapter two, or verse two there, the son of Zadok, and so on.

I find it interesting that the sons of Zadok will be linked later on with restoration in the millennial temple. So I'm drawing from that that when it comes to beautifying the house of God, it is priestly men that God will use, men who are accustomed to being in the sanctuary of God, God will use those men.

Very good.

And we've already spoken about that, haven't we? Go up to the mountain. We talked about men who are in the sanctuary of God. And lest anyone here, younger folks, think that, well, how do you attain to being a priestly man?

Well, we know, don't we, from the ministry of Peter and so on, that every single believer is a priest, and we are called holy priests, we're called royal priests. So we have a responsibility, first of all, to go in to the presence of God.

That's holy priesthood, to enjoy his presence, to seek his face. And then we have a responsibility as royal priests to go out to others and tell forth something of his glory. So we are all priests, but certainly this great man, Ezra, a priest, is going to be used in the restoration, yes, of the people.

Do you mind if I ask you a question with regard to that, or would you prefer to hold it until you've opened the chapter? If you don't mind, and I'll do that just now. Sure. Yeah, certainly. So let me just divide chapter seven, and I do want to focus on the opening verses.

So we'll just spend time looking at verses one to ten, where I think there's the most interesting statements to help us. But if I divide the chapter, and I think it might be on the sheet, I can't remember.

So verses one to ten, I've said the focus there is on an appointed man, and that man is Ezra, and he's going to be the focus, of course, of parts of Nehemiah, but also these latter chapters. Verses 11 to 26 is Artaxerxes' letter.

So that was the authority that Ezra was given to come back to Jerusalem, and with the various resources that he was given to. And then just at the end of the chapter, verses 27 and 28, he is giving his appreciation of praise for all that God has done in the heart of the king.

So let's just focus our comments, please, and attention on verses one to ten. You can just simply divide them into two, can't you? The first five verses, he's a priest, and that's his lineage. So here is a bona fide priest.

You'll notice that in chapter two of Ezra, there were some that couldn't prove their ancestry, not this man. So there's a fanfare, right? I know it's not obvious to us, but let me tell you, the trumpets are being blown.

Here is a man who can prove his lineage. Here is a man who absolutely is a priest. And so verses one to five, he's a priest. Then, verse six down to verse ten, the emphasis is on the fact that he is a scribe.

So he's first, listen, he's first a priest, and then he's a scribe. I think the order is important. As almost a hint, we've been talking about this, devotion to God must precede study and activity. As a scribe, he knows the Word of God.

As a priest, he knows the God of the Word. Now, what's more important? What's more important? Do you know, it's very sad. You can get to know this book inside out, cover to cover, academically, and yet not know the God who gave the Word.

Isn't that a shame? But Ezra, he had both. So he knew the Word of God. He was a scribe. And as a priest, he knew the God of the Word. Now, let's just say something then. Anything you like. And Brother John, if you want to bring in the priesthood, feel free, but I probably can't answer the question.

But let's just talk about Ezra in those opening verses. So I was just going to link to William's comment about the sons of Zadok. Because there had been failure in the priesthood up to this point. I'm referring back to the early chapters of 1 Samuel.

And there were men of God that were sent, actually, to Eli, and Eli and his sons, because of their sin, they were going to have the priesthood taken from them. But there was a godly line linked through Phinehas, and this man can trace his genealogy Phinehas and from the line of Phinehas then to the sons of Zadok, etc.

The point I'm driving at, Brother Dan, is this, that there had been faithfulness in a family line in former generations. And here this man, following on from faithfulness in a family line of former generations, it doesn't mean that he's not personally responsible.

But he is able to look back and see, in former times, even in my family, there have been men who have lived for God, served God, worshipped God, all of those things. Now I'm responsible to carry on the same way.

Now that's a very practical thing for us.

Well, godliness doesn't run in the blood. Yet, as parents, we would be responsible before God to set a godly example for a generation coming on.