Ezra 1 ~ that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit

Cyrus the Great

Ezra 1

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, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear
Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (called Caracalla)

Several Kings had promised to free the slaves......

gap between object and reflection reveal the presence..

Which is rather a funny story in and of itself. Because Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes kings of Persia had promised FREEDOM.

The Exile, or Second Exodus began March 19 597 B.C.. And is fully recorded in Babylonian History

Which takes takes us out of dry, dusty history and places us fairly, and squarely back into the realms of faith!!!

Tablets even record rations. For King Jeconiah

All that delayed time. These people were hanging about in slavery. Poverty. What was the fuss of prophecy versus time delay? THIS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE BIBLICALLY!!!

No, God does believe in HIS own timing. Abraham....... waited. And finally Abraham decided to ask God if he could adopt Lot, his nephew, as a son. Nope.

Sarah waited so long, she laughed when that started to roll about. And not Really a nice laugh at that.

And Isaiah waited.... seven hundred years.

And.... Many times God appears to say yes... and mankind waits and waits. And sometimes you even see Scripture seemingly saying there are several different aspects. In the middle of this Passage - God declares.....

Malachi 3

 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.[a] 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Robbing God

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer[b] for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

13 “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”

The Book of Remembrance

16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

How does God do that. Why do passages of the Word of God seem to poetically capitulate?

“For I the Lord do not change"

Well God, our Father, creator of all - uses all of willingly and unwillingly - to complete HIS Story. Ezra was a scribe. Before he led former slaves bravely through wilderness to a very destroyed and abandoned Jerusalem, he was only a scribe. A counter of religious law given a polite title of priest to an enslaved population. Between Nehemiah and Ezra, Ezra is remembered as rules, laws, rules, laws, rules, laws. Even a little constipated there. And unfortunately, threw out the Samaritans who later proved to be D.N.A. Children of Israel doing their level best to be remnants to the Temple of God. Sigh. We get a lot of things wrong.

How does God Capitulate? He is NOT. Does NOT. He gives consequences to disobedience. He explains the contrary nature of man. He looks for faith. Just like we look to our Parents for approval. Even adults do this. The exact nature of GOD was described in one word by a man who walked along side of Jesus in awe and wonder. LOVE.

Jesus understood the limited, selfish, and self-centered way we look upon HIM. Jesus saw the faith of the centurion just to a WORD of God and was completely pleased.

Jesus was probably rather saddened to say even a corrupt Judge is worn down by someone refusing to accept injustice.

How are we going to see God? As the prodigal Father running to us? God says the work He gives us is to believe in HIM. Surely He would rather have said. It is your priviledge to believe how deep, how wide, how high, is the Love I have for you.

This is Our Father. HE would save.... the world. 

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