Unit 1: Liberating Passover (Pesach)
Key Verse:
Ezra 6:16 NLT
16 The Temple of God was then dedicated with great joy by the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the people who had returned from exile.
When God is your All in All, worship is everything…
What you need to know
Four deportations (the exile to Babylon):
605 BC: Jehoiakim surrenders to Nebuchadnezzar and is forced to pay tribute. Selected royalty and state officials including Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are taken away to Babylon. This is the first exile. Daniel 1:1-7
598 BC - 597 BC: Jerusalem beseiged by Nebuchadnezzar. Jehoiakim killed. His son and successor, Jehoiachin reigned for three months, then was carried into exile into Babylon. This was the second deportation to Babylon. 2 Chronicles 36:6-11
587 BC - 586 BC: King Zedekiah was executed by Nebuchannezer and the third deportation to Babylon occurs. The Temple is razed. 2 Kings 25
582 BC: The fourth and final deportation occurs as a result of the murder of the acting Governor of the province, Gedaliah. Jeremiah 41- 43
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Four returns: (The return from Babylon)
539 BC: Babylon is defeated by Persia under King Cyrus. Isaiah 48:14
538 BC: The first and second returns to Judah occur under Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel respectively by order of King Cyrus of Persia. Ezra 1:8, Ezra 2:2
537 BC: Rebuilding of the altar and laying of the foundations of the Second Temple (Ezra 3:10)
537 BC: Temporary cessation of work on the Second Temple due to interference by Israel’s enemies Ezra 4
520 BC: Resumption of work on the Second Temple during the reign of King Darius of Persia. Ezra 4:24–6:14
516 BC: The rebuilding of the Temple is complete during the reign of King Darius of Persia. Ezra 6:15
458 BC: Ezra leads the third return of exiles to Judah during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia. Ezra 7- 8
445 BC: Nehemiah leads the fourth (last) return of exiles to Judah during the rule of King Artaxerxes of Persia. Nehemiah 1-2
445 BC: Repair of the wall completed in 52 days in that same year and subsequently dedicated afterward. Nehemiah 6 through 13 during the rule of King Artaxerxes of Persia.
Prelude
Ezra 6:6-8 NLT
6 So King Darius sent this message:
“Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates River,[b] and Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues and other officials west of the Euphrates River—stay away from there! 7 Do not disturb the construction of the Temple of God. Let it be rebuilt on its original site, and do not hinder the governor of Judah and the elders of the Jews in their work.
8 “Moreover, I hereby decree that you are to help these elders of the Jews as they rebuild this Temple of God. You must pay the full construction costs, without delay, from my taxes collected in the province west of the Euphrates River so that the work will not be interrupted.
To briefly recap last week's lesson, King Darius issued a decree providing Tattenai, the then-governor of the Trans-Euphrates region detailed instructions on the support of the effort of the Jews toward the completion of the building of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. With the decree in hand and the weight of the consequences of failure as motivation, Tattenai and his governors returned to Jerusalem. That is where we begin this week’s lesson.
The Lesson
Ezra 6:13 NLT
13 Tattenai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues complied at once with the command of King Darius.
As stated above, Tattenai and his governors, now armed with clear, concise instruction from the king, made haste to comply with all that the king commanded. Darius’ edict had the effect of liberating the governor from the weight of making a wrong choice. The recovery of the original edict from Cyrus plus Darius’ decree made it clear that the full authority of the kingdom of Persia was behind the rebuilding of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. It was an imperative of the Kingdom.
Ezra 6:14-15 NLT
14 So the Jewish elders continued their work, and they were greatly encouraged by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo. The Temple was finally finished, as had been commanded by the God of Israel and decreed by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, the kings of Persia. 15 The Temple was completed on March 12,[a] during the sixth year of King Darius’s reign.
And so, with the blessing of the king and the continued encouragement from the men of God sent to preach the Word of God to them, the Jews completed the work of rebuilding the Temple. According to scripture, all of this was due to the edicts of three kings, Cyrus, Darius, and at a much later date, Artaxerxes. The writer here (Ezra) conflates two different completion narratives here: the completion of the Temple at Jerusalem in 516 BC under the leadership of Zerubbabel (a messianic figure) and the completion of the wall of Jerusalem some seventy-one years later in 445 BC under the leadership of Nehemiah, recorded in the Book of Nehemiah, with the completion and associated celebration recorded in chapter 10. Let me park here for a moment…
The events surrounding the rebuilding and dedication of the Temple happened well before Ezra was born. Seventy years after the dedication of the Temple, Ezra journeyed to Jerusalem in order to bring… revival. Apparently, over time, the Temple had fallen into a state of disrepair. Ezra’s mission was to restore the Temple to a state of beauty and to bolster and revive worship throughout Israel. However, over time, Ezra hit a dry spell. It would be thirteen years before Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and assist in a third revival of real worship in Israel.
Ezra’s despair at what he encountered upon his return is evident in the tone of his writing in chapters nine and ten. What Ezra encountered must have been a post-apocalyptic, dystopian nightmare where the Jews who had returned from the exile were still living amongst the rubble of a city and land that had been razed some one hundred and forty years earlier by King Nebuchadnezzar. I am reminded of a movie some years back; “The Book of Eli”, where the title character, played by Denzel Washington, happens upon a post-apocalyptic city, whose inhabitants cannot regain a foothold on civilization because of the barbarism that has beset the land. Jerusalem must have been something like that when Ezra returned. It took the combined effort and leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah to eventually bring about the complete revival and restoration of Israel as a civilized, fully functioning entity. The completion and rededication of the wall represent the rebuilding and restoration of the infrastructure required to make Israel a thriving, modern nation. Current world events surrounding the destruction of the country of Ukraine paint a picture of what could occur if, in the aftermath of the crimes being committed against the Ukrainian people by the ruthless dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin, the world does not assist in the rebuilding of the nation. The people of Ukraine would be forced to subsist amongst the rubble and destruction. These were the conditions that Ezra returned to. His conflation of the events surrounding the edicts of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes reflects his gratitude to King Artaxerxes and to God for being a vehicle for, and a witness to the eventual restoration of the nation of Israel. Back to the lesson…
Ezra 6:16 NLT
16 The Temple of God was then dedicated with great joy by the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the people who had returned from exile.
Truly this was a wondrous time. It had been seventy years since God’s people had been able to properly worship in the Temple of God. Seventy years! In fact, the Jewish exiles had been back in Israel proper and Judah for twenty years, but their attempts to complete the rebuilding of the Temple had been frustrated in that period of time. It had only been in the last four years under the leadership and authority of King Darius that the Jews had been able to bring the effort to completion. So much blood, sweat, and tears were infused in the rebuilding of the Temple. This day was the culmination of the hopes, dreams, prayers, and prophecies of so many who had gone on before this day. It’s no wonder that there was this eruption of joy and celebration amongst all of Israel on this wonderful day!
Ezra 6:17 NLT
17 During the dedication ceremony for the Temple of God, 100 young bulls, 200 rams, and 400 male lambs were sacrificed. And 12 male goats were presented as a sin offering for the twelve tribes of Israel.
The dedication of the Temple included the sacrifice of some seven hundred animals: bulls, rams, and lambs. The magnitude of this offering is comparable to the offering of one thousand burnt offerings that were made during the dedication of the first Temple constructed under Solomon’s reign. Considering the poverty of the people of the area at the time and the fact that they were not self-governed, but rather, a vassal-state to the Persian empire, the magnitude and effort cannot be overstated. Truly, it is indicative of the willingness of the people of Israel to give all that they had in worship to God. And, according to scripture, they gave…cheerfully! Selah!
Additionally, during the dedication, twelve male goats were offered. They were offered on behalf of all of the twelve tribes of Israel. In effect, the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin along with the Levites who served in the Temple which made up the nation of Judah before the exile to Babylon, plus the ten tribes that made up the northern kingdom of Israel, also known as the region of Samaria in that day. According to scripture, when the Assyrians exiled the northern kingdom, their tactic was to export the inhabitants to foreign territories and import foreign captives into the territory. This contributed to the corruption of religious practices in Israel and the dilution of the strength of Israel’s Jewish culture. The offering of the twelve lambs served as an official act of legally re-incorporating all of the territories of Samaria and Judah under the God of Heaven as one nation and one people: Israel!
2 Kings 17:24-29 NLT
24 The king of Assyria transported groups of people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and resettled them in the towns of Samaria, replacing the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns. 25 But since these foreign settlers did not worship the Lord when they first arrived, the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
26 So a message was sent to the king of Assyria: “The people you have sent to live in the towns of Samaria do not know the religious customs of the God of the land. He has sent lions among them to destroy them because they have not worshiped him correctly.”
27 The king of Assyria then commanded, “Send one of the exiled priests back to Samaria. Let him live there and teach the new residents the religious customs of the God of the land.” 28 So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria returned to Bethel and taught the new residents how to worship the Lord.
29 But these various groups of foreigners also continued to worship their own gods. In town after town where they lived, they placed their idols at the pagan shrines that the people of Samaria had built.
While there is clear evidence that the Jewish exiles from Babylon were originally from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, the evidence for the return of the ten northern tribes is less clear. What is known is that in the region of Samaria there remained a remnant of Jews, the poorest or least of each tribe that remained in the land, but that the Assyrian king transplanted vast numbers of foreigners in the cities of Samaria. It was all of these peoples, both Jews and Gentiles who were being incorporated into the once and future nation of Israel.
Ezra 6:18 NLT
18 Then the priests and Levites were divided into their various divisions to serve at the Temple of God in Jerusalem, as prescribed in the Book of Moses.
It was pointed out to me today that the work of the king is to rebuild, but it is the task of the priest to cleanse; to consecrate a place and a people unto God. This was the task before this newly ordained order of priests; to cleanse and consecrate an entire nation of people from diverse backgrounds and places of origin unto God. Pay attention…
Ezra 6:19-20 NLT
19 On April 21[b] the returned exiles celebrated Passover. 20 The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were ceremonially clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves.
A month after the dedication of the Temple, the celebration of Passover (Pesach) was observed. This would have been the first Passover celebration in the newly dedicated Temple. In fact, it would have been the first Passover celebration since the fall of Judah seventy years before. This would have been a very special ceremony, in that it served both as a commemoration of the Exodus of the children of Israel from the slavery in Egypt, as well as a commemoration of the return from Babylon of the Jewish exiles. What then, has transpired is a now, month-long celebration in the after-glow of the dedication ceremony the previous month. Much like what we experience here in America in the space of time from October to January each year, this would have been a time of rest and fellowship that served to refresh and restore the hearts, the souls of all of the people in the region. A time of joy.
Ezra 6:21 NLT
21 The Passover meal was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile and by the others in the land who had turned from their corrupt practices to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.
And now, after the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, it is time for fellowship. This isn’t just any ordinary fellowship. This is the Passover meal; the actual remembrance of the meal eaten by the Hebrew slaves as they awaited the passing of the Angel of Death over Egypt, as well as a foreshadowing of communion, the meal instituted by Christ, whereby Christians share in the remembrance of the broken body and the spilled blood of Jesus, which brought us into covenant with the living God and provided eternal peace with God for all who hold to His great Name: Jesus!
Of special note are the participants in this first Passover meal celebrated in the newly incorporated nation of Israel. There were the Jews who returned from the Babylonian exile and… anybody else, including gentiles who were willing to turn away from idolatry and the worship of foreign gods to come to the knowledge and worship of, and the service to the true and living God of Israel: God Almighty! This is so emblematic of the nature of the Church to come, where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or free, male or female… you know where this goes. This is a real foreshadowing of the Church, where we are all made one in Christ, Jesus, our Lord.! Selah!
Ezra 6:22 NLT
22 Then they celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. There was great joy throughout the land because the Lord had caused the king of Assyria[c] to be favorable to them, so that he helped them to rebuild the Temple of God, the God of Israel.
The entire nation carried on in celebration, folding the Passover celebration into the observance of the Festival of Unleavened Bread according to the Law of Moses. This celebration commemorated the crossing through the Red Sea, another foreshadowing of the spiritual experience that Christians incur as they pass through the spiritual birth canal and become born-again believers through faith in Christ. Hmmm… The Red Sea… Hmmm… The beauty of the born-again experience is that there is no going back into the womb. You don’t get born again over and over. It only happens once. God makes it eternal. Hallelujah!
Thought to Remember: God’s people live in joyous and celebratory hope!
Selah!
wb
Let us remember the people of Ukraine in their time of suffering. What we are observing is cruelty beyond measure by an evil, psychopathic, narcissistic, authoritarian dictator in Vladimir Putin, who is committing genocide against the Ukrainian people. There is no excuse for his behavior in a civilized world. Yet, his behavior mirrors that of so many nations and leaders throughout history, including our own. May we repent for the cruelty suffered by others with our consent in the name of patriotism, or capitalism, or even… Christianity! May we reconsider many of the political positions we embrace for the sake of maintaining our own creature comforts. And may we continue to pray for oppressed people around the world: in Ukraine, Sudan, China, et all,... And we pray that Jesus strengthens us to face every challenge that we encounter and finally, pray for the Lord’s soon return. Watch! Fight and Pray!
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