Transcript Ezra and Nehemiah - GodsCharacter.com

Ezra and Nehemiah
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586 BC – Fall of Jerusalem
538 BC – Edict of Cyrus to return
520 BC – Haggai and Zechariah
Zerubbabel and Joshua
516 BC – Dedication of the sanctuary
480 BC – Esther
458 BC – Ezra arrives in Jerusalem
445 BC – Nehemiah
…..Malachi
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“The enemies of the people of Judah and
Benjamin heard that those who had
returned from exile were rebuilding the
Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel…
Then the people who had been living in the
land tried to discourage and frighten the
Jews and keep them from building. They
also bribed Persian government officials to
work against them. They kept on doing this
throughout the reign of Emperor Cyrus and
into the reign of Emperor Darius” (Ezra
4:1,4,5 – GN).
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“In the third year that Cyrus was emperor
of Persia…The angel said to me, ‘Daniel,
God loves you.’ Stand up and listen…The
angel prince of the kingdom of Persia
opposed me for twenty-one days. Then
Michael, one of the chief angels, came to
help me… Now I have to go back and fight
the guardian angel of Persia. After that the
guardian angel of Greece will appear. There
is no one to help me except Michael,
Israel’s guardian angel. He is responsible
for helping and defending me” (Daniel
10:1,11,13,20; 11:1 – GN).
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“…now the prince of this world will be
driven out” (John 12:31, NIV)
“…the prince of this world is coming”
(John 14:30, NIV)
“…the prince of this world now
stands condemned” (John 16:11,
NIV)
Michael
• “…Michael, one of the archangels” (Daniel
10:13 – NLT)
• “…the great angel Michael, who guards your
people, will appear.” (Daniel 12:1 – GN)
• “But even the archangel Michael, when he was
disputing with the devil about the body of
Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous
accusation against him, but said, ‘The Lord
rebuke you!’” (Jude 9 – NIV)
• “Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon, who fought back with his angels; but
the dragon was defeated, and he and his
angels were not allowed to stay in heaven any
longer.” (Revelation 12:7 – GN)
• “There will be the shout of command, the
archangel’s voice, the sound of God’s trumpet,
and the Lord himself will come down from
heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ
will rise to life first…” (1 Thessalonians 4:16 –
GN)
• “…the great angel Michael, who guards your
people, will appear…many of those who have
already died will live again…” (Daniel 12:1,2 –
GN)
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“The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and
those who hear it will come to life…the time is coming
when all the dead will hear his voice and come out of
their graves…” (John 5:25,28,29 – GN)
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“I have chosen a man who lives in the east;
I will bring him to attack from the north.”
(Isaiah 41:25 – GN)
“I say to Cyrus, ‘You are the one who will
rule for me; you will do what I want you to
do: you will order that Jerusalem be rebuilt
and that the foundations of the Temple be
laid.’ The LORD has chosen Cyrus to be
king. He has appointed him to conquer
nations; he sends him to strip kings of their
power; the LORD will open the gates of
cities for him.” (Isaiah 44:28-45:1 – GN)
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“The LORD said to him, ‘Your
descendants will be strangers in a
foreign land; they will be slaves
there and will be treated cruelly for
four hundred years.’” (Genesis 15:13
– GN)
• “When you help the Hebrew women give
birth…kill the baby if it is a boy…”
(Exodus 1:16 – GN)
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Daniel 70 year prophecy:
• “He gave orders to kill all the boys in
Bethlehem and its neighborhood who
were two years old and younger…”
(Matthew 2:16 – GN)
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“Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan has
received permission to test all of
you, to separate the good from the
bad, as a farmer separates the
wheat from the chaff. But I have
prayed for you, Simon, that your
faith will not fail. And when you turn
back to me, you must strengthen
your brothers” (Luke 22:31,32 – GN)
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“Put on all the armor that God gives
you, so that you will be able to stand
up against the Devil's evil tricks. For
we are not fighting against human
beings but against the wicked
spiritual forces in the heavenly world,
the rulers, authorities, and cosmic
powers of this dark age.” (Ephesians
6:11,12 – GN)
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“In the first year that Cyrus of Persia was emperor, the
LORD made what he had said through the prophet
Jeremiah come true. He prompted Cyrus to issue the
following command and send it out in writing to be read
aloud everywhere in his empire: ‘This is the command of
Cyrus, Emperor of Persia. The LORD, the God of
Heaven, has made me ruler over the whole world and
has given me the responsibility of building a temple for
him in Jerusalem in Judah. May God be with all of you
who are his people. You are to go to Jerusalem and
rebuild the Temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the
God who is worshiped in Jerusalem. If any of his people
in exile need help to return, their neighbors are to give
them this help. They are to provide them with silver and
gold, supplies and pack animals, as well as offerings to
present in the Temple of God in Jerusalem.’ Then the
heads of the clans of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin,
the priests and Levites, and everyone else whose heart
God had moved got ready to go and rebuild the LORD's
Temple in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:1-5 – GN)
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“The total number of exiles who
returned 42,360” (Ezra 2:64 – GN)
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“Many years later, when Artaxerxes was emperor
of Persia, there was a man named Ezra.” (Ezra
7:1 – GN)
“Ezra was a scholar with a thorough knowledge of
the Law which the LORD, the God of Israel, had
given to Moses. Because Ezra had the blessing of
the LORD his God, the emperor gave him
everything he asked for. In the seventh year of
the reign of Artaxerxes [457 BC], Ezra set out
from Babylonia for Jerusalem with a group of
Israelites which included priests, Levites, Temple
musicians, Temple guards, and workers.” (Ezra
7:1 – GN)
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“On the first day of that month they all assembled in
Jerusalem, in the square just inside the Water Gate.
They asked Ezra, the priest and scholar of the Law
which the LORD had given Israel through Moses, to get
the book of the Law. So Ezra brought it to the place
where the people had gathered---men, women, and
the children who were old enough to understand. There
in the square by the gate he read the Law to them
from dawn until noon, and they all listened attentively.
Ezra was standing on a wooden platform that had been
built for the occasion…As Ezra stood there on the
platform high above the people, they all kept their eyes
fixed on him. As soon as he opened the book, they all
stood up. Ezra said, ‘Praise the LORD, the great God!’
All the people raised their arms in the air and
answered, ‘Amen! Amen!’ They knelt in worship, with
their faces to the ground. Then they rose and stood in
their places, and the following Levites explained the
Law to them...
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“They gave an oral translation of God’s Law and
explained it so that the people could understand it.
When the people heard what the Law required, they
were so moved that they began to cry. So Nehemiah,
who was the governor, Ezra, the priest and scholar of
the Law, and the Levites who were explaining the Law
told all the people, ‘This day is holy to the LORD your
God, so you are not to mourn or cry. Now go home
and have a feast. Share your food and wine with
those who don't have enough. Today is holy to our
Lord, so don’t be sad. The joy that the LORD gives
you will make you strong.’ The Levites went around
calming the people and telling them not to be sad on
such a holy day. So all the people went home and ate
and drank joyfully and shared what they had with
others, because they understood what had been read
to them.” (Nehemiah 8:1-12 – GN)
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“This means that every time you eat
this bread and drink from this cup
you proclaim the Lord’s death until
he comes…For if you do not
recognize the meaning of the Lord’s
body when you eat the bread and
drink from the cup, you bring
judgment on yourself as you eat and
drink.” (1 Corinthians 11:29 – GN)
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“On that same day two of Jesus' followers were
going to a village named Emmaus, about seven
miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking to
each other about all the things that had happened.
As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew
near and walked along with them; they saw him,
but somehow did not recognize him. Jesus said to
them, ‘What are you talking about to each other,
as you walk along?’ They stood still, with sad
faces. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him,
‘Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t
know the things that have been happening there
these last few days?’ ‘What things?’ he asked. ‘The
things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,’ they
answered.
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‘This man was a prophet and was considered by
God and by all the people to be powerful in
everything he said and did. Our chief priests and
rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death,
and he was crucified. And we had hoped that he
would be the one who was going to set Israel
free! Besides all that, this is now the third day
since it happened. Some of the women of our
group surprised us; they went at dawn to the
tomb, but could not find his body. They came
back saying they had seen a vision of angels who
told them that he is alive. Some of our group
went to the tomb and found it exactly as the
women had said, but they did not see him.’
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“Then Jesus said to them, ‘How foolish you are, how slow you
are to believe everything the prophets said! Was it not
necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to
enter his glory?’ And Jesus explained to them what was said
about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of
Moses and the writings of all the prophets. As they came near
the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were
going farther; but they held him back, saying, ‘Stay with us;
the day is almost over and it is getting dark.’ So he went in to
stay with them. He sat down to eat with them, took the bread,
and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to
them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other,
‘Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the
road and explained the Scriptures to us?’ They got up at once
and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven
disciples gathered together with the others and saying, ‘The
Lord is risen indeed!’” (Luke 24:13-34 – GN)
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“…some of the leaders of the people of Israel came and told
me that the people, the priests, and the Levites had not kept
themselves separate from the people in the neighboring
countries of Ammon, Moab, and Egypt or from the
Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Amorites. They
were doing the same disgusting things which these people
did. Jewish men were marrying foreign women, and so God's
holy people had become contaminated. The leaders and
officials were the chief offenders. When I heard this, I tore
my clothes in despair, tore my hair and my beard, and sat
down crushed with grief. I sat there grieving until the time for
the evening sacrifice to be offered, and people began to
gather around me---all those who were frightened because of
what the God of Israel had said about the sins of those who
had returned from exile. When the time came for the evening
sacrifice, I got up from where I had been grieving, and still
wearing my torn clothes, I knelt in prayer and stretched out
my hands to the LORD my God. I said, ‘O God, I am too
ashamed to raise my head in your presence. Our sins pile up
higher than our heads; they reach as high as the heavens.
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“From the days of our ancestors until now, we, your people, have
sinned greatly. Because of our sins we, our kings, and our priests
have fallen into the hands of foreign kings, and we have been
slaughtered, robbed, and carried away as prisoners. We have been
totally disgraced, as we still are today. Now for a short time, O
LORD our God, you have been gracious to us and have let some of
us escape from slavery and live in safety in this holy place. You
have let us escape from slavery and have given us new life. We
were slaves, but you did not leave us in slavery. You made the
emperors of Persia favor us and permit us to go on living and to
rebuild your Temple, which was in ruins, and to find safety here in
Judah and Jerusalem. But now, O God, what can we say after all
that has happened? We have again disobeyed the commands that
you gave us through your servants, the prophets. They told us that
the land we were going to occupy was an impure land because the
people who lived in it filled it from one end to the other with
disgusting, filthy actions. They told us that we were never to
intermarry with those people and never to help them prosper or
succeed if we wanted to enjoy the land and pass it on to our
descendants forever. …Then how can we ignore your
commandments again and intermarry with these wicked people?’”
(Ezra 9:1-15 – GN)
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“While Ezra was bowing in prayer in front of the
Temple, weeping and confessing these sins, a
large group of Israelites---men, women, and
children---gathered around him, weeping bitterly.
Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the clan of Elam,
said to Ezra, ‘We have broken faith with God by
marrying foreign women, but even so there is
still hope for Israel. Now we must make a solemn
promise to our God that we will send these
women and their children away. We will do what
you and the others who honor God’s commands
advise us to do. We will do what God’s Law
demands.’” (Ezra 10:1-3 – GN)
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“A message was sent throughout Jerusalem and Judah that all
those who had returned from exile were to meet in Jerusalem
by order of the leaders of the people. If any failed to come
within three days, all their property would be confiscated, and
they would lose their right to be members of the community.
Within the three days, on the twentieth day of the ninth
month, all the men living in the territory of Judah and
Benjamin came to Jerusalem and assembled in the Temple
square. It was raining hard, and because of the weather and
the importance of the meeting everyone was trembling. Ezra
the priest stood up and spoke to them. He said, ‘You have
been faithless and have brought guilt on Israel by marrying
foreign women. Now then, confess your sins to the LORD, the
God of your ancestors, and do what pleases him. Separate
yourselves from the foreigners living in our land and get rid of
your foreign wives.’ The people shouted in answer, ‘We will do
whatever you say.’” (Ezra 10:7-12 – GN)
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“This is the list of the men who had
foreign wives:” (Ezra 10:18 – GN)
“All these men had foreign wives.
They divorced them and sent them
and their children away.” (Ezra 10:44
– GN)
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“Listen now to my prayer and to the prayers of all your
other servants who want to honor you. Give me success
today and make the emperor merciful to me.’ In those
days I was the emperor's wine steward. One day four
months later, when Emperor Artaxerxes was dining, I
took the wine to him. He had never seen me look sad
before, so he asked, ‘Why are you looking so sad? You
aren’t sick, so it must be that you're unhappy.’ I was
startled and answered, ‘May Your Majesty live forever!
How can I keep from looking sad when the city where
my ancestors are buried is in ruins and its gates have
been destroyed by fire?’ The emperor asked, ‘What is it
that you want?’ I prayed to the God of Heaven, and
then I said to the emperor, ‘If Your Majesty is pleased
with me and is willing to grant my request, let me go to
the land of Judah, to the city where my ancestors are
buried, so that I can rebuild the city.’” (Nehemiah 1:11,
2:1-5 – GN)
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“At that time I saw people in Judah pressing juice from
grapes on the Sabbath. Others were loading grain, wine,
grapes, figs, and other things on their donkeys and taking
them into Jerusalem; I warned them not to sell anything on
the Sabbath. Some people from the city of Tyre were living in
Jerusalem, and they brought fish and all kinds of goods into
the city to sell to our people on the Sabbath. I reprimanded
the Jewish leaders and told them, ‘Look at the evil you’re
doing! You’re making the Sabbath unholy. This is exactly why
God punished your ancestors when he brought destruction on
this city. And yet you insist on bringing more of God’s anger
down on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.’ So I gave orders
for the city gates to be shut at the beginning of every
Sabbath, as soon as evening began to fall, and not to be
opened again until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of
my men at the gates to make sure that nothing was brought
into the city on the Sabbath. Once or twice merchants who
sold all kinds of goods spent Friday night outside the city
walls. I warned them, ‘It’s no use waiting out there for
morning to come. If you try this again, I’ll use force on you.’
From then on they did not come back on the Sabbath. I
ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to go and guard
the gates to make sure that the Sabbath was kept holy….
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“At that time I also discovered that many of the
Jewish men had married women from Ashdod,
Ammon, and Moab. Half of their children spoke
the language of Ashdod or some other language
and didn’t know how to speak our language. I
reprimanded the men, called down curses on
them, beat them, and pulled out their hair. Then I
made them take an oath in God’s name that
never again would they or their children
intermarry with foreigners. I told them, ‘It was
foreign women that made King Solomon sin...’”
(Nehemiah 13:15-26 – GN)
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“And now I give you a new
commandment: love one another. As
I have loved you, so you must love
one another. If you have love for one
another, then everyone will know
that you are my disciples.” (John
13:34-35 – GN)
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“Do not commit murder.” (Exodus 20:13 –
GN)
“Do not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14
– GN)
“Do not desire…” (Exodus 20:17 – GN)
“Observe the Sabbath…” (Exodus 20:8 –
GN)
• “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your
own interests on that day, but enjoy the
Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the
Lord’s holy day.” (Isaiah 58:13 – NLT)
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“And now we will make human beings; they will be like us
and resemble us…So God created human beings making
them to be like himself.” (Gen. 1:26,27 – GN)
• “God spoke: ‘Let us make human beings in our image, make
them reflecting our nature. So they can be responsible for the
fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth
itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.’ God
created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting
God’s nature…” (The Message)
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“When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon
and the stars, which you set in their places--- what are
human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals, that
you care for them? Yet you made them inferior only to
yourself; you crowned them with glory and honor.” (Psalms
8:3-5 – GN)
“So the heavens and the earth and everything else were
created. By the seventh day God had finished his work, and
so he rested. God blessed the seventh day and made it
special because on that day he rested from his work.”
(Genesis 2:1-3 – CEV)
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“Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy, as I, the
LORD your God, have commanded you. You have
six days in which to do your work, but the
seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On
that day no one is to work---neither you, your
children, your slaves, your animals, nor the
foreigners who live in your country. Your slaves
must rest just as you do. Remember that you
were slaves in Egypt, and that I, the LORD your
God, rescued you by my great power and
strength. That is why I command you to observe
the Sabbath.” (Deuteronomy 5:12-15)
• “I made the keeping of the Sabbath a sign of the
agreement between us, to remind them that I, the
LORD, make them holy.” (Ezekiel 20:12)
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“Then the Jews, since it was the day
of Sabbath preparation, and so the
bodies wouldn’t stay on the crosses
over the Sabbath (it was a high holy
day that year), petitioned Pilate that
their legs be broken to speed death,
and the bodies taken down.” (John
19:31 – The Message).