Ezra 7 and 8
Some years after the first of the Jewish captives left Babylon to rebuild the House of God in Jerusalem, another large company made ready to go there, so they, too, could help with the work, and could keep the feasts and the laws of God to them.
The leader was a man named Ezra, who had asked the consent of the king for all who wished to go with him. Ezra was one who read and copied the Scriptures, and who prized them very much, and wanted the people to know them. He was called a scribe.
It was the first day of the year that these men with their families and supplies left Babylon, and they came to the bank of a river where they pitched their tents.
It would be a long, hard journey to Jerusalem, across rivers and wild lands, over hills and through woods, so they would be several months on the way, and they knew that often, rough men hid by the way to rob travelers.
Besides their own things, these people had with them very much gold and silver given by the king to use in the House of God.
Usually soldiers would be sent to guard such valuable loads; but Ezra had not asked for soldiers; instead, all the company stayed three days by the river and prayed to God to direct them the right way, that the treasures and also their children would be kept safe. After that they started on the way.
The first day of the fifth month they arrived safe in Jerusalem, so they were four months on the journey.
The treasures were given to the men in the temple, who must have been thankful as Ezra had been, for the gold to make the temple more beautiful (Ezra 7:27). How it must have cheered the workers in the temple to have more help for the work.
Ezra taught them the Scriptures and prayed for them, and told them the wrong of making friends and marriages with the people who worshiped idols, who would cause them to forget the Lord. Ezra was a priest as well as a scribe, for he was of the family of Aaron, who were men chosen by God to offer sacrifices.
The account of Ezra shows us that God kept the scriptures safe even in Babylon, and watched over His people in times of danger. You can find the number of men in this company (Ezra 8:1-21).
What kind of dishes, valuable then as gold, were carried for the temple? (Ezra 8:27).
Since the death of the Lord Jesus, those who wish to honor God are not to sacrifice animals to Him, nor to take gold for a House for Him. But they have, the same scriptures, with more added, teach them of His glory and righteousness, which the gold represented.
Later, another man came to help in Jerusalem, and his work will be of interest to us also.
ML 12/03/1939