The book is named Ezra, but we don’t meet him in chapter one. Instead, we meet a man very important to Jewish history, but he barely gets any mention. That man is Sheshbazzar.
Sheshbazzar is described as the “prince of Judah.” (Ezra 1:8) We don’t know what that means. Was he truly a prince of some sort? Maybe. Most likely it simply meant that he was the chief or leader. Outside of Ezra 1 the only other time he shows up in scripture is Ezra 5:14. There he is described as a “governor” overseeing the construction of the foundation of the temple. Whatever the case, Sheshbazzar carried a heavy responsibility.
We have to remember back several decades to the time when the Babylonian Empire conquered Jerusalem. That was the year 597. The southern kingdom of Judah was the only remaining remnant of the nation ruled by kings David and Solomon centuries earlier. Several empires and come and gone threatening the tiny nation. It was often a vassal state or puppet kingdom, but it had always managed some bit of independence. It was ruled by a descendent of David and the temple still stood.
But then it was finally conquered by the Babylonians. The didn’t destroy it initially though. They captured the king, King Jehoiachin, and deported him along with the leading citizens to Babylon. They also carried off all the treasures and all the holy vessels and tools used in the temple. Things looked bleak, but the city still stood. The temple still stood. And the Babylonians appointed a new king, who was still in the blood line of David. The prophet Jeremiah encouraged the king and the remaining Jewish people to accept being dominated by the Babylonians. But they didn’t. Ten years later they rebelled. The Babylonian forces returned. And this time they burnt and destroyed the city and its temple. The leader they appointed was not in the line of David.
All was lost. God had promised that there would always be a king in the blood line of David ruling the Jews, and that the temple building would stand forever. Both of those promises had failed.
Now what?
Some Jews remained in the rubble. Many moved to Egypt. Some went to Babylon. I think it is safe to say it was the darkest time in all of Jewish history.
But the prophet Jeremiah had predicted there would be a restoration, that God would raise up a remnant and start again. Jeremiah said they would be subjected to the Babylonians for seventy years.
Jeremiah’s prediction was correct, although his timing was a bit off. It was sixty years later that the vast and powerful Babylonian Empire collapsed. The Persians conquered it. King Cyrus of Persia allows the Jews in exile in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. That’s where the book of Ezra begins.
Ezra quotes Cyrus as saying, “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 in Judah.” (Ezra 1:2) That’s probably more flourish than fact, for Cyrus’ religious views are complex. Elsewhere Cyrus said that Marduk, the god of Babylon, had chosen him and declared him to be ruler of all the world. Whatever the case, Cyrus knew how to establish control across his new empire. If there was a discontent Jewish population exiled in Babylon, and they wanted to return to their homeland, which was also controlled by Cyrus, then he was more than willing to let them do that. Many ancient empires ran that way.
So that brings us to Sheshbazzar. He is charged with leading the Jews who want to return, back to Jerusalem. They can rebuild the city and the temple. Remember those holy temple objects the Babylonians carted off in 597? They are entrusted to Sheshbazzar to take back.
How precious those object must have been to them! They were the only objects linking the past, with all of its promises from God, to the present and future. The temple was gone, but these old artifacts could return to service in the rebuilt temple.
But Sheshbazzar’s task was hardly limited to just that. Jerusalem is 500 miles from Babylon as the crow flies. The normal route of the time is some 900 miles. How do you lead thousands of people and all their belongings safely over such a distance?
We’re not going to read it in worship, but Ezra 2 gives us a list of the families and tribes that returned. I encourage you to read it at home sometime between this week and next. The whole company numbered 42,360. Moving so many is quite a logistical task!
And there are more complications. Not all of the Jews who had been deported to Babylon wanted to return. Remember, they had been there for 60 years. Almost none of the original exiles were still alive. A couple generations had gone by. Though their religious leaders had encouraged them to remain distinct and separate from the Babylonians, many of them had settled in and embraced life in Babylon. There were certainly intermarriages. The name Sheshbazzar is actually not a Jewish name. It is a Babylonian name referring to the god Shamash. How do you lead a people to their homeland and the restoration of their religion when you yourself are named after a foreign god?
So, only those who want to leave their established life in Babylon to return to the barren and abandoned place of Jerusalem actually follow Sheshbazzar on the (probably) 900 mile journey back.
How would you handle that? Would you pick up and leave an established life in order to go on an arduous journey to a barren place, as see it as a religious task? The story in the book of Ezra is one where God works through both national leaders, like King Cyrus of Persia, and the hearts of ordinary people, in order to bring about God’s will. We see this same idea at work in what St. Paul wrote to the church in Philippi centuries later. He wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Said differently, it is God’s inspiration and direction within us, yet also allowing our own freedom, to do God’s work… or not.
Carrying this challenge and promise from God was Sheshbazzar.
Biblical scholar Ralph Klein makes this interesting observation about him:
“Sheshbazzar, the leader of this returning group, was no Moses. Whether appointed by the king or elected by the people, he had achieved leadership and responsibility. He was the person responsible for receiving the temple vessels and carrying them home, and his tasks included initial work on the temple. But Sheshbazzar never makes a speech in the Bible, apparently delivered no law or performed any miracle. We do not even know how his career ended. And yet, without him, would the community in Judah have ever restarted at all? Such nondescript leadership is often significant for the people of God today. Each week Christians gather in congregations across the land, without fanfare or public notice, and then go forth into ministry in daily life to turn the other cheek, to care for the lonely and the marginalized, to forgive as they have been forgiven, to love their enemies.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 3, Pg. 681)
That is what we learn from the work of Sheshbazzar. He had no extraordinary powers. He did nothing new or innovative. He did not try to leave his mark or do anything spectacular. He simply heard the call of God, accepted the enormous task and responsibility, and went steadily forward with it.
I’ve preached this many times before, and Sheshbazzar is another example of it. Do not think you have to be famous, rich, powerful, or remarkable in any way in order for God to do important things through you. It simply takes acceptance and perseverance. As Christians we do not have a literal homeland we have been exiled from, but heaven is our home. We are making the long arduous journey through life. God is at work in us, enabling us to both will and to work for his good pleasure. We want to accept God’s call, even if it is to adventures we do not expect and that call us out of long-established lives, and work for God’s purpose.
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