What are we to make of Ezra? Last Sunday I’d warned that we’d be reading about something he does that we’ll probably disagree with. We’ll remember from last Sunday that Ezra was a skilled scribe who was deeply devoted to the religious laws. We were told that, “…the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.” Ezra led a group of Jews from Babylon to resettle in Jerusalem. It was a long and perilous journey but it went smoothly. Ezra and the group he led arrived in Jerusalem.
Somehow, we are not told how, (for the book of Ezra jumps and skips around a lot) once in Jerusalem Ezra rises to a position of power and leadership. He is informed that certain Jews have broken the law by marrying non-Jews. Ezra feels that this makes the whole of the Jewish people guilty by this breaking of the religious laws. It is not just those who did it who are guilty. A group of other officials propose to Ezra that all the foreign wives have to be divorced from their husbands and the children they have together also be separated and sent away. Ezra decides to follow through with their advice.
Biblical scholar David Clines notes this, “It is hard to fault the desire of the beleaguered postexilic community to maintain its own distinctive way of life, its religion, and its language, but it is harder still for modern readers to sympathize with the drastic solution proposed in this narrative. Hints of opposition, in the presence of non-Jewish persons even in noble families in subsequent generations,… suggest that Ezra’s decision was regarded as extreme even within the postexilic community itself.” (Harper Collins Study Bible, 1993, Pg. 714-5)
Indeed, this action of Ezra’s is problematic at many levels. Perhaps there is something inside ourselves that is racist and secretly feels it is wrong for people of different races to marry. But even if that is the case, these people are all of the same race! That can’t be Ezra’s motive.
The officials who approach Ezra with the problem cite the law about staying separate from other peoples of the region. They list: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. They are, at least in some way, correct. Deuteronomy 7:1-4 does tell them not to marry people of these nations. The reason given is that intermarriage will draw the Jewish people away from following God alone. The problem is that most all of these nations no longer exist in Ezra’s time. Their foreign religions, which were apparently active centuries before, had gone. It seems most likely that in Ezra’s time the whole area – both Jews and non-Jews were worshipping with at least some form of God that the Jews would recognize as valid.
Then there is another problem. King David – the great King David to whom God had promised a lineage of Jewish leadership forever – had at least one of his grandmothers from this list of forbidden people. In other words, according to Ezra’s decree, David would have had to have been thrown out.
This whole thing is problematic. Ezra’s actions are cruel, based on warped theology, and based on a selective reading of history.
Some of the biblical scholars I read in preparation for today point out that there may be political and social dynamics at work behind the scenes that pressured Ezra into this action. That’s possible. The book of Ezra appears to be a disjointed cobbled together account of the time period. Even if this is so, Ezra’s decision still sits wrong on many levels.
It is a sad scene indeed when all the people are commanded by Ezra to assemble in Jerusalem for the announcement of his decision. The Bible tells us the people sat in the open square in front of the temple, trembling because of the heavy rain. Scholars’ best guess is that the date is December 18, 397 B.C.E. (Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 3, Pg. 655)
People were forced to sit outside in a heavy cold December rain! Remember, they were commanded to assemble upon penalty of having all their property forfeited and they themselves banned from the community. They had no choice. Do you remember from what we read last week that before the people set out on their long journey on foot to Jerusalem from Babylon Ezra had them fast for three days! Wouldn’t you want to pack yourself full of food before you set out on a 900+ mile walk instead of half starving yourself? What kind of a person was this Ezra?!?
Inasmuch as the book of Ezra records an important part of Jewish history that is nowhere else recorded, Ezra truly has value. But as an example of leadership and faith, Ezra himself appears to be a dangerous religious fanatic. He crosses the line from strict orthodoxy to cruelty.
Perhaps it is good that the Bible gives us this example of faith. It is worth noting that nowhere in the Bible is Ezra praised or raised as an example to live by. Maybe he is a warning to us – that faith, fanatically followed and wrongly applied, can hurt a lot of people.
Again, for Ezra to reach his conclusion that all marriages to a foreigner must be ended and the spouses and children be cast out, he’s pulling the religious laws out of context and selectively choosing bits of history.
We have a significant political election coming up in a couple of weeks. If you’re like me you’re being bombarded with political ads. They’re on TV. They’re on the internet. I get phone calls and text messages. There are signs lining the roads everywhere you go. I had to go to Zion Lutheran Church in Cohocton last week. It’s on Dansville St. in Cohocton. Dansville St. is a dead end street not even a half mile long. There might be ten houses on it at most. And, sure enough, there were political signs along the road! Who’s going to see them?!?
How much of what the ads are saying, regardless of the party that they support, is only part of the truth? They feel like Ezra with his selective use of history and warped sense of the law.
Almost everything is negative. These ads are not created by accident. You know well enough that the parties have political strategists working behind the scenes to come up with whatever will work best. It appears that attacks and negativity are the strategy of the day. Even when a candidate’s ad says what he or she will do, it’s still framed in the context of making the opponent look like an imbecile.
It is always dangerous to selectively use facts to support your point of view, and to ignore those that do not support your point of view. The world is immensely complex and messy. Leadership should always make its decisions based upon the fullest and best evidence available. Indeed, when it comes to laws and putting them into action someone almost always benefits and someone gets hurt. That’s unavoidable. But it doesn’t reach the level of cruelty that widely destroys lives.
Earlier this year we read pretty much all of Matthew’s gospel during Sunday worship. We saw that Jesus took the religious laws and interpreted them in a way that made them even more stringent than they were originally. Does that make Jesus even harsher than Ezra?
That’s the contrast that teaches our faith and informs our lives. Jesus did indeed say things like, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’… but I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister you will be liable to judgment…” (Matthew 5:21-22) But Jesus’ intentions were quite different than Ezra’s. Jesus’ intention was to drive all people to recognize their need for God’s grace. Jesus was pointing out that the human way of thinking pretty much always leads to harm and destruction. But someone who recognizes this tendency, and accepts the need for God’s unearnable favor (God’s grace), has a sense of humility that brings about restraint.
That is where I take issue with Ezra. His religious devotion is commendable. But he used it to give himself the moral high ground and bluntly attacked all who disagreed.
Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming elections, and regardless of our nation’s laws and policies, our devotion is to the way Jesus calls us to live. That is to first recognize our own limitations, flaws, and weaknesses; and then humbly work constructively from there. That is a way of life that is unlikely to make us rich or make us powerful, but it is the way God’s love is made real in this world.
Monday, October 19, 2026
Monday, October 12, 2026
October 11, 2026 Faith and Uncertainty Ezra 7-8
When I was a kid I wanted to have faith the way it seemed biblical heroes did. They seemed to have perfect confidence in God’s deliverance and acted with the same complete confidence. In the story of David and Goliath David seems completely certain he will take down Goliath. Goliath was reportedly a huge warrior. He is strong, skilled, and well-armed with both offensive and defensive weapons. By contrast David is a boy so puny and weak that when they put armor on him he couldn’t walk because of the weight. So David sets it aside. He grabs his sling and five small stones and goes to face Goliath. Goliath disdained David for his youth but David says to him, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand…” (1 Samuel 17:45-46a) Then David walked towards him, puts a stone in his sling and with one shot takes Goliath down with a hit on his forehead. David prevails.
Or Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel is a Jew living in Persia who has arisen to great power. But a plot is hatched against him by those jealous of his power, and his punishment is execution by lions. He’s thrown into a den of ravenous lions and sealed in by a stone. The next morning, the king, who didn’t want Daniel to be hurt but had no choice because of the nature of the plot, checks on Daniel. Daniel is perfectly fine and says, while still in the midst of the lions, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him.” (Daniel 6:22) He seems to not be anxious at all, knowing that God would supernaturally protect him. And if he did have any doubts, it is clear that he is blameless before God. Again, a great example of faith.
Or Abraham, who at 70 years of age is called by God to pack up and move to an unknown place to be revealed in the future. And so, without any real doubts or questions about details, Abraham packs up his belongings and takes his whole family to move who knows where.
There are many more such stories; people who seem to have absolutely perfect confidence in God and trust God completely and without doubt. They seem completely unconcerned about insurmountable problems or deadly situations. They go in holding their head high and without a drop of sweat on their foreheads.
Yes, I wanted to have faith like that. I thought all the people in the Bible had faith like that. Or at least all the good people in the Bible. For the bad people lacked faith and bad things happened to them pretty quickly. In the case of Daneil in the lion’s den, immediately after Daniel is pulled out those who plotted to have him killed are rounded up. They are thrown into the den of lions and the lions kill them before they even reach the ground.
Somehow I never heard the story of Ezra that we read today. Ezra is described as deeply faith-filled man. Our reading of Ezra 7 said he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given. (Ezra 7:6) He is later described as, “…having set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10)
You probably know that the statutes and ordinances are lengthy and tedious. Many people commit to reading the Bible. They start in Genesis and get through it okay. Exodus gets a bit tedious but people plow through. Then they reach Leviticus and Numbers and they give up. This is the stuff that Ezra seems to want to dwell with. So I’d say he is a person of impressive faith.
We learn that he feels called by God to leave Babylon and return to Israel. He will lead a large group of others to do the same. It appears that not all of the Jews held captive in Babylon left the moment they were allowed. Some did. Some stayed permanently. But there were several waves of people who migrated back over time. Ezra led one such bunch.
Given Ezra’s faith and commitment I’d expect him to lead with the certainty of people like Abraham, Daniel, and David. He’d just take charge, and knowing that God was with him, would confidently lead people on the 900-mile journey back to the Promised Land.
But he does something that feels much more like the kind of faith I’d be likely to have. He trusts God. He believes he’s doing the right thing. He’s not so afraid that he doesn’t act. But he’s not 100% perfectly confident either. We read him saying before they set out, “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might fast before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him.” (Ezra 8:21-23)
So, Ezra’s at least a little anxious. He knows God’s promises. He wants to trust God, and he ultimately does, but he’s still unsure. If he asks the king for protection, then is he not trusting God fully? …especially after he’s assured the Persian king that God would protect them. So his faith in God has back him into an uneasy situation. He wants to fully trust God, but he’d also really like to have some earthly protection with him too.
I think our faith can relate to feelings like these. Perhaps people like Abraham, David, and Daniel also felt the same way. The Bible doesn’t say. But at least some of the biblical heroes reveal they had some faith struggles. We aren’t alone, and we aren’t lacking in faith when we feel the way we often feel. We want a bit more certainty from God.
Ezra had additional reason to be worried. He not only was responsible for safely leading what was presumably a large group of people on a 900 plus mile journey. He also had enormous wealth entrusted to him. The text of Ezra says 650 talents of silver and one hundred silver vessels worth an unspecified number of talents. Plus 100 talents of gold and 20 gold bowls worth a 1000 darics.
Assuming you don’t regularly do business in currency like talents and darics, let’s make a translation. The amounts work out to 19 tons of silver and 3 tons of gold – all intended to be used to adorn the temple. At the current price of these metals, I calculate that to be $35,872,000 in silver and $389,592,000 in gold. That’s a grand total of $334,464,000 worth of value Ezra is responsible for safely transporting on a 900 plus mile trip on foot. No wonder he was thinking it would be best to have an armed guard with him!
Now, every biblical scholar I consulted says these amounts must be hugely exaggerated, or else the amounts are erroneous. There’s no way the Persians were going to send a bunch of Jews out of Babylon with 22 tons of precious metals. They may have been allowed to take some, but nowhere near that much. Regardless of the actual amount, it is a significant enough sum that it had to be kept secret. The group of travelers would be a target for every band of marauders and thieves in the region.
All of this adds to the stress Ezra felt as he kept his trust in God alone.
Do we sometimes find ourselves willing to trust God in something, but wishing there wasn’t so much value on the line? We may easily be willing to trust God in many things. But when it’s a life and death situation, or when the lives and futures of other people are on the line, we may tremble at the prospect.
And how many times have people prayed to God in near terror for the life of a loved one who has been injured or who needs delicate surgery? How many times have our hearts and motives been absolutely pure and selfless as we come to God with things, and find those prayers are not answered?
Forget asking for supernatural protection, how many times do we ask for something good and reasonable and well within the normal processes of life, but they don’t work out?
Things worked out for Ezra’s journey. But he appears to have been anxious ahead of time. We should not feel bad or weak when our fears creep deeply into our faith.
One of the things about faith that Martin Luther would bring up is the constant battle we face with doubts and a lack of trust with God. Luther would say that the ability to trust God at all is an act of grace, and that there is no way whatsoever that a human can actually trust God on the strength of his or her own will.
God is not stingy with things like love and like inspiring trust in him. But there are many things that surround us every moment of every day that challenge that trust. We shouldn’t feel bad when we fail. We know that God’s grace continues to come to us.
Next week we’re going to find Ezra doing something that we’ll think is truly wrong and offensive, but Ezra thought it was essential for faithfulness. No matter how hard we try, our faith will not be perfect, and we will not be in perfect agreement with other people of faith. But the point is to keep turning to God in trust, and trusting that God will continue to hold onto us.
Or Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel is a Jew living in Persia who has arisen to great power. But a plot is hatched against him by those jealous of his power, and his punishment is execution by lions. He’s thrown into a den of ravenous lions and sealed in by a stone. The next morning, the king, who didn’t want Daniel to be hurt but had no choice because of the nature of the plot, checks on Daniel. Daniel is perfectly fine and says, while still in the midst of the lions, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him.” (Daniel 6:22) He seems to not be anxious at all, knowing that God would supernaturally protect him. And if he did have any doubts, it is clear that he is blameless before God. Again, a great example of faith.
Or Abraham, who at 70 years of age is called by God to pack up and move to an unknown place to be revealed in the future. And so, without any real doubts or questions about details, Abraham packs up his belongings and takes his whole family to move who knows where.
There are many more such stories; people who seem to have absolutely perfect confidence in God and trust God completely and without doubt. They seem completely unconcerned about insurmountable problems or deadly situations. They go in holding their head high and without a drop of sweat on their foreheads.
Yes, I wanted to have faith like that. I thought all the people in the Bible had faith like that. Or at least all the good people in the Bible. For the bad people lacked faith and bad things happened to them pretty quickly. In the case of Daneil in the lion’s den, immediately after Daniel is pulled out those who plotted to have him killed are rounded up. They are thrown into the den of lions and the lions kill them before they even reach the ground.
Somehow I never heard the story of Ezra that we read today. Ezra is described as deeply faith-filled man. Our reading of Ezra 7 said he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given. (Ezra 7:6) He is later described as, “…having set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10)
You probably know that the statutes and ordinances are lengthy and tedious. Many people commit to reading the Bible. They start in Genesis and get through it okay. Exodus gets a bit tedious but people plow through. Then they reach Leviticus and Numbers and they give up. This is the stuff that Ezra seems to want to dwell with. So I’d say he is a person of impressive faith.
We learn that he feels called by God to leave Babylon and return to Israel. He will lead a large group of others to do the same. It appears that not all of the Jews held captive in Babylon left the moment they were allowed. Some did. Some stayed permanently. But there were several waves of people who migrated back over time. Ezra led one such bunch.
Given Ezra’s faith and commitment I’d expect him to lead with the certainty of people like Abraham, Daniel, and David. He’d just take charge, and knowing that God was with him, would confidently lead people on the 900-mile journey back to the Promised Land.
But he does something that feels much more like the kind of faith I’d be likely to have. He trusts God. He believes he’s doing the right thing. He’s not so afraid that he doesn’t act. But he’s not 100% perfectly confident either. We read him saying before they set out, “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might fast before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him.” (Ezra 8:21-23)
So, Ezra’s at least a little anxious. He knows God’s promises. He wants to trust God, and he ultimately does, but he’s still unsure. If he asks the king for protection, then is he not trusting God fully? …especially after he’s assured the Persian king that God would protect them. So his faith in God has back him into an uneasy situation. He wants to fully trust God, but he’d also really like to have some earthly protection with him too.
I think our faith can relate to feelings like these. Perhaps people like Abraham, David, and Daniel also felt the same way. The Bible doesn’t say. But at least some of the biblical heroes reveal they had some faith struggles. We aren’t alone, and we aren’t lacking in faith when we feel the way we often feel. We want a bit more certainty from God.
Ezra had additional reason to be worried. He not only was responsible for safely leading what was presumably a large group of people on a 900 plus mile journey. He also had enormous wealth entrusted to him. The text of Ezra says 650 talents of silver and one hundred silver vessels worth an unspecified number of talents. Plus 100 talents of gold and 20 gold bowls worth a 1000 darics.
Assuming you don’t regularly do business in currency like talents and darics, let’s make a translation. The amounts work out to 19 tons of silver and 3 tons of gold – all intended to be used to adorn the temple. At the current price of these metals, I calculate that to be $35,872,000 in silver and $389,592,000 in gold. That’s a grand total of $334,464,000 worth of value Ezra is responsible for safely transporting on a 900 plus mile trip on foot. No wonder he was thinking it would be best to have an armed guard with him!
Now, every biblical scholar I consulted says these amounts must be hugely exaggerated, or else the amounts are erroneous. There’s no way the Persians were going to send a bunch of Jews out of Babylon with 22 tons of precious metals. They may have been allowed to take some, but nowhere near that much. Regardless of the actual amount, it is a significant enough sum that it had to be kept secret. The group of travelers would be a target for every band of marauders and thieves in the region.
All of this adds to the stress Ezra felt as he kept his trust in God alone.
Do we sometimes find ourselves willing to trust God in something, but wishing there wasn’t so much value on the line? We may easily be willing to trust God in many things. But when it’s a life and death situation, or when the lives and futures of other people are on the line, we may tremble at the prospect.
And how many times have people prayed to God in near terror for the life of a loved one who has been injured or who needs delicate surgery? How many times have our hearts and motives been absolutely pure and selfless as we come to God with things, and find those prayers are not answered?
Forget asking for supernatural protection, how many times do we ask for something good and reasonable and well within the normal processes of life, but they don’t work out?
Things worked out for Ezra’s journey. But he appears to have been anxious ahead of time. We should not feel bad or weak when our fears creep deeply into our faith.
One of the things about faith that Martin Luther would bring up is the constant battle we face with doubts and a lack of trust with God. Luther would say that the ability to trust God at all is an act of grace, and that there is no way whatsoever that a human can actually trust God on the strength of his or her own will.
God is not stingy with things like love and like inspiring trust in him. But there are many things that surround us every moment of every day that challenge that trust. We shouldn’t feel bad when we fail. We know that God’s grace continues to come to us.
Next week we’re going to find Ezra doing something that we’ll think is truly wrong and offensive, but Ezra thought it was essential for faithfulness. No matter how hard we try, our faith will not be perfect, and we will not be in perfect agreement with other people of faith. But the point is to keep turning to God in trust, and trusting that God will continue to hold onto us.
Monday, October 5, 2026
October 4, 2026 Right from Whose Perspective? Ezra 4-6
Lutherans believe that the Bible is inspired by God and is the ultimate authority in all matters of faith and doctrine. That’s loaded statement, however, because it can be interpreted very broadly. It also doesn’t offer us a whole lot of help with the passage we read from Ezra 4-6 today.
There’s a major problem with these chapters. They depict the ancient Jews running into problems as they try to rebuild the temple after returning from decades of exile in Babylon. It’s late in the 6th century B.C.E. The returned exiles have cleared the temple site of rubble and relayed the foundation. We read about that last Sunday. Now they’re building above ground and the work is clearly noticeable. Ezra tells us that “adversaries” of the Jews heard of this work. The text says that the adversaries are people who were brought to the land by the Assyrians a long time before. Indeed, other historical sources agree that about 150 years before the Assyrians did import colonists from other parts of their empire to settle in northern Israel. These people would not have been Jews and they would not have believed what Jews believed.
Interestingly, however, these non-Jewish people offer to help build the temple. Why? Why would you offer to help Jews build their holiest building in their holiest city if you don’t live by Jewish religious beliefs? Ezra calls them “adversaries.” If they were adversaries, then maybe their offer to help was intended for sabotage. Or perhaps it was a genuine offer; but these non-Jews felt that by offering to help they would be able to use the temple for their religious beliefs too. In a time and place where many religions mixed regularly that may have been acceptable to some. But for the ancient Jews their religion needed to remain pure and uncompromised. Some biblical scholars theorize that perhaps these adversaries were actually in power in area and they were hoping to increase their influence, or at least not have their influenced decreased, by offering to help with the temple.
Whatever was the case, the Jews rejected their offer. We’re told that the adversaries then discouraged the people of Judah, they made them afraid, and they bribed officials to frustrate the Jews’ plans. They sound like a pretty immoral bunch. There’s no wonder you wouldn’t want to work with them! That is certainly what Ezra wants to depict them as.
The adversaries are successful. Work on the temple stops. It stops for about 17 years. Remember that the whole region was ruled by the Persians at this time. Persian King Cyrus, who allowed the Jews to rebuild dies. Persia goes into turmoil. Within a couple years Darius arises to rule Persia. There is much confusion as to who is trustworthy and who is not. Given the instability and the question of loyalties we can understand why Ezra records in chapter 5 that Persian officials demanded proof for permission to rebuild the temple, and they wanted the names of those who were leading it so as to hold them accountable if it turns out they are being subversive.
But, with determination and patience, the correct documentation is found and work on the temple resumes. It is completed. As Ezra tells it, it was a lengthy and difficult process. But it was completed eventually. Ezra’s story is one of faithfulness, perseverance, commitment, and love of God that saw the massive project to its completion. It’s a great story and it can make for a great sermon.
But that story has a big problem.
Ezra isn’t the only part of the Bible that tells us about this time period. And Ezra isn’t the only part of the Bible that tells us about the delay. Ezra 5 even mentions two of the other biblical witnesses to this time period. They are the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. So we can very easily turn to the writings of those prophets and learn more from them.
The problem is, that their version of the delay in building the temple is almost the complete opposite of Ezra’s version.
This is something that is both puzzling and fascinating about our scripture. It frequently contradicts itself, and doesn’t seem at all bothered by the contradiction. I’ll return to that at the end of the sermon. Before that we want to look at the contradiction.
Remember that Ezra paints the returning Jews and their endeavors in a positive light. He depicts them as dedicated and faithful. They are good people with the right priorities who are overcoming practical and political obstacles in carrying out the will of God.
What does Haggai say? Haggai 1:1 starts off saying, “In the second year of King Darius in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah.” In other words, Haggai is precisely describing the exact same people at the exact same time. From what we read in Ezra, we’d expect Haggai to say something like, “God is pleased with your diligence and your commitment to rebuilding the temple.” But what does Haggai say? “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.” And, “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in paneled houses, while this [temple] lies in ruins?” And then Haggai goes on to rip into the people for their wrong priorities.
As Haggai tells it, the Jewish leaders have the wrong priorities. They’ve focused on enriching themselves first, building themselves nice houses and comfortable lives, and they’ve ignored the work of the temple. Therefore, God is punishing them for their continued lack of faithfulness.
So which is it? Was the construction of the temple delayed because the Jewish leadership ran into fierce opposition, or was the construction of the temple delayed because the Jewish leadership was self-centered and basically lazy?
Ezra gives one story. Haggai gives another. Both are scripture; the ultimate authority in faith and doctrine.
I tend to believe Haggai more. Ezra frequently overlooks rough patches and puts a positive spin on things. And yet, Ezra does reference a number of things that can be verified by other independent historical sources. So you can’t just dismiss Ezra as wrong. From my own research I believe Ezra is correct in that there was official opposition from non-Jews to the reconstruction of the temple. Its construction was forced to cease for years. But then the people became complacent and stopped caring. They needed to be goaded to get back to work.
If that is the case, then we can understand the contradiction and learn from it. How many times do we start a task with commitment, but then the commitment wanes as time goes on?
How many times do we do things with mixed motives? The public face we put on something is virtuous, but there is a hidden benefit for us? Was the construction of the temple really about devotion to God for those Jewish leaders or was it mixed with motives of power and influence? When the promised benefits ceased, did the motive evaporate.
Proverbs 21:2 famously says, “All deeds are right in the eyes of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
Mark Oldenburg, my one seminary professor, said that we usually decide that we want to do something, then we invent a theology to justify it. How often do we want to do something, and then invent a morality to allow it?
“All deeds are right in the eyes of the doer.”
Earlier I promised that I’d wrap up with the way the scripture sometimes outright contradicts itself; and it doesn’t seem to be bothered by the contradiction at all. The Bible does that all over the place.
There’s a big part of me that wants the Bible to give me clear and specific answers to all questions. I want clear and specific advice for all situations. I want life to be able to be divided into good and bad, right and wrong. And then I will do what is good and right. (Or at least I tell myself that I will to do what is good and right. I’m probably lying to myself!) But the Bible does not give oversimplified answers to the all too complicated questions and problems of life.
I believe the Bible is inspired by God, and probably more deeply inspired by God than we may be ready to admit. For God has given us a collection of writings that, instead of giving absolute answers, gives us a framework for faithfully struggling with problems.
Haggai and Ezra flat out disagree with each other. Perhaps that’s unsettling, but their contradictions helps us to explore their own issues, and wrestle with our own issues in ways that are informed by faith.
I do not believe God has a scoreboard of the right and wrong things we have done. I do believe God will join us in the messy struggles of mixed motives and unclear answers, and then lead us faithfully forward.
Ultimately there is only one truth. That is the love of God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ. For Jesus is our friend, our Lord, and our Savior. Things done faithfully in Jesus’ name, even if we falter and struggle, are still things truly done for the glory of God.
There’s a major problem with these chapters. They depict the ancient Jews running into problems as they try to rebuild the temple after returning from decades of exile in Babylon. It’s late in the 6th century B.C.E. The returned exiles have cleared the temple site of rubble and relayed the foundation. We read about that last Sunday. Now they’re building above ground and the work is clearly noticeable. Ezra tells us that “adversaries” of the Jews heard of this work. The text says that the adversaries are people who were brought to the land by the Assyrians a long time before. Indeed, other historical sources agree that about 150 years before the Assyrians did import colonists from other parts of their empire to settle in northern Israel. These people would not have been Jews and they would not have believed what Jews believed.
Interestingly, however, these non-Jewish people offer to help build the temple. Why? Why would you offer to help Jews build their holiest building in their holiest city if you don’t live by Jewish religious beliefs? Ezra calls them “adversaries.” If they were adversaries, then maybe their offer to help was intended for sabotage. Or perhaps it was a genuine offer; but these non-Jews felt that by offering to help they would be able to use the temple for their religious beliefs too. In a time and place where many religions mixed regularly that may have been acceptable to some. But for the ancient Jews their religion needed to remain pure and uncompromised. Some biblical scholars theorize that perhaps these adversaries were actually in power in area and they were hoping to increase their influence, or at least not have their influenced decreased, by offering to help with the temple.
Whatever was the case, the Jews rejected their offer. We’re told that the adversaries then discouraged the people of Judah, they made them afraid, and they bribed officials to frustrate the Jews’ plans. They sound like a pretty immoral bunch. There’s no wonder you wouldn’t want to work with them! That is certainly what Ezra wants to depict them as.
The adversaries are successful. Work on the temple stops. It stops for about 17 years. Remember that the whole region was ruled by the Persians at this time. Persian King Cyrus, who allowed the Jews to rebuild dies. Persia goes into turmoil. Within a couple years Darius arises to rule Persia. There is much confusion as to who is trustworthy and who is not. Given the instability and the question of loyalties we can understand why Ezra records in chapter 5 that Persian officials demanded proof for permission to rebuild the temple, and they wanted the names of those who were leading it so as to hold them accountable if it turns out they are being subversive.
But, with determination and patience, the correct documentation is found and work on the temple resumes. It is completed. As Ezra tells it, it was a lengthy and difficult process. But it was completed eventually. Ezra’s story is one of faithfulness, perseverance, commitment, and love of God that saw the massive project to its completion. It’s a great story and it can make for a great sermon.
But that story has a big problem.
Ezra isn’t the only part of the Bible that tells us about this time period. And Ezra isn’t the only part of the Bible that tells us about the delay. Ezra 5 even mentions two of the other biblical witnesses to this time period. They are the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. So we can very easily turn to the writings of those prophets and learn more from them.
The problem is, that their version of the delay in building the temple is almost the complete opposite of Ezra’s version.
This is something that is both puzzling and fascinating about our scripture. It frequently contradicts itself, and doesn’t seem at all bothered by the contradiction. I’ll return to that at the end of the sermon. Before that we want to look at the contradiction.
Remember that Ezra paints the returning Jews and their endeavors in a positive light. He depicts them as dedicated and faithful. They are good people with the right priorities who are overcoming practical and political obstacles in carrying out the will of God.
What does Haggai say? Haggai 1:1 starts off saying, “In the second year of King Darius in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah.” In other words, Haggai is precisely describing the exact same people at the exact same time. From what we read in Ezra, we’d expect Haggai to say something like, “God is pleased with your diligence and your commitment to rebuilding the temple.” But what does Haggai say? “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.” And, “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in paneled houses, while this [temple] lies in ruins?” And then Haggai goes on to rip into the people for their wrong priorities.
As Haggai tells it, the Jewish leaders have the wrong priorities. They’ve focused on enriching themselves first, building themselves nice houses and comfortable lives, and they’ve ignored the work of the temple. Therefore, God is punishing them for their continued lack of faithfulness.
So which is it? Was the construction of the temple delayed because the Jewish leadership ran into fierce opposition, or was the construction of the temple delayed because the Jewish leadership was self-centered and basically lazy?
Ezra gives one story. Haggai gives another. Both are scripture; the ultimate authority in faith and doctrine.
I tend to believe Haggai more. Ezra frequently overlooks rough patches and puts a positive spin on things. And yet, Ezra does reference a number of things that can be verified by other independent historical sources. So you can’t just dismiss Ezra as wrong. From my own research I believe Ezra is correct in that there was official opposition from non-Jews to the reconstruction of the temple. Its construction was forced to cease for years. But then the people became complacent and stopped caring. They needed to be goaded to get back to work.
If that is the case, then we can understand the contradiction and learn from it. How many times do we start a task with commitment, but then the commitment wanes as time goes on?
How many times do we do things with mixed motives? The public face we put on something is virtuous, but there is a hidden benefit for us? Was the construction of the temple really about devotion to God for those Jewish leaders or was it mixed with motives of power and influence? When the promised benefits ceased, did the motive evaporate.
Proverbs 21:2 famously says, “All deeds are right in the eyes of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
Mark Oldenburg, my one seminary professor, said that we usually decide that we want to do something, then we invent a theology to justify it. How often do we want to do something, and then invent a morality to allow it?
“All deeds are right in the eyes of the doer.”
Earlier I promised that I’d wrap up with the way the scripture sometimes outright contradicts itself; and it doesn’t seem to be bothered by the contradiction at all. The Bible does that all over the place.
There’s a big part of me that wants the Bible to give me clear and specific answers to all questions. I want clear and specific advice for all situations. I want life to be able to be divided into good and bad, right and wrong. And then I will do what is good and right. (Or at least I tell myself that I will to do what is good and right. I’m probably lying to myself!) But the Bible does not give oversimplified answers to the all too complicated questions and problems of life.
I believe the Bible is inspired by God, and probably more deeply inspired by God than we may be ready to admit. For God has given us a collection of writings that, instead of giving absolute answers, gives us a framework for faithfully struggling with problems.
Haggai and Ezra flat out disagree with each other. Perhaps that’s unsettling, but their contradictions helps us to explore their own issues, and wrestle with our own issues in ways that are informed by faith.
I do not believe God has a scoreboard of the right and wrong things we have done. I do believe God will join us in the messy struggles of mixed motives and unclear answers, and then lead us faithfully forward.
Ultimately there is only one truth. That is the love of God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ. For Jesus is our friend, our Lord, and our Savior. Things done faithfully in Jesus’ name, even if we falter and struggle, are still things truly done for the glory of God.
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