If I go too long without studying God’s Word in depth, my soul starts to feel…antsy.
A friend had a verse from Ezra on social media, and it reminded me of that dusty book in the Bible (well, it’s dusty in my Bible). Plus, after a little reading from the NASB Study Bible intro, I found Ezra was referred to as a “reforming priest” (pg 549). Pretty big title.
But a title that sounds relevant. We are an interconnected, socially aware, socially active generation. How do we keep that awareness and activism yet stay grounded in the Holy Scriptures? Because we really are not in charge of what is absolute truth. Neither is culture.
God is.
And He has revealed to us what we need to know.
I think we could use a little of that reforming priest’s wisdom, don’t you?
So let’s jump in.
If you read any of the Hosea study, you know the prophet was foretelling Israel’s captivity.
And it happened. Around 720 B.C., the Northern Kingdom fell into the hands of the ruthless Assyrians.
But what about our Southern Kingdom, Judah? Hosea only gave them several cursory glances during his prophecy focused on the North. But the Southern Kingdom was not following Covenant Yahweh’s Laws either. Jeremiah was the main prophet to the South, preaching in Jerusalem until the foretold disaster. Judah was finally taken captive by the Babylonians some 100 years after the Northern Kingdom fell, around 605 B.C.
Jeremiah foretold the captivity would last 70 years, of which his contemporary Daniel was well aware. Sure enough, at just the right time, “the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia” and around 537 B.C. the first round of exiles were given permission to return to their Promised Land.
And this is where Ezra begins.
It is important to remember that the first part of Ezra is recounting history. Our reforming priest himself doesn’t return to Jerusalem until some 80 years later, around 458 B.C.
But we’ll start where the author starts. Ezra chapter one.
Another day.
This seems like enough for now. An introduction to get some footing and a precedent for me to be disciplined to continue.
Here’s to the end of summer and the beginning of fresh insights into the heart of One who breathed the Word into existence.