Ezra and Nehemiah

1
Ezra and Nehemiah
2

• 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

3

• 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 41,4,5 GN).

4

• In the third year that Cyrus was emperor of
  PersiaThe angel said to me, Daniel, God loves
  you. Stand up and listenThe 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, Israels guardian angel.
  He is responsible for helping and defending me
  (Daniel 101,11,13,20 111 GN).

5

• now the prince of this world will be driven
  out (John 1231, NIV)
• the prince of this world is coming (John
  1430, NIV)
• the prince of this world now stands condemned
  (John 1611, NIV)

6
Michael

• Michael, one of the archangels (Daniel 1013
  NLT)
• the great angel Michael, who guards your
  people, will appear. (Daniel 121 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 127 GN)

7

• There will be the shout of command, the
  archangels voice, the sound of Gods trumpet,
  and the Lord himself will come down from heaven.
  Those who have died believing in Christ will rise
  to life first (1 Thessalonians 416 GN)
• the great angel Michael, who guards your
  people, will appearmany of those who have
  already died will live again (Daniel 121,2
  GN)
• The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
  and those who hear it will come to lifethe time
  is coming when all the dead will hear his voice
  and come out of their graves (John 525,28,29
  GN)

8

• I have chosen a man who lives in the east I
  will bring him to attack from the north. (Isaiah
  4125 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 4428-451 GN)

9

• 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 1513 GN)
• When you help the Hebrew women give birthkill
  the baby if it is a boy (Exodus 116 GN)

10

• 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 216 GN)

11

• 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 2231,32 GN)

12

• 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 611,12 GN)

13

• 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 11-5 GN)

14

• The total number of exiles who returned 42,360
  (Ezra 264 GN)

15

• Many years later, when Artaxerxes was emperor of
  Persia, there was a man named Ezra. (Ezra 71
  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 71 GN)

16

• 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 occasionAs
  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...

17

• They gave an oral translation of Gods 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 dont 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 81-12 GN)

18

• This means that every time you eat this bread
  and drink from this cup you proclaim the Lords
  death until he comesFor if you do not recognize
  the meaning of the Lords body when you eat the
  bread and drink from the cup, you bring judgment
  on yourself as you eat and drink. (1 Corinthians
  1129 GN)

19

• 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 doesnt 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.

20

• 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.

21

• 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, Wasnt 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
  2413-34 GN)

22

• 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.

23

• 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
  91-15 GN)

24

• 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 Gods commands
  advise us to do. We will do what Gods Law
  demands. (Ezra 101-3 GN)

25

• 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 107-12 GN)

26

• This is the list of the men who had foreign
  wives (Ezra 1018 GN)
• All these men had foreign wives. They divorced
  them and sent them and their children away.
  (Ezra 1044 GN)

27

• 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 arent 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 111, 21-5 GN)

28

• 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
  youre doing! Youre 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 Gods 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, Its no use waiting out there for morning
  to come. If you try this again, Ill 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.

29

• 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
  didnt 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 Gods 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
  1315-26 GN)

30

• 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 1334-35 GN)

31

• Do not commit murder. (Exodus 2013 GN)
• Do not commit adultery. (Exodus 2014 GN)
• Do not desire (Exodus 2017 GN)
• Observe the Sabbath (Exodus 208 GN)
• Keep the Sabbath day holy. Dont pursue your own
  interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and
  speak of it with delight as the Lords holy day.
  (Isaiah 5813 NLT)

32

• And now we will make human beings they will be
  like us and resemble usSo God created human
  beings making them to be like himself. (Gen.
  126,27 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 Gods nature (The
  Message)
• 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 83-5
  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 21-3
  CEV)

33

• 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
  512-15)
• 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 2012)

34

• Then the Jews, since it was the day of Sabbath
  preparation, and so the bodies wouldnt 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 1931 The Message).