EZRA 8
Read Ezra 8:1-30
The chapter starts with another one of these long lists of names. It is easy just to skip over these names as being unimportant, but we should remember that it is not just a list of names. It is a reminder that there are real people involved and that moving from Babylon to Jerusalem is a significant commitment for them. Those who have analysed and cross-referenced these names tell us that these families coming to Jerusalem in this wave of returnees were from the priestly caste (v2a), the nobles (v2b-3a) and from ordinary families (v3b-14). That is, the whole of society is represented; it is not just certain people in society with the honour of going back to the Promised Land – it is the nation as a whole. They also tell us that there are twelve families recorded plus the priestly family of Phinehas. This reminds us that when the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land for the first time, after exile in Egypt, there were twelve tribes and the priests, who were outside the tribe system. It looks like the return to the Promised Land after exile is being presented as a second exodus. What God has done for his people before, he is going to do for them again. God is faithful and God is unchanging.
The chapter looks at both what God has done for his people and the peoples’ response to that. We read that the hand of God was on his people (v18). God is directing this whole process of this group of about 5,000 people going to Jerusalem. Ezra was the leader in human terms but he knew that it was God who was really in charge and Ezra prayed for a safe journey (v21) and was thankful that God answered his prayer (v23).
When this group left Babylon, they had acquired a good quantity of silver and gold and objects that were donated for the Temple building project. Ezra made a point of consecrating both the valuables and those entrusted with their protection. This meant that they were dedicated to God and were for God’s use only, and is in line with the instructions in Numbers and Exodus for the building of the Tabernacle, the forerunner of the Temple. Again, we have the sense that this whole project of returning to the Holy Land is a second exodus as well as a sort of ‘homecoming’, even though those who were in this group of people had never lived in Jerusalem.
In the New Testament we have the promise from God that when we trust in Jesus and believe in him as our saviour, then we will have an eternal future with him. That future is presented like a homecoming – this earth is not our home, we are just visitors. The traditional word is ‘sojourners’, meaning people who stay somewhere for a while and then move on. Like those returning to Jerusalem we a consecrated, set apart for God, and as such do not belong here, but with him. In the meantime however, we have a mission, to bring God’s kingdom to where we are here on earth.