Rebuilding begins
Day 283, Wednesday, May 21
Ezra Chapters 1 – 3
The most confusing thing about Ezra when I first read it comes at the very beginning: Why would a foreign, conquering king actively support the reconstruction of the temple?
If you remember when we first read of the exile, it was Nebuchadnezzar’s strategy to scatter the conquered peoples, or at least their leaders, away from their homeland. His belief was that this would weaken their will and ability to revolt.
In time, though, Babylon was itself conquered by the Persians.
King Cyrus of the Persians took the opposite approach, and believed that allowing his subjects to live in their ancestral lands and maintain their ancestral worship would make them less likely to revolt. It wasn’t just the Jewish people: across his empire he supported the return of his people to their homeland and supported the reconstruction of historic worship centers that he could then also use as administrative and taxation centers.
In this first wave of repatriation (there would be one or two more), volunteers from among the empire’s Jewish population were invited to return to their homeland and begin rebuilding both the temple and the city of Jerusalem. He returned the articles from the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had stolen, and urged the Jewish population that remained in their new homes to contribute to the temple restoration.
Only part of the Jewish population took him up on the offer, as many had settled in to their new lands and now considered them home. For those who did, there was risk and uncertainty and fear of how they would be received by the current residents of the land.
After 50-plus years of exile, very few of the people heading back to Judah had actually lived there—they were returning to a land their parents or even grandparents had been driven from.
That explains the mixed reaction to seeing the foundation of the new temple. For the younger people, it was unmixed joy at being able to restore the home of their ancestral faith. For those who had seen the old temple though, the new smaller foundation was a reminder that they would not fully regain what they had lost.

Wednesday meditation

Proverbs 28:11-12
The rich are wise in their own eyes; one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are.
When the righteous triumph, there is great elation; but when the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding.

Prayer focus
Lord, let us rejoice in building your church, even if it is not what we believe it once was.

-Rev. Mark Fleming