November 05, 2024 | Be God's Light
The Passover is Celebrated as Temple is Completed
Scripture: Ezra 6(NIV)
1 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:
Memorandum:
3 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:
Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, 4 with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. 5 Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.
6 Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. 7 Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.
8 Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God:
Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. 9 Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail, 10 so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.
11 Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. 12 May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.
I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.
Completion and Dedication of the Temple
13 Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. 14 So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. 15 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
16 Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. 17 For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.
19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. 20 The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. 21 So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel. 22 For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.
Devotional
When we were last in the book of Ezra, a regional governor from the Trans-Euphrates province of the Medo-Persian Empire sent an urgent request to King Darius. The governor was disturbed because the prophets Haggai and Zechariah had encouraged Zerubbabel and Joshua to resume their reconstruction work on the temple in Jerusalem. He knew nothing about the previous king Cyrus, and his supposed edict authorizing and financing the temple rebuild. So, he wrote the present king Darius for clarification.
Much to the regional governor’s dismay, the edict was found. Adding insult to injury, King Darius ordered him to leave the Jews alone and to finance the project from his own Trans-Euphrates revenues. That will teach him not to meddle with God. Four years later the temple rebuild was completed. The celebration was a blessing to the Lord!
Seventy years earlier the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and deported the best and brightest to a life of exile in Babylon. Back then, the prophet Jeremiah encouraged them to make the most of their new situation. He advised them to build houses, settle down, plant gardens, raise families, build the economy, and get along with their captors (see Jeremiah 29:5-7).
Then Jeremiah conveyed this promise from the Lord to the captives: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:10-14).
How would these words have sustained the exiles for those seventy years? What meaning would they have taken on when the temple was completed. What does this teach us about the promises of God? What does it teach us about patience?
Poem
Stay Away
You, Tempter
Stay away from my Image Bearers
You, Floodgates
Stay away from my Ark Dwellers
You, Pharoahs
Stay away from my Chosen People
You, Giants
Stay away from my Anointed Ones
You, False Idolators
Stay away from my Prophets
You, Destroyers
Stay away from my Temple Builders
You, Soldiers
Stay away from my Innocent Ones
You, Satan
Stay away from my Son
You, Betrayers
Stay away from my Faithful Ones
You, Deniers
Stay away from my Beloved
You, Death
Stay away from my Risen People
You, Powers of Hell
Stay away from my Conqueror
Begone, Satan, begone!
Get behind me, you Evil One!
