EZRA by F. D. Starr

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 17, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 33.

EZRA

By F. D. Starr

BY F. D. STARR.

A HAPPY change in the affairs of the Israelitish nation is introduced in this book—deliverance from captivity, and restoration to their own land. “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing; then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.” Ps. 126:1, 2.

It will be a pleasure to read about these great things as we find them recorded in this book, and, indeed, a mention is made of this good fortune to God’s people in the last chapter of the preceding book, for it will be noticed that the last two verses of 2 Chronicles 36, and the first two or three verses of Ezra 1 are the same. Cyrus, king of Persia, was a chosen instrument in God’s hands to bring deliverance to Israel. We see by Isaiah 45:1, that the Lord calls him His anointed, and this mention of this renowned man was made more than a century before his birth. We can but contrast the liberal dealings of this monarch with those of the king of Egypt nearly a thousand years before. When the Lord wanted Pharaoh to let Israel go to their own land, he manifested the most stubborn opposition to the divine command, determined to retain that people in his domain, and when forced to relinquish his grasp upon them, he thrust them out altogether. But when Cyrus is called upon to do a like act he makes the most liberal provision for the return of these exiles to their country; and instead of hindering them he makes every possible provision for their assistance in this undertaking.

Pharaoh was raised up for the very purpose that God might show His power in him. Rom. 9:17. Cyrus was raised up for this same purpose. Both had a like task assigned to them, to release their captive subjects that they might return to the land of their fathers; and the names of these monarchs were to be handed down in history as men through whom God worked in a special manner. Cyrus yielded himself to God to accomplish His pleasure in accelerating the movements of the exiled Israelites in their exodus from a foreign country, and thus he has become favorably renowned in all ages, and the honor and power of God was manifested in his rulership. Pharaoh might have gotten the same kind of renown in the same way, if he had been willing to submit himself to God, and permit God to manifest His power through him in the way that Cyrus did; but he chose the course of rebellion, and consequently God’s power was manifested in him in his destruction, for he who causes the obedience of man to praise Him, also causes the wrath of man to praise Him. Thus Pharaoh became renowned as a great rebel against God, and his name is handed down to posterity covered with ignominy and contempt; but the cause of God against which he lifted his puny arm is greatly exalted thereby.

In which way will we let God manifest His power in us, in making us vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction, or vessels of mercy, fitted to salvation? The choice remains with us. Shall we imitate Cyrus or Pharaoh? The first named surely.

Notice the difference between the numbers that left Egypt in the days of Moses to go into Canaan, and those who returned to the same country in the days of Ezra. There were over 600,000 in the former instance, and less than 50,000 in the latter; less than one-twelfth. It seems that the seventy years’ residence in a foreign country had severed their attachment to the home land to a large degree. It would be a new generation upon the stage of action, a generation born in Babylon and other foreign lands.

How much like home would Europe seem to those whose ancestors came to the United States seventy years ago? So those Jews who were getting along well financially in the land of their dispersion would not be much inclined to exchange their residence in the country of their nativity for the land of their forefathers, which land they had never seen. It was only the spiritually-minded who would be disposed to migrate.

It is interesting to note that it was in the same region from which Abraham was called to go out that these Hebrews were now called to depart, and it must have been an encouragement to them to think that they were called literally to “walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham,” when he obeyed the call of God to go into the land of promise. They were following an illustrious example indeed. We are to show a like faith.

A good illustration of the use of the term forever is found in Ezra 4:15, 19. “They have moved sedition within the same of old time;” “This city of old time hath made insurrection against kings.” In the Septuagint these passages read: “From the days of forever movers of sedition are found there;” “That city since the days of forever rebels against kings.” So the term forever simply signifies a remote period or a long time though a limited time. When we come to consider the use of the term forever in the original, we find that the commonly accepted idea of its meaning will have to be somewhat modified.

We find the term church (ἐκκλησία) occurring repeatedly in this book, as for instance in ch. 2:64, showing the existence of this organization in the work of God in those ancient times.

This book contains a very important key; that key is found in chapter seven. The information there found is indispensable to a correct solution of the prophetic periods of Daniel, eighth and ninth chapters. The year B.C., 457 given in the margin of Ezra 7 is the starting point from which the 2300 days (years) are to be reckoned. The going forth of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is of itself an event that marks an epoch in this world’s history, and makes the book one of absorbing interest worthy of deep study.