I've been reading Ezra

Ezra is a bit of a crazy book. It falls in a place in the Bible that is pretty hard to find, and he's not in it that much anyway. What it does lay out is a great theology of church and state working closely together. The king of Babylon, which had, as a nation, taken the whole of Israel away from their land to make them assimilate with the Babylonians, finally decided to send them back. There was a mixture of them causing trouble, and God prompting the king (by revealing that this God, YHWH, had given all the nations to Cyrus, the king, and God needed a house) to send His people home. The focus of their (the Jews') mission, the second they stepped through their home city gates, was simple: Rebuild the Temple. The Temple was the focal point of this community of God-Fearing Jews. The Babylonians had destroyed in their general pillaging, so the nation of Israel entreated the king at the time, Cyrus, to provide resources to undo Babylon's unhelpful way of doing things. Between the Jews and the kings of Babylon, the Temple is restored.

I noticed a few things in the opening chapters of the book of Ezra that struck me as odd and/or profound. (I have a friend who is profound - i.e. anti-lost.) The first thing to take away is as soon as the Jews found evidence of the original place of the Temple (namely, the cornerstone) they worshipped God extravagantly. There were sacrifices and singing and shouting. There was mourning for their absence from the land for so long, there was excitement at the prospect of the Temple being restored, there was engagement with God as they knew it was Him that had brought them home. It was a great time. They made so much noise the surrounding countries heard some of the raucous behaviour.

This leads me to think of a true reaction when something is about to happen, not something has happened. But they've hardly opened their toolbox when they stop everything and worship God for who He is. He's done stuff up to this point, but we also know He's going to do a lot more. God's pretty darn awesome. This worship was sacrificial. It cost them a fair chunk of their livelihood as livestock was being killed left, right and centre. But it was because He is amazing, not because He will give it back. It doesn't really matter if He will, actually. Just as long as we honour Him for His brilliance.

The second part is the confusion brought about by some enemies of the state wanting to help them out. This happens after the LOUD NOISES from Israel's people. Why would these enemies offer to help? Well, they claim to have the same God. It's true. They were know as Samaritans that were converts but in a twisted way. Instead of getting rid of their idols, they added God onto their list of gods to placate. The worship of this God of Israel wasn't the issue. The Jews don't really say anything on the matter. But why wold they accept and even rejoice in the help that comes from the king of Babylon, but refuse help from those semi-related to them (most Jews referred to Samaritans as half breeds, or mongrels...)? The point is in method. I will open this up more fully next time.

For a different approach to this book take a look at my older brother's study on liveasif.org. Do a search for "Thoughts of a Saint and Slave"