Ezra & Nehemiah: Return and restoration

For the coming week, both of Ezra and Nehemiah will be read one after another because they represent a different season in Israel's life as a nation. Up till Ezekiel, the emphasis was on the exile and repentance, now it is about the return from exile with restoration is the goal. Israel as a nation has faced various consequences for their failure in keeping their obligations to the covenant but none was as severe as the exile, the very promised land which was their dream since the exodus from Egypt is now taken forcefully away from them! Read Leviticus 26:31-35 which outlined the exile as a penalty for disobedience. Here's what's interesting - do you know why the Babylonian exile was for 70 years?

Connecting the dots
The Jews had been in the promised land for roughly 800 years, and for 490 years, they disobeyed his Sabbath rest and based on the law that the land is to be "rested" every 7th year (Lev 25:2-4; 26:33-35), there is an accumulated 70 years of "unfulfilled rest" for the land. Although the length of their 70 year exile coincided with their disobedience to the Sabbath law, the primary reason was idolatry, child sacrifice, ritual prostitution, deep seated corruption and injustice at all levels. Yet, Jeremiah who prophesied the 70 years captivity to Babylon (Jer 25:12) also gave the gave the promise of restoration at the end of 70 years (Jer 29:10). 

The exile did not happen in one sweep as there were three deportations to Babylon, the first time was the deportation of the royal court in 606 BC (the rulers, the top layer of society - which included Daniel as a teenager), the second time was in 597 BC it was the craftsmen, the skilled people (which included Ezekiel), and finally in 586 BC, the rest of the Judean population was exiled and Jerusalem was laid to waste. Correspondingly, there were three returns back to Jerusalem - the first was under Zerubbabel who was of the royal line of David, the second was under Ezra who was a priest (no Levites had returned and he wanted to restore the religious life of the Jews), and finally it was Nehemiah's turn, returning with skilled workers to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Hence, you can read Ezra and Nehemiah as Exodus II, the sequel to the original one led by Moses.

Activity idea
We are not used to seeing walls around cities and may lack the geopolitical perspective of the infrastructure during Old Testament times. Check out the following video on "History of Old City Jerusalem: Its Walls, Gates, and Key Sites" - this may give you a visual contextualization as you read through Ezra and Nehemiah this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxzfFA-DU5g

Christ in Scripture
As the next to the last book in the Hebrew Bible, Ezra-Nehemiah expands the theological theme of "holy space." The house of God not only includes the rebuilt temple but also the reformed community of God's people. In Nehemiah 12:27-47 we read about the celebration of a holy people in a holy city at a holy temple. Why then that "awkward" concluding chapter (Nehemiah 13) that outlines a number of ongoing problems in the community? We observe that Ezra-Nehemiah concludes with an open question and a look to the future.

That open question is answered and that look to the future is found in Christ. The apostle John tells us clearly that Jesus is the true tabernacle of God (John 1:14), and Jesus is the true temple of God (John 2:18-22). The holy space in the old covenant was designed for the end that God would dwell among His people, and that dwelling par excellence is found in Christ. Jesus is the "house" of God - the "cornerstone" of that structure that is becoming a "holy temple" and the people of God who have been united to Christ are part of that "dwelling place for God by the Spirit" (Eph 2:20-22). Praise be to God!

May your hearts continue to burn within you as Jesus Christ explain the pages of Scripture to you on your road to Emmaus.

We welcome your comments, feedback and questions - please post them in the comments below.

References
Mark D. Futato (2016). A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the Old Testament. (Miles V. Van Pelt, Ed.) Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

David Pawson, Unlocking the Bible series.