Walk Through the Bible: Ezra

Text for Sermon:  Ezra 1:1-4; 7:1a, 6, 9-10; 9:1a, 4-5; 10-12

Introduction to Ezra.

My second son, Kent, works for a tech company that specializes in enabling online retail companies to process returns.  It is a massive part of online sales.  Amazon processes 3,500 returns every day.  Some online clothing retailers can have as much as a 40% return of products sold.  The logistics behind that are staggering.

Ezra and Nehemiah are about the logistics of a great return, the return of the exiled nation of Judah, some tens of thousands of Jews, from Babylon back to Israel.  Actually Babylon was under new management, having been taken over by Persia, and Persia had a very liberal return policy.  In fact they encouraged it.

Persia by the way is modern day Iran and the surrounding area of the world.  Modern Iranians are descended from the Persians.

There are two returns in Ezra, Zerubbabel in Ezra 1-2; Ezra in 7 and a third wave of returns in Nehemiah lead by Zerubbabel in 7-13.

In the Hebrew Bible, the two books were considered one work.  The two books weren’t divided until the third century after Christ by the early church father Origen.

Ezra and Nehemiah offer the final piece of Old Testament history, one last glimpse of God’s people living out His redemptive plan before the coming of the Messiah.

Ezra and Nehemiah don’t get a lot of attention from pastors except when a church is in a building project, then these books come in handy.