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Their purpose, however, is not simply to describe what happened long ago out of antiquarian curiosity. Rather, Ezra and Nehemiah use historical events to illustrate the theme of restoration. These books show how God once restored his people and how people played a central role in this work of renewal. Ezra and Nehemiah are highly theological books, but they do not directly address the theology of work.
They do not include legal imperatives or prophetic visions having to do with our daily labors. The narratives of Ezra and Nehemiah do describe arduous work, however, implicitly placing work in a theological framework. The Book of Esther tells the story of one curious episode during the era depicted in Ezra and Nehemiah.
It focuses, not on the restoration of Jerusalem, but rather on events happening in Persia when Ahasuerus, better known to us by his Greek name, Xerxes, was king BC. The narrative of Esther accounts for the origins of the Jewish festival of Purim. The unidentified author of this book wrote, in part, to explain and encourage celebration of this national holiday see Esther 9: In contrast to Ezra and Nehemiah, Esther is not explicitly theological at all.
In fact, God is never mentioned. Yet no faithful reader could fail to see the hand of God behind the events of the book. This invites the reader to ponder how God may be at work in the world unnoticed by those without eyes to see. Word Books, , xxi.
Thomas Nelson, , The introduction to this decree specifies when it was proclaimed: It also introduces us to one of the principal themes of Ezra-Nehemiah: Cyrus was doing his work as king, seeking his personal and institutional ends. We sense in the first verse of Ezra that God is in control, yet choosing to work through human beings, even Gentile kings, to accomplish his will. Workplace Christians today also live in trust that God is active through the decisions and actions of non-Christian people and institutions.
That should prevent us from both despair and arrogance. On the other hand, if you are tempted to see yourself or your organization as a paragon of Christian virtue, beware! God may be accomplishing more through those with less visible connection to him than you realize. God is using all things to work towards his kingdom, not necessarily towards our personal success.
When they arrived in Jerusalem, their first job was to build the altar and offer sacrifices on it Ezra 3: This epitomizes the chief sort of work chronicled in Ezra and Nehemiah. It is closely associated with the sacrificial practices of Old Testament Judaism, which took place in the temple. Worship and work stride hand and hand through the pages of Ezra and Nehemiah. Thus, in a sense, the rebuilding of the temple was the work of all the people as they contributed in one way or another.
Ezra identifies political leaders in addition to Cyrus because of their impact, positive or negative, on the construction effort. For example, Zerubbabel is mentioned as a leader of the people. He was the governor of the territory who oversaw the rebuilding of the temple Haggai 1: Other kings and officials show up according to their relevance to the rebuilding project.
The temple is what the project was about, but it would be a mistake to think that God blesses craftsmanship and material work only when it is devoted to a religious purpose. We will discuss this point further when we come to Nehemiah, who actually undertook the work beyond the temple. Ezra describes several efforts to squelch the construction Ezra 4: These were successful for a while, stopping the temple project for about two decades Ezra 4: Finally, God encouraged the Jews through the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah to resume and complete the job Ezra 5: Moreover, Darius, king of Persia, underwrote the building effort financially in the hope that the Lord might bless him and his sons Ezra 6: As this verse makes clear, the Jews actually did the work of rebuilding the temple.
Yet their labors were successful because of help from two pagan kings, one who inaugurated the project and the other who paid for its completion. Behind these human efforts loomed the overarching work of God, who moved in the hearts of the kings and encouraged his people through the prophets.
As we have seen, God is at work far beyond what meets the eye of his people. Ironically, Ezra himself does not appear in the book bearing his name until chapter 7. This learned man, a priest and teacher of the law, came to Jerusalem with the blessing of the Persian king Artaxerxes over fifty years after the rebuilding of the temple. His assignment was to present offerings in the temple on behalf of the king and to establish the law of God in Judah, both by teaching and by appointing law-abiding leaders Ezra 7: God was at work in and through Ezra, and that explains his success in his endeavors.
So he and his retinue fasted and prayed rather than seek practical assistance from the king Ezra 8: Ezra was not following any particular Old Testament law in choosing not to receive royal protection. Rather, this decision reflected his personal convictions about what it meant to trust God in the real challenges of leadership.
The text seems to suggest that Ezra and company completed their journey without a threatening incident. Once again, the book of Ezra shows that human efforts are successful when God is at work in them. The last two chapters of Ezra focus on the problem of Jews intermarrying with Gentiles. The issue of work does not emerge here, except in the example of Ezra, who exercises his leadership in faithfulness to the Law and with prayerful decisiveness. The first chapter of the Book of Nehemiah introduces the book bearing his name as a resident of Susa, the capital of the Persian Empire.
Implicitly, he was formulating a plan to remedy the situation in Jerusalem. The connection between the temple and the wall is significant for the theology of work. The temple might seem to be a religious institution, while the walls are a secular one. But God led Nehemiah to work on the walls, no less than he led Ezra to work on the temple.
If the walls were unfinished, the temple was unfinished too. The work was of a single piece. The reason for this is easy to understand. Without a wall, no city in the ancient Near East was safe from bandits, gangs and wild animals, even though the empire might be at peace. The more economically and culturally developed a city was, the greater the value of things in the city, and the greater the need for the wall. The temple, with its rich decorations, would have been particularly at risk. Practically speaking, no wall means no city, and no city means no temple. Even on strictly military terms, the temple and the wall are mutually dependent.
Likewise with government and justice. The gates of the wall are where lawsuits are tried Deuteronomy No temple means no presence of God, and no presence of God means no military strength, no justice, no civilization and no need for walls. This at least is the ideal towards which Nehemiah is fasting, praying and working.
This means not only that he had immediate access to the king as the one who tested and served his beverages, but also that Nehemiah was a trusted advisor and high-ranking Persian official.
When the king granted him permission to oversee the rebuilding project, Nehemiah asked for letters to the governors through whose territory he would pass on his trip to Jerusalem Neh. This disagreement demonstrates how easy it is for godly people to come to different conclusions about what it means to trust God in their work. Perhaps each was simply doing what he was most familiar with.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king, familiar with the exercise of royal power. Both Ezra and Nehemiah were seeking to be faithful in their labors. Both were godly, prayerful leaders. But they understood trusting God for protection differently.
Among the promises made by the people as they renewed their covenant with the Lord was a commitment to honor the Sabbath Neh. Be the first to review this product. This disagreement demonstrates how easy it is for godly people to come to different conclusions about what it means to trust God in their work. God gave them a great victory over their enemies. He made an honest survey of the facts and then began to lay his plans.
Trying to prove or disprove God with science is like trying to screw in a flat-head nail with a screwdriver Apparently he wanted to know the size and scope of the work he was taking on before he publicly committed to doing it. The fact that success came from the Lord did not mean Nehemiah could sit back and relax.
Quite to the contrary, Nehemiah was about to commence an arduous and demanding task. Nehemiah was able to inspire collegiality and to organize the project effectively. But then, just as in the story of the rebuilding of the temple in Ezra, opposition arose. So what did Nehemiah lead his people to do?
Pray and trust God? Or arm themselves for battle? Predictably, the pragmatic believer led them to do both: In fact, when threats against the wall-builders mounted, Nehemiah also stationed guards at key positions. He encouraged his people not to lose heart because of their opponents: Because of their faith, the people were to fight. Yet this was not an invitation to the Jews to put down their weapons and focus on building, trusting in supernatural protection alone.
Rather, God would fight for his people by assisting them in battle. He would be at work in and through his people as they worked. We Christians sometimes seem to act as if there were a rigid wall between actively pursuing our own agenda and passively waiting for God to act. Yet, at moments, we are tempted to become passive while waiting for God to act.
If you are unemployed, yes, God wants you to have a job. To get the job God wants you to have, you have to write a resume, conduct a search, apply for positions, interview, and get rejected dozens of times before finding that job, just as everyone else has to do. If you are a parent, yes, God wants you to have enjoyment in raising your children. Certain wealthy Jewish nobles and officials were taking advantage of economically difficult times to line their own pockets Nehemiah 5. They were loaning money to fellow Jews, expecting interest to be paid on the loans, even though this was prohibited in the Jewish Law for example, Exodus Nehemiah responded by demanding that the wealthy stop charging interest on loans and give back whatever they had taken from their debtors.
In contrast to the selfishness of those who had been taking advantage of their fellow Jews, Nehemiah did not use his leadership position to enhance his personal fortune. Instead, he generously invited many to eat at his table, paying from this expense from his personal savings without taxing the people Neh. In a sense, the nobles and officials were guilty of the same kind of dualism we have just discussed.
In their case, they were not waiting passively for God to solve their problems. Instead, they were actively pursuing their own gain as if economic life had nothing to do with God. But Nehemiah tells them that their economic lives are of utmost importance to God, because God cares about all of society, not just its religious aspects: Nehemiah connects an economic issue usury with the fear of God.
Should we put our money in banks that make loans with interest? Should we take advantage of perks made available to us in our workplace, even if these come at considerable cost to others? In practice, that means we each owe God the duty of caring for the cloud of persons who depend on our work: The question of whether the Bible prohibits lending money at interest has a long and contentious history in Christian theology.
The external and internal problems facing Nehemiah did not halt work on the wall, which was completed in only fifty-two days Neh. After the wall surrounding Jerusalem was completed, the Israelites gathered in Jerusalem in order to renew their covenant with God. Ezra reappeared at this point in order to read the Law to the people Neh. As they heard the Law, they wept Neh. However central work might be to serving God, so is celebration. On holy days, people are to enjoy the fruits of their labors as well as sharing them with those who lack such delights.
Yet, as Nehemiah chapter 9 demonstrates, there was also a time for godly sorrow as the people confessed their sins to God Neh. Their confession came in the context of an extensive recital of all the things God had done, beginning with creation itself Neh. Among the promises made by the people as they renewed their covenant with the Lord was a commitment to honor the Sabbath Neh. The Israelites also promised to fulfill their responsibility to support the temple and its workers Neh. They would do so by giving to the temple and its staff a percentage of the fruit of their own work. After completing his task of building the wall in Jerusalem and overseeing the restoration of society there, Nehemiah returned to serve King Artaxerxes Neh.
Later, he came back to Jerusalem, where he discovered that some of the reforms he had initiated were thriving, while others had been neglected. For example, he observed some people working on the Sabbath Neh. Jewish officials had been letting Gentile traders bring their goods into Jerusalem for sale on the day of rest Neh. So Nehemiah rebuked those who had failed to honor the Sabbath Neh.
Some think it may have been as many as one hundred and ten years. The Rebuilding of the Temple, Chs. The proclamation of Cyrus, 1. Those who returned, 2. The foundation laid, 3. The work hindered, 4.
The work finished, The Reforms of Ezra, Chs. Ezra's Journey, 2. The confession of sin, 9. The covenant to keep the law. For Study and Discussion.
The Rebuilding of the Wall, Chs. Nehemiah permitted to go to Jerusalem, The work on the walls and its hindrance, The Covenant to Keep the Law, Chs. The law read, 8. The covenant made, Those who dwelt in the city, The walls dedicated, This is taken from its principal character, a Jewish maiden became queen of a Persian King.
To explain the origin of the feast of Purim work of providence for God's people. The events narrated are thought to have occurred about 56 years after the first return of Zerubbabel in B. The King then would be Xerxes the Great, and the drunken feast may have been preparatory to the invasion of Greece in the third year of his reign. Connection with Other Books. There is no connection between Esther and the other books of the Bible.
While it is a story of the time when the Jews were returning to Jerusalem, and very likely should come between the first and second return, and, therefore, between the sixth and seventh chapters of Ezra, the incident stands alone. Without it we would lose much of our knowledge of that period. While Esther stands out as the principal character, the whole story turns on the refusal of Mordecai to bow down to Haman, which would have been to show him divine honor. He did not hate Haman but, as a Jew could not worship any other than God.