OUR FATHER WHO IS HOLY AND SEPARATE AND WE SHOULD BE THE SAME

The book of Ezra Chapter 10 verse 1 - 17 records the repentance that the people of God undertook as they acknowledged their failure to maintain separation from their gentile captors. 

1 While Ezra prayed and acknowledged their guilt, weeping and prostrate before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites gathered about him, men, women, and children; and the people wept profusely. 2 Then Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, made this appeal to Ezra: “We have indeed betrayed our God by taking as wives foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet in spite of this there still remains a hope for Israel. 3 Let us therefore enter into a covenant before our God to dismiss all our foreign wives and the children born of them, in keeping with what you, my lord, advise, and those who are in dread of the commandments of our God. Let it be done according to the law! 4 Rise, then, for this is your duty! We are with you, so have courage and act!”

5 Ezra stood and demanded an oath from the leaders of the priests, from the Levites and from all Israel that they would do as had been proposed; and they swore it. 6 Then Ezra left his place before the house of God and entered the chamber of Johanan, son of Eliashib,[a] where he spent the night neither eating food nor drinking water, for he was in mourning over the apostasy of the exiles. 7 A proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles should gather together in Jerusalem, 8 and that whoever failed to appear within three days would, according to the judgment of the leaders and elders, suffer the confiscation of all his possessions, and would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

9 All the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered together in Jerusalem within the three-day period: it was in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. All the people, sitting in the open place before the house of God, were trembling both over the matter at hand and because it was raining. 10 Then Ezra, the priest, stood up and said to them: “Your apostasy in taking foreign women as wives has added to Israel’s guilt. 11 But now, give praise to the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do his will: separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women.” 12 In answer, the whole assembly cried out with a loud voice: “Yes, it is our duty to do as you say! 13 But the people are numerous and it is the rainy season, so that we cannot remain outside; besides, this is not a task that can be performed in a single day or even two, for those of us who have sinned in this regard are many. 14 Let our leaders represent the whole assembly; then let all those in our cities who have taken foreign women for wives appear at appointed times, accompanied by the elders and magistrates of each city in question, till we have turned away from us our God’s burning anger over this affair.” 15 Only Jonathan, son of Asahel, and Jahzeiah, son of Tikvah, were against this proposal, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

16 The exiles did as agreed. Ezra the priest appointed as his assistants men who were heads of ancestral houses, one for each ancestral house, all of them designated by name. They held sessions to examine the matter, beginning with the first day of the tenth month. 17 By the first day of the first month they had finished dealing with all the men who had taken foreign women for wives.

Amen.

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FLAWLESS  Psalm 12  & Ephesians 6 : 10

O Lord our God, the poor were being plundered by their foes

And when they called, You said You would arise You would arise 

Your words O Lord they are flawless yes they are flawless

Like silver in a furnace seven times purified

O Lord my God, soul was being plundered by my foes

And when I called, You said that You were dead but now alive 

Your Word O Lord He is flawless yes He is flawless

Like silver in a furnace seven times purified purified

So I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might ( x 4 )

Your Word O Lord He is flawless yes He is flawless

Like silver in a furnace seven times purified ( purified )

 OUR FATHER WHO REQUIRES SEPARATION OF HIS PEOPLE

The book of Ezra chapter 9 verses 1 - 15, as the preparations of departure were being made, a report was presented to Ezra that revealed that the people of Israel had not kept themselves separate from the pagan people while in captivity and had intermarried with people from the surrounding nations and mixed the lineages of the holy people of God with the lineages of the gentiles.

Upon learning this, the prophet Ezra became incensed and he grieved the rebellion of the people against the commandments of their God. He humbled himself by falling to his knees and crying out to God a heartfelt prayer of confession and acknowledgement of the mercy that they had been shown t that point that had preserved them as a remant to that day.

1 When these matters had been concluded, the leaders approached me with this report: “Neither the Israelite laymen nor the priests nor the Levites have kept themselves separate from the peoples of the lands and their abominations—Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites— 2 for they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, thus intermingling the holy seed with the peoples of the lands. Furthermore, the leaders and rulers have taken a prominent part in this apostasy!”

3 When I had heard this, I tore my cloak and my mantle, plucked hair from my head and beard, and sat there devastated. 4 Around me gathered all who were in dread of the sentence of the God of Israel on the apostasy of the exiles, while I remained devastated until the evening sacrifice. 5 Then, at the time of the evening sacrifice, I rose in my wretchedness, and with cloak and mantle torn I fell on my knees, stretching out my hands to the Lord, my God.

6 I said: “My God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to raise my face to you, my God, for our wicked deeds are heaped up above our heads and our guilt reaches up to heaven. 7 From the time of our ancestors even to this day our guilt has been great, and for our wicked deeds we have been delivered, we and our kings and our priests, into the hands of the kings of foreign lands, to the sword, to captivity, to pillage, and to disgrace, as is the case today.

8 “And now, only a short time ago, mercy came to us from the Lord, our God, who left us a remnant and gave us a stake in his holy place; thus our God has brightened our eyes and given us relief in our slavery. 9 For slaves we are, but in our slavery our God has not abandoned us; rather, he has turned the good will of the kings of Persia toward us. Thus he has given us new life to raise again the house of our God and restore its ruins, and has granted us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem. 

10 But now, our God, what can we say after all this? For we have abandoned your commandments, 11 which you gave through your servants the prophets: The land which you are entering to take as your possession is a land unclean with the filth of the peoples of the lands, with the abominations with which they have filled it from one end to the other by their uncleanness. 12 Do not, then, give your daughters to their sons in marriage, and do not take their daughters for your sons. Never promote their welfare and prosperity; thus you will grow strong, enjoy the produce of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.

13 “After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt—though you, our God, have made less of our sinfulness than it deserved and have allowed us to survive as we do— 14 shall we again violate your commandments by intermarrying with these abominable peoples? Would you not become so angered with us as to destroy us without remnant or survivor? 15 Lord, God of Israel, you are just; yet we have been spared, the remnant we are today. Here we are before you in our sins. Because of all this, we can no longer stand in your presence.”

Ezra lifted his prayers and laments up to God declared that because of their sin, they, as a people, could no longer stand in the presence of God.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO GIVES US FAVOR TO RETURN HOME TO HIM

The prophet Ezra, in chapter 8 verses 21 - 36 of his book,  documented the final preparations he and the departing representatives of the children of Israel  made including the commencing a fast, the weighing in of all the precious implements and vessels made of silver and gold they were taking back to serve as the utensils of the temple and the sacrificing of bulls, rams, lambs and goats.

Once they were ready to leave, they presented the kingˋs orders to the satraps (Persian regional governors) that granted  them safe passage and  support in their construction projects.

 21 Then I proclaimed a fast, there by the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horsemen to protect us against enemies along the way, since we had said to the king, “The favoring hand of our God is over all who seek him, but his fierce anger is against all who forsake him.” 23 So we fasted, seeking this from our God, and it was granted. 24 Next I selected twelve of the priestly leaders along with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen, 25 and I weighed out before them the silver and the gold and the vessels offered for the house of our God by the king, his counselors, his officials, and all the Israelites of that region. 26 I weighed out into their hands these amounts: silver, six hundred and fifty talents; silver vessels, one hundred; gold, one hundred talents; 27 twenty golden bowls valued at a thousand darics; two vases of excellent polished bronze, as precious as gold. 28 I addressed them in these words: “You are consecrated to the Lord, and the vessels are also consecrated; the silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your ancestors. 29 Watch over them carefully until you weigh them out in Jerusalem in the presence of the chief priests and Levites and the leaders of ancestral houses of Israel, in the chambers of the house of the Lord.” 30 The priests and the Levites then took over the silver, the gold, and the vessels that had been weighed out, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

31 We set out from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God remained over us, and he protected us from enemies and robbers along the way. 32 We arrived in Jerusalem, where we rested for three days. 33 On the fourth day, the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed out in the house of our God and given to the priest Meremoth, son of Uriah, with whom was Eleazar, son of Phinehas; they were assisted by the Levites Jozabad, son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, son of Binnui. 34 Everything was in order as to number and weight, and the total weight was registered. At that same time, 35 those who had returned from the captivity, the exiles, offered as burnt offerings to the God of Israel twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve goats as sin offerings: all these as a burnt offering to the Lord. 36 Finally, the orders of the king were presented to the king’s satraps and to the governors in West-of-Euphrates, who gave their support to the people and to the house of God.

Amen.

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 YOU SHONE YOUR LIGHT

In the darkness we stumbled round

We had no way to see

But You our God shone a great light

And set the captives free

 OUR FATHER WHO GIVES FAVOR TO THOSE WHO BUILD  HIS TEMPLE

The book of Ezra chapter 8 verses 1 - 20 is a record of those who were being enrolled to make the journey from Babylon back to Jerusalem and Ezra recorded the names of the heads of the ancestral houses and their genological records.

1 These are the heads of the ancestral houses and the genealogies of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

2 Of the descendants of Phinehas, Gershon; of the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel; of the descendants of David, Hattush, 3 son of Shecaniah; of the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him one hundred and fifty males were enrolled; 4 of the descendants of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai, son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males; 5 of the descendants of Zattu, Shecaniah, son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males; 6 of the descendants of Adin, Ebed, son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males; 7 of the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah, son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males; 8 of the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah, son of Michael, and with him eighty males; 9 of the descendants of Joab, Obadiah, son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males; 10 of the descendants of Bani, Shelomoth, son of Josiphiah, and with him one hundred and sixty males; 11 of the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah, son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males; 12 of the descendants of Azgad, Johanan, son of Hakkatan, and with him one hundred and ten males; 13 of the descendants of Adonikam, younger sons, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males; 14 of the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai, son of Zakkur, and with him seventy males.

15 I assembled them by the river that flows toward Ahava, where we camped for three days. There I perceived that both laymen and priests were present, but I could not discover a single Levite. 16 So I sent for discerning leaders, Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, 17 with a command for Iddo, the leader in the place Casiphia, instructing them what to say to Iddo and his kinsmen, and to the temple servants in Casiphia, in order to procure for us ministers for the house of our God. 18 Since the favoring hand of our God was over us, they sent to us a well-instructed man, one of the descendants of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and kinsmen, eighteen men. 19 They also sent us Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah, descendants of Merari, and their kinsmen and their sons, twenty men. 20 Of the temple servants, those whom David and the princes appointed to serve the Levites, there were two hundred and twenty. All these were enrolled by name.

When reviewing the men who were to make the journey with him back to Jerusalem, Ezra realised that there were no Levites among them and because the services in the temple required descendants of the tribe of Levi to perform them, Ezra sent some trusted leaders to the head of temple servants (named Iddo) to get him to send men who were qualified to serve in the temple they were going to build in Jerusalem.

In keeping with the favor that God had shown them,  A well-trained Levitic priest named Sherebiah, was sent to them along with a contigent of thirty-seven  priests. In the travelling party were two hundred and fifty men who would help the Levites with the functions and duties of the temple.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO GUIDES HIS PEOPLE HOME

The book of Ezra chapter 7 verses 11 - 28 contains a copy of the authorizing letter that king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra that gave him clearance to leave Babylon, take the e staff and resources that he needed to get the Nation of Judah up and running. Ezra was also authorized to set up a judicial sturture in Judah that could executethe  justice prescribed by God including the adminstration of the death penalty.

11 This is a copy of the rescript which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest-scribe, the scribe versed in matters concerning the Lord’s commandments and statutes for Israel:

12 “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of the God of heaven, greetings! And now, 13 I have issued this decree, that anyone in my kingdom belonging to the people of Israel, its priests or Levites, who is willing to go up to Jerusalem with you, may go, 14 for you are the one sent by the king and his seven counselors to supervise Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the law of your God which is in your possession, 15 and to bring the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely contributed to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, 16 as well as all the silver and gold which you may receive throughout the province of Babylon, together with the voluntary offerings the people and priests freely contribute for the house of their God in Jerusalem. 17 Therefore, you must use this money with all diligence to buy bulls, rams, lambs, and the grain offerings and libations proper to these, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem. 18 You and your kinsmen may do whatever seems best to you with the remainder of the silver and gold, as your God wills. 19 The vessels given to you for the service of the house of your God you are to deposit before the God of Jerusalem. 20 Whatever else you may be required to supply for the needs of the house of your God, you may draw from the royal treasury. 21 I, Artaxerxes the king, issue this decree to all the treasurers of West-of-Euphrates: Whatever Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requests of you, let it be done with all diligence, 22 within these limits: silver, one hundred talents; wheat, one hundred kors; wine, one hundred baths; oil, one hundred baths; salt, without limit. 23 Let everything that is decreed by the God of heaven be carried out exactly for the house of the God of heaven, that wrath may not come upon the realm of the king and his sons. 24 We also inform you that it is not permitted to impose taxes, tributes, or tolls on any priest, Levite, singer, gatekeeper, temple servant, or any other servant of that house of God.

25 “As for you, Ezra, in accordance with the wisdom of your God which is in your possession, appoint magistrates and judges to administer justice to all the people in West-of-Euphrates, to all, that is, who know the laws of your God. Instruct those who do not know these laws. 26 All who will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon them with all diligence, whether death, or corporal punishment, or confiscation of goods, or imprisonment.”

27 Blessed be the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who put it into the heart of the king thus to glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, 28 and who let me find favor with the king, with his counselors, and with all the most influential royal officials. I therefore took courage and, with the hand of the Lord, my God, over me, I gathered together Israelite leaders to make the return journey with me.

Having been granted the kings favor to leave Babylon and return to Judah, Ezra blessed the Lord the God of his ancestors. He gathered the leaders and under the guidance of God, they we set to depart on the journey home.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE FAVOR STEAMLINED EZRAˋS JOURNEY BACKHOME

The book of Ezra chapter 7 verses 1  -  10 documents the departure of a scholar of the law from Babylon along with a contingent of priests, singers, gatekeepers and assistants. 

Ezra, who is the writer of this book of Ezra, begins this passsage by documenting his own lineage back to Aaron the high priest of Israel during the time of Moses.

He then gives a timeline of his departure of from Babylon and his arrival in Jerusalem;

• Left Babylon - 1st day of the 1st month of the 7th year of the reign of Artaxerxes
• Arrived Jerusalem - 1st day of the fifth month of the 7th year of the reign of Artaxerxes

1 After these events, during the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, 2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, 3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, 4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, 5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the high priest— 6 this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe, well-versed in the law of Moses given by the Lord, the God of Israel. The king granted him all that he requested, because the hand of the Lord, his God, was over him.

7 Some of the Israelites and some priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. 8 Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month of that seventh year of the king. 9 On the first day of the first month he began the journey up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem, for the favoring hand of his God was over him. 10 Ezra had set his heart on the study and practice of the law of the Lord and on teaching statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Amen.

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