This Isn't What I Signed Up For

Tuesday Morning Bible Study (taught by Toby)

Ezra – Intro and Chapter One

A story of one man exiled to Babylon

Daniel 1:1-7

Before we can begin to understand the state of mind of the Jewish people in the book of Ezra, we must turn the clock back a bit so that we can learn where they came from, and what they have been through. They were still Jews, but how they had changed!

Sometimes it is easier to understand a great move of human history by focusing on one person’s story. Let’s look at Daniel 1:1-7 and read part of his story in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, the conqueror. Daniel was among the first group of captives to be taken to Babylon. What do we learn about him in vs. 2-7?

Some characteristics which stand out to me are these: he is the cream of the crop, good looking (yes!), upper, upper class, brainy (which was good because he had to learn a new language and a new body of literature). He had some good friends, he ate from the king’s table, and he had to forget his own name of Daniel, and submit to being called Belteshazzar. This means something like Bel protect my life. Unfortunately, Bel was the chief god of the Babylonians. Imagine what a sore point that would be in your daily life.

If we continue to read, we learn that Daniel was a man who believed in the God of Abraham, and had strong faith in God. Yet how could he not have his identity shaken after being pulled from his own land, and now almost everything about you screams, “Babylon”, not “Devout Jewish Man”? He must have been asking himself, “Who am I? What will happen to me? One of the fascinating elements of Daniel’s story is watching how he balanced pleasing God and serving Nebuchadnezzar.

If we read Psalm 137 we have people dealing with the same circumstances, but packed with emotional power. “My captors don’t have any idea of who I am. I am going to have to change to survive – who will I be if I ever get out of this?”

Now, as we start to study Ezra, it is time for the Jewish people to return to their homeland, a place they have not lived in. A ruin. It means leaving a comfortable, urban, sophisticated existence in Babylon They survived because they were treated well and allowed to settle in towns and villages along the Chebar River – an irrigation channel. They lived together in communities, were allowed to farm and work to earn income. Many eventually became wealthy. They were encouraged to settle down through Jeremiah’s prophecy. Please read Jer. 29:4-11 now. What are God’s instructions to the Jews who were living in exile in Babylon?

After seventy years, they have adjusted, and Babylon is home. Yet Ezra says that God stirred up some of the people to return. Let’s look at where they are going….Jerusalem, a guarantee of identity crisis coming on.

Understanding Calamity- what actually happened when the Babylonians conquered Israel and Jerusalem?

Destruction of the temple, all the important buildings in Jerusalem and the city walls
The end of the Davidic monarchy – Judah is now a Babylonian Province
End of Israel as an independent state
Deportation of all the people to exile in Babylon, except for some of the poorest people to work the land.

Radical Reassessment – Israel’s identity and relationship to God during the time of the exile in Babylon was shaken.

How to understand what had happened to them
Had God sent them into exile or had the gods of Babylon been victorious?
Were they still the chosen people? Had God abandoned them?
What had gone wrong?
Was God able or willing to deliver them?
Would God remember his promises to Abraham and David?
Even though they were in exile as a result of disobedience and God’s judgment, and had suffered a terrible loss, they did benefit in some ways, crucial to Jewish survival in the future.

Cured of idolatry. They never worshipped idols again
Because they were separated from the Temple, a new order called the “Scribes” came into being. They taught, guarded and preserved the scriptures. They wrote volumes which later became the Talmud, the most important Jewish writing – a commentary.
Synagogues or places of assembly were instituted for formal Jewish worship and schooling. Without the synagogues, the national spirit of the Jewish people would not have been kept alive after the fall of the Second Temple in 70 AD by the Romans.
The teaching of the scriptures – They compiled and studied the scriptures intensely, realizing the reason for the Captivity and taught it to their children.
Unification – common hardship and isolation brought common sympathy and closer relationship within the community. They returned united and purified


Please read Ezra 1: 1-4

In the past, God had frequently used foreign nations to chastise Israel, yet God stirred up Cyrus to intend that Israel should return to its land and build a temple for worship. He is now using a foreign power to help redeem Israel, not chastise her. Jeremiah’s prophecy (above) must be fulfilled. It is God who stirred Cyrus to make this proclamation. The same God who who raised up Israel’s enemies for judgment has now enabled a return through this foreign emperor. God is in control of the ruler’s might and power, both before the exile and now.

God was with them in exile, and he never abandoned them.

Please read Ezra 1:5-11

Did you notice that they received a lot of gifts for the journey – what were they? Does this remind you of any past event – any huge event – in the history of Israel? If you said the Exodus, you are correct!

However, even though the people returning to Israel had a lot of evidence that they were in God’s plan, they still must have been worried about some big issues. The place is in ruins and the neighbors are hostile, to say the least. Will God inhabit the new temple they are going to build? Would they be legitimate once again, after all that had happened?

Yet hope was again taking hold. The temple could be rebuilt, and anyone who wanted to could go “home”. They had emerged from the crucible of exile, but they were changed. They were not the same nation they had been before.We learned that they had lost autonomy, but had gained spiritually. They had gained solidarity with each other, a new respect and study of Scripture, an abhorrence of idolatry, and an understanding of why the exile happened.

They came to the old yet new country to settle and build. They were the same yet not the same people.

I want you to think about an experience in your life which changed you. Maybe it’s a trial – a long illness, a financial catastrophe, a death. It could be a move to another country, or even a fundamental change like motherhood, or divorce. Maybe learning a new job, or taking on ministry in a church. You enter the changing experience one way, and you come out the other side of it changed. You are the same person, yet different.

When you are going through this metamorphosis, you may wonder – who will I be when this is finally over? How will I know how to live? Everything will be different because I have changed…

Maybe you are in one of these changing experiences right now, or have come out of one. Do you realize, like the people of Israel, that God is equipping you with everything you will need for when you come out the other side? Just like the people in Babylon learned a deeper walk while they were deprived of the Temple and the sacrificial system, and were even given valuable gifts for their new home, if you reflect on it, you will also realize that your experience of change, as hard as it might have been, as disruptive as it might have been, has yielded a deeper walk, and greater gifts on the other side.

Who are we? Who are we going to be? Who were we once? We will always find that answer in the Lord, because like ancient Israel for whom he stirred up Cyrus, and stirred up those who decided to leave, the Lord is the same God of ancient Israel. He lives in our hearts today. He controls our circumstances. His plans for us are good.

Earlier, we read Jeremiah’s prophecy in Jer. 29:10:

10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.

Here is the next verse:

11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Wherever you may be in the experience of change, know that there is a time limit appointed by God, and that his plans for your future are good.