Return from Exile: Ezra 1-3 (4)

Pray Psalm 127.1, 2.
Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.

Sing Psalm 127.1, 2.
(Leominster: Not What My Hands Have Done)
Unless God builds the house, the workers toil in vain.
Unless He watches o’er us all, the watchmen have no gain.
In vain we early rise, and late retire to rest,
for God gives precious, needed sleep to those He loves the best.

Read Ezra 2.1-70; meditate on verses 68-70.

Preparation
1. What did some of the leaders do?

2. Where did the people live?

Meditation
Arrived in the land, the people dispersed to their own cities (v. 70). That must have been a bittersweet experience—to arrive at the homes they remembered or had heard about for 70 years, only, no doubt, to discover them all in serious disrepair. Much work lay ahead for all the returnees. Well, most.

Right away, “some” of the “heads of the fathers’ houses” took up an offering to get started on the work of the temple (By the way, the “some” in NKJV is in italics, suggesting it’s not present in the text; but the Hebrew construction clearly implies it: Some, but not all.). Theirs was not an insignificant offering—lots of gold and silver plus “one hundred priestly garments.” I can’t help but wonder about those priestly garments. How is it that the heads of the households were in possession of these? And how many did they hold back?

This seems like a significant offering, but it pales into insignificance compared with the offerings taken from all the people, not just the wealthy, to build the first temple (cf. 2 Chron. 29.1-9). This offering reminds me of Josiah, when he provided the Passover sacrifice for all the people, rather than their having to bring their own. That got them a big celebration, but no depth of faith (2 Chron. 35, 36).

I hear Jesus saying to the religious leaders of His day, “These things you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone” (Matt. 23.23). The offerings of “some” of the leaders were fine, but as we shall see, they were chump change compared to what they held back for themselves—and what they would leave undone. Besides, by giving—and they made sure the tally was known—they might not have to sully their hands with any of the hard work (cf. Neh. 3.5).

No longer captive in Babylon, these folks returned with their souls captive to their flesh.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
And if their souls were captive to their flesh, it would explain why “giving according to their ability” (Ezra 2.69) was so comparatively meager. “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” (Prov. 24.10).

Regardless of how many gold drachmas, silver minas, and priests’ garments they gave, it probably didn’t measure up to all the tithes they owed God; plus it was all second-hand. (Think of all the “noble giving” we participate in while cleaning out our closets and garages.)

God’s opinion of their lives, their generosity, and their obedience was a little different than their perception of themselves: “…from the days of your fathers you have gone astray from My ordinances and have not kept them. ‘Return to Me, and I will return to you’, says the LORD of hosts. But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’” (Mal. 3.6, 7)

“‘Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!’ But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation’” (Mal. 3.8, 9).

“‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. And try Me now in this,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it’” (Mal. 3.10).

Because God owns everything, He doesn’t need our gold, silver, or second-hand clothes.
“For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills…for the world is Mine, and all its fullness” (Ps. 50.10, 12).
But what He does want is for us to know Him, and to give Him our loving obedience. And yes, part of that does include stuff—ten percent of what we have and anything else we prayerfully might like to offer. But that is simply part of our obedience to Him— “according to our ability”—which hopefully is exponentially more heartfelt than that of the Israelite leaders.

Jesus said it best, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6.19, 21).

Please God, let my treasure, heart and soul, be captive only to You.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man, I would do my part;
Yet what can I give Him?
Give Him my heart.
(Christina Rossetti, 1872)

For reflection
1. What can we do to make sure our hearts are always devoted to the Lord?

2. How can you tell when you may be drawn more to the ways of the flesh than the ways of the Lord? What should you do then?

3. Whom will you encourage today in their walk with and work for the Lord?

Their offerings were nothing, compared with the offerings of the princes in David’s time; yet, being according to their ability, were as acceptable to God. The Lord will carry us through all undertakings entered on according to his will, with an aim to his glory, and dependence on his assistance. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Ezra 2.64-70

Pray Psalm 127.3-5.
Give thanks to God for your family and Christian friends. Pray that He will bless and use them to build His Church and further His Kingdom. Seek the Lord to show you how to encourage the people you will see today.

Sing Psalm 127.3-5.
(Leominster: Not What My Hands Have Done)
All children are a gift and treasure from the Lord,
a token of His constant grace, the fruitful womb’s reward.
Like arrows in our hand the children of our youth
we, trusting Jesus, shape and send to bear the Word of truth.

The blessings of the Lord on fruitful families rest.
Both friend and foe alike shall know that they by God are blessed.
Praise God, Who builds the house, and watches o’er us all,
and grants relief and fruitful wombs to all who on Him call.

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available free by clicking here.