Day 341: Ezra 7-10 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
2. 0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
3. 0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
4. 0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
5. 0:10can go to the description or the bible
6. 0:13department.com to download a reading
7. 0:15plan and join the journey
8. 0:24family. Welcome to day 341.
9. 0:27And we are in Ezra chapters 7, 8, 9, and
10. 0:3110. Four chapters of the Bible for you
11. 0:34to read today. All right, I'm super
12. 0:37super excited because EZRA IS FINALLY
13. 0:40GOING TO GET TO JERUSALEM. EZRA has now
14. 0:43entered the chat. All right, Ezra is now
15. 0:45in the book of Ezra. So, it can be a
16. 0:48little odd, right? For the first six
17. 0:49chapters of the book of Ezra, Ezra is
18. 0:52nowhere to be found. And then we get to
19. 0:54Ezra chapter 7 verse one. And what does
20. 0:58it say? After these things. Now I'm
21. 1:01gonna have to give you context for after
22. 1:03these things cuz a lot of things
23. 1:05happened after these things. But anyway,
24. 1:08after these things, during the reign of
25. 1:10Artiserxes, king of Persia, Ezra, son of
26. 1:13Sariah, the son of Azeriah, the son of
27. 1:17Hilkaya, the son of Shalom, the son of
28. 1:20Zadok, the son of Ahutub, the son of
29. 1:23Amoriah, the son of Azeriah, the son, oh
30. 1:26my gosh, this blah blah blah blah blah
31. 1:27blah blah blah blah blah. The son of
32. 1:30Aaron, the chief priest. Okay, it's
33. 1:32important that Ezra is a descendant of
34. 1:35Aaron. Okay. The the chief priests. This
35. 1:39Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a
36. 1:42teacher well-versed in the law of Moses
37. 1:46which the Lord the God of Israel had
38. 1:48given. The king had granted him
39. 1:51everything he asked. For the hand of the
40. 1:54Lord his God was on him. Talk about a
41. 1:58like killer introduction. Some of the
42. 2:00Israelites including priests, Levites,
43. 2:02musicians, gatekeepers, temple servants
44. 2:05also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh
45. 2:08year of King Artic Xerxes. Ezra arrives
46. 2:11in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the
47. 2:13seventh year of the king. He had begun
48. 2:16his journey from Babylon on the first
49. 2:18day of the first month. That's
50. 2:20important. First day of the first month.
51. 2:22And he arrived in Jerusalem on the first
52. 2:24day of the fifth month. For the gracious
53. 2:26hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had
54. 2:29devoted himself to the study and
55. 2:31observance of the law of the Lord and to
56. 2:34teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.
57. 2:37And then you're going to get a copy of
58. 2:39King Artic Xerxes letter. Uh verse 13.
59. 2:42Now I decree that any of the Israelites
60. 2:44in my kingdom, including priests and
61. 2:46Levites who volunteer to go to Jerusalem
62. 2:49with you may go. You are sent by the
63. 2:51king and his seven adviserss to inquire
64. 2:53about Judah and Jerusalem in regard to
65. 2:56the law of your God which is in your
66. 2:59hand. Okay? So Torah observance. If
67. 3:03Zerubbable is there to build the temple,
68. 3:06Ezra is there to get the Torah in the
69. 3:09hearts of the people because it does not
70. 3:11do anyone any good to have a temple but
71. 3:14not have the Torah. And then last,
72. 3:16Nehemiah, which we'll learn about
73. 3:18tomorrow, is there to rebuild the walls.
74. 3:21They need rhythms. They need worship.
75. 3:24They need a temple. They need to
76. 3:26reinstitute sacrifice. Okay? But then
77. 3:28Ezra's got to get their hearts right.
78. 3:31This is spiritual renewal. And then
79. 3:34last, they need protection. Okay? So,
80. 3:36remember what's the big 30,000 foot
81. 3:39idea? Return, rebuild, repent. return,
82. 3:43rebuild, repent. If you just look at the
83. 3:46book of Ezra, okay, Ezra chapters 1
84. 3:50through3 were all about return.
85. 3:52Zerubbable brought people back. They
86. 3:54returned to Jerusalem. Then Ezra
87. 3:57chapters 4-6, they rebuilt. And now in
88. 4:01Ezra chapters 7-10, they are going to
89. 4:04repent. Okay, so that's a 30,000 foot
90. 4:06context. Repent. All right. Ezra comes
91. 4:09to Jerusalem. Let me give you some
92. 4:11context, then we'll dive into some nerdy
93. 4:12nuggets. This is the second wave of
94. 4:15return. Now, here's probably the context
95. 4:18that a lot of us need. All right. Now,
96. 4:22when was the temple when did the temple
97. 4:25get rebuilt? 515 BC. 515 BC. What year
98. 4:30is Ezra returning to Jerusalem? 458 BC.
99. 4:35So we're talking 57
100. 4:38maybe 58 years after the temple is
101. 4:41rebuilt. Okay. So the there's a massive
102. 4:45gap in between that first wave that came
103. 4:47with the verbable and this wave that's
104. 4:49coming with Ezra. Also all the events of
105. 4:53the book of Esther happened between 483
106. 4:56BC and 473 BC. Okay. So in between
107. 5:02chapter 6 and 7, the entire book of
108. 5:04Esther has transpired. What's the
109. 5:07context for the intermarriage and
110. 5:09divorce issue? Okay. Now when Ezra gets
111. 5:14to Jerusalem, the number one issue that
112. 5:16he is going to encounter is the fact
113. 5:18that people have married pagan women.
114. 5:22Okay? And this is a complicated and
115. 5:25complex problem. Now, it's complicated
116. 5:29for two reasons. It's complicated
117. 5:31because when we get to the New Testament
118. 5:33and we get to places like 1 Corinthians
119. 5:35chapter 7 uh in 1 Peter chapter 3, the
120. 5:38New Testament is going to say that if
121. 5:41you're a Christian and you're married to
122. 5:43someone who's not a Christian that you
123. 5:45should not divorce them. However, when
124. 5:47Ezra gets to Jerusalem and he finds that
125. 5:50there are people who have intermarried,
126. 5:53they've married non-Jews, Ezra is going
127. 5:55to essentially have a mass divorce. Like
128. 6:00leaders and Levites and priests are all
129. 6:04going to divorce their pagan wives. And
130. 6:07and this is the repentance. Now, this is
131. 6:11controversial because the Torah never
132. 6:14says don't marry people of different
133. 6:18races. Okay, this is like this is
134. 6:20tension. It says don't marry pagans.
135. 6:24Like, let's just think about it, right?
136. 6:26We've all just got done reading a book
137. 6:29like Ruth, okay? And we have a Moabitete
138. 6:33woman who's then made a vow. Your God
139. 6:36will be my God. Your people will be my
140. 6:38people. I'm going to go wherever you go.
141. 6:40And because she vows to be to uh attach
142. 6:44herself to the covenant of the God of
143. 6:46Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, she can marry
144. 6:49an Israelite, and that's totally fine.
145. 6:53There are multiple examples like people
146. 6:55like Rahab, who's a total Canaanite who
147. 6:58gets grafted in. Why? Because she's
148. 7:01going to be Torah observant. Okay, so
149. 7:04Ezra is doing something that is
150. 7:06completely new and to be honest pretty
151. 7:11unique in the entire canon of scripture.
152. 7:13At no point before this were were
153. 7:17different races of people not eligible
154. 7:19for marriage and at no point after this.
155. 7:22Okay. So, there's a massive shift that's
156. 7:26going to take place and I'm going to
157. 7:28actually walk you through uh exactly
158. 7:32like what that shift is. I want us to
159. 7:34turn to Ezra chapter 9 verse two. Okay.
160. 7:37Ezra chapter 9. Actually, I'll just
161. 7:39start reading like chapter 9 verse one
162. 7:41and we'll get to verse two. It says,
163. 7:43"After these things had been done, the
164. 7:44leaders came to me and said, 'The people
165. 7:47of Israel, including the priests and the
166. 7:49Levites, have not kept themselves
167. 7:52separate from the neighboring people uh
168. 7:54with their detestable practices." All
169. 7:56right? So, the people are now going to
170. 7:59get compared to the Canaanites because
171. 8:02essentially what Ezra is going to do is
172. 8:04Ezra is going to make a a claim that
173. 8:06they need to be treated like Canaanites.
174. 8:08Okay? They're going to be uh equated to
175. 8:11the Canaanites based on behavior
176. 8:14practices like those. So it doesn't say
177. 8:17that they are those. It says they are
178. 8:18like those like those of the Canaanites,
179. 8:21Hittites, parasites, Jebusites,
180. 8:22Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and
181. 8:24Amorites. They have taken some of their
182. 8:27daughters as wives for themselves. and
183. 8:30their sons have mingled the holy race
184. 8:33with the peoples around them and the
185. 8:36leaders and officials have led the way
186. 8:39in this unfaithfulness. All right. This
187. 8:42marks a new moment in what's going to be
188. 8:47like the standard for like biblical
189. 8:49holiness because remember what the
190. 8:52people do when they come back from exile
191. 8:55and then what is going to happen in the
192. 8:58400 years of silence leading up to the
193. 9:00New Testament is actually going to
194. 9:03create the world of the New Testament
195. 9:05that we have. Okay. So the word that's
196. 9:08now used for the first time in the Bible
197. 9:11is holy race. Holy race or in Hebrew
198. 9:16holy seed. Now up until this point the
199. 9:19Torah has said that the people of Israel
200. 9:22are to be a holy people. That's actually
201. 9:25the words that have been used for the
202. 9:27entire Bible. Holy people. Holy people.
203. 9:30Holy people. And how do they act holy?
204. 9:33By keeping Torah. By worshiping Yahweh.
205. 9:35by not having idols. So intermarriage
206. 9:39prior to this moment has been less about
207. 9:42race and more about religion. Which is
208. 9:45why a Moabitete could you could marry a
209. 9:48Moabitete as long as that Moabitete is
210. 9:52loyal to Yahweh and faithful to the
211. 9:54covenant. Okay? Because there has not
212. 9:58been a a need to keep the race pure, but
213. 10:03to keep the religion pure. Okay, I hope
214. 10:08everybody's tracking. Ezra now
215. 10:10introduces the idea that in order to
216. 10:15keep the religion pure, the race has to
217. 10:18be kept pure. And this is a new idea.
218. 10:23This is a brand new idea. And what is
219. 10:25going to happen now from this moment on
220. 10:28is the Jewish world is going to become
221. 10:34way more focused on race than it is
222. 10:38religious ideology. And I know this is
223. 10:41so nuanced, but I want everyone to
224. 10:44really realize that the vision that
225. 10:46Yahweh's always had from Abraham is that
226. 10:50all the nations of the world will be
227. 10:52blessed through you, Israel. And the the
228. 10:56commands to not intermar have never been
229. 11:00about race. They've always been about
230. 11:03religion. And for the first time, we see
231. 11:06where Ezra's making it about race. And
232. 11:11this one decision by this one leader is
233. 11:14going to carry consequences into the 400
234. 11:17years of silence and into the New
235. 11:19Testament. By the time we enter into the
236. 11:22New Testament, we are Paul is going to
237. 11:25be radical in terms of his acceptance of
238. 11:29Gentiles and the gospel going to
239. 11:31Gentiles. radical. So if anyone's ever
240. 11:34been like reading the Old Testament and
241. 11:36you got people in the Old Testament like
242. 11:38Rahab and like like Ruth who are clearly
243. 11:43not Jews and it's not a big issue.
244. 11:46Zapora like literally Moses's wife
245. 11:49Zapora not a Jew and it's like not an
246. 11:53issue. And then you get to like the
247. 11:55gospels and there's this clear like
248. 11:58racial issue. Like Peter for all intents
249. 12:01and purposes up until like pretty deep
250. 12:05into the book of Acts has some racist
251. 12:08like ideologies. If you're kind of
252. 12:11wondering like where did this come from?
253. 12:13The seed of that is like really
254. 12:15literally right here. Ezra chapter 9:2.
255. 12:18And scholars are divided on this. Okay?
256. 12:21If you do a deep dive on this, you'll
257. 12:23find there are certain scholars who are
258. 12:24like, I think Ezra made the right call.
259. 12:27There are other scholars who are like, I
260. 12:29think Ezra was being a little racist.
261. 12:31Also, because at no point in the Torah
262. 12:35does it say to add a new sin on top of
263. 12:39the original sin. So, if marrying people
264. 12:43who are pagans or inner marriage is a
265. 12:45problem, guess what's an even bigger
266. 12:47problem? Divorce. Literally, Paul is
267. 12:50going to have to like clean this up when
268. 12:52we get to the New Testament. Cuz when we
269. 12:54get to 1 Corinthians 7, Paul's
270. 12:56essentially going to be like, "Hey, if
271. 12:58you married a non-Christian,
272. 13:01no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're
273. 13:03not going to divorce them and then
274. 13:06remarry some cute Christian girl." No,
275. 13:08no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus and
276. 13:10Paul are really going to come down on
277. 13:12the line of even if this person wasn't
278. 13:16God's will for you, the moment you
279. 13:18married them, they now became God's will
280. 13:20for you. So there is no like, hey, I'm
281. 13:23going to go reig on this whole marriage
282. 13:26situation cuz I was unsaved when I got
283. 13:29married and I married an idiot and now
284. 13:31I'm saved and there's better options.
285. 13:34No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
286. 13:371 Peter 3 and 1 Corinthians 7 are going
287. 13:41to really push back on that idea as a
288. 13:44whole. So why is Ezra doing this? Now
289. 13:47some people would say he had to do it.
290. 13:50The tough call, but he had to do it. And
291. 13:52he had to do it because the purity of
292. 13:57it's why genealogies are so important in
293. 13:59Ezra's book. Genealogy is important
294. 14:01because there's some people who
295. 14:02literally they can't even be priests
296. 14:05because there is no proof that they are
297. 14:08from the line of Aaron. Okay. So the
298. 14:11reason that Ezra gives us a full
299. 14:13genealogy is because genealogies are the
300. 14:16proof that you actually can't even serve
301. 14:18in the temple. Okay. So a lot of
302. 14:20scholars will make an an argument that
303. 14:23Ezra had to do this or else it would
304. 14:25jeopardize the whether or not Jesus was
305. 14:28fully Jewish. But that doesn't line up
306. 14:31because in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus,
307. 14:36there's multiple non-Jewish ancestors
308. 14:39that Jesus has. Jesus's blood is not
309. 14:43100% pure Jew. It's not. It's not. That
310. 14:47it's just not true. David is part
311. 14:50Moabitete. Okay? Like that's the whole
312. 14:53point of the book of Ruth is to like
313. 14:55show that King David is not 100% Jewish.
314. 15:00So like blood purity or like racial
315. 15:04purity is not a godly idea. That is a
316. 15:08very secular idea. Even if Ezra was
317. 15:12right or it's like he's definitely
318. 15:16interpreting scripture, which means he's
319. 15:18taking the Torah, he's interpreting it
320. 15:21and he's applying it to a scenario
321. 15:24that's unprecedented, which honestly is
322. 15:27going to start what's called the
323. 15:28rabbitic tradition. And the entire group
324. 15:32of the Pharisees are going to come from
325. 15:35this discipline of taking the Torah,
326. 15:38looking at new life scenarios, and
327. 15:43applying the Torah to scenarios that are
328. 15:46unprecedented. And I just want to put
329. 15:48into perspective how big of a deal Ezra
330. 15:50is going to be. Ezra is going to be the
331. 15:52person who edits, compiles the final
332. 15:55version of the Torah. Ezra is the reason
333. 15:58that we have in Old Testament. Ezra is
334. 16:02this this like Ezra is a teacher of the
335. 16:04law. Okay. And I know in the New
336. 16:07Testament these this group is like kind
337. 16:09of vilified. Uh but that's what Ezra is.
338. 16:13And honestly this movement towards Torah
339. 16:17observance is what's going to start the
340. 16:19group of the Pharisees. and post70 AD
341. 16:22after 70 AD rebbitic pharisaical Judaism
342. 16:26is the only form of Judaism that
343. 16:28survives. So Ezra's legacy is huge and
344. 16:32this is a big moment of what it means to
345. 16:36be rabbitic. It means to take the Torah,
346. 16:39which is not in a literal way, but can
347. 16:43be outdated, quote unquote, and apply
348. 16:47that law to life scenarios that we
349. 16:51haven't encountered before. Family, the
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372. 17:50One of the things that I don't want you
373. 17:51to miss is that Ezra is talking to a new
374. 17:54generation of God's people. That's very
375. 17:57easy to miss. Which is the same thing
376. 17:59happens in the book of Deuteronomy. It's
377. 18:01easy to kind of miss the fact that Moses
378. 18:04is having to give the law a second time,
379. 18:06aka Deuteronomy,
380. 18:08because there's a new generation that
381. 18:10wasn't there when the law was given at
382. 18:12Mount Si. So again, not only is this a
383. 18:16new Exodus, but Ezra is being set up as
384. 18:19a new Moses. There's actually a couple
385. 18:21things that connect Ezra as a new Moses.
386. 18:26Okay. And one of them is the time in
387. 18:30which Ezra departs from Persia. Okay.
388. 18:34The timing of the departure from
389. 18:36Babylon. Chapter 7:9 says, "On the first
390. 18:40day of the first month was the founding
391. 18:43of his going up from Babylon." This
392. 18:46coincided with the Israelites departure
393. 18:48from Egypt on the first day of the first
394. 18:50month. You can see Exodus 12:es 1-2.
395. 18:54Number two, he made sure that there were
396. 18:56Levites and priests carrying the sacred
397. 18:57temple vessels. Okay? Just as there were
398. 19:00among the Israelites in the wilderness
399. 19:02in Numbers chapter 10. His support from
400. 19:04the royal treasury is an extension of
401. 19:07the plundering of the Egyptians motif
402. 19:10from Exodus chapter 3. Ezra prays for a
403. 19:14straight path. Okay. Back to Jerusalem.
404. 19:16This phrase adopts the promise of Isaiah
405. 19:1940. In the wilderness prepares the way
406. 19:21of the Lord. make a straight path in the
407. 19:23desert for our God. Ezra mentions a
408. 19:253-day rest after arriving in Jerusalem,
409. 19:28which imitates the 3-day rest of Joshua
410. 19:31in the Israelites after crossing the
411. 19:33Jordan. Ezra is to appoint judges and
412. 19:35leaders who will teach and administer
413. 19:37justice, which corresponds precisely to
414. 19:39Moses' appointment of the same after the
415. 19:42Exodus. Ezra is a new Moses. Okay? He's
416. 19:47100% seen as a new Moses. If this is the
417. 19:50new Exodus, Zerubbable is not the Moses.
418. 19:54It is Ezra. And as we're going to see
419. 19:56tomorrow, Nehemiah is going to be set up
420. 20:00as a new Joshua. All right, that's
421. 20:02enough context clues. That's enough
422. 20:04nerdy nuggets. What is our timeless
423. 20:06truth for the day? Our timeless truth is
424. 20:09that all three movements are gonna end
425. 20:12with an anticlimactic response. You get
426. 20:15to the end of the book of Ezra and
427. 20:17you're kind of like I mean I ah
428. 20:21like it's not like it ends on a high
429. 20:23note and the whole point of partial
430. 20:26fulfillment of the prophetic words of
431. 20:29Jeremiah and Isaiah and no permanent
432. 20:32change cuz what's going to happen is
433. 20:33that the people in Ezra generation
434. 20:35they're going to be spiritually inspired
435. 20:36and repented for 25 years or so and then
436. 20:40they're going to go right back to their
437. 20:41normal behavior which these books are
438. 20:45actually supposed to get you to the
439. 20:46place of I think we should be believing
440. 20:50for something else and that something
441. 20:52else is Jesus. These books are a
442. 20:56fulfillment of prophecies but not the
443. 20:59full fulfillment. They are a change but
444. 21:03they're not permanent change. Only Jesus
445. 21:06can bring permanent change. And that's
446. 21:09what the entire Old Testament is doing.
447. 21:11And that's a lesson that all of us need
448. 21:13to learn that only the person of Jesus
449. 21:16and the work of the Holy Spirit can
450. 21:17bring permanent change, permanent
451. 21:20revival and real lasting change. Which
452. 21:23is why Paul is going to say it's not the
453. 21:27commands that bring change. It's a
454. 21:30different heart that brings change. And
455. 21:33I just want to always challenge leaders,
456. 21:36pastors out there, don't go for behavior
457. 21:39modification. always, always, always as
458. 21:42we lead God's people, let us actually go
459. 21:45for heart transformation. And that can't
460. 21:48be done uh outside of the power of the
461. 21:51Holy Spirit in the person of Jesus being
462. 21:53preached and exalted. That's a timeless
463. 21:56truth. Ezra's spiritual renewal, Ezra's
464. 22:00spiritual repentance, it takes the
465. 22:02people so far. But like every book of
466. 22:05the Old Testament, it's supposed to get
467. 22:07us to the place of we need God's spirit
468. 22:10to be poured out on all flesh. We need
469. 22:12the day of Pentecost. We need a savior
470. 22:15to go to the cross and actually die so
471. 22:17that we can become temples of the Holy
472. 22:19Spirit. It's it's a partial fulfillment.
473. 22:24It's a change, but it's not permanent.
474. 22:27And now that we're living on this side
475. 22:30or the opposite side of Calvary, the
476. 22:33opposite side of Pentecost, we actually
477. 22:35have the power to believe for full
478. 22:38fulfillment and for permanent change.
479. 22:41And I would say don't stop until you see
480. 22:44everything that God has for us.
481. 22:47Permanent change and full fulfillment of
482. 22:49the promises of God. All right. Tomorrow
483. 22:52we got DAY 3:42. WE GOT A BRAND NEW BOOK
484. 22:54OF THE BIBLE. We're going to be in the
485. 22:56book of Nehemiah, chapters 1, 2, and 3.
486. 22:58If you're on a streak, I'm so proud of
487. 23:00you. If you're NOT ON A STREAK, I LOVE
488. 23:02YOU. I love you. I love you. I wish you
489. 23:04was on A STREAK, THOUGH. WE are getting
490. 23:06down to the wire, guys. We got Nehemiah
491. 23:08and then we're going to head into the
492. 23:11last couple of books of the Bible. I'm
493. 23:12super super excited. I love you guys.
494. 23:14I'll see you right here tomorrow, same
495. 23:16time, same place as we start the book of
496. 23:18Nehemiah. Peace. Thanks so much for
497. 23:21joining us on the Bible department
498. 23:23podcast. If this episode was helpful,
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