SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/13/2011 7:15:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Stage
Three: The Work Completed
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Ezra 6:13-22
Message of the verses: “13 Then
Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai and
their colleagues carried out the decree with all diligence, just as King Darius
had sent. 14 And the elders of the Jews were successful in building through the
prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they
finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decree
of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 This temple was completed
on the third day of the month Adar; it was the sixth year of the reign of King
Darius. 16 And the sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites and the rest of the
exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17 They
offered for the dedication of this temple of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400
lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel 12 male goats, corresponding to the
number of the tribes of Israel. 18 Then they appointed the priests to their
divisions and the Levites in their orders for the service of God in Jerusalem,
as it is written in the book of Moses. 19 The exiles observed the Passover on
the fourteenth of the first month. 20 For the priests and the Levites had
purified themselves together; all of them were pure. Then they slaughtered the
Passover lamb for all the exiles, both for their brothers the priests and for
themselves. 21 The sons of Israel who returned from exile and all those who had
separated themselves from the impurity of the nations of the land to join them,
to seek the LORD God of Israel, ate the Passover. 22 And they observed the
Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had caused them to
rejoice, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to
encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.”
There
are two sub-sections in this last main section of chapter two from Warren
Wiersbe’s commentary on Ezra. The first
sub-section is entitled “The joy of
dedication and it covers verses 13-18 of Ezra six.
First
I want to focus in on verse fourteen and on the words “command of God.” John
MacArthur points out that this word “command”
is usually translated “decree,” but in this case is translated command. He writes, “The message here is
powerful. It was the decree from God,
the Sovereign of the universe, which gave administrative authority to rebuild
the temple. The decrees (same word) of 3
of the greatest monarchs in the history of the ancient Near East were only a
secondary issue. God rules the universe
and He raises up kings, then pulls them from their thrones when they served His
administration.” I think that this not,
and the truth of it, puts things into proper perspective.
Dr.
Wiersbe points out that at this dedication of the temple there was no Ark in
the Holy of Holies, and no glory filled the house, the temple was still
dedicated.
During
the time when Solomon’s temple was dedicated there were countless numbers of
sacrifices offered, but this temple dedication there were only 712 sacrifices,
but the Lord accepted them. They had
offered twelve male goats as sin offerings, one for each of the twelve tribes
of Israel.
This
dedication took place on the twelfth day of the last month of the year 515 BC
and so the Passover was to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first
month, which was only a few weeks away.
Joshua the high priest had also consecrated the priests and the Levites
for their ministry in the completed temple.
It was David who had organized the way this should be done, as the
priests were organized into twenty-four courses so their ministry would be more
effective. By doing this they did not
have to serve all at one time (Luke 1:5, 8).
1Chronicles 24:1-19 speaks of how David divided the priests. In verse eighteen there is a reference to the
Law of Moses and this is reference to the consecration of the priests which can
be seen in Lev. 8-9.
The
last sub-section is entitled “The Joy of
Remembering,” and covers the remaining verses in Ezra 6. This speaks of the Passover that they
celebrated shortly after the dedication of the temple. It should be noted that all males of Israel
were required to go to three feasts that were celebrated in Jerusalem ever
year, and the first of these feats was Passover, with the other two being Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
I
wish to point out from verse twenty-one that something could be missed from
reading it, and so I will quote a note from John MacArthur: “the
impurity of the nations. These were
proselytes to Judaism, who had confessed their spiritual uncleanness before the
Lord, been circumcised, and renounced idolatry to keep the Passover
(v-22).” In the book of Exodus 12:43-49
it is made clear that these proselytes were allowed to take part in the
Passover as long as they met those requirements listed in the note. “ 43 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
"This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it;
44 but every man’s slave purchased with
money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it. 45 “A sojourner
or a hired servant shall not eat of it. 46 “It is to be eaten in a single
house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor
are you to break any bone of it. 47 “All the congregation of Israel are to
celebrate this. 48 “But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the
Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come
near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no
uncircumcised person may eat of it. 49 “The same law shall apply to the native
as to the stranger who sojourns among you.’”
I
have recently finished a study of 2Kings and 2Chronicles and in those books
both Hezekiah and Josiah celebrated the Passover and this kind of reminds me of
their celebration. When the children of
Israel were wondering in the wilderness for forty years they did not celebrate
the Passover after the judgment from the Lord came to them that they would be
wondering for forty years. This is made
clear when in the book of Joshua all of the males had to be circumcised before
they began their battles with the nations who lived in the Promised Land. They did celebrate the Passover at that time
and this is another of the memorable Passovers from the OT. Of course the greatest Passover celebration
was when the Lord Jesus Christ (our Passover Lamb) died on the cross at the
time when the lambs were to be killed for the Passover. Paul speaks of Christ as being our
Passover: “1Co 5:7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just
as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificed.” When John the Baptist saw
Jesus before he baptized Him he said “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I find great comfort in knowing that God is
the One who is in control of what goes on here on planet earth as can be seen
from verse fourteen and explained from MacArthur’s note.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Realize that it is the Lord who is in control of not
only the nations but my life as well, and as I go through this difficult time
in my life that comforts me.
2.
Continue to learn contentment even though by my
continuation of learning contentment seems that I seem to be running into
situations that are difficult, but do teach me that God is in control, and this
is part of learning contentment.
7/13/2011 8:43:18 AM
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