Day 32

Chronicles tells the same story as Samuel and Kings but from another perspective and hundreds of years later. Eugene Peterson writes, "Holy history is not constructed from impersonal forces or abstract ideas; it is woven from names-persons, each one unique."

Tons of family names and their descendants are listed so I'm not going to bother writing it ALL out. I re-read a lot of what was already covered. I thought chapter 21 was interesting in regards to David taking a census of Israel b/c the writer says, "Satan entered the scene and seduced David."

The one things 2 kings didn't mention that 2 Chronicles did was king Cyrus. In his 1st year of reigning in Persia, he fulfilled what god said through Jeremiah. The king announced God gave him all the kingdoms of the earth and assigned him to build a Temple to worship in at Jerusalem. The Israelites were encouraged to move back home.

Ezra Intro

One hundred and twenty eight years after the Israelites were exiled and their city and Temple destroyed, a small amount of Jews tried to piece things back together. They weren't doing well until Ezra came. He got the people of Israel to worship God and obediently follow scripture. The leaders of the families in Judah and Benjamin as well as Levites and priests set out for Jerusalem to build the Temple of God. They had a ton of support and were given silver, gold, tools, pack animals, gifts, and free will offerings. King Cyrus of Persia also gave them all the utensils that Nebuchadnezzer swiped and put in his own temple. Mithredath, treasurer, was put in charge of the full inventory for Sheshbazzar, prince of Judah. Inventory included:

30 gold dishes, 1000 silver dishes, 29 silver pans, 30 gold bowls, 410 duplicate silver bowls, and 1,000 misc items.

The gold and silver amounted to 5,400 lbs alone! A great number of Israelite families returned to Jerusalem and Judah. However, son from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer weren't able to prove their ancestral connection as true Israelites. Priestly families such as Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzilla were no longer able to do priestly work and were deemed unclean w/o proof of ancestry. A whopping 42, 360 people including male and female slaves totaling 7,337 as well as 200 male and female singers, made the journey. They took 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6, 720 donkeys. The free will offerings consisted of 1,100 lbs of gold, 3 tons of silver, and 100 robes for priests.

Jeshua and his 2 brothers, who were priests, Zerubbabel and his relatives all went to work on the Altar of the God of Israel to offer a whole burnt offering. Despite what their non Israelite neighbors though, the whole burnt offering was offered morning and night. The Festival of Booths was also celebrated. The Israelites gave money and carpenters and masons were hired. They gave food and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians in exchange for cedar. In the 2nd year after their settlement in Jerusalem, Jeshua, brother pirests, Zerubbabel, and the Levites started on the Temple. Levites 20 + years of age were put in charge of directing the rebuild. After the foundation was laid, robed priests played trumpets, Levites played cymbals, and God was praised in a tradition carried out by king David. When old enemies of both Judah and Benjamin heard what the Israelites were doing, they offered to help build the Temple of God. Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other family heads refused their offer so they decided to badger those who were building the Temple and lower morale. This nonsense lasted 15 yrs; all during Cyrus' reign into Darius', and even into Xerxes'. Artaxerxes was sent a letter in aramaic from Rehum (the commanding officer) and Shimshai (secretary) against Jerusalem. The letter stated the Jews were rebuilding a rebellious and evil city, they would no longer pay tribute to Persia after the completion, and suggested Artaxerxes look at court records that would show there was a history of this group of people being a thorn in king's sides. Artaxerxes replied that he did look at the records and learned that Jerusalem did in fact revolt against previous kings, but they weren't looking to rebel. Jerusalem had great kings so Artaxerxes ordered the men to stop building and not start up again until he said so.

Haggai and Zechariah were prophets and preached to the people of Israel with god as their authority. Rebuilding the Temple started back up. Tattenai was governor of the land beyond the Euphrates and he and his associates asked the Israelites who permitted the building to continue. God watched over the leaders of the Jews and everything that happened. Work on the Temple wasn't stopped until a report was given to Darius and a reply was received. Tattenai, Shethar-Bozenai, and the officials of the land wrote Darius a letter, which included the Israelites response to the permit question, "We are servants of the God of the heavens and the earth. We are rebuilding the Temple that was built a long time ago. A great king of Israel build it, the entire structure. But our ancestors made the God of the heavens really angry and he turned them over to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the chaldean, who knocked this Temple down and took the people to Babylon in exile...". King Darius ordered an archived record search for Babylon. The scroll was in Media and explained the decree of Cyrus in his first year of reigning regarding the Temple of God. Darius' response to Tattenai was to stay out of the Israelites way so they could rebuild. They were to help the leaders of the Jews by paying construction fees from the royal bank via land taxes coming in. They were also to provide whatever was needed for any sacrifice. Anyone who violated Darius' decree was to be impaled by a timber outside their house and the house would become a makeshift manure pit. Building continued and was completed in Darius' 6th year of reigning over Persia. Everyone was overjoyed and dedication of the Temple proceeded. One hundred bulls, 200 rams, and 400 lambs were sacrificed as well as an absolution offering w/ 12 male goats signifying the 12 tribes of Israel. The Israelites purified themselves through Passover sometime later. Everyone was made ritually clean. The Passover lamb was slaughtered by the Levites for all the Israelites, their brother priests, and themselves. They celebrated the Feast of Unraised Bread for 7 days and were joyful that God worked in their favor once again to rebuild the Temple.