June 8, 2023
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Ezra? Here’s today’s reading:
Ezra 2 (NIV)
The List of the Exiles Who Returned
1 Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to their own town, 2 in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah):...........Continue Reading
It is neat to see the details given of those who returned to Judah with Ezra. What attention to detail was involved in documenting families and tribes and geographic location people came from. It is also neat to see the generosity of people, especially in response to Cyrus’s edict, to provide wealth and material for the temple. The worship of God is certainly worth our time, our talent and our treasure!
Ezra 2
Chapters like these remind me of the importance of record keeping and God’s attention to detail. Things like this are ways people can remember but also associate different families and lineages and feel connected to a history of service and God’s promises and covenants.
Ezra 2
Ezra 3
I find the information of who returned in the first return to the promised land interesting but also tiring at the same time. But when you recognize a name it becomes interesting. The names that stood out to me were Zerubbabel [ who led this return], Mordecai [ uncle of Esther], Hezekiah [ children of a former king]. and Nehemiah[ who returned to the promised land during the reign of Artaxerxes. I am not sure why he is mentioned in this first return. For there were sixth rulers during the time of the three returns. They were Cyrus [559-530BC, Cambyses [530-522BC,] Smerdis [522 ], Darius 1 [ 521-486 ], Xerxes or Ahasuerus [485-465 ], and Artaxerxes1 or Artashasta [ 464-424BC ]. Have a good day.
Returning families are documented with their names and the # of children.
2:62 Genealogy! My favorite hobby!
Records meticulously written, accurate, archived, there is just nothing like it. Israel preserved her records and was able to detect unqualified individuals for certain. Same records existed to the day of Matthew, who would access the same to record the genealogy of Christ, and Luke, to Mary’s line. Records destroyed with the temple, now, there is no record of Israel by tribe heritage. No way to prove any claim today, that a would-be messiah is from Judah by lineage. Yet the word of God stands through the destruction of the temple. Very thankful, gordy