Ezra 5-7 God Blesses through foriegn kings

Interesting story told in Ezra.  The first wave of returning Israelites bear the blessing of Cyrus the Great.  The rebuild the altar and return to the worship of Jehovah.  they begin to rebuild the temple but are stopped by those who are jealous of the blessing that the returning Jews bear or who fear the influence of these who are returning or maybe just oppose the worship of Jehovah.  The people become discouraged, but God provides some encouragement.  Those encouragers are named Haggai and Zecariah.  Their stories are told more fully in the books that bear their names.  We will read them in the weeks to come, but suffice it to say that their encouragement did its work in the hearts of the Israelites and they picked up their tools and began to work on the temple again.  Their leaders responded to the officials that they were working under the authority granted by Cyrus the Great.  The difficulty was that Cyrus no longer ruled.  he had been succeeded by Darius.  A letter was sent to Darius asking that he have his servants research this claim by the immigrant Jews.  He does so and finds the original edict of Cyrus.  He affirms it and the important information that the cost of the building is to be born by the King.  Now that is an important piece of news.  The Israelites press on and complete the new temple.  It took them 4 years from the time they resumed their labors to finish.  The celebrated Passover; offered sacrifices and sin offerings in their new house of worship.

Now, even though he has written Chronicles and Ezra, we see Ezra actually become a part of the story.  Artaxerxes is now ruler.  Ezra is not a prophet....he is described as a scribe.  A scribe is an expert in the law.  He is being sent nearly 20 years after the first wave of exiles returns to Jerusalem.  Artaxerxes is sending him with instructions to establish Magistrates and Judges.  Isn't this a coincidence, Ezra is an expert in the law, the Mosaic law.  Artaxerxes, a foreign king, is sending an expert in Jewish law back to Israel to establish Mosaic law....to develop a system of magistrates and judges who will be responsible for justice as God had ordained through Moses.  Interesting how God works his will and way to achieve.  Not only does Artaxerxes send Ezra, but he sends him with great wealth to accomplish the task.

When things are bad, as they sometimes are, we need to be encouragers.  Ultimately God wins and we want to be found leading his people in a way that honors him.  Good words, kind words, encouraging words are God's will for God's people.  We don't need to be Pollyannas, but we do need to be a people who trusts that God will accomplish the good thing that he has started even in the face of adversity.  And who knows, maybe God will even use an alien king to accomplish his will.  It has been done before.