The Exile

October 20
I just read Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther today. And, of course, Ezra and Nehemiah are about the return of the exiles after 70 years in Babylon. But, they really are a package. Ezra and Nehemiah speak about the two main characters of the returning exiles, Ezra the priest and Nehemiah, the governor of Jerusalem during the rebuilding of the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. Esther was the niece of Mordecai the Jew who became the queen of Medo-Persia during the reign of Ahasuerus. What’s especially interesting to me is that all of these events can be verified using the secular historical records of the Middle East during this period (400-300 BC). Esther focuses on a story about how God intervened in secular history and saved His chosen people in a mysterious plot that had been devised by the enemy of the Jews, Haman the Agagite. You’ll have to go to I Samuel 15:33 to get the background on Haman the Agagite.


One of my favorite pastor/teachers, John McArthur, once said, “The most frustrating thing to me is that I only have one life to convey to you all God has conveyed to me as I have studied His word and prayed.” (a really loose paraphrase) I am frustrated beyond imagination that I cannot effectively tell you everything He has told me in my studies and prayer time. Ezra was a priest. He studied the law so he could be a good teacher of it to the returning exiles. Nehemiah was a politician; but he was a unique kind of politician. He was an honest, God loving, servant of God whose number one objective was to get Israel back on track with their God. He demanded they observe “all” the law of God as given to Moses. Israel was in such dire straits, only a man like Nehemiah could do the job. Ezra was a man of God who knew the Jews needed to be completely re-educated in the things of the law, including the sacrifices and the offerings. Esther and Mordecai were instruments of God during the exile whom God used to save the Jews from annihilation by an evil plot of one of their dire enemies, Haman the Agagite.

God’s care for His people, even though it appeared He had abandoned them, is obvious in these accounts. One could write a series of books like the “Left Behind” series on these three books alone if he wanted to convey all the spiritual truth and life truths they convey. For our purposes here, I will simply say, “God will never leave us nor forsake us.” He is always caring for His people, no matter if it appears otherwise. For Christians, we need to understand that means Jews today who have rejected His Messiah. He is preserving a remnant (144,000; see Rev. 7:5-8). They will one day be marked, taken into the wilderness, divinely protected for 3 ½ years, and be converted to the faith.

Over and again in His immutable word He promises that He will never leave nor forsake His chosen ones. And that’s His word for us today.