Strength to Wait

Ezra 7:11-28

¹¹ This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel: ¹² “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace. And now ¹³ I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. ¹⁴ For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand, ¹⁵ and also to carry the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, ¹⁶ with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁷ With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God. ¹⁹ The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰ And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which it falls to you to provide, you may provide it out of the king’s treasury. ²¹ “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence, ²² up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. ²³ Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. ²⁴ We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God. ²⁵ “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. And those who do not know them, you shall teach. ²⁶ Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.” ²⁷ Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, ²⁸ and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

Ezra now shares the letter that the king has given to him and to all the officials found in Judea. With this letter comes the full authority of the king, directing Ezra to lead the Jews in not only in rebuilding but in the implementation of a God-pleasing worship life for the Children of Israel. This letter seems personal and reveals a few things about the belief system of the king.

Clearly, he embraces a polytheistic approach to life. For him, the God of Israel carries just as much power as any other god – but perhaps not more. He wants to appease this God who appears to rule of the area of Judea, lest He bring down judgment upon Artaxerxes along with negative consequences. Clearly, he trusts Ezra to accomplish the goal of appeasement and thus further his own role as king.

The final section of the letter gave Ezra authority to govern the Jews of Trans-Euphrates, not only by the laws of the Persian Empire but by the Mosaic Law as well. Ezra was not the governor of the entire province of Trans-Euphrates. He had authority only over the Jews as a semi-autonomous national group within the province. But this authority also recognizes the Jews as a viable “nation” within the Persian empire. Clearly, God has granted Ezra and the Jews the favor of the king and they will enjoy the benefits of that favor.

At a time when many world governments seem to be chaotic and unbalanced, it is easy to simply look away, believing that you have no power to change the situation. But here in Ezra we find that the opposite is true. The God of the Universe is still in control and through just a few simple moves, the landscape of the culture changes. Perhaps those changes don’t happen at lightning speed. But they happen nonetheless. God’s plan always goes forward even when it looks like nothing is happening. During those 57 years between Zerubbabel and Ezra, the Jews living in and around Jerusalem must have felt like nothing was happening at all. But that simply wasn’t the case. God moves in His own time and we must acknowledge that His timing is perfect. Trust me when I say, that is easier said than done. Waiting for God to move can be frustrating. Some days, my prayer is simply that He would give me the strength to wait on Him, as I constantly pull on His robe and demand that He do things my way. Ah, waiting on God. Please Lord, give me strength to trust in You and Your timing.