Ezra
chapter 2 begins the first wave of Jews returning to Israel from the
Babylonian captivity. In the previous chapter the king of Persia
allowed the Israelites to return, but after seventy years, there were
many changes. The people had adjusted to life in Babylon; many grew
very comfortable in captivity. There was no mass-exodus, only a
small number of dedicated families. It is interesting that the
chapter barely mentions Babylon. The focus is on the people
returning home. The chapter begins, “Now
these are the people… whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken
captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his
own town, in company with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah,
Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah)“.
They say, there is safety in numbers, but with God we rarely follow
the crowd. It seems that God first works in the heart of the
individual believer to bring us together to meet Him. Is God calling
you out of the crowd to take a step of faith?
The
chapter then provides “The
list of the men of the people of Israel”
by their family name. Like the contents of a special shipment, we
are given the line by line inventory: “The
descendants of Parosh 2,172… of Shephatiah 372… of Arah 775…“.
We
are reminded again of the importance of the genealogies. The link to
the family name was a link to home, possessions and even occupation.
The Promised Land was originally divided by family and each clan was
told to take possession of their portion. The men are listed
according to their responsibilities, “The
Levites… The singers… The gatekeepers… The temple servants and
the descendants of the servants of Solomon… The priests“.
In each case they are listed by the family name and the number of
men in each family. The chapter next lists one group that could not
prove their lineage, “These
searched for their family records, but they could not find them and
so were excluded from the priesthood“.
Notice they were not excluded from returning to the land. 1
Corinthians 12:27 reminds us that each of us have an important role
to play in the kingdom of God. Not everyone is a teacher or a
preacher or a prophet, but each person has a unique and important
role. “Now
you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it“.
We are called one by one, but we are called to become part of the
body of believers.
We
read that “The
whole company numbered 42,360, besides their 7,337 menservants and
maidservants; and they also had 200 men and women singers“.
While this number did not include the children, it was still a tiny
number of people. Probably few among them had ever actually lived in
Israel, but they were going home to the land of their fathers.
Jerusalem had been destroyed and everything of value had been taken.
The first place the refuges went was the ruins of the Temple. During
challenging times where do you go first? “When
they arrived at the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the heads
of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the
house of God“.
This
was not a burden, but an act of worship.
Why do we make so many of our daily tasks drudgery? Try this today,
“Whatever
you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not
for men”
(Colossians 3:24). You will definitely stand out from the crowd!