Ezra 1–6. King Cyrus frees the Jews who have been captive in Babylon and invites them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple (Ezra 1). Zerubbabel and Jeshua lead approximately 50,000 people back to Jerusalem, and they begin to rebuild the temple (Ezra 2–3). The Samaritans offer to help work on the temple, are turned down, and attempt to stop the work; the rebuilding ceases (Ezra 4). Several years later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah exhort the Jews to finish the temple; the Samaritans continue to oppose it (Ezra 5; see also Haggai 1). King Darius renews the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the temple, and it is finished and dedicated in about 515 B.C. (Ezra 6).
Ezra 7–8. Ezra receives permission from King Artaxerxes of Persia to lead another group of Jews back to Jerusalem. Ezra and his people fast and pray, and the Lord protects them.
Nehemiah 1–2; 4; 6. Learning that the Jews who have returned to Jerusalem are “in great affliction and reproach,” Nehemiah receives permission from King Artaxerxes to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls (Nehemiah 1–2). The enemies of the Jews seek to prevent them from rebuilding the walls. Nehemiah keeps the work going forward until the walls are finished (Nehemiah 4; 6).
Nehemiah 8. After the walls are rebuilt around Jerusalem, Ezra reads the scriptures to the people. The people weep and desire to obey the words of the law.
After Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B.C., Babylonia declined rapidly in power. In 539 B.C. Babylon fell to the Medes and the Persians, who were united under the leadership of Cyrus (see Daniel 5). Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus was a benevolent ruler who treated conquered peoples kindly and respected their religions.
Shortly after taking over Babylon, Cyrus invited the Jews (Israelites) in his empire to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.
In 458 B.C. Ezra, a Jewish priest and scribe, brought another group of Jews back to Jerusalem from Babylon. Nehemiah, a Jew who held the important office of cupbearer (butler) in the court of the Babylonian king, obtained a royal commission authorizing him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah and Ezra worked together to help the Jews accomplish this task.
What did Nehemiah do when Sanballat asked him to stop working and meet with him? (See Nehemiah 6:1–4.) How do some people try to distract Church members from the Lord’s work today? How should we respond to such distractions?
How long did Ezra read the scriptures to the people? (See Nehemiah 8:3, 17–18.) How did the people respond? (See Nehemiah 8:3, 6, 9, 12.) How can we be more attentive as we read the scriptures? How can we develop the kind of excitement for the scriptures that these people had?
Additional reading: Haggai 1; “Ezra,” Bible Dictionary, page 669;“Nehemiah,” Bible Dictionary, page 738.
Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson #47, “Let Us Rise Up and Build”
Ezra 1-8, Nehemiah 1-8
In the end, Nehemiah will be sent back as the governor of Judah, and Ezra will be his scribe.
Note how early the placement of Ezra is and how Late Nehemiah is. Ezra and Nehemiah are right after Chronicles. Zechariah and Malachi next week are the last two OT books though they are all relatively close in time. OT books are not placed chronologically but by themes “Teachings”, “Prophets”, “Writings”.
Background
The nation of Israel was carried off into captivity by the Assyrians in 702 BC. The nation of Judah followed in a series of invasions, first by the Assyrians (who reduced Judah’s land mass to an area just around Jerusalem) and completed by the Babylonians around 586 BC.
??? According to tradition, many in the nation of Israel gathered while in captivity and performed a second Exodus to the north, where they have not been heard from since.
Those who remained in Assyria were generally absorbed into their new community, and eventually lost their Israelite identity. Meanwhile, Jeremiah had prophesied that Judah would remain in captivity for 70 years and then return.
Isaiah also prophesied regarding Judah, saying they would remain captive until the future king Cyrus would restore them to their lands (Isa 44-45).
Isaiah 44 28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Isaiah 45 1 Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
Scholars disagree as to when this portion of Isaiah was written. Many claim that it was written not by the original Isaiah, but by a later follower of Isaiah, in the period during which Cyrus of Persia was, indeed, king. This second, or Deutero-Isaiah supposedly used current events to establish prophesies added to Isaiah (First Isaiah or Proto-Isaiah).
However, several studies show that the evidence for a 2 Isaiah (or Deutero-Isaiah) is not as compelling as some would think.
Marc Schindler (now deceased, link to fairmormon.org) explained that the name “Cyrus” probably wasn’t the original term used, but was replaced by Jews in Cyrus’ day in order to encourage him to restore them to their lands:
“If you accept the Book of Mormon as true, there is no Deutero-Isaiah "problem." However, I feel that the Book of Mormon cannot only withstand the challenge, but the issue can actually be used to illuminate the nature of Isaiah and shed light on why this is such a profound book.
When the Deutero-Isaiah theory first became current, there was a lot of emphasis on the difference in vocabulary and word patterns between the various parts of Isaiah. However, as McKenzie (see link, author of Second Isaiah) points out above, this is no longer an issue. (Besides the study he refers to, there have been word pattern studies done by computer analysis of the Hebrew text at BYU that show no significant differences between the various parts of Isaiah.)
There are two issues: the insertion of Cyrus's name, and the totally different historical context of the latter part of Isaiah. As McKenzie points out, it's not enough of a defense simply to say, "well, you know those 'higher critics,' they don't accept prophecy anyway-they just can't swallow the reality of prophecy," but the issue is that that's not the way God works.
There are plenty of examples of specific prophecy in the Old Testament (i.e., Isaiah 7:8, where Isaiah prophesies that within 65 years Ephraim will be destroyed-note that this is in "Proto-Isaiah" and its authorship is not questioned), but prophecies have to make sense to the people to whom they are addressed, and as McKenzie says, the name "Cyrus" and the concept of the Persian Empire wouldn't have made sense to Isaiah's contemporaries.
Furthermore, it is the nature of apocalyptic scripture to lay things out in a vision which is symbolic in nature (cf. Daniel's vision of the idol with clay feet, and John's symbolism of angels and beasts)....when the Jews returned from exile in Babylon, they read what Isaiah wrote, and because there were references to Babylon, assumed that he was talking about events in their day.
While this might technically have been correct, they missed the point that Isaiah's prophecies were primarily concerned with the latter days. In editing the book as they passed it down, they substituted the name "Cyrus," which by that point did make sense to them, as he was an historical figure, for what was there originally. We don't know, of course, what "Cyrus" might have replaced, but from the context it appears as if it was a messianic type meant to refer to the 2nd coming of Christ.”
So, Jewish leaders show king Cyrus of Persia a copy of the Jewish scriptures (possibly translated into Persian), where a name for the future messiah was replaced with the king’s name. A spiritual last days event of the Messiah saving Israel from spiritual Babylon becomes King Cyrus saving the Jews by restoring them to their ancestral homeland.
Jews – Location during this Diaspora to Babylon
There were several groups of Jews after the Diaspora (dispersion) to Babylon by Nebudchannazzer. We will trace several to get a feel for their history.
The elite of the kingdom and many of their people were exiled to Babylon, where the religion developed outside their traditional temple. Few of the wealthy would return to Jerusalem. More often it was the poor that returned. The more wealthy citizens had marriage ties and businesses and chose to remain.
Later in 135 A.D. the Bar Kokhba revolt (The Third Jewish-Roman War) led thousand to move to Babylon.
Babylon would remain the focus of Judaism for more than a thousand years.
Babylon: a large group remains there.
A second group continued around Judea.
Others fled to Egypt. Egypt became an important Jewish center after they were expelled from Spain in 1492. We hear “1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. Jews hear 1492 and have one of their worst years in history.
This is from Christopher Columbus Diary…
“In the same month in which their Majesties [Ferdinand and Isabella] issued the edict that all Jews should be driven out of the kingdom and its territories, in the same month they gave me the order to undertake with sufficient men my expedition of discovery to the Indies."”
200,000 Jews were expelled from Spain. Tens of thousands died trying to reach safety. Many Spanish ship captains charged Jewish passengers exorbitant sums, then dumped them overboard in the middle of the ocean and returned for more Jews. This was triggered by the Spanish Inquisition and Father Torquemada. He felt that if the Jews remained in Spain, they would influence tens of thousands of Jews who had converted to Christianity to return to Jewry. Tens of thousands died.
Jews who had escaped from Spain were named “Sephardim” or Sephardic Jews.
After the fall of Jerusalem, Babylonia (modern day Iraq), would become the focus of Judaism for more than a thousand years. The first Jewish communities in Babylonia started with the exile of the Tribe of Judah to Babylon by Jehoiachin in 597 BCE as well as after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE.
Many more Jews migrated to Babylon in 135 CE after the Bar Kokhba revolt and in the centuries after.
Babylonia, where some of the largest and most prominent Jewish cities and communities were established, became the center of Jewish life all the way up to the 13th century.
By the first century, Babylonia already held a speedily growing population of an estimated 1,000,000 Jews, which increased to an estimated 2 million between the years 200 CE - 500 CE, both by natural growth and by immigration of more Jews from the Land of Israel, making up about 1/6 of the world Jewish population at that era. It was there that they would write the Babylonian Talmud in the languages used by the Jews of ancient Babylonia—Hebrew and Aramaic.
Babylon, Egypt and scatter in Israel is the focus of Jewry through these years.
In the late 1950s, Egypt expelled its Jewish population and sequestered Jewish-owned property. As of 2014, the Jewish population of Egypt was estimated at 12 to less than 40, down from between 75,000 and 80,000 in 1948.
The difference between this and all other diaspora Jews is…in 1950 they had somewhere to go…Israel… formed in 1947.
Meanwhile, back to those Babylonian Jews who returned to build the second temple…
Ezra 1 1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
Ezra chapter 2 lists many of the Jews who did return.
Construction of the Temple
About 50,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, but mostly to rebuild the temple. The people of Samaria offered eagerly to help. Samaria included the former lands and capitol city of the kings of the nation of Israel before being carried off by Assyria.
Samaria. Samaria was the old capital of Israel before Assyria took them away.
Samarians were eastern people sent back by Assyria to take the place of those they deported. They were called Cutheans. These people mingle with those remaining Israelites and introduced some new religious ideas, but also adopted some Jewish religious ideas. These become the Samaritans.
The Jews who returned to Jerusalem already considered even their leaders to be of questionable orthodoxy. The foreign ideas of the Samaritans make them in the minds of the Jews, no better than heretics.
Because the Samaritans were not “pure blooded” Israelites, the Jews in Jerusalem rejected their offer of assistance, intent in building the temple and city on their own.
Ezra 4 3 But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.
Thus the Samaritans sought to hinder the rebuilding process…
Ezra 4 4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
5 And hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
More than that, they actively wrote letters back to the Persian Kings to “tell on” the Jews…thus animosity with the Samaritans becomes a huge and ongoing problem
Ezra 4 12 Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations.
13 Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city be builded, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings.
Then in Ezra 5 two prophets speak.
Ezra 5 1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.
2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.
In Ezra 6 King Darius of Persian renews Cyrus’ decree to continue building the temple.
Ezra 6 1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.
Then to verse 3
Ezra 6 3 In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded…
and goes on to discuss dimensions of the temple and the return of the vessels.
Ezra 6 5 And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.
And the vessels are returned to the temple.
In an Indiana Jones type search, a modern Rabbi believed that the vessels were now located in the basement of the Vatican. This has been largely debunked, but since the destruction of the Second Temple by Rome in 70 A.D. the location of the “Vessels” is unknown.
Competing Temple by Samaritans
Later, after Alexander the Great conquered the area, the Samaritans would ask for and be granted the right to build their own temple at Shechem. Their temple was run by Levitical priests who had a falling out with those in Jerusalem, and had settled in Samaria a few years before.
The Samaritans were incensed, to be rejected by the Jews. While many Samaritans were not literal descendants of Israel, many were at least partially descended from it.
Those immigrants into the land had taken Jehovah as their God, for he was the god of the land. Their worship was different than the worship of the Jews. It was the version developed or at least influenced by apostate Israel prior to their destruction.
Family lines could not be corroborated. The Samaritans were rejected, and the Jews would still hate and distrust them centuries later.
However, Jesus would acknowledge that the Samaritans were indeed members of Israel, but tell a Samaritan woman, “ye worship ye know not what” (John 4:22).
The Samaritans attacking the Jews and sabotaging their efforts to build the temple. Finally, the Jews gave up the endeavor.
Finally, Ezra is sent to Judah.
Ezra 7 6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.
It would be another fifty years before Nehemiah would be sent to be the governor of Judah. He was king Artaxerxes’ right hand man, and asked the king permission to build a wall of protection around the temple.
In Nehemiah 1 we get a picture of life in Jerusalem for those who cannot finish the temple, or the walls due to opposition…
Nehemiah 1 2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
Then Nehemiah prays for guidance
Nehemia 1 4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
5 And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:
Given permission to build the wall, Nehemiah went with the intention to not only build the wall, but to build the temple.
Nehemiah 2 5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.
6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem and tours the area at night without anyone’s knowledge so the enemies opposing the building, specifically Sanballat (a Samaritan leader).
Nehemiah 2 11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
14 Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.
15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.
Nehemiah appeals to the leaders to rebuild
Nehemia 2 17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.
18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 3 lists those that built the walls and gates.
Nehemiah 4 1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.
2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?
Nehemiah armed his workers and the building continued.
Nehemiah 4 21 So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.
22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day.
23 So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.
Governor Nehemiah and his scribe Ezra guided the building of the temple, and of the city wall. In these we see an important concept. The city wall meant protection from Judah’s physical enemies. The temple symbolized protection from the spiritual dangers in the world. Both were needed, and both needed to be constructed at the same time.
It was found that many Jews were enslaved…to other Jews…
Nehemiah 5 1 And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
2 For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live.
3 Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.
4 There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.
5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.
6 And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
Nehemiah outlaws “usury” or the interest that was charged that led to many of the “enslavements”.
Who does Nehemiah discuss it with?
Nehemiah 5 7 Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them.
8 And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer.
And they agree to release the slaves and stop charging usury
Nehemiah 5 12 Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.
In Nehemiah 6 Sanballat tries to lure Nehemiah away from the city…away from the walls, away from protection…
Nehemiah 6 2 That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.
His answer is instructive
Nehemiah 6 3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
Sanballat acuses Nehemiah of building walls to “become King” and break from the empire
Nehemiah 6 8 Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.
Sanballat conspires to send an assassin into the temple to kill Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 6 12 And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
Intrigue after intrigue are launched and parried.
But Nehemiah finished the wall…
Nehemiah 6 16 And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
Nehemiah 7 has a strategy to protect Jerusalem put in place
In Nehemiah 8 Ezra reads and interprets the law of Moses to the people and they keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Remember that Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is a week where they live in small huts to commemorate life during the Exodus from Egypt. Sukkot represents the time of restored fellowship with the Lord.
In Nehemiah 9 the Jews fast and confess their sins. They covenant to be obedient.
In Nehemiah 10 (those that made the covenant in chapter 9 are listed. 28 verses of 3 names per verse. They covenant not to marry outside of Israel, to pay tithing.
But Jerusalem could not hold all of the people, so they drew lots to see who would live inside the city.
Nehemiah 11 1 And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities.
Nehemiah 12 has them dedicating the walls of Jerusalem
Nehemiah 12 27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.
In the last chapter of Nehemiah, chapter 13, the temple is purified.
Nehemiah 13 1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;
That is to say, worthiness is important in temple worship. Why?
Nehemiah 13 2 Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3 Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.
Two of the priests, Eliashib and Tobiah, had set up their own large chamber in the temple before Nehemiah arrived. They kept the meat offerings, frankincense and tithing, things that should have gone to the Levites, for themselves…
Nehemiah 13 7 And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.
8 And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff to Tobiah out of the chamber.
9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.
10 And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field.
11 Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.
In the remaining verse of chapter 13, Nehemiah shuts down wine-presses on the sabbath, work in general on the sabbath, selling on the sabbath. He chastises the nobles…
Nehemiah 13 18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.
To stop commerce on the Sabbath he shut the gates of the city and set guards on them.
Nehemiah 13 20 So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.
He stops their camping outside the walls…
Nehemiah 13 21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.
Modern walls of protection
Later, among the first actions by modern prophets in establishing a new place of gathering would be to begin preparations for a temple. Joseph Smith built a temple in Kirtland, Ohio. Once the Saints moved to Missouri, plans were immediately established for a temple in Independence. After being chased from Jackson County, Missouri, the Mormons set up further north. One of their first acts there was to plan a temple in Far West. Again, chased from Missouri, a temple in Nauvoo became one of the first efforts among the saints. Nauvoo was successfully built because the saints had time to also establish “walls” of fortification, including their own militia. Finally, in the first week Brigham Young was in the Great Salt Lake Basin, he set a marker for the future temple.
Today, we have about 170 temples in operation or under construction worldwide. The effort to bring the walls of spiritual protection closer to the Saints is an enormous, but important, task in these last days. Brigham Young foresaw the day when hundreds of temples would be upon the earth:
"To accomplish this work there will have to be not only one temple, but thousands of them, and thousands and tens of thousands of men and women will go into those temples and officiate for people who have lived as far back as the Lord shall reveal.: -- Brigham Young, June 22, 1856 Journal of Discourses, 3:372
"I want to see the temple built in a manner that it will endure through the Millennium. This is not the only temple we shall build. There will be hundreds of them built and dedicated to the Lord. This temple will be known as the first temple built in the mountains by the Latter-day Saints. And when the Millennium is over, and all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, down to the last of their posterity, who come within the reach of the clemency of the gospel, have been redeemed in hundreds of temples through the administration of their children as proxies for them, I want that temple still to stand as a proud monument of the faith, perseverance and industry of the Saints of God in the mountains in the nineteenth century."
--Brigham Young, October 6, 1863, Journal of Discourses, 10:254
In 1990, few would have imagined the day for one hundred active temples was only ten years away. And the focus from ancient times among God’s people was that their salvation depended upon access to a temple.
But why?
Anciently, God spoke with man face to face in sacred places. The first place was in the Garden of Eden, where the Lord spoke with Adam. After being cast out of the Garden, Adam was out of God’s presence for years. He then could only discourse with angels (Moses 54-8). Only near the end of his life, was Adam brought back into God’s presence at Adam-Ondi-Ahman. There, three years before his death, Adam gathered his righteous children around him. Christ appeared and blessed Adam, as his children praised him, calling him Michael the archangel (D&C 107:53-57).
This is what sacred space is all about. At Mount Sinai, Moses tried to bring the Israelites back into the presence of God, but they refused and were left with the Levitical priesthood, which contains the ministering of angels (D&C 84:18-27).
Nehemiah cleanses the temple of his day as we have just discussed.
Today’s temples are sacred space established so faithful saints can prepare to see the face of God and live.
No wonder it was so important to the survival of the Jews anciently. The temple was needed so individuals could approach God’s sacred space and commune with him.
The ancient temple was not just for animal sacrifice. Samuel’s mother prayed there for a son, and received her petition. John the Baptist’s father was serving in the temple when Gabriel the archangel told him he was to have a son. Even the Jerusalem temple, based upon the Aaronic/Levitical Priesthood, opened the windows of heaven so people could receive revelation.
Today, righteous people can receive revelation in the temples. Many attend when they have struggles weighing on their minds and receive inspired answers in what to do. Many see angels and other wonders in the temples of God. And those who are prepared can see Christ and become a living witness of his resurrection.
Yet today, many of our temples are under-utilized. We are so busy with life and distractions, as was ancient Israel when it was destroyed, that we don’t have time. Or so we say. It is time we stop putting off the temple, as did the original Jews who returned to Jerusalem, and start building the sacred space within our own hearts by attending more often. That is one of the main ways we prepare ourselves to see Christ. What could be more important than that?
Bibliography
Marc Shindler’s explanation of Deutero-Isaiah:http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/publications/deutero-isaiah-in-the-book-of-mormon
Samaritan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan
Samaritan temple:
http://www.livius.org/saa-san/samaria/samarians.htm
http://tinyurl.com/28ngrxv
Nehemiah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehemiah
Ezra: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra
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