God’s Providence

Ezra 7-8

            These chapters record an additional return of exiles, about 1200 more. The star of the show is Ezra, who is repeatedly described as learned in the law of the Lord.

            Ezra is a prominent figure in post-exilic Judaism. He is the prototype for what in the New Testament are called the scribes or the teachers of the law. Originally, it was the priests’ work to instruct the people in the law, and Ezra himself was a priest. Eventually that work lost some of its priestly overtones. Especially for Jewish populations away from Jerusalem (Galilee and other centers farther away), these teachers became the most prominent feature of their practice of the faith. Eventually, by about two hundred years after Jesus, they had become what we know as the rabbis, whose writings and traditions are recorded in the Talmud. That 600-year evolution can be traced back to Ezra.

            What stands out for me in these chapters is not just the introduction of Ezra, but the confidence in the Lord’s providence, that is, that the Lord would protect and provide in hidden ways. In this case, He provided through the favorable attitudes of the Persians. Whether any of the Persian kings actually “believed” in the sense of saving faith, is an open question. But the Persians proved themselves more enlightened rulers than either the Babylonians or the Assyrians before them. They returned populations to their ancestral lands; they were more religiously open-minded; they tended to ensure the obedience of their vassals more through generosity than through fear. And the Lord was working behind that to provide resources for His people.

            I see two takeaways, then, in these chapters. There’s always a place among God’s people for those who will teach His Word, especially pastors but dedicated and well-informed lay people, too. And, the Lord continues to provide. The return from exile was not as dramatic as crossing the Red Sea on dry ground, but it was no less the work of God. And we do well to recognize the hand of God, even when that hand is hidden in the ordinary workings of the world.