The LORD has established His throne in the Heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all. Psalm 103:19 (I Chronicles 1-9)
Ezra, the diligent scribe, created a national archive. Not the most inspirational passage in the Bible but it is crucial to Israel’s history and the story of God’s infinite workings in the life of man, the fulfillment of prophecy and proof of Messiahship through the line of David. While It is vital that all generations to follow understand God’s Law brought man an elevated moral consciousness and established a new beginning for earth’s humanity, God reveals His unique relationship to Israel and the whole world through His works and His messengers, who show that over and over again, sin brings death, but God’s unending love brings hope and life.
As the Old Testament narrative comes to a close, Israel’s history continues to evolve. There are writings, the Apocrypha, Biblical history that is not considered divinely inspired in origin, that continue to shed light on these years of struggle for Israel. Persia remained an influence in the daily lives of the diaspora. Their culture, language, diet, and infiltration of mysticism led to decay of moral Jewish tradition. The knee jerk reaction in religious leadership was legalism and the evolution of synagogues and rabbis. It was in these years that Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes make their appearance and influence future theologies, interpretations and actions that are still felt today.
Even though there was no prophecy in the years 425 B.C. – 5 B.C., God is at work through history. Greece and Hellenism begins to have a profound effect on God’s people, preparing a means for the Gospel to spread throughout the entire world. Alexander, by his military conquests, linked the East to the West and Greek became a universal language. Once again, Palestine is caught in the middle of a struggle for world domination and its population was taken for colonization of other areas. Jewish intellect met Greek philosophy and over the course of many years the Gospel was efficiently spread and an early translation of the Old Testament was created in the Greek language.
The work of God in the years following Ezra and Nehemiah is vast. When it seems God is silent, still your heart and trust His. He’s working miracles in the quiet of your fears and failures.
Love,
Gretchen