author: Ryan Hayden Take your Bibles with me and turn to Ezra chapter 8. Ezra 8. We are going to look at this chapter - a chapter that I think most people would just assume is a genealogy and skip over, because I think there is a very strong lesson for us in it.

In chapter 7 we saw that Ezra has been commissioned to lead a second group back to Israel to reform their worship, to teach the people and work in the Temple. This is some 80 years after the initial group back under Zerubbabel.

We saw last week that Ezra was a man who was a priest. He was known for his study of the word of God. He was chosen by God and by the Persian king to lead this second return from exile.

That's what we talked about last week, but we didn't actually start the journey. That's what we are going to see here in chapter 8.

I'm going to read all of this chapter to you, and it kind of breaks down into 4 parts. So I'll explain what is going on as we read it. Then, after we have explained what's happened, I want to make an application of this chapter to our church.

The Story

Part 1 - We need Levites!

Let me get started by reading the first 14 verses:

[!bible] Ezra 8:1-14 - KJV

1. These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.
2. Of the sons of Phinehas; Gershom: of the sons of Ithamar; Daniel: of the sons of David; Hattush.
3. Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh; Zechariah: and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males an hundred and fifty.
4. Of the sons of Pahath-moab; Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males.
5. Of the sons of Shechaniah; the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males.
6. Of the sons also of Adin; Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males.
7. And of the sons of Elam; Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males.
8. And of the sons of Shephatiah; Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him fourscore males.
9. Of the sons of Joab; Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males.
10. And of the sons of Shelomith; the son of Josiphiah, and with him an hundred and threescore males.
11. And of the sons of Bebai; Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight males.
12. And of the sons of Azgad; Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him an hundred and ten males.
13. And of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these, Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them threescore males.
14. Of the sons also of Bigvai; Uthai, and Zabbud, and with them seventy males. %% #Ezra8 %%

So Ezra starts his journey here by getting the people who are going together and making a careful census. He wants a head count. This is probably so he has enough supplies and so he can make sure everyone makes it in one piece.

But there is a big problem with this list, and that shows up in verse 15:

[!bible] Ezra 8:15 - KJV 15. And I gathered them together to the river than runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi. %% #Ezra8 %%

So here is the problem: there are no Levites in the group. This group had a few thousand people in it (it was much smaller than the first group that went back) but there are no Levites in the group, and that is a problem.

Remember, the Levites were the members of the Tribe of Levi who were not priests. The priests were from the family of Aaron and worked in the Temple, the rest of the tribe of Levi also had special status and worked on the Temple.

So the Levites were a kind of lesser religious leader. They weren't given the special status of the priests. They weren't doing offerings and burning incense. But they were necessary for the work of the Temple.

The whole purpose of this trip was to restore right temple worship and to teach the people from the law. The Levites were absolutely key to that. But none of them volunteered.

And so this is a big problem for Ezra. He has money from the king. He has his papers. But he's missing the key people to get his work done.

Let's keep reading:

[!bible] Ezra 8:16-20 - KJV 16. Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding. 17. And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God. 18. And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen; 19. And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty; 20. Also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinims: all of them were expressed by name. %% #Ezra8 %%

So Ezra was in a pickle. They needed Levites, but none of the Levites volunteered to go. So Ezra prayed and looked for a leader to help in this endeavor, and God sent a man named Sherebiah - and Sherebiah was able to get 38 different Levites to make the journey, as well as 220 Nethinims.

The Nethinims were servants of the Temple who were not jews. They were people who had been conquered in battle and they did a lot of the menial work around the Temple. It's very likely the Nethinims were not volunteers.

Ok, so what did these Levites do? Well, according to my study there were four jobs they ended up doing:

Outside of their temple work, they became teachers. They were teachers of the law spread around Israel, and the priests were the teachers in Jerusalem at the Temple.

But they would come in for shifts at the Temple and when they were on duty they did three things:

• They worked on upkeep. They were the ones designated by God to work ON the Temple building and furniture.
• They worked security. They guarded the Temple and the area around the Temple to keep people from stealing and to keep the wrong people out.
• They worked on music. The trained musicians of the Temple were Levites.

So you had this group of men who were very valuable servants in the Temple who did the work of upkeep, security, music and some teaching.

Now here is the amazing thing: between verse 15 when Ezra realizes there are no Levites and when they actually set out on their journey is only 7 days. So in 7 days, God provided 38 Levites (who didn't initially want to go) and 220 temple servants.

Imagine if you were called to leave your family and your homeland behind and move to like Canada or something, and you had to get everything together to go in 7 days. So Ezra meant it when he said God provided for this.

Part 2 - We need God's protection

Let's' keep reading:

[!bible] Ezra 8:21-23 - KJV 21. Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. 22. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. 23. So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us. %% #Ezra8 %%

The second thing that happens in this chapter is Ezra declares a time of fasting and praying before they leave. The reason why Ezra wants to fast and pray is because they are about to undertake a very dangerous 4 month journey. They are going to go through a land that was known to have bandits and pirates - and they are going to be carrying millions of dollars of the king's treasure with them.

But Ezra, doesn't want to ask the king for help. He doesn't want to go to the pagan king and say "Please send us protectors" because he doesn't want the king to think that God cannot protect them. So they go to God and ask God for His protection and trust God.

One thing about this second journey, it wasn't just a return, it was a revival. Ezra was a spiritual leader. He was determined that Israel was going to obey God and trust God.

So they setting off on this extremely perilous journey and trusting in God to protect them.

There is one more thing that happens here. One more consideration in this chapter:

Part 3 - Keep the gold

Let's keep reading:

[!bible] Ezra 8:24-30 - KJV 24. Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them, 25. And weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered: 26. I even weighed unto their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels an hundred talents, and of gold an hundred talents; 27. Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold. 28. And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto the LORD; the vessels are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering unto the LORD God of your fathers. 29. Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and chief of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD. 30. So took the priests and the Levites the weight of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God. %% #Ezra8 %%

So this group was going to be traveling with lots of gold. Millions and millions of dollars of treasure that was meant for an offering in the Temple.

Ezra weighed out the gold and distributed it among the priests, putting them in charge of a portion of it.

Now, the problem here is that there would have been a lot of temptation to skim off the top. There would have been a temptation to take some of this gold and treasure and embezzle it.

And so everything was accounted for, and these men were told that they were holy servants of the Lord, and the gold was brought to Jerusalem with none of it being stolen or embezzled. It was all above board.

Part 4 - From plans to fulfillment

Now, verses 31-34 give us the fulfillment of all of this prep work.

[!bible] Ezra 8:31-34 - KJV 31. Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. 32. And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days. 33. Now on the fourth day was the silver and the gold and the vessels weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest; and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, Levites; 34. By number and by weight of every one: and all the weight was written at that time. %% #Ezra8 %%

Three things are pointed out:

• First they made it. They all made it to Jerusalem safely.
• Second, God kept the bandits away.
• Third, every penny of the treasure made it to where it needed to go.

This is a testament to the faith of Ezra and the protection of God.

They commemorated that with a giant offering in verse 35- and then got to work in verse 36:

[!bible] Ezra 8:35-36 - KJV 35. Also the children of those that had been carried away, which were come out of the captivity, offered burnt offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he goats for a sin offering: all this was a burnt offering unto the LORD. 36. And they delivered the king’s commissions unto the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God. %% #Ezra8 %%

author: Ryan Hayden

So that is the story. That is what happened, now, let's make some...

Application

As I was studying this chapter, one thing kept coming to mind:

We need men!

Just like Ezra found out on this journey. He had a commission. He had the king's provision. But none of that was going to mean anything if he didn't have a bunch of faithful men who would stand up and do what God wanted them to do.

These men, for whatever reason, were comfortable in Babylon and weren't going to go. Maybe they didn't think their job was important. Maybe they resented being under the priests. Maybe they just liked Babylon. But God had work to do and it could not get done without these men stepping up.

And I think about our church, we have a commission from God, we have a job God has called us to do, and that job cannot get done without faithful men who step up to do it.

Now, I would say we need men who have some of the same characteristics of the men here in Ezra 8. Let me list four of them.

1. We need men who will serve

That's what the Levites were - they were servants of the Temple. They were the sunday school teachers, the choir members, the parking lot attendants, the church security, the people who mowed the grass and counted the offering. They were servants!

And we need serving men. We need men who are like the people at the church of Philippi that Paul talked about. Men who "stand fast in one spirit, striving together for the faith of the gospel." (Phil. 1:27)

God's work cannot be done without God's servants stepping up.

Hopefully, our men volunteer for this work. Hopefully, it's not like in Ezra's day where they have to be rounded up and made to work for God. But we need men who serve!

Also...

2. We need men who follow God

The men in this story went from not going to moving to another country in a span of seven days. They felt the call of God and they obeyed that call. They stepped up to the task.

Yes, they had to be cajoled. They didn't initially volunteer, and maybe they had to be "voluntold" - but they went. They launched out in faith to follow God.

Church, we need guys who are willing to follow God when He points us work to be done. Men who step up and say "I don't know if I'm the right man for the job, but I'll do it. I'll go."

I heard someone say that the greatest ability was availability. If God is moving you to do something, will you step up and let God use you?

We need men who will serve and men who will follow God, but we also can see in this chapter that...

3. We need men who will trust God

This whole crew travelled about 900 miles through the desert, through a place where pirates and marauders were known to roam, believing that God would take care of them.

They prayed about it, then trusted God's promises.

We need men of faith who trust the Lord, trust Him to guide, to provide and to protect.

While we are talking about trust,

4. We need men who are trustworthy

These men were entrusted with what would be millions of dollars in treasure today - and were honest and above board about it.

Part of that was no doubt because the accountability that Ezra setup. Part of that was due to their godly character.

We have to have men in the church who are absolutely trustworthy. Who are faithful in caring for what God has provided.

This is a holy work, like the Levite's work was a holy work and God knows.

As we close tonight I want to turn to another passage. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 3.

As I was thinking about these Levites, these men, they sounded a lot like deacons to me. They were faithful men who served in God's work.

1 Timothy 3:8-13 says this:

[!bible] 1 Timothy 3:8-13 - KJV 8. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; 9. Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 10. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. 11. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. 12. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Listen, I was talking to a member yesterday, and he said something. He said that our church has an unusual number of faithful men.

Most churches these days aren't like that. Most churches are full of old ladies. But we have men who are leading their families - men of all ages.

Men, I want you to understand this, the work of the church requires faithful men who will serve, who will follow God, who will trust Him and who will stay trustworthy.

If every man in our church determined to be that guy - we could turn our town upside down.

Let's stand together for prayer.