Ezra 6 – 10
Verse 6:2 shows the problem with ancient business:
A scroll was found of a decree by King Cyrus in the fortress at Ecbatana, the summer residence of the Babylonian and Persian kings, in the province of Media.
This king makes a decree, this king changes his mind and they have a difficult time finding the documents. This shows how history is so hard to construct and build for others to understand even within one generation. Right now I am debating that Jesus is a myth and never walked the earth. It’s amazing how someone can take all the religious texts and rejects them as not “historical” as they are proven so time and time again. Also, there are three “non-Christian sources that reference Jesus with only one being considered a possible fraud. They are rejected also by this movement. After looking at this book it amazes me we get any history at all. Heck stories from the 20th century are being twisted for agendas even today.
Verse 7:21 is the next king charge to Ezra with his job:
To the treasurers in the provinces west of the Euphrates: I, King Artaxerxes, command you to obey Ezra, the priest and teacher of the law of the True God of heaven, and give whatever he needs to support the temple sacrifices for 2 years—
As I read this I understand what Ezra is doing and how he is to help with the people of Israel. From this point I got lost with the story since it appears the people were living with and marrying foreigners which caused problems and chapter 10 has the nation cleaning itself out.
The problem with this and why God decreed not marrying out of faith (note – it’s ok to marry foreign people as long as they convert) is the people tend to drift from their faith. Israel had drifted quickly away from God shortly after rebuilding the temple. But the story was not clear if they were cleaning their past or repairing recent events.