Ezra 1:4 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters | Metropolitan Tabernacle

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Ezra 1:4

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Now the text is a little difficult, but it really is an urging for anyone who remains for any reason, to give those returning to Jerusalem the wherewithal to go. That is the original decree. It is against reason. The government of Cyrus and all his regional rulers would be horrified that everything is going into reverse, everything is going to changed, to take away colonialism overnight. Unprecedented! The Western world never managed it in modern times, and yet here it’s done. Who will go? Well the strange thing is, not that many went. 42,000 plus, the first time. There is going to be a second journey some years after, which will be led by Ezra himself. That's why in chapter 7 of the book Ezra switches his narrative to the first person, because now he is with them; he is present. There will also be a third-party later still under Nehemiah, but this is the first group. However, that first group: it's been estimated that one family in twenty went; some people say one family in twenty-five, and even thirty. That is not many. It is a very small percentage. Others estimate two percent went – to work that out we have to estimate the probable number of Israelites that there were in captivity, or Judeans. So few went. Why was that? Well, some would have been too sick to travel. Some would have had ailing members of the family, perhaps; there might have been legitimate reasons why some couldn't go, but most were settled in Babylon. It was their view that they were better off in Babylon than in Judah, and they didn’t want to go. ‘What, not to the promised land, not to Judah?’ ‘No, not there. The place is in ruins. Everything has been demolished. Our enemies from the surrounding nations have entered into our land and they are living here, there, and everywhere. We have got to somehow make our peace with them, and put up with them. Furthermore, the city of Jerusalem is destroyed, and the temple is no more; it’s all work and toil, and we are very comfortable; we are very settled. We might be servant class citizens in Babylon; we might be low paid workers, but we are better off than going home to all that: the dangers of the journey, the dangers of settlement. Who knows what will happen?’ They were settled and they didn’t want to go. It’s tragic really that such a small number returned!

Application

You could apply that to the present day. We might ask the question: why have decadent trends got into evangelical churches everywhere? In the last 20 years where there used to be a stand, so many more have buckled to contemporary Christian worship, and sheer worldliness in the church. If you go to services in many Bible believing churches, there are people jigging around on platforms who look like worldlings, behave like worldlings, play music like worldlings. The whole thing is so Babylon! And it’s changed the temperature, the climate, and the ethos of the churches tremendously. Now it's all about: what's pleasurable? what's enjoyable? what's entertaining? There isn’t anything like the amount of dedication or Christian service, and even morality has fallen. What can happen? Will it ever go back? Well if there is an awakening or a revival, hopefully many will be called out. But will it be like the return from Babylon? One family in twenty who want to go back to something purer and better, something Biblical and deep and worthwhile? The others will be stuck: ‘Oh no, we prefer where we are. We are used to it now. This is the way we do things now. This is the attitude we like; we've grown accustomed to it.’ Because that is how it was with Babylon. So few returned. Tragic!

Be careful where you go to church. If the Lord moves you to another city, support a church which is all for the gospel, has absolutely nothing to do with contemporary Christian worship, and all the decadent trends that are around. Because very often, once you get into it, there will be no recovery. You will never come out of it. It will weaken you, dilute you, ruin you. Most of the Babylonian captivity never went home. They were still intensely nationalistic Jews, culturally; they never stop worshipping, even though they didn't have the utensils of worship: all the gold and the temple accoutrements were taken to Babylon, and now in Persia in the royal courts. They were intensely nationalistic, and yet they had lost their fundamental purpose, the purpose of their nation, it's destiny, it's privileges, its messianic hope. It had gone, and so they never went back.

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Ezra 1:4 Commentary and Bible Study