Ezra 1-4/Haggai/Zechariah/2-3 John/Jude

Ezra
Ezra - in the Hebrew Bible paired with Nehemiah as the same book - tells the story of the return of the Israelites to Judea. The return probably took place in about four stages, the final two the focus of Ezra-Nehemiah. Ezra covers the return and re-establishment of the Laws of Moses (Torah) in the community in Jerusalem. As a minority in the multi-cultural Persian empire, the Jews became assimilated in many ways with the Persians. The story of Ezra is focused a great deal on the recovery and preservation of the unique Jewish identity which was under threat of vanishing.

1: The decree from Emperor Cyrus for the return of the Israelites to their city Jerusalem. Recall the prophecies about Cyrus from Isaiah, that see him as a kind of gentile hero, though he does not recognize the supremacy of Yahweh, he becomes Yahweh's instrument.

The people bring their valuables, and Cyrus gives them the vessels used in the Temple to take back for worship. Many return with Sheshbazzar in the first return.

2: The list of people in the return. Nehemiah, of course will become important later; Jeshua is elsewhere called High Priest; Zerubbabel is the one of the last known Davidic descendants in the OT. It appears this group began work on the Temple.

3: Rebuilding comes in stages: starting with the altar and then the foundation of the Second Temple. Notice also they are in "dread" of neighboring people. This will be a continuing theme and also be important in Nehemiah as they build the walls around Jerusalem.

4: The opponents - many people who were moved to the area after the Assyrians conquered and displaced the northern kingdom of Israel - want to help build the temple, and when they are told no, they write a letter to the emperor, who makes the Jews cease their rebuilding of the Temple.

Haggai
We skip to Haggai now - and Zechariah as well - because they are active in this time when the Temple is not being worked on. Their prophetic word - remember prophecy is about speaking the truth and God's will to people, not foretelling the future - is that the people need to begin work again. The prophecy occurred from August through December in the year 520 BC.

1: The prophecy against the people and their response to begin building again. Notice Zerubbabel and Jeshua (here Joshua) are important people in this book and what was going on.

2: The new temple will be more splendid than the old and an oracle of encouragement - the curse is lifting and things are getting better.

Zechariah
Zechariah is an interesting book because the first part, 1-8, follows similar themes and can be dated to around the same time as Haggai. The rest of the book, however, 9-14, has none of the specifics of the first section and talks mostly about "that day" - the day of the Lord.

1: Introduction and call to repentance followed by two visions. The first is very apocalyptic - a vision of another realm that mirrors the situation on earth. The horses which patrol the earth are an opportunity for God to now restore his people. Then the vision of the horns and the blacksmiths.

2: Jerusalem is measured and promised that it will be full. God will defend it without walls (the walls are not built until around 445 (nearly 70 years later). There is a call for the people to return to Jerusalem and Yahweh will reestablish them.

3: Joshua before Satan. In the OT Satan was not what we think of today. Satan was the adversary, or the Accuser. He played a role in the divine court as the prosecuting attorney, trying to bring down the virtuous. Joshua survives the trial and is exalted, as is the branch - a Davidic ruler - probably a reference to Zerubbabel.

4: The lamp is the blessing of God, the two olive trees Joshua (Jesuha) and Zerrubbabel. They have been blessed and by the power of God - that is by his Spirit - the building of the Temple will be finished.

5: The scroll (the size of the porch of Solomon's Temple) is the new ethical standards. The basket, the wickedness of people, is taken to Babylon (Shinar), that is, away, where it becomes a temple.

6: After a vision mirroring the first, there is the coronation of Jeshua - but also Zerrubabel, who apparently got lost. Notice the textual note referring to crowns. However the exact meaning is unclear.

7-8: The question of fasting is answered in 8.18-19 and refers to fasts down as mourning the loss of Jerusalem, which is now being restored. Notice that in 7 the reasons given for the exile are related to issues of social justice. 8 are ten oracles about Jerusalem encouraging the people that it would be restored and that God was with them.

9-14 is the next section, and contains a variety of oracles that seem unrelated to the events surrounding Haggai and Zechariah 1-8.

9-11: The first oracle. First against the nations that arose against Israel. God will subdue them.

Then the image of the King of Peace whose reign will bring an end to war (quoted in the Matthew 21.5-7 as referring to Jesus).

Then a vision of Yahweh liberating the dispersed people and leading them to Jerusalem.

10: a call to look to the Lord for rain perhaps leads into the next section where Yahweh strikes down the rulers (shepherds) who oppose him and leads his people back home.

11: The ceders, oaks shepherds and lions refer to rulers in Lebanon, Transjordan and the Jordan valley - all of whom perish.

4-17 is a kind of retelling of the people before the exile. They refuse unity and favor and God gives them the king they deserve and desire, who brings them to ruin.

12-14: The second Oracle
12-13.6: Oracles about the Day of the Lord as both a time when Jerusalem is preserved and idols destroyed but also there is much mourning.

13.7-9: the shepherd who is struck. The downfall of this leader may refer to some post-exilic event - a reference we are not familiar with.

14: A final battle that leads to a revolution in Jerusalem. Nations will gather and come against the city, but Yahweh will defend her and utterly destroy her enemies, leading even to geographical metamorphoses. Jerusalem then will itself become a great temple - every pot will be a pot used in sacrifices - and all the nations will come to worship Yahweh in the City-Temple.

2 John:
Likely, along with 3 John, the same author as 1 John. The commandment to love, again, and a warning against those who preach that Jesus was not fully human. There were a variety of heresies popping up at the time, one of them being that Jesus was primarily a spirit, not a person of flesh and blood. John warns against these false teachings.

3 John:
A more personal letter covering practical matters and concern over others who were causing trouble. It should come as no surprise that the early church had quite a few problems.

Jude:
The Jude here might be the brother of James the brother of Jesus, which might give his writings the weight to be included in the Scripture. He writes, seemingly as a last resort (v. 3) to warn of false teachers who are leading them away from the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints (compare Gal. 1.8-9). He warns them using several OT allusions and refernce to ritual purity which probably show this was meant for a primarily Jewish audience.