Revelation 10-16/Ezra 5-10/Esther

Ezra
5: At the prompting of Haggai and Zecheriah, which we finished up last week, the work on the Temple begins again. Again, officials come and question the work. They make a report to Darius and refer to the previous decree by Emperor Cyrus. They are looking for direction as to what they should do. Seeming in contrast to the previous outsiders.

6: The decree is discovered, and tells his governor of the land "Beyond the River" - of which Judea is a small province - to continue support for the builders, even threatening enemies of the work with death and destruction of their house. The temple is finished March 12, 516 BC, and the people celebrate with sacrifices (Bar-B-Q) and celebrating passover. The connection between God's desire and the decree of kings is an important theme in Ezra and Nehemiah.

7: Ezra is introduced here, a person with an established pedigree going back to Aaron. He travels from Babylon once the temple is completed, his desire is to study and teach the Torah - to reestablish the identity of the people as a people of the Law. He sets off with a decree from the Emperor giving him in many ways quite a free hand, with access to the royal treasures in that region and tax exempt status for those traveling with him. Ezra's memoir also begins at the end of this chapter. Notice that Darius thinks of the Jewish God as a regional deity, even calling Yahweh the God of Jerusalem. This illustrates both the belief that deities were associated with a particular geographic region, and the perceived importance of giving honor to local deities as a part of securing an empire.

Esther
Esther is the story of two alert Jews who outfox the enemy of the Jewish people, the nasty Haman. It is an unusual story, but became so popular that it is now the center of the Jewish festival of Purim in which it is read, and sometimes performed as a play. It is full of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, as well as tragedy, a battle of the sexes and plenty of bloodshed. Throughout it all, Esther, who enters as a woman who is merely beautiful, and exits as a great and resourceful hero, exemplifies all the things a hero should be. I suggest reading the book in a single sitting so you can experience the suspense and catharsis in a more intense way.

1-2 We begin with a banquet, given by Ahasuerus (probably Xerxes I) in Susa, the winter captial in NW Iran. Queen Vashti is put away and another is found - Esther, a Jew whose Jewish name is Hadassah (myrtle). After she is crowned she saves the king's life from a plot.

3-10: The evil plot by the dastardly Haman. Why Mordecai will not bow is not clear, but Agag was an Amalekite king, an enemy defeated by King Saul. Notice 3.7 which is a strange, badly worded interruption, likely by a scholar who is trying to connect this story with the holdiay Purim. It is also important to remember that the King does not really know who Haman is planning to eliminate.

Mordecai appeals to the Queen, though she is putting her life on the line by making an appeal to the king. She is reticent at first, but then agrees. She gets the king to invite Haman to a series of banquets.

While this is going on Haman must exalt his enemy, perhaps throwing a wrench into his plan to kill Mordecai and his people, but before he can make further plans, he is whisked away to yet another banquet. His plot is revealed and he is hung on his own gallows.

Mordecai is promoted, given Haman's job, and works to reverse the earlier decree. However, the decree cannot actually be reversed because of the laws of the Persians. So a solution is found. The Jews can arm and defend themselves against the attacks authorized in the previous decree. Apparently it was a bloody day in the empire, but the Jews take no plunder (as they did to their detriment in the Agag story in 1 Sam 15.9).

The day is a success and Queen Esther establishes the holiday of Purim to celebrate the saving of the Jewish people.

Ezra
8: Preparations for the journey. The people are named (about 1500 men). They fast in preparation of departing and then make their way. They enter Jerusalem and celebrate at the temple.

9: The problem of intermarriages arises. The people, as they always have really, intermarry with the locals. As a small minority who is trying to preserve their unique culture, this becomes a crisis. Ezra mourns and offers not so much a prayer but a sermon, paraphrasing the part of the Torah that speaks of not marrying Canaanites.

10: The crisis is resolved through communal action. The people gather and ask Ezra to make a decision. He gathers the people together and gives his decision that the wives should be sent away. Those who do not attend have their property taken away. There is a vote and all agree except four (their vote is counted but they are not punished). The investigation and execution of the decision is left up to a council formed from representatives of each family.




Revelation
10: Another interlude: Notice the description of the angel. Remember, this was a time before movies, when such things could easily be imagined. Think of an apocalypse as a weird, psychedelic Sci-Fi movie.

The angel has a scroll whose contents were not to be revealed. The seventh trumpet - the mystery of God - is about to sound without delay. John is instructed to eat the scroll, as did Ezekiel (Ez. 2.9-3.3). John is instructed to prophesy.

11:1-14: continuation of the interlude. After a measuring of the temple (how many times have we seen that?) the two witnesses are introduced. These figures may refer to prophets who were thought to return to announce the final judgment of God - usually Enoch or Moses and Elijah. They are killed, but then are raised and ascend to heaven.

11:15-19: The final trumpet: The reign of God is fulfilled. Part of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah comes from this passage.

12: The great allegorical tale of the woman and dragon. Probably the woman is Israel who gives birth the Messiah and then is hounded out of Jerusalem by the Romans, who are almost certainly the dragon - though the dragon can represent simply an embodiment of the forces of evil. The reference to the dragon being expelled from heaven perhaps refers to Luke 10.18. The ministry of the Messiah is equivalent with the defeat of the devil.

1260=42months=3 1/2 years=time, time, and half a time = one half of 7, the number of completeness and so is symbolic of incompleteness and of divine restraint.

13: This section begins in 12:18. The same dragon stands on the shore of the sea to call forth the hideous sea beast. Now it would be wrong to say that the beast is the anti-christ. The word does not appear anywhere in the book of Revelation. In fact the idea that a single person will arise at some point in the future and rule the world and commit great blasphemies and oppress the church, would have been a foreign idea to these people - BECAUSE IT WAS ALREADY HAPPENING. Revelation reflects the current situation of the church, which was already being oppressed by Rome and it's emperors (while though they are often killed, Rome, the beast, never dies). So while some of these emperors embodied the spirit of the anti-christ (the word as found in the epistles) there is no single anti-christ.

The beast from the sea - probably a symbol of the office of emperor - and the beast from the earth - the cult of the emperor which worshiped him as divine - are the great enemies. Their number - 666 - can be "calculated" as Neron Caesar. If the alternate 616 (see textual note) is used, then the "n" is dropped.

14: A series of visions for the comfort of the saints. The theme here (not unlike the prophets) is that those who are faithful will be vindicated while those who oppress God's people and follow the beast will be punished. The message for the churches is that while it seems that God is powerless and Rome is powerful, this is merely an illusion. The divine vision shows that good will triumph over evil.

15-16: The seven bowls of wrath. These are prepared in heaven, with momentous prelude in 15 and then poured out in 16. Notice the wrath of the seven bowls primarily affect the natural world, disease, rivers, sun, darkness, etc. The seventh bowl is poured and that wrath is done.