The Jewish Persian Period
This series of lessons covers Jewish history when Persia was the controlling
"world" government. The main source texts are the books of Ezra,
Esther and Nehemiah, and the prophesies of Haggai and Zechariah. In an
attempt to present the information in a chronological order, Ezra will
be somewhat split up. The series is intended to be an intermediate level
Bible study, designed primarily for personal study. However you may find
it possible to use this as material for small group studies, and limited
resources are provided to assist a teacher or advanced student in further
The suggested study method is quite simple. For each lesson, read the
section of the Biblical text (at least once) and then answer the questions.
I do not provide an answer guide. Most of my questions are intended to
get you to think about the text, put yourself in the situation presented,
and consider how you might react. Some of the questions have only one right
answer, and I could provide that, but others depend on your life situation
and experiences to answer, and your thoughts may be better than mine. Don't
be concerned with questions that you cannot answer. Having questions is
the first step in learning. In fact, it is very helpful to keep a pencil
and paper with you during your study to write down additional questions
which you have, and then periodically review them or discuss them with
others. My personal comments on the text will be provided some time in
the future, and they are NOT critical to understanding and applying the
text to your life.
- Lesson 1: Ezra 1 - 2 (Initial return of the
- Lesson 2: Ezra 3 - 4 (Opposition to the Jews)
- Lesson 3: Ezra 4:24 - 5:5, Haggai ("Consider
- Lesson 4: Ezra 4:24 - 5:5, Zechariah 1 - 4
(Visions of Zechariah)
- Lesson 5: Zechariah 5-14 (Visions of Zechariah)
- Lesson 6: Ezra 5 - 6 (God handles the opposition)
- Lesson 7: Esther 1 - 2
- Lesson 8: Esther 3 - 4
- Lesson 9: Esther 5 - 6
- Lesson 10: Esther 7 - 8
- Lesson 11: Esther 9 - 10
- Lesson 12: Ezra 7 - 8 (Ezra travels to Jerusalem)
- Lesson 13: Ezra 9 - 10 (Ezra deals with the
sins of the Jews)
- Lesson 14: Nehemiah 1 - 2:10 (Nehemiah's sorrow
for his people)
- Lesson 15: Nehemiah 2:11 - 3:32 (The Jews
start rebuilding the city walls)
- Lesson 16: Nehemiah 4-5 (Problems with rebuilding the walls)
Texts to read
- 2 Chron. 36:11-23
- Jeremiah 29:1-14
- Ezra 1:1 - 2:70
Background - (2 Chron. 36:11-23, Jer. 29:1-14)
- How did the last king of Judah, and the leaders of the Jews in his
reign, act toward God?
- How well did the king keep his promises?
- What characteristics of God do you see in these verses?
- What finally turned God's pity to anger?
- When they were attacked, where did some of the Jews flee to? Did it
do them any good?
- What happened to the temple? What happened to the items used in the
temple for worship?
- How long did the Jews have to endure exile from Israel?
- What world event changed the situation of the Jews?
- The prophet Jeremiah lived much of his life before Jerusalem was destroyed.
The section in Jeremiah 29 is a letter written to Jews which had been taken
captive when Nebuchadnezzar first came to power, which was about 19 years
before Jerusalem was destroyed. Jeremiah told the Jews to settle
down and get used to living away from Israel, because they were not coming
home soon. How does this letter, and the section of Chronicles, show God's
knowledge of and control over human history?
Main Text (Ezra 1-2)
- Two or three generations of Jews grew up during the 70 years of exile.
Most had lived all of their lives as exiles scattered throughout the Babylonian
empire. If you were in their situation, where would you consider your home
- What would motivate people to leave their homes of 70 years, and travel
5 months to a ruined city, to live among people who for 70 years have considered
Palestine to be their home?
- What project did Cyrus expect the Jews returning home to do? How did
he directly support this? How did the Jews who remained in Persia treat
those who were leaving?
- How did Cyrus happen to have the articles from the Jewish temple?
- Who was put in charge of the finances? How does this show the king's
trust of the Jews?
- How many people returned to Jerusalem?
- Why were some people excluded from the priesthood? How were they allowed
at a later time to appeal the decision?
- What did Asaph's descendants do for a living?
- What do you think a gatekeeper did?
- What might indicate the wealth or poverty of the people?
- What was their mode of transportation to get to Israel?
- How does the genealogy listing in chapter 2 illustrate how the Jewish
nation typically passed on the skills of a trade? Why do you think that
they did it this way? Since the Jews passed on duties in the worship of
God from generation to generation, is this a habit that we should adopt?
- When Cyrus allowed the Jews to return home, many of them stayed in
Persia. How would you have felt if you had committed to go, and others
were not interested? If you decided to stay in Persia, what things might
cause you to have a bad attitude about those who were leaving? What happened
to make this event a source of unity instead of a source of friction? What
can we do in our lives to create unity instead of anger?
- When the state of Israel captured the west bank of the Jordan during
a war in 1967, it caused a lot of Palestinians to leave the area as refugees.
How did the refugees desire to return home, and the political friction
between them and the Jews which occupied the territory, suggest the type
of problems which the Jews faced when they returned to Palestine after
being away for 70 years?
- Singers of Asaph: (1 Chron. 16:5-37; 1 Chron. 25:1-2,6;
Headers to Psalms 50, 78-83; 2 Chron. 29:25-30; 2 Chron. 35:15)
- Exclusion from priesthood: (Exodus 28:41-43; Lev. 21:1,16-23)
- Urim and Thummin: (Exodus 28:30; Lev. 8:5-8; Num. 27:21; 1 Samuel 28:63)
- Decree of Cyrus: (Daniel 5:22-30; Isaiah 44:28)
- Temple utensils: (2 Chron. 36:11-23; 2 Kings 25:1-15; Daniel 1:1-3).
Cyrus, by defeating the Babylonians on his rise to power, obtained their
Text to Read:
- What religious reason would cause the Jews to gather together in the
- What demonstrates the Jew's relationship to each other?
- What demonstrates the Jew's commitment to God?
- What emotions might have been felt when the Jews gathered together
to worship in the ruins of the temple?
- Who were the main people involved in the temple construction? Why was
it limited to this group?
- Who's traditions were the singers following? (See Asaph
for more information) What was their emotional state at this time?
- What emotions would the enemies of the Jews feel if 50,000 Jews returned
home to Jerusalem? Why might they be interested in helping the Jews? Why
might they be interested in discouraging the Jews?
- The first five kings of Persia were: Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius, Xerxes,
Artaxerxes. When do the events in the first few verses in chapter 4 take
place? Is the section of 4:6-22 in chronological order in the book? Why
do you think it was included here?
- In the letter to the king, what were the Jews doing? Why was this considered
a threat to the king? What efforts were used to stop the Jews?
- The Jews were coming back as exiles to their former country. Many had
never been in Israel before. There was no temple worship, no high priest,
and no religious organization. They had a perfect chance to start fresh
and do things any way they wanted. What did the Jews use as a pattern for
their worship? Is there a way today to use a similar principle to resolve
issues between Christian groups?
- How would you feel if you had seen a glorious temple ruined, waited
for 70 years to see it rebuilt, and knew the new one was shabby in comparison
with the old? How would you feel if you were a young believer in God, who
saw the start of the building of God's temple? If you are excited about
something, how do you feel that others are upset about it? The Jews had
mixed reactions when the foundation of the temple was laid. Some of this
reaction was based on their age. How could this have been a source of division
among the Jews? How could it have been used to encourage each group? In
your church, when people have mixed reactions to something in worship does
it cause unity or division? If division, what might be done to help?
- Why do you think that the Jews refused the help of the people who offered
to help them? Do you think that the Jews caused their own problems, or
that they recognized their enemies early?
- Before the reign of Artaxerxes, it appears that the enemies of the
Jews did not use force against the Jews. What techniques did they use?
How effective were they? What can we learn from this? There is an old saying:
"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt
me." Do you find this to be true in your life?
- Significance of the 7th month (Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles):
- Sacrifices: Morning, Evening, Sabbaths, New Moon: (Num. 28:1-15)
- Cedars of Lebanon: (2 Sam. 5:11; 1 Chron. 22:2-4; 1 Kings 5:1-11)
- Nature of the people of the land (Esarhaddon, king of Assyria) - (2
Text to Read:
Text of Ezra:
- What indication do you have that a lot of time has passed between the
events of Ezra 1-4, and the events mentioned at the start of Ezra 5?
- From the book of Ezra, what seems to be the Jews main problem?
- How does God deal with the problem?
- What is the response of the people?
- When did Haggai start to preach? How does the timing and the audience
compare with Ezra 4:24 - 5:5?
- What is the attitude of the people toward rebuilding the temple? What
upsets God about that attitude?
- Before sending Haggai, what way did God use to tell the Jews that he
was not happy with them?
- What specific action does God want the Jews to do?
- Who does God tell Haggai to talk to? Why do you think that Haggai was
sent to talk to a couple of individuals when the message applied to everyone?
Why not talk to the people directly?
- What was the initial response to Haggai's message?
- What is the significance of "fearing the Lord" (vs. 12)?
Who did they fear before?
- What promise did God give to his people?
- Apart from sending Haggai, what action did God do?
- How long did it take for the Jews to get organized and respond to Haggai's
- How soon after the first message does this one come?
- What problem did the Jews have when they started to rebuild the temple?
- What promise did God make about what the temple would be like?
- What blessings did God promises to his people?
- What did God ask the people and the leaders to do?
- How soon after the first message does this one come? How long
have the Jews been working on the temple?
- Was it easy for a hidden consecrated item to make other things holy?
- Was it easy for a defiled thing to make other things defiled?
- Knowing what God was initially upset with the Jews about, what do you
think might have been a "dead thing" which was defiling the Jews?
- What do you think might have been a "holy thing" which was
- Did God consider his people "clean" or "unclean"?
- How productive was the Jew's agriculture?
- How much reserve food did the Jews have?
- What day marked the change?
- Why do you think that God wait until now to reverse the punishment?
- Why do you think that God would send two messages on one day?
- What did a king use a signet ring for? How important was it?
- What was the main message God had for Zerubbabel?
- Why do you think that God singled out this one man for a special message?
What does that tell you about how God interacts with human affairs?
- The entire message of this book is to motivate the Jews to rebuild
the temple. Do you think that church buildings today are the equivalent
of what the temple was to the Jews? Do you think that God's message in
this book is that we should spend a lot of time and money on making fancy
- God removed his blessing from the Jews to teach them to consider their
actions. Do you think that he act toward us the same way today? Can we
use the circumstances of our lives to determine if we are living right
- In God's questions to the priests about the defiled and holy things,
God may have indicated that the Jews hidden desire to have a temple did
not make things holy, while the ruined temple defiled them. Do you desire
to live in service to God, but find that your life does not show it? What
message might this book say to us?
- Rules about clean and unclean things: (Lev. 10:29-39; 22:1-10; 27:9-15)
- God's use of economics to rebuke his people: (Deut. 28:38-45)
- Reaction of people to the temple's lack of glory: (Ezra 3:12)
- God's promise to shake up the nations: (See lesson #6 - Ezra 5-6)
Text to Read:
- Ezra 5:1-5
- Zechariah 1 - 4
Note: This section does not attempt to deal with the entire book of
Zechariah, nor will it help you answer all of the questions about the visions
that you will want to know. I should help you get the main point of some
of the visions, and from that you can understand the message that God wanted
his people to hear. More than that is beyond the scope of this lesion material.
- When did Zechariah start preaching relative to Haggai? (See Haggai
1:1; 2:1, 10, 20)
- In the past, what was the primary message that God sent through his
prophets? How was this message received?
- What does Zechariah ask the people to do?
- How is Zechariah's message received?
- What shows that God keeps his word?
- In Zechariah's vision, what was the main message that the men on horseback
brought from their travels?
- What promise did God make about Jerusalem and the temple?
- What was going to happen to the power of the nations which terrified
and scattered the Jews?
- What was the man with the measuring line going to use it for?
- Jerusalem was without city walls at this time, since the Babylonians
had destroyed them years before. How would this normally affect the security
of the people? How did God deal with their feelings of insecurity?
- If someone poked at your eye, how would you react? What message is
God trying to teach the Jews by using this example.
- God says that he is coming. What emotions does he expect the Jews to
have? What response does he expect the nations to have?
- What shows that God is interested in having more than just the Jewish
race as his people?
- What does the high priest look like as he stands before God? Why do
you think he is pictured this way?
- What does Satan do when he is in the presence of God?
- Who stands up for the high priest?
- What encouragement does God give to Joshua?
- What does God expect from Joshua?
- What does God promise to do for his people?
- What did Zechariah see in the vision? Did he understand what the vision
was supposed to be telling him?
- What do you think was the message God was wanting the people to understand
when he said in vs. 6: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit"?
- What is a plumb line (vs. 10) used for? Why would people be excited
to see it in Zechariah's hands?
- If Zechariah 3:1-5 had been pictured in a modern courtroom, what roles
would the following people have: Joshua, Angel, Lord, Satan? Did Satan
cause Joshua to be wearing dirty clothes? What do you think the
dirty clothes represent? What is the significance of the role that the
Lord takes? How does this view of heaven, and the interplay of relationships,
match with your concepts? What does it tell you about Satan? What does
it tell you about how we can defeat him?
- Prophecy of Branch: (Zech. 3:8; 6:12)
Text to Read:
- Zechariah 5 - 14 (Especially the sections below)
- What two things were upsetting God?
- What did God decide to do about it?
- What Jewish tribe did the priests come from? From what Jewish tribe
did the kings come from?
- How are Jewish customs affected when a priest receiving the crown of
- Was Joshua being crowned as a king, or was God saying that he represented
someone to come?
- Who do you know that had the name of Joshua (which means "savior"),
who was called a "Branch", who was both a king and a high priest,
and who promised to raise up the temple in three days?
- Prophecy of Branch: (Zech. 3:8)
Text to Read:
- Who were the leaders in getting the temple rebuilt?
- Who tried to oppose them?
- What kept the work from stopping?
- Were the Jews disobeying the king of Persia?
- From God's standpoint, were the Jews speaking the truth when they said
that the construction on the temple had been going on continually since
the days of Cyrus? Why might this have been an important legal point in
obtaining Persian permission to construct the temple? If legally started
work gets stopped, is there automatic permission to restart it again at
a later time?
- What do the Jew's opponents request from the king of Persia? What answer
do you think that they expected to hear when the king wrote back?
- How long do you think it might have taken to send a messenger from
Jerusalem to Persia, get access to the king, start a search of the royal
archives, which were stored in various cities, get a report back to the
king, and get a letter sent back to Tattenai?
- How well did Darius respect the edicts of an earlier king? How does
this show the Persian respect for law?
- Why do you suppose that Darius included the commands to Tattenai that
they leave the Jews alone?
- How did Darius insult Tattenai, and honor the Jews?
- Why did Darius want the Jews to finish their work?
- What was the punishment for disobedience to the decree of Darius?
- What response did the Darius' letter bring?
- How long did it take to finish the temple?
- What continuing help did God provide?
- The Jews set up the worship, and appointed men to serve in the temple
for the first time in over 100 years. What did they use as a pattern?
- What major feast was celebrated by the Jews?
- Who was allowed to share in this feast?
- What was the primary emotional state of the Jews at this time?
- When Tattenai asked the Jews, "What gives you the right to do
this?", what tone of voice do you think that he used? What is the
significance that he asked for their names? What problems might have occurred
when a letter is sent to the king? Kids challenge each other's actions
by threatening to speak to the parents. Co-workers do the same by speaking
to the boss. Often the facts get distorted in the telling, and we can get
into trouble even if we are right. How did the Jews deal with this problem?
What ways might we use to meet similar threats in our lives today?
- When the Jews started the work on the temple they were near an economic
crisis. Then they were threatened by their enemies. When the work started,
it looked like the temple was going to be a shabby replacement for what
had been a beautiful temple. Haggai (2:3-9) promised that God would help,
and bring money from other countries. We can see the dramatic way that
God kept his promises to the Jews. Have you had times in your life when
your problems buried you with no way out, and then it got worse? Is it
easy to trust God in those situations? What message do the Jews who worked
on the temple have for you next time? (And yes, there WILL be a next time!)
- Status of Babylon
- Different sites of the royal city
Text to Read:
- At the start of Esther, how long has the Persian king been in power?
- How long did the king's party for the nobles and officials last? How
long was his party for the people who lived in the capital city (Susa)?
What does that tell you about the king?
- What indications are shown about the wealth of Persia at this time?
- What seems to be one of the more important food items served by the
- What might the separate banquets for men and women imply about the
- What was the king's mood when he summoned his wife?
- What do you think his intentions were for his wife?
- What reasons might his wife have for refusing the king?
- Why did the king call in the lawyers (or judges) to decide how to act
toward his wife?
- Did the king's advisors find legal grounds against Vashti's behavior?
- What were the fears of the advisors? What type of society were they
- What was their solution to this domestic problem?
- What suggests that the king regretted the actions he took toward Vashti?
- What was a primary requirements for the replacement queen of Persia?
- What is the first thing that you find out about Mordecai which tells
you about his character?
- Why might Mordecai want Esther to hide her race?
- What do you think might be reasons for the long beauty treatments required
before the women could be presented to the king?
- What does the nature of the selection process for the queen tell you
about the status of women in the Persian culture?
- How is God's power shown during this process?
- Who did Esther impress?
- How did Mordecai find out about the plot against the king? What does
this event show about Mordecai's character?
- What thanks did Mordecai get for saving the king's life? How do you
suppose Mordecai felt about this?
- The first chapter of Esther deals with a domestic argument between
a king and his wife. What mistakes do you think the king made which started
the problem? Why do you think he sent the eunuchs instead of going himself?
What turned this from a personal disagreement into a national issue? How
could the king have defused the problem? What options did Vashti have of
avoiding or resolving the problem? How do we make problems worse than they
started out to be? What can we learn from this situation to help us with
disagreements in our families?
- Historical information: Rulers of Persia, Persian law, Persian customs
- Laws of Medes and Persians: Daniel 6:8-16, Esther 1:13-15, 19-22, 3:9-15,
- Gate of king or city, sitting at gate
- Status of women in 19th century Turkey and currently in Arab countries
Text to Read:
- What in Esther 2:21 - 3:4 would indicate that Mordecai was a servant
to the king?
- Why do you think that Mordecai refused to honor Haman? Was it illegal
in God's law to show honor to others?
- Did Haman originally notice Mordecai? What does that suggest to you
about either Haman or Mordecai?
- Why do you think that the royal officials notice Mordecai's actions?
- Why do you think the officials spoke to Haman and not the king?
- What does Haman's reaction, to attack a race rather than simply one
man, indicate about his character?
- What did Haman do to discredit the Jews when he spoke to the king?
- What did Haman do to encourage the king to take his suggestion in dealing
with the Jews?
- What seems to be the king's attitude about the Jews? What does that
tell you about the king?
- What was the process of publishing a royal edict?
- What encouragement was provided to people who helped exterminate the
- How did the reaction of the people in Susa, and the actions of the
king, show that the king was out of touch with the situation?
- What shows Mordecai's feelings about the king's decree?
- What prevented Mordecai from passing through the King's Gate? What
does this law suggest to you about the nature of the king?
- Esther heard about Mordecai wearing sackcloth, but does it seem like
she had heard about the king's edict? What does this suggest to you about
the information flow between the women in the harem and the "outside"
- What shows Mordecai's access to "inside" information about
what went on within the palace?
- Why did Esther initially refuse to talk to the king? When does she
think that it would be a good time to talk to the king?
- Did Mordecai expect God to save the Jews?
- Why did Mordecai want Esther to be personally involved in saving the
- What did Esther do to help her handle a stressful situation? What does
that suggest to you about dealing with your personal problems?
- The king allows Haman to talk him into destroying a race of people.
Do you think that this shows a great trust, or a great indifference? What
should the king have done? Do we allow others to persuade us to make important
decisions based only on their opinion? Do you ever find yourself becoming
angry with someone, or forming a low opinion about someone based on the
comments of your friend? Is that different than what the king did?
- Mordecai seems to have a great confidence that God will assist the
Jews. Yet he also demanded that Esther put her life at risk to save them.
Do you think that Mordecai felt that someone could defeat the will of God?
What do you think was Mordecai's concept of how we interact with the will
of God? How does that make us responsible for the situation?
- Persian customs: public display of honor
- Persian customs: restricted access to the presence of the king
- Persian customs: methods of entreating the king
- Jewish customs: Sackcloth and ashes
- Jewish customs: Fasting
Text to Read:
- What did Esther do to encourage her acceptance by the king? How was
she received by the king? What promise did the king make to Esther? Do
you think that he really meant what he promised? What shows that he did
expect to do what Esther requested?
- What reasons do you think Esther might have had for asking the king
to come to a private dinner rather than publicly asking him to help her
- Why do you think at the first banquet that Esther was still unwilling
to ask the king what she wanted?
- How did Haman feel about being invited to the banquets?
- How did Haman feel about his family life, his wealth and the honor
that the world showed him? What spoiled it for him?
- What advice did Haman's friends give to make him feel happy? What does
that show about their character?
- Does it seem that the king often had sleepless nights? What did he
decide to do when he could not sleep?
- What are the chances that the king accidentally remembered to honor
Mordecai that night?
- Why did the king summon Haman?
- What does the attempt by Haman to see the king when he would normally
be sleeping show about how obsessive Mordecai is becoming to him? How do
you think the king would normally react to being woke up to be asked if
he would grant the right to have someone killed?
- What shows Haman's intense pride?
- What does the king's choice of having Haman personally honor Mordecai
show about the gratitude he felt?
- What do you think were the feelings, and possible conversations between
Mordecai and Haman during this short ride through the streets?
- What was Haman's reaction to being forced to honor Mordecai? How did
the events affect the attitude of his family and friends?
- If you have to ask a favor of someone, and the favor is very important
to you, do you find it hard to face the person and directly ask the question?
What things did Esther do to make the question easier to ask? What things
can we do to make it easier to approach our boss or someone else? From
the other side, what things does our society do to influence us in our
- By the world's standards, Haman had it made. He had wealth, a good
family, respect, power and position. Events in his daily life gave him
joy. Yet one man, who he had ignored until he was pointed out, caused Haman
to loose the joy in his life. There was no balance in Haman's thinking:
he had a huge number of blessings with a tiny problem, so the net sum of
Haman's life was a BIG disappointment. How do we often make the same mistake
in our lives, and what could we do to prevent it?
- The book of Job shows that Satan has a lot of power and is able to
coordinate events. How do the events of these last few chapters show the
power of God to influence a kingdom by preparing years in advance and then
carefully timing simple things like a sleepless night? How does this show
God's ability to work in our lives without us knowing it?
- Pictures of horses: Assyrian palaces showed decorations used on horses
Text to Read:
- What suggests that the king expects any request made by Esther to be
- What suggests that the king knew that it was hard for Esther to make
- What does Esther initially request? What does she NOT request that
might be reasonable at this time?
- How does Esther both emphasize the importance of the request and make
it sound like she does not want to bother the king?
- Do you get the impression that Haman sees what is about to happen before
Esther points him out?
- Why does Haman stay with Esther instead of trying to talk to the king?
- What does this situation show about how the king makes decisions?
- What appears to be the kings eunuch's attitude toward Mordecai and
- Why would the attendants know about the gallows which Haman built?
- How does God use Haman's pride against him?
- Do you think that Esther requested that the king give her Haman's estate?
- How did the king honor Mordecai?
- Verse 3 indicates that Esther again had to go before the king, at the
risk of her life, to ask the king to save her people. How had the king
"dealt" with the problem of the Jews? How does this show his
unwillingness or inability to solve the problem?
- Did the king have the ability to simply cancel the previous edict?
- How broad was the authority given to Esther to help her people?
- What solution was provided to cancel out Haman's decree?
- What limits were imposed on the Jews? What rights were given to them?
- What was the general reaction to the new decree? How did it affect
the general attitude toward the Jews?
- Were the Jews allowed to attack their enemies? Were they allowed to
attack unarmed people who did not like them? How far could they take out
their anger against armed opponents? How does this solution compare with
current legal methods of solving problems between people? How does it compare
with international law dealing with conflicts between nations or attempted
racial extermination within a nation? What do you think of it as a solution
within the Persian culture?
Text to Read:
- Do you get the impression that the Jews attacked their enemies, or
simply defended themselves?
- Why did the Persian leadership help the Jews?
- The Jews were a scattered race living in exile. Why do you think that
they were feared by everyone?
- Why did Esther request an extension of the law for the Jews in Susa?
Do you think that this was a fair thing to request?
- Why do you think that the text specifically says that Haman's sons
were killed? By Jewish law, were children responsible for their parent's
- How was Purim to be celebrated by the Jews each year? What emotional
response was to be felt during the celebration?
- What obvious way did God use to continue to exert influence over Persian
- The Jews killed over 75,000 people, without making any attempt at bringing
complaints against these people before a Persian court. Do you believe
that God wanted the Jews to act this way? If someone hates you, is that
sufficient grounds for killing them? Is there any condition today which
would justify people acting the way the Jews did? The Jews made this event
into a national holiday. Would you want to celebrate it? Why?
- What differences existed in the edicts made by Haman, and Mordecai.
How were they similar? What rights were given to the Jews that they did
NOT take advantage of? Why do you think they chose not to use all of their
rights? What situations today might make it a wise choice not to do everything
that we are allowed to do?
- Think of things which show the character of: King Xerxes, Haman, Esther,
Mordecai. What happened to these people because of their character?
- God allowed the Jews, and especially Esther and Mordecai, to experience
a lot of intense worry, over a situation he fully intended to deal with.
Why do you think that he did it that way, and gave no indication that things
were going to work out? Have you been in situations where you thought there
was no way that things could work out? How could Esther and Mordecai be
examples to you?
- In what ways did the Jewish community support each other? Are these
ways appropriate for us today? In what other ways can we help one another?
Text to Read:
- Why do you think that Ezra's ancestry was mentioned? What does the
last mentioned ancestor tell you about Ezra?
- Where had Ezra grown up?
- When did Ezra come to Jerusalem? How long did it take for him to travel
to Jerusalem from Babylon?
- Who came with Ezra to Jerusalem?
- What was the attitude of the king of Persia toward Ezra? What evidence
shows this attitude?
- What is the significance of the Persian king allowing the Jews to obtain
funds from the treasury of the surrounding territory? What is the significance
of the limits imposed on how much could be used?
- Who did the king of Persia authorized to appoint government leaders
and judges in Israel? What was to be the basis of the government and legal
- What types of punishments seem to be typical under Persian law (see
- How many people returned with Ezra?
- What problem did Ezra have before he started to leave Babylon to go
- What sort of men did Ezra pick to handle the situation?
- What did Ezra want?
- What had Ezra wanted from the king but was ashamed to ask for?
- What type of men did Ezra choose to be in charge of the money?
- What method did Ezra use to discover any attempts of cheating?
- How did Ezra encourage the men to be honest?
- Who did Ezra feel insured their save travel?
- Why do you think that Ezra and the group might have waited for several
days before going up to the temple and depositing the money they had?
- What was done to celebrate the safe arrival of the Jews to Jerusalem?
- What have you seen churches use as a guideline for choosing teachers?
What would you think would be good guidelines? What three things does Ezra
7:10 tell you about Ezra? What is important about the order of these?
How does this compare with our guidelines for teachers?
- When Ezra was about to leave for Jerusalem, he found that there were
no Levites among the group ready to return. What was special about the
men Ezra picked to handle the situation? What was Ezra's attitude toward
the Levites who finally chose to come? When we want help to do a job, and
no one volunteers, how do we react? Are we grateful when someone finally
- Ezra created a potentially dangerous situation for the Jews by being
ashamed to ask the king for protection on the journey (Ezra 8: 21-23).
Was Ezra sure that God would protect them? Was he being reasonable to put
a large number of people at risk because of how it might look to the king?
What does this tell you about the faith of Ezra and the people who returned?
- Ezra was put in charge of a lot of money to take back to Jerusalem.
It needed to be protected against attacks from robbers, and needed to have
a way to insure that no one involved could steal part of the funds. How
did Ezra's solution solve these problems? What guidelines for church finances
today might this suggest?
Text to Read:
- What was the first main problem that Ezra faced at Jerusalem? Who told
him about the problem? What groups of people(s) were affected by the problem?
- What reasons are mentioned in Ezra for God giving this specific law
to the Jews?
- How did Ezra react to the news?
- What would we do today if a business manager or a government official
heard some bad news and then he ripped his three piece suit, pulled out
some of his hair, and sat down at his desk staring out the window for the
rest of the day in a state of shock?
- What impact did Ezra's actions have on others?
- What type of people gathered around Ezra?
- Ezra has only been in Jerusalem a few days. Why do you think he had
so much influence?
- Does Ezra feel that the Jewish nation has been a spiritual people?
- Does Ezra view God as being kind or vindictive?
- What specific sin does Ezra admit before God?
- What does Ezra feel to be a just punishment for Israel's sins?
- Who made the decision that action needed to be taken?
- Who decided what solution ought to be enforced?
- What roles did Ezra play in solving the problem?
- How did Ezra prepare for the group meeting of the Jews?
- What encouragement was given to the people so that they would attend
the meeting? Was this a reasonable way to force attendance? Did the Jewish
law allow people to be banished for refusing to attend a public meeting?
- Did the Jewish community feel that there was an important problem to
be discussed? Why did they want to delay the discussion?
- Do you feel that Ezra's willingness to delay the proceedings shows
a positive trait of compromise or a negative trait of a lack of resolution?
- How was the matter finally resolved?
- Do you think that the solution was consistent with God's law? Do you
feel that it was proper to break up the marriages and prevent the children
from being raised as Jews?
- If you were a person dedicated to God, and you had gone to the trouble
of talking to the king, organizing a group of people, and traveling four
months to get to Jerusalem, what would you expect God's people living in
God's country to be like? How do you react when people in the church are
not the kind of people you see God to be like? What do you think you should
do about it?
- Look at Ezra's prayer in chapter 9:5-15. Identify who is spoken
about, and what actions are connected with the words: ( I, Me, Mine),
(You, Your), (We, Us, Our). Does Ezra feel that other people are the primary
source of the problem, or that he is part of the problem? What attitude
difference is felt when a leader says "We have a problem" vs.
"You have a problem".
- What shows Ezra's ability to make tough and unpopular decisions? What
shows his willingness to allow others to modify a decision that affects
them? How are both of these characteristics needed in a manager or leader?
How often have you seen them in one person?
- God's attitude toward divorce: (Malachi 2:13-16)
- God's commands to the Jews about foreigners: (Ex. 23:23-33; Ex. 34:11-16;
Deut. 7:1-6; Ex. 22:21; Josh. 6:2, 22-23; Ruth 1:4; Matt. 1:1, 5)
- Jewish sign of distress - tearing clothes:
Texts to read
- Ezra 4:6-23
- Nehemiah 1 - 2:10
- Where did the people live which were upset with the Jews?
- What was their nationalities?
- Why were people of such various nationalities living close to the Jews?
- What actions were the Jews being accused of doing?
- Why was Jerusalem considered a threat?
- What was the claimed threat to Persia?
- What had been done previously to the city by world rulers?
- Did the Persian ruler accept the report against the Jews based only
on the letter sent to him?
- What did the Persian ruler find out about Jerusalem in their records?
- What was Artaxerxes decree for Jerusalem?
- How was his decree carried out?
- Where did Nehemiah live? What was his job?
- How did Nehemiah receive news reports about the Jews?
- What do Nehemiah's questions tell us about what he is concerned about?
- How are the exiles doing?
- Do you think that this is what Nehemiah expects to hear? Why?
- What is the condition of the city of Jerusalem?
- What is the significance of walls and gates to a city at this time
- In his prayer, how does Nehemiah describe God?
- In his prayer, how does Nehemiah describe God's people?
- What is the significance if the use of I and WE in verses
- In verses 10-11, what word is repeated? What does this tell you about
Nehemiah? Note use of word in rest of book
- What is Nehemiah asking God to remember in verses 1:8-9? Why does he
use the word "remember"? What does this tell you about Nehemiah?
- Nehemiah may have been praying for 4 months (from months of Kislev
- Why do you think that he didn't act at once?
- Did it seem that God answered his prayer?
- Why did God make him wait?
- Do you think that Nehemiah initially prayed that he could personally
talk to the king?
- What does the fact that Nehemiah never was sad before the king tell
you about the interactions between people in the king's court?
- How formal do you think Nehemiah's prayer was to God while he was talking
to the king (2:4)? What does this tell you about prayer?
- What shows that Nehemiah had spent a lot of time considering what needed
to be done and how long it would take?
- Why do you think that Nehemiah accepted a military escort when Ezra
had refused it (Ezra 8:22)?
- What resources did Nehemiah request from the king?
- Do you feel that you must wear a mask and hide your emotions at work
or at church? Why might hiding our feelings be a good thing to do at times?
When does it become harmful to us? Do you have any suggestions about how
we can be more open with one another?
- Historical information: Troubles of Jews in exile
- Cupbearer (Genesis 40:1-23; 41:9-13; 1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chron. 9:4, Herodotus.Hist.3.34-35,
- Issues of making a request of the king: (Sackcloth for Mordecai, historical
Texts to read
- Why do you think Nehemiah waited until night to inspect the walls of
- What reasons might Nehemiah have for not telling anyone why he had
- How do you think the average Jew felt about Jerusalem not having walls?
- Why would Nehemiah go outside the city, and have to climb up the steep
hills that Jerusalem is built on to examine the walls? Why not stay within
- When Nehemiah first tried to get the people to rebuild the walls, what
encouragement did he provide?
- How did the enemies of the Jews initially attempt to hinder the work?
- What was Nehemiah's attitude toward the enemies of the Jews? Why do
you think that Nehemiah focused on God's power rather than on the permission
of the king?
- List the things repaired by the Jews:
- List the occupations of the people who worked on the wall:
- List who did NOT work on the wall:
- List any reasons why people chose WHERE they worked:
- How would the choice of WHERE people worked make a difference about
how enthusiastic they did the job? How might we use this concept to help
us get things done in the church?
- How would the refusal of some nobles to help affect the attitude of
the rest of the Jews? Can that sort of attitude affect the work of the
Texts to read
- When Jerusalem's walls were first being built, what was the typical
reactions of the Jew's enemies?
- Why did they think the Jews would fail?
- Most of the people who worked on the wall were not skilled in construction.
How do you think they felt when people suggested that an animal bumping
into it would make it fall? How does the intensity of emotions in Nehemiah's
prayer (4:4-5) suggest the power of criticism to discourage people?
- How did attitudes change when the city wall reached about half way?
- What serious construction problems were the Jews having to deal with?
- What emotional problems did the Jews face?
- Were the Jews ever physically attacked? Did they need to be attacked
before fear did its work?
- How did the Jews deal with the threat of physical violence?
- Were the Jew's enemies willing to attack if they did not have a big
- How effective could people work if they have to carry a weapon at all
- While the initial fears of attacks would discourage the people, how
might their decision to continue building the walls and to help each other
provide a strong community binding?
- How does Nehemiah provide leadership during the times of stress?
- What problems did the poor Jews have?
- How were some of the Jews taking advantage of others?
- How did the greed of the rich threaten to destroy the unity of the
- What feelings did Nehemiah have when he found out that the rich were
abusing the poor? What shows Nehemiah's control over his emotions?
- What advantage would Nehemiah have by calling a large assembly to deal
with the problem, rather than by having the leaders of the Jews solve the
- How did Nehemiah show that he was not acting as some leaders were?
- What reasons did the leaders offer for their past conduct? What did
they promise to do in the future?
- How did Nehemiah attempt to insure that the leaders would keep their
- How long did Nehemiah remain in Jerusalem?
- Who did Nehemiah want to be grateful for his work?
- Do you get the impression that Nehemiah likes to brag about the good
things he does, or that he is expressing to God a frustration that his
attempts to be a moderate governor was not appreciated, and that he hoped
that someone would respect his work? As you read through Nehemiah, try
to picture a man who gave up a nice job in Persia to spend a good chunk
of his life helping out others. He was often forced to antagonize the Jewish
leaders (who by his position would be his natural friends), and sometimes
make unpopular decisions which affected the community. What kind of burnout
can that cause in church leadership?
- 4:2 - Problems with burnt stones - See Layard's account of walls burnt
at Ninevah, vs. normal durability of limestone (accounts of the Pyramids).
- Use of relatives as guards - Layard at Nineveh
- Problem when the people who profit from hording food are asked to search
out and stop the abuse - Famine conditions in Layard's time.
Copyright (c) 1997 by Bruce J. Butterfield
All Rights Reserved.