Justificación de las ventas

When Cyrus II took control of the city of Babylon in 539 BC, the

Babylonian Empire passed into the hands of the Persians. In many ways the Persians continued the practices of their predecessors, the Assyrians and Babylonians. Theyexpanded their empire until it stretched from India to Greece, and they required their subjects to pay high taxes. Even the practice of allowing some of their exiled subjects to return to their homeland, which contributed to Cyrus’s fame,had been used by the Assyrians and

Babylonians before him.

The Persian kings were committed to doing anything that looked as though it would strengthen their power. For example, they wanted their subjects to believe that Persian rule was divinely appointed. In ancient times, whoever rebuilt adestroyed temple was thereby claiming to have been chosen by the god of that temple to rule over the people who worshiped that god. Cyrus does this in 2 Chronicles 36/Ezra 1. His aim is to assert that the Lord God of Israel had chosenhim to rule over the Jews. Darius also takes similar action (Ezra 6). In addition, the strengthening of outlying areas was always an important military strategy, which is probably why Artaxerxes decides to allow Nehemiah to rebuild thewalls around Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2). Of course, the kings were always on the lookout for

individuals who could contribute to Persian well-being and increase the security of Persia. These motives play out in Daniel 6 and the book ofEsther.

In contrast to the actions of the Assyrian and Babylonian kings recorded in the Old Testament, which usually bring hardship and destruction to Israel or Judah, the actions of the Persian kings usually seem to help them. This may give theimpression that the biblical writers viewed the Persian monarchs as benevolent, and were perhaps even content to remain under their rule. The actions of these kings recorded in the Bible, however, were actually part of their attempt toconsolidate political power and gain favor with their subjects. The Israelites were not the only people who benefited from their policies, and most of the Persian subjects understood their emperors’ aims. In fact, it was not unusual for thekinds of favorable

treatment extended to the Israelites and others to be reversed suddenly if the Persian king thought that such a course would be to his advantage.

Therefore, the writers of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Isaiah,

andDaniel did not intend to portray the Persian kings as sincere worshipers of the Lord or as being especially friendly toward Israel, nor did they expect their readers to get such an impression. Rather, they marveled at how the sovereign Lordused the political strategies of these powerful kings to bring about the promised restoration of his people from exile.

The Cyrus Cylinder describes how Cyrus captured Babylon and then allowed the exiled nationalities in Babylonia to return to their homes.

Reconstituting the P eople of God (7–10) (445 BC)

Ezra 6 concludes Ezra’s historical account of the first wave of Jewish exiles who returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. These events took place in 538–515 BC. In Ezra 7 the story jumps ahead to the time of Ezra. The year is now 458 BC, and Ezra is one of the characters in the story.

Ezra travels from Babylon to Jerusalem accompanied by a significant group of Israelites (Levites, singers, temple servants, etc.). He is a priest, but his specialty is the law of Moses (7:1–10). He arrives with a letter of strong support from the Persian king Artaxerxes (7:11–26). The story makes it clear, however, that it is really God who is behind these events and who is supporting Ezra. There are numerous references in Ezra 7–8 to the “hand of the Lord” or similar phrases like “the good hand of my God,” indicating God’s active but behind-the-scenes involvement (7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31).

Ezra 8 tells the story of their journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. They are carrying a lot of gold and silver, but Ezra does not want to ask the king for soldiers to protect them. Instead, they look to God for protection on their trip, and they arrive safely (8:21–32).

When Ezra arrives, the major problem he encounters is that many of the Jews back in Judah and Jerusalem have been intermarrying with foreign unbelievers. This is a serious problem and is the focus of Ezra 9–10, as well as Nehemiah 13:23–27. Keep in mind the important background for this issue. In the time of the conquest, when Israel was moving into the Promised Land, God told them specifically that they could not intermarry with the Canaanites and other inhabitants of the land because such intermarriages would lead them away from God and into idolatry. This had nothing to do with race or ethnicity. Interracial or interethnic marriages were allowed, but only with those who were from outside the land (Deut. 21:10–14; Num. 12:1). The issue is theological, not racial. After the Israelites move into Canaan, however, they repeatedly

violate the prohibition against marrying Canaanites (Judg. 3:5–6). The theological problem of marrying those who worship idols is also explicitly stressed in the story of Solomon, whose wives led him away from the Lord and into the worship of idols ( 1 Kings 11:4–6). Both Ezra and Nehemiah know that the judgment on Jerusalem and the terrible exile to Babylonia were due to the apostasy of Israel as they forsook their God and turned to worshiping idols, and that one of the underlying causes for this was intermarriage with idol worshipers. Thus both vigorously oppose such marriages. When Ezra finds out about it, he tears his tunic, pulls hair from his head and beard, and sits down, appalled (9:3). He then prays a long prayer of intercessory confession on behalf of the Israelites (9:5–15), and then convinces the people to divorce these foreign, unbelieving wives and to confess their sin (10:1–17). The book of Ezra ends, somewhat awkwardly, with a list of those who had intermarried.

Recall that Ezra and Nehemiah were originally composed as one book. So the intermarriage issue of Ezra 9–10 is connected immediately to the situation that Nehemiah hears about in Nehemiah 1—things are on the decline in Jerusalem and not going well.