The sermon 'The Granting of Ezra’s Request' by Jason Dohm examines the letter from King Artaxerxes to Ezra, granting him authority to lead willing Israelites back to Jerusalem. Artaxerxes' decree allows the return of any willing Israelites, especially priests and Levites, to assist in temple worship and restoration. The king provides silver, gold, and articles for temple service, emphasizing a diplomatic note's official nature. Ezra's unique relationship with the king is highlighted, possibly due to historical connections with figures like Esther and Mordecai. The sermon emphasizes God's faithfulness in raising leaders like Ezra to guide His people back to adherence to His laws. Ezra is tasked with measuring Jerusalem's adherence to God's law and correcting discrepancies. The sermon illustrates how God supplies the needs of His people, with Ezra's mission being an example of divine provision. It concludes with a reflection on God's ability to meet believers' needs through Christ, encouraging trust and patience.

This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest, the scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel. Artaxerxes, King of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God of heaven, perfect peace and so forth. I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel and the priests and Levites in my realm who volunteer to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you. And whereas you are being sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the law of your God, which is in your hand. And whereas you are to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel whose dwelling is in Jerusalem and whereas all the silver and gold that you may find in all the province of Babylon along with the free will offering of the people and the priests are to be freely offered for the house of their God in Jerusalem now therefore Be careful to buy with this money, bowls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.

And whatever seems good to you and your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold. Do it according to the will of your God. Also the articles that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem and whatever more may be needed for the house of your God which you may have occasion to provide pay for it from the King's treasury and I even I are dessert sees the King Issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the region beyond the river that whatever Ezra the priest the scribe of the law of the God of heaven May require of you. Let it be done diligently up to 100 talents of silver 100 cores of wheat 100 baths of wine 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribed limit. Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently, Or let it diligently be done for the house of the God of heaven.

For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Also we inform you that it shall not be lawful to impose tax, tribute, or custom on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, nethanym, or servants of this house of God. And you, Ezra, according to your God-given wisdom, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people who are in the region beyond the river all such as know the laws of your God and teach those who do not know them whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the King. Let judgment be executed speedily on him, whether it be death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment." The title of the sermon this morning is the granting of Ezra's request. We have a letter from King Artaxerxes which forms the whole of our text.

The whole of our text this morning is this letter. And if we look back to verse 6, we see that the letter is actually a response to specific requests that have been made by Ezra. So putting this text in its context, It's been 80 years since Cyrus conquered Babylon. From the time of Ezra chapter 1 verse 1, the very beginning of the book, it's been 80 years from then until now and a wave of captives has come back in that time. And they had a mission, their mission was to rebuild the temple of God that had been completely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.

And they do that, they rebuild the temple, and they re-institute temple worship. And now many years have gone by and the people have grown cold. People have grown inattentive to what God has said. And now God raises up another man and sends another wave of captives back from Babylon to Jerusalem. The beginning of chapter 7, last week's text, we had an introduction to Ezra, the priest and scribe.

And we got his genealogy that proved he was a priest, that he came from a line, actually, of high priests. And There were some giants in that list. Ezra was standing on some giants of his forefathers who were high priests, significant high priests in the history of Israel. And then after his genealogy we get a summary of the second return of captives from Babylon. So, it summarizes the whole thing.

It says that they left Babylon, tells when they get to Jerusalem. And it's a quick summary of what will be the rest of chapter 7, which we'll get done with that next week, and all through chapter 8. So he briefly summarizes it at the beginning of chapter 7, and then he expands on it in the rest of chapter 7 and chapter 8. That's where we're headed. In verse 6, again from last week's text, we see that the king granted Ezra all his request.

Wow! This king of an empire, not just a king of the kingdom as we'll see today, the king of an empire, a king of kings, many kings being under his authority, granted this Jew all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. That's what verse 6 says. So we got the what? Ezra makes requests and they're granted.

And we got the why. It's because the hand of God was upon Ezra. God was doing all of these things. As we go to the text, verse by verse, let's go in prayer. God, I thank you for the many ways that you help and support your people.

When we look across the breadth of scripture we see so many ways that you uphold a weak people, a frail people, but you're not a frail God or a weak God, you are a God of all strength and all power. You have so many ways to uphold us. So I thank you for that. I thank you that you call sinners to repent and you have mercy upon them and then you sustain them all their lives to help them be faithful to you, to make them be faithful to you, to bring them all the way to the end of their lives in Christ. So I thank you for this and I thank you that we have that before us again this week in our text, that your faithfulness to your people is on display.

May it be so in our lives, Lord. May your faithfulness be on display to the world that's watching. In Jesus' name, Amen. So I'd like to begin by looking at Ezra chapter 7 verses 11 and 12. This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest, the scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel.

Artxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace and so forth. Here we have an introduction to the letter and an introduction of the letter. In other words, in verse 11 Ezra is positioning the letter. He is saying this is what is before us now. And he tells us that it's a copy of the letter given by King Artxerxes to himself.

So that's what we're dealing with in the rest of the text. It's a copy of a letter. And it's a really important letter. The term letter here can mean a diplomatic note. So I might write you a letter and it would be nothing like this is what is in our text today.

This is an official document. This is a governmental document. So it's better to think of it as a diplomatic note. And how do we know this? Well, one of the reasons we know this is because it's in Aramaic.

The language shifts between verse 11 and verse 12 from Hebrew to Aramaic. Why is that? Because Aramaic is the official language of the Babylonian Empire and then when the Persians conquer the Babylonians it becomes the official language of the Persian Empire. So it's a whole change of language. It would be like us saying, I'm getting ready to tell you about a letter I received and then start to read the letter in Spanish.

A total shift from one language to another is what's happening between 11 and 12. And we miss that because it's translated and it's all in English to us. But that is happening actually in the text. So it is officially authorizing Ezra. It's official authorization and it is officially commanding other authorities that they must do things because it is a command of the king of the whole Persian Empire.

So we have an official document before us. And now Ezra has this official document in his hand and it empowers him for the mission. So that is the whole point of verse 11 is the king put this letter, this official document into my hand and it empowers me to go and do what the king is commissioning me to do. In verse 11 we also get another description of Ezra. Remember in verse 6 last week it said that he was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given.

So we already know that he is a skilled scribe in God's law, in the law of Moses. And now here in verse 11, Ezra is called the priest, the scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel. So in verse 6 he was a skilled scribe, in verse 11 he is an expert in the words. What words? God's words.

And in verse 25, later in today's text, we are going to see that he has God-given wisdom to apply and to teach this law. So this is what we know about Ezra. He's a skilled scribe, and he's an expert in the words of God's law. And that in verse 25 we learn that he has God given wisdom to apply and to teach that law. Ezra knew, like the back of his hand, what God had said to his people.

And this is exactly what the people of God need in Ezra chapter 7. Again, they've grown cold to the things of God. And so God raises up out of a high priestly genealogy this man who has prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, to do the law of the Lord, and to teach the law of the Lord. That was verse 10 from last week. What a beautiful picture.

This man, God has raised up, a man who had prepared his heart to seek after the law of the Lord. And then to do it, to actually put these things into practice in his own life. He wasn't just a hearer of the Word, he was also a doer of the Word. And then to be a teacher of the people of Israel. This is exactly what the people of God need in this moment in history, and it's exactly what God gives them in Ezra.

And then God stirred up the heart of this king to put a letter in Ezra's hand granting him all of his requests. So he made Ezra ready, and then at the right time he stirs up the heart of a pagan king, of a gentile king, Artaxerxes, to give an official authorization to grant Ezra all of his requests. Now in verse 12 we see the introduction of the letter. These are words of Artxerxes. So Artxerxes is making an introduction in his letter just like you would do if you were writing a letter.

You would have words of introduction. So it is with this letter. It is all very similar to the letters that we see in chapter 4 and chapter 6. In chapter 4, it was the first letter that we see of our exerxes. It's a letter actually commanding the Jews, stop it.

No more rebuilding in Jerusalem. Because he's sort of been polluted against the people of God. But there's been a change of heart between, a miraculous change of heart, between chapter four and chapter seven. And God has put his hand on this king, and he's turned his heart like a waterway wherever he wanted to. And now the people of God are enjoying the favor of the king where before he was commanding them to cease.

So it's a beautiful picture of what God can do in any heart. And then in chapter 6 we saw a letter written by this king, Artaxerxes is the king in our chapter, his grandfather Darius wrote a letter in chapter 6 and it has all the same elements. So we see a very consistent form of the letters that we encounter in the book of Ezra. We get the from in our introduction in verse 12. Who is it from?

Artaxerxes, king of kings. The Persians conquered the Babylonians who had conquered the Assyrians who had conquered other kingdoms. So this is a succession of empires. So Artxerxes isn't just a king, he is a king of kings. Literally, a king of kings.

And there are other kings within his empire that are under his authority. And who is it to? We've got the from, it's from Artaxerxes, king of kings. Who is it to? It's to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven.

And so it's a letter to one man giving really broad authority. Then he says, perfect peace. You might not put that in the introduction to your letters. I don't think I've ever put that in the introduction to my letters. I don't know why I would have.

Perfect peace. Here's what the Nelson Study Bible says of this. Perfect peace describes a treaty relationship between the Persian Empire and the vassal state of Judah. In other words, King Artaxerxes is saying, because we have a covenant relationship, I'm at peace with you. It's a vassal relationship, which means there is authority derived from the king of the empire.

Artxerxes is the king of the empire and he is delegating authority and he's saying to the one that he delegated his authority to, I'm in peace with you. That's good news for Ezra and the Lord's people. Israel recognizes the authority of the emperor and the emperor grants rights and privileges and they live at peace together on that basis. That the people recognize the authority of this king and that he grants them rights and privileges. Then we have this strange phrase, this funny phrase really, and so forth.

Peace and so forth. I like the way the NASB and the ESB translate it and they translate it and now. It's a transitional phrase to say we're done with the introduction, now the meat, the body of the letter. And now. By the way, I do that almost every week.

Almost every week I'm coming and saying, our text says this, but I like this translation a little better. And This week I'm saying, and so forth, I like the way the NASB and the ESB render it and now. And I'm doing that every week. That's not because I don't like the New King James. I actually prefer our translation to the other good translations that are out there.

And I guarantee you, if I was preaching out of the NASB, there would be more instances where I would say, I really like the way the New King James renders it. Okay, so I'm not, I don't tell you how other translations have rendered it to erode your confidence in the translation that we're using at all. It's just that translators have to make a hundred choices in every text because they're bringing it over to a language that isn't our language into our language and they have to make a lot of choices. So most of the time I like the New King James choice, but Occasionally when I see translators who have made other choices that I think is a better fit, I highlight it. Okay, what was the relationship of these two men, Ezra and Artaxerxes?

A member of a conquered nation to the king of the empire. It doesn't sound like they can have any relationship, does it? The Israelites are a conquered people. And Ezra is just one of them. And Artaxerxes isn't a king, he is a king of kings.

He is the king of the entire empire. What relationship can these men possibly have? Well, our text doesn't explicitly say, nowhere in Ezra or Nehemiah explicitly says, but there are clues. So I want to give you five clues. Again, none of them are definitive or explicit, but all of them are important.

You don't understand the context of the relationship of these two men, Artaxerxes and Ezra, unless you see these five clues. So here they are. Clue number one. In Ezra chapter 7 verse 6, we see that Ezra made a request of Artaxerxes. We know that because verse 6 says Artaxerxes granted all his requests.

You can't grant requests that were never made. So Ezra made requests of this king. Guys off the street don't make requests to the king of the empire. So you think about the book of Esther and you think of the wife of the king of the empire and her concern that she wouldn't even be able to live if she were to come into the king's presence, her husband's presence, and he were not to recognize her by extending the scepter. This is Esther and King Ahasuerus.

That's Artaxerxes' dad. That's his father. So Same rules apply, same context. A guy from the street doesn't amble into the presence of the king of Persia and make requests. Artxerxes' dad, his father Ahasuerus, had to extend the scepter to his wife when he was sitting in an official capacity, or her life would be taken from her.

So there's some sort of relationship between Ezra and Artaxerxes, or he wouldn't be making requests to this king of the empire. That's clue number one. Clue number two. In Ezra chapter seven verse nine, the journey is from Babylon. The journey has a starting point and an ending point and the starting point is Babylon in Ezra 7 verse 9.

So I'm assuming that he lived in Babylon where the king was most of the time. That's a clue. Clue number three. In Ezra chapter 8 verse 22, this is our memory text, remember Ezra chapter 8 verse 22, we read, We had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek him, etc. We had spoken to the king, saying, now the same thing that I just said about Esther coming into the presence of her husband applies here.

They had the ear of the king. They were saying things to the king. We got that from our memory verse in Ezra chapter 8 verse 22. They were talking to the king about how it goes with the person who seeks God and how it goes with the person who forsakes God. Be like you saying, I was telling President Obama the other day how it goes with those who seek the Lord.

Only certain people can say that and the number is very few. That's a clue. That's clue number three. Clue number four is from Nehemiah chapter 11 verse 24. Nehemiah 11 verse 24 says this, Pethahiah was the king's deputy in all matters concerning the people.

Now Nehemiah chapter 11 is fast forwarding probably 15 or 20 years, but it's the same king, King Artaxerxes. And during that time, there's a man, a Jew, one of the Lord's people who lives in Jerusalem, who was the king's deputy in all matters concerning the people. In other words, the king has a go between himself and this conquered people. And they help the king to understand the laws of this people. And they help the people understand what the king requires of them.

So this man in Nehemiah 11 verse 24 was the king's deputy in all matters concerning the Jews. Now Was Ezra this? We don't know that for sure, but we have reason to think that there was one so that either Ezra was that or knew that man and had a way to have an audience with this king of an empire, a vast empire. In Esther 1 we learn that Artaxerxes' dad, Ahasuerus, was a king over 127 provinces. It is a vast empire.

Clue number five, the last clue. Esther was his father's wife. Esther the Jew, who was raised up in order to save the Jewish people from Haman and his thirst to destroy all of the Lord's people in the empire. Esther was his dad's wife. Esther was a Ahasuerus, or also known as Xerxes.

That king is known by two names a has your heiress or Xerxes It was his wife This man knew Esther in all likelihood It's hard to imagine a scenario where this man didn't know Queen Esther, the Jewess. How about this from the very end of the book of Esther. Esther chapter 10 verse 3 talks about the aftermath. Haman has been put to death for his treason and treachery. The enemy of God, the enemy of the people of God.

And then Mordecai, really one of the heroes in the book of Esther, is elevated and in Esther chapter 10 verse 3 we see that he's elevated to this measure Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus Wow, that's Ezra 10 verse 3 Mordecai the Jew was second to the king of the empire. So, Artaxerxes' dad is the husband of Esther. By the way, that makes it possible that Esther is his mother. Now, historians don't generally regard that Esther was his mother. So maybe or maybe not, we don't know definitively, but That's not out of the realm of possibility.

And then Mordecai was his father's right-hand man, the second in the kingdom, as Joseph was elevated to the second to Pharaoh, as Daniel was elevated to the second to the king of Babylon. So Mordecai was elevated to that spot as well. So the relationship of these two men isn't perfectly clear from the text, but we have a lot of clues that give us an indication that there was a close association between Ezra and Artaxerxes for these reasons. Okay, now to verses 13-20. Here is the letter beyond the introduction.

Verse 13, I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel and of the priests and Levites in my realm who volunteer to go up to Jerusalem may go with you. And whereas you are being sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the law of your God which is in your hand. And whereas you are to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem. And whereas all the silver and gold that you may find in all the province of Babylon, along with the free will offering of the people and the priests, are to be freely offered for the house of their God in Jerusalem. Now therefore, be careful to buy with this money bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.

Whatever seems good to you and your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and gold, do it according to the will of your God. Also, the articles that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem. And whatever more may be needed for the house of your God, which you may have occasion to provide, pay for it from the King's treasury." So this is the decree and the provisions from the king in the body of the letter. I have three observations about this portion of the letter. Here are my three observations.

Number one, our exerxes authorizes the return of all who are willing to go to Jerusalem. Israelites, any Israelite who wants to go can go. And then he singles out priests and Levites, who of course are also Israelites, but there's going to be a crying need for them in Jerusalem. So he mentions them in addition. So if you volunteer, you can go.

If you're an Israelite and you're willing, you can go. It's just that simple. That's the first thing. He authorizes the return of the willing. Number two, those who go are being sent.

It's one thing to say you're free to go. You can go if you want to. It's a measure beyond that to say, I'm sending you. Those who go are being sent by the highest authorities in the empire, the king and his seven counselors. Now turn to Esther chapter 1.

So the sequence of books is Ezra, then Nehemiah, then Esther. Turn to Esther chapter 1. Again, Esther is a book during the time of Artaxerxes father. So I want you to see the structure of the kingdom in the time of Artaxerxes father. This is Esther chapter 1.

I'm going to read 13 through 15. Esther chapter 1 beginning at 13. So the context is the king, Artaxerxes father Ahasuerus, has called his queen to appear at this great feast. And she says, no. And now he wants to know what to do.

Esther chapter 1 verse 13. Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times, for this was the king's manner toward all who knew law and justice. Those closest to him being Karshina, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Mares, Marcina, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Medea, who had access to the king's presence and who ranked highest in the kingdom. What shall we do to Queen Vashti according to the law because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus brought to her by the eunuchs. So this is his father and he has seven close advisors that have access to his presence, free access to his presence, which is very unusual as we see in Esther.

They have his ear and he relies on their counsel and they're experts in the law of the empire. So going back to Ezra chapter 7, Artaxerxes has the same structure that his father had in the kingdom. He has seven close counselors, advisors that have access into his presence and they give him counsel based on the law of the empire. The historians Herodotus and Xenophon confirmed that the Persian tradition is that the king has seven, not six, not eight, seven close advisors. And that's what we see.

So the historians line up with Holy Scripture and say, this is how the Persian kings did it. They had seven close counselors that advised them in the laws of the empire and gave them counsel. So number one was, our exerces authorize the return of the willing. Number two was, those who go are being sent by the king. Number three is, those who go are given a two-fold mission.

That's why they're sent. If you'll remember, all the way back to chapter one when Cyrus was authorizing the return of the willing, like now, that one of the things that was noteworthy of his decree was that he sent them with a purpose. He didn't just say, you can go back. He said, you go back and build the temple. God told me to build him a temple.

I'm setting you at liberty to go back and build the temple because of that. Likewise, here in chapter 7, different king, art exerxes, he's authorizing the willing, those who volunteer to go back, but not just for its own sake, he's giving them a mission, a purpose for it. And it is a two-fold mission that will shape the rest of the book. So the things that he sends them back to do, the two-fold mission, we'll see unfolding before our eyes in the rest of the book of Ezra. First, in the second half of verse 14, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the law of your God which is in your hand.

The first part of their two-fold mission is to make an inquiry, to look and see the state of things when you get back to Jerusalem. And what's to be the measuring stick? The law of your God. And what does that mean? The thing that's in your hand, the written law of God is going to be the measuring stick.

You go back and measure, figuratively speaking, Jerusalem by this measuring stick. That's why the first reason why you're going is to make an inquiry. And you're going to look at the law that's in your hand. And you're going to look at what's happening in Jerusalem, and wherever they don't match, you make them match. That's what he's being sent back to do.

You look at the law, you look at Jerusalem and the things that are happening in Jerusalem and Judea, and you see where they're not matching and you make them match. That's his job. To bring people into obedience to what God has said is good in His law. Brothers and sisters, that's our job too. In every sphere where you have authority, that's your job.

To look at what God has said, what God has given to us, and the current circumstances in the sphere of your authority and to make them match. Because God is honored when they match. And because people are happy when they match. Both of those things are so true. God is honored when His Word is honored through obedience.

The sphere of our authority should match what he has said to his people in his word. And people are happiest when they do what God has said is good. Disobedience to the word of God ends one place, misery. If you haven't learned that yet, you will. Give it more time.

You'll learn the misery of disobedience to the Word of God. Do yourself a favor. Wherever you have authority, make it match. Make the circumstances of that sphere match what God has said is good. You'll make the people there happier.

You'll say, I don't have authority. That's not true. At a minimum, the person with the least amount of authority in this room, whoever it is, that person has great liberty over themselves. Self government, authority over self. So if there is no other person within your sphere of authority, you have great liberty over yourself.

And you can take the Word of God and what God has said is good, what honors Him, and you can look at your life And you can see where it overlaps and where it doesn't overlap and it's your job to make them match. To make them match. For God's honor and for your own happiness. Make them match. So that's the first part of the two-fold mission.

Use the law of God as a measuring stick and measure Jerusalem and make them match. Here's the second part of the two-fold mission. To carry free will offerings of silver and gold. To carry the silver and gold from Babylon to Jerusalem. The king and his counselors are going to give.

So not only are the king and his seven counselors conspiring for the good of the people of God, they're going to send them with silver and gold, their own silver and gold. He says we're making, we eight are making a free will offering for the God of Israel. Carry our free will offering. And there's probably more in the region of Babylon who want to make a free will offering to your God. Collect that up and carry that also.

And there are more Jews than will be willing to go back. But they'll want to make a free will offering. Carry their silver and gold also. So there are three groups making a free will offering. The king and his counselors are.

Anyone else in all of Babylon is welcome to make a free will offering. And the Jews, the Israelites who are staying in Babylon will want to make a free will offering. But it's all free will and it's to be used to buy sacrifices. Bulls, rams, lambs with the grain offerings and the drink offerings that are prescribed to go along with those animal sacrifices. This is exactly what you see in the law of God with respect to the three annual feasts.

You were to go up to Jerusalem and you were to take the things for the offering unless you lived a long way away. What were you supposed to do if you lived a long way away? You're supposed to take money with you. And then you turn that money into the things you need when you got to Jerusalem. This is exactly what's happening here.

The trip from Babylon to Jerusalem, like we discussed last week, is 500 miles as the crow flies, but they're not crows, so they're going to walk around that desert and it's going to be 900 miles. So they're going to take money and then they're going to convert it into the things needed for the offering when they get there. And then our exerces says, whatever's left after you've bought the bulls and the rams and the lambs and the grain offerings and the drink offerings, then with what's left from the silver and gold, Ezra and his brethren are to use at their own discretion according to the will of your God." So not totally at their discretion, but at their discretion according to the will of your God. Finally, our exerxes says that there's going to be articles of silver and gold for the service of the house of God, deliver it in full. So not only is he going to give them silver and gold money, there's going to be articles for use in the temple.

These are not the articles that were captured and taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. Those had already come back with the first wave of captives that came back 80 years earlier. These are new vessels, utensils to be used in worship in the temple. And again, it's a free will offering and we'll see, By the way, all of this is fulfilled very literally. When we get to chapter 8, we'll see when they get there, they check in the stuff, the things that were given.

They bring it to the temple and they inventory it and they hand it over to the priests in the temple in chapter 8. So we're coming to that in a few weeks. Now the last section, Ezra chapter 7 verses 21-26. And I, even I, Artxerxes the King, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the region beyond the river that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of Heaven may require of you, let it be done diligently, up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred cores of wheat, one hundred baths of wine, one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribed limit. Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it diligently be done for the house of the God of heaven.

For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Also, we inform you that it shall not be lawful to impose tax, tribute, or custom on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, nethineh, or servants of this house of God. And you, Ezra, according to your God-given wisdom, set magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are in the region beyond the river, all such as know the laws of your God and teach those who do not know them. Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily on him, whether it be death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment. So in verses 21 through 26 we have instructions to the region beyond the river.

King Artaxerxes has put this official document into the hand of Ezra and this is a document that he can put into the hands of the treasurers and to those who are governing the region beyond the river so that the king's orders will be carried out. It provides the detail and the limitations regarding verse 20. So look back at verse 20. And whatever more may be needed for the house of your God, which you may have occasion to provide, pay for it from the King's treasury. And now this section which gives you the detail for that and the limitations for that.

It was not unbounded, it was not limitless, but the King says exactly what can be drawn from the regional treasuries. And here it is, 100 talents of silver. That's almost four tons of silver, something like 7, 500 pounds of silver. That's a lot of silver. Some of the commentators I read balked at the number and said an error must have crept into the text.

It can't possibly be that much money. It was that much money. It was 7, 500 pounds of silver. The ESV estimates that that's a fourth to a third of the annual taxation for that region. A massive region, by the way.

A region beyond the river is everything on the western side of the Euphrates River. If you look at a map of the Persian Empire, it's a big landmass. A lot of that is desert, but it's a big region. So 7, 500 pounds of silver, 100 cores of wheat, A core is a donkey load. So a hundred donkey loads.

A donkey load with six bushels. So if you've ever been apple picking and they give you a bushel basket, Supposedly when you fill it up you've got a bushel of apples. So six of those would be a donkey load, which is a core. So 600 bushels of wheat, 100 baths of wine, a bath is six gallons. So you're talking 600 gallons of wine they can call upon from the king's treasury.

100 baths of oil, that's the same, 600 gallons of oil and salt without prescribed limit. These are all things needed for the prescribed sacrifices. And it's clear from the text that this was intended for use in the temple. So you couldn't get animals for the king's treasury. The king didn't keep animals in his treasury.

That's smart for obvious reasons. You wouldn't keep animals in your treasury either. He does keep wheat and wine and oil and salt, but he doesn't keep animals. So you can draw on money for the animals up to 7, 500 pounds of silver. The ESV has a note that says, give or take this would have supplied the temple everything needed for two years of operating the temple according to the law of God.

So it's about two years of provision for Old Covenant, Old Testament worship, as found in the law of Moses. Now, he's doing this just like his grandfather Darius. So in Ezra chapter 6, his grandfather Darius writes a letter authorizing almost the same thing. Listen to Ezra chapter 6 verse 9. This is from the letter of Darius.

And whatever they need, young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the request of the priest in Jerusalem let it be given them day by day without fail." He's doing exactly the same thing that his grandfather King Darius did. In verse 23 Artxerxes says, this is my paraphrase of what our exerxes says, take my resources and do whatever your God commands you for worship. Take what's mine and do what God has commanded you for worship. And then, and this is not a paraphrase, this is exactly from verse 23, for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? So the king is hoping that from doing this, that the wrath of God will be turned away from his realm and from him and his sons.

And it sounds a lot like chapter 8 verse 22. So I'm calling us right back to our memory verse. What we're memorizing this quarter. Look at verse 22. We had spoken to the king saying, the hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all those who forsake him.

So Ezra has been talking to the king, the people of God have been talking to the king saying, God, His hand is upon all those for good who seek Him. So, if you seek God, the favor of God will be turned towards you, but beware, his power and his wrath are against all those who forsake him." So it looks a lot like in the letter, This is Artaxerxes desire being expressed of the wrath of God and the power of God to be turned away from him because he's not forsaking this God of Israel. This is also like his grandfather Darius who asked that they offer sacrifices and quote, pray for the life of the king and his sons. That's Ezra chapter 6, verse 10. So in that same letter from Darius, he asked that in exchange for his provision for the temple that they would pray for his life and the life of his sons.

Finally, in verses 24-26, If I've lost you, I want you to come back. It's been a long sermon. I'm almost done. But in 24-26 we see some of the most remarkable things in the whole text. We see that all those who serve in the temple from the least to the greatest are exempt from taxation.

That's pretty remarkable. It's going to get more remarkable. But that's a good start on remarkability. All those who labor in the temple from the least to the greatest, from the nethineim, who are the helpers of the Levites, who are the helpers of the Levites, of the priests, from the least temple helper to the greatest, to the priest to the high priest. They are all exempt from taxation.

And then Ezra is given authority to appoint magistrates and judges in the whole region beyond the river. So Ezra, according to your God-given wisdom, you appoint magistrates and judges to apply and teach and enforce the law of God and the King's law. Both he's appointing magistrates and judges. This Jew, This conquered man is put at liberty to go back home and then to appoint the magistrates and the judges who will apply and teach and enforce the law of God and the law of the Empire. What a blessing it is when men with God-given wisdom are doing the appointing of magistrates and judges.

Wow, isn't that true? A nation groans when wicked people are appointed to be magistrates and judges. And corruption works its way into the fabric of a society. And it'll be like, before long it'll be like where I'm going to be in a couple of weeks, Malawi, everybody will have a six foot fence with embedded glass on the top because there's no rule of law. But when someone with God given wisdom is appointing the magistrates and the judges.

You have the rule of law in effect. You can be like here where there's nothing between us and our front door. Just walk over the curb and go to the front door. That's a blessing. He is to apply the law to those who know it.

If you know the law, then you are subject to the law. If you don't know the law, you're to be taught the law. He's to teach the law to those who don't know it and then they'll be subject to the law. He has prepared for this. We saw that in chapter 7 verse 10 last week.

Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach. So he is prepared to do this. And he is commissioned by the king right here in this letter to do it. And he does it. And when we get to Nehemiah chapter 8, it will be standing on the scaffolding, proclaiming the law of the Lord, and explaining it to the people.

And the king gives him the ability to enforce both the law of God and the law of the empire with death, with banishment, with confiscation of goods, and with imprisonment. He has the full range, the full range of ability to enforce the law. And we'll actually see later in the book that when he calls everyone to Jerusalem to talk about what to do regarding the mixed marriages with the pagans, he calls everybody and he says, if you don't come we're going to confiscate your land and we're going to banish you. So he makes good on the authority that is given to him in that instance. Now here's the implication, here's the importance.

They get a level of autonomy that they did not have, they have not had since before they went into captivity. The first wave came back, they had authorization from the king, it was a blessing. But they were being hassled by the regional leadership. Now they are the regional leadership. You think of all the opposition that they got from the surrounding authority structure in the first wave.

That's going to disappear in this wave because they have the king. That doesn't mean they'll be completely without opposition. We're going to see them have opposition. But Ezra is given the authority to appoint the magistrates and the judges. Turning your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 20.

So Ezekiel chapter 20 was written maybe a hundred and fifty years something close to a hundred and fifty years before this time. So Ezekiel is right around the time that the people are taken into captivity. And this is 80 years after the captivity has ended. So 70 plus 80, 150. That's a pretty good number.

Ezekiel chapter 20, I'm going to read verses 23 through 25. This is what God says about what he's doing in the captivity. Ezekiel chapter 20, beginning of 23, also I raised my hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries, because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their Father's idols. Therefore, I also gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live." You have to recognize this is a reversal of that. God said, if you won't worship me, and if you won't obey me, I'll scatter you into the nations, and I'll make you subject to laws that aren't good, and judgments that you can't live by.

And that's exactly what he did. They fell into idolatry. They would not worship God as God. They fell into idol worship. And they would not obey God.

They would not obey him. And so God did exactly what he said he was going to do. He scattered them in the nations and he made them subject to bad laws. If you despise the good laws of God by refusing to obey, God says, okay, have bad laws in their place. Have judgments that you can't live by in their place.

And that's what he did. But now in his mercy, he's reversing it. Now he's saying, okay, come back, come back from your scattering, Come back to the place where my name dwells. Come back and worship me. Come back and have the good laws again.

It's a reversal of the captivity. It's a sign of the mercy of God. It is often a sign of God's judgment when you lose your freedom, and when you become subject to bad laws. Keep an eye out for that as we see the trends continue in our own land. It is often a sign of judgment when you lose your freedom and become subject to bad laws.

It's because you said, I won't obey the good laws. And God gives you over. May God have mercy on us. May God turn our hearts back to him so that we forsake this idolatry that's starting to run rampant in our land. A idolatry is much, much deeper and wider than having a Buddha on your mantle and rubbing his little belly.

That's not idolatry. Idolatry is loving the world and the things of the world and making a God out of them. And if we run after those idols, and if we won't obey the good laws of God, we'll be given over to bad laws and judgments that we cannot live by. Okay, applications. There's just one application, and it's a good thing looking at the clock.

And it comes from what Paul says in Philippians 4, verse 19. Philippians 4, 19, Paul says, and my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. My God will supply all your need according to his riches. God has infinite riches to draw upon to supply your need. By Christ Jesus, he does it by his son, to exalt his son.

Jesus Christ might be lifted up and exalted. We have many needs. There are varying importance. Your most important need that you have is what are you going to do with that sin? Mankind is born and is headlong into rebellion before you know it.

Anybody who's ever raised children knows this. It doesn't take long to be headlong into rebellion. What are you going to do about that? What are you going to do about that sin? You think God's going to be unjust?

You think He's just going to overlook the sin and say, Autumn care? No, he's a holy God. So your greatest need is, what are you going to do about that sin? Well, Jesus Christ supplies that need by going to the cross. By living a righteous life, the life you should have lived, and going to the cross so that those who trust in Him, His righteousness becomes theirs and their sin becomes His.

And the wrath of God for their sin is poured out upon Jesus on the cross and they're free. And they have His righteousness. That's not the end of our needs. That's our biggest need. If God can tackle that need by Christ Jesus, what's the need that you have that He can't tackle?

If God's willing to tackle that need by Christ Jesus, Would you doubt his willingness to tackle your other needs, to supply your other needs? If he'll deal with the big one, your sin, by sending his own son, do you think he's a stingy God? If it seems to you like your needs aren't being supplied, be patient. Trust God. Look to God.

He's just teaching you. He's just teaching you. And when you're done learning what He wants you to learn, He'll bring you into a time of abundance and provision. That doesn't mean we're all going to be rich. I'm not preaching the prosperity gospel.

It means you'll have what you need. It seems like an abrupt way to end a sermon, but let's pray. God, I thank you for your word and I pray you would continue to use this glorious book of the Bible to teach us the things that we need to know. God, make us ready for our future. You know where you're taking us in this life and I thank you that you brought us to this book.

I pray that you would help us to learn the most we can from it and to apply ourselves to it. In Jesus' name, Amen.