Ezra
Memory Verse: “Ezra had devoted himself to
the study and observance of the Law of the Lord.” (Ezra 7:10)
Facts about Ezra
Author: Unknown
Main
Subjects: Return
of the Jews from their captivity in
Location: Old Testament
Overview
Lesson
#1: Ezra 1:1-11 A lesson in obedience
Lesson
#2: Ezra 3:8-13 Building the temple
Lesson
#3: Ezra 4:1-5 Overcoming opposition
Lesson
#4: Ezra 7:6-10, 25-28 Helping each other
Lesson
#5: Ezra 8:21-23, 31-32 Return to
Lesson #1: A lesson in obedience;
Read Ezra 1:1-11
“In the first year of Cyrus
king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,
the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation
throughout his realm and to put it in writing:
This is what Cyrus king of
Persia says:
‘The lord, the God of heaven,
has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a
temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.
Anyone of his people among you – may his God be with him, and let him go
up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel,
the God who is in Jerusalem. And the
people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with
silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the
temple of God in Jerusalem.’
Then the family heads of Judah
and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites – everyone whose heart God had moved
– prepared to go up and guild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. All their neighbors assisted them with
articles of silver and god, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts,
in addition to all the freewill offerings.
Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of
the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed
in the temple of his god. Cyrus king of
Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to
Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.
This was the inventory:
Gold dishes 30
Silver dishes 1000
Silver pans 29
Gold bowls 30
Matching silver bowls 410
Other articles 1000
In all, there were 5,400
articles of gold and of silver.
Sheshbazzar brought all these along when the exiles came up from Babylon
to Jerusalem.
1.
Who
was the king of
2.
Who
told Cyrus to rebuild the temple in
3.
Who
volunteered to go and rebuild the temple? (Chief of the fathers of Judah and
Benjamin, the priests, and the Levites, and others whom God had called, vs.5).
4.
What
did the kind give to the people to help build the temple? (Gold, silver, vs.
11).
5.
How
many vessels did the king give to the people? (5,400, vs. 11). Ask the kids how
much they think the gold and silver was worth?
6.
As
children of God, who are we to be obedient to? (parents, teachers, elders,
those in authority)
7.
If
we obey, does God bless us? (provide a personal example, let the kids provide
their own examples)
8.
What
is the opposite of obedience? (defiance)
9.
What
happens to those who defy God, parents, teachers? (provide examples)
10.
Why
is it hard to obey? (answers will vary)
Summary: One of the hardest things to do
is to be obedient. God calls us to obey
those placed in authority over us. Pray
that God will give us hearts of obedience.
Lesson #2 Building
the
“In
the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in
Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak and the rest of
their brothers (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the
captivity to Jerusalem) began the work, appointing Levites 20 years of age and
older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord. Jeshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel
and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons
and brothers – all Levites – joined together in supervising those working on
the house of God.
When
the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in
their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with
cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of
Israel. With praise and thanksgiving
they sang to the Lord:
‘He
is good; his love to Israel endures forever.’
And
all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation
of the house of the Lord was laid. But
many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former
temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid,
while many others shouted for joy. No
one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping,
because the people made so much noise.
And the sound was heard far away.”
1.
Who
was selected to build the temple of the Lord? (Levites who were 20 years old
and older, vs. 8)
2.
What
happened after the builders had built the foundation of the temple of the Lord?
(Priests were called to praise the Lord, v. 10)
3.
How
did the priests praise the Lord? (Singing, praising, and giving thanks, vs.
10).
4.
Why
did they give thanks to the Lord? (“because he is good, for his mercy endureth
for ever” vs. 11)
5.
How
did the people respond? (the people shouted, the elders wept, vs. 12)
6.
What
are things that you are thankful for? (let the children list all the things
that they are thankful for).
7.
How
can we praise the Lord for the things that we are thankful for? (praying,
singing, giving thanks)
Summary: We have so much to be thankful
for and often times we take the things that we have for granted. We need to continuously praise and thank God
for the good things that he has done for us.
Lesson #3 Overcoming
Opposition; Read 4:1-5
“When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin
heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel,
they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, ‘Let us help
you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him
since the time of Esarhadon king of Assyria, who brought us here.’
But
Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel
answered, ‘You have no part with
us in building a temple to our God. We
alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of
Persia, commanded us.’
Then
the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them
afraid to go on building. They hired
counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire
reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.”
1.
What
is an adversary? (Someone who causes trouble)
2.
What
did these adversaries want to do? (they wanted to help build the temple, vs.2)
3.
What
was the response from the fathers of
4.
Then
how did the people respond? (they became violent opposers, causing the suspension
of the work, vs. 4, 5,)
5.
Who
do you think would want to stop God’s plans? (Satan and he is tricky about it)
6.
Who
is God’s greatest adversary? (Satan)
7.
Satan
will try to trip us up in our Christian walk.
What are some things you can do to stay in obedience? (let the children
provide examples: read the bible, pray, go to Sunday School, go to Brave
Hearts, stay focused on God, be aware that Satan will try to trip us up).
Summary: Satan is God’s greatest
adversary and he is constantly looking for ways to take our eyes off of
God. We can stay focused by keeping our
minds on the things of Christ.
Lesson #4: Helping Each Other,
Read 7:6-10, 25-28
“Ezra came up from
Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in
the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he asked,
for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.
Some of the Israelites, including priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers
and temple servants, also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King
Artaxerxes.
Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in
the fifth month of the seventh year of the king. He had begun his journey from Babylon on the
first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of
the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had devoted himself to the student
and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in
Israel.
And you, Ezra, in accordance
with the wisdom of your God, which you possess, appoint magistrates and judges
to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates – all who know the
laws of your God. And you are to teach
any who do not know them. Whoever does
not obey the law of your God and the law of the king must surely be punished by
death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.
Praise be to the Lord, the God
of our fathers, who has put it into the king’s heart to bring honor to the
house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way and who has extended his good favor
to me before the king and his advisors and all the king’s powerful
officials. Because the hand of the Lord
my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leading men from Israel to go up
with me.”
1.
What
was Ezra prepared to do? (seek the law, live it, and to teach the Israelites,
vs. 10)
2.
God
calls us to “seek his word”. What does
that mean? (we need to actively read the bible, not just in Sunday school).
3.
What
can we learn from the bible? (let the kids take turns answering this).
4.
Are
we called to just read the bible or are we suppose to live what we believe?
5.
Ezra
was called to help others by being a teacher.
How can you help others in the body of Christ? (answers will vary; let
the kids think about their talents and how they can help others)
6.
When
you are following God’s call for your life, what will He do? (strengthen you,
vs. 28) Provide examples from your own life.
Summary: We are called to be helpers. We
need to be vigilant looking for opportunities to help others. God will provide opportunities for us when we
are actively following Him.
Lesson #5: Return to Jerusalem,
Read 8:21-23; 31-32
“There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a
fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe
journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers
and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because se had told the
king, ‘The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his
great anger is against all who forsake him.’
So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our
prayer.
On the twelfth day of the first month we
set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he
protected us from enemies and bandits along the way. So we arrived in Jerusalem, where we rested
three days.”
1.
What
did the people do by the
2.
What
is a “fast” and why do people “fast”? (A fast is an act of sacrifice by giving
up food. People fast in different ways including fasting a food item, one meal,
or a day of fasting. The purpose is to
spend the time focusing on God and hearing his voice).
3.
What
was God’s response? (He heard their prayers, vs. 23)
4.
What
was the result? (The people departed from the
5.
Does
God always answer your prayers? (No – for He knows what is best for us. Sometimes we ask for things that might take
us away from him).
6.
What
are examples of things that we might ask for that God might not grant? (provide
some examples, or ask the kids for some).
Summary:
When we ask God for things that align us with His will, He will bless
us. Sometimes the greatest blessing that
God can give is to not answer our prayers.
Help us to always seek God’s will for our lives.
*The scriptures used for this study were taken from the “Young Women of Faith Bible New International Version published in 2001 by the Zondervan Corporation.
Posted 1.9.09
