God remembers his people

Ezra 8:1-20

¹ These are the family heads and those registered with them who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

² of the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom;
of the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel;
of the descendants of David, Hattush ³ of the descendants of Shecaniah;
of the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men;

⁴ of the descendants of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men;

⁵ of the descendants of Zattu, ^[a] Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men;

⁶ of the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men;

⁷ of the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men;

⁸ of the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men;

⁹ of the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men;

¹⁰ of the descendants of Bani, ^[b] Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men;

¹¹ of the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 men;

¹² of the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;

¹³ of the descendants of Adonikam, the last ones, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men;

¹⁴ of the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

The Return to Jerusalem

¹⁵ I assembled them at the canal that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there three days. When I checked among the people and the priests, I found no Levites there. ¹⁶ So I summoned Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, who were leaders, and Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of learning, ¹⁷ and I sent them to Iddo, the leader in Casiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo and his kinsmen, the temple servants in Casiphia, so that they might bring attendants to us for the house of our God. ¹⁸ Because the gracious hand of our God was on us, they brought us Sherebiah, a capable man, from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Sherebiah's sons and brothers, 18 men; ¹⁹ and Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and nephews, 20 men. ²⁰ They also brought 220 of the temple servants—a body that David and the officials had established to assist the Levites. All were registered by name.

A) Core Message:

Content:

1. Ezra pointed out the family heads who returned with him from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes. (v.1)
2. The list of family heads who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. (v. 2-14)
3. Ezra restored the people needed for a “Holy Worship” (v.15-20)

Theme:

1. God remembers his people
2. The Levites were not among the people

B) Who are God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit?

1) God who rules over everything (history and authority of mankind)

2) A God who remembers his people

C) What does the passage teach us (about commands, promises, examples, exhortations, and warnings?)

1) God remembers his people

These are the family heads and those registered with them who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes: (v. 1-12)

God did not allow David to have a census of the population to prevent him from becoming pretentious and haughty from such accomplishments, and subsequently not rely on God. However, God repeatedly lists out his chosen people. The first census can be found in the book of Numbers. From then until the census in Ezra, there is a time difference of about 1000 years. Within this time, God listed his chosen people several times.

Why is this so? God isn’t human. He will not have the problem of becoming pretentious and haughty. God understood the performing of doing the census which is to show that he remembers his people.

He also wants his people to know clearly that God remembers them. Everyone’s relationship with God is to be intimate.

Reflection: God cares about me so greatly and remembers me in all circumstances. Do I remember him and know clearly of my relationship with Him?

2) A memorable census

There were 42360 people who returned to Jerusalem the first time. This time around is the second time. There were about 1534 who returned with Ezra.

This shows that, when God opened the way for Israelites to return to Jerusalem the first time, not all of his chosen people responded immediately. Though we’re unable to conclude that they esteemed Babylon greatly, it does show that they didn’t respond to God’s call right away.

Once again, those who returned to the homeland were willing to pay the price of following Gods call. Thus, their names were commemorated.

Reflection: If I lived in that time, would my name appear on the list of returnees?

3) There were no Levites

“I assembled them at the canal that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there three days. When I checked among the people and the priests, I found no Levites there.” (v. 15)

We all know that Levites were called by God to serve in the temple. Thus, the reconstruction of the temple cannot happen without the Levites and neither can a proper service in the temple.

God wanted the Israelites to return to Jerusalem to worship and serve him. Thus, among all those who returned, the Levites are indispensible. Unfortunately, when Ezra was looking amongst the returnees for people in the priest line, he didn’t find any Levites.

Levites were not willing to respond God’s call to return home. Levites were unwilling to return upon the first calling. This second time, Ezra was only able to find Levites by means of recruitment.

So, why were the Levites not willing to come home? A reasonable explanation is that after staying in a foreign land for a long period of time, the people have given in to secular labour and have settled. They showed little interest in returning to Jerusalem. The Levites did not regard their God-assigned role as an important priority.

Much like God calling for Levites exclusively, God is calling for us today. He has blessed each of us differently, and has assigned us different roles. Facing God’s calling, let us not decline or flee. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. (1 Peter 4:10) Let us not let this “lack of Levites” occur again.

Reflection: What is my priority between “Serving God” and “Secular Works”? In services at church, are there any fleeing members? Has there ever been the occurrence of “lacking in Levites”?

D) My Prayer/ Practical Applications