GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
EZRA 6:13-18
Click to listen to this devotion.
13 Then, because of the decree sent by King Darius, Tattenai the governor of the Trans-Euphrates, Shethar Bozenai, and their associates did what King Darius had ordered with all diligence. 14 The grey-haired elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper throughout the prophetic ministries of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by command of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and also Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 This house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. 16 And the people of Israel– the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles– celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17 For the dedication of this House of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses.
God works through many people to carry out his will. The grey-haired old men are brought out into the open here, but so are the preaching prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. The three kings of Persia are also singled out. Artaxerxes was not really part of the rebuilding of the temple– it was all completed before he came to the throne, fifty years later. But he was directly involved with the building of Jerusalem’s walls in Nehemiah’s time, as so his name is brought forward here for a sense of the single will of Persia’s monarchs. Even the governor, Tattenai, and his cronies had a role to play, since we see them obeying the decree of the King without delay and with all diligence. So it is with us. God has a plan for the world today every bit as much as he had a plan in the days of Abraham, Moses, David, or Zerubbabel. We are the people of this moment; we are the tools and the servants God has to work with today.
As long as we’ve concerned ourselves with the date, this day of the temple’s dedication was just about seventy years since the temple’s destruction. Zechariah heard the Angel of the Lord making the connection: “Then the angel of the LORD said, ‘LORD of hosts, how long will you withhold compassion from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?’” (Zechariah 1:12), and again, “I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion, and my house will be built in it, declares the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 1:16).
Should we comment about the word “dedication”? I don’t want to confuse the matter, but “dedication” in verse 16 is hanukkah. This word can mean any dedication at all, but today it is singularly used for the celebration of the rededication of this temple, which happened in the second century BC after it had been desecrated. So this dedication is not the dedication of the modern Hanukkah festival.
This dedication involved a great many sacrifices, including the detail about the twelve goats as a sin offering for each of the twelve tribes. Whether or not there were representatives from the tribes, the offerings were made anyway. It was a sign of faith, and a reminder of the unity of Israel as a nation, a family of believers. We do something like this when we use plural pronouns even when we’re all alone: “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest,” or “Our Father in heaven.” The plural isn’t an error. It’s a confession of faith that there are other believers in the world. And if a Christian still wants to debate about the use of the plural, then remember, the Holy Spirit uses our bodies as his temple. I am never all alone. I am never abandoned, never by myself. I am a bearer, a carrier of the Holy Ghost, and I am at the same time his host, his guest, and his servant. He is my Coach, my Instructor, the one who guides me, disciplines me, comforts me and who counsels me. He is my constant companion. He is my God.
One of the great miracles carried out by the Holy Spirit is that he places faith in our hearts, and he also preserves that faith. He works through the means of grace, the gospel in word and sacrament, but this does not diminish the miracle. Quite the reverse, it highlights the miracle all the more, since it is accomplished through such simple and ordinary things as words, water, bread and wine. It is like Jesus, confronted by the Sadducees who rejected most of the Bible but still clung to Moses, and Jesus allowed himself to be restricted by this and to refute their false teaching using only Moses (Matthew 22:31-34). He did not have to do so, but he did for the sake of their hearts, for the sake of their faith. But their hearts were hard, anyway, and their faith did not grasp their Savior.
The Holy Spirit who lives in us and who sustains our faith is truly God, just as the Father and the Son are God. The Father is present everywhere (Jeremiah 23:24, one of the attributes of God), and so is the Son (Matthew 18:20), and as for the Spirit, the Psalm says, “Where can I go from your Spirit?” (Psalm 139:7), therefore the Spirit is omnipresent as well. Each person of the Trinity has the same attributes. Each does the work of God (Genesis 1:1; John 1:3; Job 33:4). Each knows all things (1 Kings 8:39; John 21:19; 1 Corinthians 2:11). Each is called God in the Scriptures: “God our Father” (Romans 1:7); Christ is “the Lord our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6), and Paul calls him “Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). And the Holy Spirit is called God (Acts 5:3-4).
God made us. God saved us. God preserves our faith. Praise be to God, our Triune God! He is the one true and only God, whom we serve day by day by day. Glory in this, delight in his name, and encourage one another and build each other up. Just as in fact you are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Listen or watch Bible classes online. https://splnewulm.org/invisible-church/
Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2025
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Ezra 6:13-18 The second temple is dedicated