| A PEOPLE OF THE BOOK |
| Ezra stood on a wooden platform, reading from a simple scroll. |
| Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly . . . . He read it aloud from daybreak till noon. 8:2-3 |
| Picture it: a vast, hushed crowd watching as Ezra ascends a newly built platform in the square. As he opens the book, they rise. They praise God, hands lifted high; then they bow down, faces in the dirt. Ezra begins to read. His helpers circulate in the crowd, explaining and interpreting what God's Word says. The people listen attentively. And then a strange sound begins to rise, spreading through the multitude. It is the sound of weeping. The Law Ezra read was very ancient, but that day marked something new. The Jews were becoming, in a way they had never been before, a people of the book. They were being rebuilt, with material as strong as the stones in their newly built city wall. Throughout their history, they had drawn strength from two sources besides the Law. One was the temple, where they worshiped God. It was a magnificiently beautiful building in which they met God. The other was their leadership - first Moses, then Joshua, then the judges, and finally David and his offspring, the kings. The Disappointing Reality But these realities had not saved them from disgrace. The temple? For all its splendor it had become a meaningless symbol to most Jews. They had even put idols in it. God had finally allowed the Babylonians to burn the temple down. After the exile the Jews had made rebuilding the temple their first priority (see Ezra 1-6). But it was no longer an automatic insurance policy. They could never again see the building as a substitute for real devotion to God. |
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