Returning to Israel
Background: The temple of
Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC, when they sacked the city,
killing or taking captive back to Babylon, the Jews. In 539 BC, Babylon fell to the Medes and
Persians. Soon after, Cyrus the Great of
Persia allowed the Jews to return to Israel.
Another twenty years later, the Jews completed the rebuilding of the
temple in Jerusalem. This “Second
Temple” survived for almost 600 years until it was destroyed by the Romans
several decades after Christ’s life.
Rebuilding the Temple
READ Ezra 1:1-2
Who commanded that the temple
be rebuilt in Jerusalem?
What issues might the Jews
have had in rebuilding the Temple?
READ Haggai 1:3-4, 7-8
Did the Lord want this temple
built - why?
The Word of the Lord
READ Nehemiah 8:1-3, 8-11,
17-18
Who was Ezra?
What did Ezra do for the
people?
Why did the people weep to
hear the scriptures?
How was Ezra able to help the
people understand the scriptures?
The Legacy of Josiah
One might ask why, with the
exception of Malachi 100 years later, that from the time of Daniel to John the
Baptist, there were no actual prophets in Israel?
From reading the Book of
Mormon (which was written by prophets before the attack by Babylon) and hints
from the New Testament, what truths were hidden/distorted/changed by Josiah and
the Deuteronomists?
Out of this apostasy,
masquerading as truth, came the “dry ground” or lack of revelation from God
that the people found themselves living in when John the Baptist and Christ
were born – an extremely piously religious people who were devoid of the Spirit
of the Lord and, ironically, ended up killing the One sent from heaven to teach
and save them.
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