THE TEMPLE SOLOMON’S TEMPLE SOLOMON FINISHED THE TEMPLE(959 BC)? DESTROYED BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR(586 BC)? ZERUBBABEL’S TEMPLE RECONSTRUCTION UNDER CYRUS(536 BC)? BUILDING CEASES UNDER ARTAXERXES(17 YEARS)? BUILDING CONTINUES UNDER DARIUS (519 BC)? TEMPLE COMPLETED UNDER DARIUS(516 BC)? ( BC)? HEROD’S TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION BEGAN(20 BC)? COMPLETED 46 YEARS (JOHN 2:20)(64 AD)?

PEOPLE TO REMEMBER ZERUBBABEL - SHESHBAZZAR - LEVITE GOVERNOR OF JUDAH - HAGGAI 1:1(536 BC)? KING CYRUS:EZRA 1:1(536 BC)? LEVITES WHO CAME WITH ZERUBBABEL NEHEMIAH - PRIESTEZRA 2:2(536 BC)? JEREMIAH - PRIESTNEHEMIAH 12:1(536 BC)? JESHUA - HIGH PRIESTNEHEMIAH 12:1(536 BC)? EZRA - PRIESTNEHEMIAH 12:1(536 BC)? KING DARIUS:EZRA 1-6( BC)? ESTHER QUEEN OF PERSIA (478 BC)?(58 YEARS)? ARTAXERXES: EZRA 7-10( BC)? (ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS: BC?)

OUTLINE CHAPTER NINE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HAD MARRIED PAGAN WIVESV. 1-2 EZRA IS GREATLY TROUBLED OVER THISV. 3-4 EZRA’S PRAYER TO THE LORDV. 5-15

READ:EZRA 9:1-2 1When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, "The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, with respect to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2"For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this trespass."

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:1-2 1When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, "The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, with respect to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. WHAT HAD THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL DONE? WHAT WAS THEIR ABOMINATIONS? DID THE LORD WARN THEM ABOUT THIS?

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:1-2 GOD’S COMMANDMENT TO ISRAEL READ:DEUTERONOMY 7:1-4 1"When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2“When the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3"Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4"For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.(NKJ)

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:1-2 WHAT WAS SOLOMON’S SIN? READ:1 KINGS 11:1-3 1 King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites-- 2From the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. 3He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.(NKJ)

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:1-2 2"For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this trespass.“ WHAT HAD THE ISRAELITES DONE? WHAT IS ‘THE HOLY SEED’ OF THE LORD? HOW WAS IT CORRUPTED?

READ:EZRA 9:3-5 3When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard, and sat down astonished. 4Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me, because of the transgression of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. 5At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God.

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:3-5 3When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard, and sat down astonished.(appalled) WHAT DID EZRA DO WHEN HE HEARD THIS? WHY WAS EZRA APPALLED?

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:3-5 4THEN everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me, BECAUSE of the transgression of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. WHO ASSEMBLED WITH EZRA? WHY WERE THEY TREMBLING? READ:ISAIAH 66:1-2 1Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? 2For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist," says the LORD. "BUT on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.(NKJ) WHO WILL THE LORD LOOK UPON?

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:3-5 4THEN everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me, BECAUSE of the transgression of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. WHAT WAS ‘THE EVENING SACRIFICE’? READ:EXODUS 29:39 39"One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.(NKJ) READ:NUMBERS 28:4 4'The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening,(NKJ)

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:3-5 5At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God. WHAT DID EZRA DO AT THE EVENING SACRIFICE? REMEMBER DANIEL:DANIEL 9: While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. 22He informed me, and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.(NKJ)

READ:EZRA 9:6-7 6And I said, "O my God: I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens. 7"Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to humiliation, as it is this day.

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:6-7 6And I said, "O my God: I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens. WHY WAS EZRA ASHAMED TO LIFT UP HIS HEAD? WHY DOES EZRA SAY ‘OUR INIQUITIES’? ‘OUR GUILT’? WHAT IS EZRA GUILTY OF?

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:6-7 7"Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to humiliation, as it is this day. HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON? WHO IS WE? WHAT WAS THE RESULT OF THEIR INIQUITIES?

READ:EZRA 9:8-9 8"And now for a little while grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage. 9"For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:8-9 8"And now for a little while grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage. WHAT IS THIS ‘LITTLE WHILE’? TIME: EZRA 1:1 - EZRA 4:24(60 YEARS)? HOW WAS GOD’S GRACE MANIFESTED? WHO MOVED KING CYRUS TO BRING THEM BACK? WHAT DID THE LORD DO FOR THEM? WHO WAS THE ‘REMNANT THAT ESCAPED’? WHAT WAS THE ‘PEG IN HIS HOLY PLACE’? WHAT WAS THE ‘MEASURE OF REVIVAL’?

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9:8-9 9"For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. DID GOD ‘FORSAKE THEM IN THEIR BONDAGE’? WHY DID GOD EXTEND HIS MERCY TO THEM? ARE THEY STILL ‘SLAVES’?

READ:EZRA 9: "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, 11“Which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land, with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from one end to another with their impurity. 12'Now therefore, do not give your daughters as wives for their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons; and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.'

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9: "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, 11“Which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land, with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from one end to another with their impurity. 12'Now therefore, do not give your daughters as wives for their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons; and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.‘ WHAT COMMANDMENTS HAD THEY FORSAKEN? READ: DEUTERONOMY 7:1-4 WHY DID GOD GIVE THEM THESE COMMANDMENTS?

READ:EZRA 9: "After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this, 14“Should we again break Your commandments, and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant or survivor? 15"O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!“(NKJ)

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9: "After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this, HOW DOES EZRA ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR GUILT? WHAT DOES EZRA SAY ABOUT THEIR PUNISHMENT? HOW DOES EZRA RECOGNIZE GOD’S MERCY?

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9: “Should we again break Your commandments, and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant or survivor? WHAT IS EZRA ADDRESSING HERE? MARRIAGE? WHAT ‘ABOMINATION’ WERE THEY GUILTY OF? HOW WOULD THEY ‘CONTINUE’ IN THIS SIN? WHAT WOULD BE THE CONSEQUENCE? WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO ‘THE REMNANT?

QUESTIONS:EZRA 9: "O LORD God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!“(NKJ) HOW DOES EZRA PROCLAIM GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS? WHY DID THE LORD SAVE A REMNANT? WHAT IS THEIR STATUS?GUILTY? WHY ARE THEY NOT ABLE TO STAND BEFORE GOD? WHAT DOES EZRA WANT GOD TO DO?