Contemplative Bible Reading

Ezra 1:1-2 (New Living Translation)

1 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom:

2 “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:

“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah…

The King of Persia proclaims to all:

1. Jehovah, the god of the conquered Jews, is the one true god of heaven.
2. Jehovah, the god of the conquered Jews, gave all the kingdoms of the earth to the King of Persia.
3. Jehovah, the god of the conquered Jews, has appointed to King of Persia to build the Temple in Jerusalem in honor of Jehovah, the god of the conquered Jews.

The Jews of the day concentrated on #3. I think that we today concentrate on #3.

How about #1? The King of Persia recognizes Jehovah as the creator and master of all. That’s pretty big stuff considering that Jehovah is the god of the Jews, and the Jews were a puny nation that Persia conquered quite easily and deported the best of the Jews to serve Persia.

How about #2? That is fairly humbling as the King of Persia recognizes Jehovah as the source of his power and wealth. I would think the King of Persia would credit a bunch of Persian gods. Instead, he credits, well, from the above paragraph, a god of a puny, conquered people.

And now we come back to #3. Jehovah, the LORD, has appointed the King of Persia to do some physical building projects back in Jerusalem. Why does God use a pagan, conquering king to do His work?

God uses some unlikely people to do His work on earth. After all, God has me doing some of His work. It seems He could find someone more capable and more likely, but hey, God used the King of Persia, so…