Contemplative Bible Reading

Ezra 6:22 (New Living Translation)

22 Then they celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. There was great joy throughout the land because the Lord had caused the king of Assyria to be favorable to them, so that he helped them to rebuild the Temple of God, the God of Israel.

Other translations of this verse state the the LORD caused the King of Assyria to change his mind or change his heart. Hmmm, God can change the minds and hearts of earthly rulers (politicians). Allow me to use an old word to describe current American politics: we tend to have scoundrels in elected office. That is a great shame. Perhaps the future will be better.

Still, God can change hearts and minds. The translation above tells us that the King had changed to be favorable to God’s people. Oh, I like that one. A politician being favorable to Christians. I could use a lot more of that. Or would that be a good thing? Of course it would. Right? Maybe?

Let’s stop discussing what is good for me. Let’s focus on the power of God to alter the events of human history. The return to Jerusalem recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were tiny in human history. The events in one little city in a corner of an empire that stretched most of the world were tiny.

Still, they were very important in the history of how God would send His Son to us to take away all our sins. That stretched across all the earth and all of human history. And one key step in that history-altering event was when God caused a king of a forgotten kingdom to be favorable to a displaced people.

Thank you God.