Encouragement for Courageous Women in Christ
No. 23 of Returning Home (Second Return) Ezra and the people journeying to Jerusalem carry with them the king of Persia’s treasures, earmarked for the temple. Ezra must conduct his people and the king’s riches in the safest and most expedient way. He chooses the…
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No. 22 of Returning Home (Second Return) Ezra accepted his work for God with courage and gratitude, but he did not have an easy time of it. Ezra records the names and number of the returning people of God in this second expedition (read chapter…
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No. 21 of Returning Home (Second Return) Artaxerxes I is revealed in Ezra as a king who is both for and against the work in Jerusalem. His letter given to Ezra describes what his intentions are in sending the second group of Hebrews home. This…
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No. 20 of Returning Home (Second Return) Ezra enters Jerusalem in 458 BCE. The temple has been built, and the Persian empire is ruled by Artaxerxes I. Known as the long-handed king because his right hand was longer than the left, Artaxerxes was the third…
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No. 20 of Returning Home (Reignited) Moses, the first of many historians of the Old Testament (Numbers 33:2), recorded the Passover in Egypt that occurred during his lifetime. God established the Passover memorial at Mount Sinai in the second year after the children of Israel…
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No. 19 of Returning Home (Reignited) Haggai, in support of the temple’s rebuilding, gave the people of Judah comfort by prophesying of the house of the Lord to come. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will…
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No. 16 of Returning Home (Reignited) God stirred up the people to return to building the temple through three encouragements. The first two were the hard words of Haggai and Zechariah (see First Priority for more). The third encouragement was the support of a Persian…
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No. 15 of Returning Home (Reignited) During the reign of Cambysses II work stopped on the temple because the people of Judah were discouraged by their adversaries. By 522 BCE, when Darius I came to reign over the Persian Empire, the people of Judah had…
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No. 14 of Returning Home The adversaries of the people of Judah created all sorts of trouble for the temple builders. Ezra pauses in the account of the temple construction to tell about how these adversaries would later show their true colors in the time…
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No. 13 of Returning Home Cyrus the Great reigned over the Persian empire until 530 BCE. His epitaph is believed to have been inscribed, “O man, whoever you are and wherever you come from, for I know you will come, I am Cyrus who won…
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