Contents

Introduction
The final three Old Testament Historical Books
Fasting and Prayer

Introduction

In this final post, we begin with the Jewish nation divided, defeated and discouraged. The Jewish nation is in exile.

Psalm 137 was written by an unnamed Jewish exile in Babylon. It begins, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: ‘Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land?”

Jeremiah the Prophet, who remained in Jerusalem following the fall of Jerusalem, wrote a letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Its contents are recorded in Jeremiah 29.

“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the LORD.
This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:4-14

The fulfillment of that promise came in the form of the Persians. 69 years after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, first invaded Judah, Persia conquered Babylon. And the king of Persia, Cyrus, issued a declaration in his first year in office that the Jews could return home. Thus, the 70 years of exile was over and the declaration is recorded in the book of Ezra…

“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 in the land of Judah. All of you who are his people may return to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. And may your God be with you! Those who live in any place where Jewish survivors are found should contribute toward their expenses by supplying them with silver and gold, supplies for the journey, and livestock, as well as a freewill offering for the Temple of God in Jerusalem.” Ezra 1:2-4

The Jews did not all return at once and not all the Jews returned. Some Jews remained in Babylon.

The final three Old Testament Historical Books

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The final 3 books in the historical section of the OT are: Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. The book of Ezra tells the story of the rebuilding of the Temple. It was nothing like the original Temple built by Solomon and destroyed by the Babylonian army. And because of delays, opposition, threats, fear and intimidation; it took about 20 years to complete. Ezra was not the person who led the building project; that was a man by the name of Zerubbabel. Ezra was a priest and scribe who traveled back to Jerusalem to teach and lead the people in the ways of God.

The next book, Nehemiah, tells the story of the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem. Interestingly, the Temple was rebuilt first and then the walls around the city, which was very odd, given the importance of walls for protection. But the fact is that the walls around the city of Jerusalem were not rebuilt for almost 100 years following the Return! Nehemiah had been the cupbearer to the king of Persia. He got a burden to help build the wall around Jerusalem, the king let him go and he led the people in a very needed building project.

The book of Esther tells the story of a foiled plot in Persia to exterminate the Jews. A young Jewish woman, by the name of Esther became queen of Persia and from her position was able to save her people from a plot to completely wipe the Jewish race from planet! Hitler wasn’t the first to try.

Fasting and Prayer

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Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther all played critical roles in the life of the Jewish nation during the Exile and the Return. They had very different roles (two served in the government and one was in the ministry). They were different genders (two were men and one was a woman). They were different ages (Esther was young and Ezra was much older). They had different skills and abilities. But all three utilized the power of ‘fasting & prayer’ during critical points in their lives! Fasting is the act of doing without something, usually food, in order to free up more time to pray – communicating to God, pleading with God, waiting on God.

Ezra fasted and prayed to ask for protection prior to leaving on a dangerous trip from Persia to Israel. Ezra was a Bible Teacher who was getting ready to lead a group of about 4,000 unarmed men, women and children 900 miles across dangerous territory without any military protection. The journey would take them about four months. Before they left, they stopped at a Canal and prayed. According to 8:15, they fasted and prayed for 3 days.

“There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions (And what we learn in verses 26-27 is that they would be carrying about 30 tons of silver and 4 tons of gold!). I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.” Ezra 8:21-23

Either they were really stupid or they really believed that God would take care of them! Later in the chapter we find out that it was the latter.

“On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way. So we arrived in Jerusalem, where we rested three days.” Ezra 8:31-32

In Nehemiah’s case, he fasted and prayed prior to asking the king of Persia if he could return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls around the city.

“The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said:”O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
“Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
“They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” I was cupbearer to the king.” Nehemiah 1:1-11

Nehemiah worked for the king of Persia as his personal ‘cupbearer’ – he tasted the food and wine before the king did to make sure no one had poisoned it. His burden was to be able to go back and help build the walls around Jerusalem, but he didn’t know how he was going to get out of his position and get permission to go…so he “fasted and prayed for many days’! He did get permission and he went back and he had the walls up in 52 days!

Esther fasted and prayed prior to going before the king to ask for protection for her people, the Jews. No big deal, except to do so unannounced generally meant certain death! Her uncle, Mordecai, was the one coaching her to go to the king. Here is their exchange…

“Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:9-16

Esther went before the king, she was not killed and she saved her people, the Jews, from annihilation!

Now I can’t tell you that it always will work out that way: fast & pray for three days asking God for something and God will come through with what you asked him to do. I can tell you that there is a consistent message in Scripture that when God’s people carve out large chunks of time for prayer and they forgo some of their normal activities, like eating, God responds!

So do with it what you want, but if you are presently in a tough spot, you have a big decision to make, you really would like to see the power of God…then get alone with God for an extended period of time by forgoing some of your normal activities of life like eating, sleeping, watching TV or surfing the internet and spend that time with God! It may not be for three days, but it may be three hours? Three hours some evening or on a Saturday or a Sunday morning to read the Bible, read some devotional materials, listen to some praise music, and sprinkle times of prayer throughout for what is on your heart, to confess sin and to offer thanks to God for who he is and what he has done.

If you honestly can’t do three hours this week, would you stretch yourself beyond what is normal for you? I just wonder what God might do in response to those who give that kind of time this week to prayer?

With the Jews back in the Promised Land, the temple rebuilt and the walls of Jerusalem up, the story of the Old Testament ends. For the next 400 years there were no prophets in Israel and no more books added to their Scriptures. During those four centuries, Persia was conquered by Greece and Greece by Rome. And then one night in the little town of Bethlehem, just outside of Jerusalem, God broke his silence. Only this time he didn’t send a prophet, he sent his Son! God came to earth to live among us! His name was Jesus and he came to die for the sins of the world!

Now that you have been through the story of the Old Testament, test yourself and see if you can tell the story!

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