Preserving God's Word - Part 4 (PW88)

        Prelude to World War 3

Ezra 1:2-3    Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.
  The faithfulness of his Jewish ministers (Daniel and the others) had convinced the Babylonian and Persian kings that the God of the Jews had instructed the Jews to serve them faithfully as though they were serving God Himself.
  King Cyrus sent the Jews to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of God, so that they will continue to serve them faithfully.
 Out of the 42,360 Jews who went back to Israel, 973 were priests besides the thousands of Levites. These priests and Levites are knowledgeable and devout Jews for they have faithfully kept the laws of God during their captivity.
Ezra 2:36, 64    The priests: the sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three... The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty.

Ezra 6:15-16     Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. Then the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.
   After the completion of the temple of God, King Darius sent Ezra to Jerusalem instructing him to teach and purify every Jews according to the laws of God so that they will become faithful citizens.
  He also sent the Israelites to inhibit the nation of Israel and set Ezra the priest and scribe as their leader, knowing that Israel will become a part of the Persian Empire.
  With the hearts of Ezra, the priests and the Jews seeking to please God, they will not tolerate anyone breaking the law.
Ezra 7:25-26     And you, Ezra, according to your God-given wisdom, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people who are in the region beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach those who do not know them. Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily on him, whether it be death, or banishment, or confiscation of goods, or imprisonment.

Canonization of the Old Testament
Ezra 7:10     For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.
 Around the 5th Century BC, the canonisation of the Old Testament was ascribed to the knowledgeable and devout Ezra and his priests who were full of the Spirit of God. 

The Old Testaments
   The first five books of the Bible (Old Testament) or Torah were written in Hebrew. Torah is commonly referred to as the Law (or the Pentateuch). These 5 books are traditionally ascribed to Moses (1391–1271 BC), the recipient of the original revelation from God on Mount Sinai.
  Almost the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew. But a few chapters in Ezra and Daniel and one verse in Jeremiah were written in Aramaic. This language became very popular in the ancient world and actually displaced many other languages.

Why use Aramaic?
 After the fall of Jerusalem and Judah in 586 BC, the majority of the remnant Jews were taken as slaves to Babylon where they had to learn and speak Aramaic the language of their masters.
   It did not take long before the majority of the Jews lost their use of the Hebrew language. Daniel had to write the latter part of his book in Aramaic so that the Jews could understand. Similarly, the majority of Ezra's writings were in Aramaic.