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Ezra 1 & 2
A Second Chance for a Great Life
1. What’s the longest time you’ve ever been away from home?
Read Ezra 1:1-8; 2:1-2; 2:64-70
2. Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. and released the Israelites the next year. God promised this return in Jeremiah 25:12 and 29:10 (written around 609 B.C.) and mentions Cyrus by name in Isaiah 44:8-45:2 (written between 740-681B.C.). What does this tell you about God? What does it tell you about the Bible?
3. How does this prophecy relate to Proverbs 21:1?
4. Why did some choose to stay behind in Babylon?
5. Who do you think made the wiser choice: those who stayed in their established lives in Babylon, or those who returned to the Promised Land, or were both options valid?
6. Why does Ezra mention two offerings that were made? (1:6 and 2:69)
7. When it comes to financing His work, God always does so through the sacrifices of His people. Why? What is it about financial sacrifice that is so important to God?
8. List all the obstacles, temptations and fears these 50,000 returnees had to overcome in order to settle near the sacred city and Temple of God.
9. How close are you to God right now?
I’ve never thought about being close to God before.
As close as I’d ever want to be.
I’m coming closer every day.
As close as I’ve ever been.
I’m in Babylon, but I’m choosing to come home.
Other: _____________________________
Ezra 3 & 4
Getting Close to God Again
1. How did you feel when you came home from college (or the military) after leaving home for the first time?
Read Ezra 3:1-4:5
2. What’s the first thing the returnees do after settling in to their new homes, and why? (v. 1) What motivated them to do this?
3. What did the Israelites have to overcome in order to do the right thing? (v. 3)
4. How do you suppose these returnees felt after being so far away from God for so long?
5. Have you ever wept because you wanted to do something great for God and knew that your efforts would fall short? (vs. 12-13)
6. Have you ever shouted for joy at something you saw that gave God glory? (v. 13)
7. Why is it that opposition often comes when people are doing God’s work?
8. Who do you think is responsible for the opposition Zerubbabel’s people experienced?
(a) Satan, (b) God, (c) the people of the land, (d) the Israelites themselves
9. How could opposition have been avoided in this case?
10. What lesson can be learned from this?
11. Read Ezra 4:6-24. This piece of the story is inserted here, even though it did not take place for another 70+ years. (The people returned to Israel in 538 BC. Artaxerxes ruled from 465 BC. Nehemiah was his cupbearer.) What lesson is Ezra trying to teach by telling this portion of the story out-of-order?
12. Has there ever been a time in your life when you were so eager to worship God that you jumped right into some modern-day form of building Him an altar, even though there were a lot of other things you could be doing with your time?
13. Tell us about a time when you had to overcome some type of fear in order to do God’s work.
14. Ezra 3 and 4 is a story with many characters:
Zerubbabel, the inexperienced but eager leader
Cyrus, the man outside the community of faith who wanted to do something for God
The returnees, who were eager to worship God
The people of the land, who wanted to worship God, but felt excluded
Artaxerxes, the one who needed to do research to figure out what God’s people were up to
Which of these most closely matches where you are right now?
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