rich in mercy

Many times in the Old Testament, when Israel sins, God has someone (a judge, Moses, a prophet, etc.) intercede for the people, pleading on their behalf for God to have mercy. And God uses that intercession as a means to lead the people with a firm, yet loving hand. Here in Ezra, however, the Israelites receive mercy without an intermediary. Ezra hears about the peoples’ transgressions, and marvels at the way God has kept His people despite their disobedience. “...seeing that You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this...”(Ezra 9:13). Ezra discovers, after the fact, that God is acting in mercy towards the Israelites. I think this is really important, because it’s so easy to see the righteously wrathful, powerful, sovereign side of God in the old testament (that is NOT to say that God’s sovereignty and power changes between the Old and New Testaments, nor that God’s love suddenly becomes tangible and active later in the Bible.), but in Ezra we see the “cords of kindness” and “bonds of love” (Hosea 11:4) that God uses to lead His people.

“For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give up protection in Judea and Jerusalem.” (Ezra 9:9)

It becomes so easy to limit our gaze on our present circumstance, to get bogged down in the reality of disappointment, but Ezra expands his perspective, realizing that God has blessed Israel. In Ephesians, it says that our God is “rich in mercy” (2:4) and indeed, He is so. Even when things seem pretty awful for the Israelites, Ezra still praises God for His grace and blessings.

I also really love how the people respond. in chapter ten of Ezra, it reads, “While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.” They are grieved, but the people don’t let their discouragement or guilt keep them from action. They approach Ezra and, acknowledging their sin, offer to restore their broken commitment to the Lord by making a new covenant to put away their unlawful families. The people see the situation, evaluate what needs to be done and then work to accept responsibility and restore their relationship with God. The men who go to Ezra say, “Arise, for it is your task [to make a covenant with God], and we are with you; be strong and do it.” and they get the job done in only a few months. That is dedication. That is determination. That is God, working in the lives of His children to draw them closer to Himself.