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What We Miss When We Skip the Book of Ezra

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Joshua Eckstein (2019), public domain

The book of Ezra is an odd duck. It bears the name of a man who doesn’t appear in its first half. Though titled like a minor prophet, this is a book of history, one far shorter than most historical books in Scripture. And it is one of the few portions of God’s word set after the Babylonian exile.

I couldn’t find any data to justify this suspicion, but I would guess that Ezra is not commonly read or studied by modern Christians. I get it—among other barriers, there are long lists of names in chapters 2, 8, and 10.

Yet, this little book has much to offer!

God Works in the Hearts of Kings

God rules over kingdoms and kings—this is true everywhere and at all times. But it is made explicit with surprising frequency in the book of Ezra.

We see this in the very first verse of the book: “…the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing …” (Ezra 1:1)

We also read that the Lord “had turned the heart of the king of Assyria” toward the Israelites (Ezra 6:22). The author of the book blesses God “who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers” (Ezra 7:27–28). Finally, as part of his confession, Ezra thanks God that he “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 us protection in Judea and Jerusalem” (Ezra 9:9).

In Ezra a group of Israelites journeyed from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of God. Since they left captivity, traveled through dangeous territories, and settled in an occupied land, these people needed the approval, help, and protection of the local and central rulers. God gave them this favor, often by creating in the rulers a desire to help God’s people.

In addition to these large examples, the Lord worked in large and small ways to bless his people through governmental (and even bureaucratic) channels.

Repentance Requires Radical Action

Shortly after Ezra arrived in Jerusalem, he learned of widespread sin among the people. They had “not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations” and had “taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands” (Ezra 9:1–2).

God’s people had taken wives who worshiped foreign gods. This was disastrous, as the Israelites were trying to reestablish a community of faith and these marital bonds were likely to lead them in the opposite direction.

It sounds shocking to our modern ears, but repentance in this situation needed to be drastic. Here was Ezra’s prescription.

You have broken faith and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel. Now then make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives. (Ezra 10:10–11)

While the last two chapters of Ezra should prompt a longer discussion about marriage and divorce, one thing is clear. Ezra took sin and repentance seriously. His grief over his people’s transgressions would make the modern church stagger.

Worship is Central

The Israelites headed back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. They began with the altar and when that was finished, before any other part of the temple was constructed, they resumed the offerings, feasts, and festivals (Ezra 3:3–5). When they started to make progress on the temple itself, the people were moved: “And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid” (Ezra 3:11).

When the people finished the temple, they dedicated “this house of God with joy” and kept the Passover (Ezra 6:16, 19).

The narrative of the book then moves to the man Ezra, a priest and scribe. But this too is about worship. “Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). Though the people had resumed the temple practices, they needed the word of God at the center of their worship, so God sent Ezra.

All About Worship

The centrality of worshiping God is a central pillar of Ezra. Even the first two themes I mentioned in this article are connected to worship. (God’s work in kings helped the people build the temple; radical repentance was needed because the people were being led away from worshiping God.)

This is one way that Ezra connects to the overarching story of the Bible. We were made to worship God, but our rebellion means that we need a pure high priest to make our worship possible. Ezra reminds us of this central activity of the community of God and our dependence on him to draw us near.

You Don’t Have to Read the Bible Every Day

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Ryan Riggins (2017), public domain

“How’s your spiritual life?”

When most Christians are asked that question, their minds turn toward spiritual disciplines. They reflect on the previous week or month and how regularly they prayed, read the Bible, and so on. These activities have become the measure for many of vibrant Christian faith.

Still, many of us know people who are rigid about these disciplines but lack love and grace in their relationships with others. These regular practices don’t automatically produce the fruit of the Spirit.

The Gospel in Bible Reading

And yet, throughout the years, those who follow Jesus have been greatly helped by spiritual disciplines. The goal of these habits should be to stir up our affections for God, to help us regularly confess and repent of our sins, to rehearse our dependence on God’s grace, and to propel us toward loving our neighbors.

There’s a lot to unpack in that previous sentence! That takes time and instruction, and often when people come into the church they only hear a poor distillation: “Read your Bible and pray every day.”

When it comes to our motivations, humans are drawn more naturally to law than to grace, because we can measure ourselves against a regulation. Well, I only read the Bible four times this week, so my spiritual life must be mediocre.

Some discipleship endeavors reinforce this posture. If we check our boxes each week, we’re growing; if we fall under a certain threshold, we’re stagnant or in spiritual danger.

The gospel of Jesus can make box-checkers uncomfortable. For those who confess Christ, repent of their sins, and trust him alone, the good news should be repeated as often as possible. We are children of the Most High God. He loves us so completely that nothing we ever do can increase or decrease that love.

For the purposes of this particular website, let’s state in terms of Scripture. God does not love us any more when we read the Bible, and he does not love us any less when we don’t.

The Word is a Blessing

Please understand, I am not trying to convince you to read the Bible less often! But I want our motivations to be founded on the very Scriptures we study. As I wrote at the beginning of this year, the Bible points us to God’s word much more often with enticement than with scare tactics.

Christian, do you know how good the word of the Lord is?

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7–11)

A Christian disconnected from or uninterested in the Bible is a contradiction. But we are not disobeying God if we do not read the Bible every day. (Our weeks are more similar to each other than our days are, and there are a variety of ways to take in the Bible.)

We Don’t Have To, We Get To

Over the last several years, my family has developed a simple, delightful practice when we go away for vacation. We take long walks together after dinner. We set out as a family to enjoy each other, the weather, and the scenery. It’s now a favorite activity for each one of us.

Do we have to take a walk every evening? Nope. If it’s raining, or very late, or if someone isn’t feeling well, we might skip it, shorten it, or move the time around. But as late afternoon arrives and we start making dinner, we usually talk about where we’ll walk that night.

The walk requires time, energy, and effort, but we love it. Even when we follow the same route on multiple days, we arrive back at the apartment refreshed and happy.

Believers, we don’t have to read the Bible every day. But God has generously provided his word to nourish and bless us. Do you want to be nourished? Do you want to be blessed?

Which Voice Delights You Most?

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My fifth commandment for commentary usage is:

You shall not spend more time reading commentaries than reading and listening to the Bible.

If you’ve been tracking my advice thus far, you know I’m not opposed to commentaries; I find them an essential part of one’s study routine. And last week I encouraged you to read more commentaries. So with this commandment, I’m not suggesting you spend less time with commentaries but only that you spend more time with the Scripture itself. Unmediated. Unfiltered, except perhaps through translation to your native tongue.

In short, this commandment urges you to give priority to the voice of your Chief Shepherd over that of his under-shepherds. If you fail to cultivate that discipline, here are four risks you run.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

Risk #1: Misidentifying the Source of Authority

If the majority of your time in “Bible study” is spent reading commentaries, you are unwittingly trusting, and not-so-subtly communicating, that the authority over the church and the Christian life is not the word of God, or the Son of God who spoke it, but its interpreters. Theological tradition is a very good thing … unless it becomes the primary thing. In which case, it obfuscates the best thing.

Risk #2: Becoming a Consumer of Theological Options

When you spend most of your time reading commentaries, you may end up treating theological traditions as a marketplace with you the consumer. You consider and evaluate the options until you find one that suits you best. You may end up persuaded, not by the option most faithful to the text, but by the option most persuasive in rhetoric. Or you pit one option against another, as though there must be an either/or instead of some sort of both/and dynamic.

Risk #3: Misdirecting Your Joy

When most of your time is spent in commentaries, instead of in the Scriptures themselves, you risk finding your joy in the commentaries rather than in the Scriptures. If you are bored or confused by the Bible, to the point where you must read one or more commentaries to find joy in the process of study, you are in danger of wandering from the lover of your soul. His sheep hear his voice; they do not know the voice of strangers.

Risk #4: Limiting Your Intimacy With the Lord

Following from the previous risk, this risk is the consequence of finding greater joy in the voice of someone other than the bridegroom himself. Bible study is not merely an academic or educational enterprise. It is a relational transaction. It is the means by which God’s people hear his voice so they may respond to him in faith and worship. For this reason, it is not a bad thing when Bible study is hard. It forces us to wrestle with our creator, to delve the depths of his wisdom, to know him through his promises, warnings, and encouragements. Do you believe that, in the Scripture, you hear the very voice of God? Don’t deny yourself this opportunity to develop your relationship with him.

Risk #5: Failing to Learn How To Study God’s Word for Yourself

A few years ago, I shared a post about a man who had learned to study commentaries but not the Bible. If you spend more time in commentaries than in the Bible, you run the risk of learning how to be told what to think. You may not understand where your conclusions came from, or how they are driven by the text. In a counseling session, or a firefight with false teaching, you’ll have nothing to shoot but nerf darts, while unlimited rounds of sniper ammunition remain boxed up in a storage closet. This brings us full circle back to the first risk, for you may be able to quote many commentators at whatever problem you face. But you will have missed the true authority to bring about truth or change.

Conclusion

I don’t mean to be pedantic. I’m not saying you should time yourself to ensure that the precise number of minutes and seconds spent reading commentaries must be exceeded by time with the plain Scripture. I am aiming at your motivations and intentions. Your joy and delight. Your relationship with the Lord. If setting a timer will help you to diagnose the distance or dryness you’ve felt in your Bible study, so be it. But in the end, I simply want you to be able to say with the psalmist: “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me” (Ps 119:97-98).

If such raw delight has been hard for you to come by, perhaps you could try to lose yourself for an entire afternoon simply enjoying the glorious drama of God’s word. Here is a place you could start.

3 Common Mistakes in Bible Reading

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As a reader of this blog, you are most likely somewhat committed to personal Bible reading. That is a wonderful commitment, but are you aware of some of the most common mistakes we can make, so that you’re prepared to avoid them?

Wyatt Graham has a helpful post explaining some pitfalls he regularly sees:

  1. We read without hearing from God.
  2. We don’t read through a whole book of the Bible.
  3. We forget about the divine author.

He makes some terrific points along the way, such as:

Biblical books communicate ideas. Each of the four Gospels presents Christ from four different angles. Paul’s letters have a purpose. And so on. Like any book that we read today, if we do not understand its beginning, middle, and end, we miss the point. 

Check it out!

Introducing a New Way to Read the Book of Exodus

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The Risk of Reader’s Bibles

Last week, I spoke with a Vice President of major Bible publisher, who informed me that some reader’s Bibles have not yet provided an adequate return on the investment required to publish them. I do not know if this situation is widespread across many publishers, or many versions of reader’s Bibles. But I was deeply saddened to hear that even one of my favorite reader’s Bibles has not yet proven “worth it” to its publisher.

So please indulge me with a brief commercial, advertising my favorite reader’s Bibles. Though I list them here in the order of how much I like them, every one of these reader’s Bibles would be worth your investment.

  1. NIV Sola Scriptura (4 volumes)
  2. ESV six-volume (without chapter and verse numbers)
  3. ESV one-volume
  4. CSB one-volume
  5. ESV gospels

I have little doubt the CSB five-volume would also be worth your investment; I just have not yet acquired it for myself. There is even a way to introduce your children to the concept of a reader’s Bible. Publishers have taken great risks to present God’s word to us in these non-traditional ways, and they ought to win medals for having done so. I believe a reader’s Bible is the best prescription I can give for increasing your delight in God’s word.

I don’t think I can overstate the value of clearing out the clutter that has accumulated over centuries in presenting God’s word in printed form. Though a reader’s Bible may appear novel and jarring—on the page, it really does not look like the sort of Bible you are accustomed to reading—we must remember that even our “traditional” Bible presentations are nothing like the original manuscripts would have appeared to the original readers. The New Testament was written with all capital letters, no punctuation or spaces, and certainly no headings, verse numbers, or cross-references. Modern versions of the Bible have drifted far from the original look and feel. So why not continue finding new ways to present the Scripture in ways that increase the reader’s joy in this glorious literature?

Introducing Exodus: A Novella

With that purpose in mind, I am thrilled to introduce you to a passion project I’ve been working on for some time. With the help of a professional book layout designer, I have developed a version of the book of Exodus designed to look in every way like a modern novella. Exodus is one of the greatest narratives in the history of the world, but the drama of it can be lost amid the standard double-column format, distracting verse and chapter numbers, and myriad footnotes or study notes.

But what if we could read this glorious narrative the same way we read our favorite novels? What if the book was presented in a way that visually presents the gripping plot arcs, follows the highs and lows of the action, and encourages you to keep turning the pages to read? And read. And read. What if the visual design encouraged you to spend an entire afternoon in this divinely inspired, deeply engaging story of redemption? And yes, I’m including all the laws and tabernacle details when I use such adjectives as “greatest,” “glorious,” “gripping,” and “engaging.”

DOWNLOAD EXODUS: A NOVELLA

I present to you Exodus: A Novella. Exodus is one of the best, true stories you could ever read, and here it is presented in a format that underscores why the world has been so captivated by it. You won’t find any verse numbers or footnotes, though a few names are translated in brackets to reveal wordplays. There are chapter numbers, but not the traditional ones. Instead of 40 “chapters,” somewhat arbitrarily determined, the Novella has 7 chapters, following the narrative’s natural literary divisions. It has page numbers, part titles, and page headers, just like the average novel you might pick up today. But unlike the average novel today, this spirit-inspired text is guaranteed to change your life again and again.

My biggest regret is that I was unable to secure permission from a Bible publisher to use a popular translation. So you’ll have to live with my own translation of Exodus, which has been a work in progress for nearly 20 years. In no way do I insinuate that my translation is any “better” than the ones you are used to; it is simply a fact that copyright laws prevent me from using most of the translations you might be familiar with. I didn’t want to delay the project any further by pursuing permission from every Bible publisher out there, so I moved forward with my own text. But if you are a Bible publisher and would be interested in permitting me to use your translation for this purpose, please feel free to contact me to work out the details.

While I’m on the topic of copyright, I’ll mention that I’m licensing Exodus: A Novella under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. This means that you are free to print, copy, adapt, and distribute this work in any way you like, as long as you credit the work to the original creator and distribute it under an identical license. So, no need to request permission if you’d like to print it out, give it away, or do something else with it.

DOWNLOAD EXODUS: A NOVELLA

Here is a preview of the Table of Contents and prologue (what you might know as Exodus chapter 1).

If you’d like to download and read the complete novella, click the button and enjoy!

DOWNLOAD EXODUS: A NOVELLA

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God’s Word Fulfilled in the Book of Kings

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Once I complete my New Year’s speed read of the entire Bible each year, I have made a practice of pursuing Joe Carter’s brilliant Bible reading plan: Choose a book of the Bible, read it 20 times in a row, choose another book of the Bible, read it 20 times in a row, repeat. For the last few months, I’ve been simmering in the book of Kings (treating 1 Kings and 2 Kings as a single book).

On my first few trips through the book, I began to notice that the fulfillment of God’s words appeared to be an important theme. So during my 7th time through it, I created a list of every time the text draws attention to God’s words coming to fulfillment. I included a few other counter-cases (such as counterfeit prophecies that are not fulfilled, and conditional promises of God that go unfulfilled when the conditions are not met), but mostly stuck to tracking verse references for the prediction and for the prediction’s occurrence.

Image by Niek Verlaan from Pixabay

Here is what I found:

  • 83 specific examples of God’s words being fulfilled. (This averages to nearly 1.8 fulfillments per chapter!)
  • 11 of those examples are fulfilling words spoken earlier in history, recorded in other books of the Bible.
  • 72 of those examples have both the prediction and the fulfillment narrated with the book of Kings.
  • 8 counterfeit examples, where someone makes a prediction, in the name of either themself or Yahweh, that does not come to pass.
  • 2 examples of Yahweh’s predictive word being recorded, but the fulfillment itself is not narrated.

When I read a book of the Bible 20 times, my end goal is to draft a concise statement of what I perceive to be the book’s main point. I am not yet ready to do that for the book of Kings, but I imagine this overwhelming theme of God’s word being fulfilled will play a major role. Since the first few and last few examples have to do with God’s promise to be with the king and people if they walk faithfully with him, the thrust of the book does appear to be an explanation of how the exile should not have been a surprise to anyone. The ejection of the kingdom from the land could have been prevented and was in full accord with the word of God to his people over centuries.

If you are interested, you can find my complete list in this document.

What People Thought About Reading the Bible in 90 Days

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Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

One of the things I love about our annual Bible reading challenge is hearing what the participants thought of the experience. Here are some quotes from those who entered the drawing, introduced by the length of time it took them to read the entire Bible:

54 days: Kind of like an all-you-can-eat buffet where you can’t eat too much; you keep going because you always have room for more.

85 days: It was a sweet way to start my day, and again I discovered a flow of thoughts and themes that I miss when reading smaller sections.

66 days: I loved it! I have read through the Bible many times over the last 20 years, using various translations, but I have never tried to read the entire Bible so quickly… Reading the whole Bible through in this way was more like reading an historical novel or biography – I could hardly stop reading! Reading swiftly helped me see more clearly than ever before how the thread of redemption runs through the whole story of God’s relationship with mankind. As I read, my faith in Jesus as my Lord, Redeemer and Messiah has grown stronger, my understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in my life became clearer, and I gained courage to follow Him more intimately. Telling others about the Kingdom of God becomes easier when you understand God’s story more fully. What a joy!

68 days: I really enjoyed reading it quickly like this. It allowed me to see the 50,000 foot view. I did get confused with all the characters reading this quickly (Kings and Chronicles-I’m looking at you), but it was a great was to see the big picture.

83 days: This is my second year reading (third listening), which gave me the confidence that I’d be able to do it again. I liked the challenge this year as well. I feel like every year I do this I’m able to make more and more connections between the Old Testament and the New (without a study bible or notes telling me references), which feels really cool! I think it just generally makes me realize this is a BOOK and God’s story (and ours!), as opposed to “let’s read a Gospel, or let’s read a certain book of the bible and talk about missions, or friendship, or discipleship or some other topic…). Overall a good experience that I hope to do again next year.

81 days: Overall it was a great experience. it started out well, then about a month in got hard and overwhelming with the amount of reading (I wanted to quit at one point). As I got to the New Testament it got easier. Reading larger portions of a books or even finishing books in one sitting was helpful to see the overall picture/theme of each book. However, there were many times I wanted to think through the text or had questions, but due to time was not able to.

78 days: One advantage of rapid reading is that you get to see the theme of the book clearly rather than the specific details. Makes it easier to identify Jesus’ role in each book. Unlike bite sized bible reading, reading in volume changes the way I retain lessons/values. Sometimes, “less significant” things get bumped by “more significant” ones until only a handful of lessons can be recalled after reading. It is easier for me to see the timeline of events in a book if I read large chunks of the Scriptures daily. You get to appreciate the bigger picture. I’d definitely do this again and again. Reading the Bible in volume saturates the mind and relieves the soul. Why did I not do this while I was young?

77 days: Amazing! I was dreading the O.T., but actually found so much depth there and saw things I would never have seen otherwise. I noticed curious themes emerging between prophets that I would not have noticed without this fast reading. Also, because I did that audio version, I have noticed that I have more of the Bible on command in my mind. I was talking with a friend about an issue and was able to seamlessly draw together an OT and NT source because they were fresh in my mind.

90 days: This is my 4th year, and each year I choose a different translation. Each year, different things jump out at me.

What Book Should New Believers Read First?

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I’ve often been asked where people new to the Bible should start with the Bible. Which book of the Bible should they read first?

I believe the best answer to the question is: whichever book they are most likely to enjoy reading. So my typical response is to ask them what sort of literature they already enjoy: stories, poetry, non-fiction, etc. Then I propose some options within the Bible that are most similar in genre.

But with that said, there is certainly a place for giving more direction for guided reading to assist folks who are new to the Bible. And to that end, this article by Eden Parker has some wonderful advice. Not only does she provide two “best” options for where to begin; she also provides sound advice to guide the expectations of those just beginning to read the Bible.

Check it out!

Additional Prizes for This Year’s Bible Reading Challenge

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In case the fact has slipped your mind, we still have a Bible reading challenge underway. All you have to do is read the entire Bible within 90 days, and then you can enter to win a free Logos 9 Silver base package. See here for the complete rules. You still have plenty of time to complete the reading by March 31, and if you’re just getting started, you may count anything you have read since January 1.

When I announced this year’s challenge, and in the reminders since, I’ve off-handedly mentioned that there will be several prizes given in addition to the grand prize. I’m now ready to divulge what those additional prizes will be.

We’ve been working on some updated and new resources to help you learn to both study the Bible for yourself and lead Bible studies for others.

First, my book Knowable Word has been revised and expanded with a second edition.

Second, my new book on how to lead small group Bible studies will soon be available!

I’ll write more about both books another time. But for this year’s reading challenge, three winners will receive copies of both books. So make sure to finish strong and use the form below to let us know how it went for you. So far, we have 13 entries in the drawing. I expect quite a bit more to pour in this month as the deadline approaches. But still—your chances of winning a prize are pretty good!

Tools to Help You Read Your Bible

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We’ve still got a Bible reading challenge underway, and it’s not too late to hop on board! I’ve written before about reading plans and tools I use, such as Logos and the Dwell audio app. But here are some more recommendations of tools from Amy Hall. I’ve not heard of the Bible Box app she mentions, nor have I seen the Discipleship Journal reading plan before that she links to. I will add that one to my list options in the future.

Check it out!