September 6, 2011 – Ezra 2:20 – 2:58

So, we not only see that the different families were coming back, but that the family jobs were also being kept. If your great grandfather was a Temple servant, you were going to be a Temple servant. I mentioned last time about it being weird to go back to a place you had never been, what about a Temple servant who had never done that before, not to mention the fact that there was no temple to serve at. This person had spent their life in exile, learning how to live a certain way, now was being sent back to a strange land and going to have to figure out a new role for a place that didn’t exist. I think sometimes we hear about the exile and the return and don’t really think about what that meant to those that were going through it. What was going through their minds. Did they really want to go back. Maybe those that were going to gain power, sure, but what about the everyday temple servant. What if they had a better life in exile. Were they going to go back so easily. A lesson we could think about when God maybe calls us to do something that requires sacrifice for us.