So, how many years later? 70 years later we find that there is a man named Ezra who is a good man who loves God and is a scribe. What is a scribe? A person who writes. Back in the Old Testament times, not everyone could write, but Ezra could! Ezra was from the tribe of Levi. In fact, his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was Aaron! We remember Aaron, the brother of Moses and Miriam, don't we?! Ezra was a Levite and he was a priest.

At the end of seventy years, the king that was ruling over the people was the King of Persia named Cyrus. Way back in the prophet Isaiah's time, about 150 years before Cyrus was born, God had told the future by saying that there would be a king named Cyrus who would let God's people not only go back to Jerusalem, but he would let them lay down the foundation of the temple (Isaiah 44:28). And it happened just like God had said it would! God knows the future and God is in control--always!

The Bible says that God stirred up Cyrus and King Cyrus made a proclamation that said that the LORD God had instructed him to build God a temple in Jerusalem. The king said if any of the Jews wanted to go back to Jerusalem, then they could go. King Cyrus let the people take the vessels that the King of Babylon had taken from the LORD's temple back to Jerusalem, too.

Ezra listed all the people who went to Jerusalem the first time with the governor of Judah whose name was Zerubbabel. Guess how many of God's people wanted to go back to Jerusalem? Almost 50,000! That's a lot of people, but not as many as had been forced to leave under Babylon's rule. These people were called the 'remnant' of God's people. A remnant is what is leftover or what remains. It is usually a small amount of what there was in the beginning. Under the guidance and leadership of Zerubbabel, these people traveled back to Jerusalem to build the temple. That was their purpose or the reason that they were leaving. What was Zerubbabel and the nearly 50,000 people going to do? Yes! Build the temple. But, first, they had to lay the foundation (Ezra 3:11). It took them a while, but they finally finished the foundation which was going to hold up the rest of the temple. Perhaps because they had seen the beauty of King's Solomon's temple, or perhaps because they were sorry and remembered their sins and all the trouble they had caused, many of the priests and Levites cried when they saw it (3:12). Some peopel were happy, but some people were sad.

Building the rest of the temple took a long time because the nations around Jersualem caused some trouble, and then the people were discouraged, but more than twenty years later, the temple, too, was finished (Ezra 6:15).

After the temple was built, it had been so long that God's people had worshiped Him, someone need to go and restore the law of the LORD, so the people would know HOW to worship God His way. Ezra asked to go and permission was granted by the next king of Persia, Artaxerxes. This king of Persia gave Ezra everything he needed which was really provided by God (Ezra 7:6). Ezra had also prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD and did them, then he taught the people the law (Ezra 7:10). The king gave Ezra a letter, then Ezra and 17,000 more of God's people returned to Jerusalem to restore the Law of the Lord for a second trip.

We will learn next time who rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem.

"Older Student" Tips:

Many of God's people chose not to go back to Jerusalem because they had important jobs in Babylon or they had married wives of the Babylonians and did not want to leave Babylon which was their home. They stayed in Babylon.

Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther tell the history of the last 100 years of the Old Testament. Remember, the books of the Bible are not written like a storybook. The books of the prophets and poetry were blended into 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles.

It may be good to know that the book of Esther should chronologically be inserted between Ezra 6 and 7.

Directions

1. Before class collect pencil-sized sticks. Cut one end of the sticks at an angle to make points.

2. Before class print out a Bible verse in Greek.

3.. In class tell your children that in Bible times scribes used pens made by sharpening reeds with knives. They made their own ink by mixing soot with other substances to form a dried cake of ink. When a scribe was ready to write, he would moisten his pen by dipping it in water and then dipping it on the cake of ink to mix the ink and then write. Demonstrate how this is done but instead of using ink, use water color paint.

4. Your children can pretend to be scribes by using sticks that have been sharpened at one end (Use sandpaper. Just rub the end across the sand paper until it is sharp) and water colors. Have them dip the stick in a glass of water and then in the water color to make it moist. (It's basically painting with a stick). Use a long piece of paper that they can write their memory verse on.

Talk about Bible scrolls and how they were made. When their verse is dry, roll up the ends to make a scroll. You can tape craft sticks or straws at the ends to make it easy to roll up.

Directions:

• When children arrive, instruct them to search for the strips of paper hidden in the classroom. When a child finds one, have him hang it on the clothesline in the correct place. (At first, this will be an approximate location until more and more books are found and hung in order.)

• Children can continue to find and hang up additional books until all are in place. Then take the opportunity to recite the books in order as a group. (Consider using a song to do this.)

• Ask a child to remove one or two books from the clothesline and then try to recite the books again, inserting the missing book name where appropriate.

• Step 1. Give each student a white sheet of paper and instruct them to trace their hand prints, both right and left hands. Guide children in cutting out their handprints and gluing one hand print on each tablet shape (see image).

• Step 2. Help students copy a shortened version of each commandment onto each individual finger. Young children may need the commandments written for them (see image).

• Step 3. Lay the tablet shapes on top of each other and staple along the edge to create a book that opens to reveal the handprint commandments (see image).

• Step 4. Instruct students to give their booklet a title using white crayons or colored pencils (see image).

Setup of 10 Commandment Game:

• Stack the cups randomly into a 2 layer tall arrangement.

• Create a toss line about 8 feet away using tape or rope.

How To Play:

-Divide class into 2 teams and have the teams line up behind the toss line.

-Give the first person in line the ball.

-Read one of the 10 Commandment questions from below.

-The player must try to knock over the cup down that has the Commandment on it that the questions applies to. Only allow rolling of the ball. No throwing the ball allowed!

-A point is scored for the team if he/she successful at knocking that cup over. Keep scoring tally marks on the whiteboard or on paper.

-Rebuild the 2-layer stack and then have play continue to the next player. The team with the most points wins.

1. Which Commandment means we should go to Church on Sunday?
   [#3. Keep holy the Lord’s Day]

2. Which Commandment means God is more important than money?
   [#1. Do not have other gods before me]

3. Which Commandment means we should not swear?
   [#2. Do not take the name of the Lord in vain]

4. Which Commandment means we should obey Mom and Dad?
   [#4. Honor your father and your mother]

5. Which Commandment means we should not lie?
   [#8. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor]

6. Which Commandment means we should use other people’s stuff without permission?
   [#7. Do not steal]

7. Which Commandment means we should be faithful to our marriage partner?
   [#6. Do not commit adultery]

8. Which Commandment means we should not want someone else’s husband or wife?
   [#9. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife]

9. Which Commandment means we should never hurt anyone?
   [#5. Do not kill]

10. Which Commandment means we should not be jealous of what others have?
    [#10. Do not covet your neighbor’s goods]

11. Which Commandment means we should not harm our bodies?
    [#5. Do not kill]

12. WhichCommandment means we should respect our coaches and policemen?
    [#4. Honor your father and your mother]

13. Which Commandment means we should not be jealous of our neighbor’s new swimming pool?
    [#10. Do not covet your neighbor’s goods]