Long journeys often involve difficulties and dangers. When we travel, we traverse distance, which requires energy. We depend on regular supplies of fuel and food along the way. We often exchange the known for the unknown. It is no surprise that the Bible compares the life of faith to a journey. Abraham left the familiar Ur for the unfamiliar Canaan, Israel exchanged luxuri­ous Egypt for a barren wilderness, and Ezra left Baby­lon to return to Zion. This would have been a daunting journey, especially with so many. However, an unseen hand protected them and removed all obstacles until they arrived safe in Zion. What a wonderful experience that must have been — especially in light of all the challenges they had had to face!

Assembling the Tribes for the Journey⤒🔗

The first challenge was assembling all the people for the journey. As we saw in Ezra 2, the Bible takes time to mention the names and derivation of those who returned to the land of promise. The priestly and royal families are mentioned first (verses 2-3a: Phinehas, Ithamar, and David). Then follow 12 families with both names and numbers. The number 12 suggests the 12 tribes of Israel, though we can’t be certain whether each family was from a different tribe and from which ones they were. Together they comprise about 1,500 people. With women and children, this would have been about 5,000 people. As a careful and concerned leader, Ezra took time to “view” or inspect the people (v. 15) and noticed that Levites were missing.

Ezra obviously knew that the Levites had been appointed to assist the priests in the worship of God. Their absence left the returning company without the appointed ministers of the sanctuary.

Ezra addressed this problem by sending a delegation to Casiphia (v. 17). The interesting phrase, “the place Casiphia,” may suggest that there was an early syna­gogue there, or perhaps that there was a training school for Levites and Nethinim. The Nethinim were assis­tants to the Levites, who, in turn, assisted the priests.

All in all, about 40 Levites and 220 Nethinim joined the returning company. They could fulfill the divinely appointed role of mediating and ministering. By faith, Ezra recognized that this was the “good hand of our God upon us” (v. 18).

God’s hand is still at work today. We may worry about the fact that the church is small. In general, true ministers are hard to find. Yet, it is God’s gracious hand that gathers in every one of His children. His people are sealed and shall all be brought in without fail (Rev. 7:4-8). The great Minister of the sanctuary did not need to be recruited from Casiphia; He was commissioned from before the dawn of time. He said: “Lo, I come” (Ps. 40:7). And what a “Man of under­standing” He was! When He went about His Father’s business, we read that the scribes were “astonished at his understanding” (Luke 2:47).

Escaping the Dangers of the Journey←⤒🔗

Besides assembling the tribes for the journey, Ezra was faced with the daunting prospect of a dangerous journey. Considering the perils of wilderness travel, it would have been reasonable to have asked for a mil­itary escort (8:22). However, Ezra knew he had “to practice what he preached.” Ezra had magnified before the king the power and grace that God bestows upon those who fear Him. Would he now lean on the arm of flesh?

This raises the question: Do those around us get a consistent message from us? Or do we magnify God’s power in word, but in deed lean on the power of man? Ezra’s struggle illustrates that faith in God’s power is often not without fear for man’s power. Yet, this pas­sage also illustrates faith’s triumph over temptation. God upheld the faith of His servant so that fear did not snuff out faith. Perhaps he said with David: “Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear” (Ps. 27:3).

However, this victory of faith did not come apart from fasting and prayer. Ezra called for corporate humiliation, “in order to seek of him a right way for us” (Ezra 8:21). Like his forefather Jacob, who feared the armies of Esau on his journey back to Canaan, Ezra, we could say, also “wept and made supplica­tion” (Hos. 12:4) to God. And through the good hand of God he, like Jacob, also entered the land unassailed by his foes.

On their journey to the heavenly Canaan, God’s church also has many enemies. Yet, like Ezra, we are to trust in the Lord and not fear what man can do to us (Ps. 118:16). As the Psalmist writes:

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. Ps. 91:4-6

Transporting the Treasures during the Journey←⤒🔗

If we had been along the way as these pilgrims passed through the wilderness, we would have seen 5,000 or so people walking unarmed to Zion. Among them there would be a group of about 20 that were tasked with transporting special goods — gold, silver, temple imple­ments. These were vessels for the Lord’s house. They would be used in the Lord’s service in the temple in Jerusalem. Transporting these was the third challenge of the journey.

Ezra had appointed priests and Levites to do this (compare Num. 4:46-49). He explained: “Ye are holy unto the LORD; the vessels are holy also” (v. 27). As the Levites at one time had carried the ark of the Lord through the wilderness and across the Jordan, so they now again carried the sacred temple articles as they returned to the land (see Josh. 3:3).

They had to take great care that these important implements and furnishings would arrive safely at their destination (vv. 24-30). Their special duty was to “watch and keep” (v. 29). They could not lose or relin­quish anything. Carelessness and negligence would be cardinal sins. When they arrived in Jerusalem, every implement would be counted, and every piece of pre­cious metals weighed.

Much like these Levites, Timothy later carried something very important. Paul had committed it to his trust. He wrote to his spiritual son: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust” (1 Tim. 6:10). Elsewhere he writes: “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:3). On his journey, Timothy had to hold fast what was put in his hands. He had to “watch and keep” lest in the end he would arrive without it. Do we exercise this same vigilance with respect to that which is committed to us?

Christ carried things far more precious than gold or silver. He bore His people like stones in His priestly breastplate. He could say to His Father: “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name” (John 17:12). He is the true Keeper.

Through Him, there can be a safe arrival in the heavenly Zion. There is safety in the breastplate of that Heavenly Minister, Jesus, to whom all the Leviti­cal ordinances pointed.

Questions←⤒🔗

1. How does this chapter illustrate the importance of families in the cause of God? What about “min­isters”?
    
2. Sherebiah is called a “man of understanding” (verse 18). What does the Bible mean by this word “understanding” (Ex. 36:1; Deut. 4:6; 1 Kings 3:9; Ps. 119:130, 144)?
    
3. Trace Ezra’s struggle between fear and faith in the text. How real is this in the life of a Christian? What light do the Psalms shed on this struggle?
    
4. Is there any place for “corporate humiliation” today? Read Joel 2:15-17 and reflect on its significance today.
    
5. What are some treasures we must “watch and keep” today? What can we learn from Ezra’s care­fulness on this point?
    
6. Find all the verses in this chapter that speak of the “good hand of God.” What does Ezra mean by this phrase? How can we see God’s hand today?
    
7. Read Psalm 121. What would this Psalm have meant to Ezra on his journey? How does it apply to the life of faith today?