“We may … find that a specific verse of scripture that was spoken for quite a different purpose in an entirely different age will, under the interpretive influence of the Holy Ghost, give us a very personal message adapted to our personal needs today. Have a class member read the following quotation from Elder Dallin H. You may want to use the following activity (or one of your own) to begin the lesson. If the picture Temple Used Anciently is available, you may want to use it during the lesson (62300 Gospel Art Picture Kit 118). You may want to invite a class member to prepare to give a brief summary of the historical background given at the beginning of the first scripture account. When they hear the words of the law, the people weep and desire to obey them.Īdditional reading: Haggai 1 “Ezra,” Bible Dictionary, page 669 “Nehemiah,” Bible Dictionary, page 738.
After the walls are rebuilt around Jerusalem, Ezra reads the scriptures to the people. Nehemiah arms the laborers and keeps the work going forward until the walls are finished ( Nehemiah 4 6). The enemies of the Jews seek to prevent them from rebuilding the walls. Learning that the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem were “in great affliction and reproach, “Nehemiah receives permission from King Artaxerxes to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls ( Nehemiah 1–2).
Ezra and his people fast and pray, and the Lord protects them on their journey. More than 50 years after the temple is dedicated, Ezra receives permission from King Artaxerxes of Persia to lead another group of Jews back to Jerusalem. King Darius renews the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the temple, and it is finished and dedicated in about 515 B.C. Several years later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah exhort the Jews to finish the temple the Samaritans continue to oppose it ( Ezra 5 see also Haggai 1). The Samaritans offer to help work on the temple, are turned down, and attempt to stop the work the rebuilding ceases ( Ezra 4). Zerubbabel and Jeshua lead approximately 50,000 people back to Jerusalem, and they begin to rebuild the temple ( Ezra 2–3). He frees the Jews who have been captive in Babylon and invites them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple ( Ezra 1). King Cyrus reads his name in Isaiah’s prophecies and is filled with a desire to do the Lord’s will. Prayerfully study the following scriptures:Įzra 1–6. To encourage class members to help build Zion and to show Christlike love to those who oppose the work of the Lord.
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