Let me tell you what learning to play the cello taught me about the Israelites returning from exile in Babylon.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is January 2, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called The Story Behind the Story. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
A few years ago I decided I wanted to learn to play cello. I wasn’t sure how to get started so I looked at some forums online and learned that I could use the Suzuki method as an adult, even though that is a pathway mostly followed by very small children. As I read this forum of advice for adult learners, I was amused by a batch of comments where a woman who was also taking up cello as an adult objected to having to learn to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. “This is for children!” she complained. You don’t normally expect to find wisdom in the comments section, but one responder had some brilliant advice. She replied, “You’re not learning to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. You’re learning to play the cello.”
That comment has stuck with me because it is so easy to get focused on a thing right in front of us and it is harder to see beyond the thing to the bigger point. (Also, keep this story in mind next time you are tempted to ask, “When am I ever going to use this?” about a subject at school like Latin or geometry. There is something bigger going on. I’m throwing that one in for free.)
In our Scripture for students today, we’re going to talk about the book of Ezra. The book is extremely important for the history of God’s people but there is an even deeper lesson going on than just what we read about Zerubabel and the exiles returning to Jerusalem.
I’m going to read just one verse. Follow along with me as I read Ezra 2:1, “Now these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town.”
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
Starting the year reading Ezra is a little different experience than reading Genesis. Genesis tells us the story of true beginnings: the beginning of the world in creation and the beginning of God’s people in Abraham and his family. But the book of Ezra tells us the story of a new beginning. We’re actually picking up in the middle of the story. The way our English Bibles are laid out, the book makes a lot more sense if we are reading through 1 and 2 Chronicles and keep going right into Ezra.
To catch you up on the story: 1 and 2 Chronicles describes the long, sad decline of Israel. It starts out great: David is the warrior poet king who is a man after God’s own heart and his son Solomon builds the great temple as a dwelling place for God. But the decline is rapid and each successive generation of kings gets worse and worse. There are only a couple of bright spots: a couple of kings like Hezekiah and Josiah seems like they are going to turn things around, but even they are far less than perfect kings.
For centuries, God sent his prophets to warn Israel: if you don’t repent, bad things will happen to you. Well, they didn’t repent and bad things happened to them. In 722 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria. And in 586 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah was conquered by Babylon.
As I’m sure you know, the Bablyonians didn’t just kill everyone: they took the Israelite nobles, the wealthy, the intellectuals and forced them to move to Babylon, the area that today we would call Iraq. That’s about 600 miles in a straight line, but the Arabian desert is in the way, so they probably walked about 1000 miles to get there.
I live in Louisville, Kentucky. This would be a little bit like if the state of Colorado invaded Kentucky and then made us all walk to Denver. It’s a long way.
But the book of Ezra is significant because, even in the one verse that I read, we learn that there is much more going on than the long trudge back to Jerusalem.
The deeper point here is that the story of Ezra leads us to reflect on the character of the God who brings his people back from exile. This is a story of grace and mercy. Remember that these are people who sinned grievously against God by running after other gods, turning their backs on the true God of Israel. But he is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Exod 34:6–7).
And God keeps his promises. Remember how I said that for centuries, God had been sending prophets to warn the Israelites that if they didn’t repent, he would send them into exile? He also promised that once that happened, if they did repent, he would bring them back. Here are just a couple examples:
Isaiah 11:12 says, “He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”
Here’s another one: Zechariah 10:6 says, “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.
Ezekiel 11:17 says, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’
There are so many more verses like this. I started looking them up, thinking I would find two or three and I kept finding more and more and more. And this pile of promises tells us something about the character of God. It’s a weak metaphor, but in the way that learning to play “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” is a small part of a much bigger goal of learning to play cello, reading the book of Ezra helps us see the much bigger story of God’s faithfulness to his people. It reveals his character, that he loves his people, that he cares for them, and that he always keeps his promises.
This can be a great comfort for you today. As we start a new year, I’m sure that there you have anxieties and apprehensions about the year to come. You may be suffering in some form. Or maybe you need guidance for a big decision in the coming months. And every one of us has the same fundamental problem as the Israelites: we’re sinners. And so the book of Ezra calls us to the same solution: repentance. As we begin a new year, it is a great time for us to consider: how is God calling us to walk in repentance this year? How is he calling us to turn away from our sins and follow Jesus Christ instead?
The book of Ezra reminds of the bigger, deeper picture that God loves and leads his people. Just as it was for the Israelites, so today: there is more going on here, if we have eyes to see. That’s called faith. May our reading in Ezra today give you confidence that God is at work in a thousand ways in your life as well.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing.