Rooting Path · Old Testament Survey · Lesson 7 of 7 · Return and Waiting · about 20 min
Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther; the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. On the timeline these are two eras: ‘Return and Rebuilding’ (Cyrus’s decree, rebuilding the temple, Esther pleading for her people, Ezra’s return, Nehemiah rebuilding the walls, the reading of the law) and ‘Between the Testaments’ (from the close of the Old Testament until Herod became king). The people came back, and the temple and the walls were built again; the Old Testament closes in waiting.
As the seventy years of exile were nearly over, the text records:
1Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the LORD’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
Ezra 1:1 · WEB
In the last book of the Old Testament, God says:
1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me! The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Behold, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming!” says the LORD of Armies.
Mal 3:1 · WEB
The last two verses of the Old Testament:
5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 6He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
Mal 4:5–6 · WEB
The last lesson ended with the exiles settled in Babylon, and Jeremiah writing that when seventy years were complete, God would bring them back. This lesson is the last stretch of the Old Testament: they come back, and then the waiting begins.
In the land of exile, Daniel “understood by the books the number of the years about which the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years” (Dan 9:2). Later, Cyrus king of Persia issued a decree allowing the Jews to go back and rebuild the temple. The text makes a point of saying this was “that the LORD’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth might be accomplished.” (Ezra 1:1) What the prophet said in the last lesson came true here.
Zerubbabel led the first group back to Jerusalem and laid the foundation of the temple. Many shouted for joy; but “the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice” (Ezra 3:12). Later the work stopped. The prophet Haggai asked the people: “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?” (Hag 1:4) Zechariah brought God’s word: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zech 4:6). At last the temple was finished.
Many Jews stayed in Persia. The book of Esther never mentions the name of God from beginning to end, yet an orphan girl became queen; when her whole people faced destruction, Mordecai said to her: “Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esth 4:14) God did not step forward and speak, yet one event after another fell into place.
Ezra came back; he “had set his heart to seek the LORD’s law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). Nehemiah came back to rebuild the walls, and they were finished “in fifty-two days” (Neh 6:15). The people gathered to hear Ezra read the book of the law from early morning until midday, and “The ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law” (Neh 8:3). The temple, the walls, the law—all had come back.
But one thing had not come back: there was no king on David’s throne. Some years later the people grew cold again. Through Malachi God said: “I have loved you” (Mal 1:2), and they said: “How have you loved us?” (Mal 1:2) Still God called: “Return to me, and I will return to you” (Mal 3:7). The last words of the Old Testament are a promise: God would send a messenger to prepare the way—“the messenger of the covenant… is coming” (Mal 3:1); God would send Elijah. And then the Old Testament fell silent.
After the Old Testament closed, there was a long time with no new prophetic book. The ‘Between the Testaments’ section of the timeline records a few events from this time: after Persia, Alexander conquered the region; the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek; a foreign king desecrated the temple, and the Jews rose up, took it back and cleansed it—the ‘Feast of the Dedication’ mentioned in the New Testament (John 10:22) remembers this; finally Rome came, and Herod became king of the Jews. So when the New Testament opens, we find the Roman emperor, King Herod, and Jews in many places reading the law and the prophets.
Over seven lessons, the Old Testament turns out to be a story without an ending: God made a good world, and people went astray; God chose a family, rescued them from Egypt, made a covenant with them, and gave them a land and a king; again and again they left, and again and again God sent people to plead with them. At the very end, the people were still waiting. When the New Testament begins, someone is waiting: Simeon, “looking for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25).
Mark’s Gospel opens by picking up from Malachi: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you” (Mark 1:2), and then: “John came baptizing in the wilderness” (Mark 1:4). When the angel announced John the Baptist’s birth, he said John “will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children’” (Luke 1:17)—the words of Malachi’s last verse. John prepared the way; the one who came after him was Jesus.
Paul says: “when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law” (Gal 4:4). Hebrews says: “God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways… has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son” (Heb 1:1–2). In Lesson 5 we read what Jesus said after he rose: “all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). The whole Old Testament was waiting for this one.
Open the ‘Return and Rebuilding’ and ‘Between the Testaments’ sections of the timeline and click through each event in order. Write two things: after the return, what was rebuilt? And what never came back, so that the people were still waiting?
For reference: rebuilt—the temple (Zerubbabel and Joshua), the walls (Nehemiah), the reading of the law and the renewal of the covenant (Ezra). Still waiting—no king on David’s throne; the new covenant, the new heart, the suffering servant and the messenger of the covenant promised by the prophets had not yet come. Between the Testaments, one foreign power after another ruled, and finally Rome and Herod.
Behold, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming!
Mal 3:1 · WEB
This week read Malachi (four chapters), then open Matthew 1 and read the genealogy. Afterward write one sentence: which Old Testament names did you see again in the genealogy?
Just this one thing. When you do it, tap that day below; if you don’t, that’s all right—try again next week.
Good. Tap each day you do it this week:
Putting down roots is not something you do alone. Find a brother or sister you trust (ideally of the same sex) and talk this question over this week:
Now that you have read all seven lessons, how has your view of the Old Testament changed? Which lesson would you most like to read again?