Gospel Doctrine teachers: The lessons in the manual contain more information than you will probably be able to teach in one class period. Seek the Spirit of the Lord in selecting the scripture accounts, questions, and other lesson materials that best meet the needs of class members.

Basic Resources

• Do you want to see this week's Gospel Doctrine lesson? Lesson 47

• Would you like to see the class member study guide for this week? Lesson 47

• You can read the assigned scriptures for this week online: Ezra 1–8; Nehemiah 1–2; 4; 6; 8.

• Do you have an MP3 player? Try downloading Nehemiah 4. For more Old Testament audio, click here.

• The official scripture study aids often have helpful information you can use in your lessons. For example, for this week's lesson, read the definitions of "Ezra" and "Nehemiah" in the Bible Dictionary or in the Guide to the Scriptures.

Art

The picture in the upper-right corner of this page depicts a temple used anciently. This picture may be available in your meetinghouse library. You can also view it online in the Gospel Art Picture Kit, no. 118.

Recent Talks and Articles in Church Magazines

Would you like to see what Church leaders have said about a topic in this week's lesson? Click on the photographs or talk titles below to read the complete talk.

In the following statement, President Hinckley reminds us of our responsibility to reach out in kindness to all: "Let us as Latter-day Saints cultivate a spirit of brotherhood in all of our associations. Let us be more charitable in our judgments, more sympathetic and understanding of those who err, more willing to forgive those who trespass against us. Let us not add to the measure of hatred that periodically sweeps across the world. Let us reach out in kindness to all men, even toward those who speak evil of us and who would, if they could, harm us. "In a word, let us more nearly live the gospel of the Master, whose name we have taken upon us. Let us move this work forward; let our lives be such as to be worthy of emulation" ("Let Us Move This Work Forward," Ensign, Nov. 1985, 85).

In October of 1994, at the dedication of the Orlando Florida Temple, President Howard W. Hunter gave a talk directed especially to young people. Shortly before his death, he asked the New Era to share that message with all the youth of the Church. The following is an excerpt from that address: "During a recent general conference we encouraged Church members to worthily attend the temple or to work toward the day when they can enter his holy house to receive their ordinances and covenants. We hope that you, as young members of the Church, will go often to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead. When the time comes for you to go on a mission or be married, we pray that you will go to the temple worthily and feel the beautiful spiritual atmosphere that is present in the temple. "To qualify for the blessings of the temple, each of us must ensure that our lives are in harmony with the teachings of the Church. Before going to the temple, you are interviewed by your bishop. In that interview you certify to him that you meet a standard of conduct relating to the holy temple. We want you to decide today that you will always maintain this standard and be worthy of the privilege of going to the house of the Lord" ("Your Temple Recommend," New Era, Apr. 1995, 6).

Additional Helps

• Because this lesson deals with two different kings and two different groups returning to Jerusalem, plus the experience of Nehemiah, it may be helpful to create a visual to help students keep track of the events. You may wish to review "Visuals," found in Teaching, No Greater Call, page 182.

• One approach to presenting this lesson might be to emphasize that the Babylonian exile of Israel, their return to Jerusalem, and the rebuilding of the holy temple were all part of God's foreknown, pre-established plan. In the only Old Testament passage where the term messiah, or "anointed one" is used to refer to a non-Israelite, the Lord's intended purpose for Cyrus is declared by Isaiah (who prophesied during the eighth century B.C., about 150 years before the actual events). He said:
  "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed [messiah], to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
  "I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
  "And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel" (Isaiah 45:1–3).

• Cyrus was a redeemer of Israel, a similitude of Jesus Christ.

Historical Context

• Ezra and Nehemiah are historical works that were originally considered one book. They continue the narrative found in 1 and 2 Chronicles. Notice that the last two verses of 2 Chronicles are repeated almost word for word in the first two and a half verses of Ezra. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which cover the period from 539 B.C. to 432 B.C., are equivalent to the last chapter in the official written history of Israel.

• Ezra and Nehemiah both found favor in the eyes of a king of Persia who succeeded Cyrus. King Artaxerxes I (465–424 B.C.) commissioned Ezra and Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem in order to strengthen the restored Israelite community there. Ezra arrived in 458 B.C. and Nehemiah in 445 B.C. The idea of restoration under prophetic leadership is a key concept of this historical period and should be emphasized.

• As the book of Ezra opens, the central event of Cyrus's first year as conquering king of Babylon (538 B.C.) is described: the Lord "stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, [so] that he made a proclamation" (Ezra 1:1). The proclamation, known as the Edict of Liberation, allowed Israel, or the Jewish people, to return to their land. The edict is preserved in two versions. One was written in Hebrew (see Ezra 1:2–4), and the other written in Aramaic (see Ezra 6:3–5), the diplomatic language of the Persian Empire, which had also become the language of the Jewish people. In fact, because the people could no longer understand Hebrew very well, when Ezra read the Law aloud to the general assembly, he had to give its meaning and interpretation so that the people could understand it (see Nehemiah 8:8).

• So important was it to have a new temple that its construction was started in 536 B.C., on the ruins of Solomon's temple, which had been destroyed 50 years earlier by the Babylonians. People who remembered the first temple wept as the second temple foundation was being laid (see Ezra 3:12). However, the new temple was not completed until 516 B.C. (the sixth year of the Persian king Darius I [522–486 B.C.]), when it was finished at the urging of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (see Ezra 6:13–15).