Ezra 1 Bible study: Stirred to go up

Ezra begins with the LORD, not with Cyrus: "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" (1:1) (tap stirred, spirit). Cyrus's own words say where the command came from: "The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah" (1:2) (tap commanded). Then the same thing happens a second time, to other people: "Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, all whose spirit God had stirred to go up, rose up to build the LORD’s house which is in Jerusalem" (1:5). In Hebrew it is the same verb and the same word for spirit in both verses, and they are the only two times Ezra uses either word. The king's spirit is stirred to make the proclamation; the people's spirit is stirred "to go up" (1:5) (tap go up). The chapter doesn't say everyone went. Cyrus says, "Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem" (1:3), and those who rise up are "all whose spirit God had stirred to go up" (1:5).

Ezra 1:5→leads toJohn 6:44

Ezra says those who rose up to build were "all whose spirit God had stirred to go up" (1:5). Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up in the last day" (John 6:44). Jesus doesn't cite Ezra 1, so setting the two side by side is a reading, resting on a shared subject: God at work in people before they come. Some see in 1:5 a picture of what Jesus says about coming to him. Others keep the two apart: John 6:44-45 speaks of coming to Jesus, "everyone who hears from the Father and has learned, comes to me" (John 6:45), and Ezra 1:5 tells of a journey to Jerusalem to build the LORD's house. Christians understand the Father's drawing in more than one way, and this line doesn't choose between them: Ezra 1:5 says only who rose up, and John 6:44 is quoted here as it stands, with no account given of how the Father draws.

עוּרursay OOR

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "rouse oneself, awake", and in the form here, "rouse". Strong's: "to wake (literally or figuratively)". "The LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia" (1:1), and those who rose up to build were "all whose spirit God had stirred to go up" (1:5). These are the only two times Ezra uses the verb, and both times it stands with ruach, spirit (tap spirit). 2 Chronicles 36:22 has the same verb with spirit, of Cyrus. The book of Haggai uses the verb of the builders too: "The LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people" (Haggai 1:14).