Ezra and the judges: In your great mercy, you sent them liberators who rescued them from their enemies. Nehemiah 9:27

The Book of Nehemiah recounts a very important period in the history of the Israelites. Cyrus the Great had conquered the Babylonian empire, and then the King of Kings turned his mercy toward the exiles of the land of Judah, and thus began the return of the Jews and Benjaminites to Jerusalem and its surroundings. Nehemiah, a Persian court official and a man deeply devoted to God, in this historical context, was sent by Cyrus as governor of Judah to rebuild what remained of Jerusalem.
Once his work was completed, Nehemiah rebuilt the temple and the walls, and as a conclusion, it is recounted in the Book of Nehemiah that the priest and scribe Ezra gathered the Israelites and gave them a long speech during the Feast of Tabernacles to remind them of the covenant with God.
And in his story Ezra, with his wisdom, referred to the period of the aristocracy of the judges to teach the importance of the spiritual gift of fear of God (constancy, firmness, devotion, and equanimity) and what happens when the hardness of hearts, the opposite of the fear, prevails in the human society.
In his speech, Ezra recounted what happened when the conquest of Canaan began: "They were disobedient and rebelled against you. They turned their backs on your Law, they killed your prophets who warned them to return to you, and they committed terrible blasphemies" Nehemiah 9:26.
And as a result of this, the Bible relates that God gave them over to the oppression of their enemies, and that is why Ezra continued with his speech remembering the eternal mercy of God, and how the Lord sent judges to free them: "But in their time of trouble they cried to you, and you heard them from heaven. In your great mercy, you sent them liberators who rescued them from their enemies" Nehemiah 9:27.
The hardness of the hearts, Ezra recalled, brought serious problems and suffering to the nation of Israel, but when they turned to the Lord with reverential fear, the creator of all things freed them and blessed them. Only God should be feared and not men, Ezra left as the central message in his speech. It can be said that with this speech Ezra began an era of prosperity and peace for Israel, a time that lasted until the conquest of Alexander the Great.

For more information visit my profile follow the link and download for free my ebook.