The period of the seventy years' captivity predicted by Jeremiah (Jer. 29:10). was nearing its close. The discipline needed by the Israelites had proved [52] effective. What the temple, priests, prophets and judgments had before failed to effect was accomplished by the long exile in Mesopotamia. There, under the instruction of such prophets as Daniel and Ezekiel, they abandoned idol worship forever and learned to hate it with the intensest hatred. After the return, whatever other sins may have been practiced by the Jews, we hear no more of the worship of Baal, or other idol gods.

      During the seventy years great changes had taken place in the world's history. The splendid kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, the "head of gold," had fallen before the Medo-Persian armies in the reign of his grandson. The great city, Babylon, had been taken by the Persian conqueror, Cyrus. He found the Jews in Babylon as an oppressed race, and was ready to lend a listening ear to the story of the wrongs that they had suffered from his enemies. Daniel, high in renown among the Babylonians, became one of the governors of the Persians over Babylonia, and no doubt an esteemed counsellor of Cyrus. The king was probably shown the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel in which he was named as the restorer of Israel. Besides it can hardly be doubted that Cyrus felt a religious sympathy for the Jews. The Persians, following the teaching of Zoroaster, worshiped no idols and believed in one great deity, called Ormazd, whom they pronounced the creator of the heavens and the earth. In many respects there was a similarity between their religion and that of the Jews.

      Ezra, the author of this book, was of the priestly order, a scribe, but did not return to Judea in the first migration. Some have supposed that the book of Ezra was in part written by Ezra and in part by another, from the circumstance that sometimes he uses the first and sometimes the third person. This is not uncommon with other histories (see Thucydides) and at any rate the whole composition was directed by Ezra and was probably composed about B. C. 456.

      1. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia. This closes the seventy years' captivity. It began in B. C. 606, the year in which king Jehoiachin with a portion of the Israelites was carried into captivity. It ended in B. C. 536, just seventy years later, two years after Babylon was taken by Cyrus. For this period of two years the province of Babylon was ruled by "Darius the Mede," supposed to be the uncle of Cyrus. At the end of this time, probably on the death of Darius, Cyrus took the government. He was king before, but this is his first year as the royal ruler in Babylon. Cyrus. The founder of the Persian empire and one of the greatest names of the ancient world. His early career is somewhat involved in obscurity, and there are conflicting accounts, but it is certain that before him the Persians were unknown and that at his death their empire embraced all western Asia. Media, Persia, Assyria, Babylon, Lydia, Syria, and Palestine, were all parts of his vast empire. He was a great conqueror, a wise ruler, and a far better man than the ordinary class of kings. The word of the Lord by the [53] mouth of Jeremiah. The predictions of the return of the Jews to their own land recorded in Jer. 25:12 and 29:10. See also 2 Chron. 36:21, where it is declared that Judea should lie desolate seventy years. He made a proclamation. Cyrus, either by the persuasion or such men of God as Daniel, or by some other influence employed by God, was induced to make this proclamation, or "to send a voice" in the expressive language of the original. At the king's command heralds went into every part of the kingdom crying in a loud voice the words of the king's proclamation.

      2. The Lord God of heaven hath given me. The king's proclamation was made in the Persian language. Ezra translated it into Hebrew. It is probable that the proclamation began "Ormazd, the God of heaven," of which "Jehovah, the God of heaven," would be a faithful Jewish translation. The Persian idea of the Supreme Being was, in many respects, harmonious with that of the Jews. In the inscriptions left by the Persian kings upon the monuments, they often begin with a similar formula. Hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem. This was literally true. Daniel had probably shown to Cyrus Isaiah 44:28, which says: "That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem. Thou shalt be built and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid." Also Isaiah 45:1-4.

      3. Who is there among you of all his people? The language implies that the Jews were scattered in various parts of the empire. There were no less than four transportations, including that of the people of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians; 1st. That of the Ten Tribes; 2d. That after the first defeat of king Jehoiakim in which Daniel was carried away; 3d. That of king Jehoiachin, his court and others embracing 10,023 men; 4th. That of a great mass of people after the fall of Jerusalem, estimated to reach from 300,000 to 400,000 souls. There was one large settlement on the river Chebar, not far from Babylon, and others probably had lands assigned wherever Nebuchadnezzar could find vacancies. Hence it was needful that the heralds should proclaim the news of the return in various parts of the empire. To many of these exiles, longing for Jerusalem, praying daily with their faces toward Jerusalem, it came like the gospel of the Lord to hear the royal proclamation: "Go up to Jerusalem,   *   *   *   build the house of the Lord." [54]

      4. Whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth. A better translation is: "Whosoever still is left in any place where he has sojourned." Wherever any of these Jewish sojourners are found, let them be helped by others. The king had undertaken the work of their return and the rebuilding of the temple, and hence commands all faithful subjects to help in the work by contributing money, goods and beasts of burden to the Jews who were about to start on the long pilgrimage back to Judea. Besides the free-will offering. He proposed to make a free-will offering for the temple out of the public treasury; his servants were commanded to follow his example.

      The number that gathered under this proclamation for the first migration amounted to 42,360 men. They were led by Zerubbabel, a descendant of the royal line of David, and an ancestor of Jesus. There was with them Jeshua, the hereditary high priest, but according to the record only four of the twenty-four courses of priests were represented. The greater portion were of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, though there were some of other tribes, especially of Ephraim. The men of Judah so preponderated that from this time the whole nation is called "The Jews." The sacred vessels carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, or such as remained, were restored, and were joyfully carried on the return. We even have an exact enumeration of the number of gold and silver basins, chargers and sacrificial knives, amounting to over 5,000. They arrived in Judea in the early spring and were probably joined by numbers of the common people who had been left there. The first step taken was the restoration of the altar, on the site of Araunah's threshing floor and where for five centuries had stood the altar of the temple. It was one chief object to rebuild the temple and the preparations were at once begun. In October of the second year after the return, the second month of the year, which now began in September after the Babylonian custom, the preparations for laying the foundations of the second temple, the one that was to stand until after Christ came, were completed.

      3:8. In the second year of their coming . . . the second month. They came in the spring and this was the second fall after. The old Jewish year had begun with the spring, but in the Captivity the custom had arisen of beginning the year [55] in September, like the Babylonians. Unto the house of God. Where it had stood and was to be built again. Zerubbabel. A prince of Judah and a descendant of the ancient kings chosen to be the leader of the return. Jeshua. The high priest. They were assisted in the solemn rites, corresponding to laying a corner stone, by the priests and Levites who had returned from the Captivity.

      9. Then stood Jeshua. Probably not the high priest, but the Jeshua named in chapter 2:40, and there associated with Kadmiel.

      10. When the builders laid the foundation. Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the high priest, who presided over the work. "So important seemed the step thus taken that the day was celebrated with the finest display of the old pomp on which they had yet ventured. The priests, in the rich dresses that Zerubbabel had, out of the princely munificence, furnished, blew their silver trumpets; the sons of Asaph once more clashed their brazen cymbals. Many of the Psalms were doubtless composed and used upon this occasion. One strain especially rang above all--that runs through the 106th, 107th, 118th and 136th Psalms. 'O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is and his mercy endureth forever.'"--Dean Stanley.

      11. And they sang by course in praising. This will be better understood by reading 2 Chron. 5:11-14. In the account of the dedication the re given we are told how the Levites, the singers, of the families of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, arrayed in linen, with cymbals, harps and psaltery, joined with the trumpeters so as to make one sound. Then also, the grand chorus was, "Praise the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endureth forever." On the occasion of the lesson the people responded with a great shout of joy and praise.

      12. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers. Long and loud [56] were these Jewish Te Deums re-echoed by the shouts of the multitude. It was not, however, a day of unmingled joy, for among the crowd stood some aged men who had lived through the catastrophe of the Captivity; who, in their youth, had seen the magnificent structure of Solomon standing in its unbroken stateliness; and when they compared that vanished splendor with these scanty beginnings, they could not refrain from bursting into a loud wail at the sad contrast. The two strains from the older and the younger generation mingled in a rivalry of emotion.--Stanley.

      13. So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people. The two sounds were so mingled that they could not be distinguished from each other, but "the people shouted with a loud shout," and in this the sound of the wailing was absorbed. Hag. 2:3 and Zech. 4:10, both prophets of this period, refer to this lamentation of the ancients. The former comforted the old men with the assurance that the glory of the second temple should be greater than that of the first, because the Desire of All Nations should come and his glory should fill the house, an assurance that it should be entered by Christ.

      1. The promises of the Lord are sure. In his own set time he will fulfill his word. Though his church may long mourn in captivity, the day of redemption will finally come.

      2. God is greater than kings. They are made instruments to fulfill his will. He raised up Nebuchadnezzar to scourge Israel for its sins; he raised up Cyrus to restore the chastened and purified people to their own land.

      3. "The Father chastens every son that he loveth." God's people are often smitten to wean them away from sin. Tribulation, captivity, exile, made the children of Israel turn from idols to Jehovah. So still sorrow is a purifier. "No chastisement for the present is joyous but grievous, but, nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby."

      4. God called his people out of Babylon to return to Jerusalem. The church, also, was carried away into the captivity of mystical Babylon; the city of spiritual confusion; the Babel where there are many voices; the jargon of sectarianism. The Lord calls upon them to return to Jerusalem. He commands: "Come out of her, my people." Let all who bear his voice go back to Jerusalem.

      5. When the Jews returned, they first built the altar of God, before even building shelters for themselves. They placed first the kingdom of God and his commandments. So will all true worshipers. How can those who claim to be [57] Christ's seek first their own comfort, build them houses, buy lands, secure fine raiment, while the altar and house of the Lord are neglected!

      6. Even when calamities seem to come the mercy of the Lord is still over his people. It endures forever and is shining like the sun above the clouds.

      7. It is a glorious work to build God's temple. Christ has called all his people to be builders. Everyone who loves him should build in the living stones, the children, the young and the old. As it is builded "all the people" can give a great shout of joy. Even the angels rejoice when one sinner repenteth.

      8. Christ has bequeathed to us the work of building his spiritual temple. Eudamidas, a citizen of Corinth, died in poverty; but, having two wealthy friends, Arctæus and Charixenus, he made a will in which he bequeathed his family to them, to be taken care of as their own. And the two friends accepted the legacy. So Christ has bequeathed to his people the upbuilding of the church until it shall fill the earth. Let us accept the bequest.

[CLC01 52-58]