Return from Captivity

In short

Ezra chapter 1. The Jews have been in captivity in a foreign land for decades, and now they can go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

Why it is important

Everything is different this time.

Up till now, the story of God’s people, from Genesis to 1 Kings, has been mostly upward, from one man, Abraham, to two million crossing the desert, to a mighty and prosperous nation. Then they bobsledded downhill to captivity. Now, the majority of the nation is still scattered all over; the land belongs to someone else; and the temple is in ruins.

The Jews have an identity from within now, where before it was dependent on their leaders.

Main characters

• Cyrus, king of Persia
• Jews

What is in this story

King Cyrus sets the Jews free. He’s really nice to them.

What the story is really about is everything that led up to it.

1. Israel was originally 12 tribes
2. Ten split away, but Benjamin double-crossed and allied with Judah (again)
3. The tribe of Levi is neutral – they have the priests – but they also ally with Judah
4. Judah (et al) is taken captive by Babylon (c. 586 BC), as Jeremiah prophesied
5. Babylon also destroys the city walls, the temple, and carts off the goods inside
6. Babylon also falls, to Persia, as Daniel prophesied
7. Daniel worked in both administrations
8. “the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia” (Ezra 1:1)
9. Cyrus sets the people free (to Jerusalem), gives back the temple items, and charges them with rebuilding the temple (Ezra 1:3)

Things that are not so well-known

• There is another wave of captives that return in Ezra 7-8 (about 60 years later)
• The story of Esther takes place between these two returns
• Even after the second return, there are still people living in Persia – like Nehemiah

Theology and doctrine

Deuteronomy 30:1-6

(1)  “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,

(2)  and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul,

(3)  then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

(4)  If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you.

(5)  And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

(6)  And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.