July 16 - The Lord Encouraged Cyrus

July 16 - The Lord Encouraged Cyrus
Ezra 1:1-11

The Christian Old Testament is not arranged chronologically and for some of us (myself included), that tends to mess with our understanding of when and how things actually happened.  Some pieces of historical writing are found both in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles – identical writing.  Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther do take place after the Israelites have been taken into exile, but you have to insert Daniel into their timeline as well as a great deal of Isaiah.  Jeremiah is written before and during Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion.  The twelve minor prophets are written at various times scattered throughout that period as well.

The writings of Ezra and Nehemiah occurred  within years of each other.  The Persians defeated Nebuchadnezzar in battle and acquired all of his lands.  King Cyrus was an intelligent ruler and recognized that he could rule people while they lived their own lives in their own lands, so he allowed people to return to their homes.  He even went so far as to return some of the items that Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the Temple. In Ezra 1:11, we read that the gold and silver vessels returned to the Israelites numbered five thousand four hundred.

The tribes of Judah and Benjamin returned to Jerusalem and began rebuilding.  Their neighbors weren’t terribly thrilled with the idea and petitioned every king of Persia following Cyrus.  When they got to Artaxerxes, he decided to agree with them and forced the Jews to stop working on rebuilding the temple.  Fortunately, Darius followed him and not only did he order the rebuilding of the temple, but offered finances from the royal treasury to fund the construction.

A new home to offer sacrifices and worship God was in progress.  Renewal for Israel was at hand.