Ezra 1 explained: A Foreign King Sends Exiles Home

The promised turning point (v. 1)

In 539 BC Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon, the empire that had destroyed Jerusalem and its temple and taken many of its people away decades earlier. The writer sees Cyrus's decision as the LORD at work, keeping Jeremiah's promise that the exile would end after seventy years.

Cyrus's official decree (vv. 2-4)

Cyrus credits Israel's God with his empire and lets any Jewish exiles who wish go home and rebuild the temple, with local people helping to pay. Persian kings are known to have backed local gods and temples to win loyalty, so this may have been policy as much as faith, though the writer reads it as God moving the king.

Who chose to go (vv. 5-6)

Family leaders from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin set out, along with priests and Levites, the families who served at the temple. Many exiles had settled lives in Babylon and stayed, but neighbors sent the travelers off with generous gifts, which many readers see as an echo of Israel leaving Egypt loaded with gifts.

Temple treasures handed back (vv. 7-8)

Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, had carried off the temple's gold and silver vessels and placed them in his own god's temple, and now Cyrus gives them back. They go to Sheshbazzar, leader of the returning group, though scholars debate whether he is the same man as Zerubbabel, who leads in later chapters.

Counting the treasures (vv. 9-11)

The writer records the items with care, perhaps to stress that worship in the rebuilt temple would carry on from the old one, using its own sacred objects. The items listed add up to about 2,500, not the 5,400 given, and no one is sure why; it may be a partial list or an early copying error.

Key verse: Ezra 1:1

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Cyrus truly came to honor Israel's God or was a ruler of many gods whom God used without his knowing it.

Something to think about

When something good happens for mixed or political reasons, does that change how you see the good itself?