Ezra 1
At the end of the books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles the remaining tribes of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been forcibly taken away from the land God had promised to their ancestors on the condition that their descendants follow God.
Now 70 years has passed and the Israelites have lived in the Babylonian empire as displaced and relocated hostages.
To put this into a modern context, I'm writing this in 2014 so the Normandy D day landings were 70 years ago this year.
If it were me leaving to return from 70 years in exile, my grandfather would have been carried away at the age of 14, and my parents would have spent their working lives in exile - 70 years sounds quite short but there are some real implications.
Cyrus became empire of the Persian empire and he issued a decree as follows -
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem. 4 Whoever is left, in any place where he lives, let the men of his place help him with silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, in addition to the freewill offering for God’s house which is in Jerusalem.’”
Text from the World English Bible (www.ebible.org)
Cyrus also returned to those who had a mind to return to their homeland all the items that his predecessor 70 years ago had taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem and a quantity of gold and silver utensils.
Cyrus ordered his treasurer Mithredath to make an inventory of the returned items so that it would be handed to the local governor Sheshbazzar.
Ezra 2
Many Israelites decided to return to their ancestral lands about 42,360 people returned to try and re-populate the land, rebuild a religion and rebuild the temple.
The leaders of the exiles offered gifts on their arrival in Jerusalem for re-building the temple donating about half a tonne of gold, three and a half tonnes of silver and 100 priest robes
If you compare the remnant of Israel here to the number who left Egypt in Exodus we are talking about less than 10% of the numbers.
At the end of the books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles the remaining tribes of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been forcibly taken away from the land God had promised to their ancestors on the condition that their descendants follow God.
Now 70 years has passed and the Israelites have lived in the Babylonian empire as displaced and relocated hostages.
To put this into a modern context, I'm writing this in 2014 so the Normandy D day landings were 70 years ago this year.
If it were me leaving to return from 70 years in exile, my grandfather would have been carried away at the age of 14, and my parents would have spent their working lives in exile - 70 years sounds quite short but there are some real implications.
Cyrus became empire of the Persian empire and he issued a decree as follows -
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem. 4 Whoever is left, in any place where he lives, let the men of his place help him with silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, in addition to the freewill offering for God’s house which is in Jerusalem.’”
Text from the World English Bible (www.ebible.org)
Cyrus also returned to those who had a mind to return to their homeland all the items that his predecessor 70 years ago had taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem and a quantity of gold and silver utensils.
Cyrus ordered his treasurer Mithredath to make an inventory of the returned items so that it would be handed to the local governor Sheshbazzar.
Ezra 2
Many Israelites decided to return to their ancestral lands about 42,360 people returned to try and re-populate the land, rebuild a religion and rebuild the temple.
The leaders of the exiles offered gifts on their arrival in Jerusalem for re-building the temple donating about half a tonne of gold, three and a half tonnes of silver and 100 priest robes
If you compare the remnant of Israel here to the number who left Egypt in Exodus we are talking about less than 10% of the numbers.
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