The Return of the Captives

Ezra 1, 3

After Daniel had been in the lions' den, Darius did not live long. When Darius died, Cyrus became king of Media. He was also king of Persia. Cyrus was a very wise and powerful prince. He had great possessions, and he had fought and won many wars. He also gave wise and good laws to his subjects.

But one thing that Cyrus did was better than all the rest. What was it? He made a proclamation that all the captive Jews in his kingdom should return to Jerusalem and again build a temple to the Lord their God. It was God Himself who put this good thought into the heart of Cyrus and taught him to show kindness to the people of Judah. Many years before, it had been prophesied that after seventy years' captivity Judah would return to their own land. And now that the right time was come, God fulfilled His promise. What God says, He always does. We may think that some things are very hard; they may be hard to us, but not to God, for “with God all things are possible.” He can incline the hearts of men to do what He pleases and to fulfill His will, as He did with Cyrus.

But what was Cyrus' proclamation? “Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me t o build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of His people? Let his God be with him; let him go up to Jerusalem and build the house of the Lord God of Israel.” How the poor captives rejoiced to hear this proclamation, and how thankful they felt to their kind and faithful God!

Cyrus sent back the holy vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem. There were 5,400 of them, all of gold and silver. These vessels were given to the Jews to carry to Judea for the temple they were going to build.

The captives prepared for the return to their own land. As they left Babylon, they looked for the last time upon the city where they had spent so many years of trouble, and they must have rejoiced to think that they should never see it again. How many returned to Jerusalem? There were 42,360 people, and they took with them many servants, maids, singers, and all their horses, asses, mules, and camels. These Jews were rich, for God had inclined their neighbors to give them gold, silver, and everything they needed for their journey and for their temple at Jerusalem.

When they came to the end of their long journey and found themselves once again in their own beloved land, the first thing they thought about was the building of the temple. They had been without a temple for a long time, in a heathen land where their own God was not worshipped. But now they could build a house where they could praise God and pray to Him, so they began this work right away. All of them were willing to give of their riches for the building. But before the temple was built, an altar was set up, and the priests offered sacrifices upon it every morning and evening. They kept all the feasts that God had commanded them to keep, and they tried in everything to obey His laws. Joshua was high priest, and Zerubbabel was governor; they were both holy men. These holy rulers encouraged and helped the people in what was right.

It took about a year to begin work on the temple. They had cedar trees from Lebanon and money enough to pay the carpenters and masons. Everyone helped in the building, and the Levites were appointed to direct the work and to see that everything was done correctly. Then the people assembled to see the foundation of the house laid. It was a joyful and glorious day at Jerusalem. The priests were there in their robes, and the Levites had instruments of music to praise the Lord. Then “they sang together, praising and giving thanks unto the LORD, because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.” But there were some people who wept in the midst of all this joy. Who were they, and why did they weep? They were the old men who had returned to Jerusalem.

These men were old enough to have seen and remembered the first temple, which had stood there seventy years before. They had worshipped in it and seen its beauty, but now they saw it in ruins; they could never worship in it again. They might have a new temple, but not one so beautiful, large, or glorious as the temple of Solomon had been. These thoughts made the old men weep, but they wept in thankfulness as well as in sorrow. The young people, who had been b om in Babylon and had never seen the first temple, had no memories to make them sad. They felt only gladness, and they shouted aloud for joy. So there was a sound of weeping, and a sound of rejoicing, too, and the noise was heard afar off.

All our best times in this life are like this happy day among the Jews; there is joy in them, but sorrow, too. We can never be completely happy here, for this earth is not our eternal home. God's people shall one day be with Him, and in that world there is no sorrow because there is no sin. They will never weep in heaven. There “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).

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