Ezra 1:1-11
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,
2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia:
All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 3 Who 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 the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.
5 Then the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. 6 And all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered.
7 King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods; 8 and Cyrus king of Persia brought them out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 This is the number of them: thirty gold platters, one thousand silver platters, twenty-nine knives, 10 thirty gold basins, four hundred and ten silver basins of a similar kind, and one thousand other articles. 11 All the articles of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar took with the captives who were brought from Babylon to Jerusalem.
The end of Israel’s captivity in Babylon begins here in Ezra, continuing from the last verses of 2 Chronicles. God tells us in this book, and in the continuation in Nehemiah, how He fulfilled His promise to return His people to the Land of Promise after seventy years of exile. In between these two books is the book of Esther, which shows God’s grace and sovereign deliverance of His people. Ezra starts with the LORD using Cyrus of Persia who conquered Babylon and was moved to fulfill God’s promise by sending Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of worship and sacrifice there. He acknowledged that it was God who entrusted him as ruler over many kingdoms, not his own might, and called for the dispersed Jews in Babylon to come forward to volunteer to go to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding. This restoration was for God’s house, acknowledged by the foreign ruler which God raised up to confess Him as the LORD of all. He then encouraged those Jews unwilling or unable to return for the work to supply the funding to back the endeavor, which many were quite willing to do for the heads of Judah and Benjamin with the priests and their Levitical assistants. King Cyrus gave back the stolen temple articles of precious metals to be returned to God’s house from the idol temples in which they had been placed by the Babylon king when the Jews were taken captive. Sheshbazzar, a prince of Judah, was entrusted with taking them back with the restoration party. We see how God is merciful, but also true to His word to punish those who reject Him; the remnant here going out of captivity is a much smaller band than the entirety of those who were released from the bondage of Egypt, however. There is also a remnant as it were of God’s people who have been called to Christ and are in Him, while many are called, but few chosen (Matthew 20:16, 22:14) for ultimate deliverance from His wrath on the sin which everyone has inherited from Eden, and which we all have turned away from God our Maker (Job 35:10). We see in Ezra God’s faithfulness and grace calls and delivers those He chooses, all for His glory and our good, with mercy in love for us despite our rebellious nature and deeds. Such grace had the Jews captive in Babylon, and such do we all who have been captive in sin and judgment under God’s wrath been delivered to worship Him forever. Ezra reminds us of the grace of deliverance that has been freely given in Christ to His people who have heard His word of promise (which is the everlasting gospel, Revelation 14:6-7), believed, repented, and followed where He leads.
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