Fifty years have gone by since the fall of Jerusalem. The Persians have captured Babylon which, as the Book of Ezra opens, is governed by king Cyrus of Persia.
In the first year of his reign, Cyrus issues a proclamation: The Jews of the captivity are to return, if they wish, to their own land; they are to take with them the holy vessels which Nebuchadnezzar carried away from the Temple; they are to be helped by their neighbors with money and with goods; and with the king’s permission they are to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.1:5
An official register is compiled of all who choose to go with Zerubbabel, their leader. They are upward of forty-two thousand souls.
In the seventh month of their return to Judah, each man having gone to his own city, they gather together in Jerusalem. Here they build an altar to the Lord, offer burnt offerings, and keep the feast of tabernacles according to the Law.
In the second year of their return, led by Zerubbabel and by Jeshua, a priest, amid tears and rejoicing they finish laying the foundation of the Temple.
But they meet with opposition from the people who have been living here in this land since the time of the exile. These people hire counselors against the Jews. Letters are sent to the king accusing them of sedition.
In spite of these intrigues, in spite of delays and obstacles, the work goes forward. Some twenty years after the foundation is laid, in the sixth year of the reign of king Darius of Persia, the Temple is finished.
And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.6:16
THE ARRIVAL OF EZRA IN JERUSALEM
It is sixty years later, when king Artaxerxes rules Persia, that the priest Ezra, a ready scribe in the law of Moses,7:6 who is in the service of Artaxerxes and in his favor, obtains the king’s permission to go up from Babylon to Jerusalem:
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.7:10
He carries a letter of authority from the king; and with him go some of the children of Israel and some of the priests and Levites.
Arrived in the Holy City, Ezra is astonished and grief-stricken: for he learns that the children of Israel, disobeying the Law, are taking wives from among the people of the land.
And when I heard this thing . . . I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.9:3–6
Ezra weeps and the people weep with him. He says, Ye have transgressed. . . . Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.
Then all the congregation answers with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.10:10–12