Devotions

Go Up To Jerusalem

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Cyrus acknowledges Yahweh, the God of the heavens, the one who is the God of Israel, the one who is in Jerusalem. Cyrus issues a proclamation for all to return “whose spirit God has stirred” then returns all of the treasures taken from the temple and asks all of Babylon to help these “survivors” return. Some fifty thousand return and settle in their cities according to their family names and they set up an altar and begin offering to God as written in the Law of Moses.

To Build a House for Him

2 Chronicles 36:22–23
God used the Chaldeans, Nebukadnezzar, to remove Israel from their land and now, after the seventy year Sabbath rest for the land, God is using the Persians, Cyrus, to return them. In 2Chronicles 36:22-23 Cyrus makes the decree.

2 Chronicles 36:23 “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: ‘Yahweh the God of heaven has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build a house for him at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you from all his people, may Yahweh his God go up with him.’ ”

 

Go Up To Jerusalem

Ezra 1:1–6
Cyrus recognizes Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. And even more than that, Cyrus has already said Yahweh is God of the heavens and it is Yahweh that has given him all the kingdoms of the earth in Ezra 1:2. So Cyrus makes a proclamation in

Ezra 1:3 Whoever among you who is from all of his people, may his God be with him and may he go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may he build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem

Then Cyrus goes even a step further and asks the people of Babylon to help every one return from wherever they are in the kingdom.

Ezra 1:4 And let every survivor, from wherever he resides be assisted by the men of that place with silver and gold, with possessions and domestic animals, and with the freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.

And in Ezra 1:5-6 “the heads of families … all whose spirit God had stirred prepared to go … and all of their neighbors helped them”. But they didn’t just help them pack. They gave them “objects of silver, gold, possessions, domestic animals, and with valuable gifts—besides all of the freewill offering”. This was a major relocation for these “survivors” as they were called in vs. 4 and God not only stirred Cyrus, but all the people of Babylon to give! 

The Objects of the House of Yahweh

Ezra 1:7–11
Cyrus also released and returned all of the objects taken from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. Think about the record keeping first of the Chaldeans who had captured all of these items, and then the transfer to the Persians and everything was accounted for. And in Ezra 1:8-11 “Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah … All this Sheshbazzar brought up along with the exiles from Babylonia to Jerusalem”.

This prince is called by his Babylonian name, then later his family name, “Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah—that is, Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel (compare Ezr 3:8; 5:16). He was born in Babylon, and called by his family Zerubbabel, that is, stranger or exile in Babylon”1

These Were The People

Ezra 2:1–63
We read the family names of those taken into captivity, now recognized as the descendants of … in

Ezra 2:1 (LEB) Now these were the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exile whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own city.

Each of these descendants were returning to their family homeland, their family city. In the Law of Moses, the land was your inheritance, it stayed in the family, there was a year of Jubilee every fifty years where you could redeem the land to its family owner and they were coming back to the land God had promised them.

There were some, “descendents of the priests … were not found” in the genealogy records in Ezra 2:62-63. These also returned to Jerusalem but were denied their place in the priesthood, which also meant they had to find their own provision.

Again we see that even though Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans, the records were not. The history, the genealogy remained and these were going home with the people.

Note: Nehemiah 7:4-25 also records the names listed here in Ezra 2:1-20.
Note: Nehemiah 7:26-73a also records the names listed here in Ezra 2:21-70.

The Whole Assembly Together

Ezra 2:64–67
In Ezra 2:64-67 we find all of the people, nearly fifty thousand, they had all of the treasures and now are gathered with all of the animals and ready for their journey home. A journey that may have taken them four months.

They Gave Freewill Offerings

Ezra 2:68–70
We find in Ezra 2:68-70 that they had done well in Babylon and had to give for the building of the house of God. And in vs. 70 they settled, “all Israel in their cities”. 

The People Gathered As One

Ezra 3:1–7
Their first act after getting settled was that the priests built the altar and in

Ezra 3:3–4 (LEB) They set up the altar on its foundations, because they were in terror because of the peoples of the lands. And they offered burnt offerings on it for Yahweh, burnt offerings for the morning and the evening. 4 And they kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered burnt offerings day by day in number according to the ordinance as described for each day.

They began to follow the feasts and to offer the sacrifices according to the Law of Moses. And in Ezra 3:7 they began the work of building the temple.

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • 2 Chronicles 36:22-23
  • Ezra 1:1-11
  • Ezra 2:1-70
  • Ezra 3:1-7

References

  • 1. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 288). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.