In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom:

Ezra 1:1 (NLT)

Background

Israel continually rebelled against the Lord. To punish them, He sent the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar to conquer Jerusalem in 605 BC and take most of the Jews captive in Babylon. [See map] They were there 70 years as Jeremiah prophesied Jer 25:11. As Ezra opens, that period was now ended. With his God-inspired decree, Cyrus gave the Jews permission and encouragement to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

Exodus redeux

Cyrus had been king of Persia for many years before conquering Babylon in 539 BC then issued this decree in 538 BC. It was like a second Exodus of the Jews. They went back in three waves: 1. About 50K of them went back under Zerubbabel – to build temple (Ezra 1-6) 2. under Ezra – to establish temple worship (Ezra 7-10) 3. Nehemiah – to build the wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah). Wedged between chapters 6 & 7 was a 58 year gap during which the account of Esther occurred. [See timeline]

Why Ezra?

While reading Haggai for pleasure recently, I really liked the message of encouragement in chapter 2. In order to understand Haggai (and Zachariah and Malachi) you need to read Ezra (Nehemiah would be good too). Ezra itself offers hope with the grand proposition of “mercy triumphs over judgement (James 2:13). We can see this in Ezra 9:13: “… seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved …”

Ezra the man

The book’s namesake was notable. He was a priest in the line of Aaron. Ezra 7:6 indicates he was a bold leader and approached the king (Artaxerxes by that time) and was also favored by God: “the hand of the Lord his God was on him.” Chuck Swindoll highlights the reason: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 9:10)

What stands out?

Does “He stirred the heart of Cyrus” stand out to you as it does to me? We’ll see it again in v5. When a book starts with a statement like that, you expect good things to come. Check this link to esv.org for a more complete background of Ezra.

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