In this message we will consider the first return of the captivity, the return under the kingly leadership of Zerubbabel.
The return of the captivity under the leadership of Zerubbabel was according to the decree of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1-4; 2 Chron. 36:22-23).
Cyrus made this decree in his first year (Ezra 1:1a).
Cyrus made this decree because God stirred up his spirit (v. 1b). This stirring up was a work of the hiding God.
This decree was a fulfillment of the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah that Israel would return after the seventieth year of their captivity in Babylon (v. 1b).
In his decree Cyrus ordered the captives of Israel to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of God there (vv. 2-4). Because Cyrus was such a person, in the book of Isaiah he is considered a servant of God to fulfill God’s purpose (Isa. 45:1-4, 13).
In verses 5 and 6 we have a word concerning the response of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, the priests, and the Levites.
Everyone whose spirit God had stirred up rose up to go up to build the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem (v. 5). This surely was God’s move, for He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to make the decree and then stirred up the spirits of all the leaders of the three tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.
All the Israelites around them strengthened their hands with their offerings of their precious vessels (v. 6).
In verses 7 through 11 we see the cooperation of King Cyrus. He cooperated by returning the 5,400 vessels of gold and silver of the house of Jehovah, captured by Nebuchadnezzar from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods (vv. 7, 11). He handed over the vessels, by enumerating them to Sheshbazzar (Zerubbabel—2:2), the prince of Judah, to be brought back to Jerusalem for the house of God (1:8-11; 5:13-15).