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, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3 Who is there among you of all his people? 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 the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place helpa him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
5 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.
6 And all they that were about them strengthenedb their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.
7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;
8 Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
9 And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,
10 Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.
11 All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivityc that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.
THE CAPTIVES OF JUDAH LIBERATED
(vv. 1-11)
When the Medes and Persians defeated Babylon, Darius the Mede was ruler, and not until Cyrus the Persian took the throne was liberty proclaimed to Judah. This was God's time, as He had foretold by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:12) and Isaiah (Isaiah 44:28). The proclamation of Cyrus is definite and specific, that he was persuaded that the Lord God of heaven had commanded him to build a house at Jerusalem. It seems rather strange that a Gentile king would be so emphatic in thus speaking for God, but it is recorded that God Himself had stirred up the spirit of Cyrus (v.1).
He invited and encouraged God's people, the Jews, to return to Jerusalem with the object of building God's house there. Notice, he does not give any honor to the idols of Persia, but says of the God of Israel, "He is God" (v. 3). He also gave instructions to neighbors of anyone who was concerned about taking this journey to Jerusalem, to "help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God, which is in Jerusalem" (v. 4). This was not only a matter of liberating slaves, but enriching them. Thus Cyrus was rightly representing a God of grace.
This proclamation had positive effect on the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin and on priests and Levites, as well as others whose spirits God had moved. Of course, their number was small compared to the number who had been taken captive, but God is pleased with every response of faith to His working.
People in the vicinity of those who purposed to go were willing to help them as Cyrus had directed, giving them articles of silver and gold, goods and livestock and precious things, that is, things of special value(v. 6).This shows at least that those so exercised to go to Jerusalem had not incurred the contempt of the people among whom they lived.
More importantly still, King Cyrus had all the articles that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem, brought out from the temple of his idols, to send them back to their rightful place. He knew that Babylon's idols were not God. The Persian treasurer, Mithredath, counted these out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. The record of them was faithfully kept, 30 gold platters, 1000 silver platters, 29 knives, 30 gold basins,410 silver basins, and 1000 other articles. The total number of gold and silver articles was 5,400.Sheshbazzar took charge of all these, to bring them from Babylon to Jerusalem (vv. 9-11).