CHAPTER 1

(538 B.C.)

THE PROCLAMATION OF CYRUS

¹Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia (it is the first year of Cyrus as King of Babylon which is intended; it was 538 B.C.), that the Word of the LORD by the mouth of Jere miah might be fulfilled (Jeremiah had prophesied not only the fact, but the date, of the return, assigning to the captivity a duration of seventy years [Jer. 29:10]), 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 (this presents the Prophecy of Isaiah being fulfilled, which had been given over 200 years before [Isa. 44:28; 45:14]),

²Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the Earth (proclaims the monarch giving praise to the Lord for his position); and He has charged me to build Him an House (Temple) at Jerusalem, which is in Judah (no doubt, his Godly mother Esther had exerted great influence over him for good; as well, he had been shown the Prophecies by Daniel, his aged Prime Minister, and thereby encouraged to befriend the Hebrews).

³Who is there among you of all His people? (Proclaims the monarch addressing himself to all the Tribes equally.) 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 (this latter statement emphatically declares that Jehovah of Israel is the One True God, beside Whom there is no other, which is quite an admission from a heathen monarch).

⁴And whosoever remains in any place where he sojourns, let the men of his place help 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 (refers to the fact that he, from the kings treasury, is to give money in order to help this effort).

PREPARATIONS FOR THE RETURN FROM BABYLON

⁵Then 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 (their mission was laid out by the Lord, so there was no need for misunderstanding).

⁶And all they who were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered (in excess of the offerings which came from the kingdom treasury).

⁷Also 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 (refers to the Sacred Vessels which had been taken out of the Temple in Jerusalem before it was destroyed);

⁸Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah (Sheshbazzar is, in fact, Zerubbabel; if the Davidic dynasty had continued, he would now be king; but because of the judgment pronounced upon Jehoiachin [Jer. 22:2430], no king will sit on that throne until it is occupied at the beginning of the coming Kingdom Age by Jesus of Nazareth).

⁹And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,

¹⁰Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.

¹¹All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem. (The list of these vessels possess no interest for the natural heart. But how often must our Lord, as man, have read and reread these words! They were all precious to His Heart; and they are precious to the heart who loves Him.)