Ezra 1:1-11--The Proclamation of Cyrus

Ezra 1
English Standard Version

The Proclamation of Cyrus
1 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, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

​5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

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The events of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah pick up exactly where the events of Kings-Chronicles left off--with the proclamation of King Cyrus of Persia.  Notice this proclamation comes in his first year, meaning it is one of his very first acts as king.  It is accomplished by the Spirit of the LORD stirring the heart of Cyrus to do this thing that we find unnatural (for a king to release a nation of slaves when the king himself does not belong to that nation that is in servitude).

The proclamation starts by Cyrus telling people how his power and authority are derivative, because it is the LORD, the God of Heaven, who has given Cyrus control of this vast empire.  Moreover, the LORD has moved the heart of Cyrus to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, and the king issues a decree that all those that he releases to work on this project should be given all the necessary silver and gold and other raw materials for the project.  It is like what happened with the Exodus and the people getting all the materials they needed from the Egyptians, only no plagues were necessary this time because Cyrus was already listening to the LORD.

The LORD moved and stirred the hearts of the priests and the heads of the houses of Benjamin and Judah to rebuild the house of the LORD, that is the Temple, in Jerusalem.  Officials from the king counted out large quantities of gold and silver and it appears that King Cyrus knew the items that still remained which Nebuchadnezzar's people had stolen from the Temple when they tore it down, for Cyrus returned all these articles to the priests to once again be used in the LORD's service (the censers, bowls of gold and silver, and other vessels of gold and silver).  Everything was done as the king commanded, and the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

What a great start to the story of the rebuilding of the Temple and the people of the LORD.  The book of Ezra will focus on the rebuilding of the Temple and the spiritual condition of the people.  The book of Nehemiah will focus on rebuilding the walls and focusing on the leadership of the people to make sure they were free of corruption and the things that led the people into exile in the first place.