The Return from Babylon under Cyrus and Zerubbabel

Era: Kings and Prophets
Date: Second year of Cyrus ○ Traditional
Reference: The Cave of Treasures 65:1-8

In this book the return from exile begins with a marriage. Cyrus the Persian, reigning in Babel, marries the daughter of Salathiel, the sister of Zerubbabel, and makes her his queen. She presses him to send the captives home, and because he loves her he sends heralds through the land to gather the children of Israel. He tells Zerubbabel to take his people up to Jerusalem, rebuild the city and reign there.

The people go up in the second year of Cyrus, with Zerubbabel as king and Joshua the son of Yozadak as high priest. They have no Books of the Prophets, so Ezra the scribe goes down into the pit where the books were hidden, finds a censer of fire there, and renews the books by the spirit of prophecy. They keep a Passover and begin rebuilding the Temple, which takes forty-six years.

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Did You Know?

The book says Cyrus freed the captives because his queen, the sister of Zerubbabel, kept asking him to let her people return.

Ezra put dust from the hidden books into his mouth three times, and the spirit of prophecy came to rest in him.

The fire Ezra found burning in a censer in the pit became the holy fire in the house of the Lord.

The returning exiles kept the third of three Passovers the book counts, after those of Moses in Egypt and of Josiah.

The rebuilding of the Temple under Zerubbabel, Joshua and Ezra took forty-six years, a figure the book ties to the Gospel.

Key Passage

The Return from Babylon under Cyrus and Zerubbabel

The Cave of Treasures 65:1-8

And Cyrus took to wife the daughter of Salathiel, the sister of Zerubbabel, and he took her to wife according to the law...

A¹nd Cyrus took to wife the daughter of Salathiel, the sister of Zerubbabel, and he took her to wife according to the law of the Persians, and made her [his] queen. And she entreated Cyrus to bring about the return of the children of Israel [to Jerusalem]. And inasmuch as Zerubbabel was her brother, she was very insistent about the return [to Jerusalem] of those who had been led away into captivity.

² Now Cyrus loved his wife as he loved himself, and he did for her what she wished. And he sent forth heralds into all the land of Babel, ordering all the children of Israel to gather themselves together. And when they were gathered together Cyrus said unto Zerubbabel, his wife’s brother,’ Rise up, and take with thee all the children of thy people, and go up to Jerusalem in peace; and [re]build the city of thy fathers, and dwell and reign therein. ³ And because Cyrus brought about the return of the children of Israel [to Jerusalem], God said, “I have taken my servant Cyrus by his right hand” (Isa. xliv. 28; xlv. 1). And the name of Cyrus was called “My shepherd, the anointed of the Lord,” because his seed was received into the seed of David through Meshayyanath, the sister of Zerubbabel, whom he had taken to wife. ⁴ And the children of Israel went up from Babel, and Zerubbabel became king over them; and Joshua, the son of Yózadak, the son of Aaron, was high priest, even as the angel showed Zechariah the prophet, and said unto him, “These are the sons of the oil of consecration.” And the people of the captivity went up in the second year of Cyrus, and the Fifth thousand years came to an end. the five hundred years from the second year of cyrus to the birth of christ. ⁵ Now when the people had gone up [to Jerusalem] they had no Books of the Prophets. And Ezra the scribe went down into that pit [wherein Simeon had cast the Books], and he found a censer full of fire, and the perfume of the incense which rose up from it. And thrice he took some of the dust of those Books, and cast it into his mouth, and straightway God made to abide in him the spirit of prophecy, and he renewed all the Books of the Prophets. ⁶ And that same fire which was found in the pit became the holy fire in the house of the Lord. And Zerubbabel reigned in Jerusalem, and Joshua, the son of Yózadak, was high-priest, and Ezra was the scribe of the Law and the Prophets. And the children of Israel celebrated a Passover when they went up from Babel. ⁷ These are the three Passovers which the children of Israel kept; the first was [kept] in Egypt in the days of Moses; the the second was [kept] in the reign of Josiah; the third was [kept] when they went up from the land of Babel. And now an end hath been made to the Passover for them for ever. From the first captivity of Jerusalem, that in which Daniel went down into captivity, to the reign of Cyrus the Persian, was seventy years according to the prophecy of Jeremiah. ⁸ And the children of Israel began the [re]building of the Temple in the days of Zerubbabel, and Joshua, the son of Yózàdók, and Ezra the scribe, and the building thereof was finished in six and forty years, even as it is written in the holy Gospel (John ii. 19).

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Did You Know?

The book says Cyrus freed the captives because his queen, the sister of Zerubbabel, kept asking him to let her people return.

Ezra put dust from the hidden books into his mouth three times, and the spirit of prophecy came to rest in him.

The fire Ezra found burning in a censer in the pit became the holy fire in the house of the Lord.

The returning exiles kept the third of three Passovers the book counts, after those of Moses in Egypt and of Josiah.

The rebuilding of the Temple under Zerubbabel, Joshua and Ezra took forty-six years, a figure the book ties to the Gospel.

The Return from Babylon under Cyrus and Zerubbabel

Did You Know?

Key Passage

The Return from Babylon under Cyrus and Zerubbabel

Did You Know?

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