Repair and Restoration

In the time of the Babylonian Exile, when the city of Jerusalem had been totally destroyed, its walls reduced to rubble, when all of the important people had been deported to Babylon, where they missed their language, their culture, their way of life, Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied that the exiles would not only return to Jerusalem, but that:

your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;

you will be called "Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings (Is. 58:12).

Jeremiah encouraged the exiles with these words (he had remained in Jerusalem, but sent letters to the exiles in Babylon):

'All who devour you will be devoured;

all your enemies will go into exile,

Those who plunder you will be plundered;

all who make spoil of you I will despoil.

But I will restore you to health

and heal your wound,'

declares the Lord,

'because you are an outccast,

Zion for whom no one cares.'

'I will restore the fortunes of Jacob's tents

and have compassion on his dwellings;

the city will be rebuilt on her ruins,

and the palace will stand in its proper place' (Jer. 30:16-18).

Jerusalem had been destroyed in 587 B.C. and the people taken away to Babylon.  In 538 B.C., Cyrus, King of Persia conquered Babylon and began to rule there.  In his first year, someone showed him the prophecy of Isaiah, made some 50 years previously, where he mentioned Cyrus by name (while the Babylonians were still in power, probably while Cyrus the Persian was still in diapers):

I am the Lord....

who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited,'

of the towns of Judah, 'They shall be rebuilt,'

and of their ruins, 'I will restore them.....'

who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd

and will accomplish all that I please;

he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt,"

and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid."

In truth, the book of Ezra tells us that Cyrus issued an edict in 538 B.C. that anyone among the exiles who wished might return to Jerusalem to re-build the temple.  Cyrus also ordered survivors of the destruction to provide freewill offerings of silver and gold, goods and livestock, to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.  In order to understand Cyrus' motivation, we need to continue reading Isaiah 45, God's further words to Cyrus.  

The Book of Ezra describes the return of the first wave of exiles to Jerusalem and the re-building of the temple under Zerubbal and Jeshua.  But still, the people were downcast and discouraged because the wall of their city was still a pile of rubble, and they were like the people of present-day Haiti, picking out make-shift dwellings among the stones. 

God was not finished with Jerusalem, however.  The ancient prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah were not yet fulfilled.  The second Temple had been completed in 515 B.C., but the heart of the people was not in worship (see Malachi 1:13).  Their hearts were still far from the Lord.  Nehemiah, who had remained in Babylon as cup-bearer to the king, was grieving over the reports he was getting from his relatives in Jerusalem: Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.  The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.  In his grief, Nehemiah began to fast and pray to Yahweh (Neh. 1: 4-10).

Tomorrow....the rest of the story.....