Tuesday 22 September 2009

Background

This passage opens in what is now Iran, in around 600 BC, anddocuments some of the experiences of the people of Israel when KingCyrus of Persia reigned over what was the largest empire in theknown world. His power and influence reached from south west Asia,central Asia and the Hellespont in the west, to the Indus River inthe east, in what is now Pakistan.

This same King Cyrus also gets a mention in Isaiah 45, wherethe author describes how Cyrus was anointed before his birth by Godto conquer kings and set the Jews free from captivity.

And set free they were, with Zerubbabel leading the first of threemovements of people. This is charted in chapters 1 to 6, with theaccount of Ezra's leadership of the second repatriation in 458 BCbeginning in chapter 8.

Those who felt stirred to move back to Jerusalem, mainly peoplefrom the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and the Levites (whohistorically were priests), were perhaps motivated by homesickness:a longing for reconnection with a landscape that spoke to them oftheir heritage. Or perhaps they remembered God's promises andprophecies which Jeremiah documented (which concerned the harshpunishment due to God's people as a result of their obstinaterefusal to live according to the Law and their eventualrestoration).

Whether Cyrus facilitated the Jewish people's return to Jerusalembecause of the desire of a foreign god's will, or because it wasgood politics, isn't clear. What we know however, is that Cyrusclaimed he was motivated by "the God of heaven" and that a generalpolicy of repatriation, with a view to peace-making with hiscaptives certainly gained him favour with the Jewish communities inhis kingdom. His policy enabled the communities to live where theyreally wanted, rebuild their places of worship and re-establish thecommunal worship of their gods.

King Cyrus even encouraged those who chose not to return toJerusalem to help finance the project by giving silver, gold,free-will offerings, animals and other goods.

So here we see someone from outside the Jewish faith who wasmotivated by God to liberate the Jews in his kingdom, withZerubbabel, who was descended from King David, Ezra, descended fromAaron the priest, working to make it possible. Although we wouldstruggle to make any parallels with this story in our culture, itis possible to take this point of connection between the three menand think about it in terms of our civil and religious society.Perhaps this could illustrate the need for collaboration betweenthe leaders of civil society and religious communities in order towork towards the restoration of our villages, towns and cities.

To Ponder

Both the Jewish people and Cyrus were stirred byGod to move toward the eventual restoration the Temple (the Jewishplace of worship in Jerusalem). When have you felt God stirring youto action?

Restoration, whether of a building, our lives, orour communities, means a lot of hard work. It means clearing out,rebuilding, investing (money, energy, and time) and returning againand again to the place of growth or healing. What has been restoredin your life and what has been the process? Where can you discernGod's hand in this?

Perhaps you are going through a period ofrestoration right now, or are looking towards a time of rebuilding.What have you needed to (or will need to) invest to make itpossible?