The Restored Community

538 BCE is the date usually given as the end of the Babylonian Exile. The Jews were permitted to return to Palestine and to rebuild their Temple, which had lain in ruins for over 40 years.

The restoration was the result of the policies of Cyrus the Great. He reversed the policies of the previous kings who had dominated the Near East. Where they had deported people to help keep down rebellion, Cyrus permitted as many of the exiles as wanted to to return to their original homes. Where previous kings had tried to destroy such religious shrines as the Temple, Cyrus encouraged subject peoples to rebuild their shrines. He even gave money to subsidize the cost of rebuilding such shrines.

Cyrus issued his decree in 538 BCE that permitted the exiled Jews to return to their homelands. Cyrus declared that the LORD had given him the responsibility of seeing that the Temple was rebuilt. If one reads the biblical version of this decree, it would appear that only the Jews were given help in rebuilding the Temple. It seems, however, that this was the kind of thing Cyrus did for peoples of all religions.

In the years after 538 BCE, several groups of Jews returned to Palestine. The first group was led by Sheshbazzar. He was called “the prince of Judah,” and was the son of King Jehoiachin. This first group carried with them some of the Temple treasures that Nebuchadnezzar had taken away. The most Sheshbazzar was able to accomplish was to lay the foundations of the new Temple. Then, the doldrums seem to have hit the community.

Returning to the land was not an entirely positive experience. There are several reasons for this:

The harsh realities of coming into a land still bearing the marks of the Babylonian conquest.
The opposition of the people left in the land, who felt it was theirs by virtue of the fact that they had lived there undisturbed for more than forty years.
The attitudes of the people of the old northern territories, who looked upon themselves as still being faithful to the religion of Israel. The returnees looked down upon them as heretics.
There seem to have been less than ideal agricultural conditions in those early years. Making a living turned out to be difficult. Babylon had well-irrigated fields and busy cities.

Babylon offered money and food in abundance. Because of their prosperity , conditions were so attractive that many Jews chose to remain there in Babylon.

Zerubbabel was the grandson of Jehoiachin, the second to the last king of Judah. In 520 BCE, Zerubbabel led a second group of exiles who returned from the Babylonian Captivity. The spiritual leader at this time was Joshua, who was high priest.

Trouble in Rebuilding

Trouble came when the ruler of the province of which Jerusalem was a part sent someone to investigate what was going on. He found out who was responsible and sent someone to the Persian capital to see if the work had indeed been authorized by Cyrus, as the Jews claimed.

When the answer came back, not only was the right to rebuild the Temple confirmed, but also the governor Tattenai was instructed to pay the building costs out of royal revenue.

The building was finished and dedicated with joyful ceremonies in the year 515 BCE. With the completion of the Temple, there is a period of silence in Palestine for more than fifty years.