The Return from Captivity and Waiting on God.

The conditions in Judea were deplorable. The Babylonians had carried off all of Jerusalem… the armies, the priests, the levites, the skilled workers and the royal family. All that was left in Judea were the poorest of the poor.

For the seventy years while their brethren were in Babylonia those left in Judea had no teaching, no sacrifices and no feast day celebrations. In fact they were surrounded by enemies and by those who hated them like the Samaritans, Philistines and other peoples of the land. They were barely surviving waiting on God’s promises.

However in Babylonia the Jews prospered. They became rich and powerful. Examples would be Daniel, Mordecai, Esther, Hannah, Mischael, Azariah, Ezra and Nehemiah. In Babylonia the Jews had all the best and all the brightest of their people including the priests and the scrolls of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and the Prophets that they had brought with them.

But God had not forgotten his wretched people in Judea and he inspired Cyrus King of the Persian empire and 43,000 Jews to leave Babylonia to rebuild Jerusalem, it’s Temple and it’s walls. Ezra would bring back the Hebrew scriptures that he had patched back together to rebuild the people.

In seventy years time few would remember or have been eye witnesses to the siege of Jerusalem and all of its horrors. And those who did remember would be elderly and at the end of their lives but they had passed down the stories to their children and their children’s children.

Never forget the names of Zerubabbel who led in the rebuilding of the Temple, Ezra who re-instituted the Law and Nehemiah who led in the rebuilding of the walls. Also, the contemporary prophet Haggai who encouraged the people to rebuild the Temple and the contemporary prophet Zechariah who prophesied about hope and restoration.

God always has a plan and is always true to his promises. Wait on him.