Ezra 1

Jerusalem had now been in ruins for seventy years; its matchless temple built by Solomon, was in ashes, and the children of Israel were scattered,-the two tribes known as Judah or the Jews in Babylonia; and the ten tribes known as Israel after Solomon's death, soon to disappear from human ken, if not already gone.

The God of heaven had given Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom supreme among men (Dan. 2:37-38³⁷Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. ³⁸And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. (Daniel 2:37‑38)). But the Babylonian kingdom had faded, as Dan. 5:28²⁸PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. (Daniel 5:28). 30, 31 shows, and as Isa. 13:17-22,¹⁷Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. ¹⁸Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. ¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ²⁰It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. ²¹But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. ²²And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. (Isaiah 13:17‑22) and Jer. 25:12¹²And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. (Jeremiah 25:12) foretold; in its stead was Media, under Darius (Dan. 9:1¹In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; (Daniel 9:1)) which had become Medo-Persia, and the Persian side under Cyrus was now the greater (Dan. 8:3-4, 20³Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. ⁴I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. (Daniel 8:3‑4)
²⁰The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. (Daniel 8:20)).

Cyrus had been named by Isaiah (Isa. 44:28; 45:1-7²⁸That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. (Isaiah 44:28)
¹Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; ²I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: ³And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. ⁴For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. ⁵I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: ⁶That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. ⁷I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. (Isaiah 45:1‑7)) two hundred years before, and according to the prophecy, he made the way open for the Jews to return to their land.

Substantial world dominion had been given to the Gentiles when Israel had utterly broken down, but now God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus that the temple might be restored, both by moving him to permit the Jews to go back to Jerusalem for that purpose, and by the restoration of the vessels of Solomon's temple which Nebuchadnezzar had transferred to Babylon.

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