2 Chronicles 36:23, commentary and pictures

In its first year the Persian rule that had taken Babylon's place issued the order that ended seventy years of exile, with Cyrus declaring that the God of heaven had given him all earthly kingdoms and charged him to have a house built at Jerusalem, and calling any of God's people throughout his realm to go up there for the work. The Lord Himself moved Cyrus to proclaim it by word and writing and to furnish the returning companies with help and offerings, using a heathen king as His chosen instrument at the appointed time. What he authorized was return and rebuilding of the house of God, not full restoration of the city and nation, which remained subject to foreign powers until the larger decree was completed under Artaxerxes in 457 BC. The invitation went to all Israel scattered through the empire, yet only comparatively few went up, chiefly of Judah and Benjamin with Levites and a few others, while the rest slighted the offer and the builders began amid enemies with faith too small for the promise. Its coming to pass fulfilled Jeremiah's word of return after seventy years and Isaiah's naming of Cyrus long before his birth, showing that God announces a work beforehand, holds the hand of the agent He chooses, and brings His purpose to success without failure.

Decree Ending the Captivity

The book closes its history of the kings of Israel and Judah with Jerusalem laid waste, its walls demolished, its holy house burned, and its people carried as servants to Babylon. The rewritten story from Adam to the restoration is thus brought to the return to the Land of Promise, where after hardships, wars, pestilences, and captivities that had done what could be done to destroy the divine seed, new and vigorous life appears. Bible history here is not written like the boasting proclamations of heathen kings to exalt man or merely to record human success and failure, but is directly connected with God's historical revelation culminating in Christ, the central light and sun shedding illuminating rays through all Scripture and holding its parts together, in whom is eternal life and wisdom unto salvation.

The decree was issued in the first year of Cyrus, dated to 536 BC, and marks the end of the seventy years of captivity. Those seventy years are reckoned from the first captivity in 606 BC when Daniel and his companions were taken by Nebuchadnezzar, with a second captivity in 598 BC when Ezekiel and others were taken and a third in 586 BC when Jerusalem was completely destroyed and many Jews were taken to Babylon. In fulfilling Jeremiah's prophecy of the seventy years the decree permitted the Jews to return from Babylon, yet their return did not restore them as an independent nation, for they remained subject to successive ruling monarchies.

In that first year of rule over all Medo-Persia including Babylon, Cyrus the Persian king acknowledged that the LORD God of heaven had given him all the kingdoms of the earth and had charged him to build Him a house in Jerusalem in Judah. He invited all of God's people to go up there, proclaiming it throughout his kingdom by word and in writing. After the seventy years in captivity the Persian king who also ruled Babylon thus allowed them to return to their own land, fulfilling the promised return and providing the means for their return and work.

The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to issue the decree, moving him and the Persian kings at the right time to carry out His will for restoration. Cyrus as a chosen instrument yielded to God, unlike Pharaoh who resisted God's command to release Israel, and both rulers display God's power, but Cyrus gained honor through willing service while Pharaoh became notorious through rebellion, leaving with each person the choice whether to yield to God. He made generous provision for the return, with help, supplies, and freewill offerings from those who remained behind toward the temple work, and his decree stands as an example of a ruler providing for the temple's construction with divine approval.

The offer to go up was made to the whole house of Israel throughout the Persian empire, opening the way for all Israel to go up to the land where God's abundant blessing was promised. His dominion given by the LORD God of heaven included the lands where the ten tribes were captive, so the decree extended to all the people of the God of Israel in Assyria and Media as well as in Chaldea, not to Judah and Benjamin alone, and the later decree of Artaxerxes renewed it in that same universal extent to both Judah and Israel. People from every tribe could therefore return, including members of Ephraim, Manasseh, and other tribes who dwelt with Judah at Jerusalem and shared in the worship of the true God, and form one nation and kingdom later known as Judea.

Only comparatively few accepted and returned, chiefly of Judah and Benjamin with a portion of Levi and a few others, while the ten tribes generally slighted the offer and with it the promised blessings of God. Daniel himself did not return with the Hebrew captives permitted to return to Judea, probably because of his advanced age. The rebuilding was begun amid enemies on every side with faith too small to grasp the fullness of the promise.

The edict authorized return and rebuilding of the house of God in Jerusalem but did not command restoration of Jerusalem as a city or reorganization of the Jewish nation. It was the first installment of the larger decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, completed in the seventh year of Artaxerxes in 457 BC, and that later decree marked the beginning of the 2,300-day prophecy of Daniel 8.

Prophecy and Divine Sovereignty

The decree is the accomplishment of the word of the Lord by Jeremiah concerning the return after seventy years in captivity. In his first year, dated to 536 BC, Cyrus acknowledged that the Lord God of heaven had given him authority over all the kingdoms of the earth and had charged him to build Him a house in Jerusalem in Judah, and he invited God's people to go up there. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus as ruler over all Medo-Persia including Babylon to make this proclamation throughout his kingdom by word and in writing, moving him to provide the means for the return and the work. The seventy years are reckoned from the first captivity in 606 BC when Daniel and his companions were taken by Nebuchadnezzar to 536 BC, with a second captivity in 598 BC when Ezekiel and others were taken and a third in 586 BC when Jerusalem was completely destroyed. Because this word was fulfilled, Zerubbabel could trust the prophets' words about how and when Jerusalem and the temple would be rebuilt.

The decree also fulfills Isaiah's prediction that called Cyrus by name nearly two hundred years beforehand. It was named 176 years before the release and 113 years before Cyrus was born, at a time when Persia did not yet exist and his ancestors were wandering tribes. God had called Cyrus His anointed more than a century before his birth, foretelling his deeds about 150 years beforehand and about 150 years before his birth. Cyrus believed in the true God after learning that Isaiah had named him and foretold his deeds.

The verse identifies Medo-Persia as the kingdom that followed Babylon and was later defeated by Greece. Persia's receiving dominion over the earth after Zedekiah's kingdom passed to Nebuchadnezzar is the first overturning of the dominion. As the second universal monarchy, Persia received its power immediately from God, for Cyrus said the Lord God of heaven had given him all the kingdoms of the earth, which proves that God ordains civil rule and the authority of human governments. God had declared the mission of Cyrus beforehand and held his right hand to subdue nations before him, watching over His announced word through Jeremiah to fulfill it at the right time by moving the Persian kings, especially Cyrus, to carry out His will. This proves that when God takes a man or a movement in hand to accomplish a work in the earth, proclaims its mission, and outlines its results, it goes triumphantly forward to success though evil men and devils conspire to defeat it, for with God no perplexity baffles His plans and there is no failure.

Cyrus accepted the true God and proclaimed Him to all nations as the God, following Nebuchadnezzar and Darius the Mede who had done the same. His influence for God and His worship continued after him and shaped his successors Cambyses, Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes. The Lord stirred his heart to issue the decree concerning the rebuilding of the temple, which stands as an example of a ruler providing for the temple's construction with divine approval. As God's chosen instrument for deliverance from captivity, Cyrus yielded to God and made generous provision for the exiles' return, unlike Pharaoh who resisted God's command to release Israel. Both rulers were used to display God's power, but Cyrus gained honor through willing service while Pharaoh became notorious through rebellion, leaving with each person the choice whether to yield to God.

Return and Its Meaning

Israel's overthrow and carrying to Babylon came because the people forsook God's law and persisted in sin, with Sabbath transgression named as bound up with the captivity. That scattering fulfilled the warning that disobedience would bring a swift nation against them, beginning with Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem. The return from captivity was followed by special attention to the Sabbath law. The returning captives stood as heirs of that history and its promises, enthusiastic in devotion to the law, with divine favor dependent on faithfulness to the covenant.

The sanctuary destroyed by Babylon lay desolate through the captivity until the kingdom of Persia, when Cyrus was charged to build God a house in Jerusalem in Judah and called for all God's people to go up. The offer of restoration was made to the whole house of Israel, but by general refusal the house of Israel rejected God's gracious offer, and therefore the sanctuary shown to Ezekiel was never erected. Only comparatively few returned and began rebuilding amid enemies, with still fewer having faith to grasp the fullness of the promise. Instead of laying a foundation grand and beautiful as shown through Ezekiel, far exceeding Solomon's temple, they laid one far inferior even to Solomon's. That contrast brought mingled weeping by old men who had seen Solomon's temple and rejoicing by young men, so God raised up Haggai and Zechariah to encourage them not to weep or be discouraged.

God used Cyrus, a foreign ruler, to restore the Jews after their punishment for idolatry, charging him to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and inviting God's people to return. Relying on that command authorizing them to rebuild, the Jews resolved to build the temple themselves. They refused partnership with the Samaritans because they feared renewed contamination by idolatry.

The verse brings the whole rewritten story from Adam to the restoration to the return to the Land of Promise, where after hardships, wars, pestilences, and captivities that had done what could be done to destroy the divine seed, new and vigorous life appears. It shows God's care for His people and His purpose to save them through a particular purpose and mission for this people which must be accomplished. It begins an ecclesiastical history continued in Ezra and Nehemiah. It stands at the close of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah and the earlier records bearing on the destiny of the chosen people, whose value lies in widening the horizon and presenting the setting for Bible events while giving precious spiritual lessons. Bible history here was not written like the boasting proclamations of heathen kings to exalt man, nor merely to make known human successes and failures, but is directly connected with God's historical revelation culminating in Christ. He is the central light and central sun from whom illuminating rays are shed through the whole of Scripture and who holds together all its various parts, in whom is eternal life and wisdom unto salvation.