I am trying to imagine what it must have been like for those people who decided to take advantage of their new freedom to journey back to their homeland. What must have been in their minds, in their hearts as they traveled the miles from Babylon to Jerusalem.
Ezra 2:1 (NIV)
"Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town,"
As we mentioned yesterday, most of these people probably were born in captivity so the only thing they knew of their home is what they heard passed down to them, perhaps over the dinner table. Did they have expectations of what the land would look like? Were they ready to start all over again? Were they prepared to step into the unknown? There are so many questions. Did these people believe in the One True God? Were they, like Daniel and his three companions, still following in faithfulness and love?
There was a plan to rebuild the Temple, God saw to that by changing the heart of King Cyrus causing him to provide this remnant with supplies and materials to accomplish the task. There were about 50,000 of them to return. They each had a stake in rebuilding the Temple. "When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site. According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 drachmas of gold, 5,000 minas of silver and 100 priestly garments." (Ezra 2:68-9)
Did they learn anything from their time in captivity? We can ask ourselves a similar question; have we learned anything from the troubles of yesterday and the day before? Have we changed, turned our lives around, rebuilding and re-dedicating ourselves? Or, will history repeat itself...?
Read Ezra 2 here
Listen to Ezra 2 here
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