The proclamation of

B. C. 536.

B. C. 536.

A. M. 3468. 22¶Now in the first year of Cy-|| of Cyrus king of Persia, that he A. M. 3468. rus king of Persia, that the word of the made a proclamation throughout all LORD spoken by the mouth of 'Jeremiah might his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saybe accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit ing,

Ezra i. 1. Jer. xxv. 12, 13; xxix. 10; xxxiii. 10, 11, 14.

ninety years, having ploughed their ground in the seventh as well as in other years, then the judgment of God upon them was very remarkable, in causing their ground to rest, and be free from tillage, just as long as it should have been if they had observed his law. For in those four hundred and ninety years, says Procopius Gazæus, when they were under the government of kings, there were seventy years to be kept as sabbaths, which, that the land might enjoy its sabbath, were spent in the captivity of Babylon. Their punishment, too, was made more remarkable in this particular, if it be true, as some have observed, that both the kingdom of Samaria and the kingdom of Judah were destroyed in a sabbatical year; and that immediately after a jubilee, the city and temple were destroyed by Titus, according to Scaliger's computation." See Patrick, Calmet, and Dodd.

Verse 22. Now in the first year of Cyrus-Kennicott thinks that the last two verses of this book belong properly to the book of Ezra, and were subjoined to the Chronicles through the inadvertency of some transcriber.

5 Isa. xliv. 28.

fectual means to work their reformation, which was the end proposed by the divine wisdom. Now, in their captive, disconsolate state, they had time, and their calamities had a natural tendency to give them a disposition, to reflect upon the long series of iniquity and perverseness which had brought them under the heaviest of God's judgments. Now their own wickedness corrected them, and their backslidings reproved them: now they must know and see that it was an evil thing and bitter, that they had forsaken the Lord their God, and that his fear had not been in them, Jer. ii. 19. In the land of their captivity, the sermons of the prophets, declaiming with the highest authority against their profane and vicious practices, would be still sounding in their ears, and their abject, wretched condition, the consequence of such practices, would cause these discourses to sink deep into their hearts, and produce an utter detestation of what they very well knew was the cause of all their grievous sufferings.

4th, The law of God, written by Moses, as the rule of their conduct in all affairs, civil and religious, and the ground of their happiness, they had so far neglected, that once it was almost unknown and lost among them, 2 Kings xxii. 8-12. This contempt of the divine law the prophets had frequently and strongly protested against, and publicly declared that it would be their ruin. And in their ruined state this would be remembered as the primary reason of all their sufferings; and they would be made thoroughly sensible that a due regard to the law of God was the only way to recover his favour and their own prosperity; and accordingly would be disposed to attend to it; which, in some measure, was the case. This was another good effect of this dispensation, and may justly be given as one good reason of their being so strongly fixed against idolatry ever after the Baby

And thus ends the history of the kingdom of Judah, as governed by the successors of the illustrious King David, with the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and the whole Jewish monarchy, by the conquest of the Babylonian king: which, in the course of a righteous providence, in punishment of the idolatry and other sins of this people, fell out about nine hundred and three years after their deliverance from Egypt; eight hundred and sixty-three from their first entrance into the land of Canaan; four hundred and sixty-eight from David's reign; four hundred and seventeen after the building of the temple; and one hundred and thirty-four after the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes. It is justly observed by a late writer, that the pro-lonish captivity. priety of this dispensation of Divine Providence toward this people will appear, if we reflect, 1st, That this dreadful calamity came upon them gradually, by a succession of judgments, from less to greater, for the space of twenty-two years; in which the lenity of God was very apparent, and which should have been a warning to them, that the threatenings denounced by the prophets would certainly be executed; but which effected no amendment of the religion or morals of the nation; Zedekiah, the last king, being as bad as his predecessors.

2d. That it was a just punishment of their sins, particularly of their idolatry, whereby they forsook God, and therefore God justly forsook them, and delivered them into the hands of their enemies, as Moses had foretold, Lev. xxxvi. 30–36.

3d, That this terrible overthrow was the most ef- ||

5th, This dispensation was also calculated to produce good effects among the nations whither they were carried into captivity. For wherever they were dispersed, in the eastern countries, they would bring with them the knowledge of the true God, now seriously impressed upon their hearts. But Divine Providence, by such signal circumstances of his interposition as were published and known over all the vast extent of the eastern empire, raised some of the captive Jews to the highest posts of dignity and dower in the courts of Assyria and Persia, (Dan. i. 19, 20,) insomuch that the most haughty monarchs openly confessed the living and true God, (Dan. ii. 47-49, and iv. 34, &c.,) and made decrees, which were published throughout their spacious dominions, in favour of the profession and worship of him, Dan. iii. 29; vi. 25, &c. From all this, it is clear,

The proclamation of

A. M. 3468.
B. C. 536.

II. CHRONICLES.

B. C. 536.

Cyrus, king of Persia. 23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Per- || salem, which is in Judah. Who is A. M. 3468. sia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath there among you of all his people? the LORD God of heaven given me; and he The LORD his God be with him, and let him hath charged me to build him a house in Jeru- go up.

h Ezra i. 2, 3.

that the Jews, notwithstanding their depravity in their own country, during the captivity of seventy years, must have been the means of diffusing a blessed light all over the eastern countries. And thus, in this dispensation also, God, the Father and 388

Governor of mankind, was working for the reformation and improvement of the world, in that which is the true excellence of their nature, and the only foundation of their happiness. See Dodd and Taylor's Scheme of Scripture Doctrine.

2

THE

BOOK OF EZRA.

go

ARGUMENT.

EZRA, or ESDRAS, was a person of high esteem among the Jews. He was of the sacerdotal family, and bore a principal part in the restoration from Babylon. Some have asserted that he was chiefly concerned in revising and compiling most of the books of Scripture. Two, however, of those books under his name; for, among the Hebrews, this and the book of Nehemiah were formerly reckoned but one, and are both inscribed in the Latin and Greek Bibles by the name of Ezra. The first of these was certainly his work; the second is commonly attributed to Nehemiah. It must, however, be acknowledged, that some few particulars have been added to it which could not have been written by Nehemiah. This book of Ezra is a continuation of the history of the Jews, from the time wherein that of the Chronicles ends to near the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus; and contains a history of eighty-two years, from the first year of the reign of Cyrus in Babylon, A. M. 3468, to the nineteenth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, who sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem, A.M. 3550. It contains, chiefly, an account of the restoration of the Jewish nation from the Babylonish captivity, their settlement in Judea, and the rebuilding of their temple in Jerusalem. It therefore attests the accomplishment of the famous prophecy of Jeremiah concerning their return, which took place at the end of seventy years, exactly as he had foretold. See Jer. xxv. 8-13, and xxix. 10. For, whether we begin to compute from the beginning of the captivity to the beginning of the restoration, (that is, from the fourth year of Jehoiakim to the first of Cyrus,) or from the completing of the captivity to the completing of the restoration, (that is, from the eleventh of Zedekiah to the fourth of Darius,) both ways the time is exactly seventy years. Thus punctually did God fulfil his own word, in the course of his wise providence, according to the history of this book; and, by this and such like evidences, hath demonstrated and confirmed to us the truth and importance of those Scriptures which bear so decided and incontrovertible a testimony to the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ. For nothing can be more convincing to an unprejudiced mind than such an exact accomplishment of prophecies, uttered so long before the events predicted in them took place. The principal parts of this book were originally written in Hebrew: but the letter of Rehum and Shimshai (chap. iv. 8) to the king, and the king's answer, were written first in the Chaldee language, as were the fifth and sixth chapters, and also the seventh, to verse 27. We have, in this book, an account of the return of the Jews from captivity, chap. i., ii.; of the building of the temple, notwithstanding the opposition it met with, chap. iii.-vi.; of Ezra's coming to Jerusalem, chap. vii., viii.; of his obliging those that had married strange wives to put them away, chap. ix., x.

CHAPTER I.

The proclamation of Cyrus, for the release of the Jews, and building of the temple, 1-4. The return of many of them, 5, 6. Orders given for restoring the vessels of the temple, 7–11.

A. M. 3468. B. C. 536.

NOW in the first year of Cyrus
king of Persia, that the word of

a

the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah A. M. 3468. might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred

a 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23; Jer. xxv. 12; xxix. 10.

NOTES ON CHAPTER I.

Verse 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia-This is that famous Cyrus who, one hundred and forty years before the temple was destroyed, and two hundred years before he was born, was mentioned by name in the prophecies of Isaiah, as raised

B. C. 536.

up, and appointed by God, for the restoration of his people, Isa. xliv. 28, and xlv. 1, 4. This remarkable prediction, it is probable, Daniel showed to Cyrus, and that it induced him to give forth the following edict. So Prideaux thinks, with many other learned men. Cyrus, it appears, at his first coming to Babylon, found

The proclamation of Cyrus

B. C. 536.

EZRA.

B. C. 536.

in favour of the Jews. A. M. 3468. up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, || LORD God of heaven hath given me A. M. 3468, b that he 1 made a proclamation all the kingdoms of the earth; and throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in he hath charged me to build him a house at writing, saying, Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The

b Chap. v. 13, 14.- Heb. caused a voice to pass. Daniel there, an old minister of state, famed for his great wisdom over all the East; and hence he not only himself employed him as such, but, upon settling the government, made him first superintendent, or prime minister of state, over all the provinces of the empire. In this station of life Daniel must have been a person of great authority at court, and highly in the esteem of his prince; and, as there could be no doubt but he would use his good offices in behalf of the enlargement of the Jews, so it is not likely he should use them in vain, especially if he showed Cyrus the prophecies just mentioned, which, it is evident from the decree itself, that Cyrus had seen. It must be observed that, strictly speaking, this decree was not given forth in the first year of Cyrus's reign; for then the Jews were not his subjects; but in the first year after his conquest of Babylon, where the Jews then lived in captivity.

3 Who is there among you of all his people?

c Isa. xliv. 28; xlv. 1, 13.

and therefore, possibly, all might have been intended, though the first, without doubt, was the principal subject of the prophecy.

The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia-God, who had long before designed him for this work, now suggested these thoughts and intentions to him, and excited him to begin to prosecute them, (for it was not all accomplished in the first year of Cyrus,) which he did, not only by causing his will and pleasure to be proclaimed, but to be put in writing, that none might mistake his meaning.

Verse 2. The Lord God of heaven-It is observable, says Mr. Locke, that God, in the former books, is called the Lord of hosis, but in the last of Chronicles, in this, in Nehemiah, and Daniel, that is, in the books written after the captivity, he is styled the God of heaven, and not Lord of hosts, though the That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jere- sense of both expressions is the same. Probably miah might be fulfilled-Who foretold that after sev- those who showed or interpreted to Cyrus the proenty years the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans phecy of Isaiah concerning himself, acquainted him should be destroyed, and the people of Judah restored that the God, whose prophet Isaiah was, was worto their own land. This prophecy was first delivered shipped by the Jews, not as the God of their in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, particular country merely, but as the Creator and which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar; and Lord of heaven and earth. And Cyrus, though it the same year Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judea, be- is likely he did not entirely forsake the religion of sieged and took Jerusalem, made Jehoiakim his his country, yet might acknowledge and revere subject and tributary, transported the finest children Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, as the true and of the royal family and of the nobility to Babylon, great God. For, though the Jews were strictly to be bred up there for eunuchs and slaves in his commanded to worship one God, and not to admit palace, and also carried away the vessels of the another into fellowship with him, yet many in the house of the Lord and put them in the temple of his heathen nations, while they worshipped idols, god at Babylon. Seventy years from this time will acknowledged a true and supreme God, and often bring us down to the first year of Cyrus, (2 Chron. worshipped the gods of other countries in common xxxvi. 22; Ezra i. 3,) when he made his proclama- with their own, Hath given me all the kingdoms tion for the restoration of the Jews, and for the of the earth-All in those parts of the world; all building of the temple at Jerusalem. This compu- those large dominions which the Assyrians and tation of the seventy years captivity appears to many Babylonians had possessed: the eastern kings were to be the truest and most agreeable to Scripture. But, wont, as they are still, to speak magnificently of if we fix the commencement of these seventy years at their dominions. The gift of these Cyrus ascribes the time when Jerusalem was burned and destroyed, to the great God, through the above-mentioned protheir conclusion will fall about the time when Darius phecy of Isaiah concerning him, which must have issued his decree for rebuilding the temple, after the carried a great evidence with it, especially to him work had been suspended and stopped. Or, if we who was so highly encouraged by it; or through fix their commencement at the time when Nebuzar- some special illumination which God had vouchadan carried away the last remainder of the people, safed to him, as he had to Nebuchadnezzar and and completed the desolation of the land, their conclu- Darius, and some other heathen princes. And he sion will fall about the time when the temple was hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem finished and dedicated, and the first passover was-So he might conclude from the prophecy just solemnized in it. "So that," as Dean Prideaux says, "taking it which way we will, and at what stage we please, the prophecy of Jeremiah will be fully and exactly accomplished concerning this matter." It may be said to have been accomplished, indeed, at three different times, and in three different manners,

referred to, (Isa. xlv. 13,) where God says of Cyrus,
He shall build my city, of which the temple was a
principal part, and more plainly from chap. xliv. 28,
He shall say to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and
to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Verse 3. Who is there among you of all his peo-

A. M. 3469. his God be with him, and let him 6 And all they that were about them A. M. 3468. go up to Jerusalem, which is in Ju-3 strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered.

dah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place 7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the 2 help him with silver, and with gold, and with || vessels of the house of the LORD, which Negoods, and with beasts, besides the free-will-offer- buchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jeruing for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. salem, and had put them in the house of his