The Return to Isra’el
Under Sheshbazzar
Ezra 1: 5-11
The return to Isra’el under Sheshbazzar DIG: Why did the Ruach Ha’Kodesh only stir up a small remnant of Israelites? How did this stirring-up repeat itself in the Second and Third Returns? In what ways did this Second Exodus mirror the First Exodus? What do you make of the missing or un-counted articles in verses 7-11a (see Second Kings 25:13-15)?
REFLECT: God “stirred up” the hearts of kings and families alike to do his will. How has God “stirred up” your heart? If you must wait, as Isra’el did, for God to restore your place in His service, are you content to do so? Or do you push for change?
537 BC During the ministry of Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah From a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).
Nearly two hundred years after the kingdom of Isra’el had conquered by Assyria, the remains of the little kingdom of Judah, which had always included members of all the twelve tribes, still had some cohesion and could rightly bear the name of Isra’el (Ezra 1:3b and 2:2b). Then the LORD, as though to emphasize that it was not by might, nor by power, but by His Ruach, ADONAI-Tzva’ot (Zechariah 4:6 spoke to that very generation) stirred up only a remnant into action. This whittling down of numbers and power, ever since the glory days of the kings, is reminiscent of the way God reduced the size of Gideon’s army when they defeated the Midianites (Judges Chapter 7).23 Thus, only a small group returned and many pious and prosperous Jews remained in Babylon.
Just as ADONAI had stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm, which enabled the First Return to Jerusalem (1:1b), so then the patriarchal leaders of Judah and Benjamin, along with the kohanim and the Levites – everyone whose spirit God had stirred up – arose to go up to build the House of Adonai in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:5). Generally speaking the Jewish exiles were from Judah and Benjamin; however, all of the righteous of the TaNaNk from the northern Kingdom of Isra’el migrated down to the southern Kingdom of Judah and were also taken captive (First Chronicles 9:3).
It is important to recognize that in the First Return led by Zerubbabel, in the Second Return led by Ezra, and in the Third Return led by Nehemiah, it was always the gracious prompting of Ruach ha-Kodesh that led the remnant home to Jerusalem. The Second Return will begin with God’s prompting of the Persian king to act compassionately toward Isra’el by granting Ezra everything he requested because the hand of ADONAI his God was upon him (Ezra 7:6b). Similarly, in the Third Return, Nehemiah will again express the conviction that Ha’Shem was responsible for the gracious support of the Persian throne when he stated: The king granted me the request because the good hand of my God was upon me (Nehemiah 2:8b).
Continuing with the theme of the Second Exodus, one of the ways in which the Chronicler depicts the return to Yerushalayim is for those Jews who stayed behind in Babylon to strengthen the hands of the returnees with vessels of silver, gold, goods, cattle and valuable gifts, besides all that was willingly offered (Ezra 1:6). This strongly points to plunder the Egyptians (Exodus 3:21-22, 11:2 and 12:35-36; Psalm 105:37). In both the First Exodus under the leadership of Moshe, and the Second Exodus under the leadership of Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel, the needs of the people of God were met, whether for the hazardous journey or for the reestablishment of worship.
In many ways the clearest expression of the connection between the First Exodus and the Second Exodus appears in the returning of the vessels from the Temple in Tziyon that Nebuchadnezzar had carried off was war trophies (Second Kings 24:13, 25:13-16; Second Chronicles 36:10-18; Jeremiah 52:17-19). Then King Cyrus brought out the vessels from the House of ADONAI that Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and placed in the treasury of his god (Ezra 1:7; Dani’el 1:2). Those vessels supposedly symbolized the superiority of the Babylonian gods over YHVH, the God of Isra’el. It was this superiority that Babylon could flaunt on occasion. This is strongly suggested by Dani’el 5:1-4, which relates King Belshazzar’s toasting to the power of his gods with the very vessels that had been removed from Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC). But his prideful toast didn’t last long because on that very night King Belshazzar of the Chaldeans was slain (Dani’el 5: 30).The return of those vessels would be a powerful symbol of both the restoration of worship and continuity with the past that the budding community so desperately needed to see.24
But how could the Jews have been so filled with the conviction that Isra’el would indeed be restored, even after complete destruction, unless there were prophecies to believe in. So these exiles believed Isaiah when he said: Get out of Babylon, flee from Chaldea! With a shout of joy, proclaim this, send it out to the end of the earth, saying: ADONAI has redeemed His servant Jacob (Isaiah 48:20)! They trusted in God’s Word when the prophet wrote: Leave, Leave! Get out of there! Touch no unclean thing. Go out of [Babylon’s] midst. Purify yourselves, your who carry the vessels of ADONAI. For you will not go out in haste, nor will you go in flight, for ADONAI will go before you, and the God of Isra’el will be your rear guard, just like the First Exodus (Isaiah 52:11-12). So far as we know, no people except Isra’el has ever been restored to their homeland after such a clean break. And if there were any remaining doubt, we now have a Fourth Return in 1947. No one disputes the fact that it was a firmly held rabbinic belief in their ultimate return as a nation to Palestine that brought the Jews back to their ancient home in recent generations.25
King Cyrus of Persia had them brought out by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out for Sheshbazzar the prince (Hebrew: nasi) of Judah (Ezra 1:8); the uncle of Zerubbabel (First Chronicles) who had risen to an important position in the government. It was not unusual for a Jew to be given a Babylonian name, as was the case with Zerubbabel. It is clear from this statement that Cyrus worked through official channels by commanding the treasurer of Persia to release the vessels. Mithredath appears to have been charged with the task of returning Babylonian temple treasures to the various peoples who were restored by Cyrus’ decree (see Ai – The Decree of Cyrus) to their homelands.26
Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel were the leaders of the First Return of settlers. In the eyes of the government, and in any report submitted to it, Sheshbazzar would have been responsible for the building project. He had been appointed governor of Judah by King Cyrus (Ezra 5:14), but later Zerubbabel was appointed governor by King Darius (Haggai 1:1, 14 and 2:2, 21). Therefore, it seems that Sheshbazzar stayed in Jerusalem until the vessels for worship were safely transferred back to Jerusalem, and the foundations of the Temple had been laid (Ezra 5:16). Then, as some point, we don’t know exactly when, he walked off the pages of the Bible. He might have merely gone back to Babylon, or he might have simply faded into the background as Zerubbabel became more of a dominant figure in the narrative. But either way, we never hear from him again.
When Nebuchadnezzar carried off the vessels from Jerusalem in 586 BC his scribes made a careful inventory of them. The actual figures in the Hebrew text add up to less than half the recorded total; 2,499 rather than 5,400. Perhaps the Chronicler, in using the inventory list, may have copied only part of the list but included the total of 5,400 in the last verse. There were:
gold basins were basket-shaped cups used to collect the blood of the slaughtered lambs – 30
silver basins – 1,000
silver knives used in the ritual slaughter of animals – 29
gold bowls were used by the priests to wipe the sacrificial blood from their fingers on the edge of these bowls after sprinkling. The Hebrew noun kephor is said to be connected with the Talmudic root meaning to wipe – 30
other silver bowls either in kind or shape – 410
then other smaller and less significant vessels were listed – 1,000
In all there were 5,400 vessels of gold and silver. But not every item was returned. The Ark of the Covenant wasn’t among the inventory. It contained a jar of manna, two tablets of stone upon which the ten commandments had been written, and Aaron’s rod that had budded (Hebrews 9:4). The Ark was never seen again after the Babylonian conquest of Yerushalayim. It had almost certainly been destroyed.
Sheshbazzar brought them all along when the exiles were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:9-11). We know nothing about the details of Sheshbazzar’s journey. Judging from Ezra’s later journey (Ezra 7:8-9), the trip probably took about four months. The caravan would have proceeded from Babylon up the Euphrates River, and then down through the Orontes Valley of Syria to Palestine.27
The return of these items to Jerusalem was no small thing. The vessels represented the people’s hope of a rebuilt City and a rebuilt Temple, which, as a result of the exile, was monumental. Yet, even more significant were the people who returned with those items. For those who carried them back, most of whom had never seen Solomon’s Temple or the city of Jerusalem, the journey was one of faith. There were few guarantees about any aspect of their journey.
As the chapter closes with the words from Babylon to Jerusalem, a new era began for the people of God. Nothing could signal this more than the return of the vessels of worship. ADONAI had returned to them in favor (see the commentary on Isaiah Hd – That Her Hard Service Has Been Completed), but the journey that lay ahead of them was of greater significance than the journey to the City of David. Jerusalem had become a symbol of God’s City, just as Babylon had become the symbol of the fallen world’s city. However, there were no promises on their return. They had no homes to go to! They needed to trust the LORD’s guidance and provision. They needed to step out on a journey of faith, looking to YHVH every step of the way. It was a pilgrimage to a City in ruins, but in their hearts it brought to mind the true nature of God’s promise of the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10). With this journey every believer can identify. And uniquely, it is a journey Yeshua took for us.
After the Visigoths sacked Rome in the fifth century, many believers who had placed too much hope on the success of the empire were in a deep state of shock. In that atmosphere, the Church Father Augustine (354-430 AD) wrote one of the most important books in all of history, “The City of God.” It presented human history as one giant conflict between what Augustine called the “city of man” and the “City of God.” All of human history is ultimately a battle between Babylon (the city of man) and Jerusalem (the City of God), and only the latter would triumph. The closing pages of the Bible record Babylon’s downfall (see the commentary on Revelation Em – Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She Has Become a Home for Demons).
And within these words lies the great divide between the way that leads to death and the way that leads to life. As the righteous of the TaNaKh left Babylon on their journey to Jerusalem, they were indicating that a clear choice had been made (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Dw – The Narrow and Wide Gates). They had chosen the way of life, the City of God. And the question that rings in our ears as we read this chapter is clear. What city have we chosen (see the commentary on Hebrews Dc – The Earthly Sinai and the Heavenly Tziyon)?28
Leave A Comment