Return From Exile

 

    To know what it really means to return from excile you have to understand exile.  Excile is an event where a person or a group of people are taken captive and carried away or driven away.  It is a state of complete despair and loss as one or many are removed and treated like they never existed at that location.  Normally all they have are the clothes on their back.  

    To be able to return from exile is a renewal of hope.  It is such an emotion that it could not possibly be put into words, but gratitude is the closest I can come up with.  The Jews had been exiled for 70 years.  That is about two generations worth of people not allowed into the homeland that God had designated for them.  To be able to return, I wonder how it impacted a generation that had never even seen it.

    King Cyrus was not a king of Judah or Israel.  He was a pagan king by all terms that follow the Bible, but he was a good king.  He did not see the point in keeping and feeding a foreign nation against their will, so he gave them the option to return home.  It had to be done systematically, so that his economy would not suffer and neither would the Jews.

    If they chose to return home, all they had the promise God had made to them hundreds of years earlier (the land and faith).  King Cyrus did not want them to be without protection or provision.  He took care of the Jews by returning their ancestors treasures and possessions.  

    On top of that, Cyrus ordered that God's temple to be rebuilt.  The first wave of Israelites to return were the workers of God's house.  It would become the centerpiece of hope for the people.  This is where the Chronicles came in handy.  It categorized the Jews for Cyrus.  

    Since this generation had never seen their homeland, some chose to stay.  They had established a life in Persia, so they felt like that was their home.  There is nothing wrong with people choosing to stay when it may appear like it is expected for them to leave.  Why uproot if a person is settled and does not feel led to leave?  It is called freewill.

Ezra 1