Ezra
The return to Jerusalem of the Jews from captivity was not a random event at the whim of the king, but rather one whose precise time had been prophesied by Jeremiah: “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place” (Jer. 29:10). Further, the very sovereign under whose hand this would take place, Cyrus, was named long before (Isa. 44:28). Those that took advantage of the offer were principally of Judah and Benjamin with a few Levites—a small remnant of the Chaldean captivity. These are the Jews, a term employed frequently in these books. Jehovah permits their return, setting the scene for the coming of the Messiah in the New Testament. The return is under the leadership of Zerubbabel, of the royal line of David, but everything is subject to the king of Persia.
Before the foundations of the temple were laid, and before the walls of the city were restored, the altar was raised up, for therein was their refuge. The foundation of the temple followed (Ezra 3), but the enemy is always ready to hinder. Seeking first to join with them, then in open opposition, he sought to bring the work to a halt (Ezra 4). Discouragement set in and the work ceased, long before the edict from Artaxerxes (4:17-24). The condition of the people had to be addressed before God could move the King, and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah were raised up to this end (Ezra 5:1). As a result, the temple was completed—though without the ark it was an empty house.
Some years later, a second smaller group returned to the land under the leadership of Ezra (Ezra 7-8). Ezra was astonished to find that the people and the priests had intermarried with the inhabitants of the land contrary to the word of the law (Ezra 9-10). The prayer that flowed from Ezra’s heart is beautiful; justifying God, he identified himself with the sins of the people. Confession is the fruit of Ezra’s appeals, and the children of captivity separated themselves from the people of the land, and from their strange wives (Ezra 10:11, 12).