Bible Timeline · 538 BC

Cyrus Lets the Jews Go Home

Persia conquered Babylon in 539 BC, and the next year King Cyrus let the Jews return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Isaiah had named Cyrus as God's shepherd long before, and the Cyrus Cylinder shows his policy of sending peoples home.

Read it in the Bible: Ezra 1 Isaiah 44:28-45:1 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 Ezra 6:3-5 Jeremiah 29:10

In 538 BC, King Cyrus the Great of Persia issued a decree letting the Jewish exiles in Babylon go home to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of Yahweh. He even gave back the gold and silver bowls Nebuchadnezzar had stolen. About fifty thousand people made the trip. It ended the Babylonian exile, fulfilled Jeremiah's seventy years, and matched a prophecy in Isaiah that called Cyrus by name.

How Did Persia Conquer Babylon?

Cyrus started out as king of a small Persian kingdom in what is now Iran. He took over the Medes about 550 BC, then the rich kingdom of Lydia, and kept going. By 539 BC, he was ready for Babylon.

Babylon's last king, Nabonidus, was unpopular. He had spent years away in Arabia and neglected Babylon's main god, Marduk. His son Belshazzar ran the city. In October 539 BC, the Persian army defeated the Babylonians at Opis, and then Babylon itself fell with little or no fighting. Daniel 5 tells of Belshazzar's last party that night. Babylonian records say Cyrus entered the city a few weeks later, and the people welcomed him.

What Did Cyrus Decree About the Jews?

The decree is recorded twice in the Bible, at the end of 2 Chronicles and at the start of Ezra.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of Yahweh spoken through Jeremiah, Yahweh stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:1 to 3

A second copy in Aramaic turned up years later in the Persian archives at Ecbatana, in Ezra 6:3 to 5. It even gave the size of the temple and said the royal treasury would pay for it.

In the Hebrew Bible, Chronicles is the very last book. So the Hebrew Scriptures end with Cyrus telling God's people, let him go up. It is a great place to end a book, with a door open and a road home.

How Did Isaiah Name Cyrus Before He Was Born?

This is one of the most striking prophecies in the Old Testament. Isaiah preached in Jerusalem from about 740 BC to after 700 BC, more than 150 years before Cyrus. Yet in Isaiah 44 and 45, God speaks of Cyrus by name.

who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’ who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid.’” Isaiah 44:28

This is what Yahweh says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut: Isaiah 45:1

God even calls Cyrus His anointed, the Hebrew word messiah. A pagan king was God's chosen tool. God said He would use Cyrus though Cyrus did not know Him, Isaiah 45:4.

How you read this depends on how you date Isaiah. The traditional view, held by The Owner's Manual, is that Isaiah wrote it, and God named Cyrus in advance. Jesus and the apostles quote both halves of Isaiah as Isaiah's words, John 12:38 to 41. Many modern scholars think chapters 40 to 66 were written around 540 BC by later followers of Isaiah, near the time of Cyrus. The Jewish historian Josephus, writing in the first century AD, said Cyrus himself was shown Isaiah's prophecy and was moved to fulfill it. That story cannot be checked, but it shows how ancient Jews understood it.

What Is the Cyrus Cylinder?

In 1879, the archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam dug up a clay cylinder in the ruins of Babylon. It is now in the British Museum. Written in Babylonian cuneiform soon after 539 BC, it tells how Cyrus took Babylon and says that Marduk, Babylon's god, chose him.

The cylinder says Cyrus returned the images of gods to their home temples and gathered their peoples and returned them to their homes. It does not mention the Jews or Jerusalem. It names cities in Mesopotamia. But it shows the same kind of policy the Bible describes. Cyrus liked to win over conquered peoples by letting them worship their own gods in their own places. For the Jews, whose God had no image, that meant going home to rebuild the temple.

Notice the difference too. The cylinder credits Marduk. Ezra credits Yahweh, who stirred the spirit of Cyrus. The Bible's view is that God rules even over kings who do not know Him.

Who Went Back to Jerusalem?

The first group was led by Sheshbazzar, called the prince of Judah, and then by Zerubbabel, a grandson of King Jehoiachin, and Jeshua the high priest. They carried 5,400 gold and silver articles from the temple, Ezra 1:11.

Ezra 2 lists the families who returned. The whole group was 42,360, plus 7,337 servants and 200 singers, Ezra 2:64 to 65. It was a journey of about 900 miles, and it took months.

Not everyone went. Many Jews had built good lives in Babylon, just as Jeremiah told them to. Only those whose spirit God stirred, as Ezra 1:5 puts it, packed up for the hard work of rebuilding a ruined city. Later waves came with Ezra in 458 BC and Nehemiah in 445 BC.

What Does the Return From Exile Mean for You Today?

The return shows that God keeps His promises, even when it takes seventy years. He is in charge of empires, and He can turn a king's heart like a stream of water, as Proverbs 21:1 says.

It also points to Jesus. The return from Babylon was real, but the prophets said a greater return was coming, when God Himself would come to His people. The Persian Cyrus was called God's shepherd and anointed one. Jesus is the true Good Shepherd and the true Anointed One, the Messiah. He does not just send people back to a city. He brings us home to God.

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Questions People Ask

When did the Jews return from Babylon?

Cyrus issued his decree in his first year as ruler of Babylon, about 538 BC, and the first group of exiles returned soon after. Persia had conquered Babylon in October 539 BC. More exiles returned later with Ezra in 458 BC and Nehemiah in 445 BC.

Does the Cyrus Cylinder mention the Jews?

No. The Cyrus Cylinder does not name the Jews or Jerusalem. It says Cyrus returned gods and peoples of several Mesopotamian cities to their homes. Scholars see it as evidence of the same kind of policy described in Ezra 1.

Why does Isaiah call Cyrus God's anointed?

In Isaiah 45:1 God calls Cyrus His anointed, the Hebrew word messiah, because God chose him for a special job: freeing the exiles and having the temple rebuilt. It does not mean Cyrus believed in Yahweh. Isaiah 45:4 says he did not know God.

How many Jews returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel?

Ezra 2:64 to 65 says the whole assembly numbered 42,360, plus 7,337 male and female servants and 200 singers. So close to fifty thousand people made the first return.

Sources

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