30 
ISRAEL. 
Both events were of the most improbable kind, for there was perhaps no record of a 
nation thus restored, and Babylon was then at the height of human supremacy. Yet both 
were exactly fulfilled; the sands and mountains of Persia, within the seventy years, sent 
forth a subverter of the throne of Nebuchadnezzar; and the first act of the conqueror was 
to give liberty to the captive people. 
c; Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the 
mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of 
Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, 
saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the 
kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, 
which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and 
let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of 
Israel, (He is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.” 1 
This proclamation was not more contradictory to the habits of ancient conquest, than to 
Persian principles, for the Persians abhorred the building of temples, as derogatory to the 
grandeur of the Deity. But in this instance, not only was the building of the Jewish 
temple ordered, but the king offered his treasures for the work, and even for the supply of 
the sacrifices. He further ordered that the 5400 gold and silver vessels of the Temple, 
which had been given to the idol shrines of Babylon, should be restored; and in thus 
relinquishing his spoil and releasing his captives, he further declared, that he was only 
performing a charge laid upon him by the “ Lord God of heaven.” 2 
From this period a new and a total change took place in the fortunes of the people. 
They were henceforth to remain a broken nation, and their existence was to be almost 
a continued bondage under the successive pagan masters of Western Asia; the ten 
tribes were lost; only a remnant of Judah returned from Babylon; the rebuilding of the 
walls of Jerusalem was slow; and the poverty of the Temple was a source of sorrow to 
those who remembered the majesty and opulence of the glorious structure of Solomon. Yet 
Haggai even then proclaimed, in language full of all the ancient fire of prophecy, that a still 
nobler splendour than the past was to distinguish the impoverished Temple. 
“ Who,” he cries, “ is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how 
do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be 
strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord . . . For thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Yet once, it 
is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; 
and I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this 
house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts.” 3 
B.C. Malachi closed the prophetic canon by declarations equally distinct, that a Mighty 
39V. 
1 Ezra, i. 1, &c. 
2 Josephus (Antiq. xi. 1, 2,) records a probable tradition, that Daniel showed to the king the 
prophecy of Isaiah, designating him by name as the liberator of the people. “ Thus saith the Lord, thy 
Redeemer ;....! am the Lord that maketh all things ; . . . . That saith of Cyrus, He is my Shepherd, 
and shall perform all my pleasure : even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, 
Thy foundation shall be laid.” (Isaiah, xliv. 24, 28.) 
3 Haggai, ii. 3, &c. 
