Persian Period, 537-332 BCE

Cyrus Cylinder

Highlights-

The exile in Babylonia ended even more swiftly than it began. In 539 B.C.E. Cyrus the Great, ruler of Persia defeated the Babylonians. In an unusual example of wise and humane rule in the ancient world, Cyrus allowed exiled peoples to return home and rebuild their temples; in return they were expected to maintain order within lands and to be loyal to the Persian Empire, now the dominant power in the Near East. An inscribed clay cylinder, known as the Cyrus Cylinder, asserts that Cyrus was chosen by the God Marduk first to overthrow the ruler of Persia and then go on to defeat the Babylonians; it also records his policy of letting peoples return home to worship their own gods. The opening verses of the Book of Ezra also attest to that decree.

The return to Zion took place in stages. The first, soon after 539 B.C.E., occurred when Sheshbazzar, son of Jehoiachin, led a small group back to Jerusalem, taking with him the Temple vessels and then laying foundations for a rebuilt Temple. A much large group—numbering more than 42,000–left soon after Darius began his reign in 522 B.C.E.; they were led by Zerubbabel and a high priest named Joshua. The two leaders rebuilt the altar proceeded to rebuild the Temple itself.

DIG DEEPER:

The third stage involved Ezra, who came in about 458 B.C.E., and Nehemiah, who arrived in about 445 B.C.E. The chronology is uncertain, and until recently many scholars had believed that Nehemiah had preceded Ezra. In any case, Nehemiah twice served as governor of the province the Persians call Yehud. (Archaeologists have recovered numerous examples of jar handles and coins stamped with the name Yehud.) During his tenure as governor, Nehemiah rebuilt the walls and city gates of Jerusalem; the city quadrupled in size and the population doubled to an estimated 17,000.

Ezra is primarily a religious figure. He is credited with bringing the “law of Moses” to Jerusalem; under his leadership, Jewish religious law became the foundation for civil society. Just what the “law of Moses” was is a mystery, though. Some scholars had thought it referred to the Five Books of Moses, while others believed it was one of the law codes embedded in those books. However, none of the laws found in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah matches verses in the Five Books of Moses, so some scholars now suggest that his law code may have been a digest of Jewish law meant to be kept as part of the records of the Persian empire.

Excerpted from Biblical History: Jeremiah, Ezra and Esther, c. 586-330 BCE, Steven Feldman, COJS.