Esther 9:2 The Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could withstand them, because fear of them fell upon all people.
The Beginning of the Second Commonwealth.
Was the Persian king Cyrus who permitted the Jews to return to their land and rebuild their Temple Jewish? This is just one of the questions and intrigues surrounding the beginning of Jewish history in the Second Commonwealth.
Salvation from extermination at the hands of Haman changed Jews through the Persian Empire in the most profound ways. They achieved a new insight into their relationship with God, their commitment to His Torah, to themselves and to their place in the world.
Purim prepared them for the next great challenge, the electrifying announcement by Cyrus, king of Persia, undisputed ruler of the civilized world, who granted the Jews permission to return to their land and rebuild the Temple (Ezra 1:1-3).
To further complicate the matter, there is a Jewish tradition that says that Queen Esther gave birth to a son from King Ahasuerus[1] and that his name was Cyrus.[2] Technically, according to Jewish law, he was Jewish. Was he the one who succeeded to the throne of Persia and granted permission to the Jews to return to their land and rebuild the Temple? That would make a lot of sense.
However, there are other opinions in Jewish tradition that say there was another Cyrus beforehand who originally granted the Jews permission.[3] Only later, after difficulties prevented the first Jewish settlers from effectively building the Temple (as we will discuss below), did Esther’s son take the throne and allow them to start rebuilding.[4] The Beginning of the Second Commonwealth
The Jews are under God’s divine plans for humanity. All of the Old Testament prophesy will be fulfilled in them. As in the beginning, the end, will come with them.
Esther 9:25-32 And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, 21 to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, 22 as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor. 23 So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them, 24 because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot), to consume them and destroy them; 25 but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 So they called these days Purim, after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, 28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants. 29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim. 30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews, to the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 31 to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and their descendants concerning matters of their fasting and lamenting. 32 So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.
Purim is in March. The Jews would keep these days as a tradition to celebrate. There are days, of the providence of God, in Israel that will remain and be celebrated until the return of Jesus the Christ.
Exodus 12:24-28 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. 25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. 26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28 Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
The Passover will be a tradition to be observed forever by the Jews.
Isaiah 44:28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” ’
Cyrus according to Jewish history was the son of Queen Esther the Jew. She also was born for such a time.
Isaiah 45:1-3 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held— To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut: 2 ‘I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the Lord, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.
Ezra 1:1-4 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, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 3 Who is among you of all His people? May 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 God), which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.
From the beginning God set His plans in place starting with Esther who would save the Jews and Cyrus, who under Jewish history was her son, to save and to rebuild the house of Jerusalem. Cyrus provided the money necessary for rebuilding Israel. Was Cyrus of the Jewish lineage through his mother?
Matthew 24:7-14 for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Every day we draw closer to the return of Christ. Satan is always trying to disrupt God’s plan in order to do this he must eliminate the Jews. To Israel the Word of God was given. The end time events will happen in the Middle East. God’s plans never return void!!! We pray for their peace. Carla
The first year of Cyrus is the first year of his rule over Babylon. In 539 b.c. Cyrus the Great, founder of the greater Persian Empire, conquered Babylon without a struggle. He ruled as king of Persia from 559–530 b.c.. Jeremiah had prophesied that the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10), after which the Lord would judge Babylon (Jeremiah 25:12–14). Cyrus’s proclamation was probably shouted by heralds in the principal towns of the empire and posted in public. The proclamation was also preserved in the official records in Persia (6:1). The Lord God of heaven: After the destruction of Jerusalem, God was no longer identified with the temple as the One who dwelt between the cherubim (1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 6:2). The Persians could understand that there was a particular “God of Israel,” but they would have recognized Him as simply one god among others. However, the phrase God of heaven indicates that the Lord is not just another god, but that only He is God. The fact that Cyrus used this title for the Lord suggests that He was prompted by Jewish advisors. He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem. Over one hundred years before Cyrus issued this decree, Isaiah prophesied that the king would make such an order (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1). The assistance that the Israelites were to receive from their non-Jewish neighbors in rebuilding the temple is reminiscent of the help an earlier generation received from the Egyptians before the Exodus (Exodus12:35, 36). In a sense, the return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple was a second Exodus. The NKJV Study Bible
Here, the Hebrew term for “spirit” is used in reference to mental will (Ezra 1:5). Via God’s influence, Cyrus willingly allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem. Likewise, God gave individual Jews a desire to return to the land (verse 5).
Old Testament Anthropology. A similar decree appears on the Cyrus Cylinder. The original temple in Jerusalem, built by Solomon, was burned by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar when they destroyed Jerusalem in 586 bc (2 Kings 25:9; 2 Chronicles 36:19).
While the Assyrians and Babylonians regularly exiled vanquished nations and transplanted foreigners to conquered territories, the Persians allowed captive nations to return to their homelands. Cyrus hoped that his benevolence would lessen the risk of revolutions throughout his empire—happy citizens rarely rebel. A customary way of wishing someone a safe journey, similar to the term “godspeed.” The Hebrew term for “go up” is used throughout the Old Testament to designate a trip to Jerusalem. Since Jerusalem is situated at the top of a mountain, travelers must literally climb up to the city. The Persians of this era practiced Zoroastrianism —a religion that preached an ethical dualism with two ancient spirits: one good (Ahura Mazda) and one evil (Angra Mainyu). Each person had to choose which spirit to follow. The Persian belief in this dualism may have made them more tolerant of other religions.
The Jews who survived the exile (Isaiah 10:20–21) refers to the neighbors of the Jews who have decided to return to Jerusalem. The national heritage of these neighbors is unclear. The phrase may refer to Gentile neighbors, or Jews who remained in exile. Faithlife Study Bible
Isaiah 44:28–45:13
Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he shall perform all My pleasure,
Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,”
And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”
“Thus says the LORD to His anointed,To Cyrus,
whose right hand I have held—To subdue nations before him
And loose the armor of kings,
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:…
Jeremiah 29:10–14 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope…
Jeremiah 25:11–13 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation…
Daniel 6:26
I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
For He is the living God,
And steadfast forever;
His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed,
And His dominion shall endure to the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment