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1–4. Decree of Cyrus on the liberation of the Jews from Babylonian captivity. 5–6, Donations to the liberated Jews. 7–11. Distribution of church vessels to the Jews. 22–23. Date of liberation of the Jews from captivity. 1Ezra 1:1. In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord from the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord aroused the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, and he commanded to announce throughout his entire kingdom, verbally and in writing: “The first year of Cyrus” was the first year of his rule over Babylon and coincides with 538 BC (cf. Bolotov, Belshazzar and Darius the Mede. Chronicle. Reading. 1696). This was the year of “the fulfillment of the word of the Lord from the mouth of Jeremiah,” i.e. Jeremiah's prophecies about the seventy-year duration of captivity (Jer 25.11 and Jer 29.10). 1Ezra 1:2. Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the Lord God of heaven, and He commanded me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea. 1Ezra 1:3. Whoever is of you, of all His people, let his God be with him, and let him go to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 1Ezra 1:4. And all those who remain in all the places where he lives, let the inhabitants of that place help him with silver and gold and other property, and livestock, with a willing gift for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Decree of Cyrus on the liberation of the Jews. The decree on the liberation of the Jews, in addition to the place in question, is also found in the Bible 2 times: in 2 Chronicles 36.22–23 and 1 Ezra 6.3–5; and in the last place a special version of the decree is proposed. Some researchers are inclined to consider Cyrus' decree a false document fabricated by the author of the book (Meyer 49; Seineke 89.84). The basis for this is the Judaistic nature of the decree, expressed in the fact that Cyrus assimilates in the decree the recognition of Jehovah as the God of heaven, the name of the Jerusalem Temple as the house of God, etc. But these expressions will be understandable if we assume that Cyrus in his decree takes the Jewish point of view. Likewise, in his other decrees, he speaks about the Babylonian gods as if he recognizes them as true. In the famous inscription on the cylinder, Cyrus, a worshiper of Agura-Mazda, calls Marduch the king and ruler of the gods of Babylon and attributes to his help not only the conquest of Babylon, but also the subjugation of the region of Kugu and the Medes (Schrader, Keilinschr. Bibliothek, III, 2, S. 1201). As can be seen from v. 2–6, by decree of Cyrus the following rights were granted to all Jews: 1) return to Palestine (1Ezra 1.3); 2) construction of the church with subsidies from government funds (1Ezra 3:7, 6:3–4); 3) the return of gold and silver vessels taken from the Jerusalem temple by Nebuchadnezzar (1Ezra 6.5). In addition, the decree invited residents of the entire state (Article 4 “all those remaining”) to donate in favor of returning migrants. One should think that in Chapter 1. book Ezra's decree is not given in full, but in extracts: only the main provisions concerning the religious and national life of the Jews are taken from it. How to explain such a favorable attitude of the pagan Cyrus towards the Jews? Writer of the book Ezra sees in this attitude of Cyrus towards the Jews a manifestation of divine providence for the chosen people. “The Lord aroused,” he says, “the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia” (1Ezra 1.1). This divine suggestion, however, there is no need to present it as a direct suggestion. The means of this suggestion could be the natural course of historical events, in their totality directed by God. According to some researchers, the liberation of the Jews was carried out by Cyrus at the request of the Jews and for political reasons - it was caused by Cyrus’s desire to secure the settlement in Palestine of the Jews loyal to him, the southwestern borders of the kingdom (Stade), to create a stronghold against Egypt and a base for the attack on Egypt that was already being planned (Flavius Rosentsweig (Jude 11: 1, 12) indicates that Cyrus was led to the idea of liberating the Jews from captivity by the prophecy of Isaiah shown to him about his conquests. 1Ezra 1:5. And the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, every one in whom God had stirred up the spirit, rose up to go and build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. Cyrus's decree gave all Jews the right to return to Palestine. But not everyone took advantage of this right, but only those in whom God aroused his spirit to go build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. Many, as Josephus notes (Ant. Jude 11:1, 3), “remained in Babylon, not wanting to give up what they had acquired.” 1Ezra 1:6. And all their neighbors helped them with silver vessels, gold, other property, and livestock, and expensive things, in addition to any voluntary donation for the church. "All their neighbors". Apparently, not only Jews (Köhler), but also pagans (Hitzig). Some analogy of the fact noted by the writer with what took place during the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 3.22), does not give any reason, contrary to the opinion of some authors (Bertholet, Kosters), to consider the fact fabricated in imitation of the story of the everyday writer. 1Ezra 1:7. And King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and laid in the house of his god, In addition to voluntary donations of “silver vessels, gold, other property and livestock, and expensive things” (v. 6), the Jews also received church vessels, once taken from Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kings 24.13; Jer 27:16, 28:6; 2 Kings 25.14; Jer 52:18; Dan 5.2; Deut 1.8) Nebuchadnezzar and kept in one of the Babylonian temples as trophies of the victory of the pagan gods over Jehovah. 1Ezra 1:8. and Cyrus, king of Persia, carried them out by the hand of Mithredates the treasure keeper, and he handed them over to Sheshbatzar, prince of Judah. The vessels are transferred to Prince Judah Sheshbazzar, who in 1Ezra 1.11 and 1Ezra 5.14–15 appears to be the head of the Jews returning under Cyrus, the governor of Palestine and the founder of the Jerusalem Temple. But at the same time, in other places in the book. Ezra (1Ezra 2:2, 3:2, 4:2), in the book. Nehemiah (Neh 7.7), as well as the prophet Haggai (Hag 1.1–14) and Zechariah (Zech 4.9), the leader of the first caravan of the Jews, the founder of the house of the Lord (Zech 4.6) and the ruler of Judah (Hag 1.1, 14) is called Zerubbabel, the son of Saphatiel. This raises the question: who was Sheshbazzar mentioned in 1Ezra 1:8, 11 and 1Ezra 5.14–15 and in what relation did he stand to Zerubbabel? Many researchers consider Sheshbazzar to be a special person, different from Zerubbabel, and believe that he was a Persian official appointed to serve as the representative of the Persian government in Judea and appointed prince of the Jews (Stade, Rosenzweig, Smend). At the end of his mission, Sheshbazzar was allegedly recalled to the Persian court and Zerubbabel took his place. Other researchers, also distinguishing Sheshbazzar from Zerubbabel, are inclined to consider him not a Persian, but a Jew. Thus, Meyer (Entstechung I. S. 79), Imbert, Renan (see. Bertholet) identifies Sheshbazzar with Shenazar, the son of Jehoiachin, mentioned in 1 Chronicles 3.18; Nickel (Wiedefherst j. G. S. 50) considers Sheshbazzar simply an outstanding Israelite, perhaps a distant relative of the royal house, and Sellin (Serubabel S. 7; Entst I I, 239; II, 35) is inclined to see Jehoiachin himself in Sheshbazzar. More fair, however, we must recognize the view of those bibliologists who consider Sheshbazzar to be one person with Zerubbabel, who thus bore two names (Evald, Koehler, Kuenen, M. Filaret, Popov). The reasons for this view are as follows: 1) In 1Ezra 1.8 Sheshbazzar is called “prince of the Jews.” Therefore, he was a Jew and precisely a descendant of David. And during the period of the return of the Jews from captivity by a descendant of David, as can be seen from 1Ezra 3:2, 8, 5:2; Hag 1:14, 2:2, there was only Zerubbabel, with whom Sheshbazzar must therefore be identified. 2) In 1Ezra 1.11 it is reported about Sheshbazzar that he went with the immigrants from Babylon to Jerusalem, and in 1Ezra 5.16 that he “laid the foundation of the house of God.” The same activity is learned in 1Ezra 2:2, 3:8; Zechariah 4:9 To Zerubbabel. Obviously, biblical writers consider Sheshbazzar and Ezra 2 to be one and the same person. 3) In 1Ezra 5.14 Sheshbazzar is called pecha, and in Hag 1:1, 14, 2 this title is assigned to Zerubbabel for the same historical moment. As for the meaning of the given names, it is not entirely clear. The name Zerubbabel probably comes from Hebrew. zeru and babel and means in Russian translation “born in Babylon”. The name Sheshbatzar (2Ezra 2.12 - Samanassar) is considered either Babylonian - Sin-bal-usur or Samas-bal-usur, Samas, Sin protects his son - or Persian (Rissel, Keper). The custom of giving two names is also known from the book. Daniel. 1Ezra 1:9. And this is their number: thirty gold dishes, a thousand silver dishes, twenty-nine knives, 1Ezra 1:10. thirty gold bowls, four hundred and ten double silver bowls, a thousand other vessels: 1Ezra 1:11. all the vessels, gold and silver, five thousand four hundred. Sheshbatzar took all this with him when he sent immigrants from Babylon to Jerusalem. The number of vessels (their Hebrew designations are not entirely clear) is indicated that were returned to the Jews through Mithredates, the keeper of the treasures. The total number of vessels in art. 11 is determined by the number 5400. But if you add up the numbers that are in Art. 9–10 indicate individual types of vessels (30 + 1000 + 29 + 30 + 410 + 1000), then the total sum will be not 5400, but only 2,499. In view of this discrepancy between the sum and the terms, some researchers (Berto, Nickel), based on the evidence of 2 Ezra 2.13–14, consider the numbers of individual types of vessels to be erroneous, while others (Keil) assume error in the designation of the total number of vessels. It is possible, however, to do without this assumption of errors in the text. In article 11, one might think, the quantity was indicated, which was made up not only of the vessels donated by Mifredat, but also of those that were donated by private individuals. Hence it happened that the figure of Art. 11 does not correspond to the sum of the digits of Art. 9–10. You might be interested in: