Story Of A Joyous Journey

Stories From The Hebrew Bible
THE STORY OF A JOYOUS JOURNEY

In the story of the kingdom of Israel, or the Ten Tribes, we have seen how the great empire of Assyria arose from the city of Nineveh, on the Tigris River. We have seen how it ruled all the lands and how it carried away the Ten Tribes of Israel into captivity, from which they never came back to their own land. We saw, too, how the empire of Assyria went down and the empire of Babylon, or Chaldea, arose in its place under Nebuchadnezzar. As soon as Nebuchadnezzar died, the empire of Babylon began to fall. In its place arose the empire of Persia, under Cyrus. He is called Cyrus the Great because of his many victories and because he ruled such a vast kingdom. His empire was much greater than either the Assyrian or the Chaldean empire, because it ruled the land of Egypt, as well as all the lands known as Asia Minor and also many lands in the far east.

Cyrus, the great king, was a friend to the Jews. At this time the Jews were still living in the land of Chaldea, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It had been seventy years since the first company of captives were taken away from the land of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. It had been fifty years since the city of Jerusalem had been burned. By now the Jews were no longer looked on as captives in the land of Chaldea. They had their own houses, tilled their own farms and lived in peace. In fact, many of them were rich, and some, like Daniel and his three friends, served in the king’s court.

You remember that in the early days of the captivity, Jeremiah the prophet wrote a letter to those who had been carried away to Babylon, telling them that after seventy years they would come back to their own land. The seventy years had now ended. The older men and women, those who had been taken away, had died in the land of Chaldea. However, their children and their children’s children still loved the land of Judah and thought of it as their own land, although it was far away.

The Lord put it into the heart of Cyrus, the king of Persia, very early in his reign, to send out word among the Jews that they could now go back to their own land. This was the word, as it was written and sent out:

Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He has commanded me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, in the land of Judah. Therefore, let those of the people of God who are among you go up to Jerusalem and help to build the house of the Lord. And those who do not go to Jerusalem, but stay in the places where they are living, let them give to those who go back to their own land gifts of gold and silver and beasts to carry them, and goods, and also a free gift toward the building of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

This made the Jewish people in the land of Chaldea very glad, because they loved their own land and longed to see it. One of them wrote a song at this time. It is Psalm 126:

When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion,
We were like unto them that dream,
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing:
Then said they among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them,
The Lord has done great things for us;
Whereof we are glad.
Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
As the streams in the South.
They that sow in tears Shall reap in joy,
Though he goes on his way weeping,
Bearing forth the seed,
He shall come again with joy,
Bringing his sheaves with him.

So the Jewish people began to make ready for going back to their own land. Most of those who were rich and noble in rank stayed in the land of Chaldea and in other lands of the Persian Empire. But though they did not go back to the land from which their fathers had come, they gave large gifts of gold and silver to help those who did go. And Cyrus, the king, went into the treasure house in Babylon and took out all the vessels of the Temple that had been taken away by Nebuchadnezzar. He gave the vessels to the Jews, so they could use them in the new Temple which they would soon build. The vessels consisted of plates, dishes, bowls and cups of gold and silver – more than four thousand in all. So, with the gifts of the king and the gifts of their own people, as well as what was owned by those who went to the land of Judah, the group took away a vast treasure of gold and silver.

It was a happy group of people that met together for the journey back to the land which they still called their own, though very few of them had seen it. There were forty-two thousand of them, besides their servants to help them in the journey. They traveled slowly up the Euphrates River, singing songs of joy, until they reached the northern end of the great desert. Then they turned toward the southwest and journeyed beside the Lebanon Mountains, past Damascus and through Syria, until at last they came to the land of their fathers, the land of Judah.

With all their joy, they must have felt sad when they saw the city of Jerusalem in ruins – broken down walls, heaps of blackened stone where houses once were; the Temple burned into a heap of ashes.

Upon arriving, they found the rock where the altar of the Lord had stood; the same rock where years earlier David had offered a sacrifice. From the smooth face of this rock they gathered up the stones and swept away the ashes and the dust. Then they built on it the altar of the Lord, and Joshua, the high priest, began to offer sacrifices which for fifty years had not been placed on the altar. Every morning and every afternoon they laid burnt offering on the altar, and in this way gave themselves to the Lord and asked God’s help.

From this time there were two branches of the Jewish race. Those who came back to the land of Judah (also called the land of Israel) were called “Hebrews.” This was an old name of the Israelites. Those who stayed in Chaldea and throughout the empire of Persia, were called “Jews of the Dispersion.” More Jews lived in Chaldea and throughout the empire of Persia than lived in their own land, and they were richer. Many of them went up to Jerusalem to visit and worship. Many others sent rich gifts; so that between the two great branches of the Jewish people – those in their own land and those in other lands – there was a close friendship. They all felt that wherever Jews were located, they were still one people.

The Jews who had been captives in the land of Babylon were now free to go wherever they chose. It was not long until Jews could be found in many cities of the Persian Empire. They also went to Africa and Europe. Besides those living in Israel, the “Jews of the Dispersion” could be found in many of the great cities.

When the Jews came back to their land, their leader was named Zerubbabel, a word meaning, “One born in Babylon.” He belonged to the family of David. Though he was called “the prince,” still, he ruled under the commands of the great King Cyrus, because Judah (which now began to be spoken of as Judea) was a small part, or “province” as it was called, of the great Persian empire.