He Gave Us Prophets: Historical Analysis of ProphecySample

Major Events of the Restoration: Ezra 1:1-8

As we’ve seen, the early monarchy provided the background for the writing prophets of the Bible. A number of prophets ministered during the Assyrian judgment, and even more served God during the Babylonian judgment. Now we should explore the prophets who ministered to God’s people when some Israelites actually returned from exile in Babylon to the land of Judah. We may speak of this restoration period extending from 539 B.C. to around 400 B.C. We will explore this period in our usual way by focusing first on the major events of that time and then the prophetic ministries. Let’s look first at the major events of the restoration period.

In 539 and 538 B.C., God did a wonderful thing for his exiled people. In fulfillment of the prophecies in Isaiah, the Persian emperor Cyrus conquered the Babylonian empire and encouraged the Israelites to return to their land and rebuild the temple of Yahweh. This initial restoration of the people from exile took place under the leadership of Sheshbazzar, who many think was Zerubbabel, the rightful heir of David’s throne. The exiles who returned, however, were relatively few in number, and they were not firmly devoted to doing Yahweh’s will. 

Now, this fact brings us to the second major event during the restoration period, the rebuilding of the temple during the years 520 to 515 B.C. The Israelites who first returned to the land neglected rebuilding the temple. They began the project, but soon became preoccupied with their own needs and stopped building. Because the people of God were failing in their responsibility to rebuild the temple, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah stepped onto the streets of Jerusalem around 520 B.C. to exhort the people to rebuild the temple of God. At first there was great optimism and great hope, but that optimism did not last long.

The third great event of the restoration period was widespread apostasy. Now, this apostasy grew after the initial rebuilding of the temple, especially during the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah. Scholars debate the precise dates of this period, so we should set a range of possibilities from around 450 to 400 B.C. Within one generation after Zerubbabel had rebuilt the temple, the people of God began to intermarry with foreign women, and as a result, the religion of Israel was mixed with the religions of other peoples. The restoration period ground to a halt. Now Ezra and Nehemiah did have a few reforms and they worked for a while, but it wasn’t long even before those reforms failed. The restoration period became a period of great apostasy.