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(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Ezra 1:5–11, “Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered. Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.”
When the king gave the command, there were some people, called by the Lord, who decided to take advantage of the offer and return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. During Hezekiah’s day, the Lord promised that king that his wealth would be taken to Babylon. However, Cyrus commanded his treasurer to count out the riches from the Temple so that they could be restored to Temple and Mithredath gave the treasures to the Sheshbazzar the man who led the Jews back to Jerusalem. This was a massive undertaking because the vast majority of the Jews who were living in Babylon at that time had been born there and they were returning to a strange land. They were motivated by a desire to serve the Lord.
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