God had done everything to isolate His people from the nations. Now He had scattered them there!
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia…” (Ezra 1:1). Right away we realize something dramatic has happened. Since the book of Joshua, the focus of the historical record has been the Promised Land, and, since David, the power center has been Jerusalem. But once the Babylonians decimated the Holy City, burning its palaces and temple, that period called by the Lord Jesus “the times of the Gentiles” (Lk 21:24) began. It will continue until Heaven’s Prince returns to earth to claim His rightful inheritance as great David’s Greater Son. We’ve already noted that the last paragraph of 2 Chronicles matches the first paragraph in Ezra, probably indicating Ezra as the compiler of the Chronicles record. There are seven books that describe the conditions towards the end of the captivity and the return of the Jewish captives to their own land. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are historical, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are prophetic, and Daniel is both historical and prophetic. The book of Ezra simply falls into two parts. Chapters 1–6 describe the first contingent of Jewish people returning with Jeshua (who would have been high priest if there were a temple) and Zerubbabel (who would have been king if there were a palace). This would be in 458 BC. Then follows a period not discussed by Ezra, but includes the story of Esther. Chapters 7–10 describe what occurs after the arrival of Nehemiah in Jerusalem, about 445 BC. Along with parts of the book of Daniel, the book of Ezra also contains sections written not in Hebrew but in Aramaic (sometimes referred to as Chaldee). This points to two encouraging truths: God doesn’t only speak Hebrew, and He also uses Gentiles in accomplishing His will!