Ezra - "why would Cyrus send them?"

Let's compare two passages today. First, in Ezra:

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. 4 And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’” (Ezra 1:1-4)

Now, in II Chronicles:

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:23 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’” (II Chronicles 36:22-23)

These passages could be used as proof for each other, since they are virtually identical. But I wanted us to see just how astounding they are!
The people had strayed.
Badly.
They'd intermarried and intermingled.
They'd put up idols and images, and there were groves to false gods in the land.
Did they heed the warnings?
Nope.
Did they pay any attention?
Uh, no.
But you can bet it got their attention when the city of Jerusalem was sieged, and when the city fell and the people were carried off to Babylon. That's when that dry spell began that we talked about yesterday . . .
In the time of captivity, God sent His word through Jeremiah to the captives in Babylon:

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place." (Jeremiah 29:10)

The seventy-year captivity began in 605 BC, the scholars tell us, and Jerusalem fell in 587 BC. The decree that Cyrus made in the first year of his reign (538 BC) was barely fifty years since the city fell.
Here is the remarkable thing: it was GOD who stirred up Cyrus to make this unusual proclamation. After all, the captives were considered the spoils of battle, just as were the beautiful vessels and trappings of the temple and of the city itself. We mentioned when we were briefly studying apologetics that Isaiah prophesied this event, and even named Cyrus as the one who would allow this group to return . . . . one hundred and fifty years earlier!

So, this brings us to our title question: why?
Why would Cyrus, a pagan ruler, issue a decree for the Jews to return to Israel, take lots of booty home with them, and to rebuild their temple?
Here is where that Cyrus Cylinder comes in handy again! It was discovered in the 1800's and it reveals that he had a policy of restoring people to their native lands and religions. He also asked them to pray to their gods on his behalf. Here's a quote from the scholars who translated it: "May all the gods whom I have resettled in their sacred cities ask daily Bel and Nebo for a long life for me."

He was covering all the bases, wasn't he? (Grin)
We have here a polytheistic king who wants to follow a program of religious tolerance. He asks his captive peoples to pray to their gods for his own well being. He provides for them to rebuild their temples in their sacred cities; perhaps he saw this as a peace offering to those gods.
Here, Cyrus is even providing funding to support the restoration and donating the temple objects that Nebuchadnezzar had absconded with years before!

Yes, there was a human reason for Cyrus sending the people home.
But there was another reason: our verses show that it was our sovereign God turning this ruler's heart to fulfill His purposes:

In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water    that he channels toward all who please him. (Proverbs 21:1)

Cyrus was ignorant of the ways of YAHWEH. From the way he looked at it, he was just building his empire and using wise policies that would insure his long reign. After all, these people would be grateful, no? And they would not rise up against him. And a peaceful kingdom is far easier to rule (and much less annoying to the ruler) than a conflicted one!
Behind Cyrus' remarkable decree is our Father God, working to fulfill His word given to His prophet. There's a note that not many people recall from when the Jewish people left Egypt; the verses tell us that the Lord put it in the hearts of the Egyptians to give gold and silver to the Jews when they asked them.

Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. (Exodus 12:35-36a)

Now he is working through Cyrus so that the Babylonians gave the people who decided to return to Israel silver, gold, cattle, and other goods. God was the reason why all of this happened.

The Jews are returning to Israel.
And we'll see that in time, they experience spiritual renewal.
There are human methods for renewal and revival. But for it to be genuine, God must work in His mighty power.
That doesn't mean that we just sit around and wait for Him to work . . . .
We'll study more on this next time!