The crisis.
The very first word of this book (literally "and," Keil, Wordsworth, etc.) has its importance. It shows the book to be an additional and continuous portion of that most important of all histories, the history of the Jews. How large is the place of that history in the Bible, beginning at Genesis 12:1-20. and hardly passing again to that of the Gentiles at Acts 10:1-48. How interesting a story in itself! No people so favoured (Amos 3:2; Romans 3:1; Romans 11:28). No people so exalted (Exodus 4:22; Jeremiah 31:9; John 1:47). How important a story to us! So instructive (1 Corinthians 10:11, etc; etc.). So vital (Genesis 12:1-3; Numbers 24:9, etc.). We are all the better or the worse for the lessons of the story of the Jewish people. This opening verse of Ezra introduces us to this singular people at a very important juncture, and relates, in connection with their history, a very momentous event.
I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE JUNCTURE. We find the people, e.g; in very great tribulation. They are under the rule of a stranger, counting the years of their history by the years of a "king of Persia." This not so in former days (see 2 Chronicles 34:8; 2 Chronicles 35:19; and, as perhaps an instance of transition in this respect, Jeremiah 52:12). We are thus pointed backward to the invasions of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, and to those three successive waves of desolation which came over the land under him. See 2 Chronicles 36:6, 2 Chronicles 36:7; Daniel 1:1, Daniel 1:2, for the first invasion, in the days of Jehoiakim or Eliakim, about 607 b.c. For the second, in the days of Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, about 599 b.c; see 2 Kings 24:13; 2 Chronicles 36:9, 2 Chronicles 36:10. For the third, in the reign of Zedekiah, b.c. 588, see 2 Kings 25:14; Jeremiah 52:8. Some idea of the desolation thus caused in the land itself may be inferred from what is said in 2 Kings 24:14, of only "the poorest sort of the people" remaining after the second incursion; and from what is said in Jeremiah 42:2, after the third; as also from what we are told respecting the "few" mentioned there in Jeremiah 43:5-7 No wonder we read the prophet lamenting, as in Lamentations 1:1; Lamentations 5:18. Awful indeed was that gray and silent Sabbath which had fallen on Judah's cities and fields! As to the people thence carried away, equally desolate were their hearts. How grievous their reproach and "confusion of face" (Daniel 9:7, Daniel 9:8). How bitter their recollections (Lamentations 1:10; Lamentations 4:10, Lamentations 4:20, etc.). How inconsolable their anguish (Psalms 137:4). Could any sorrow be worse (Lamentations 1:12; Daniel 9:12)? At the precise moment, however, when our story begins there was a little light in this darkness. Some of the people evidently were in expectation of some change for the better. The name of the king mentioned seems to show this to begin. Also the fact of its being the "first year" of his reign. Now that he had come to the throne, what would he do? See, for evidence of the great interest elsewhere attached to this date, Daniel 1:21, as compared with Daniel 6:28 and Daniel 10:1. How exceedingly natural is this interest if we believe Isaiah 41:25; Isaiah 44:28, etc; according to the best commentators, to be prophecies of this Cyrus by name! What a great turning-point in the history of the exile, his capture of Babylon, and subsequent coming to the throne. Another ground of great expectation at this juncture is also hinted at in the text. The prophecies of Jeremiah, a prophet whom many of the exiles may have heard for themselves, had foretold seventy years of sorrowful "rest" to the land (see Jeremiah 25:12; Jeremiah 29:10, compared with 2 Chronicles 36:21, and Le 26:34, 35, 43). The end of those seventy years coincided with this first year of King Cyrus. There was one at least amongst the exiles who knew this "by books" (Daniel 9:2). This same man had been the tried friend and chief adviser of the immediate predecessor of Cyrus (Daniel 6:3, Daniel 6:14, Daniel 6:26), and had a deep thought and constant love for his people and land (Daniel 6:10). From a man of such a character, and with such influence and knowledge, what might not be hoped for at such a time? And how exceedingly welcome, in such a condition of misery, would be any such hope!
II. The EVENT RELATED was quite in accordance with these natural expectations. While the people were thus anxiously listening, there came a sound on their ears. This new ruler had spoken; he had issued a proclamation—no unimportant thing in itself. We do not expect kings to speak unless they have something to say. It was also, as they would soon learn (a more important point still), a proclamation about themselves. Further yet, it was made in two ways, each worthy of note. On the one hand, to make it public, it was made orally, by word of mouth, throughout all his kingdom, for the information of all who could hear (comp. Daniel 3:4). On the other, to make it sure, it was "put in writing," as a thing meant to abide (comp. Daniel 6:8, Daniel 6:10). How momentous, therefore, even thus far, the thing which had happened. It was a loud knocking at the door of their prison-house, whatever it meant. Observe, in conclusion—
1. The fulness of God's word. How much here (apparently) beneath the surface; viz; the prophecies of Isaiah; the influence of Daniel; also in the reference to the Sabbatical years, the legislation of Moses; and, finally, in the appearance of Cyrus as a predicted restorer and deliverer, the promise of Christ himself.
2. The consistency of God's word. How many, how various, and from what widely-distant parts of it are the stones, as it were, thus brought together. Yet how admirably they fit together, and what a whole they compose.
3. The promptness of God's mercy. Many centuries passed before God visited his people for their neglect of the Sabbatical years; but as soon as the seventy years of enforced compensatory rest are concluded, that moment his mercy shines forth. See this characteristic illustrated in the case of Israel (Genesis 15:16; Exodus 12:41). In the case of the world (Galatians 4:4).