The unexpected ways of God (Ezra 1:1-11)

In my twenties I was working at an English language school in Budapest but found that language teaching was not a very good fit and decided to leave. Having no idea what else to do, I felt quite lost and desperately prayed for God’s help. A couple of days later, I was at a friend’s party and chatting with someone who was working at a German bank. He told me that they were looking for a PA and encouraged me to apply. Despite my doubts about my faltering German and stumbling typing skills, I turned up for the interview. I was told afterwards that I would be notified in the next few days, but I barely reached home when the phone rang – I got the job. It turned out to be the Lord’s unexpected provision for two years before I sensed His call for theological study.

God in action – a pagan king’s heart is stirred

The Book of Ezra opens with a similar story of surprising provision from God. It is astonishing not only because it happened but because of how it happened. God had promised this return to the land (Jer 29:10; Ezra 1:1), but who would have thought that it would come about peacefully with full permission of the authorities? Nothing like this has ever occurred before! Cyrus took Babylon in 539 BC and styled himself as its liberator and a pious king who gave all the different gods their due and allowed formerly exiled peoples (including the Jews) to return home and rebuild their temples. His famous decree was carved on a baked clay cylinder that is about 22cm long and is kept in the British Museum today (the English text can be read here; see esp. ‘fragment A’, under ‘religious measures’). Even though Cyrus was a pagan king, a worshipper of Marduk (the chief Babylonian god), God stirred up his spirit to fulfil His promise to His people (Ezra 1:1; see also Isa 45:1, 4). It is God who gave him authority and who would be with the returnees (Ezra 1:2-3).

God in action – His people’s heart is stirred

Moreover, the Lord also stirred (literally awakened or aroused) the spirit of Jews to return to the homeland (Ezra 1:5). This was no small feat when most of them would have been born and brought up in Babylon and knew nothing else. Imagine the upheaval of exchanging an established life with friends, family, and wider social groups for a pioneering one in a land that was only known through the stories of old survivors.  There would also have been a long journey of about four months to get there (compare Ezra 7:9) with the uncertainty of what was at the other end. Yet it was God’s purpose and so He awakened the desire in those who went. Further, this was an event as significant as the exodus when the Egyptians gave valuables to the Israelites to support them (Exod 12:35-36; Ezra 1:6). Finally, the king also released the holy vessels to be used again in the rebuilt temple (Ezra 1:7-11) thereby signalling God’s willingness to take up the thread of their past relationship again, to live with them and accept their worship.

God’s provision in our lives

As Christians, we can probably all recall times when God has come through for us in unforeseen ways, whether He provided for us financially, prompted a person to mention something that led to a job opening, brought about an event at the right moment, or led the right person to us in a time of need. It is good to remind ourselves of these in circumstances when we live in uncertainty and wait for God’s help because it strengthens us to remember that He can be trusted, and nothing is too difficult for Him. Our passage also challenges us to ask whether we allow our hearts to be stirred by God. No doubt there were some among the exiles who resisted His call and could not be awakened to the potential of returning home. God never coerces us, but He prompts and prods and if we are open to be guided by Him, He can awaken the desire in us to do His will, no matter where it leads. May we be people who listen and follow Him.

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For interest – Differences between the Cyrus Cylinder and the decree in Ezra explained

There are some obvious differences in perspective between the Cyrus Cylinder and the decree in Ezra 1:2-4. In the former, Cyrus is a worshipper of Marduk, in the latter he sounds like a follower of Israel’s God, Yahweh. How can we account for these differences?

The ancient focus on what God or the gods are doing

It may be that the writer of Ezra simply summarises Cyrus’ edict focusing on the aspects relevant for the Jews specifically. We may feel uneasy about suggesting such a thing, but the primary aim of ancient histories was to give an account of what God or the gods were doing in the world. In other words, ancient historians interpreted the facts theologically (theos = god, logos = word, knowledge, i.e. theology = knowledge about God). Mere facts without such an interpretation were meaningless for them.

The modern focus on factual history where God plays no part

On the other hand, our modern Western conventions of writing history require a word-for-word rendering of such a decree as Cyrus’ and we expect an essentially unbiased, neutral account of setting out the facts as they happened. The truth is though that all histories are interpreted; we pick from the facts the ones that seem relevant for us to make sense of events and we do so in a way that aligns with our overall worldview. So, for instance, our contemporary Western worldview excludes God as an actor from the world such that we must find explanations for events within the human-material sphere without any reference to God (e.g. people’s actions lead to war, poverty, a financial collapse, or in the physical world there is an earthquake, a flood, an epidemic, etc.).

The differences are theological

If we compare the Cyrus Cylinder with Ezra 1:2-4, the basic facts are the same: Cyrus allowed captive peoples/Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple(s). The difference is the theological interpretation. Cyrus ascribes his authority and motivation to Marduk in the cylinder, whereas Ezra recognises that it is Yahweh, Israel’s God, who moves the pieces.

An alternative explanation

Alternatively, given the nature of a multi-ethnic empire with lots of different languages, a grand policy like Cyrus’ needed to be applied specifically to each people group using their language and adapting it to their religious sensitivities. The empire would have had scribes or administrators drawn from the different regions, who could contextualise a broad decree at a local level. It is well recognised that the writer of Ezra incorporates several records available to him into the book (e.g. a record of the returned temple vessels – Ezra 1:9-11; a list of returnees – Ezra 2:2-60, 64-69; correspondence between a Persian king and local officials – Ezra 4:8-22, etc.), so he may well have used an existing document in the case of Cyrus’ decree.

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