A Way of Return Providentially Opened to the Jews on the Overthrow of the Babylonish Empire by Cyrus

    The Jews must return from Babylon at the end of seventy years. God has said it. Failure,—delay, is impossible. But how shall they be delivered? If they could not defend themselves with all their resources in their own country, how shall they deliver themselves from captivity in the midst of a mighty empire? God delivered them, it is true, from the bondage of Egypt; but it was by mighty signs and wonders. From Babylon he delivers them without a single miracle. His Providence, by a long train of events, effected his purpose as fully as if all had been done by a display of power as manifest as that on Sinai.

    What a wonderful train of preparation was put into operation to effect this purpose! The birth, genius, talents, education, and character of Cyrus, were all providentially adapted for the office that God assigned him in this business. Follow him through his wars, and be astonished at his enterprise and success. Reflect on the office which the God of Providence assigned him, and let your wonder terminate in more exalted views of the power and government of God. Empire was given to Cyrus because he was the anointed of the Lord to deliver his people out of Babylon.

    But when Cyrus is in Babylon, what secures the deliverance of the Jews? Had not the conqueror the same interest with the king of Babylon in keeping them in bondage? Was Cyrus a worshipper of the true God? No, he was a heathen. What, then, inclines his heart to deliver the people of Jehovah? Was he now made a convert? No, he continues a worshipper of his own gods. He dies a heathen. Why, then, does Cyrus, rather than the king of Babylon, deliver the people of God? Cyrus was the man appointed by the Lord, and the hour of fulfilment was now come. God has the hearts of all men in his hands, and he turns them as rivers of water. He makes his enemies, as easily as he does his friends, the instruments of effecting what he decrees. God put it into the heart of Cyrus to set the Jews free from captivity. This is clear from the book of Ezra. "Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem."—Ezra i. 1-4. Here we see that it was the Lord who stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to make this proclamation. The prophecy concerning himself, it is evident from this document, had been laid before him; and the providential effect was the proclamation of liberty. Had it been the will of God that Cyrus should be hardened, the prophecy would have been neglected or mocked. How did Pharaoh resist amidst all the mighty works of Jehovah! The effect, then, that the knowledge of the prophecy concerning himself had on Cyrus, is said to be a stirring up of his spirit by the Lord. Success depended on this, and not merely on the natural effect of the document submitted to the conqueror. God here effects through his Providence, by Cyrus, as mighty a deliverance to his people, as he had done by all the display of his power against Pharaoh in their deliverance from Egypt. God's people, then, have, in every age, a right to look to him with confidence for deliverance from the greatest dangers, and the most inextricable difficulties. Surely, the life of no sovereign, in the midst of his most faithful and attached guards, is so safe as the man who has his trust in the God of Israel. From this fact we may see, that God can easily effect all that remains in his predictions and promises with respect to his ancient people. Without the supposition of a single miracle, he can remove every obstacle in the way of his purpose, and effect the greatest work of power. The prospects of the Jews ought to be determined by a fair exposition of the word of God, by the laws of language, consistently with all that any where in Scripture bears on the subject. But no objection can be allowed from difficulty of accomplishment, or opposition of the rulers of the world. God rules on earth as absolutely as he does in heaven. No being can resist his will. Every thing must fulfil it. The stars do not know their course more certainly than every event that takes place on earth fulfils the designs of Providence.

    As God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to deliver his people, so he stirred up some of the people to return. At first view, we may be ready to think that all the Jews would have with avidity seized the opportunity to return to their native land, in which they had so high prospects. But it was not so. And, as a matter of fact, all did not return. Very many, induced by connections which they had formed in the land of their captivity, chose to remain. But God stirred up the spirit of a number to return on the proclamation of Cyrus. "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."—Ezra i. 5, 6. Some were providentially excited to return, others to assist in persuading those who were inclined to remain.