Exiles Return to Jerusalem

As this royal proclamation was heralded in all the provinces of the Persian Empire, it brought great joy to the hearts of many who, like Daniel, had been praying that God would remember His promise to restore His people. True, there were a large number who preferred the comforts of the homes they had acquired in the land of their dispersion to the weary journey across the desert to a land of desolation and ruin. Nevertheless, that “remnant” of which the prophets had spoken, did return—“the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised.” Ezra 1:5.AGP 152.1

Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, was appointed by Cyrus as governor of the returning exiles, and Jeshua, the high priest, was associated with him in leadership. The company of about fifty thousand who followed these leaders back to their homeland did not go empty-handed.AGP 152.2

“All they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things.” Verse 6.AGP 152.3

They also carried with them more than five thousand of the vessels of the temple that had been taken by the king of Babylon seventy years before.AGP 152.4

Recognizing the worship of God as of prime importance, immediately upon their arrival at Jerusalem the altar of burnt offering was erected, the Feast of Tabernacles was observed inAGP 152.5

its season, and soon the work of restoring the temple was begun.AGP 153.1

But not for long were they permitted to work unhindered. Angered by being denied a part in the work of erecting the temple, the Samaritans determined to halt the enterprise. They did everything in their power to weaken the hands of the builders; and they did not stop there. In an attempt to induce the king of Persia to repent of what they alleged was an unwise favor to the Jews, they “hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius.” Ezra 4:5.AGP 153.2

The presence of these hostile embassies from the land of Israel caused the aged prophet Daniel grave concern. The controversy was far more extensive than between visible human agents. For three weeks, while Daniel was engaged in earnest, agonizing prayer, the mighty angel Gabriel wrestled with the forces of darkness that were seeking so to influence the mind of Cyrus that he would stop the work of the restoration of Jerusalem and the building of the temple.AGP 153.3

At the end of this period, Christ Himself came to Gabriel’s aid, and the angel appeared to Daniel in a vision, to quiet his anxiety. This was the occasion for the last prophecy recorded in the book of Daniel,—a prophecy setting forth, not in symbols but in literal narrative form, a line of history reaching down to the end of time.AGP 153.4