430. The Hebrew Bible gained much of its present shape during the exiled years in Babylon. The Pentateuch, or Torah, approached the form it now holds, and the history of Israel, from Joshua through 1 and 2 Kings, and the earliest prophetic writings, were all most likely composed during the exile.
431. Jeshua was allowed to return to Jerusalem after nearly fifty years of captivity by King Cyrus of Persia. This young man, whose name means "the Lord is salvation," led the way for Jews to begin worshiping again. He served as chief priest and helped to lead the effort to rebuild the temple.
432. The beginnings of the diaspora, the great dispersal of Jews throughout the Mediterranean world and eventually into Europe, is marked by the period of exile and return. While in Babylon some Jews had entered official government service, such as Nehemiah, "a cupbearer" to one Persian king, and Mordecai, who also served a Persian king in the Book of Esther.
433. Daniel was a statesman, not a prophet. As a result, Jewish scholars do not place this book among the prophetic books. However, because Daniel had the gift of prediction, the New Testament calls him a "prophet" (Matt. 24:15). Daniel saw many symbols in his prophetic visions, and he often recorded them without attempting to interpret what they meant.
434. Starting in 538 B.C., about seventy years after the destruction of Jerusalem, Jews began returning to their Holy City. The Book of Ezra describes the exiles return. Ezra was a priest who led a group of Jews to their Homeland. He was accompanied by some seventeen hundred Babylonian Jews, including some Levites. A census was recorded of who returned to the Promised Land. Much of this book deals with temple worship and its responsibilities. Ezra taught the details of the Law of Moses so that Jews could reinstitute the practices in the Promised Land.
435. In Jewish history, law, and theology, Ezra is a character of great significance. Some Hebrew scholars rank him second only to Moses as a lawgiver and prophet, and he's considered by many as the second founder (after Moses) of the Jewish nation. Not only did Ezra reinstate the law and temple worship practices, he required that all Jewish men get rid of their foreign wives and children. Ezra ends poignantly with the words, "All these had married foreign women, and some of them had children by these wives."
436. Around 520 B.C., Haggai came onto the scene. The work of rebuilding the temple had nearly stopped. Haggai cheered the people on to continue the effort. He also gave great comfort to the other two priests who were hard at work. Within four years the work was done and the temple was rebuilt.
437. The Judah of the return from Babylon was a far cry from Solomon's empire, and the second temple, completed in 516 B.C., was modest, despite the fact that Cyrus provided funding for the rebuilding of the temple. All the gold and silver vessels that had been salvaged from the original temple and taken to Babylon were returned to Jerusalem. But never again in Scripture is the fate of Judaism's most sacred object, the ark of the covenant, mentioned.
438. At the rededication of the city of Jerusalem in 445 B.C., all the Jewish people and all who could hear with understanding gathered at the square in front of the Water Gate. Ezra began to read the Book of Moses before the assembly, "which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law" (Neh. 8:3). This verse refers to the fact that most Jews no longer understood Hebrew. By the time of the return, Aramaic, a related Semitic language, had replaced Hebrew as the common language.
