Monday
I remember wondering many years ago, why didn’t everyone return when they were given the opportunity, but the truth is that many had established themselves among the Persians and knew no other life. This was 70 years later and those living in Persian may well have been grandchildren or great-grandchildren of those living during the time when Jerusalem was captured. My daughter and her family currently live in Indiana, my grandsons were just babies when they moved there. It would be a similar thing for them to want to “return” to Pennsylvania. PA has never been their home. Their friends and their work and school is there in Indiana – it is their home. So I can understand now that not everyone would have jumped at the chance to “go back” to Israel.
The king was very generous in giving back to the exiles many of the items that had been taken from the Temple (did you happen to notice how large the number of items were that Cyrus returned to the Jews and how expensive they would have been?) And the people were generous with their donations as well. We are given a list of the people who returned and their positions, the work that they would fulfill.
The concluding remarks at the end of our reading, make you realize just how emotionally challenging this return was for the Jews.
Those who rejoiced for the future, and those who wept for the past. We are constantly made aware of the importance of both aspects of our lives. We should always look to the future but we should never forget the events of our past. Our past should help remind us of the right path to follow. And we should take those lessons and apply them to our future.
Blessings
Pastor Kathy