Jews return home from the Exile
Jews return home from the Exile
Jews return home from the Exile
Zerubbabel and Sheshbazzar, prince of Judah, lead 50,000 Jews home, beginning in 538 BC. With a Persian military escort, they took a longer and safer route, following water sources.
Almost a century after the first Jews returned to Israel, Ezra led a group. Ezra took the shorter route, with a long walk through a dangerous part of the Arabian Desert.
Nehemiah came last and furthest, from Persia’s capital of Susa. He repaired Jerusalem’s walls.
Jews return home from the Exile
Map Persian Empire’s Susa
Map Persian Empire's Susa
Map Persian Empire's Susa, nestled alongside a mountain stream, at the foot of the Zagros Mountains of what is now Iran.
Map Jerusalem falls
Map Jerusalem falls
Map Micah 3, Jerusalem Falls.
9 Listen to me you rulers of Jacob’s people,
You leaders of Israel
You crooks who poison justice,
And cheat fairness.
10 You have built Jerusalem
In the blood of my people.
You have built my sacred Zion[2]
On the solid rock of evil.
11 Your judges settle cases for a bribe.
Priests will teach you if you pay.
Prophets will advise you for a fee.
Yet they all have the nerve
To invoke God’s support.
They say,
“Absolutely, the LORD is with us
Nobody’s going to hurt us.”
12 Tell it to Jerusalem
When it’s a plowed field.
This city is coming down,
Collapsing into a pile of rocky ruins.
The stately Temple Mount, abandoned,
Will grow into a wooded hilltop.
Micah 3:9-12
Map Jerusalem Falls