There had been three waves of captivity: in 605 BC, when the Babylonians first invaded Judah (Daniel was among those taken to Babylon in this wave); in 597 BC, when the Babylonians captured Jerusalem (Ezekiel was among those taken at that time); and 587 BC, when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, along with the temple, and nearly all the remaining healthy citizens were taken to Babylon as slaves.

The Persian empire defeated Babylon in 539 BC, and shortly thereafter the decree of Cyrus allowed the Jews to begin to move back to Jerusalem to rebuild: by about 535 BC, 70 years after the first wave of captivity, there were people back in Judah, beginning to rebuild the city. Thus, some of the younger deportees, who might have been children of ten or twelve years of age at the time of the destruction of the temple in 587, would have been in their late sixties by the year 530.

So Jeshua son of Jozadak and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel began to organize the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 3:2). As they saw this happening, “many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice” when they saw that the foundation for the new temple had been set in place (3:12).

Yet even while they were weeping over the memories of what had been lost, others were singing and shouting aloud for joy as the work progressed, giving thanks to Yahweh, for “he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel” (3:11). Indeed, “the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping; for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away” (3:13).

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From the perspective of those of us who have older eyes, it often seems that the best days are gone, O Lord: yet a new generation is rising that wants to set its hope in you. Teach us all, young and old, to trust in your gracious purpose: for you are good, and your faithful love endures forever.