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, except for Jeremiah and a few others who were allowed to remain.

About 48 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, in 539 BC, the Persian empire defeated Babylon. Not long after that, the decree of Cyrus allowed the Jews to begin to move back to Jerusalem to rebuild: by about 535 BC, right at 70 years after the first wave of captivity, there were people back in Judah, beginning to rebuild the city. What that means is this: a few of those who were among the younger deportees at the time of the third wave of the Exile, 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. They had lived in Jerusalem as children, been deported in the Exile, and had made it back home in their old age.

The text tells us how two leaders, Jeshua son of Jozadak and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, began to organize the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 3:2). And it also tells us about the strong emotional response of those elders who had returned from the Exile. 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 this house” (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 undures forever toward Israel” (3:11). Indeed, no one could “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.

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