[[Ezr-04]] Prev: [[Prophecies in Ezr-03]] | Next: [[Prophecies in Ezr-05]] --- ### But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' households of Israel, said to them, "You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to Yahweh, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us." *Type*: fulfillment *Summary*: The leaders of Israel begin rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem based on the specific decree of Cyrus the Great, the King of Persia. *Historical context*: The prophet Isaiah specifically named Cyrus as the 'shepherd' and 'anointed' of God who would decree the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of the exiles approximately 150 years before Cyrus took power ([[Isa-44#v28|Isaiah 44:28]], 45:1-13). Historians and theologians point to the 'Cyrus Cylinder' and the Edict of Cyrus (538 BC) as the real-world fulfillment of this specific biblical prediction. *Related to*: [[Isa-44#v28|Isaiah 44:28]]; [[Isa-45#v1|Isaiah 45:1]] ### Then work stopped on God's house which is at Jerusalem. It stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. *Type*: fulfillment *Summary*: The rebuilding of the Temple is delayed by local opposition until the second year of King Darius I. *Historical context*: Jeremiah prophesied that the desolation of Jerusalem and the servitude to Babylon would last 70 years ([[Jer-25#v11|Jeremiah 25:11]]-12, 29:10). The destruction of the First Temple occurred in 586 BC. The interruption of the work described in [[Ezr|Ezra 4]] ensured that the Second Temple was not completed until 516 BC (the 6th year of Darius), exactly 70 years after its destruction, thereby fulfilling the specific prophetic timeline. *Related to*: [[Jer-25#v11|Jeremiah 25:11]]-12; [[Jer-29#v10|Jeremiah 29:10]] ### You will see in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces... That is why this city was destroyed. *Type*: fulfillment *Summary*: The text references the historical destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians as a result of the city's rebellion. *Historical context*: The destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple by Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BC was the fulfillment of numerous conditional prophecies in the Torah and the Major Prophets, which warned that persistent idolatry and rebellion against God's law would lead to the city being 'given into the hands of the King of Babylon' and laid waste. *Related to*: [[Deut-28#v49|Deuteronomy 28:49]]-52; [[Jer-21#v10|Jeremiah 21:10]]; [[Ezek-24#v1|Ezekiel 24:1]]-14 --- #ai_prophecy