Since I enjoyed Nehemiah sooo much, I decided to stay close by and check out Ezra. I'm moving backward with the whole chain of events to when the Israelite's were told by King Cyrus that they could go back and rebuild their temple. It was a bit odd at first since with Nehemiah I was reading past this part in their history.
So, anyway, yes, as my title evokes, I wasn't too excited about the book. Chapter 1 was a bit dry to me this morning . . . (I'm probably just not an experienced enough Bible scholar yet to understand the intricacies of this magnificent work of historical documentary—lol) but I'm sure it will get better. : )
My favorite part was reading about King Cyrus, who declared that he was commanded by God to build Him a "house in at Jerusalem" 1:2. He sent the Children of Israel back with the temple items which King Nebuchadnezzar had taken when he conquered them.
I thought it was really cool that a Pagan king would declare this. I don't know much about King Cyrus but according to my Bible's "What's it mean" blurb about him, he allowed the nations he conquered to continue worshiping their own gods. I was also sad to read (also in that section) that he died in battle. I thought he deserved to have a more peaceful death. Plus since he seemed so congenial, the world seemed to be a better place with him during that time.
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