In Ezra 4, the non-Israelite inhabitants of Judah approach Zerubbabel and ask if they can participate in the Temple rebuilding project in Jerusalem. When their request is denied, they get angry and try to hinder the progress of the Jews. When a new king of Persia, Artaxerxes, ascends to the throne, they write him a letter, framing the Jews in a bad light, and convince him to make a royal decree halting the Temple project.

In Ezra 3, the returned exiles gather in Jerusalem to rebuild the Altar of Burnt Offerings and to reestablish the daily sacrifices at the Temple site. A few months later, they return, and Jeshua and Zerubbabel head up the Temple rebuilding project, beginning with the foundation.

After King Cyrus’ decree freeing the people of Judah to return home (Ezra 1), God’s people prepared to leave Mesopotamia and return to the Promised Land. Ezra 2 is an accounting of the people who made the journey, 49,897 in all. Several groups of people are highlighted including the priestly families, the Temple servants, the gatekeepers, and the families of the Tribe of Levi.

Ezra picks up where the Book of 2 Chronicles left off. At the end of 2 Chronicles, Jerusalem was destroyed, the Temple was demolished, and the people of Judah were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Several decades later, the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians. The new Persian king, Cyrus, made a decree freeing the people of Judah to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. Ezra 1 documents the decree of Cyrus and the support he gave to the families of Judah to expedite the Temple project.  

When Cyrus King of Persia released the Jews from their Babylonian captivity around 538 BC, Sheshbazzar was appointed governor of Judah. He led the exiled people of Judah out of Mesopotamia and back Jerusalem. Sheshbazzar was instrumental in reconstructing the Jerusalem Temple. The original Temple, the Temple of Solomon, had been destroyed when the Babylonians conquered the city 50 years earlier (around 586 BC).