If the returning exiles needed a guiding light it was not the Sinai Covenant or the patriarch traditions. Mosaic traditions had by this time become useless – blood that cleansed nothing. Where was the crown? We do not know how the Lord inspired Cyrus to decree the return, but Cyrus could not but have been impressed by the proud attachment of a people to a palace for an invisible king; a palace built by a king whose kingdom is the opposite of his own. They celebrated and embraced the Mosaic legacy but skirted the throne and the truthful village connected to SSolomon’s dynasty.
He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.
1 Chronicles 22:10
Cyrus learned from the records that his predecessor’s reign came to an end just as predicted. He also learned that there was a king whose kingdom was not going to end. His own name appears in prophecy stating his role in rebuilding the Province of Judea.
The return to Judea had just about everything except a Solomonic monarch. Solomon may have had an unimpeachable life as a wise ruler but he was a poor model for Mosaic orthodoxy. No conscientious disciple of Moses would rush to line up behind Solomon. The returnees chose to distance themselves from anything connected with the reason for their captivity in the first place. Solomon was the poster boy for idolatry, the classic Israelite folly. Yet the sure mercies of God to David found its legs in the Solomonic throne. David’s son will build the temple and it is his throne that will be established for ever.
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 