Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/388



he prophet Jeremias  had  foretold  that  the  captivity  of Babylon  would  not  last  longer  than  seventy  years,  and that the  Jews  would  then  return  to  their  own  country. Daniel had renewed  this  consoling  promise,  and  had  added  another  prophecy of  greater  importance; namely,  that  from  the  day  on  which the order  should  be  given  to  rebuild  Jerusalem  till  the  death  of the  Messias,  there  would  remain  only  seventy  weeks  of  years; that is, 490  years,  so  that  the  Jews  knew  not  only  the  family from which  the  Saviour  would  spring,  but  also  the  city  where  He would  be  born,  and  the  year  in  which  He  would  die.

The severe  sufferings  of  the  captivity  in  Babylon,  together with the  exhortations  of  the  prophets,  particularly  those  of  Daniel and Ezechiel,  had  brought  the  Jewish  people  to  a sense  of  their duty. Wherefore it  happened  that  in  the  seventieth  year  of  their sad captivity,  Cyrus,  king  of  Persia,  by  a divine  inspiration,  issued an  edict  that  all  the  Jews  who  were  in  his  kingdom  should  go back  to  Jerusalem  and  rebuild  the  Temple  of  the  Lord.