Micah 3:9-12 “Now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice And pervert all equity, (10) who build up Zion with bloodshed And Jerusalem with iniquity: (11) her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, and say, "Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us." (12) Therefore because of you Zion shall be ploughed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest.”
The next key event that we will discuss is the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. The above-quoted passage of scripture is a record of Micah’s warning delivered to the Jews in approximately the year 730 BC[1]. In this prophecy, we see that because of Judah’s wicked behaviour, Micah predicted the destruction of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, and the First Temple. And so as we have already seen, in fulfilment of Micah's prophecy, 143 years later, in the year 587 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon laid waste to the city of Jerusalem and the rest of the cities of Judah.
Isaiah 44:24-28 “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: "I am the Lord, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself; (25) Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness; (26) Who confirms the word of His servant, And performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, 'You shall be inhabited,' To the cities of Judah, 'You shall be built,' And I will raise up her waste places; (27) Who says to the deep, 'Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers'; (28) Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid." ”
We have already looked at the above-quoted passage of scripture when we discussed the building of the Second Temple; nevertheless, the same prophecy is also pertinent to the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. We have already mentioned that Isaiah’s prophecy was delivered in approximately the year 711 BC[2]. In this prophecy, the Lord told the Jews, 124 years before its destruction in the year 587 BC, and 172 years before its rebuilding in the year 539 BC, that Cyrus would give the instruction for the waste places of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah to be rebuilt.
Ezra 1:1-3 “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, (2) Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. (3) Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.”
In the above-quoted passage of scripture we see that in fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy, King Cyrus of Persia gave the instruction for Jerusalem to be rebuilt. This passage declares that King Cyrus issued his edict in the first year of his reign, which historical records reveal to have taken place in the year 539 BC[3]. Although this passage only refers to the rebuilding of the Second Temple, we know that it also refers to the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem; because Isaiah’s prophecy specifically mentioned the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and we have already established that the Jews began rebuilding the city of Jerusalem in the same year of King Cyrus’ edict, i.e. nineteen years before they began to build the Second Temple in the year 520 BC (Haggai 1:1-8).
Michael E.B. Maher
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