Ezra 1,2
Before we start I want to mention that the books of the Bible are not in chronological order. For instance Esra, Esther, and Nehemiah come before Psalms yet David wrote the Psalms hundreds of years before those three books were written and took place. Esra picks up where 2 Chronicles stops. Commentary for the REV “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia.” Ezra 1:1 -3a is almost identical to the last two verses of 2 Chronicles. From a chronological point of view, Ezra takes over where Chronicles stops. This first year of Cyrus refers to his first year reigning over Babylon, which he conquered in 538 BC, not his first year reigning in Persia (559 BC). Babylon was captured in October, 539 BC ( Dan. 5:30-31 ), but Cyrus did not get there and start to reign over Babylon until March of 538 BC. Quite a lot is known about Cyrus from the Persian records. Also, “Cyrus” is an actual name, not a title, whereas in other parts of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, the “names” Dar...