The year is 587 BC. The armies of Babylon have captured and destroyed the city of Jerusalem – including the Temple built by Solomon. The people are taken into the diaspora that will be known as the Babylonian Captivity. “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat weeping when we remembered Zion…But how could we sing a song [of joy for] the LORD in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137)  There is no Temple, there is no rejoicing.

In yesterday’s first reading we read that King Cyrus of Persia has freed the Israelites from captivity in Babylon, allowing them to return to Jerusalem along with all the sacred items the Babylonians took from the Temple in Jerusalem some 40 years prior. The king’s instructions were to rebuild the Temple and worship God in their tradition.