Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.
Then rose up the chief of the fathers ... The paternal and ecclesiastical chiefs of the later captivity-those of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with some also from other tribes (1 Chronicles 9:3) who retained their attachment to the pure worship of God-naturally took the lead in this movement; and their example was followed by all whose piety and patriotism were strong enough to brave the various discouragements attending the enterprise. They were liberally assisted by multitudes of their captive countrymen, who, born in Babylonia, or comfortably established in it by family connections, or the possession of property, chose to remain. Indeed, it is plainly stated that so strong were the ties that bound multitudes to Babylon, and so great the discouragements to undertake the journey to Palestine, that a divine impulse was necessary to rouse the Jewish people at large to embrace the offered privilege. It seems that their Assyrian friends and neighbours, too, either from a favourable disposition toward the Jewish faith, or from imitation of the court policy, displayed hearty good will and great liberality in aiding and promoting the views of the emigrants.
It is quite clear, from the general tenor of Cyrus' proclamation, that the Jews within his dominions were not in the house of bondage as their ancestors had been in Egypt. They were exiles, expatriated from their own land, but not slaves. There is no hint of any public or private right of property in them, but, on the contrary, they are spoken of as occupying a respectable position, only in a state of exile, and were probably treated, as Jahn, thinks, as peaceful and industrious colonists ('Hebrew Commonwealth,' 1:, p. 161; Cory's 'Fragments,' p. 39: cf. Esther 7:4). Some, indeed, had to be redeemed ere they could be at liberty to depart (Nehemiah 5:8), but those persons had reduced themselves to servitude by causes which would probably have led to the same degradation in their own land.