Cyrus himself gave another reason. On what is now called the Cyrus Cylinder, the Persian emperor wrote that his victory was because the chief Babylonian god, Marduk, “called out his name: Cyrus . . . He sent gracious blessings upon me, the king who worships him.” Cyrus goes on to tell of actions similar to the decree in verse 23: “I returned the (images of) the gods to the sacred centers [on the other side of] the Tigris whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time. . . . I gathered all their inhabitants and returned (to them) their dwellings.”
“No,” says the Chronicler. Just as it was the Lord who “stirred up the spirit” of Pul, the Assyrian ruler, thereby exiling northern inhabitants (1 Chron. 5:26), and the spirit of the Philistines and Arabians against Jehoram, thereby allowing their taking of possessions and royal captives (2 Chron. 21:16–17), now to bring about restoration “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus.” Unlike Marduk, the Lord announced this beforehand by his prophets (cf. Isa. 44:24–45:7). Persian emperors had a well-organized communication system of messengers, with royal proclamations beginning with the declaration, “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia.” But here the emperor himself became God’s messenger, for God had spoken his word of deliverance that Cyrus was now implementing (cf. the frequent prophetic “Thus says the Lord”).
Each royal “proclamation” (Hb. qol) in Chronicles relates to restoration of the temple and its worship. Two are by the hand of a Judahite king (Joash, 2 Chron. 24:9; Hezekiah, 30:5), while the third is here from a foreign ruler. A foreign ruler also encouraged and gave resources as Solomon began building the first temple (Hiram of Tyre; 2:11–16). Contribution from outside the people of God is welcomed, perhaps seen as an example of the wealth of the nations being brought to Jerusalem (cf. Isa. 60:5, 11; 61:6; Zech. 14:14).
Cyrus’s proclamation is given more fully in Ezra 1:2–4, with the Chronicler here citing only Ezra 1:2–3a (cf. an official Aramaic document in Ezra 6:1–5). The Chronicler chooses to end with the part that addresses the people, an invitation to “whoever is among you of all his people” (an inclusive phrase the Chronicler affirms): “Let him go up.” For the Chronicler’s hearers, the temple has been restored, and there is no military or political hindrance for participation in and support of worship at the “house at Jerusalem.”
Chronicles began with all-embracing genealogies and has told of kings and people and their various involvements (or non-involvement) in faithful worship centered in the temple. Following the genealogies and the account of Saul’s death due to his “breach of faith” (maʻal; 1 Chron. 10:13), which set the scene for the following history, the anointing of David as king was “according to the word of the Lord by Samuel” (1 Chron. 11:3), and the story continued to be accompanied by the Lord’s “word” (e.g., 1 Chron. 17:3; 22:8; 2 Chron. 6:17; 10:15; 11:2; 12:7; 18:18; 30:12). Now the storytelling ends, not with destruction and exile due to the people’s being “exceedingly unfaithful” (2 Chron. 36:14), but in an open-ended manner as God fulfills his word through another prophet, Jeremiah (2 Chron. 36:22). There is hope for the future because God keeps his word concerning “all his people.” On that solid basis, the book ends with an open call for “you” to “go up.”