It does not appear that the people suffered further molestation during the long reign of Darius; and his son and successor, Xerxes, seems to have regarded them with favour. This monarch was succeeded, in 464 B.C., by Artaxerxes Longimanus, in whose reign the Jews proceeded to rebuild Jerusalem on a regular plan, and to surround it with a wall, as will appear in a following chapter.
Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the first leaders in the restoration, had by this time been gathered to their fathers, and confusion and disorder were spreading widely amongst the Jews at Jerusalem. Light was the danger which they had encountered from the enmity of the people of the land, compared with that which they now experienced from too close alliances with them. Many broke the laws of their God by marrying heathen wives; some even of the princes and of the priests were guilty of this act of disobedience. A reformer was urgently needed, who should have wisdom to judge and firmness to act; and such a reformer was found in Ezra the priest, who headed the second large body of exiles, who returned from Babylonia to Judea, 457 B.C.
Armed with the authority of the Persian king, and intrusted with large offerings to the temple, including valuable contributions from the monarch himself, Ezra prepared for his journey. The bank of the river Ahava was the gathering-place for the people. There Ezra pitched his tent, and there he proclaimed a solemn fast, that the travellers might unite in supplication to the Almighty for protection on their dangerous way. As the band of pilgrims bound for Jerusalem included tender women and helpless children, and was ill provided for defence against an enemy in the probable event of an attack, some thoughts were entertained of requesting a military escort from the king. But Ezra had declared before Artaxerxes his firm faith in the power and goodness of God, and the noble-minded Jew shrank from making a petition which might seem to imply distrust of the Almighty’s providential care. Ezra would not lean on an arm of flesh, but with prayer and fasting he committed himself and his people to the protection of the Most High.
In safety the second body of exiles returned to the holy city. Having deposited in the temple the treasures with which he had been intrusted, Ezra applied himself with earnest zeal to the arduous work of reformation. The discoveries made by him of the guilt and corruption prevailing amongst God’s chosen people, filled Ezra with grief and shame. He felt that the greatest of evils is sin; the greatest of dangers, that of forfeiting the protection of the Almighty by trespassing against him. In deep sorrow of heart Ezra rent his garments, and, falling on his knees, with tears confessed before the Lord the sins of those whom divine mercy had restored to their land. “O my God, I am ashamed, I blush to lift up my eyes to thee!” exclaimed the leader of the backsliding Jews; “for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our transgression is grown up unto the heavens!”