Return to Zion

'Zion returnees') is an event recorded in Ezra–Nehemiah of the Hebrew Bible, in which the Jews of the Kingdom of Judah—subjugated by the Neo-Babylonian Empire—were freed from the Babylonian captivity following the Persian conquest of Babylon.

These texts also document the interactions of the Jews with neighboring figures, including Sanballat the Horonite, likely the governor of Samaria, Tobiah the Ammonite, who likely owned lands in Ammon, and Geshem the Arabian, king of the Qedarites, all of whom opposed Nehemiah's efforts to rebuild Jerusalem.

[1] One of the significant achievements of the Persian period was the canonization of the Torah, a topic of enduring scholarly interest due to its profound impact on Western civilization.

Traditionally attributed to Ezra, who presented the "Torah of Moses" to the people of Judah, possibly around 398 BCE, this process of creating a unified book of rules played an important role in fostering the distinctive identity of the Jews during this period.

[1] Babylonian texts, archaeological evidence, and population estimates suggest that only a small group of exiles, likely around 4,000, returned to Judah over several decades, contrary to the figure of 42,360 listed in Ezra 2.

The Book of Ezra first depicts the return of Sheshbazzar at the behest of the Persian King Cyrus in 538 BC, the first year after he conquered Babylon: 7 And King Cyrus took out all the vessels of the House of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of Jerusalem and had placed them in the temple of his god; 8 Now Cyrus, the king of Persia, took them out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah… 11 All the vessels of silver and gold were five thousand, four hundred; Sheshbazzar brought up everything when the exiles were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.The second migration recounted in the Book of Ezra is that of Zerubbabel (either in 538 BC with the first wave or 520 BC, the second year of Darius I, when work resumed).

[15] The fourth migration was led by Nehemiah, who was granted a leave of absence to rebuild Jerusalem and repair its city walls in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes I (445 or 444 BC).

[18] The biblical Book of Ezra includes two texts said to be decrees of Cyrus the Great allowing the deported Jews to return to their homeland after decades and ordering the Temple rebuilt.

[20] Professor Lester L Grabbe asserted that the "alleged decree of Cyrus" regarding Judah, "cannot be considered authentic", but that there was a "general policy of allowing deportees to return and to re-establish cult sites".