When King Cyrus gave the decree to rebuild the Temple why did the Jews do this?

Answer 1

While many of the Hebrew aristocracy deported to Babylon seventy years earlier, as a reprisal for their rebelling against Babylonian rule, had settled into life in Babylon, about 40,000 of them were motivated to return to Judah to try to reclaim their ancestral land, and were also motivated by a desire to re-establish the destroyed temple as the centre of their religious leanings, which had remained strong, even if it had been modified by absorbing aspects of the Babylonian religions.

They were influenced by prophecies and a desire to re-establish their religious centre in Jerusalem where Judaism had been centred by Jewish King Josiah over a hundred years earlier. The temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians at the time of the deportation seventy years earlier as part of the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar's efforts to suppress the revolutionary spirit of the Judeans.

Cyrus the Persian king, who ruled the empire after having conquered the Babylonian empire was well disposed to granting requests of his peoples provided they were reasonable and not destabilising, and readily allowed them to return, led by Zerubbabel, to their ancestral land and re-establish their cult centre in Jerusalem.

Answer 2

While it says in the book of Ezra:

Ezra 1:2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah.

Cyrus did not personally rebuild the temple. Cyrus issued a decree that allowed some of the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Cyrus issued this decree because God put this in Cyrus' heart to proclaim - Ezra 1:1

This was prophesied in Isaiah more than 160 years before:

Isaiah 44:28 Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid." '

Answer 3

There is one likely possibility that makes sense, but otherwise we can not know the mind of God.

The Persians, under King Cyrus, were monotheistic and highly religious. They saw that the majority of the Jews in exile were also monotheistic and amenable to some of the same secondary beliefs that they themselves already held. And in their view, the god Ahura Mazda did not mind what people called him, as long as they worshipped him.

After the Return from Exile, one of Ezra's tasks was "to conduct an inquiry into the situation in Judah and Jerusalem on the basis of the law of your God" (Ezra 7:14). H. G. M. Williamson (The World of Ancient Israel, The concept of Israel in transition) says that the edict shows great concern for the detail of the worship in the Jerusalem temple, and it seems likely that part of Ezra's inquiry should have concerned the degree to which there was conformity with the Mosaic law. The Persian king required some formally agreed basis for his patronage and Williamson says that the renewal of the recurrent grants and concessions of Ezra 7.17 and 2l-24 may have depended on the outcome. This goes far beyond making sure that the money was spent for the purposes intended, but has to do with using financial pressure to ensure the Jews worshipped in the manner intended.

The most reasonable explanation is that Judaism had absorbed many new concepts from Zoroastrianism, and the Persian king required that there be no backsliding. He was satisfied that, whatever they called him, the God whom the Jews worshipped was really the god of Zoroastrianism.

Answer 4

He did not. Rather, he merely gave permission as well as materials, but it was the Jews who rebuilt the Temple, guided by the many Torah-sages listed in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Why did he do it? Spiritually, it was God who moved him to restore the Jews to their land. Politically, Cyrus (who is known to have been a benevolent ruler) thereby ensured a loyal, thankful populace in the land-bridge of Judea, strategically situated between the bordering continents.

See also:

Judaism and Zoroastrianism

Answer 5

Certainly, the Persians wanted to secure their new empire, and seem to have chosen to do this by building alliances with their subjects, rather than by force of arms. They also seem to have supported other cities that were willing to worship one god, whatever his name was.

The Persians not only assisted in rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem, they also sent the eunuch Nehemiah to help teach the Jews their own ancient religion. Some have pointed out the improbability of foreigners teaching the ancient Jewish religion, rather than subtly imposing a new one. They point to the many similarities between Judaism and Zoroastrianism, and suggest that the Persians could have been guiding the Jews towards worship of Ahura Mazda, but under the name of the ancient God of the Jews. The Persian view was that it did not matter what you called Ahura Mazda, as long as you worshipped him.

By rebuilding the Temple, the Persians were building an alliance on the fringe of their empire. Arguably, they could also have been spreading their sacred religion by a process of syncretism.