Reading
2 Chronicles 36:17-34

17Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm. He gave them all into his hand. 18All the vessels of God’s house, great and small, and the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 19They burned God’s house, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels. 20He carried those who had escaped from the sword away to Babylon, and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 21to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

22Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that Yahweh’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 23“Cyrus king of Persia says, ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, Yahweh his God be with him, and let him go up.’”


Devotional

The book of Chronicles ends in a very unusual way. It limits the fall of Jerusalem; the destruction of the temple and the people being carried away as captive to only 5 verses.  The 70 years of exile are not described at all. Then suddenly a new King takes over Babylon and decides to let the Jewish people go home to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.  In the original Hebrew scripture, the last verse is incomplete.  It finishes like this;

Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all His people--the LORD his God be with him--let him go up.’  

The last words remain unfinished ‘let him go up’ and that’s how it is left.  Now remember that in the original Hebrew, Chronicles is the last book in the Old Testament, so this is how everything ends, with a sense of incompletion.

It’s important to understand that the author did not forget the next part of the history, nor did he fall asleep at the writing desk.  The last line is meant to leave us in suspense, with the sense that things are not yet finished.  The author is willing the people to look forward, knowing that nothing will be truly complete until the promised messiah comes. Their lives were now to be lived in the expectation of his arrival, while our lives should be lived in the anticipation of his return.