NOTES for Ch2 36:1-23
Here is the final chapter of the book of Chronicles, which reveals history as a process of interaction between God and humanity. While many events have so far been recounted in detail, now we are given a concise but thorough survey that allows us to see not so much the course of the events that led to the Babylonian captivity as their essence. Their essence is that the people had long and persistently prepared themselves for defeat by enemy forces and enslavement through their own sins and apostasy.
But it is no accident that the book ends with the words of the Persian king Cyrus about the coming return of the liberated captives to their native lands. These words are quoted not merely to state a historical fact, nor merely to end the book on an optimistic note. They are words of hope, and hope, as the apostle will say, does not disappoint. Indeed, the whole Bible is a book that gives hope.