Who gave the decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple?
King Cyrus of the Medes and Persians gave the decree. After Babylon destroyed the Temple and took Israel captive, Cyrus permitted the Jews, seventy years later, to return to their homeland, to Jerusalem, and to rebuild their Temple. This permission was given by the next empire after Babylon.
Les explains that after Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem in 606 B.C., Israel went into captivity. Then, 70 years later, the next empire—the Medes and Persians—came to power, and King Cyrus gave the decree that the Jews were free to go back to their homeland, back to Jerusalem, with permission to rebuild their Temple. Les also points out that most Jews in Babylon did not return; only 44,000 out of several million went back.