What empire came 70 years after Babylon?
The Medes and Persians were the next empire, coming 70 years after Babylon. King Cyrus gave a decree that the Jews were free to go back to their homeland, to Jerusalem, and to rebuild their Temple. Only 44,000 out of several million returned.
Les explains that after Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem in 606 B.C., Israel went into captivity. Seventy years later, the next empire—the Medes and Persians—under King Cyrus gave a decree allowing the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild their Temple. He notes that most Jews in Babylon did not go back, only 44,000 out of several million. This historical pattern sets up events in the New Testament.