Ezra 1

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.  Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.  And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem. vv.2-4

Read chapter 1

It's an amazing thing to read of a non-Israelite king say these words of praise and honor to God and his people as well as his command through God to tell the rest of the captives to return and rebuild.  Remember that Israel went into captivity by the hand of Babylon, but later the Persians conquered Babylon so the Israelites were under the king of Persia for the last part of their captivity (we see Esther marry the king of Persia).  This Cyrus is the son of Xeres and Esther, hence probably influenced by his mother of the God of Israel.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah go hand-in-hand.  They both speak of the return from captivity of Israel to their land and rebuilding of the temple and the wall.  The chronology of these books is a debate among many studiers of the Bible; one will see of the much overlap of time frames as you read these two books alongside each other.  Though Ezra is first in order in our Bible doesn't necessarily mean it happened first.  Ezra is written about the building of the temple, whereas Nehemiah is written of the building of the wall (around the city for protection).  Wouldn't it seem like you'd need the wall of protection first before you started rebuilding the sacred place of the temple where many treasures were stored?  Could the reason be that the order of importance (temple of first importance) is why this record is placed before the other?  The temple was the place of worship and communion with God then, today we don't need to go to a building to worship and commune with God, but often there is something special about worshiping in a safe, quiet place where you can focus on your time with God fully.  What "walls" or place do you feel most secured behind to be in your time of worship with God?