=5. The End of the Exile.=――The liberty of return which Cyrus gave closes the Babylonian captivity. Those Jews who remained in Babylon remained as voluntary exiles. With some, and they were not few, the sense that Babylon was the land of their children proved more potent than the remembrance that Palestine was the land of their fathers. Neither country was theirs. And in Babylon they were comfortable; and that condition, in making up one’s mind, counts for much. The fair land of promise was certainly to all the land of their dreams, but it is not quite as certain that it was to all equally the land of their desires. Some 42,000, however, brave and faithful men and women, decided to make use of Cyrus’s permission, and under the leadership of Zerubbabel crossed the Euphrates, and set out for the Holy Land; those who remained behind gave plenty of good wishes, and willingly forwarded supplies. Illustration: PALESTINE _E. Weller Lithog^r._ _Drawn & Engraved by E. Weller. Red Lion Square_ _London Longman & C^o._ CHAPTER II. THE RETURN TO PALESTINE. =1. The Rebuilding of the Temple.=――The first task of the exiles when they arrived at Jerusalem was to set about the rebuilding of the temple. The ruins were cleared away, and early in the second year of their return, amid great rejoicings, the foundation-stone of the second temple was laid. There were some very old people in the crowd, who had worshipped in the first beautiful temple, and to them the scene could not have been one of unmixed joy. The Bible says, ‘The old men wept.’ But men old enough to remember and to weep over their memories could not have been many, and hope and rejoicing were the chief feelings on the occasion.