Part 9 of 12: The Restoration under Persia (538 BC)
as told in Ezra, Nehemiah, Lamentations, Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah 56-66, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Joel, Obadiah, and Jonah

Lyrics

Now this here’s the story about a chosen people who were like a house.
And at the same time they were
like a doorway to an even larger house:
a mansion, if you will…

CHORUS:
Ya left a permanent bootprint in our butt
when you kicked us out of our land.
The prophet said somethin’ ‘bout a shoot in Jesse,
a lion lyin’ down with a little lamb.
The good are bad and now the bad are holy,
They’re the warriors that you anoint.
But ya left a permanent bootprint in our butt.
I think we got the point!

Now how did the whole mess get started? Oh yeah!
Well, the king of Persia took us off the hook
with his decree in 538.
We got back home and saw our city ruined,
lamented hard, and don’t appreciate
Samaritan mutts are tryin’ to kick our butts!
We’ll turn our plowshares into swords.
When this is through your people swear to you
we’ll keep the laws that we ignored!
(Chorus)

Now what came next? Oh yeah!
Nehemiah and Zechariah and Haggai
all inspired our lives.
Ezra found a copy of the Law of Moses
and we divorced all our foreign wives,
‘cause we don’t wanna lose the land again,
So this time we’re gonna keep it clean.
It’s time to rebuild the promise that we killed
and keep the Law to the extreme! (Chorus)

One day God would be the king of the world
and not confined just to Israel.
Instead of a whore we’ll be a brand new bride.
It’s prophesied now. Listen well!
The book of Job and Ecclesiastes
and the Song of Songs display
that suffering, vanity, and romance too
are all a part of the Yahweh way! Yes sir!
(Chorus)