Is Religious Freedom Enough? Early 2nd Temple Polemics (Hagai, Zekharia, Ezra)

When Darius the Great ascends the throne of Persia a fateful debate rages beneath the surface amongst the Jewish leadership. Should they be grateful  and suffice with the right of return and religious freedom Persia awarded or should they risk it all and join a multi-regional revolt to achieve political freedom and the reestablishment of the Jewish monarchy? The shiur provides an introduction discussing timeline in the Bible, Empires dealt with in the Bible, and who were the Jewish leaders of Yehud under Darius. The introduction is followed by pointing out a number of oddities and seeming contradictions regarding the depiction of events as relayed by Hagai, Zekhariah, Malakhi and Ezra. These difficulties are resolved by analyzing the shifting balance of power between Yehoshua Kohen Gadol and Zerubavel and a planned rebellion against Paras. Archaeological evidence is used to buttress the claim of a possible rebellion. The shiur ends with a possible biblical message for future generations.