God did not abandon the Jews. During the Exile, Isaiah prophesied, revealing the words of God to the Jews in exile …
Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name; … Isaiah 49:15-16
The oppressed shall soon be released; … Isaiah 51:14
And sure enough, after 70 years in exile …
2 Chron 36:21
In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation … “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!'” 2 Chron 36:22-23
King Cyrus, [also], had the utensils of the house of the LORD brought forth which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem … Ezra 1:7
Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites–everyone, that is, whom God had inspired to do so–prepared to go up to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. Ezra 1:5
Those God inspired, the faith-filled, returned to Judah. The faith-less stayed behind in Babylon. Of those who returned to Judah …
The entire assembly taken together came to forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, Ezra 2:64
Only 42,000 remained from a nation that, when David was king, could put over one and a half million soldiers in the field.
Despite their fear of the peoples of the land, [the Jews] replaced the altar on its foundations and offered holocausts to the LORD on it, both morning and evening. Ezra 3:3
Zerubbabel, … and Jeshua, … began [to rebuild the temple]… Ezra 3:8
… the people of the land set out to intimidate and dishearten the people of Judah so as to keep them from building. Ezra 4:4
… King Artaxerxes: Ezra 4:8
… sent this … Ezra 4:17
… order… stop the work of these men. Ezra 4:21
… the governor… stopped their work by force of arms. Ezra 4:23
Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, … began to prophesy to the Jews … in the name of the God of Israel. Thereupon Zerubbabel … and Jeshua … began again to build the house of God in Jerusalem, with the prophets of God giving them support. Ezra 5:2
… God watched over … the Jews so that they were not hindered … Ezra 5:5
A New King …
… King Darius issued an order … Ezra 6:1
Let the … Jews continue the work on that house of God; they are to rebuild it on its former site. Ezra 6:7
that they may continue to offer sacrifices of pleasing odor to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. Ezra 6:10
They completed … this house of God with joy. Ezra 6:15-16
The wall [around the city] was [also] finished … Neh 6:15
When all [their] enemies had heard of this, and all the nations round about had taken note of it, [their] enemies lost much face in the eyes of the nations, for they knew that it was with … God’s help that this work had been completed. Neh 6:16
… Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, which consisted of men, women, and those children old enough to understand. … he read out of the book from daybreak till midday… and all the people listened attentively to the book of the law. Neh 8:2-3
Ezra read plainly from the book of the law of God, interpreting it so that all could understand what was read. Neh 8:8
Then all the people went to … celebrate with great joy, for they understood the words that had been expounded to them. Neh 8:12
[All the people] with the sanction of a curse [took an] oath to follow the law of God which was given through Moses, the servant of God, and to observe carefully all the commandments of the LORD… Neh 10:30
After the pain of the Exile experience, the remaining Jewish people were united in faith, hope, and love.