9:9 we are slaves. Though restored to their land, the people of God were not politically independent, as they had been during the monarchy (4:19–23 note).

God has not forsaken us. God’s promise not to forsake the nation was, in its outer, typological aspect, conditional (10:5 note). If Israel forsook God and the covenant by disregarding the law, she would forfeit the blessings and experience the curses (Deut. 28:20; 29:24–25; 31:16–17). But even so God would never finally desert Israel, through whom Christ would come. See Lev. 26:44, 45; Ps. 89:30–37; Is. 54:7; Rom. 11.

the kings of Persia. Specifically, Cyrus (550–530 b.c.), who issued the decree to return, Darius (522–486 b.c.), who confirmed the decree, and Artaxerxes (465–424 b.c.), who commissioned Ezra to teach the people.

protection in Judea and Jerusalem. This phrase does not refer to the wall built later by Nehemiah, but is a figure for the protection afforded the returnees (note the other figurative language in v. 8, and that the wall of Nehemiah was not built around all of Judah).