Cyrus the Great (reigned to 530 BC) took Babylon in 539 BC and, the next year, issued the decree that let the Jewish exiles return and rebuild the temple, restoring the vessels Nebuchadnezzar had carried off (2 Chronicles 36:22–23; Ezra 1:1–11; 6:3–5). Isaiah had named him "my shepherd" and the LORD's "anointed" (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1). Cyrus left his own account too, the clay Cyrus cylinder, which the ISBE describes as "a kind of proclamation justifying his seizure of the crown," in which he credits Babylon's god Marduk with his victory and boasts of returning other peoples' gods to their shrines. So the same tolerant policy reads two ways: Scripture sees the LORD stirring Cyrus's spirit; Cyrus's own monument frames it as his piety toward Marduk. Both are given, and no winner is picked. (Source: ISBE 1915, "Cyrus"; "Persians," III; the cylinder is Cyrus's own inscription.)
Empires and rulers of the Old Testament world
Cyrus: the shepherd who sent them home
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- Ezra 1:1bsb
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:
- Isaiah 44:28bsb
who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’ who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid.’”
- Isaiah 45:1bsb
This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:
- 2 Chronicles 36:23bsb
“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and may he go up.’”
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