Cyrus

Cyrus, Emperor of Persia, issued a decree allowing the Jews to return and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.

Cyrus, also known as Cyrus the Great, was the Emperor of Persia who played a significant role in the history of Israel. He is mentioned in several books of the Bible, including 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Isaiah, and Daniel.

According to 2Ch 36:22-23 and Ezr 1:1-2, in the first year of his reign, Cyrus issued a proclamation allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. This decree fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the end of the Babylonian captivity after 70 years.

Cyrus also returned the articles of the Temple that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem (Ezr 1:7-8). The returning exiles, led by Zerubbabel, began to rebuild the Temple with the support of Cyrus (Ezr 3:7).

The prophets Isaiah and Daniel both mention Cyrus by name. Isa 44:28 and Isa 45:1 refer to Cyrus as the Lord's "anointed" and the one who would carry out God's purpose in rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple. Dan 1:21 and Dan 10:1 indicate that Daniel lived until the reign of Cyrus, and Dan 6:28 mentions Cyrus as the king who succeeded Darius the Mede.

Ezr 4:3-5 records the opposition faced by the Jews in rebuilding the Temple during the reigns of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes. However, Ezr 5:13-17 and Ezr 6:3-14 recount how Cyrus' original decree was rediscovered during the reign of Darius, leading to the completion of the Temple reconstruction.

Historically, Cyrus was the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. His conquest of Babylon in 539 BC and his subsequent policy of allowing captive peoples to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples made him a significant figure in Jewish history and a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

(Heb. Ko’resh), the celebrated “King of Persia” (Elam) who was conqueror of Babylon, and issued the decree of liberation to the Jews (Ezra 1:1, 2). He was the son of Cambyses, the prince of Persia, and was born about B.C. 599. In the year B.C. 559 he became king of Persia, the kingdom of Media being added to it partly by conquest. Cyrus was a great military leader, bent on universal conquest. Babylon fell before his army (B.C. 538) on the night of Belshazzar’s feast (Dan. 5:30), and then the ancient dominion of Assyria was also added to his empire (cf., “Go up, O Elam”, Isa. 21:2).

Hitherto the great kings of the earth had only oppressed the Jews. Cyrus was to them as a “shepherd” (Isa. 44:28; 45:1). God employed him in doing service to his ancient people. He may posibly have gained, through contact with the Jews, some knowledge of their religion.

The “first year of Cyrus” (Ezra 1:1) is not the year of his elevation to power over the Medes, nor over the Persians, nor the year of the fall of Babylon, but the year succeeding the two years during which “Darius the Mede” was viceroy in Babylon after its fall. At this time only (B.C. 536) Cyrus became actual king over Palestine, which became a part of his Babylonian empire. The edict of Cyrus for the rebuilding of Jerusalem marked a great epoch in the history of the Jewish people (2 Chr. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:1-4; 4:3; 5:13-17; 6:3-5).

This decree was discovered “at Achmetha [R.V. marg., “Ecbatana”], in the palace that is in the province of the Medes” (Ezra 6:2). A chronicle drawn up just after the conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus, gives the history of the reign of Nabonidus (Nabunahid), the last king of Babylon, and of the fall of the Babylonian empire. In B.C. 538 there was a revolt in Southern Babylonia, while the army of Cyrus entered the country from the north. In June the Babylonian army was completely defeated at Opis, and immediately afterwards Sippara opened its gates to the conqueror. Gobryas (Ugbaru), the governor of Kurdistan, was then sent to Babylon, which surrendered “without fighting,” and the daily services in the temples continued without a break. In October, Cyrus himself arrived, and proclaimed a general amnesty, which was communicated by Gobryas to “all the province of Babylon,” of which he had been made governor. Meanwhile, Nabonidus, who had concealed himself, was captured, but treated honourably; and when his wife died, Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, conducted the funeral. Cyrus now assumed the title of “king of Babylon,” claimed to be the descendant of the ancient kings, and made rich offerings to the temples. At the same time he allowed the foreign populations who had been deported to Babylonia to return to their old homes, carrying with them the images of their gods. Among these populations were the Jews, who, as they had no images, took with them the sacred vessels of the temple.