Cyrus

Good Morning!

Our Bible study lesson for Sunday references the book of Ezra. I could ask for a show of hands of everyone who has ever read or studied Ezra … but I won’t. In a nutshell, Ezra is a companion book to Nehemiah as it deals with the return of Israel after the Babylonian captivity.

I am intrigued by the first four verses. Here’s the whole first chapter:

Ezra 1 (New International Version, ©2011)
Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return
1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:
2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
“‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. 4 And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”
5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.
7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.[a] 8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.
9 This was the inventory:
gold dishes 30
silver dishes 1,000
silver pans[b] 29
10 gold bowls 30
matching silver bowls 410
other articles 1,000
11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
a. Ezra 1:7 Or gods
b. Ezra 1:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

There are a couple of things that strike me right off in verse: (1) fulfilling of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:11-14; Jeremiah 29:10) and (2) the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia.

Jeremiah 25:11-14 (New International Version, ©2011)
11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians,[a] for their guilt,” declares the LORD, “and will make it desolate forever. 13 I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
Footnotes:
a. Jeremiah 25:12 Or Chaldeans

Israel was taken captive by the Babylonians in 597 BC. Babylon fell to the Persians in 539 BC and the Jews returned to Israel around 520 BC. Actually there were a series of deportations from Israel, the last being around 587 BC. So Israel was in captivity approximately seventy years.

Another interesting factoid I found in my quick study of background was that Isaiah had prophesied the following:

Isaiah 44:24-28 (New International Version, ©2011)
Jerusalem to Be Inhabited
24 “This is what the LORD says—
your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:
I am the LORD,
the Maker of all things,
who stretches out the heavens,
who spreads out the earth by myself,
25 who foils the signs of false prophets
and makes fools of diviners,
who overthrows the learning of the wise
and turns it into nonsense,
26 who carries out the words of his servants
and fulfills the predictions of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’
of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’
and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’
27 who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry,
and I will dry up your streams,’
28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’

Isaiah 45:1 (New International Version, ©2011)
1 “This is what the LORD says to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
so that gates will not be shut:

Isaiah’s prophesy occurred 140 years before it happened. Imagine, a prophesy down to the very name of the individual. If you want to get real excited, read the rest of Isaiah 45 and you will see that Isaiah had prophesized the very things that Cyrus declared.

So what is the point? Cyrus wasn’t a Jew! Cyrus was a Persian. But God used Cyrus anyway. You know, sometimes it seems that the whole world is coming down on us Christians … and that we are alone. But our God can use anybody any time and any way in which He sees fit. So don’t be discouraged … God can and will overcome.

Agape’


Mr. Jim