This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of... Isaiah 45:1
We all know something (I hope!) about Abraham and Moses, David and Hezekiah, Elijah and Jeremiah. They are all key characters in the Old Testament.
But... Cyrus? Who on earth was he?
According to Isaiah 44:24-Isaiah 45:7 he was the king whom God would use to bring about history-changing events for the people of Israel: Cyrus the Great of Persia, as he is known to history. God calls him “my shepherd”, who will “accomplish all that I please”. He is the man who will order the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians (Isaiah 44:28).
He will be massively rich and awesomely powerful, and given by God “a title of honour” (Isaiah 45:2-4).
Obviously quite a man! The Bible actually enables us to hear his voice. Go to 2 Chronicles 36:23 (repeated in Ezra 1:2-4): “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...”
Cyrus lived from about 600 to 530 BC, and he turned the kingdom of Persia into the greatest superpower of the time. Israel was living under the rod of Babylon, but in 539 BC Cyrus defeated the Babylonians at the Battle of Opis - and everything changed.
Yes, he not only allowed the people of Israel to return to their homeland, he actually encouraged them to do so. He not only allowed them to rebuild their sacred temple, he actually helped them to do so. For once, that much over-used word “incredible” fits.
But the most startling thing about King Cyrus is that God calls him his “messiah”. Yes, really!
“Messiah” is the Hebrew word for “person anointed by God” - the New Testament equivalent is “christ” (I haven’t given that a capital C because at this point in history it is a title rather than a name). In the Old Testament the title “anointed one/ messiah” is generally given to kings, who were literally anointed with oil at their coronation.
So the prophet Isaiah would have been aware of what a remarkable thing he was saying about Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1, given that he “did not acknowledge” God (verses 4 and 5). Nowhere else in the Old Testament is anybody outside the people of Israel referred to in this way.
Did Cyrus ever come to the point of bowing the knee to the God of Israel? Those verses at the end of 2 Chronicles and the beginning of Ezra might give the impression that he did. But there is no record of that ever happening.
The fact seems to be that he was simply an enlightened king who believed in ruling his subject-peoples with toleration and respect - the generosity he showed to Israel he showed also to his other subjects, though the Bible understandably makes no mention of these. (The Jews gave him a place of honour in their history: to this day you can go to a “Cyrus Street” in Jerusalem.)
If all this is true, you might feel like saying “Why have I never heard a sermon about this man! Why isn’t he better known?” Good questions! (Perhaps they highlight our failure to get to grips with the Old Testament as well as the New.)
To me, there are at least two things about King Cyrus which make him an exciting figure.
First, he reminds us that God is indeed the Lord of history, which is really what this passage is about. Kingdoms rise and fall at his say-so. The Old Testament people of God lived under the heel of various pagan powers: the Philistines, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, here the Persians, then the Greeks and, in the days of Jesus, the Romans. But where are they today?
We look at the superpowers of our time - America, Russia, China - and sometimes we may feel alarmed, as Israel did all those centuries ago: what is going to become of us! But the story of Cyrus reminds us that truly “our God reigns”.
Second, it reminds us that God has resources up his sleeve that we know nothing of. Who would have guessed - who would have dreamed! - that God would take a pagan king, someone who didn’t even know him, and use him as his instrument? That God would even refer to him as his “anointed one” - his messiah?
I imagine that all of us who are Christians have from time to time received answers to prayer which we could never have begun to imagine - perhaps blessing us through people who make no claim to be Christians. We have found ourselves shaking our heads in amazement and wonder.
So the message has to be: Don’t put God in a box! Don’t pre-judge what he can or might do. Keep your trust in him, for you never know when he might be about to spring a jaw-dropping surprise...
Lord God, you did wonders for your people when they were in their darkest hour. Help me never to doubt you and never to limit what you might do today, whether my circumstances are bad or good. Amen.
We all know something (I hope!) about Abraham and Moses, David and Hezekiah, Elijah and Jeremiah. They are all key characters in the Old Testament.
But... Cyrus? Who on earth was he?
According to Isaiah 44:24-Isaiah 45:7 he was the king whom God would use to bring about history-changing events for the people of Israel: Cyrus the Great of Persia, as he is known to history. God calls him “my shepherd”, who will “accomplish all that I please”. He is the man who will order the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians (Isaiah 44:28).
He will be massively rich and awesomely powerful, and given by God “a title of honour” (Isaiah 45:2-4).
Obviously quite a man! The Bible actually enables us to hear his voice. Go to 2 Chronicles 36:23 (repeated in Ezra 1:2-4): “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...”
Cyrus lived from about 600 to 530 BC, and he turned the kingdom of Persia into the greatest superpower of the time. Israel was living under the rod of Babylon, but in 539 BC Cyrus defeated the Babylonians at the Battle of Opis - and everything changed.
Yes, he not only allowed the people of Israel to return to their homeland, he actually encouraged them to do so. He not only allowed them to rebuild their sacred temple, he actually helped them to do so. For once, that much over-used word “incredible” fits.
But the most startling thing about King Cyrus is that God calls him his “messiah”. Yes, really!
“Messiah” is the Hebrew word for “person anointed by God” - the New Testament equivalent is “christ” (I haven’t given that a capital C because at this point in history it is a title rather than a name). In the Old Testament the title “anointed one/ messiah” is generally given to kings, who were literally anointed with oil at their coronation.
So the prophet Isaiah would have been aware of what a remarkable thing he was saying about Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1, given that he “did not acknowledge” God (verses 4 and 5). Nowhere else in the Old Testament is anybody outside the people of Israel referred to in this way.
Did Cyrus ever come to the point of bowing the knee to the God of Israel? Those verses at the end of 2 Chronicles and the beginning of Ezra might give the impression that he did. But there is no record of that ever happening.
The fact seems to be that he was simply an enlightened king who believed in ruling his subject-peoples with toleration and respect - the generosity he showed to Israel he showed also to his other subjects, though the Bible understandably makes no mention of these. (The Jews gave him a place of honour in their history: to this day you can go to a “Cyrus Street” in Jerusalem.)
If all this is true, you might feel like saying “Why have I never heard a sermon about this man! Why isn’t he better known?” Good questions! (Perhaps they highlight our failure to get to grips with the Old Testament as well as the New.)
To me, there are at least two things about King Cyrus which make him an exciting figure.
First, he reminds us that God is indeed the Lord of history, which is really what this passage is about. Kingdoms rise and fall at his say-so. The Old Testament people of God lived under the heel of various pagan powers: the Philistines, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, here the Persians, then the Greeks and, in the days of Jesus, the Romans. But where are they today?
We look at the superpowers of our time - America, Russia, China - and sometimes we may feel alarmed, as Israel did all those centuries ago: what is going to become of us! But the story of Cyrus reminds us that truly “our God reigns”.
Second, it reminds us that God has resources up his sleeve that we know nothing of. Who would have guessed - who would have dreamed! - that God would take a pagan king, someone who didn’t even know him, and use him as his instrument? That God would even refer to him as his “anointed one” - his messiah?
I imagine that all of us who are Christians have from time to time received answers to prayer which we could never have begun to imagine - perhaps blessing us through people who make no claim to be Christians. We have found ourselves shaking our heads in amazement and wonder.
So the message has to be: Don’t put God in a box! Don’t pre-judge what he can or might do. Keep your trust in him, for you never know when he might be about to spring a jaw-dropping surprise...
Lord God, you did wonders for your people when they were in their darkest hour. Help me never to doubt you and never to limit what you might do today, whether my circumstances are bad or good. Amen.
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