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kudzu
12-11-2018, 06:19 AM
Cyrus the Messiah
by Lisbeth S. Fried

Many people are anointed in the Hebrew Bible, and many are referred to as the messiah or anointed one. The high priest is called the anointed priest (Lev 4:3). God tells Elijah to anoint two different men as kings of their people: Hazael as king of Aram (1Kgs 19:15) and Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel.

God also instructs Elijah to anoint his own successor, Elisha son of Shaphat, as prophet (1Kgs 19:16). At this point, the term messiah or anointed one did not refer to the apocalyptic savior of humankind.

The Persian emperor Cyrus is the only foreigner in the Bible to be identified as the messiah or anointed one of Yahweh, the Israelite God. Isaiah tells us that Yahweh spoke “to his messiah, to Cyrus, whom I [Yahweh] took by his right hand to subdue nations before him” (Isa 45:1). The other people called messiah or anointed one in the Bible aren’t designated Yahweh’s messiah, as Cyrus is.

Cyrus the Great (559–530 B.C.E.), whom Isaiah 45 calls Yahweh’s anointed, was the Persian king of Fars, a southern province of present-day Iran. By 546 he had defeated the wealthy king Croesus of Lydia (in modern Turkey), and the Lydian capital of Sardis fell to him along with all the other cities of Asia Minor. Cyrus then turned his attention to the most powerful kingdom in Central Asia: Babylon. By the end of 539, he had taken Babylon and captured its king, Nabonidus. The Persian Empire founded by Cyrus extended from the Aegean to Central Asia.

Who is this prophet who identifies Cyrus as Yahweh’s shepherd and anointed?

Second Isaiah, author of Isa 40-65, probably lived in Babylon during the late exilic period (late sixth century B.C.E.). We know he wrote after 539 because Isa 40-65 mentions Cyrus the Great.

What does it mean to be called Yahweh’s anointed, as Cyrus is called by Second Isaiah?

We know that the title always refers to the ruler of Judah. To the biblical writers, however, the term Yahweh’s anointed is more than a title. It also connotes a theology. Yahweh’s anointed is the legitimate king appointed and protected by God. In the Psalms, he is idealized and mythologized.

How, then, knowing the full theology associated with the term Yahweh’s anointed, could Second Isaiah have applied this title to Cyrus, the Persian emperor?

Whenever Cyrus or his son and successor Cambyses extended the mighty Persian empire, local priests of powerful temples would apply the titles and theologies of their own kings to their Persian conquerors.

Second Isaiah appears to have done the same.

After Cambyses successfully invaded Egypt, the local priests hailed him as pharaoh, or King of Upper and Lower Egypt. In Babylon, too, Cambyses was hailed as the Babylonian crown prince and, later, as king at a New Year’s festival reserved for the legitimate Babylonian monarch.

Why did the prophet Isaiah, the priests of Marduk, and the Egyptian priests bestow this honor on Cyrus?

First, self-interest. These priests tied their own successes to the success of their conquerors. Second, the priests recognized that the restoration of their temples depended on the good will of the Persian leader.

The famous Cyrus Cylinder, a 10-inch-long inscribed clay barrel bearing the story of Babylon’s “liberation” by Cyrus, tells how Cyrus, with the help of the Babylonian god Marduk, restored worship at temples where Nabonidus had removed the cult images and brought them to Babylon.

But there was a third, more powerful reason that he and other priests collaborated with their conquerors: they believed the Persian invaders had the local gods of the conquered nations on their side. How could they have conquered these nations if the local gods had not allowed it? Isaiah too knew that Yahweh had brought Cyrus to conquer Babylon and return Judeans to their homeland.

This article was adapted from “Cyrus the Messiah” in Bible Review 19, no. 5 (Oct. 2003), published by the Biblical Archaeology Society.

http://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/people/related-articles/cyrus-the-messiah.aspx

kudzu
12-11-2018, 06:22 AM
it helps to know that ‘messiah’ means ‘anointed’, as in especially chosen/appointed for a position.

In Biblical Judaism, the positions people were ‘anointed’ to fill were: king, and high priest.

Anointing with extra virgin olive oil was part of the ceremony upon getting the job.

So Cyrus as ‘anointed’ (or ‘Cyrus the messiah’) means, basically, that he had a right to his position as ruler of Persia (and, of course, all the lands subject to Persia, which included the former kingdom of Judah).

He officially permitted the Jews exiled into Babylon to return to Judah AND (most significantly) to resume a degree of national sovereignty over the area (that is, he allowed them to rebuild the temple and resume a national center in the traditional capital city of Jerusalem.

Seriously: that was HUGE. Judah had been conquered only a couple of generations previously. He was really taking an enormous chance, because the Jews COULD HAVE used that leniency of his to rebuild an army to successfully rebel against Persian rule, and his own gracious actions would have allowed it.

kudzu
12-11-2018, 06:27 AM
ANOINTED ONE

The First Man the Bible Calls the Messiah

A non-Jewish Persian king was the first to be called Messiah in the Bible, and those wishing to see his legacy can visit his tomb in Pasargadae, Iran or drop by the British Museum.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cyrus-the-great-the-first-man-the-bible-calls-the-messiah

kudzu
12-11-2018, 06:56 AM
CYRUS AS MESSIAH
MOSHE REISS

Most biblical scholars today believe that Isaiah son of Amotz of Jerusalem,
summoned to his mission in 740 BCE, authored the first 39 chapters of the
canonized Book of Isaiah.

They understand that the remaining chapters were
almost certainly written by another prophet, who composed them during or
shortly after the lifetime of Cyrus the Great (600 - 530 BCE), and this author
is often referred to as Deutero-Isaiah (D.I.). It is accepted that he composed at
least chapters 40-55. Some affirm that he wrote the remainder of the book as
well; others that a third author, sometimes called Trito-Isaiah (T.I.), wrote
chapters 56-66.1 The identity and locale of D.I and T.I., Palestine, Babylonia
or elsewhere, remain unknown.

Lisbeth Fried suggested that Deutero-Isaiah believed Cyrus would become
the successor Davidic monarch.3 D.I. tells us the Lord has redeemed Jacob
(Isa. 44:23) in the past sense, implying that the Messiah has come.

Fried does
not claim that Cyrus or the Persians were intended to embrace Judaism;
however, she believes that Cyrus was to be the Judean King; the the King of
Zion.4
For Fried the relevant Isaiah sections begin with:
Who has stirred up one from the East? Victory meets him at his
feet. He places nations before him, and he subdues kings. He makes
their swords dust; like chaff, their bows are driven. He pursues
them and passes on safely; the path does not touch his feet. Who
performed and did this from the beginning? I, the Lord, am first,
and with the last I am He . . . I stirred up one from the north, and
he has come. From the rising of the sun, he is mine. He shall
trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay (41:2-4)

continued

http://www.jbq.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/403/jbq_403_cyrusdavid.pdf

kudzu
12-11-2018, 07:32 AM
Cyrus is a king mentioned more than 30 times in the Bible and is identified as Cyrus the Great (also Cyrus II or Cyrus the Elder) who reigned over Persia between 539—530 BC.

This pagan king is important in Jewish history because it was under his rule that Jews were first allowed to return to Israel after 70 years of captivity.

In one of the most amazing prophecies of the Bible, Isaiah predicts Cyrus’ decree to free the Jews.

One hundred fifty years before Cyrus lived, the prophet calls him by name and gives details of Cyrus’ benevolence to the Jews: “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him . . . ‘I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me’” (Isaiah 45:1, 4; see also 41:2-25; 42:6).

Evincing His sovereignty over all nations, God says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please” (Isaiah 44:28).

Cyrus’s decree releasing the Jewish people, in fulfillment of prophecy, is recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:22–23: “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up.”’”

Other Old Testament books that mention Cyrus include Ezra and Daniel.

CFM
12-11-2018, 03:21 PM
Is that what they taught you at the Kingdom Hall?

kudzu
12-11-2018, 04:27 PM
Is that what they taught you at the Kingdom Hall?

What is Kingdom Hall?

CFM
12-12-2018, 08:42 AM
What is Kingdom Hall?

Just as I expected, not the expert you pretend to be.

kudzu
12-12-2018, 08:45 AM
Just as I expected, not the expert you pretend to be.

OMG.. You're a Jehovah's Witness.

Phantasmal
12-12-2018, 08:46 AM
What is Kingdom Hall?
It is what the Jevovah Witness call their churches, but it’s CFM, who knows what they are referring to.

kudzu
12-12-2018, 08:51 AM
It is what the Jevovah Witness call their churches, but it’s CFM, who knows what they are referring to.

I had to look it up.. Jehovah’s Witnesses always exploit the poor and ignorant.

CFM
12-12-2018, 08:59 AM
OMG.. You're a Jehovah's Witness.

Is that your claim?

Phantasmal
12-12-2018, 09:07 AM
I had to look it up.. Jehovah’s Witnesses always exploit the poor and ignorant.
I invited the Mormons and them in, I studied with both groups, wanted to know their teachings. Neither could convert me and after I asked the Mormon lads if when they became “gods” was Heavenly Father still the main dude or did Heavenly Father have a Heavenly Father, too. They said they would get me the answer, but never came back, nor did any others. I probably had a big black X on their map.
The Jehovahs, the lady who I studied with asked me to the Kingdom Hall after about a year of study and I said, no, she never came back after that. I guess ai was declared a lost cause.

Phantasmal
12-12-2018, 09:08 AM
OMG.. You're a Jehovah's Witness.
He’s not like any Witness I ever met.

kudzu
12-12-2018, 09:22 AM
I invited the Mormons and them in, I studied with both groups, wanted to know their teachings. Neither could convert me and after I asked the Mormon lads if when they became “gods” was Heavenly Father still the main dude or did Heavenly Father have a Heavenly Father, too. They said they would get me the answer, but never came back, nor did any others. I probably had a big black X on their map.
The Jehovahs, the lady who I studied with asked me to the Kingdom Hall after about a year of study and I said, no, she never came back after that. I guess ai was declared a lost cause.

I don't have issues with Mormons, but JW????? A young woman in in third stage labor dropped in, delivered in the ER and began to bleed out.. Before the transfusion to save her life was complete, we had a phone call from a JW lawyer 400 miles away with threats of a lawsuit.

She had four children under 5 at home.. I don't allow JW on my property.

Phantasmal
12-12-2018, 09:26 AM
I don't have issues with Mormons, but JW????? A young woman in in third stage labor dropped in, delivered in the ER and began to bleed out.. Before the transfusion to save her life was complete, we had a phone call from a JW lawyer 400 miles away with threats of a lawsuit.

She had four children under 5 at home.. I don't allow JW on my property.
It is horrible, and that they shun family members who leave the cult or won’t convert. It’s sad. I agree, but I wasn’t aware of their issues with blood transfusions till I studied with them. It’s not so much what I learned from them but the research I did on them during that time.

kudzu
12-17-2018, 07:50 AM
It is horrible, and that they shun family members who leave the cult or won’t convert. It’s sad. I agree, but I wasn’t aware of their issues with blood transfusions till I studied with them. It’s not so much what I learned from them but the research I did on them during that time.

I absolutely can't stand them.