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The Proclamation of Cyrus
1 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 his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem. And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.
(ESV)
Ezra 1 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
It is fascinating to consider the faith of Cyrus, King of Persia. Was he a believer in the one true God? The passage here mentions that “the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.” Obviously, we know that God can use whatever and whomever He wants to complete His will. Cyrus used the name of God as leverage and justify his position, status, and title, however, as Hank has written, we cannot assume he was a changed man based on some of his other dealings.
As any leader of the time would have done, King Cyrus definitely leveraged his political posture with every move he made. However, the ancient writer, Josephus gives us some additional details into the person of King Cyrus. Apparently, he was partial to the Jews because he was shown the prophecies from Isaiah in which his conquests were predicted. Since he was distinguished by the God of the Jews, he was grateful and willing to give the Jews their temple back.
“It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.'”
Isaiah 44:28 NASB
Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
Isaiah 45:1 NASB
These amazing words were penned 150 years before Cyrus was even born! Cyrus also surrounded himself with great men, such as Daniel, who would have served under the rule of the king. Many speculate it could have been Daniel who personally pointed out these prophecies from Isaiah.
Whatever the case, Cyrus was an influential leader who God used mightily. These should be encouraging words for us because, as Americans, we are coming upon an election year. No matter who is put at the state and federal level of our government, we are commanded to pray for our leaders. We pray for them because ultimately God is over them. And we learn from this chapter that even if they are not explicitly professing faith in God, He can certainly still use them to accomplish His great and mighty plan.