The Bible is so very amazing, so many prophecies fulfilled. One of the most intriguing prophecies was the letter God dictated to Isaiah calling Cyrus by name more than a hundred years before his, Cyrus’ birth. Isaiah 44:27, “That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: 28That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” Isaiah 45 is stunning as God calls Cyrus his anointed, Cyrus, a Gentile king.
Cyrus was certainly impressed by his letter from God. Cyrus freed the Jews and returned the Temple vessels to them and then offered to let the Jews return home and gave them money to rebuild the temple.
Ezra 1:2, “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.”
Less than 50 thousand Jews actually returned to Judah. The Book of Ezra recounts the gold, etc. given them by Cyrus and a roll-call of those people who elected to returned to Judah. The people were to build the temple only and had no end of trouble from their neighbors. Finally Nehemiah was able to obtain the authority to rebuild the city. That authority was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 B.C. A very important day in prophecy!
No comments:
Post a Comment