Isaiah 44-45: Cyrus and Babylon

The year is 538 B.C. The commander of the Medes, a man named Cyaxares, or Darius more commonly, was beseiging the great city of Babylon, and called to his nephew Cyrus of the Persian line to aid in the battle. The city of Babylon was, as told before, a great defense and by no means of chance could it by any human warfare have been taken, if it were not for the fact that it's fall was foretold by one stronger than all mankind. The citizens of Babylon were secure as the armies lay outside the walls of the city, some records even report that they stood upon the walls and laughed at Cyrus, throwing food down to his army and mocking him.

It was apparent to Cyrus that he could not take the city by force of arms, so he relied on strategy. He learned of an annual festival approaching in which all the city would be engaged in drinking and partying, giving themselves into some of the lowest forms of pleasure. Relying heavily on this information, he waited until the night of the feast and stationed his troops about the city, while orderering others to begin to dig trenches from the river Euphrates which ran under the wall and through the city, diverting it into a small dried up lake not far from it's banks.

He gave the command that when the riverbed was treadable, the soldiers should move in and under the walls, exploring their way through and into the city. Normally he would have come up to the other side of the wall, and as well as marched right back out again, as the way into the city from the river was blocked by two large brass gates. However on this night, as the entire city was given into its drunken festival, the gates had been left open by the guards, and the armies of Cyrus marched quietly through the city and into the feast hall of Belshazzar, where he was slain. The account of what was taking place in the banquet hall of the King during these events is given in Daniel chapter 5.

Now we know how the city of Babylon was taken by Cyrus... Where does prophecy come into play? By a prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, over 100 years before the birth of Cyrus even took place.

Isaiah 44: 28. That 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: 1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; 2. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 3. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. 4. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. 5. I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

This was one of the most amazingly and plainly fulfilled prophecies in all of scripture. The king of Persia is called, by name, and delivered a direct message in scripture by the God of heaven, 100 years before his birth. Beyond this, he is told exactly how he will have taken the city of Babylon, that the two gates shall be opened and not shut. He is given a direct message in the scripture by name, and told it is such... written over 100 years before he was even conceived.

And what of the words "That 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?"

As the import of Babylon to Israel was it's taking captive of it's children, the import of the Medo-Persian empire was the release of the captives. Two years after the city was taken by Cyrus in 538, Darius died, leaving Cyrus sole rule of the kingdom. At this point Cyrus issued the decree for the return of the Jewish captives, ending the 70 years captivity in Babylon, and the first installment of the great decree for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, which was finally completed and enacted by King Artaxerxes in the year 457 B.C.

Some may wonder why the end of the account in Daniel 5 lists Darius the Mede as taking the city instead of Cyrus. The historian Prideaux tells us that Cyrus, as a form of honor to his uncle, allowed all the titles of his conquests to his uncle Darius during his life. The Medo-Persian empire lasted for 207 years after the overthrow of Babylon by Cyrus in 538 B.C., until the battle of Arbela in 331 B.C.