The Enemy Who Saved Judaism: Cyrus II, the Great, Only Gentile Messiah in History and his Prodigy, Darius

Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

Cyrus II, (600-530 BCE)  the Great, King of Persia who died in 529 BCE,   treated the Jews  fairly well during their exile in Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar II of the Babylonian Empire in 597 BCE and again, who destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem  in 586 BCE and both times taking thousands of  Israelites with them, all documented  in the Bible.  In the course of Cyrus's conquests, he overran the Babylonian Empire, including Palestine.  The Jewish exiles regarded Cyrus II as a Divine agent. (Isaiah 44:28:45:1).  

The Jewish Bible's Ketuvim ends in Second Chronicles with the decree of Cyrus, which returned the exiles to the Promised Land from Babylon in 538 BCE (2,559 years ago) along with a commission to rebuild the temple.  Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD, the God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all His people – the LORD, his God, be with him – let him go there. — (2 Chronicles 36:23) In other words, he sent the Jews back to Jerusalem, with directions to rebuilt their destroyed Temple!  What enemy has ever tried to undo what a previous enemy had done?  

                                                            

This edict is also fully reproduced in the Book of Ezra.  In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: "Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained, its height being 60 cubits and its width 60 cubits; with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. Also let the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God." — (Ezra 6:3–5)  Cyrus was even returning the booty, the money, the loot!  

                                               

               Cyrus II of Persia
  

The Jews honored him as a dignified and righteous king. In one Biblical passage, Isaiah refers to him as Messiah (lit. "His anointed one") (Isaiah 45:1), making him the only gentile to be so referred. Elsewhere in Isaiah, God is described as saying, "I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says God Almighty." (Isaiah 45:13) As the text suggests, Cyrus did ultimately release the nation of Israel from its exile without compensation or tribute. These particular passages (Isaiah 40–55, often referred to as Deutero-Isaiah) are believed by most modern critical scholars to have been added by another author toward the end of the Babylonian exile (c. 536 BC).

                                                   

            

            Cyrus the Great is said in the Bible to have liberated the Jews from the Babylonian captivity to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.   He had founded the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire.

In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon (70 years in captivity) , God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, that after they had served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude 70 years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity. And these things God did afford them; for he stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia: "Thus saith Cyrus the king: Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of the Israelites worship; for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets, and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea." This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision: "My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple." This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the Divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, and the temple of God, for that he would be their assistant, and that he would write to the rulers and governors that were in the neighborhood of their country of Judea, that they should contribute to them gold and silver for the building of the temple, and besides that, beasts for their sacrifices.

According to the Bible it was King Artaxerxes who was convinced to stop the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. (Ezra 4:7–24) "  Artaxerxes turns out to be the name of 3 Persian kings:  1. Longimanus Artaxerxes  (reigned from 465-421 BCE)  He is the one identified with the Artachashasta of the memoirs of Ezra and Nehemiah.  Ochos Artaxerxes, the one who reigned from  358-338 BCE exiled many Jews to Hyrcania.  Hyrcania is a historical region composed of the land south-east of the Caspian Sea in modern-day Iran and Turkmenistan, bound in the south by the Alborz mountain range and the Kopet Dag in the east. It was occupied by Cyrus the Great in 549-548 BC.While Cyrus was praised in the Tanakh (Isaiah 45:1–6 and Ezra 1:1–11), there was Jewish criticism of him after he was lied to by the Cuthites, who wanted to halt the building of the Second Temple. They accused the Jews of conspiring to rebel, so Cyrus in turn stopped the construction, which would not be completed until 515 BCE, during the reign of Darius I. 

Xerxes I, commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was the 4th King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BCE. He was the son and successor of Darius the Great and his mother was Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great, the first Achaemenid king. It is this King Xerxes I who is thought to be King Ahasuerus in the Biblical story of Queen Esther.  

"Ahasuerus" is given as the name of a king, the husband of Esther, in the Book of Esther. He is said to have ruled "from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces" - that is, over the Achaemenid Empire. There is no reference to known historical events in the story; the narrative of Esther was invented to provide an aetiology for Purim, and the name Ahasuerus is usually understood to refer to a fictionalized Xerxes I, who ruled the Achaemenid Empire between 486 and 465 BCE. Persian kings did not marry outside a restricted number of Persian noble families and it is impossible that there was a Jewish queen Esther; in any case the historical Xerxes's queen was Amestris. In the Septuagint, the Book of Esther refers to this king as 'Artaxerxes' (Ancient Greek: Ἀρταξέρξης)."

Obviously, our Book of Esther was not written in Persian but in Hebrew or Aramaic 

and Hebrew names were used.  Of course, Persian history would leave out the

ugly parts like having a Haman out to destroy ALL Jews for no good reason.  Our

truth stands.  That we were the oppressed people taken by force to their land and

had the most interesting take on how Ahasuerus chose an outsider as his Queen

would have been covered up in the Persian take on the history.  I've heard that

Darius was the son of Esther, too.  Why not?  He allowed the building of the Temple

to be restarted.  Why was he so nice?  

                                                      

The Achaemenid Empire (Persian)  at its greatest territorial extent,  under the rule of Darius I (522 BCE to 486 BCE), who was born after Cyrus.  He inherited the throne of Cyrus the Great.  At the beginning of his reign, Darius permitted Zerubbabel (b: 480 BCE) grandson of King Jehoiachin of Judah and the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem to resume reconstruction of the Temple.  

Cyrus the Great, also called Cyrus II, (born 590–580 BCE, Media, or Persis [now in Iran]—died c. 529, Asia), conqueror who founded the Achaemenian empire, centered on Persia and comprising the Near East from the Aegean Sea eastward to the Indus River.

 The eponymous founder of this dynasty was Achaemenes (from Old Persian Haxāmaniš). Achaemenids are "descendants of Achaemenes" as Darius the Great, the ninth king of the dynasty, traces his genealogy to him and declares "for this reason we are called Achaemenids." Achaemenes built the state Parsumash in the southwest of Iran and was succeeded by Teispes, who took the title "King of Anshan" after seizing Anshan city and enlarging his kingdom further to include Pars proper. Ancient documents mention that Teispes had a son called Cyrus I, who also succeeded his father as "king of Anshan." Cyrus I had a full brother whose name is recorded as Ariaramnes.  

Darius I, byname Darius the Great, (born 550 BC—died 486), king of Persia in 522–486 BC, one of the greatest rulers of the Achaemenid dynasty, who was noted for his administrative genius and for his great building projects. Darius attempted several times to conquer Greece; his fleet was destroyed by a storm in 492, and the Athenians defeated his army at Marathon in 490.

Although Darius consolidated and added to the conquests of his predecessors, it was as an administrator that he made his greatest contribution to Persian history. He completed the organization of the empire into satrapies, initiated by Cyrus the Great, and fixed the annual tribute due from each province.

                                                               

"Alexander III the Great's (b:356 BCE in Macedonia)   undermanned defeat of the Persian King Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela is seen as one of the decisive turning points of human history, unseating the Persians as the greatest power in the ancient world and spreading Hellenistic culture across a vast new empire."  I learned of this when I watched Netflix's Alexander the Great.  Alexander was also another favorite of our Jewish history.  Many Jewish people bear the name of Alexander being he was a favorite.  

So in ancient days, a king was either created or born and had to take more land than his father did in order to keep what power they thought they had, visual in terms of money from taxes or other resources.   I suppose that King Solomon of Judah was a rarity in that he was not out to take land, but did use his people to

build the Temple.  

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great

Tanakh, Stone Edition (Bible) 

https://www.history.com/news/alexander-the-great-defeat-persian-empire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyrcania#:~:text=Hyrcania%20(%2Fh%C9%99r%CB%88k,Kopet%20Dag%20in%20the%20east.

Homelands For Freed Slaves : Blacks and Jews

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

                              Ships in 1819 used to return to Africa for Liberia

In 1821, the American Colonization Society founded the colony of Liberia south of Sierra Leone as a homeland for freed U.S. slaves outside of British jurisdiction. Most Americans of African descent were not enthusiastic to abandon their homes in the United States for the West African coast.   Liberia stretches over 38,250 square miles)

                                                     

The first organized immigration of freed enslaved people to Africa from the United States departed New York harbor on a journey to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The immigration was largely the work of the American Colonization Society, a U.S. organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to return formerly enslaved African people to Africa. However, the expedition was also partially funded by the U.S. Congress, which in 1819 had appropriated $100,000 to be used in returning displaced Africans, illegally brought to the United States after the abolishment of the slave trade in 1808, to Africa.  It took the Civil War (April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865) to end slavery in the USA, so they were taking slaves illegally since 1808--practicing Slave Trading for 57 years!  

That $100, 000 in 1819 would be the same as  $2,087,412.70 today.

Liberia began as a settlement of the American Colonization Society (ACS), who believed black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States. The country declared its independence on July 26, 1847. The U.S. did not recognize Liberia's independence until February 5, 1862, during the American Civil War. 

Between January 7, 1822, and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, more than 15,000 freed and free-born people of color who faced social and legal oppression in the United States, as well as 3,198 Afro-Caribbeans, relocated to the settlement, a total of 18,198 former slaves.  

 The settlers carried their culture and tradition with them. The Liberian constitution and flag were modeled after those of the U.S. On January 3, 1848, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a wealthy, free-born African American from Virginia who settled in Liberia, was elected Liberia's first president after the people proclaimed independence. it took from 1821 to 1848 to develop their state, only 27 years.  

As of the 2017 national census, Liberia was home to 4,694,608 people.  The Greater Monrovia District has 970,824 residents. As revealed in the 2008 census, Monrovia is more than four times more populous than all the county capitals combined.   As of 2006, Liberia had the highest population growth rate in the world (4.50% per annum). In 2010 some 43.5% of Liberians were below the age of 15.                                                

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia 2006-2018 Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gola father and Kru-German mother. She was educated at the College of West Africa. She completed her education in the United States, where she studied at Madison Business College and Harvard University.

Sirleaf  forged close relations with the United States, Liberia's traditional ally. Following the establishment of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) by the United States military, Sirleaf offered to allow the US to headquarter the new command in Liberia, the only African leader to do so. President Sirleaf addressed a joint meeting of the United States Congress, asking for American support to help her country "become a brilliant beacon, an example to Africa and the world of what love of liberty can achieve."

Sirleaf has also strengthened relations with the People's Republic of China, reaffirming Liberia's commitment to the One-China policy. In return, China has contributed to Liberia's reconstruction, building several transmitters to extend the Liberia Broadcasting System nationwide and constructing a new campus for the University of Liberia.

Corruption is endemic at every level of the Liberian government. When President Sirleaf took office in 2006, she announced that corruption was "the major public enemy." In 2014 the US ambassador to Liberia said that corruption there was harming people through "unnecessary costs to products and services that are already difficult for many Liberians to afford. "

Liberia has the highest ratio of foreign direct investment to GDP in the world, with US$16 billion in investment since 2006. Following Sirleaf's inauguration in 2006, Liberia signed several multi-billion-dollar concession agreements in the iron ore and palm oil industries with numerous multinational corporations, including BHP Billiton, ArcelorMittal, and Sime Darby. Palm oil companies like Sime Darby (Malaysia) and Golden Veroleum (USA) have been accused of destroying livelihoods and displacing local communities, enabled by government concessions. Since 1926 The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company has operated the world's largest rubber plantation in Harbel, Margibi County.   As of 2015 it had more than 8,000 mostly Liberian employees, making it the country's largest private employer.

This is so reminiscent of the Israelites of Judah who were kidnapped, made slaves and taken to Babylon. The Fall of Babylon denotes the end of the Neo-Babylonian Empire after it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire in 539 BCE.  The Achaemenid Empire , also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire based in Western Asia founded by Cyrus the Great. The politics here affected the lands they had taken by force.  

      The Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabonidus (r.  556–539 BCE)

2,359 years before 1819  in 597 BCE, 8,000 of the local aristocratic  Israelites were kidnapped and taken away from Judah  as slaves  by the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar II (604-561 BCE) .  The same forces under  Nebuchadnezzar 8 years later in 586 BCE attacked Judah and destroyed the Temple of Solomon and took away masses more of the population.                                     

Cyrus II, King of Persia( d 539 BCE)  in 538 BCE allowed the exiles to return to Jerusalem some 70 years later to rebuild both their country and Temple.  Not all the people exiled to Babylon were willing to leave it. Who was left out of the original exiles?  Probably none.  

The trek from Jerusalem to Babylonia had been a hard one.   If we leave Portland, Oregon and drive to Lubbock, Texas, we'd be covering the same mileage. As being slaves with soldiers, it would have been 100 times worse by having to walk much of the way.   The miles based distance from Babylon to Jerusalem is 1678.2 miles.  Of those who were 20 years old then would now be 80 or deceased.  Those choosing to return to their homeland had never been there nor had seen the original Temple.  it would take a camel two months at the bare minimum under ideal conditions; and up to around six months under non-ideal circumstances to walk 1,400 miles.  I'd say it would take 6 months to have moved exiles slaves from Jerusalem to Babylon.                                                                                                       

Those that did return joined up with Zerubbabel (b:480 BCE) grandson of King Jehohachin (598-597 BCE) of Judah , who acted as the leader,  Under his directions, they rebuilt the Temple and held a dedication of it in 515 BCE.  Zerubbabel was one of the 1st Jews to return to Judah from Babylon with the assent of Cyrus.  He was appointed satrap after the death of Sheshbazzar, a Jewish official appointed by Cyrus over Judah in 538 BCE.  He was entrusted with the Temple vessels which he returned from Babylon to Jerusalem.  He also laid the foundation for the building of the 2nd Temple.  

Zerubbabel set up an altar, re-established the festivals, and took steps toward the rebuilding of the Temple.  He was the last satrap of Davidic descent in Jerusalem and after his time, the high priest increased in influence, possibly as a consequence of Persian apprehension concerning the renewal of Davidic dynasty.  

                                                

Ezra (of 5th century BCE)  was a Cohen, descendant of the high Priest Zadok who was among those kidnapped.  He had become a scribe to the Persian government.  After some 60 years, word reached him of the spiritual deterioration of the Jewish community  in Jerusalem and other places in Judah.  Ezra decided to lead a new party of settlers who would firmly establish the Mosaic law in Judah.  In 438 BCE, he received the requisite permission from Artaxerxes I of Persia and went to Jerusalem with 1,734 returning exiles.  Ezra, together with Nehemiah, persuaded the people to keep the Torah, to observe the Sabbath and the sabbatical year, to pay their Temple dues, and to reject intermarriage with gentiles by 444 BCE. 

                                               

Nehemiah was the governor of Judah, but when a slave, had been serving as a cupbearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes I.  He also had heard of the deplorable conditions in Jerusalem and requested permission from the king to go there.  Artaxerxes acceded and appointed him the governor of Judah in 444 BCE.  When he reached Jerusalem, he organized the repair of its walls--an activity that was completed in 52 days despite interference by the neighboring population.  Nehemiah then devoted himself to social reforms, including the stimulation of Sabbath observance and the cancellation of debts owed by the poor.  The leaders of the people had to pledge themselves to maintain the Temple regulations and pay their tithes.  The security of Jerusalem was ensured by arranging for 1/10 of the people to take up residence there. 

 After 12 years, Nehemiah returned to Susa, Persia, but later went back to Jerusalem to renew his drastic activity.  In 433-432 BCE, he took steps against mixed marriages, etc, in conjunction with Ezra.  His work was decisive in the rebuilding of Judah.  Nehemiah's memoirs form the basis of the biblical book of Nehamiah which is a continuation of the Book of Ezra in the Hagiographa.  

The beginnings of Jewish history in Iran date back to late biblical times (mid-1st millenium BC). The biblical books of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian kings are credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was carried out "according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). This great event in Jewish history took place in the late 6th century BC, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.

What did the Judeans have that Nebuchadnezzar had to have?  Was all that effort worth taking so many slaves?  One exile in 587 BC saw around 1,500 people make the perilous journey via modern-day Lebanon and Syria to the fertile crescent of southern Iraq, where the Judeans traded, ran businesses and helped the administration of the kingdom.  “They were free to go about their lives, they weren’t slaves,” Vukosavovic said. “Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t a brutal ruler in that respect. He knew he needed the Judeans to help revive the struggling Babylonian economy.”  (It sounds like the same reason Jews were invited into European countries.  They were needed for their expertise.)  They must have had quite the reputation for an Empire to go to such lengths to take a whole people away to their own land.  This way, we must remember, they kept the Judah Empire, now shrunk from the Empire of Israel, to be able to attack Babylon.  Perhaps they were so bold because they had been shrunk by the Assyrians in 721 BCE.  and they knew they had been weakened.  Taking Judah's best of the population was like grabbing computers by people who had none at all.  

The USA backed their slaves and helped them receive Liberia as a homeland and in return they are gaining a foothold and port in Africa.  They reduced the population of Black Slaves in return.  Babylonia and Persia backed the Jews leaving their land after all that expense of getting them and gained a foothold in their Empire in return.  

Resource:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/freed-u-s-slaves-depart-on-journey-to-africa

https://www.history.com/news/slavery-american-colonization-society-liberia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Johnson_Sirleaf

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-archaeology-babylon/ancient-tablets-reveal-life-of-jews-in-nebuchadnezzars-babylon-idUSKBN0L71EK20150203

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire#:~:text=The%20Achaemenid%20Empire%20(%2F%C9%99%CB%88,founded%20by%20Cyrus%20the%20Great.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon