Today's Favorite Verse: Isaiah 44:28

Today's Favorite Verse: 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."

I didn't realize there was any discussion on the legitimacy of Isaiah naming Cyrus 140 years before he was born, as the one to restore Judah to its homeland. To me this is a prophecy and I accept it as written in the bible. I found that Josephus quoted Cyrus writing, that the words of Isaiah inspired him to fulfill that promise.

“‘… he (God) 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 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.’ (Antiq. XI, 1, 2)” (Sidney B. Sperry, The Voice of Israel’s Prophets, pp. 107–8.)

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