THE CYRUS CYLINDER (EZRA 1:1-4; II CHRONICLES 36:20-23)

 

The Bible records an edict that King Cyrus sent out in the first year of his reign reading, according to Ezra 1:2-4, as follows:

“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all of the kingdoms of the earth, and he has instructed me to build him a dwelling in Jerusalem of Judah. For any among you of his people (may God be with you): let him return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel (He is the God who is in Jerusalem) and let each survivor be assisted by the men of their place with silver and gold, goods and beasts as well as offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.”

There were at least two issues which bothered early Bible critics concerning this passage. Was it likely that Cyrus would have claimed that he ruled the whole world? And would he really have been so foolish as to allow captured people groups to freely return to their own land, support them by returning their holy objects, and give them aid to rebuild their temples?

In 1879, H. Rassam excavated a 10-inch, barrel-shaped clay cylinder in Babylon. It is now housed in the British Museum.. The inscription on it tells the story of Cyrus becoming the king of Persia and conquering Babylon in 539 BC. It reads in part:

“He [the god Marduk] pronounced the name of Cyrus, king of Anshan, and declared him to be the ruler of the whole world. As to the region from...to..., I returned to these sacred cities...the sanctuaries of which have been in ruins for a long time, the images which used to live in them, and I established for them permanent sanctuaries; I also gathered all their former inhabitants and returned them to their habitations.”

If you compare the italicized phrases in both these document, you can see, in answer to the first concern, that Cyrus did indeed make such a bold claim. After all, “At the height of its power, Persia ruled a vast territory stretching from Greece in the west to India in the east.” (Knoppers)

Concerning Cyrus' rather enlightened policy (compared to that of the Babylonians) of allowing the exiles to return to their native lands, that also appears to be part of the Persian strategy in order to build up a loyal following of people throughout the whole empire. Longman explains that “the Persians operated with the idea that happy vassals would serve their best interests. A peaceful and supportive Judah, for instance, would make it easier for the armies of Persia to march to one of their most desired destinations for expansion, Egypt.” Timm has interpreted some other cuneiform tablets to state a similar repatriation of Aramaens during Cyrus' reign.

More recently, “many scholars have questioned the Hebrew version of Cyrus' s decree because of the biblical, even prophetic expressions in the text. New evidence indicates that Assyrian royal scribes were familiar with Hebrew. It may also be argued from the analogy of the trilingual Xanthos inscription that Jews could have aided the chancellery in adapting the king's proclamation for the intended audience as the Lycians did.” (Yamauchi)

More recently, “many scholars have questioned the Hebrew version of Cyrus' s decree because of the biblical, even prophetic expressions in the text. New evidence indicates that Assyrian royal scribes were fam