The Cyrus Cylinder

THE TEN MOST LONG-LIVED EMPIRES

Portuguese 1415-1999   (584 yrs)

Ottoman         1299-1922 (623 yrs)

Khmer   802-1432 (630 yrs)

Ethiopian 1270-1935 (665 yrs)

Kanem   700-1376 (676 yrs)

Holy Roman   962-1806 (844 yrs)

Silla               57 BC-AD 935 (991 yrs)

Venetian           697-1797 (1,100 yrs)

Kush   1070 BC-AD 350 (1,419 yrs)

Roman       27 BC-AD 1453  (1,480 yrs)

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There was a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end. 

He noted that first came her date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.  

Excerpt from "The Dash" by Linda Ellis 

What is true about an individual is also true about an empire, though its life and death might instead be referred to as the Rise and Fall Of.  A few days ago, I had the serendipitous privilege of visiting a special exhibit at the Getty Villa displaying The Cyrus Cylinder.  Admittedly, I did not know what the Cyrus Cylinder really was, nor the script upon it, nor the importance of The Cylinder, but knew that it was Cyrus who issued the decree that the Jews taken captive in Babylon could return to Jerusalem and rebuild its Temple and worship their God.  Therefore, I was curious.

Again, it amazes me how God works to teach us in our lives: an exhibit arouses my curiosity, then both my reading location in the Chronological Bible [Jeremiah 31-38] and a Bible Study [Esther: Its Tough Being a Woman] I attended days later begins to fill in the blanks.  But the cylinder brought to life my learning.

First, my reading followed the Babylonian captivity of Judah during the days of Jeremiah the prophet.  The Babylonians (think: Iraq) wrested power from the Assyrians (who had conquered Egypt and Israel, the Northern Kingdom, approximately 100 years prior).  The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II captured the Southern Kingdom of Judah, bringing Jewish exiles - mostly of the upper ruling class and skilled craftspeople - to Babylon, amongst them the surrendering King Jehoiachin and a young lad named Daniel.  The unskilled, poorer Jewish population remained in Jerusalem under the rule of King Zedekiah (Jehoiachin's uncle) who promised loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar.  The captive Jews of the Northern Kingdom of Israel were assimilated into the land of the Assyrians virtually losing their Jewish identity, contrary to the captive Jews of Judah into Babylon who were allowed to form their own communities, encouraging their Jewish identity.  Zedekiah solicited the king of Egypt to join him in throwing off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah was given the difficult task of being the naysayer in a day when the people and King Zedekiah only wanted to hear positive affirmations (sounds a bit like today, right?).  Jeremiah repeatedly called the people to repentance, reminding them that all this was come upon them because of the sins of Manasseh and the innocent blood that he shed [Jer. 24:3-4].  Zedekiah, seeking a positive prophetic word, received instead Jeremiah's sharp rebuke:  "Deceive not yourselves, saying, the Chaldeans (Babylonians) shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart...they shall rise up every man in his tent and burn this city." [Jer. 37:9-10].  The people thought the King of Egypt would scare Nebuchadnezzar, and for a moment it looked like Jeremiah was the fool and the people were right.  Jeremiah left Jerusalem to separate himself from the people.  The princes accused Jeremiah of deserting - being on the side of the Babylonians - and cast him into a dungeon, only to be pulled out many days later by King Zedekiah for a "secret" word from the Lord.  Jeremiah repeated "thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon." The king threw him back in prison.  The princes further demanded Jeremiah's death when he stated, "he that remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:  but he that goes forth to Babylon shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live." [Jer. 38:2]  The princes cried, "let this man be put to death: for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people in speaking such words unto them:  for this man seeks not the welfare of this people, but the hurt." [Jer. 38:4]  Again, he is cast into the dungeon filled with mud.  When a brave Ethiopian begs for mercy on Jeremiah, the king has Jeremiah lifted out of the dungeon and brought to him for yet another word from the Lord.  This time, the king even begs, "hide nothing from me!"  Like the scene from A Few Good Men where Tom Cruise begs the truth from Jack Nicholson who fervently counters, "You can't handle the truth!",  Zedekiah begs the truth from Jeremiah.



Jeremiah responds with, "If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death?"

So Jeremiah speaks a word from the Lord paraphrased, "if you go before Babylon's princes, you shall live and Jerusalem shall not be burned....but if you don't go, they shall burn the city with fire and you won't escape." [Jer. 38:17-18]

Finally, Zedekiah speaks the truth - not that he believes Jeremiah's word from the Lord - but the truth about himself:  "I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans (Babylonians), lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me!"  Boy, those words convict me!  Jeremiah beseeches Zedekiah to obey and Zedekiah asks Jeremiah NOT to tell the princes what happened between them, but to rather say, "I begged Zedekiah for my life!"  An obligation Jeremiah keeps, but Zedekiah does not.

Zedekiah does not harken to the word of the Lord and Jer. 39:5-7 shows fulfillment of God's word to Jeremiah - the Babylonians capture Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, slay his sons before his eyes, put out Zedekiah's eyes, burn the city, break down its walls.  Thus, Babylon captures Jerusalem and destroys the first temple.

Secondly, the bible study in Esther follows the rise of Medo-Persian Empire (think: Iran), wresting power from the Babylonians. You all know this historical conquest by the use of our phrase "the writing's on the wall."  Belshazzar, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, ruling over Babylon, threw a huge party using the spoils of Solomon's temple as the drinking vessels, toasting the "gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood and stone," when the finger of God wrote "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" upon the wall, leaving Belshazzar physically and mentally tormented.  Enter the young lad, now older by some years, Daniel.  He interprets the writing on the wall:

Mene: God has numbered thy kingdom and finished it.
Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting.
Peres:  Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.  

That night Belshazzar is slain and Darius the Mede takes over.

Yet Darius is not alone in his conquest.  The Medes are in cooperation with the Persians and Cyrus rules the Persians.

Immediately, Cyrus issues the decree spoken of in Ezra 1 - and witnessed by The Cylinder.

"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 a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who 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...."

The Cyrus Cylinder - photographed at the Getty Villa

During this time, many Jews left Babylon and returned to Jerusalem, but many, now comfortable in their assimilated lives remained in Babylon under the Medes and Persians, whose kingdoms were intertwined by marriages - Darius married Cyrus' daughter Atossa, their son Xerxes or Ahasuerus married Belshazzar's (grandson of Babylon's Nebuchadnezzar) daughter Vashti. Interestingly enough, Cyrus wrote that Belshazzar was a coward - yet Belshazzar's daughter was given to Cyrus' grandson Ahasuerus.

I'm starting to understand why, at times, I get so lost when it comes to history.....

Knowing Vashti's heritage gave me some insight as to why she refused her husband's command to show her beauty to his guests.  Her husband, the mighty King Ahasuerus, held a feast for 180 days to specifically show off the riches of his kingdom and majesty to his princes and servants.  Then for the next seven days held a feast to show off in the palace, summoning Vashti to come before the people and show off her beauty [Esther 1].  She refused.  More than just insulted that she was an object of Ahasuerus' possessions, she was an object of conquest and I believe Vashti possibly remembered the "flaunting" banquet of her grandfather Belshazzar when the kingdom was taken from him.  Ahasuerus had to harken to his seven princes who advised Vashti be sent away and another queen be found lest all the conquered peoples lose respect for him.

The queen found, of course, would be Esther.  Esther, the adopted child of her uncle, Mordecai the Jew.  The Jew who had remained in Babylon rather than return to Jerusalem.  For such a time as this.

My visiting the Cyrus Cylinder was for such a time as this.  To spark my interest in and love of the Scriptures that fill in the history.  To ignite my passion for knowing God.  Like Paul expounds in 2 Tim. 4:7,  I'd like my dash to simply bear witness that, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

Cyrus, after his Babylonian conquest, had his scribes write this of his life:

"All the people of Tintir (Babylon), of all Sumer and Akkad, nobles and governors, bowed down before him and kissed his feet, rejoicing over his kingship, and their faces shone.
The lord through whose help all were rescued from death and who saved them all from distress and hardship, they blessed him sweetly and praised his name.
'I am Cyrus, king of the universe, the great king, the powerful king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world,
son of Cambyses, the great king, king of the city of Anshan, grandson of Cyrus, the great king, king of the city of Anshan, descendenat of Teispes, the great king, king of the city of Anshan,
the perpetual seed of kingship, whose reign Bel (Marduk) and Nabu love, and with whose kingship, to their joy, they concern themselves.' "

I listed at the beginning of this post, the Ten Most Long-Lived Empires, yet the Babylonian and Medo-Persian Empires are not amongst them.

Cyrus' testament to his monument tells quite another, perhaps more modest, story.  "O man - I am Cyrus, son of Cambyses, who founded the Persian Empire and ruled Asia.  So do not begrudge me this monument."

Cyrus Monument in southern Iran, photo taken at Getty Villa

For further study:
TED Talk on the Cyrus 
IHF America: The Significance of the Cyrus Cylinder
King Belshazzar and Darius the Mede
Zedekiah: the Last King of Israel

Note:  Again, as always I urge you to study these things yourself, for I too, am just learning and don't claim to complete accuracy, try as I might!  I always welcome your comments and corrections!