“This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut – Isaiah 45:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 17, 2013): Isaiah 45

I recently had a conversation with a friend that centered on the Biblical prophecy of the end of the world. My friend was in search of specifics about the end, but as much as some might argue differently, the Bible does not ever give us specifics about future events. Whenever the Bible talks about the future, the words are veiled – and often only understood clearly after the events have already become a reality. An example might be the famous prophecy of Isaiah that “the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son” (Isaiah 7:14). Critics of the passage are quick to point out that the church has misinterpreted the prophecy; that the passage should be read that a young woman will be with child – which after all is not all that amazing. And the truth is that the passage really could be translated that way. But what we do know is that the Christian Biblical writers did not interpret it that way. For them, Mary the virgin (and a young woman) giving birth to a child (Jesus) was a fulfilment of the Isaiah prophecy. But we understand the prophecy more fully after the birth of Jesus than we did before. But it is also significant that Isaiah did not say that the Virgin Mary would conceive and give birth to a son – the Isaiah prophecy is just not that specific.

Which is one of the problems with this passage if we regard the whole Book of Isaiah as being written in the late eight or early seventh century B.C.E. by a single Isaiah. Cyrus is named in this passage, but he would not even be born until the sixth century. The prophecy is specific, naming Cyrus as if the words were written during the days of Cyrus the Great and the expansion of his empire throughout the known world.  And the purpose of the passage is not to give prophecy of the rise of an unknown king, but rather the writer of the prophecy is giving explanation about the rise and reign of this very specific king.

And the explanation is that Cyrus was the anointed of God – he was part of God’s plan. If this passage was written from the point of view of the Babylonian exile, then the prophet needs the people to understand that everything is going according to the plan of God. Nebuchadnezzar, the foreign king responsible for their presence in Babylonian in the first place, was also God’s anointed king. Nebuchadnezzar was raised by God according to his plan to fulfill God’s specific purpose. And now Isaiah reminds the exiles that Cyrus the Great is also God’s anointed. God has raised Cyrus up to lead the empire for exactly this moment. The gates of the city would be left open so that Cyrus would not be kept out.

It might even be that Isaiah was speaking specifically of the City of Babylon, because that almost precisely describes the events of October 7, 540 B.C.E. On that night, Cyrus entered the city of Babylon unopposed. God had raised up Cyrus as the other bookend of the exile. Cyrus would be the king that return Judah home – and Judah would once more realize that they had never been out of the hands of God.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 46