Isaiah 45:1 - Meaning and Application

Cyrus was a Mede, and some say he was descended from Astyages, king of Media. The pagan writers do not agree about his beginnings. Some say that as a baby he was left out to die, but was saved by a herdsman’s wife.

What is clear is that he was a man of quick ability, and he soon became important. When Croesus, king of Lydia, invaded his country, Cyrus not only drove him back, but also chased him down and turned the victory into a great conquest. He took Sardis and became ruler over Lydia and the many provinces that belonged to it. That made him very powerful, for Croesus was famous for his wealth. It also gave him strength for many more campaigns.

About ten years later, working with his uncle Darius and the Persian forces, he made the famous attack on Babylon that Isaiah foretells here, and that is recorded in Daniel 5. Babylon had become extremely rich and strong. It was said to be forty-five miles around, or even more, and its walls were massive, with some reports saying they were thick enough for six chariots to ride side by side on top.

Cyrus seems to have long wanted to take Babylon, and in the end he did. Now, 210 years before it happened, we are told what great things God would do for him, so that Cyrus could be used to free God’s people. God would make him a mighty conqueror and a wealthy ruler. Nations would pay tribute to him and help him with both soldiers and money.

What God promised to do for Cyrus, he could have done for Zerubbabel, or for some of the Jews themselves. But God has rarely seen fit to place the wealth and power of this world in the hands of his own people. There are too many dangers and temptations in it. So when God has had work to do through such power, he has often put it into other hands and used them for his people.

Cyrus is called God’s anointed because God planned him for this work and fitted him for it. He was also meant to be a picture of the Messiah, the Christ. God says he will hold Cyrus’s right hand, not only to strengthen and support him, but also to guide his plans and actions. It was like when Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands before he shot the arrow against Syria (2 Kings 13:16).

Under that divine guidance, Cyrus would extend his power very far, and no opposition would stop him. Babylon was too strong a place for a young conqueror to begin with, so God would first add to his strength through other victories. Populous kingdoms would submit to him. It was God who would subdue the nations before him, so that Cyrus would seem to receive them almost as soon as they were born into his rule. The victory would be God’s, even though Cyrus was the one acting in it.

Powerful kings would also fall before him. God says, “I will loose the loins of kings,” meaning he would take away their strength and dignity. This was literally true of Belshazzar, for when the handwriting appeared on the wall, the joints of his loins were loosened in terror (Daniel 5:6). Great cities would open their gates to him without struggle. God would move the gatekeepers to open the two-leaved gates, not because they betrayed their city, but because they saw resistance was useless. The gates would not stay shut against him as an enemy, but open for him as a friend.

Even the hardest journeys would be made easy for him. God says, “I will go before you,” to clear the road and lead him on it. Then the rough places would be made straight, and the hills would be leveled. Those who have God going before them find an open road. No barrier would be able to stand in his way. The One who gave him his commission would break the bronze gates and cut through the iron bars that shut him out.

This was fulfilled very exactly if Herodotus is right, when he says Babylon had 100 bronze gates, with posts and hooks made of the same metal.

God would also fill Cyrus’s treasuries greatly (Isaiah 45:3). He would give him “the treasures of darkness,” meaning gold and silver long kept hidden away, locked up for years, or buried underground by frightened people when the city fell. The wealth of many nations had been stored in Babylon, and Cyrus would take it all. The hidden riches of secret places, belonging to kings or private people, would become his spoil.

In this way, God paid Cyrus in advance for the service he would do for the church. Cyrus then honestly acknowledged God’s kindness to him, and because of that he released the captives (Ezra 1:2). He said that God had given him all the kingdoms of the earth, and that this meant he was to build a house for God at Jerusalem.

Now we are told why God did all this for Cyrus. Cyrus himself may have had his own reasons for going to war, but God’s purpose in giving him such success is clearly stated. First, it was so that the God of Israel would be honored. God says, “That you may know that I, the Lord, am the God of Israel, because I called you by your name before you were born.” When Cyrus later saw this prophecy of Isaiah, with his own name and exploits described so long beforehand, he would have to admit that the God of Israel is the Lord, Jehovah, the only living and true God. He would also see that this God still owned Israel, even while they were in captivity.

It is a good thing when prosperity brings people to know God, because far too often it makes them forget him. Second, God did it so that his people Israel might be released (Isaiah 45:4). Cyrus did not know God as the God of Israel. He had been raised in idol worship, so the true God was unknown to him. But though Cyrus did not know God, God knew him before he came into being, and even set him apart for his task as shepherd of God’s people. He called him by name, Cyrus, and even gave him the high honor of calling him his anointed. And why did God do all this for Cyrus? Not for Cyrus’s own sake, as Cyrus must understand. Whether he was a virtuous man or not is still in question.

Xenophon, when he wanted to describe the noble qualities of a great ruler, used Cyrus’s name and many details of his life in his *Cyropaedia*. But other historians describe Cyrus as proud, cruel, and bloodthirsty. The reason God favored him was for Jacob his servant’s sake.

Here we learn two things. First, in every change among nations and kingdoms, when the strong suddenly fall and the weak are unexpectedly lifted up, God is working for the good of his church. Second, those whom God has given wealth and power should use them for his glory by showing kindness to his people. Cyrus was chosen so that Israel could be set free. He was given a kingdom so God’s people could have their liberty, because their kingdom is not of this world, but still to come.

In all this, Cyrus was a picture of Christ. Christ was made victorious over rulers and powers, and entrusted with limitless riches for the benefit of God’s servants, his chosen people. When he went up on high, he led captivity captive, taking prisoners from those who had taken others captive, and opening the prison for those who were bound.