18 



REV. ANDREW CRAIG ROBIXSOX, M.A., OX DARIUS 



and put it also in writing, saying, ' Thus saitli 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.' " (Ez. i, 1-3.) 



" Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the 

 house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth 

 out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods : 

 Even these did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand 

 of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them to 

 Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. . . . All the vessels 

 of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred." 



It can be seen here that Cyrus reverences Jehovah as being 

 the national god of Israel : he calls him " the Lord God of Israel," 

 while just as when he had the divinities of Babylonia in mind 

 he identified Marduk the supreme god of Babylon with that 

 Great Lord whom he himself worshipped as supreme — so when 

 he had the Lord God of Israel in mind he identified Jehovah 

 with that same " Lord God of heaven " whom he supremely 

 worshipped, and who had " given him all the kingdoms of the 

 earth." There was a curious similarity, too, in the practical 

 action which he took in each case. In the case of the cities of 

 Babylonia, Cyrus restored to those cities certain sacred objects — 

 the idols of their gods — which had been taken from them by 

 King Nabonidus and brought to Babylon, and placed in the 

 house of his gods — and in the case of the people of Israel Cyrus 

 restored to them certain consecrated objects also, the sacred 

 vessels of the house of the Lord — which " Nebuchadnezzar 

 had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put them in the 

 house of his gods." (Ezra i, 7.) 



On this point, then, as to the rehgion of Cyrus, the Holy 

 Scriptures of the Old Testament, and the Cyropaedia of Xenophon, 

 appear to be in agreement with the Inscriptions, and in agreement 

 with each other. Authentic history — not imagination or romance. 



When Cyrus arrived at his uncle's court, first, says Xenophon, 

 as was natural, they embraced each other, and then Cyaxares 

 asked his nephew, what number of men did the contingent of 

 troops, which he had brought, consist of. Cyrus replied, " 30,000 



