In 21:6 the same title is expanded and interpreted by the parallel expression, “the Beginning and the End.” Alpha and Omega represent the Hebrew Aleph and Tau, which were regarded not simply as the first and last letters of the alphabet, but as including all the letters in between. He declares that he is “the Alpha and the Omega” (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet). editors, “Babylonia,”, Aug(/BWalls-1).This is less clear - most of the commentators I have say this relates to the Father.Ĩ As the divine response to what has been said about Christ and his relationship to believers and the unbelieving world, God himself now speaks.Herodotus, History 1, 187–193, Penguin cited in Victor Buksbazen, The Prophet Isaiah (reprint, Bellmawr, NJ: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, 2008), 360.
In later years, they would be able to see how God called Cyrus (who did not know the Lord), anointed him, bestowed titles of honor on him, and used him as His servant to help Israel. The Jewish captives had this prophecy 150 years in advance. But He also named Cyrus for Israel’s sake: “For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name I have named you, though you have not known Me” (Isa. God named Cyrus so the world would know that He alone is God. Upon Babylon’s defeat, God enabled Cyrus to find the buried wealth, a portion of which the king gave back to Israel (cf. The word treasures refers to the wealth of gold and silver that pagan cities stored in underground vaults to protect it from invaders. He added, “I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel” (v. God did all these things to pave the way for the Jewish people’s physical deliverance. Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the walls were so thick chariots raced on top of them. God made Babylon’s defenses useless against Cyrus, including its enormous walls. The Lord preceded Cyrus to clear away all impediments: “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron” (v. In this way the Persian army was able to enter unexpectedly the supposedly impenetrable city of Babylon. This was especially true of the ease with which Cyrus defeated Babylon:Ĭyrus dried up the Euphrates, so that it was only one foot deep, by diverting its waters into the basin of Sepharvaim. the double doors so that the gates will not be shut” (v. Yet with God’s help, he swept across nations as God’s instrument “to loose the armor of kings, to open. Though history calls him “Cyrus the Great,” Cyrus was still a frail mortal. It also suggests Cyrus would not be defeated and would accomplish everything God had chosen him to do. 1) expresses God’s total control over the king. The phrase to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held (v. The word anointed is a Hebrew expression tagging Cyrus as God’s divinely appointed agent to subdue nations from Egypt all the way up the Mediterranean coast. In Isaiah 45:1, God declared, “Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held-to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut.”Ĭyrus is the only Gentile ever called God’s “anointed,” which in Hebrew means “messiah.” As Israel’s deliverer, Cyrus is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will be Israel’s future Deliverer at His return to Earth. Bible scholar Harold Willmington once wrote, “Bible prophecy is simply history written in advance!” In the case of Cyrus, king of ancient Medo-Persia, God wrote the history 100 years before Cyrus was born and approximately 150 years before Cyrus conquered Babylon and let the Jewish people return to their land.