h the
exception of the name of Cyrus, all is general; images, moreover, drawn
for the most part, not from the great events connected with the
conquests of Cyrus, but from the earlier history of Israel. Let any one
read, for example, the forty-sixth and forty-seventh chapters of Isaiah,
and ask himself whether a writer who lived in Cyrus' day could have
described the fall of Babylon without specific allusions to the agencies
by which it was brought to pass. As to the _historic references_ which
some find to the march of the Jewish caravans of returning captives
through the desert that lay between Babylon and Palestine, whoever reads
the passages in question without a previously formed conclusion, must be
satisfied that they are _poetic descriptions_ of the redemption and
restoration of God's people borrowed mainly from the primitive journey
of Israel from Egypt to Canaan through the wilderness of Arabia. God, as
then, goes before his people, opening for them in their extremity
"rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys;"
making "the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of
water." Even Cyrus is mentioned not as the king of Persia, but as a man
raised up from the east to execute God's vengeance on the oppressors of
his people.

According to Ctesias and Plutarch, the name _Cyrus_ signifies
_sun_. Strabo says that his name, before ascending the throne of
Persia, was _Agradales_. Some are of opinion that the word
_Cyrus_ (Heb. _Koresh_) was an appellation common to the kings
of Persia. We do not need, however, the help of this hypothesis.
God himself explains the ground on which he is mentioned by
name: "For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, have
I even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me" (45:4). According to Josephus (Antiq.
11. 1, 2), Cyrus was moved to issue his decree for the
liberation of the Jews by a knowledge of the prophecies of
Isaiah in which he is mentioned by name. With this agree the
terms of the edict: "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." Ezra 1:2, compared with
Isa. 44:28. If this view be correct, the mention of Cyrus by
name was a part of God's plan for the restoration of the
covenant people.

It is not true, as has been asserted,