Several artifacts from the Ancient Near Eastern world depict a ceremony wherein a god reaches out to one who would be king. The act of grasping his hand was seen as conferral of royal authority. This human king then ruled in place of the god.
In Sunday’s reading from Second Isaiah, Israel’s God confers power and authority on Cyrus the Persian king. Cyrus subdues nations and releases captive kings so that they might serve him unfettered. He throws open doors and barred gates in a spirit of freedom. The Israelites who have been captive in Babylon benefit from Cyrus’s enlightened policies.
In the Old Testament, Cyrus’ edict is found in Ezra 1.2-4. The edict was his “Emancipation Proclamation” to the Jews in exile in Babylon. In addition to returning the Jews to their homeland, Cyrus returned the sacred vessels the Babylonians had looted from the Jerusalem Temple before they destroyed it in 587 B.C. He also sent money to help the Jews rebuild their Temple and the destroyed city of Jerusalem.
The first reading from Second Isaiah provides a powerful background for meditating on this Sunday’s gospel. The voice of God refers to a foreign head of empire, Cyrus the Great, as the head of empire, Cyrus the Great, as the “anointed one” (the Hebrew word is messiah).
This pagan emperor of the Persians earns this title because he unknowingly has become God’s instrument in the restoration of the exiled Jews to their homeland. In exile the prophet experiences God as Creator of all.
God calls Cyrus his anointed one.
Thus says God to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose hand I grasp,
subduing nations before him
and making kings run in his service,
opening doors before him —
and leaving the gates unbarred.
For the sake of my servant Jacob,
of Israel, my chosen one,
I have called you by your name,
giving you a title
though you do not know me.
I am the Holy One.
and there is no other;
besides me there is no god.
I arm you though you do not know me,
so that from the rising
to the setting of the sun
people may know
there is no one besides me.
I am the Holy One;
there is no other.
Isaiah 45.1, 4-6
- When have you experienced the awesomeness of God that Isaiah describes?
- How do you see God working in and through the many new immigrants from different nations who practice different religions?