The Lord Stirred Up the Spirit of Cyrus

Isaiah gave this prophecy about Cyrus, the king of Persia: “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (Isaiah 44:28). Here over 170 years before it would happen, Isaiah prophesied of this Gentile by name who would help the Jews return to their homeland and rebuild the temple. The opening verses of the book of Ezra reads this way: “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith 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 an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah” (Ezra 1:1-2). Here he was directly fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy, but it was a prophecy that Jeremiah that was referred here. The student manual suggests that it may be this one that was alluded to: “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations” (Jeremiah 25:11-12). He also prophesied, “For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place” (Jeremiah 25:10). Jeremiah did not reference Cyrus by name as far as we know, but these prophecies about a seventy-year captivity may have been part of what led Cyrus to send back the people to Jerusalem knowing that the time was fulfilled.

                The story of Cyrus shows us that the Lord will work with all people—not just those who have covenanted with Him—to do His work and bring about His purposes. And He can send his spirit upon all those who will listen to Him. One scholar in the student manual also suggests that it was Daniel who helped to motivate Cyrus to do this great work for the Jews: “It is very probable that when Cyrus took Babylon he found Daniel there, who had been long famed as one of the wisest ministers of state in all the East; and it is most likely that it was this person who pointed out to him the prophecy of Isaiah, and gave him those farther intimations relative to the Divine will which were revealed to himself.” Daniel may have read to Cyrus the prophecies of both Isaiah and Jeremiah and encouraged the Persian king to indeed be the fulfillment of those prophecies. But ultimately it was the Lord through His Spirit that softened the heart of this Gentile king towards Judah. President Wilford Woodruff commented, “I have thought many times that some of those ancient kings that were raised up, had in some respects more regard for the carrying out of some of these principles and laws, than even the Latter-day Saints have in our day. I will take as an ensample Cyrus. … To trace the life of Cyrus from his birth to his death, whether he knew it or not, it looked as though he lived by inspiration in all his movements. He began with that temperance and virtue which would sustain any Christian country or any Christian king.” Parley P. Pratt also made this interesting comment about Cyrus saying that the Prophet Joseph Smith had “the boldness, courage, temperance, perseverance and generosity of a Cyrus.” In one sense all of us should strive to be like Cyrus in that we should seek to do the work, through the inspiration of heaven, that the Lord has for us. Surely if the Lord had a great work for this man, who was not even one who had made covenants with the Lord, He also then has a work for each of us to do in our lives for the benefit of His children. We can all be a Cyrus in blessing others through accomplishing the work He has prepared uniquely for us.