Ezra begins with God’s direction to Cyrus to send the captive children of Israel back to their own land. We don’t know much about Cyrus other than he was the King of Persia, and he conquered Nebuchadnezzar and took all Babylon captive. Archeologists have discovered what has become known as the “Cyrus Cylinder.” It’s part of his personal memoirs. In 2010, new texts with the same inscription were also discovered. According to these texts, this is what he wrote about himself: “I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, legitimate king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four rims (of the earth)… ”
Remember Shelley’s poem, Ozymandias?
“I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing besides remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
The truth revealed to us in Ezra is that this “Great King” was a pawn in the hands of only the Great King, the Lord God Himself. He used Cyrus as an instrument to accomplish His purposes with His own people, and when God was done with Cyrus, he let him go the way of all nations before him. God alone is sovereign. He is sovereign over the kings of the earth, and he is sovereign over the lives of men and women as well. Richison rightly observes, “God is sovereign over the affairs of man. God sets up nations as He wills. He can do this to even the lowest of men, so why should any king assume pride in himself?”[1] Just as Ozymandias’ kingdom lay waste and bare, so did Cyrus’ kingdom. He lived and reigned only to accomplish God’s purposes in the world.
[1] Richison, Grant. 2006. Verse by Verse through the Book of Daniel. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems.