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Prophets and Kings
The deliverance of Daniel from the den of lions had been used of
God to create a favorable impression upon the mind of Cyrus the Great.
The sterling qualities of the man of God as a statesman of farseeing
ability led the Persian ruler to show him marked respect and to honor
his judgment. And now, just at the time God had said He would cause
His temple at Jerusalem to be rebuilt, He moved upon Cyrus as His
agent to discern the prophecies concerning himself, with which Daniel
was so familiar, and to grant the Jewish people their liberty.
As the king saw the words foretelling, more than a hundred years
before his birth, the manner in which Babylon should be taken; as
he read the message addressed to him by the Ruler of the universe,
“I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me: that they may know
from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside
Me;” as he saw before his eyes the declaration of the eternal God, “For
Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee
by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me;”
as he traced the inspired record, “I have raised him up in righteousness,
and I will direct all his ways: he shall build My city, and he shall let
go My captives, not for price nor reward,” his heart was profoundly
moved, and he determined to fulfill his divinely appointed mission.
Isaiah 45:5, 6, 4, 13
. He would let the Judean captives go free; he
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would help them restore the temple of Jehovah.
In a written proclamation published “throughout all his kingdom,”
Cyrus made known his desire to provide for the return of the Hebrews
and for the rebuilding of their temple. “The Lord God of heaven
hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth,” the king gratefully
acknowledged in this public proclamation; “and He hath charged me
to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there
among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him go
up to Jerusalem, ... and build the house of the Lord God of Israel,
(He is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth
in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him
with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the
freewill offering.”
Ezra 1:1-4
.
“Let the house be builded,” he further directed regarding the temple
structure, “the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the founda-
tions thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and
the breadth thereof threescore cubits; with three rows of great stones,