Cyrus' conquest of Babylon in 538 B.C. forms a great landmark in the history of the Hebrews. It freed them from their long Chaldean bondage, being followed by royal permission to return to their native land. Thus preparation was made for a new era in the work of Israel's prophets, associated in its early stages with the names of Haggai and Zechariah.
Cyrus was originally ruler of the small kingdom of Anshan, but by 549 B.C. he had become king of Media, and soon won over the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor, defeating its fabulously rich king, Croesus, and seizing his capital, Sardis. The conquest of Media to the north and east of Babylon led Second Isaiah to announce in the Lord's name, presumably concerning Cyrus, "I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name" (Isa. 41:25).
During the first year of Cyrus' sovereignty over Babylon, the book of Ezra records (1:1, 2), "The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia" so that he published a decree to this effect: "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." According to Ezra the cooperation and generosity of King Cyrus led to the arrival of more than forty-two thousand Jewish folk in Jerusalem (see Ezra 2:64). Thus the way opened for rebuilding their temple and restoring its sacred vessels stolen by Nebuchadnezzar some sixty years before Cyrus' decree (see Ezra 1:7-11).
