Isaiah 45:1 starts out, “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus”… and two more times in this chapter God says, “I have called thee by thy name.”
King Cyrus, wearing his military helmet (because I wanted him to), almost starts to stand up as he listens to the prophet Daniel with astonishment as he reads from a copy of the Isaiah scroll, telling the king that God called him by name as much as 200 years before Cyrus was born. The two of them are imagined to be on a palace porch. According to biblical accounts and historical records, the prophet Daniel, a high ranking official in the Medo-Persian empire under King Cyrus, played an important role in the the king’s life, notably when Cyrus conquered Babylon and entered the city.
As recorded by Josephus, Daniel read to Cyrus from a copy of the Isaiah scroll, words which were particularly directed to Cyrus, containing prophecies about his life and accomplishments, describing Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon, and his decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. God said of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.‘ Then God determined to let the Jewish exiles go back freely to their homeland.
According to Proverbs 21:1, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever He will.”
Joan, colored pencil and watercolor, 2024
