Posted on 03/17/2016 8:52:48 PM PDT by 11th_VA
Ever since Donald Trump began to surge as a candidate last year, Christians have been pointing to the book of Isaiah and comparing Trump with the ancient Persian King Cyrus. Some have even claimed that God has revealed to them that He will use Trump for the good of America just as He used Cyrus for the good of the Jewish people, even though Cyrus was a "pagan" king.
Could this be true?
Let's first look at the biblical and ancient Near Eastern evidence.
Cyrus (whose name was pronounced "ko-resh" in Hebrew) became king of Persia in 559 B.C. and conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. He is mentioned in a majestic passage in Isaiah where the Lord says of Cyrus, "'He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My desire'; and he declares to Jerusalem, 'You shall be built,' and to the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid'" (Is. 44:28).
In other words, Cyrus would be the one who would cause Jerusalem to be rebuilt after it had been destroyed decades earlier by the Babylonians.
But there's more that Isaiah says about Cyrus as the prophecy continues into chapter 45: "Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, His anointed, whose right hand I have held—to subdue nations before him and to loosen the loins of kings, to open doors before him so that the gates will not be shut: I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and shatter the bars of iron. And I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places so that you may know that I, the Lord, who calls you by your name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob My servant's sake and Israel My chosen one, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me'" (Is. 45:1-4).
Notice the beginning and the end of this passage. First, Cyrus, a non-Israelite king, is called God's anointed, a term elsewhere only used for Israelite leaders. Second, Cyrus, although called by the God of Israel, doesn't actually know the God of Israel. Instead, like the vast majority of people in the ancient world, he worshipped different deities in the form of idols.
In fulfillment of this prophecy, the Scriptures record how Cyrus made this decree to the Jewish people living in Babylon, where they had been taken in exile: "The LORD [meaning Yahweh] God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has commanded me to build for Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all His people, may the LORD [Yahweh] his God be with him. Let him go up" (2 Chr. 36:23).
So a pagan king encouraged the Jewish people to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple, also helping to finance the endeavor.
But Cyrus did not only do this for the people of Israel.
This became a standard Persian policy, allowing exiles to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples as subjects of the Persian empire.
We know this from the famous Cyrus Cylinder that was discovered in 1879. There, we read that Marduk, the chief god of the Babylonian pantheon and called "the king of the gods" in the text, "took the hand of Cyrus ... and called him by his name, proclaiming him aloud for the kingship over all of everything."
We also read in the text that Cyrus restored the various idol temples in his empire, which gives further confirmation to the biblical account.
So, here, it is Marduk who is given credit for the reign of Cyrus. In the Bible, it is Yahweh, the God of Israel and the only true God, who takes the credit. Obviously, Cyrus did not know Him, just as Isaiah said.
Could Donald Trump, then, be a modern-day Cyrus? Could it be that Trump, like Cyrus, clearly does not know the Lord in a real and personal way but could still be used by God to accomplish His purposes?
As the saying goes, let God be God, meaning, it's up to Him to do what He wants to do. Only He can answer this question for sure.
Or, from a more secular perspective, only time will tell.
What's clear, though, is that God did not raise up an idol-worshipping king to rule the nation of Israel. That would have been a curse rather than a blessing.
In contrast, Christians are talking about God raising up Trump to lead America, which would be very different than Cyrus being used to help the exiles return to Jerusalem and rebuild it.
That doesn't mean, of course, that Trump could not be a Cyrus-type of figure. It simply means that the parallel breaks down when applied.
But there's another possibility to consider.
There was another ancient king named Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian leader who, decades before Cyrus became king, led his armies to destroy Jerusalem, burn down the temple and send the Jewish people into exile in 586 B.C.
He too was an idol worshipper, yet shockingly, Yahweh called him "My servant," stating plainly, "I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land [meaning Judah] and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations" (Jer. 25:9; see also 27:6; 43:10).
So Cyrus was anointed by God to restore the Jewish people from captivity and to rebuild Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar, as a vessel of divine judgment, was called by God to send the Jewish people into exile and to destroy Jerusalem.
Two pagan kings, one raised up to bring judgment and the other raised up to bring restoration.
Is Donald Trump a Cyrus or a Nebuchadnezzar, if either?
Let God be God, and only time will tell.
But while we wait and watch and vote and act, let's not forget to pray: God, have mercy on America!
The one thing of which we are sure is that this is a very critical season in the history of our nation.
Funny. I’ve been wondering this since it all started back in June.
Yes, it is clearly the lord’s will that we all support Trump (praise Him). /sarc
Obama is Nebuchandneezer sp and Trump Cyrus may it please God
As have I. I’ve been praying for years that God save this country.
Samson fits better than Cyrus.
I recommend, again, that you read the story of Samson, Judges 13-16 in order to understand what is going on with Donald Trump and the Presidential race. YHWH is judging the United States of America, and he is using Donald Trump to do it.
All this talk about whether Donald Trump is “godly” or not is so much Satanic gorilla dust to take your mind off the main thing: Your redemption draws near! And if you are not redeemed, the remember: Do NOT take the Mark of the Beast!
Judges 14
1 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.”
3 Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”
4 But his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD [YHWH]—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
Nelson, Thomas (2009-02-18). Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) (p. 251). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Donald Trump is a type of Samson: Doesn’t drink, has wild hair, chases foreign women, gets really upset if the treat him unfairly, really good a slaying Philistines, and brings down the Temple of Dagon.
This is why I say that Donald Trump is a type of Samson:
Judgse 15
3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them!”
4 Then Samson went and caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails.
5 When he had set the torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
Nelson, Thomas (2009-02-18). Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) (p. 252). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Getting pretty tired of all the silly comparisons of Trump to historical figures. This might be the silliest yet.
How about a modern PT Barnum?
It is! I’m no Bible scholar by far, but I do find the parallel fascinating, even to the point that Cyrus too was a builder - the one who would rebuild Jerusalem.
Koresh? That name rings a bell.
Classic.
Freegards
Very thoughtful and something I have been stressing from the beginning of this election, that it is God who raises up one puts down another. That He uses both the saved and the unsaved in power to accomplish his purposes.
Personally, I don’t believe that Donald Trump has ever been born again, but I believe he is closer to the kingdom than Cyrus or Nebuchadnezzar.
Trump has a genuine affection for evangelical believers and great respect for the Bible, which I have seen and heard him express in years past, before he ever decided to run for the presidency.
My pastor has seen him on several occasions at David Jeremiah’s church sitting in the audience. And again, this was several years before announcing his run.
I’m supporting Donald Trump, because I think you will be a great president for this country, and as a believer in Christ, I’m praying for him daily to be saved.
Getting a tad bit strange.
I would say the Trump is more of a modern Teddy Roosevelt.
Could it be that Jack the Ripper was actually the Loch Ness Monster? We may never know ....
Trump is neither and Christians need to see that its ok to vote for a non-believer because those politicians who claim to be believers are doing so to get votes.
CS Lewis warned about confusing and combining politics and religion.
Yes, it is clearly the lord’s will that we all support Cruz(praise Him). /sarc
Better still, the "King" in Huckleberry Finn.
Ping!
As am I. Amen.
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