{"id":67591,"date":"2019-12-23T15:41:42","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T13:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=67591"},"modified":"2023-07-17T18:51:03","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T15:51:03","slug":"points-to-ponder-isaiah-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/points-to-ponder-isaiah-45\/","title":{"rendered":"Points to Ponder – Isaiah 45"},"content":{"rendered":"
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  1. A historic moment<\/em>. Cyrus – nice to meet you. King Cyrus of Persia began his political life as governor of Anshan, a Medean city. But he wasn\u2019t satisfied with local rule, and after a series of successful rebellions and wars he became the strongest leader in the region. So much so, that the city of Babylon, the capital of the Babylonian empire, surrendered to him without a fight. And so on the 3rd of Mar-cheshvan in the year 539 BCE, the Persian empire began its rule. Cyrus was known for his policies of religious tolerance towards all the conquered peoples in his empire, including Israel. In light of this approach, in 538 BCE Cyrus permitted the exiles of Judah to return to Jerusalem, and rebuild the Temple, and he even helped them to do so.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Surprise<\/em>! We\u2019ve already heard in Isaiah\u2019s prophecies that geo-politics is one of God\u2019s tools in running the world, and that \u201cAssyria, rod of My anger, In whose hand, as a staff, is My fury!\u201d (10:5). But in the role of messiah – we expected to see a king from the House of David, \u201ca shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse\u201d (10:1). And so when the chapter opens \u201cThus said the LORD to Cyrus, His anointed one,\u201d it comes as a bit of a surprise. And from Isaiah\u2019s rhetoric, it looks like it was a surprise to his original listeners, and not just to us.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Monotheism\u2019s little problem.<\/em> If there is only one God, then that God is the source of everything. That includes both the good, and the troublesome. \u201cI form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe [evil]\u2014 I the LORD do all these things\u201d (verse 7). If you don\u2019t understand the theological challenge – the book of Job will be happy to oblige in about 370 chapters.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Exclusivity<\/em>. The phrase \u201cThere is no other (\u201cein \u2018od\u201d) <\/i>appears five times in this chapter. It seems that the prophet had quite a lot of convincing to do. Especially when he turns to all of humanity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","image":{"ID":86314,"id":86314,"title":"Points to ponder","filename":"Points-to-ponder.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/points-to-ponder-psalm-84\/points-to-ponder\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"points-to-ponder","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":86166,"date":"2021-01-09 20:56:58","modified":"2023-12-28 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