The Beginnings of the Persian Empire

 

The Persians emigrated from the great plains of Russia in the 9th century BC.

The Persian kings: Teispes, Cyrus I, Cambyses I, Cyrus the Great, Cambyses II, (Gaumata the usurper), Darius the Great who was the 3rd cousin of Cambyses II, & Xerxes a.k.a. Ahasuerus.

The above mentioned kings, with the exception of Gaumata, were members of the Achaemenid Dynasty.  Nothing is known about Achaemenes, the founder of the dynasty.  Shortly after 700 BC, Teispes captured the city-state of Anshan and established himself as king.  Anshan became an ally of Elam against Assyria, the world power at that time.  In 639 BC, the Assyrians conquered the kingdom of Elam.  To retain Anshan’s independence, Cyrus I sent his eldest son with a tribute to serve as a hostage of Ashurbanipal in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.  The crown prince perished in 612 BC when the Medes and Chaldeans joined forces to conquer Nineveh.  Thus his younger brother, Cambyses I, became Anshan’s heir apparent.

Cyrus the Great’s accession year was 559 BC.  From his humble beginnings as ruler of the tiny state of Anshan, he conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon and built the humongous Persian Empire.

The Conquest of Babylon

 

God's command to Cyrus the Great:  "It is I who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd and he will perform all My desire.'  And he declares of Jerusalem, 'She will be built,' and of the temple, 'your foundation will be laid.'  I have aroused him in righteousness; he will build My city, and will let My exiles go free."

The Medes and the Persians emigrated from the great plains of Russia in the 9th century BC. Shortly after 700 BC, the Persians took control of the city of Anshan.

Cyrus the Great was born about 600 BC, the son of a Persian king and a Median princess. Cyrus ascended the throne of the tiny state of Anshan in 559 BC to begin a reign that lasted 30 years.


In 540 BC, Cyrus set his sights on the conquest of Babylon. During that period, Babylonian morale was at a low ebb. King Nabonidus was more interested in the study of foreign religions and history than in government. Nabonidus took a ten year hiatus in Arabia and left his son Belshazzar at the helm. He returned in 543 BC with the hopes of winning back the favour of his subjects and the priests who preferred a monarch that restricted himself to the established religion of Babylon. Although he brought all the idols from the surrounding cities into Babylon and celebrated the New Year's feast, he was unable to win the approval of his people.


Cyrus was able to convince Gubara, a Median governor, to defect to the Persian side. (The Medes had been allies of the Babylonians since the two defeated Assyria in 612 BC.) After taking the cities of Opis and Sippar, the Persian army moved towards Babylon. The throne city was dissected by the Euphrates River and its tributary canals. The dry season coupled with an annual shortage of precipitation caused the river to reach its lowest level in years. Furthermore, this was the time of a great Babylonian festival when the entire city of Babylon was accustomed to revelling all night long.


That night, while the inebriated Babylonians celebrated, Gubara diverted the flow of the Euphrates and entered Babylon's impregnable walls through a water channel. On October 12, 539 BC, Gubara captured Babylon without a battle. On October 29, he opened the city’s gates and welcomed his benefactor, Cyrus, king of Persia. Cyrus entered Babylon peacefully and was hailed by its inhabitants as a liberator. Belshazzar was slain, Nabonidus exiled, and Gubara, a.k.a. Darius the Mede, was made king of Babylon to act as a vassal under Cyrus the Great.


In 538 BC, Cyrus released Judeans from their captivity in Babylon. His proclamation was recorded by Ezra the scribe:


“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
‘Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.'"


Babylon's seventy year mandate had expired and an assembly of 42,360 survivors of the Babylonian captivity, accompanied by their servants, arrived in Judah in April, 537 BC, under the leadership of Zerubbabel, to rebuild their temple.

The Times of the Persians

Cyrus the Great was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II.  In his short, eight year reign, Cambyses added the kingdom of Egypt to the vast empire assembled by his father.

In 525 BC, Cambyses defeated Pharaoh Psammetichus III first on the Nile Delta and then at the key city of Memphis.  He continued south destroying the Egyptian temples along the way knowing full well that men were demoralized by the desecration of their gods.

In 522 BC, a sword wound inflicted to Cambyses’ leg became infested with gangrene and he died an untimely death.  That same year Cambyses was succeeded by his third cousin, Darius the Great, who seized control of the Persian throne.

Now the Jews began to rebuild Jerusalem's temple in 536 BC, during the reign of Cyrus the Great.  The reconstruction was halted due to the harassment of the Samarians coupled with their own lack of dedication to the project.  Encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, they resumed the temple's reconstruction in the second regnal year of Darius the Great. 

While the Samarians lobbied Darius to prohibit the reconstruction project, the Jews claimed they were working under an edict proclaimed by Cyrus in 538 BC.  

To clarify the issue, Darius searched the archives at the treasury in Babylon but could find no such edict.  After checking the royal itinerary, he discovered that Cyrus left Babylon in 538 BC to summer in Ecbatana.  So he searched the fortress in Ecbatana, in the province of Media, where he found the scroll containing Cyrus' decree.

Then Darius resolved the disagreement with his own decree which was sent to the governor of Samaria:

“Leave this work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.

“And I issued a decree that any man who violates this edict, a timber shall be drawn from his house and he shall be impaled on it and his house shall be made a refuse heap on account of this.

“And may the God, who has caused His name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who attempts to resist, so as to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem.  I Darius have issued this decree, let it be carried out with all diligence.”

The temple was completed on March 12, 515 BC in the 6^th regnal year of Darius the Great. 

Ahasuerus

Darius the Great was succeeded by his son who was the seventh member of the dynasty to become king of Persia.  Not only would he become richer than his father but wealthier than all his predecessors combined.  His name was Xerxes, the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther.

In 482 BC, his third regnal year, he threw a banquet for the Who’s Who of Persia and Media. He displayed the wealth and splendour of his majesty for 180 days after which he held a seven day banquet in the palace courtyard open to everyone in the capital of Susa, from the richest to the poorest.

The courtyard was filled with luxuriant gardens and stunning, mosaic walkways created of marble, mother of pearl, and purple, crystal-laden, Egyptian stone.  Guests were seated around marble columns on couches of gold and silver and treated to the finest wine which was lavishly served in cups of pure gold.

Simultaneously, Queen Vashti gave a banquet for the women inside the king’s palace.

On the seventh day, when Xerxes and his guests were merry with wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs, who served as his attendants, to bring Vashti before him with her royal crown so he could display her physical beauty, for she was truly a genetic wonder.  Now it was against Persian custom for a woman, let alone a queen, to appear in public.  Thus Vashti refused the king’s command.

As a result, Xerxes flew into a rage and summoned his seven wise counsellors, princes of Persia and Media.  He asked them what was to be done, under the law, with a queen who refused to obey the command of her king. 

They replied that a man is the master of his own household and that tales of Vashti’s conduct would surely permeate the entire kingdom resulting in all women, rich or poor, showing disrespect towards their husbands.  As a deterrent, they advised the king to issue an edict to be written into Persian law, thus rendering it irrepealable.  It would read that because Vashti refused to come at the king’s command, she would no longer be summoned into his presence.  Furthermore, she would be demoted in the royal harem and her position filled by another, more worthy than she.  And so it was decreed.  Letters were sent to all 127 Persian provinces outlining the king’s edict that a man is lord over his own house. 

So the quest began for the most voluptuous woman in the kingdom, a maiden whose divine pulchritude could quell the broken heart of a king.  Men were appointed to scour all 127 provinces for the most ravishing virgins in Persia.  Their bountiful bevy was then transported to Susa and placed under the tutelage of Hegai, the king’s eunuch.

Now among the bevy of beauties chosen for the harem of virgins, was a lovely Jewess from Susa by the name of Esther.  She was the ward of her cousin, Mordecai, who became her legal guardian at the time of her parent's death.  On his advice, she kept her ethnic origin a secret.

Esther didn’t play the harlot.  It was the Persian custom for a maiden to enter the king’s chambers from the harem of virgins.  Then, after spending a nuptial night consummating their marriage, she emerged as the king’s wife.  That very next morning, she was sent to the second harem, the harem of concubines, to live with his lower ranking wives.  However, she might never set foot in His Majesty’s chambers again, unless expressly summoned by him. 

Like all maidens, it was necessary for Esther to undergo the Persian beautification ritual before entering the king’s palace.  Her body was pampered for six months with oil of myrrh followed by another six months with the finest exotic spices and cosmetics that money could buy.  As a result, Esther’s body became impregnated with the most celestial fragrances known to man. 

In the tenth Jewish month, in the seventh year of the king, an enchanting Esther entered the palace of Xerxes, emperor of Persia, who wore the diadem of 127 nations.  She pleased the king more than all the other virgins.  Xerxes rewarded Esther by making her his new chief wife and queen of Persia.

Jerusalem's Modern History

On the 14^th day of May, 1948, sanctioned by a resolution adopted by the United Nations, the state of Israel was reborn.

Later, that same year, the Arab-Israeli War began.  The Arab nation of Jordan annexed the West Bank (of the Jordan River & Dead Sea) including East Jerusalem.  That meant the sacred sites located within the Old City were under Jordanian authority.  They included Temple Mount, the Western (Wailing) Wall, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Dome of the Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  Palestinians living in the West Bank were granted full Jordanian citizenship.

Jordan governed the West Bank until 1967.  During the Six Day War that same year, Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.  They took Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank including East Jerusalem from Jordan, and Golan Heights (east of the Sea of Galilee) from Syria.  East Jerusalem was liberated and the sacred sites belonging to Jews, Muslims, and Christians came under Israeli authority.  Notably, Jews were no longer prohibited from entering the Old City. 

In 1980, Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its eternal, "undivided” capital.  Although Palestinians have declared East Jerusalem as their capital, Ramallah is the de facto capital city of Palestine.

Israel returned Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1982.

Jordan renounced its claims to West Bank in 1988 and recognized the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole representative of the Palestinians.

In November, 2012, the United Nations recognized the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip as the State of Palestine.

However, Israel will never relinquish East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.  Why?  Because East Jerusalem is the location of Temple Mount, sacred to religious and secular Jews alike.  And let’s not forget that Temple Mount will be the site of Jerusalem's Third Temple which is at the very forefront of End Time prophecy.

 

Crying Wolf for the End Times

Many commentators, including myself, believe that the final week of Daniel's Messianic Prophecy will consist of three and a half years of prosperity followed by three and a half years of extreme suffering, called the Great Tribulation.  The Abomination of Desolation, also called the antichrist or beast, will be at the helm of those seven years.  He will control a global empire, not unlike ancient Rome, Greece, and Persia.

However, let's not raise false alarms about the End Times.  We are not at the end, or even the beginning of the end, but perhaps we are nearing the end of the beginning.  The Holy Scriptures coupled with current events bear this out.

Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus called him to be an Apostle.  He was an eyewitness to Christ’s earthly ministry which he recorded in his Gospel.  In Matthew 24, he quoted the very words of Jesus Christ who stated emphatically that wars and rumours of wars, famines, and earthquakes are not the end but merely the beginning.

Despite third party peace efforts, the wars continue between Russia and the Ukraine, Israel and Hamas.

On March 28th, Myanmar (Burma) was struck by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake.  To put that in perspective, the 1960 Chilean earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5, the greatest magnitude ever recorded.

Christ went on to say that there will be martyrdom, apostasy (falling away from the faith), false prophets, and an increase in lawlessness.  People's love will grow cold and the Gospel will be preached throughout the entire world, “and then the end shall come”.

And then Jesus said, "Therefore when you see the Abomination of Desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place...then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall."

The Apostle Paul relayed the same message.  He said that the day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy (abandoning the faith) comes first "and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God".

The “holy place” mentioned by Christ and the “temple of God” mentioned by the Apostle Paul are references to Jerusalem’s Temple.  But, at the present time, there is no Temple in Jerusalem.  And of course, a Temple is crucial to the fulfillment of the aforementioned prophecies. 

Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC.  It was rebuilt by Zerubbabel during the reign of the Persian emperor Darius the Great.  Zerubbabel’s Temple didn’t approached the magnificence of Solomon’s Temple.  However, it was renovated by Herod the Great with such lavish splendour that it became one of the wonders of the Roman Empire.  Herod’s Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.  There has never been a Third Temple in Jerusalem.  In fact, Temple Mount a.k.a. Mount Moriah is now the site of Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, two Muslim holy places.

Observant Jews would never share the Temple Mount with Muslims.  The building of Jerusalem’s Third Temple would require removal of the two Islamic sanctuaries followed by the cleansing of Temple Mount by qualified Levitical priests.

The construction of Jerusalem’s Third Temple will be a sign that the end is near.  The building of the Third Temple will occur prior to the final week of  Daniel’s Messianic prophecy.  Exactly when they will break ground, nobody knows.  But one thing for certain.  When Jews start construction on the Third Temple, it will be the time for Christians to stand up and take notice.  And that will be the moment to sound the alarm for the End Times.

“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.  For in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”

The Simple Meaning of Life

"All things are summed up in Christ both in the heavens and upon the earth.

"For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.

"In that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

"That I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith."

In the twenty-first century, the beginning of the third millennium, it's not in vogue to talk about sin or the consequences of sin.  Hell is an undesirable four letter word tabooed by this generation.  But if there is neither sin nor punishment for sin, then Christ died needlessly.  And in the distance, we can vaguely hear the songwriter's chant, "I swear there ain't no heaven, but I pray there ain't no hell.”

Eternal salvation, spiritual rescue from the consequences of sin, is based on faith, and faith alone.  So simple.  Believing that Christ is who He says He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Atheists proclaim, "There is no God," and agnostics declare, "I can't know, for nothing can be known with any certainty about God or the supernatural.”  But some might ask, "What if we are wrong?  Is there any hope for us in eternity?"

A response from the Apostle John: "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Will Believers Be Judged?

Will "believers" or, more precisely, "the righteous in Christ" be judged?  The answer is no; not with respect to their salvation.  And what is salvation?  Spiritual rescue from the consequences of sin; to be saved from eternal damnation.

Make no mistake about it.  We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ.  God says it; I believe it; that settles it.

My statement of faith is described in my article entitled "Justification By Faith”.  A short synopsis:  "Only the act of justification by faith in Christ can save a man's soul.  That is, the righteousness bestowed by God through faith in Christ by whom a believer is freed from the penalty due for his sins."

The Apostle Paul says:

"I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith."

According to civil law, if a man is convicted of a crime, he is sentenced by the courts to pay a debt to society.  That could result in a prison term or even capital punishment.  In much the same way, according to God's Law, a sinner owes a debt to God because of his sins.

And again, the Apostle Paul says:

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And once again:

"He has cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

And let's not forget the Apostle John:

"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Now believers will stand before the judgement seat (2 Corinthians 5:10) and some have said that their works will be judged.  However, the word "judged" can be confusing, especially to babes in Christ.  More correctly, their works will be "put to the proof”.  The NAS uses the word "test," the KJ the word "try," and the Douay the word "assay" and this is by fire.  The Apostle Paul gives a vivid description in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15:

"The fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.  If any man's work which he has built upon the foundation remains, he shall receive a reward.  If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire."

Translations of the Old Testament Canon

"Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God."  Romans 10:17

The remarkable Holy Scriptures of Judaism: written by the sacred writers who were legends in their own time and for generations beyond; inspired by Almighty God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, in whose hand is our very life's breath; culminating with the unfolding of Jesus the Christ from its sacred pages by which the prophetic mystery was concealed and then revealed at the fulness of time.

The Protestant Old Testament is identical to the Holy Scriptures of Judaism.  It consists of the 39 protocanonical books.  The Catholic Old Testament includes seven additional books as well as additions to Esther and Daniel.  Catholics call them the deuterocanonical books or second canon.  Protestants call them the apocrypha, meaning of doubtful authenticity or authorship.  However, Protestants recognize the historical value of some of the apocryphal books because they fill the 420 year gap between the prophet Malachi and the Gospel of Matthew.

The two most noteworthy translations of the Holy Scriptures of Judaism are the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate.

When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, he built the city of Alexandria to showcase the superiority of the Greek culture.  The Diaspora was encouraged to settle there and Alexandria became a haven for Hellenists—Jews who adopted the Greek culture.

By the time Ptolemy II took the throne, the Jews in Alexandria spoke Greek rather than Hebrew.  Because there was a need for a Greek translation of the Holy Scriptures of Judaism, Ptolemy II commissioned 70 Palestinian Jews to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the third century BC.  In recognition of their work, the translation was dubbed the Septuagint (from the Latin, septuaginta, meaning seventy).

Fast forward to the fourth century AD and the Golden Age of the Church Fathers.  A scholar named Jerome was one of the most able Fathers in the early Christian Church.  A superb translator and commentator, he was fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.  He was a contemporary of Augustine who was an extraordinary theologian, perhaps second only to the Apostle Paul.  Augustine praised Jerome’s talents by remarking, “What Jerome is ignorant of, no mortal man has ever known.”

Jerome's greatest accomplishment was a Latin translation of the Bible known as the Vulgate.  The New Testament was his revision of the old Latin versions which were translated from the Greek.  About 390 AD, he began his work on the Old Testament.  However, he went beyond the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament and created a new Latin version translated directly from the Hebrew Scriptures.  It was completed about 405 AD.

The Douay Bible is the English translation of Jerome's Latin Vulgate.  The New Testament was published in 1582; the Old Testament was published in two volumes, the first in 1609 and the second in 1610.  It was the only official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church until well into the twentieth century.

The King James Bible was published in 1611.  It was authorized by King James I of England.  Twenty-five gifted translators were involved in the creation of its Old Testament.  That translation was based on  the Masoretic Text, abbreviated MT.

The MT is the official Hebrew version of the Holy Scriptures of Judaism.  It was copied, edited, and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 8^th and 11^th centuries AD.  Codex Leningrad is the oldest copy of  the MT.  It is dated to 1000 AD.

The King James Bible is probably the most widely read Bible in the English-speaking Protestant world.  For a few decades, it has been available in modern English as the New King James Bible.

"All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness."  2 Timothy 3:16    

Cherry Picking God's Word

How can the pastor of a prominent Toronto church claim there is no Hell?  Did she not attend a seminary before being ordained as a minister?  Is the cross displayed on her church not a symbol of Christ's crucifixion?  For if there is neither sin nor punishment for sin, then Christ died needlessly.  While believers are freed from the penalty due for their sins through faith in Jesus Christ, unbelievers will be judged according to their deeds.  Because all men are sinners and Christ's crucifixion is the only sacrifice that atones for sinful deeds, how shall unbelievers escape if they ignore so great a salvation?

Orthodoxy says the Bible is the word of God; liberals say the Bible contains the word of God, a dangerous philosophy indeed.

"For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths." 

Liberals are tailoring the Bible to their own liking; cherry picking the word of God; rejecting those parts of the Bible that aren’t compatible with their lifestyle.

"Holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied it's power; and avoid such men as these.  Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

We must remain "all in" with the Lord.  We can't be deceived by the devil or those who distort the Gospel.  We must fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith.