John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 2. Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia , etc.] Of whom, and this edict of his, Isaiah prophesied two hundred years before he was born, ( Isaiah 44:28) the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth ; many he had conquered before he took Babylon, and then the whole Babylonian monarchy fell into his hands. Herodotus says, he ruled over all Asia; Xenophon reckons up many nations that were under his government, Medes and Hyrcanians, Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, both the Phrygians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, Sacae or Scythians, Paphlagonians, Megadinians, and many other nations, the Greeks inhabiting Asia, and the Cyprians, and Egyptians; and elsewhere he says f13 , the borders of his kingdom were, to the east the Red sea, to the north the Euxine Pontus, to the west Cyprus and Egypt, and to the south Ethiopia. And the possession of these kingdoms Cyrus ascribes, not to his own martial courage and skill, but to the providence and disposal of the God of heaven, which he seems to have had some notion of: and he hath charged me to build an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah ; in the prophecy of Isaiah, which, according to Josephus f14 , he had seen and read, and believed it to be a charge upon him, and a command unto him to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem; however, to give leave for the rebuilding of it, and to encourage to it, and assist in it; an Arabic writer says f15 , that Cyrus married a sister of Zerubbabel, and that it was at her request that the Jews had leave to return; which is merely fabulous.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-4 - The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. The hearts of kings are in the hand of the Lord. God governs the world by his influence on the spirit of men; whatever good they do, God stirs up their spirits to do it. It was during the captivity of the Jews, that God principally employe them as the means of calling the attention of the heathen to him. Cyru took it for granted, that those among the Jews who were able, woul offer free-will offerings for the house of God. He would also have the supplied out of his kingdom. Well-wishers to the temple should be well-doers for it.
Original Hebrew כה3541 אמר559 כרשׁ3566 מלך4428 פרס6539 כל3605 ממלכות4467 הארץ776 נתן5414 לי יהוה3068 אלהי430 השׁמים8064 והוא1931 פקד6485 עלי5921 לבנות1129 לו בית1004 בירושׁלם3389 אשׁר834 ביהודה׃3063
