A rethinking of Cyrus/Koresh in Isaiah 45:1

"So says HASHEM to His Messhiach, to KORESH, whom I have seized by his right hand to subdue before him nations -- yes, the loins of kings I will open, to open before him two-leaved doors, and the gates not shall be shut." (Isaiah 45:1)

The name Koresh is translated as Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1.

In Ezra 1:1 Koresh is identified as the Prince of Persia.

In Daniel 10:13, we have Gabriel informing Daniel of his troubles in dealing with the ruler (the Sar) of Persia for 21 days until Michael intervened.

In Ezekiel 28, we see two rulers in Tyre: the earthly "nagid" or "commander" (its known king); and the real "melek" or "king" of it, an invisible one, who was in Eden as the anointed cherub / living Creature (i.e. 5th Seraphim, cast out, so that there are now only 4 about G-D's Throne).


The spelling of the name of "Koresh" in the Hebrew is best sen as coming from two two-word roots: Kaf-Vav (meaning "pierced") and Rosh-Shin (meaning "head").

So what is the meaning behind a Messiah or Anointed One that is called "the Pierced Head"?

We have two primary "pierced heads" in Scripture: the first is that of the serpent, whose head is crushed/pierced in the prophecy of Genesis 3:15...and though called a Leviathan in Isiah, it is disqualified because its piercing is related to in Genesis 3:15 as being crushed by the heel of the Messiah.

The second pierced head in Scripture, closely related in type to this prophecy of Isa. 45:1 is Jesus, when the crown of very long thorns pierced the skin and flesh of His head (John 19:2,5).

In Gematria, Koresh is 526in value, and that value of 526 is synonymous to "kecilooth" - which is viewed as "foolishness" by some, but also means "fatness", such as what is a pleasing aroma to the L-RD at the Temple Altar. Koresh is also equal to "mopheth", which is defined as "a sign of wonder, a miracle"...because it is the manifestation of the revelation of (526 again, as) "mashqoph" - the meaning of why the blood of Pesach is applied to "the upper door post or lintel".

In the serpent type, after the anointed cherub (Isaiah 14:12-19, Ezekiel 28:14) the fallen or anti-type of the true Messiah...we have the action using this world system to fulfill Isaiah 45:2,
"I will go before thee, and make the crooked place straight:
I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron."

The anti-type in Ezekiel 21:12 (who begins the holocaust from the Temple in Jerusalem in accordance with Daniel 9:27) and Zechariah 11:2 (speaking of the territory of Dan) uses the Hilphil Imperative Mood, where word for "shining" (one) is translated as a verb, one who is howling and crying out -- the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the anointed cherub (and he whom he will one day inhabit, according to John's Apocalypse).

In the true type, of the Heavenly Messhiach, Isaiah 45:2 -"I will go before thee, and make the crooked place straight...": is taken in the context of Isaiah 40:3 as preached by John the Baptist -
"The voice of him that crieth in the Wilderness,
'Prepare ye the Way of the L-RD!
Make straight in the desert a Mecillah [a high and exalted embankment] for our G-D!"

This is the whole purpose of (Numbers) Bamidbar, and the "Wilderness" years...to teach us of this "higher way" and "higher concept" of HASHEM (Isaiah 55:8-9, 54:11-13).



Isolating Cyrus with the help of history with Scripture

The main expulsion occurs in 586 B.C. Zechariah was thought to have his ministry from 520-475 B.C., or thereabout. In Zechariah 1:12, the "Angel of HASHEM" speaks of another HASHEM of Hosts who has had indignation against Jerusalem for these 70 years. So if Zechariah was written in, say, 516 B.C., wouldn't this fit for a Second 70 year prophecy?

Zechariah writes that he begins his ministry in the second year of Darius in Zechariah 1:7. But which Darius was he? The Darius {darayavahush in the Persian, loosely meaning the "King known as 'the One'"} is actually a designation for "emperor".

Now if we argue that Gubaru was really a Darius in name and in training (cf. Daniel 5:31 with Daniel 6:1), the governor of city-province of Babylon, we might find that this Darius had a son who became he who later ruled in 521 B.C. is the son of Hystapses (cf. the Aramaic "hypatous", a type of "grandee" or city official). Thus, the son of the Governor of Babylon would succeed Cyrus, as it were.

We know best a man named as Spantadata who began his rule sometime about 521 B.C., making 519 B.C. his second year. This Darius had the first part of the Behistun inscription read as - "I (am) Darius the King, the Great King of Kings, King of Peria, and King of all nations...."

But Daniel lists OUR "Darius" in Daniel 9:1, the son of Ahasuerus, as Cyrus in the very next chapter (Daniel 10:1).

Ahasuerus is the Hebrew renaming of the Persian Khshayarsha. The Hebraicization is likened to Ach-Shoresh, or "brother root".

We see such a play on words with Ra-Amesses (Bad Amesses the person / "On" or "Avaris" for the city) and Pothim (many secret chambers/openings) instead of Pithom for the description of Heliopolis in Exodus 1, for example.

So if this is the case, the father of Cyrus can be likened to Ramesses I as Ahasuerus I, and Xerxes some 50 years later (486 - 465 B.C., who married Esther in ca. 479 B.C.) would be de facto Ahasuerus II. Meanwhile, Cyrus is the real Darius I...the governor of Babylon, Gubarau, Darius II (the Lesser)...and Spantadata is really Darius III (the Great), who invaded Egypt.

In retrospect, this would make Zechariah 1 as coming about in 537 or 535, depending on which year you would argue for Cyrus triumphal entry into Babylon on October 29th in.

The issue that Rashi raises deals with "the Babylonian Chronicle" as once addressed by Oxford University's R. Campbell Thompson, in which Nebuchadnezzar launches his conquest of Mi-Sir {Egypt} in the 37th year of his reign. I believe the actual ancient text is still retained by the British Museum.

So when review the Biblical Testimony, and come to the verse:
"And this whole land shall be a desolation, an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years." (Jeremiah 25:11)

History shows these nations being subjected from about 605 -535 B.C.

605 was the year Judah was invaded, and historians have identified this as through the ascension of Nebuchadnezzar in September with the clashing in Daniel 1:1 and Jeremiah 46:2 calculating of Jehoiakim"s year.

Jeremiah 29:10
"That after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and establish My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place."

Cyrus' 4th year of rule of Babylon in History is found to be in 535 B.C.

This same 70th year was recognized and recorded by the Greeks, and that they began an alteration of their 10 month calendar to the solar calendar by Cyrus' royal decree...the dabar that went forth...so that calculations of the Greek history changes formula upon or about this very same year.

We also find that the Hebrew word "dabar", from this period, is closely related to the Akkadian "dabaru" which means "to push back". As dalet - beth - rosh, we can also read the Hebrew as "pestilence" (deber) or as "pasture" (dober).

In regard to the essential word "establish" in Jer. 29:10, the root word is best translated "to make arise, to stand (as standing grain)", or to this effect. This goes back to making the land of Judah and city of Jerusalem as that of a good pasture that is once again made to stand as an attractive field of wheat to the starving soul. In other words, the TWO PERIODS OF 70 YEARS in your contention, ARE NOT SEPARABLE IN SCRIPTURE...they are the same 70 years (605-535 B.C.).

As for "Koresh" in Isaiah 45:1, we must look next to Isaiah 45:13
"I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts."
and ask, with the consideration of all the above, who set captive Israel free, and aided the building of the city of Jerusalem. Darius I and Darius II, who were both technically "emperors" or a "Cyrus".

In the dual prophecy, of He who eternally sets free, without money, without price...and will build Jerusalem in the end of days, 3 1/2 years after the Day of His Wrath (day 1290-1291 of the Tribulation Period), this is Jesus / Yeshua.

When has Cyrus ever been "raised up in Righteousness" and "directed in all the ways of HASHEM' as according to the prophetical requirement of Isaiah 45:13? He hasn't. Hence, Christ must fulfill a dual fulfillment in the end of days to the short term fulfillment seen in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra.