and in it Cyrus is represented as ascribing the credit for his victory to Marduk the chief god of Babylon, saying: “He [Marduk] scanned and looked (through) all the countries, searching for a righteous ruler willing to lead him (in the annual procession). (Then) he pronounced the name of Cyrus, king of Anshan, declared him (literally: pronounced [his] name) to be(come) the ruler of all the world. . . . Marduk, the great lord, a protector of his people/worshipers, beheld with pleasure his good deeds and his upright mind (and therefore) ordered him to march against his city Babylon. He made him set out on the road to Babylon going at his side like a real friend. His widespread troops—their number, like that of the water of a river, could not be established—strolled along, their weapons packed away. Without any battle, he made him enter his town Babylon, sparing Babylon any calamity.”—Ancient Near Eastern Texts by James B. Pritchard, 1955, p. 315.

Despite this pagan interpretation of events, the Bible shows that, on making his proclamation authorizing the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple there, Cyrus acknowledged: “All the kingdoms of the earth Jehovah the God of the heavens has given me, and he himself has commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” (Ezra 1:1, 2) This, of course, does not mean that Cyrus became a Jewish convert but simply that he knew the Biblical facts regarding his victory. In view of the high administrative position in which Daniel was placed, both before and after the fall of Babylon (Dan. 5:29; 6:1-3, 28), it would be most unusual if Cyrus were not to be informed of the prophecies that Jehovah’s prophets had recorded and spoken, including Isaiah’s prophecy containing Cyrus’ very name. As regards the Cyrus Cylinder, quoted above, it is acknowledged that others aside from the king may have had a hand in the preparation of this cuneiform document. The book Biblical Archaeology by G. Ernest Wright (p. 200) speaks of “the king, or the bureau which framed the document” (compare the similar case with Darius at Daniel 6:6-9), while Dr. Emil G. Kraeling (Rand McNally Bible Atlas, p. 328) calls the Cyrus Cylinder “a propaganda document composed by the Babylonian priests.” It may, indeed, have been drawn up under the influence of the Babylonian clergy (see Pritchard’s Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 315, ftn. 1), thereby serving their purpose of explaining away the utter failure of Marduk (also known as Bel) and the other Babylonian gods to save the city, going even to the extent of attributing to Marduk the very things that Jehovah had done.—Compare Isaiah 46:1, 2; 47:11-15.

CYRUS’ DECREE FOR THE RETURN OF THE JEWISH EXILES

By his decreeing the end of the Jewish exile, Cyrus fulfilled his commission as Jehovah’s ‘anointed shepherd’ for Israel. (2 Chron. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:1-4) The proclamation was made “in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia,” meaning his first year as ruler toward conquered Babylon. The Bible record at Daniel 9:1 refers to “the first year of Darius” and this appears to have intervened between the fall of Babylon and “the first year of Cyrus” over Babylon. This would mean that Cyrus’ first year may not have begun until late in the year 538 B.C.E. Even if Darius’ rule over Babylon were to be viewed as that of a viceroy, so that his reign ran concurrent with that of Cyrus, Babylonian custom would still place Cyrus’ first regnal year as running from Nisan of 538 to Nisan of 537 B.C.E.

In view of the Bible record, Cyrus’ decree freeing the Jews to return to Jerusalem likely was made late in the year 538 or early in 537 B.C.E. This would allow time for the Jewish exiles to prepare to move out of Babylon and make the long trek to Judah and Jerusalem (a trip that could take about four months according to Ezra 7:9) and yet be settled “in their cities” in Judah by the “seventh month” (Tishri) of the year 537 B.C.E. (Ezra 3:1, 6) This marked the end of the prophesied seventy years of Judah’s desolation that began in the same month of Tishri of 607 B.C.E.—2 Ki. 25:22-26; 2 Chron. 36:20, 21.

Cyrus’ cooperation with the Jews was in notable contrast with their treatment by earlier pagan rulers. He restored the precious temple utensils that Nebuchadnezzar had carried off to Babylon, gave royal permission for them to import cedar timbers from Lebanon, and authorized the outlay of funds from the king’s house to cover construction expenses. (Ezra 1:7-11; 3:7; 6:3-5) According to the Cyrus Cylinder, the Persian ruler followed a generally humane and tolerant policy toward the conquered peoples of his domain. The inscription quotes him as saying: “I returned to [certain previously named] sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time, the images which (used) to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I (also) gathered all their (former) inhabitants and returned (to them) their habitations.”—Ancient Near Eastern Texts by James B. Pritchard, 1955, p. 316.

Aside from the royal proclamation quoted in Ezra 1:1-4, the Biblical record speaks of another document by Cyrus, a “memorandum,” which was filed away in the house of the records at Ecbatana in Media and discovered there during the reign of Darius the Persian. (Ezra 5:13-17; 6:1-5) Concerning this second document, Professor Wright says, “[it] is explicitly entitled a dikrona, an official Aramaic term for a memorandum which recorded an oral decision of the king or other official and which initiated administrative action. It was never intended for publication but solely for the eye of the proper official, following which it was filed away in governmental archives.”—Biblical Archaeology, p. 200.

DEATH, SUCCESSOR, AND PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE

Cyrus is believed to have fallen in battle about 530 B.C.E., though the accounts are somewhat obscure. Prior to his death, his son Cambyses evidently became coregent with him, succeeding to the Persian throne as sole ruler when his father died.

The prophecies concerning the sudden fall of symbolical “Babylon the Great” as set forth in the book of Revelation parallel in major respects the description of Cyrus’ conquest of the literal city of Babylon. (Compare Revelation 16:12; 18:7, 8 with Isaiah 44:27, 28; 47:8, 9.) The king at the head of the mighty military forces described immediately after the account of symbolic Babylon’s fall, however, is no earthly king but the heavenly “Word of God,” Jehovah’s true anointed Shepherd, Christ Jesus.—Rev. 19:1-3, 11-16.

DABBESHETH

(Dabʹbe·sheth) [hump].

A town of Zebulun. (Josh. 19:11) Its precise location is unknown; however, the site of Tell esh-Shemman, E of Jokneam on the Plain of Esdraelon, appears to fit the Biblical context.

DABERATH

(Dabʹe·rath).

A ‘city’ mentioned in the boundary list of Zebulun (Josh. 19:10, 12) but considered as belonging to the neighboring tribe of Issachar when later apportioned with its pasture grounds to Levites of the family of Gershon. (Josh. 21:27, 28; 1 Chron. 6:71, 72) Daberath is not included in the list of sites assigned to Issachar, but many authorities think it is likely represented by Rabbith at Joshua 19:20, a view that finds support in some editions of the Greek Septuagint.—See RABBITH.

Daberath is identified by Biblical geographers today