III. Liberation Of The Remnant Of Yahudah (549-538)
The great powers seemed to have no intention of going to war. It looked as if it might be a period of peace for the nations situated between Mesopotamia and the valley of the Nile. But the Middle East was always in a state of ferment, and the peace could not last for long.
Cyrus, A Petty King Of Media
At the time of the Assyrian empire we witnessed the arrival of the Indo-European hordes which were known to the Assyrians as Medes, Scythians or Persians. The Assyrians were eager to incorporate them in their armies as mercenaries.
These waves of invaders came from southern Asia, from a region to the south of the Pamir tableland where the nucleus of the Aryan group had just originated. Some of them made for India where they became the Aryans. Other branches turned towards Europe where their tribes settled in territories to which they gave their name -Gaul, Germany, Doria, Anglia, Italy etc. Those with whom we are here concerned went to the region that is now called the Middle East. These newcomers to the Semitic world took advantage of the decay of the Assyrian empire (606) to settle in the mountainous region of Iran (Persia) and in the valleys of Susiana.
Like all primitive Aryan societies they possessed a military organization of feudal type. At the period now concerning us -that is, the middle of the sixth century B.C. -in the neighbourhood of Susa there was living a petty local chieftain with a few tribes of Medes under his rule; proudly he bore the title of king of Anshan. His name was Cyrus. He owed allegiance to Astyages, the powerful king of the confederation known under the general name of the Medes.
Cyrus was ambitious; he knew his own worth; he was eager to demonstrate his military genius on the battlefield. In 555 he decided that the time for action had come.
Thrones Topple
There followed a series of brilliant victories.
555: First of all Cyrus attacked his own sovereign, Astyages, son of Cyaxares. At first the struggle was hard. From Media the campaign moved into Persian territory. Pasargades, the provincial capital, was finally captured by Cyrus. Astyages was taken prisoner. It was now the turn of Cyaxares., the capital of Media; Cyrus seized the city with its enormous riches; these he had taken to Anshan.
It should be noted that the victor -an Aryan whose traditions differed from those of the Semitic east -spared the life of his royal prisoner. Indeed, he took pleasure in surrounding him with a certain respect. Nor did he burn the cities which fell into his hands or massacre their inhabitants. This was a considerable change from methods initiated a few centuries previously by the Assyrians and followed by the Chaldaeans.
After this first series of victories Cyrus took the high sounding title of 'king of the Medes and Persians' (549).
All this occurred on the very threshold of Babylon. The Judaeans in exile began to look towards the young conqueror who might well be called to upset the established political system.
Croesus, king of Lydia, reigned over Asia Minor. In his capital city of Sardis he heard of the fall of Astyages, his brother-in-Law. At once Croesus organized a formidable coalition comprising Nabonides, king of Babylon, Amasis of Egypt and Sparta, whose troops were already renowned in Asia for their high standard of training.
Croesus thought that he was strong enough to attack his opponent before the arrival of his allies. It was a mistake. After a number of indecisive battles he was obliged to retreat to Sardis, where he shut himself up. Before the allies could arrive to help him Cyrus had taken the city by storm (546).
After the surrender of the king of Lydia, Cyrus' empire extended from Persia to the Aegean Sea by way of the valley of the Tigris, that is, all that was formerly Assyria. To make himself master of the whole of this part of Asia Cyrus had now only Babylon to deal with. It was considerably weakened by reason of the lack of energy of its king. Nabonides, who was almost weak-minded. He was indifferent to the business of his office and spent all his time on the restoration of ancient Mesopotamian cults.
At any moment the invincible Persian armies were expected in the valley of the Euphrates. And the small colonies of exiled Yisraelites feverishly awaited with undisguised joy the arrival of the formidable king who would allow them, they had not a doubt, to return to Yerusalem.
Deutero-YeshaYahu, Or The Second YeshaYahu (546-539)
It is in this expectant atmosphere that must be placed the prophet known, for want of a better name, as the second YeshaYahu or Deutero-Isaiah.5
In a lyrical, and sometimes explosive style this messenger of the 'good news' foretells for the unfortunate Judaeans, his companions in exile, the imminent arrival of Cyrus, the providential saviour raised up by YAHWEH to overthrow the Babylonian dynasty. Cyrus is described as the liberator of Yisrael and on this occasion the prophet bestows on the king of the Persians the most high-sounding titles:
'Thus says YAHWEH to HIS anointed, to Cyrus
whom HE has taken by HIS right hand
to subdue nations before him.' (Is. 45:1)
After the victory of the great conqueror over the Chaldaean princes, Yisrael will set off through the wilderness, over the route leading from Babylon to the Promised Land. To complete his work, Cyrus -it is YAHWEH speaking,
will rebuild MY city [Yerusalem]
will bring MY exiles back. (Yes.. 45:13)
Hopefully the Judaeans awaited the deliverance which, they felt, could not now be long delayed.
5 Second YeshaYahu he is thus celled because the collection of his prophecies has been placed directly after those of YeshaYahu (YeshaYahu, Book of the Consolation of Yisrael, chapters 40-55) For a long time biblical scholars hesitated to separate these two parts which, nevertheless, are dissimilar in style and historical setting. The latter indeed is two centuries later than the descriptions given by YeshaYahu in the seventh century. Today, most Catholic exegetes admit that the chapters of the Book of YeshaYahu 40-55, are the masterly work of a contemporary of Cyrus, that is, of a prophet of the school of YeshaYahu living during the last years of the Exile
Seven Years Of Waiting
Cyrus was right on the threshold of Babylonia when, to the anguished amazement of the Jews of Nippur, he turned away from the valley of the Euphrates towards the east. Tactically his plan can be easily explained; he wished to protect recent and future contests against the assaults of the formidable Aryan migrations from the Asian hinterland. He himself was an Indo-European and he was well aware of the military qualities and the insatiable territorial appetites of these people. Warlike peoples had just settled beyond Iran and they were preparing to migrate next towards the Mediterranean countries. It was urgent to bring them to heel at once. And so we find Cyrus penetrating as far as Afghanistan; he pushed on then towards the barbarous regions of Sogdiana, finally fixing the frontier of his empire on the river Jaxartes (today the Syr Daria) to the south of the Aral Sea. It was an immense empire stretching from the shores of the Aegean sea, opposite Greece, to the north of India.
Clearly these campaigns required long and sustained effort, and hard fighting. The years went by. In Babylon the Jewish exiles, losing hope, were very worried. They wondered whether Cyrus would ever return in the direction of Mesopotamia. And there was the danger, they felt, that he might be killed in some far off battle. All their dreams of the restoration of Yisrael seemed doomed to failure.
The Second YeshaYahu did his best to revive their hopes; continually he foretold the coming return of Cyrus and the destruction of Babylon. But the time of waiting was long and they began to despair.
The Second YeshaYahu: Prophet Of Deliverance
The Second YeshaYahu should not be regarded merely as a prophet whose only function was to foretell historical events which were soon to occur.
In a book like the present, which is intended to remain strictly historical there could be no question of giving a detailed analysis of the dynamic new teaching of this prophet. It should however be observed, firstly, that Deutero-YeshaYahu was the first to have proclaimed monotheism in no uncertain voice. This fundamental notion, had, of course, been expressed by most of the prophets from EliYah to Yehezqel. But with the Second YeshaYahu we see monotheism assuming the definitive form which is the distinctive feature of the religion of Yisrael. Henceforward, YAHWEH is the only Sovereign Ruler, the Almighty One of the universe, the everlasting YAHWEH. 'I am the first and the last. Save for ME, there are no gods. I am YAHWEH; from all eternity, I am Almighty.'
The second message from Deutero-YeshaYahu dealt with the problem of the suffering which falls on the righteous.
Hitherto there had been no idea of a reward after life; YAHWEH rewarded man here below; those who observed the commandments would have blessings heaped on them while the wicked would be overwhelmed with misfortunes. Now it is enough to look at the world around us to know that things are very far from always turning out like that. An attempt had been made to explain these cases by the fact that children often pay for the sins of their parents. We have seen that YermeYah and then Yehezqel spoke against these ideas; according to the prophets everyone will be judged according to their personal merits. But this hardly throws any light on the question; the sufferings of the righteous remain incomprehensible.
The Second YeshaYahu provides the theological key to the problem: the suffering of the righteous man brings the whole community closer to YAHWEH. It brings about the redemption of the sinful community.
YeshaYahu had begun to understand the lofty role that had fallen on the 'remnant', on the tiny Judaean nucleus deported to the 'water of Babylon'. The prophet had grasped the real meaning of the frightful moral trials experienced by the exiles; it was a question of expiating, of wiping out the sins of Yisrael. Here we have a concept that was to occupy a pre-eminent place in Yahwist theology.
Finally, the prophet depicts for us the figure of HIM whom he calls the 'SERVANT' -a Righteous MAN smitten by the Creator, disfigured by suffering and put to a shameful death.
HE was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins.
On HIM lies a punishment that brings us peace,
and through HIS wounds we are healed.
Harshly dealt with HE bore it humbly
HE never opened HIS mouth
like a LAMB that is led to the slaughter house,
like a SHEEP that is dumb before its shearers
never opening its mouth.
Yes, HE was torn away from the land of the living;
for our faults struck down in death. (Yes. 53:5, 7, 8)
Thus the suffering 'SERVANT' is a mysterious personage WHO represents all HIS people. HE is probably a prophet who is to come, a Wise MAN, perhaps a SAVIOUR. HE is the MessiYah.
An entirely new idea takes its place in human thought. The realization grows that an animal victim, unconscious of its role when it is offered on the sacrificial stone, could be replaced by another victim, a human victim, WHO would offer HIMSELF willingly for the yeshua of HIS executioners.
We reach here the very heights of prophetic revelation.
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