Endnote 21 – Cyrus the Messiah

The argument presented here does not depend on the accuracy of the Isaianic writer, only that he believed that Cyrus would restore the status quo ante. But see Fried, “‘The Land Lay Desolate’: Conquest and Restoration in the Ancient Near East,” in which I argue that the Temple was indeed rebuilt, the vessels restored, and the people returned under Cyrus. For a full discussion of all the issues, see Ephraim Stern, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, vol. 2, The Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Periods (732–332), Anchor Bible Reference Library (New York: Doubleday, 2001), pp. 312–326; Stern, “The Babylonian Gap,” BAR 26:06; Charles E. Carter, The Emergence of Yehud in the Persian Period: A Social and Demographic Study, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supp. Series 294 (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), p. 225; David Stephen Vanderhooft, The Neo-Babylonian Empire (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1999); and most recently Lipschits and Blenkinsopp, Judah and Judaeans in the Neo-Babylonian Period.