Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Cyrus acknowledges the God of Israel and gives the Jews permission to return from Babylon to Judea, and commands the governors to assist them with their help and resources in rebuilding the city and temple; he restores the sacred vessels taken from the temple by the Chaldeans. Wherefore the Jews joyfully return to their fatherland with the Levites.
Vulgate Text: 1 Esdrae 1:1-11
1. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia; and he caused a proclamation to be made throughout all his kingdom, and also by writing, saying: 2. Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has the Lord God of heaven given me, and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea. 3. Who is there among you of all His people? Let his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel — He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4. And all the rest, in whatever places they dwell, let the men of their place help them with silver and gold, and goods, and cattle, besides the freewill offering for the temple of God which is in Jerusalem. 5. Then rose up the heads of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, and every one whose spirit God had stirred, to go up to build the temple of the Lord which was in Jerusalem. 6. And all who were round about them helped their hands with vessels of silver and gold, with goods and beasts, and with furnishings, besides all that was freely offered. 7. King Cyrus also brought forth the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god. 8. And Cyrus king of Persia brought them forth by the hand of Mithredath the son of Gazabar, and numbered them to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9. And this is the number of them: thirty golden basins, a thousand silver basins, twenty-nine knives, thirty golden bowls. 10. Silver bowls of the second sort, four hundred and ten; other vessels, a thousand. 11. All the vessels of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred. Sheshbazzar brought all of them up, with those who went up from the captivity of Babylon to Jerusalem.
Verse 1: In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia
1. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia — namely, the year in which Cyrus transferred the monarchy from the Chaldeans to the Persians. This was therefore the first year of Cyrus not of his Persian reign, when he was first made king and began to reign in Persia and then reigned a full thirty years, as Eusebius and Africanus say in their Chronicle, St. Jerome in his commentary on Zechariah chapter I, Pererius on Daniel chapter V, and others; but it was Cyrus's first year of the monarchy and Babylonian kingdom — the year in which, having overcome Belshazzar and captured and overthrown Babylon, he transferred the monarchy from the Chaldeans to himself and the Persians. For he could not have rescued the Jews from Babylon and from the hands of the Chaldeans without first overcoming and defeating them. This is clear from the words of Cyrus in verse 2, saying: "All the kingdoms of the earth has the Lord given me." Hence III Ezra VI, 17 says: "In the first year, when Cyrus was reigning as king of Babylon, King Cyrus decreed that this house should be built," etc. For although Darius the Mede, Cyrus's uncle, is said to have succeeded to the kingdom upon the capture of Babylon, Daniel chapter V, last verse, nevertheless Darius, being an old man, yielded the entire government to his nephew Cyrus, a spirited young man, and dying that same year, ceded to him the whole empire. Therefore Cyrus, in that same first year of his monarchy, which was the seventieth and last year of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, freed them therefrom.
Note from Herodotus, Justin, Eusebius, Josephus, and others that Cyrus began to reign in Persia alone at Olympiad 55, and from that point the years of his entire reign are reckoned at thirty. But he gradually extended his empire beyond Persia, and finally captured Babylon and overturned the Chaldean monarchy, making himself monarch. And then he dissolved the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, since the 70 years of captivity, of which Jeremiah had prophesied in chapters XXV and XXIX, had by then been completed. Cyrus did this in the 27th year of his Persian reign, and so it is more likely that he reigned as monarch for only three years after capturing Babylon. For this is what the Seder Olam, or Hebrew Chronicle, teaches, as do the Hebrews generally, as well as Lyranus on Daniel, Vatablus on Daniel chapter I, and others — indeed even Josephus, Book XI of the Antiquities, chapter II. Hence Daniel, summarizing the years of Cyrus through his deeds, does not go beyond the third year.
Nor does Xenophon, Book VIII of the Cyropaedia, pose a difficulty when he assigns seven years to the principate of Cyrus. Hence Bellarmine, Torniellus, Salian, and Ribera on Zechariah I, number 33, think Cyrus reigned seven years as monarch. But those books of Xenophon were written not so much for historical accuracy as to portray in Cyrus the ideal of a true prince. Moreover, that seven-year principate of Cyrus could be reckoned from his subjugation not of Babylon but of Asia. Finally, more credence should be given to III Ezra, chapter V, last verse, than to Xenophon. For there it is stated quite expressly that Cyrus reigned for only two years from the beginning of the rebuilding of the temple, which, as is clear from this chapter, took place immediately after the captivity was dissolved — namely, in the second year of Cyrus's monarchy. For Ezra here in chapter III, verse 8, expressly teaches that the Jews began rebuilding the temple in this second year; and in chapter IV, verse 6, he narrates that the building was immediately impeded by the Cutheans during all the remaining days of Cyrus. Josephus teaches the same more clearly, Book XI, chapter II, where he says the Cutheans impeded it without Cyrus's knowledge, since he was occupied with other affairs, especially the war against the Massagetae, in which he also perished. Hence in chapter III, Ezra narrates that the temple building, granted by Cyrus in the first year of his monarchy, was suspended for nine years — namely, for the two remaining years of Cyrus, and for the six years during which his son Cambyses reigned, who was succeeded by Darius Hystaspes, who resumed it in the second year of his reign. Cyrus therefore did not survive seven years, as some think. For how could Cyrus, so well disposed toward the Jews, have been ignorant of or tolerated the Cutheans' obstructions of the temple building for seven years? How could the Jews, and especially Daniel, have failed to inform Cyrus of the whole matter, either personally or through envoys? Finally, Herodotus, Justin, Berosus, and others write that Cyrus, after capturing Babylon, waged a final war against the Lydians who had rebelled, and at last fell in the battle against the Massagetae. It is credible that Cyrus accomplished all this within three years, for he was a most warlike man and impatient of rest.
You ask: From where did Cyrus receive his name, and what does it signify? First, Strabo, Book XV, thinks Cyrus received his name from the river Cyrus. Second, Vilalpandus, Part I of the Apparatus, Book III, chapter II, page 137, holds that Cyrus was so named from Cyno, that is, "dog," which is said to have nursed him, so that Cyrus would mean, as it were, "canine." For, as Herodotus narrates in the Clio, Astyages, Cyrus's grandfather, handed the infant Cyrus to Harpagus to expose and destroy him, because he had heard from an oracle that his kingdom would be taken from him by Cyrus. Harpagus handed him over to Mithridates, a herdsman of Astyages, whose wife was called in Greek Cyno (from the word for "dog"), and in Median, Spaco — for the Medes call a dog "spaca." Hence Cyrus, as he grew up, would recall that he had been raised by the herdsman's wife, always praising her, so that in all his speech there was "Cyno." Seizing upon this name, his parents, so that it might seem to the Persians that the boy had been preserved by divine providence, spread the story that Cyrus had been nursed by a dog when he was exposed. Hence this fable arose. So says Herodotus. Hence also Trogus reports that Cyrus was raised by a dog. But Herodotus does not say that Cyrus was named after Cyno, and Cyrus seems to be a Persian name, not Greek. Hence Justin, Book I: "His nurse," he says, "was afterwards given the name Sparco, because the Persians call a dog by that name (since in the woods she had taken up the dog-suckled Cyrus to nourish); then when he was a boy, he received the name Cyrus among the shepherds" — where he makes no mention of Cyno as the source of the name Cyrus. Third, the Suda under the word Cyrus: "Cyrus," it says, "in Greek means kyros, that is, Prince, King, because through sport among youths he attained royal authority (which is kyros in Greek). The Persians called Darius 'the shopkeeper' because of the taxes he imposed; Cambyses, 'the master'; Cyrus, 'the father.' For the one sold everything; Cambyses was cruel and rash; Cyrus was clement and devoted to the welfare of the people." So says the Suda, but again it gives Cyrus a Greek etymology, not a Persian one. Fourth, therefore, and more truly, Plutarch in the Life of Artaxerxes Mnemon: "Cyrus," he says, "in Persian means the same as 'sun.'" For the Persians worshipped the sun as a deity, just as they worshipped Cyrus their monarch. Hence Jeremiah calls Cyrus a liberator, as it were the sun of the Jews.
Why Cyrus, or a king, may aptly be compared to the sun, I have shown by eighteen analogies on Isaiah chapter XLI, verse 1. Hence they report that Cyrus saw in a dream the sun standing at his feet, and when Cyrus tried to seize it, the sun fled away, and this happened three times. When the diviners were asked what this portended, they answered that it portended that Cyrus would reign for thirty years. Cyrus therefore shone among the kings of the nations and among the Persians like the sun — in wisdom, in justice, in temperance, in magnanimity, in liberality — and thus "he was the exemplar of all royal virtues," says Xenophon. Hear Cicero, Book I of On Divination, from Dionysius the Persian: "When the sun appeared to Cyrus in his sleep at his feet, he writes that Cyrus tried three times in vain to grasp it with his hands, but the sun, turning, slipped away and departed; the Magi told him (for this class was considered wise and learned among the Persians) that from the triple grasping at the sun, it was portended that Cyrus would reign thirty years — which so came to pass, for he reached the age of seventy, having begun to reign at the age of forty."
Moreover, in Hebrew Cyrus means the same as "like an heir" of the kingdoms and riches of Babylon and the world, from the root ירש yaras, that is, "he inherited" — for the initial Kaph is a mark of similitude, meaning "like, as." Or Cyrus means the same as "like a poor man," from the root רש ras, that is, "poor" — because of himself he was poor, but God made him rich. Again, when he was killed in death by Tomyris, he became poor. For then Cyrus became Irus, indeed poorer than Irus. So says Pagninus in the Hebrew Names.
In Greek, moreover, Cyrus means the same as one who is powerful in authority, a lord, a ruler, a lawgiver. For kyros means authority, sovereignty, power, judgment, dominion; and kyroo means to authenticate, to ratify, to establish, to confirm, to prevail, to add force and weight, to appoint, to decree.
Finally, Cyrus lived two hundred years before Alexander the Great, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. For "under Cyrus flourished Thales, the teacher of Anaximander; he of Anaximenes; he of Anaxagoras; he of Pericles. In the time of Anaxagoras, Xenophanes and Pythagoras lived," says Eusebius, Book X of the Preparation, at the end.
The genuine etymology of Cyrus is therefore Persian, meaning "the sun," says Brissonius, Book I of On the Kingdom of the Persians, whom others follow. Ctesias asserts the same; for writing about the wife of Darius Nothus, he says: "The queen bore him another son, and the name Cyrus was given to him from the sun." Scaliger refutes this, Book VI of On the Correction of Chronology, because, he says, Cyrus is written in Hebrew as Koresh, and in Persian the sun is called Chors. Koresh in Persian means food and nourishment. But more credence should be given to the ancients Plutarch and Ctesias, who received this from the first Persians, than to one modern scholar Scaliger — especially since the Persian Koresh seems to be derived from the Hebrew Cheres, meaning "sun." Add that Koresh is the same as Koreshed with the last letter D removed. Add also that kyros means the same as "prince, head"; for ros in Hebrew and Chaldean means "head," and ku in Persian means "prince" — hence the name Cyaxares, as if to say "Prince Ares." So says Scaliger, Book VI. Likewise Mithri (whence Mithridates) is said from Mither, in the comparative degree, meaning "greater" or "major" (for in Hebrew yatar means to excel, to surpass, to be greater), and is taken for "Ruler" or "Lord." Hence they called the sun Mithra, that is, "Lord, Prince." So says Scaliger in the same place.
Allegorically, Cyrus was a type of Christ, who is the Sun of Justice. Tropologically, Cyrus represents a king, a bishop, a teacher, and any wise and holy person who, like the sun of wisdom and virtue, shines throughout the whole world.
The Lord stirred up the spirit (that is, the heart, mind, and will) of Cyrus the king, and Cyrus caused the voice (of a herald) to pass throughout all his kingdom, even by writing — that is, by letters sent in every direction. This means: God aroused the desire and will of Cyrus toward the liberation of the Jews and the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple, by presenting to his mind the kingdoms and benefits conferred on him by the God of the Hebrews, the oracles pronounced about him, and other signs of divinity, from which Cyrus recognized the true God of the Hebrews; and by sending into his will pious affections to actually carry out this morally good and pious work of building, so that by this means the true Church of God in Israel would be preserved through him, and according to the ancient custom would be strengthened by the public worship of God in His temple. God worked these things interiorly in the mind of Cyrus, but exteriorly He greatly stirred him through the oracle about Cyrus delivered by Isaiah, chapter XLIV, last verse, etc.; chapter XLV, verse 1, where He pronounces Cyrus's name, calls him His anointed, and promises that He will subjugate nations to him and make him rich and powerful. Hear Isaiah: "Who says to Cyrus: You are My shepherd, and you shall fulfill all My will. Who says to Jerusalem: You shall be built, and the temple shall be founded." And again chapter XLV, verse 1: "Thus says the Lord to His anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, that I may subdue nations before his face and turn the backs of kings. I will go before you and will humble the glorious of the earth. And I will give you hidden treasures, etc., that you may know that I am the Lord, who calls you by your name, the God of Israel, for the sake of My servant Jacob and Israel My chosen one" — so that you, O Cyrus, might do good to the Jews and Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, My faithful ones, and build the temple. This prophecy the Jews, especially Daniel the prophet, who was a familiar companion and indeed a table companion of both Cyrus and Darius the Mede, showed to Cyrus; and thereby drew him to acknowledge and venerate the God of Israel and to do good to Israel, as Josephus teaches, Book XI, chapter I, and Theodoret on Daniel chapter I — especially since Isaiah had predicted these things about Cyrus two hundred years before Cyrus's birth. That this is the case is clear from the letter of Cyrus which Ezra here appends.
Verse 2: All the Kingdoms of the Earth
2. All the kingdoms of the earth has the Lord given me. — By this letter Cyrus confesses that he acknowledges the true God of Israel, and ascribes to Him all his kingdoms. Furthermore, he declares that the same God commanded him to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem; therefore he orders it to be rebuilt, and exhorts and urges all — both Israelites and his other subjects — to promote its construction. See here in Cyrus the fulfillment of that proverb, Proverbs XXI, 1: "The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord; He will incline it whithersoever He will."
"All the kingdoms." — Understand "all" in a fitting sense: that is, very many, the greatest part; or "all" those, namely, which were subject to the Chaldean monarchy — meaning: God made me monarch, and therefore transferred to me all the kingdoms subject to the Chaldeans along with the monarchy. So in Luke chapter II, verse 1, it is said: "A decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled" — namely, the world subject to Augustus and the Roman Empire. For the Indians and many other peoples not subject were not enrolled. Moreover Xenophon, Book I, says that Cyrus subjugated the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabs, Cappadocians, Phrygians, Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Bactrians, Cilicians, Indians, Paphlagonians, Sacae, Mariandynians, Cypriots, Egyptians, and very many other nations, whom he shook with the dread and terror of his name, and at the same time attracted with his kindness and wisdom, so that they wished to be governed by him. Hear Cyrus instructing his generals and soldiers in Xenophon, Book I: "A leader," he says, "should never cease either to benefit himself or to harm the enemy; for it is difficult to feed even one idle man, more difficult an entire household, but most difficult of all to feed an entire idle army. Therefore it is never fitting for an army to be idle. A diligent and active commander will see to it that his soldiers have abundant provisions and that their bodies are in the strongest health." Hence Cyrus would not take food unless he had first exercised his body and worked up a sweat. For he used to say that food then tasted most agreeable, and that the body was strengthened by exercise and accustomed to endure any labors. So says Xenophon.
He has charged me to build Him a house (temple) in Jerusalem. — "He charged," that is, He pre-ordained, decreed, and by this very fact tacitly "commanded" through Isaiah, chapter XLIV, last verse, whose words I quoted a little before. For from that passage Cyrus understood that it was God's will that he should restore the temple burned by the Chaldeans, and he here calls that will a "command."
Verse 3: Who Among You of All His People
3. Who among you of all His people (who, that is, desires to return from Babylon to Jerusalem)? Let his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem and build the house of the Lord God. (In other words: Whatever Jews or Israelites are in my kingdom who wish to return to their Judea, let them gather together so that they may return from captivity to their fatherland together. For I give them full permission to return and to rebuild the city and temple; indeed I pray for them God's favor and help to accomplish this.) For He is the God who is in Jerusalem — Vatablus comments: He who is the true and only God. That is to say: There is no other true God than the God whom the Israelites worshipped and worship in Jerusalem. Cyrus therefore here professes that he recognizes the God of the Jews to be the true God, and that the other gods of the Gentiles are not true gods, or at least are of lesser dignity and power, and are subject to the God of the Hebrews — those whom Plato and the philosophers called demigods. Hence Xenophon, Book VIII of the Cyropaedia, asserts that Cyrus also worshipped the gods of the nations, and when about to die had a dream in which he was invited to ascend to the gods. Therefore, after worshipping and invoking Jupiter and the Sun, and speaking at length about the immortality of the soul and his passage to the gods after death, he expired.
Verse 4: Let the Men of Their Place Help Them
4. And all the rest, in whatever places they dwell, let the men of their place help them with silver and gold — meaning: Those of the Jews who have settled in Babylon or other places, who have married wives, begotten children, and purchased fields, and who cannot or do not wish to leave these behind and return to Jerusalem — these should help those who wish to return with silver and gold, both for provisions for so long a journey and for the restoration of the city and temple.
"Men of their place" — that is, each one in his place and from his place, namely from his fields and houses, should supply what he has. Cyrus therefore here constitutes the Jews remaining in Babylon as, so to speak, tributaries to those returning to Jerusalem. Furthermore, "all the rest" — not only Jews, but also the other peoples subject to my dominion — should likewise help those returning to Jerusalem, especially the governors of the provinces, whom Josephus calls "friends of the king." Hence these, in accordance with this decree of Cyrus, assisted the Jews on their return, as is clear from verse 6 and chapter III, verse 7.
Besides the freewill offering for the temple of God. — The word "besides" here is one of addition and confirmation, meaning: I know that many have already designated in their minds and determined in their hearts certain gifts which they wish to offer to the temple. These I do not forbid, but praise and confirm, and I wish them to be offered. But beyond this, I want each person to add further contributions to serve the returnees for provisions on the journey, for the rebuilding of the city and houses, and for other manifold necessities and uses. Hence some think that Cyrus set a price that each person was required to contribute, as Darius and Artaxerxes, Cyrus's successors, later did. Indeed, that Cyrus decreed that the temple should be built from the royal treasury and at his own expense is clear from chapter VI, verse 4. Hence instead of "besides what they freely offer," the Hebrew reads: "with a freewill gift," meaning: together with the offering which they spontaneously offer to the temple, they shall also give other things for provisions, etc. So say Vatablus, Pagninus, and others.
Verse 5: The Heads of the Fathers of Judah and Benjamin
5. Then rose up the heads of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin. — "Heads of the fathers" means the heads of the families; for each family had its own head and patriarch, but different families descending from one common ancestor had their own chief and, as it were, patriarch.
Verse 7: King Cyrus Brought Forth the Vessels of the Temple
7. King Cyrus also brought forth the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken. — These were 5,400 in number, as is stated in verse 11; all of which, sacrilegiously taken by the Chaldeans and dedicated to their idol Bel, Cyrus restored to God and the temple.
Verse 8: By the Hand of Mithredath the Treasurer
8. By the hand of Mithredath the son of Gazabar. — The word "son" is not in the Hebrew nor in the Greek. Hence Vatablus, Pagninus, Marinus, Cajetan, and others translate: "by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer." Josephus has: "by Mithredath the prefect of the royal treasury." For from gaza (treasure) comes the word gazabar, meaning "treasurer," as is clear from chapter VII, verse 21, where our Vulgate translates it as "the keepers of the treasury." Unless you say that our translator understood the word ben, meaning "son," and that Gazabar was a common noun but proper to the office — just as we commonly call the person who presides over a prince's treasury a "treasurer," as if this name belonged to him not from baptism but from his office, in which sons often succeed their parents. Moreover, "Mithredath" is composed of Mithri, meaning "greater, ruler, prince," and dath, meaning "of the law" — as if to say: a ruler bearing the law and dispensing justice.
And he numbered them to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. — That is, to Zerubbabel, grandson of King Jeconiah through his father Shealtiel. So say Josephus, Lyranus, Dionysius, Vatablus, Mariana, Torniellus, Salian, and others. Therefore both Shealtiel the father and Jeconiah the grandfather seem to have died by this first year of Cyrus, since from this point on there is no further mention of them, but always of Zerubbabel, as the leader of Judah. Now Shealtiel gave his newborn son the name "Zerubbabel," meaning "a stranger in Babylon," because he begot him during the Babylonian captivity. But when Evil-Merodach released his grandfather Jeconiah from prison and made him a guest at his royal table, Zerubbabel's name was changed so that he was called "Sheshbazzar," meaning "rejoicing in tribulation." So says Eusebius, Book XI of the Preparation, chapters III and IV — for sas means "rejoicing," ba means "in," and shar means "tribulation." Again, Pagninus in his Hebrew Names interprets Sheshbazzar as "six in tribulation"; for shesh means "six" or "fine linen." For the Hebrews report that he was so named because he stood firm and steadfast in six tribulations, so that in him was fulfilled the saying of Job V, 19: "In six tribulations He will deliver you, and in the seventh no evil shall touch you."
Note here that it was customary among the Hebrews, Chaldeans, Persians, Phoenicians, and other Eastern peoples of old to change the names of foreigners and give them names native and proper to the nation into which they were incorporated — names, I say, signifying something definite and fitting to the person, just as Adam gave things names suited to their nature, Genesis I, 19, so that names were like omens signifying some present or future nature, virtue, or property of the thing. Thus in Daniel chapter I, the Hebrew names Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were changed in Babylon by the Chaldeans to the Chaldean names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Likewise in chapter II, verse 63, the Hebrew Nehemiah was called by the Chaldeans with the Chaldean name Athersatha. Plato teaches the same about the Greeks in the Cratylus. For this reason Eusebius, Book XI of the Preparation, chapters III and IV, draws from this an argument for the exquisite wisdom of the Hebrews — namely, that Sacred Scripture employs the proper signification and force of personal names.
Verse 10: Silver bowls of the second sort
10. Silver bowls of the second sort — "second" refers to the second order and class, those which were reckoned in second place both in value and in beauty: for the bowls of the first order were golden, while those of the second were silver.