How Does the Cyrus Cylinder Connect to the Bible?

The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient artifact that provides insight into King Cyrus the Great's rule and policies, including the decree allowing Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem. This moment in history aligns with accounts in the Bible and offers a fascinating look at the intersection of archaeology and Scripture.

In this episode of Digging Deeper, we examine the significance of the Cyrus Cylinder and what it reveals about biblical prophecy, ancient Persia, and the historical events recorded in Scripture.

📜 Visit https://www.appianmedia.org for more biblical archaeology and history content!

Special thanks to the sponsors of this season of Digging Deeper: 

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Transcript

00:00:00:11 - 00:00:04:21
Barry
Sometimes you find things in the ground in the most unexpected places.

00:00:04:21 - 00:00:07:09
Barry
Today we're going to the land of Babylon.

00:00:07:09 - 00:00:09:02
Barry
In the late 1800s, a

00:00:09:02 - 00:00:16:18
Barry
piece of clay was found there that had a very interesting connection to one of the most important stories in all of the Bible.

00:00:25:03 - 00:00:44:14
Dan
Welcome to Digging Deeper, the podcast where we talk about geography, archeology, people, cultures of the lands of the Bible. By exploring these areas, we hope to broaden your understanding of the biblical narrative. You can learn more about us here at Appian Media and watch our free video series at Poppy and media.org.

00:00:44:21 - 00:00:53:23
Dan
Our sponsor for today's episode is our CDI bookstore and Sacred Connections. We would be more than happy to tell you a little bit more about them later in our show.

00:00:53:23 - 00:00:58:01
Dan
Wilbury. Yeah. What is this, RS7.

00:00:58:03 - 00:01:02:00
Barry
Well, the Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay cylinder.

00:01:02:00 - 00:01:07:05
Barry
That, unfortunately, when it was found and over the years has been broken into several pieces.

00:01:07:05 - 00:01:13:00
Barry
But it's been reassembled and is currently on display in London. And, we'll talk about that in a few minutes.

00:01:13:00 - 00:01:15:01
Barry
But it's it's fairly small.

00:01:15:01 - 00:01:16:16
Barry
It's about the size of a football.

00:01:16:16 - 00:01:24:15
Barry
the first time I saw it, I guess I had thought it was going to be larger. When I got there, it was much smaller. It's only about 8 or 9in long. And,

00:01:24:15 - 00:01:28:11
Barry
in the middle part, which is the widest part, is only about four inches wide.

00:01:28:11 - 00:01:32:23
Barry
writing on all sides of it, all the way around it, are in some Akkadian

00:01:32:23 - 00:01:34:18
Barry
cuneiform script.

00:01:34:18 - 00:01:37:15
Barry
It was found in the late 1800s

00:01:37:15 - 00:01:44:05
Barry
by a British archeologist. And that it kind of explains, why it is where it is, which is in the British Museum in London.

00:01:44:07 - 00:01:46:19
Dan
Okay. Everything important seems to be.

00:01:46:21 - 00:01:50:07
Barry
That's right. Everybody needs to make a trip to the British Museum.

00:01:50:09 - 00:01:54:04
Dan
So if it has writing all over it, do we know what is it?

00:01:54:06 - 00:02:03:21
Barry
Well, we do. I'm not an expert on this type of cuneiform script, but, I can, read on the internet people who are much smarter than I am. But

00:02:03:21 - 00:02:06:01
Barry
the text on the cylinder praises,

00:02:06:01 - 00:02:14:09
Barry
the Persian king Cyrus the Great. And, we actually read about Cyrus the Great in the Bible, which is one of the reasons why we want to talk about this today.

00:02:14:09 - 00:02:19:21
Barry
It sets out his genealogy, portrays him as a king from a line of kings, and

00:02:19:21 - 00:02:33:23
Barry
a portrays him remembering their own style as being chosen by the Babylonian god Marduk to restore peace and order after the Babylonians ruled. By this time, the Medes and the Persians had

00:02:33:23 - 00:02:35:14
Barry
come into rule. And so,

00:02:35:14 - 00:02:36:19
Barry
it depicts that

00:02:36:19 - 00:02:40:11
Barry
the Cyrus would come and, provide peace for everyone.

00:02:40:11 - 00:02:54:13
Barry
the, Assyrians before the Babylonians as well as the Babylonians, had had gone out and conquered people, and they had brought them back to their land and one of the things that Cyrus wanted to do was send people back to their homeland.

00:02:54:15 - 00:02:57:10
Barry
And of course, this is important because,

00:02:57:10 - 00:03:09:12
Barry
this has a direct application to, some of the stories that we read in the Bible. I mean, as you know, the northern kingdom of Israel was carried off into Assyrian captivity.

00:03:09:12 - 00:03:15:16
Barry
The southern kingdom of Judah was carried off into Babylonian captivity so that by the time,

00:03:15:16 - 00:03:18:09
Barry
King Cyrus came to power,

00:03:18:09 - 00:03:25:15
Barry
he wanted to send not only the the inhabitants of the northern and southern kingdom, but other peoples back to their home.

00:03:25:19 - 00:03:32:17
Barry
it also talks about how he wanted them to not only return, but also rebuild their culture.

00:03:32:17 - 00:03:48:05
Barry
And so he wanted them to go back and rebuild their cities, rebuild their their places of worship, things like that. And so what's interesting about this is that if you open up your Bible and read from it,

00:03:48:05 - 00:03:50:02
Barry
there's some interesting passages,

00:03:50:02 - 00:03:52:21
Barry
in specifically in the book of Ezra

00:03:52:21 - 00:03:57:07
Barry
connected directly to this event and this cylinder, in particular.

00:03:57:07 - 00:04:04:10
Barry
So if you don't mind, then look at Ezra, the, you know, the very beginning of the book, first chapter read the first four verses for us.

00:04:04:15 - 00:04:30:23
Dan
Okay. 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. So then he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put in writing, This is Cyrus, king of Persia. The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah.

00:04:31:01 - 00:04:54:15
Dan
Whoever among is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods, and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

00:04:54:17 - 00:05:20:21
Barry
All right. So yeah, thank you for reading that. You can see from this passage, the King Cyrus wants the people to go back to the book, go back to their land. When they get there, rebuild the temple. And that's the exact same language that we see on the Cyrus Cylinder. Now, the Cyrus Cylinder doesn't mention the Israelites specifically on there, but it mentions all, you know, all the peoples, all the peoples that were in captivity going back to the land.

00:05:21:01 - 00:05:23:20
Barry
And then we can read, open up our Bibles and read from

00:05:23:20 - 00:05:24:08
Barry
Ezra.

00:05:24:08 - 00:05:28:22
Barry
that, of how this exactly happened for the Israelites.

00:05:29:00 - 00:05:38:17
Dan
So until the Sara cylinder was there, we knew Cyrus sent the Israelites, but we didn't know this was something that he did for all the people.

00:05:38:17 - 00:05:49:00
Barry
Yeah, that's exactly right. And of course, this is just something that, you know, for instance, was found in the dirt that that matches up so. Well, with the biblical story. So,

00:05:49:00 - 00:05:52:01
Barry
as I said, Dan and I have both seen the Cyrus cylinder.

00:05:52:01 - 00:06:01:00
Barry
you would think that all you have to do is fly to London to see it. But as it turns out, it's not always that easy. And we want to tell you that story in just a moment.

00:06:01:09 - 00:06:25:02
Dan
We want to take a moment and talk about our sponsors. During the entire history of Appian Media, we have had several companies that reached out to us and offered to sell our products. One of the first to contact us was see Ibookstore. See Ibookstore has been in business for over 70 years and they're a nonprofit religious bookstore and retail supplier of books, Bibles, church supplies, and other religious resources.

00:06:25:04 - 00:06:42:11
Dan
They're located in Athens, Alabama, but they actually serve customers all throughout the entire United States. If you are in need of any of their wonderful products that they have to offer, we encourage you to reach out to them through the website at Truth books.com. That's Truth books.com.

00:06:42:11 - 00:06:49:18
Dan
Sacred connections is a safe online space for Christians to connect and build meaningful relationships with.

00:06:49:18 - 00:07:13:01
Dan
Focus on community and channels dedicated to various interests and events. There is something for users at every life stage and right now when you download the app, if you use the code digging deeper, you will receive a special discount and that is good for all listeners of the Digging Deeper podcast. So we invite you to start your journey by going to their website today and learn more.

00:07:13:03 - 00:07:23:05
Dan
Their address is Sacred connections.com at Sacred connections.com. Now back to the show.

00:07:23:15 - 00:07:27:20
Barry
Okay, so once again how do you go about seeing the Cyrus Cylinder.

00:07:27:22 - 00:07:32:05
Dan
You just go to London, you get on the tube, go to the British Museum and you walk in.

00:07:32:06 - 00:07:50:15
Barry
Okay. All right. So, I've always been kind of a big fan of this artifact, so I really want to see this artifact. So in 2013, I did exactly that. My wife and I had flown to London. We went over there for our 20th wedding anniversary with another couple, and, we we did what you said.

00:07:50:15 - 00:07:54:10
Barry
We got on the two. We went over to the British Museum and you.

00:07:54:10 - 00:07:55:07
Dan
Said 2013.

00:07:55:09 - 00:07:55:19
Barry
Yes.

00:07:55:19 - 00:07:56:01
Dan
Okay.

00:07:56:01 - 00:08:17:06
Barry
That 20. Okay. Oh, yeah. 2013. So I got over there and found it. As you know, this museum is huge. But I finally found it. And when I got there, there was a small card in the display case telling me that it was not located at the British Museum. It was on tour in the United States.

00:08:17:08 - 00:08:21:11
Dan
And so and the funny thing is, I was actually seeing it.

00:08:21:13 - 00:08:25:06
Barry
Oh, I know, so how did you see it?

00:08:25:12 - 00:08:45:15
Dan
Well, I actually had noticed, that it was on tour, and I got to looking at the places and one weekend just lined up perfectly for me. So my son and I flew to Houston, and I went very first thing in the morning. I was in line at the museum even before it opened because I was yeah, I got my pictures.

00:08:45:15 - 00:08:50:04
Dan
Samuel got his pictures. And then we spent the day in Houston and flew home.

00:08:50:07 - 00:09:11:12
Barry
Okay. And in the process of flying home, at some point, you called me and told me that you had not only seen it, but you had pictures of it. And so I was, doubly extremely jealous of you. And so, as it turns out, the next week or maybe two weeks later, I flew to Washington, DC, and the Cyrus Cylinder had moved from Houston to Washington.

00:09:11:12 - 00:09:36:12
Barry
It was in one of the Smithsonian buildings. So I took some time at the end of the work day and took the metro, over to the Smithsonian Building when it made my way down and I could see it, it was down the hall, lit up. I could finally see it, approached it, pulled out my camera, and as I was about to click this huge hand landed on my shoulder and it was the security guard.

00:09:36:14 - 00:10:01:16
Barry
And he just simply said, no pictures. And it was at that point I noticed a small little sign down in the very corner of the display case that said no pictures. And I was incredibly disappointed because, you know, I wanted to use this in teaching or whatever. And not only did I not have the picture, but I knew that you had one, and I wanted to try to figure out a way to to catch up.

00:10:01:21 - 00:10:17:16
Barry
So two years later, my wife and I flew back over to, to London and, for another vacation, and we made it to the Sahara cylinder in the British Museum. And I got my picture.

00:10:17:20 - 00:10:18:21
Dan
Oh, that is such a.

00:10:19:01 - 00:10:34:13
Barry
And it really is. But I didn't realize that to get that picture, I would need to fly it to Europe, to the UK twice and go to Washington DC. So I had to travel all over the world just to get that picture.

00:10:34:15 - 00:10:38:01
Dan
But that's a great point for people who travel and want to go

00:10:38:01 - 00:10:53:08
Dan
see things on on tour. Sometimes you go to a museum wanting to show people stuff. I've led a tour to Istanbul, to Turkey and Greece. And the museum in Istanbul had construction going on and all of the artifacts. Yeah, we're not able to.

00:10:53:08 - 00:11:00:14
Barry
Be seen, so everybody just got to stick with it. You just got to keep going back. You'll eventually get, where you want to be.

00:11:02:22 - 00:11:16:18
Dan
Now, I have often said that the purpose of archeology isn't to prove the Bible, but it does provide understanding. Enlightenment about the Bible, about history in general. And I think it does prove the Bible. But in some ways that's not the point of it.

00:11:16:18 - 00:11:22:00
Dan
looking at this with the Cyrus Cylinder, I think we're reminded of really several things.

00:11:22:00 - 00:11:26:20
Dan
First, it does remind me that the people in the events of the Bible are true.

00:11:26:20 - 00:11:44:06
Dan
you can look and see the Israelite people. They did live in the land and they disobeyed God. And then because as God told them, they were carried away into Babylonian captivity. But thankfully, as the Book of Ezra tells us, God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to allow the captives to return to their homeland.

00:11:44:12 - 00:12:01:00
Dan
And if you think about it, we are in the same situation. If we don't do as God says, we will, just as God predicts, be punished for the things that we do. It's happened in the past. It's going to happen in the future. But second, I'm reminded that we need to be kind to each other.

00:12:01:00 - 00:12:09:03
Dan
Over the years, the Iranian people have asked for the Cyrus Cylinder to be returned to their museum because they see it as part of their heritage.

00:12:09:05 - 00:12:30:03
Dan
They actually refer to it as the very first human rights charter, in which people are encouraged to live and worship as they desire. Now it can be debated as to whether or not Cyrus actually believed that all men are created in the image of God, and the truth is, he probably didn't, but he still seemed to respect and wanted people to respect each other.

00:12:30:05 - 00:12:39:16
Dan
And that is the lesson that is so needed every day, and even more, as we see this world going.

00:12:40:15 - 00:13:06:12
Barry
Digging deeper is a product of Appian Media. We're a nonprofit media production company that is 100% crowdfunded. If you're interested in learning more about how you can support Appian Media so that we can create more great free content, visit us at Appian media.org slash. Listen. If you'd like to contact either one of us, you can reach Diane at Dan Kingsley at Appian media.org.

00:13:06:14 - 00:13:26:11
Barry
And you can reach me at Berry Dot, Brittany at Appian media.org. We'd love to hear from you and answer any questions that you may have. Than an hour in front of the microphones, but it takes many more people to produce this podcast. So a special thanks to Craig the Hutt and the rest of the Appian Media team, who are all doing their part to make this a success.

00:13:26:14 - 00:13:31:22
Barry
Join us next time as Dan and I travel down to the Failla and visit the ancient city of Lachish,

00:13:31:22 - 00:13:34:11
Barry
and we'll see what's going on down there.

00:13:34:11 - 00:13:42:07
Barry
Until then, thank you for joining us. And we look forward to being with you again on the next episode of Digging Deeper.