Isaiah 44:28

That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd,.... Or Coresh, as his name in the Hebrew language is; and in the Persian tongue signifies the "sun"; from whence he had his name, as Ctesias (q) and Plutarch

That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

Cyrus, whom God here designeth by his proper name two hundred years before he was born, that this might be an undeniable evidence of the certainty and exactness of God’ s foreknowledge, and a convincing argument, and so most fit to conclude this dispute between God and idols. He is my shepherd; him will I set up to be the shepherd of my people, to rescue them from wolves or tyrants, to gather them together, to rule them gently, and to provide comfortably for them. All my pleasure; all that I command him to do, even to give leave and order for the rebuilding of the city and temple of Jerusalem, as it here follows.

Isaiah 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, [He is] my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.Ver. 28. That saith of Cyrus.] One hundred and seventy years, at least, before he was born. Thou art my shepherd,] i.e., Princeps meus beneficus. Coresh, in the Persian tongue, signifieth food, saith Scaliger; and then there might be some allusion here to his name in calling him a "shepherd," or feeder.

(28) That saith of Cyrus.—The Hebrew form is Koresh, answering to the Kur’us of the inscription of the king’s tomb in the Murghab valley. The prediction of the name of the future deliverer has its only parallel in that of Josiah (1 Kings 13:2). Such a phenomenon admits of three possible explanations:—(1) That it is a prophecy after the event—i.e., that the whole of Isaiah, or this part of it, was written at the close of the exile. (2) That the name was revealed to the prophet in a way altogether supernatural. (3) That the name came within the horizon of the prophet’s vision from his natural stand-point, the supernatural element being found in the facts which he is led to connect with it. Of these, (3) seems to commend itself as most analogous with the methods of prophetic teaching. The main facts in the case are these—(1) Events had made Isaiah acquainted with the name of the Medes, and with a people bearing the name (Elam), afterwards given by the Jews to the Persians of the Greeks (Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 13:7; Isaiah 21:2; 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11). (2) Koresh or Kyros was the name of a river in that region, and the conqueror is said to have changed his previous name (Agradates) for it (Strab. Xv. 3, 6). (3) The name has been said to mean “the sun” (Plutarch, Ctesias), and this, though not accepted by many modern scholars as philologically accurate, at least indicates that the Greeks assigned that meaning to it. It would be a natural name for one who, as a worshipper of Ormuzd, saw in the sun the supreme symbol of the God of heaven. (4) The grandfather of the great Cyrus is said to have borne the same name (Herod. i. 111). (5) The facts point to the conclusion that the name Kursus; if not a titular epithet, like the Pharaoh of Egypt, may yet have had the prestige of antiquity and dignity, historical or mythical. (6) Is it altogether impossible that the prophecy, circulating among the Babylonian exiles, helped to bring about its own fulfilment, and that Agradates may have been led to take the name of Kur’us because he found his work described in connection with it (Josh. Ant., xii. 1, 2)? My shepherd.—As guiding the flock of Jehovah, each to their own pasture. Thou shalt be built.—Both verbs are better taken as imperatives, Let her be built; Let thy foundations be laid.

Verse 28. That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd - "Who saith to Cyrus, Thou art my shepherd"] Pastor meus es; Vulg. The true reading seems to be רעי אתה roi attah; the word אתה attah, has probably been dropped out of the text. The same word is lost out of the text, Psalms 119:57. It is supplied in the Septuagint by the word ει, thou art. Saying to Jerusalem] For ולאמר velemor, the Septuagint and Vulgate read האומר haomer. And to the temple] ולהיכל uleheychal, as לירושלם lirushalayim, before; the preposition is necessary, and the Vulgate seems to read so. - Houbigant. That saith of CYRUS, He is, or thou art, my shepherd - Saving to JERUSALEM, "Thou shalt be built;" and to the TEMPLE, "Thy foundation shall be laid." - There is a remarkable beauty and propriety in this verse. 1. Cyrus is called God's shepherd. Shepherd was an epithet which Cyrus took to himself; and what he gave to all good kings. 2. This Cyrus should say to the temple: "Thy foundation shall be laid." Not - thou shalt be built. The fact is, only the foundation was laid in the days of Cyrus, the Ammonites having prevented the building; nor was it resumed till the second year of Darius, one of his successors. There is often a precision in the expressions of the prophets which is as honourable to truth, as it is unnoticed by careless readers.

28. The series of predicates here culminates in the mention by name of the conqueror of Babylon and liberator of Israel. The name Cyrus is in Persian Kϋrush, in Babylonian Kurash, in Greek Κῦρος. The traditional Hebrew pronunciation is Kτresh, but it is probable that the original form preserved the characteristic long u which appears in the other languages. On the career of Cyrus see Introduction, pp. 17 ff. He is my shepherd] Or simply, My Shepherd. “Shepherd” here means “ruler” as in Jeremiah 3:15; Ezekiel 34. pass.; Micah 5:5 : comp. the Homeric ποιμένεςλαῶν. It is one of the honorific titles alluded to in ch. Isaiah 45:4. perform all my pleasure] Or, complete all my purpose; cf. ch. Isaiah 46:10, Isaiah 48:14, Isaiah 53:10. This use of the Heb. word for “pleasure” illustrates the transition to its later sense of “business” (ch. Isaiah 58:3; Isaiah 58:13) or “matter” (Ecclesiastes 5:8; Ecclesiastes 8:6). Comp. Arab. shay’ (= thing) from shβ’a (to will). even saying] If the text be right the meaning would probably be that Cyrus would accomplish Jehovah’s purpose by giving the order for the rebuilding of the Temple &c. LXX. and Vulg. read “that saith,” substituting a participle for the inf. of the Heb. In this case the subject is Jehovah, as throughout the passage. Instead of to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be …, the Heb. has of Jerusalem, Let her be.… See on Isaiah 44:26. According to Josephus (Ant. XI. Isaiah 1:2) it was the reading of this verse that fired Cyrus with the ambition to restore the Jewish Temple and nationality. The statement, if true, would of course detract nothing from the significance of the prophecy. But it has no claim to be accepted, and would assuredly never have been made but for the assumption that the words were written by Isaiah “one hundred and forty years before the destruction of the Temple.”

That saith of Cyrus - This is the first time in which Cyrus is expressly named by Isaiah, though he is often referred to. He is mentioned by him only in one other place expressly by name Isaiah 45:1.

24-28. The remaining verses of the chapter virtually make a single paragraph, unbroken in sense; the sense being a confirmation of the divine promises to Israel — that is, to the Church — by