The biblical prophetic tradition is deeply embedded in our values and our law, but our awareness of this tradition is growing faint in our increasingly secular culture. This deprives us of an important, substantive context for some of democracy’s best principles and practices. We just talk louder or try to “spin” an impromptu context. As we move through 2020, I’m claiming this rich, prophetic tradition as a context for thinking, speaking and acting.
Beginning in chapter 40 of Isaiah, words of liberation and comfort are directed to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. King Cyrus of Persia (Iran) defeated Babylon (Iraq), liberated the Jews from captivity and helped rebuild Jerusalem. In Isaiah 45, Cyrus is called God’s “anointed.” God had not abandoned the Jews. God was at work for their good through “outside” forces such as the Persians.
Ezra 1.1-4 describes an edict from King Cyrus that directed Persians to help the Jews return to Jerusalem. During an 1879 archaeological dig in Babylon, a clay cylinder was found with the edict of Cyrus. It was reversed, so it could be inked and rolled onto parchment–an early tool to make multiple copies of a document. It has been housed at the British Museum and it came to the U.S. for a multi-city tour in 2013.
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