Persia

The vast empire that succeeded Babylon as the dominant power of the ancient Near East (539-330 BCE), ruling from India to Ethiopia. Under Cyrus the Great and his successors, Persia became the instrument of God’s providence in ending Israel’s exile, restoring Jerusalem, and protecting the Jewish people through Esther’s courageous intervention.

When Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 BCE, he reversed the Babylonian policy of forced deportation. Moved by God (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1 calls him God’s “anointed”), Cyrus issued a decree permitting exiled peoples to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples. For the Jews, this meant freedom to return from seventy years of Babylonian captivity to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple: “Thus says 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 at Jerusalem, which is in Judah” (2 Chronicles 36:23).

Under Cyrus and his successor Darius, approximately 50,000 Jews returned to Judah led by Zerubbabel, laying the foundation for the Second Temple despite local opposition (Ezra 1-6). Later, the Persian king Artaxerxes I granted Nehemiah, his Jewish cupbearer, permission to return and rebuild Jerusalem’s walls (Nehemiah 2:1-8), and commissioned Ezra the scribe to teach the Law and restore proper worship (Ezra 7:1-28). Persian support made possible the restoration of the Jewish community and faith.

The Book of Esther is set in the Persian capital of Susa during the reign of Ahasuerus (likely Xerxes I, 486-465 BCE). When the villainous Haman schemed to annihilate all Jews throughout the empire, God raised up Esther, the Jewish queen, and her cousin Mordecai to thwart the genocide. Esther’s famous words—“If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16)—preceded her dangerous approach to the king that ultimately saved her people and established the feast of Purim.

The prophet Daniel served in the Persian court, surviving the den of lions when he refused to stop praying to God despite King Darius’s decree (Daniel 6). His visions during the Persian period revealed God’s sovereignty over earthly kingdoms and the coming of an eternal kingdom that would never be destroyed (Daniel 2, 7). Though Persia itself would fall to Alexander the Great in 330 BCE, its role in Jewish history demonstrated that even pagan empires serve God’s purposes in preserving and restoring His covenant people.