Last week, in our study of selected scriptures in ‘The Writings of Daniel’, we examined The Babylonian Kingdom – ‘The Head of Gold’ (Daniel 2:38b) in King Nebuchadnezzar’s Image.

This week, we are focusing on ‘The Breast and Arms of Silver’ of Nebuchadnezzar’s Image (Daniel 2:32). This subsequent kingdom was The conqueror of The Babylonian Kingdom (539 B,C,E.), The Kingdom of The Medes and The Persians. The Medo-Persian Empire was ruled initially for two years by Darius The Mede, Cyaxares II, and then by Cyrus The Persian and his descendants.

The mighty Median kingdom’s last king was Cyaxares II, Darius The Mede, maternal uncle to Cyrus

Cyrus assumed power two years after the conquest of Babylon when the sixty-two year-old (Daniel 5:31) Darius the Mede, Cyaxares II, died. Darius was King of Babylon and indeed of the whole empire from 639 B.C.E. until 637 B.C.E.

(The Persians ultimately became more powerful than the Medes, hence the image of the bear whose shoulder was one higher than the other.)

Co-Co, our chimpanzee schoolmaster warned us to be wary of pseudo-scholars who question the WORD OF THE GOD OF KING SOLOMON:

• Darius the Mede is not Cyrus the Persian. Cyrus is a Persian.
• Darius The Mede is a Mede, Cyaxares II, the last king of the Medes.

Darius, The Mede, Cyaxares II, was the last of the mighty kings of the Medes. He was the ruler of The Kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. He honoured THE GOD OF DANIEL, THE LIVING GOD AND STEDFAST FOR EVER (Daniel 6: 26) as we observed last Sunday.

His successor was Cyrus, The Great, Cyrus II, (circa 580 B.C.E. – 530 B.C.E.) immortalized in the Greek scholar and warrior, Zenophon, ‘s ‘Cyropaedia’:

One of Cyrus’s axioms:

Cyrus, (the nephew of Cyaxeres, Darius The Mede), was a Persian.

He is directly mentioned in THE HOLY SCRIPTURES in The Prophecy of Isaiah:

‘Thus saith THE LORD, THY REDEEMER AND HE THAT FORMED THEE FROM THE WOMB,

“I AM THE LORD:

• THAT MAKETH ALL THINGS,
• THAT STRETCHETH FORTH THE HEAVENS ALONE
• THAT SPREADETH ABROAD THE EARTH BY MYSELF
• THAT FRUSTRATETH THE TOKENS OF THE LIARS
• THAT MAKETH DIVINERS MAD
• THAT TURNETH WISE MEN BACKWARD AND MAKETH THEIR KNOWLEDGE FOOLISH
• THAT CONFIRMETH THE WORD OF HIS SERVANT
• THAT PERFORMETH THE COUNSEL OF HIS MESSENGERS
• THAT SAITH TO JERUSALEM, ‘Thou shalt be inhabited’
• THAT SAITH TO THE CITIES OF JUDAH, ‘Ye shall be built and I will raise up the decayed places thereof.’
• THAT SAITH TO THE DEEP, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up the rivers.’
• THAT SAITH OF CYRUS, ‘He is MY Shepherd, and shall perform all MY Pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be inhabited.’ and to The Temple, ‘Thy Foundation shall be laid.'(Isaiah 44:24 -28)

(Notice the twelve-fold – description of THE LORD. N.B. There is always a hidden thirteenth in the sacred twelves. Co-Co, the chimpanzees’ schoolmaster, ‘s latest study is ‘The Twelves – Thirteens – of Sacred Scripture’.)

Cyrus the Persian, was unique amongst the ancient kings:

1. He it was who laid the foundations of the long-lasting Persian Empire:
2. Instead of killing his conquered enemies, Cyrus, honoured them and invited them to be his royal advisers.
3. He allowed subject peoples in his kingdom, including the Hebrews (the people of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, the seed royal captives of Nebuchadnezzar,) to return to their homelands, rebuild their temples and cities and worship their gods. See II Chronicles 36: 22 – 23 and Ezra 1:1 – 4

(Cyrus was our schoolmaster, Co-Co, ‘s favourite ancient monarch after King David, and King Solomon of Israel.)

One of Cyrus’s military exploits (Co-Co used to describe,) was Cyrus’ s defeat in 547 B.C.E. of King Croesus of Lydia, (one of ‘the three ribs’ in the image of Daniel 7:5, along with Babylonia and Egypt,).

Cyrus knew that horses hate the smell of camels so he had his baggage train camel drivers unload their camels and set them in the front of the battle array before his infantry. King Croesus of Lydia’s wealthy empire was defeated, just as The Oracle of Delphi had prophesied.

(Co-Co, when he was a young chimpanzee, was a skilled rider of camels.)

One of Co-Co’s modern heroes was Lawrence of Arabia, (1888 – 1935) who was also a master camel warrior. (Colonel Lawrence always chose the fastest camels he could purchase.)

Next Week: The Essence of The Book of Daniel, ‘The Three Kings, and The Fourth’ of Persia who reigned after Cyrus, The Great (Daniel 11:2)