The first year. The city of Babylon fell to Persian arms on Tishri 16 (Oct. 12), 539 B.C., and Cyrus himself entered the city on Marcheshvan 3 (Oct. 29) of the same year. However, it was not until the next New Year’s Day, Nisan 1 (March 24), 538 B.C., that the first Babylonian regnal year began. All documents previous to this day were dated in his “accession year.” The Jews, on the other hand, counted the regnal years of Persian rulers according to their own calendar. By the Jewish civil calendar the first full year from the fall of Babylon extended from the autumn of 538 to the autumn of 537 B.C. For further information on the problem, see pp. 96, 97. On the rulership of “Darius the Mede,” see p. 95, also Additional Note on Daniel 6.
The edict of Cyrus for the return of the Jews seems to have been issued in the former capital city of the Medes, Ecbatana (Achmetha), which became one of the summer residences of the Persian kings. A copy of the decree found in the archives of Ecbatana some years later (Ezra 6:2) implies that Cyrus was there sometime during his first year. Evidence from the contemporary archives of the banking firm of “Egibi & Sons” in the city of Babylon indicates that Cyrus was in Ecbatana in or preceding the month of September, 537 B.C., which fell toward the close of the first full Jewish calendar year after the fall of Babylon.
Cyrus. This is the Latinized Greek form of the Hebrew Koresh, which is closer to its Persian (Kurush) and Babylonian (Kurash) equivalents.
Jeremiah. Reference is made here to the two prophecies of Jeremiah found in chs. 25:11, 12; 29:10, prophecies which had convinced Daniel that the time of return and restoration had come (Dan. 9:2). Since the Babylonian captivity had begun in 605 B.C., the 70 years of Jeremiah’s prophecies were due to expire in 536, according to inclusive reckoning. Therefore if the decree of Cyrus was issued in the summer or autumn of 537, and the Jews probably returned to their homeland in the spring of the following year, 536, this would fulfill the prophecies of Jeremiah.
Stirred up the spirit. As in years past God had influenced heathen rulers (Gen. 20:3; Dan. 2:28; etc.) to carry out His purposes, He now worked on the heart of Cyrus to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah concerning this monarch, prophecies that had been made more than 150 years earlier (Isa. 44:28; 45:1-4, 13).
A proclamation. The decree was publicly proclaimed throughout the various satrapies of the empire, from the borders of India in the east to the Aegean Sea in the west, and from the Caucasus in the north to the Persian Gulf and the border of Egypt in the south.
In writing. The decree was sent out in written form and deposited for permanent reference in an archive (see ch. 6:1, 2). Writing had probably been introduced into Persia but recently, for archaeological evidence shows that Persian records were kept beginning with the reign of Cyrus. The proclamation was presumably issued in the official Persian language, perhaps also in Babylonian, and probably in Aramaic, which was understood throughout the empire. The Behistun inscription of Darius I consists of similar inscriptions in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian. A copy has also been found in Aramaic.
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