Cyrus was chosen by Yahweh… and Marduk. What happens when political power convinces us that our god, destiny, or history has chosen its leader?
Imagine conquering an empire and then discovering that the people you’ve conquered believe their own god wanted you to win. That’s essentially what happened with Cyrus the Great. The Cyrus Cylinder portrays the Babylonian god Marduk as choosing Cyrus to rescue Babylon from an unworthy king. Meanwhile, Isaiah portrays Yahweh as choosing that very same Cyrus, even calling this foreign, non-Jewish ruler his anointed. Two gods. Two religious traditions. One remarkably well-endorsed emperor.
But maybe the most interesting question isn’t which god really chose Cyrus. Maybe we should ask why human beings are so eager to believe that our leaders have been chosen at all. Because once political authority becomes part of a sacred story, accountability gets complicated. And while most of us aren’t waiting for Marduk to endorse our next president, we still tend to create messiahs, chosen leaders, indispensable billionaires, inevitable movements, and people we’re convinced are somehow destined to save us all. The mythology changes. The temptation doesn’t.
So, let’s dive into that… in this episode of Afterthoughts!
