Ezra 1:1-2: Did the Pagan King Cyrus Believe in the God of Israel?

Does the text of Ezra 1:1 imply that Cyrus was using these titles for Yahweh, engaging in the task of building the temple in Jerusalem and releasing those who wished to return from their exile to Israel, because he was a convert to the Lord God of Israel?

The oral proclamation (which was also recorded in writing) referred to here is the famous "Edict of Cyrus." A similar inscription from the same king was found by Hormuzd Rassam's excavations of Babylon in 1879-82, called the "Cyrus Cylinder." This clay, barrel-shaped artifact demonstrates that Cyrus made similar proclamations concerning other people's gods, so very little can be gained from his use of such terms as "Yahweh" (here translated "LORD"), "the God [or god] of heaven," or even that God "moved on his heart," other than the fact that this king had a knack for being politically correct long before this term ever came into vogue.

From the writer's point of view, it was Yahweh who had moved the heart of Cyrus to adopt a policy of repatriating and erecting the houses of worship of those peoples whom he helped to repatriate. The heart of the king, regardless of his own religious proclivities, is in the hand of the Lord (Prov 21:1).

Jeremiah had predicted that Judah would be seventy years in Babylonian captivity (Jer 25:1-12; 29:10). Some two hundred years prior to Cyrus's day, Isaiah had foretold that a man named Cyrus would both enact the policy of repatriation and aid in the reconstruction of the temple; indeed, Cyrus would be the Lord's "shepherd" (Is 44:28; 45:1).

Judah was not the only nation to benefit from Cyrus's enlightened policies; his generosity went to all his subjects alike, to judge from those archaeological records that are left to us. Cyrus probably, like the other Achaemenidian kings, was influenced by Zoroastrianism. No evidence exists that he ever became a believer in the Lord God who revealed himself in Israel and Judah.