The Priest And The Great King By Lisbeth S. Fried - 862 Words

The Priest and the Great King by Lisbeth S. Fried faces the question as to how the Persians dealt with the Jews after the absorption of Judea from the conquest of Babylon. The texts from Hebrew sources suggested the Persian had a sense of reverence for the Jews which was unlike the others. Attempting to use sources other than the Tanach is difficult as there is not much in the way of Persian sources concerning the Jews and Judea but there is some. The province of Judea was called Yehud under Persian rule, and may have been called such under Babylonian rule. The primary source of Persian kindness to the Jews was found in the proclamation made by Cyrus. While there is a Persian record of the decree, the actual language is different than how it is shown in the Tanach. The Cyrus cylinder does not suggest Yehud was singled out as being freed from slavery nor were they singled out as being permitted to rebuild temples which were destroyed under Babylonian rule . All of this opens the door for Frieds’s main question, how did Yehud’s government change from the time of conquest under Babylon to the arrival of Alexander the Great. Was it due to some autonomy given by the king or was it in spite of rules placed by the king, was this change unique; was there a change at all? The physical damage was minimal, but the psychological damage caused by the destruction of the temple and the exile of the priests, royal family, and other like individuals was significant. After Babylon was