Isaiah 45:1-3 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Thus saith the Lord— See ch. Isaiah 41:2-3. Cyrus is called the Lord's anointed; that is to say, appointed by the divine counsel to perform God's good pleasure, and furnished for that purpose by the divine providence with the necessary endowments. Whose right hand I have holden, should rather be rendered, Whose right hand I have taken hold of. See ch. Isaiah 41:6. To loose the loins of kings, signifies, to render them weak and infirm, unprepared and unable to oppose Cyrus. Comp. ch. Isaiah 5:27, &c. To open before him the two-leaved gates, &c. signifies, that the most strongly-fortified cities, most closely shut and guarded, such as were Babylon and Sardis, should be compelled to open their gates to this conqueror, aided by God. In the next clause there is a manifest allusion to the gates of Babylon, for Nebuchadnezzar made 25 gates of solid brass to every side of the great wall which encompassed Babylon; the whole number of the brazen gates being 100. In the third verse it is promised, that Cyrus should find much hidden spoil and great treasures among the conquered nations; and accordingly we learn from history, that the riches which he gained in his conquests amounted to a prodigious value: Nor can we wonder at it; for those parts of Asia, at that time, abounded in wealth and luxury. Babylon had been heaping up treasures for many years; and the riches of Croesus, king of Lybia, whom Cyrus conquered and took prisoner, are in a manner become proverbial. The rapidity and wonderful success of Cyrus were such, that heathen historians have particularly remarked the interposition of the Deity in his cause: "O son of Cambyses, the gods certainly respect thee, or thou couldest not have arrived at such good fortune," says Harpagus to him in Herodotus, lib. i. 100. 124. See Bishop Newton, vol. 1 and Vitringa.