Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
These seven verses should have been appended to last chapter, and the new chapter should begin with Isa These seven verses should have been appended to last chapter, and the new chapter should begin with Isaiah 45:8, "Drop down," etc. (Horsley). Reference to the deliverance by Messiah often breaks out from amidst the local and temporary details of the deliverance from Babylon, as the great ultimate end of the prophecy.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed. Cyrus is so called as being set apart as king, by God's providence, to fulfill His special purpose. Though kings were not anointed in Persia, the expression is applied to him in reference to the Jewish custom of setting apart kings to the regal office by anointing.
Whose right hand I have holden - image from sustaining a feeble person by holding his right hand (Isaiah 42:6).
To subdue nations before him - namely, the Cilicians, Syrians, Babylonians, Lydians, Bactrians, etc.; his empire extended from Egypt and the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, and from Ethiopia to the Euxine Sea.
I will loose the loins of kings - i:e., the girdle off the loins; and so enfeeble them. The loose outer robe of the Orientals, when girt fast round the loins, was the emblem of strength and preparedness for action; ungirt was indicative of feebleness (Job 38:3; Job 12:21, "weakeneth the strength of the mighty:" margin, 'looseth the girdle of the strong'). The joints of Belshazzar's loins, we read in Daniel 5:6, were loosed, during the siege by Cyrus, at the sight of the mysterious handwriting on the palace walls. His being taken by surprise, unaccoutred, is here foretold.
To open before him the two-leaved gates. In the revelry in Babylon on the night of its capture, the inner gates leading from the streets to the river were left open, because there were walls along each side of the Euphrates with gates, which, had they been kept shut, would have hemmed the invading hosts in the bed of the river where the Babylonians could have easily destroyed them. Also, the gates of the palace were left open, so that there was access to every part of the city: and such was its extent, that they who lived in the extremities were taken prisoners before the alarm reached the center of the palace (Herodotus, 1:, sec. 191).