“After months of publicly threatening Iran, Israel has gone quiet, waiting to see how the protest movement develops and giving US President Donald Trump space to make his own decision on whether to take action.” From CNN
Here’s a brief reminder on the importance of Iran (Persia) in the Bible in relation to Israel in the Old Testament.
In the Bible, the land and people of ancient Persia (roughly corresponding to modern-day Iran) play a significant role in the history of Israel, especially after the Babylonian Exile.
The Persian Empire rose to power in the 6th century BC when Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and issued a decree allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, fulfilling earlier prophetic promises (Isaiah 45:1–2; Cyrus is even called God’s “anointed”) and recorded in Ezra 1:1–4.
Later Persian rulers such as Darius I and Artaxerxes continued to support the restoration of Jerusalem’s worship and governance (Ezra 6; Nehemiah 2). The Book of Esther is set in the Persian royal court at Susa and tells of Jewish deliverance under King Ahasuerus (often identified as Xerxes) and his queen Esther, illustrating Jewish life and providence under Persian rule (Esther 1:1–2).
Persian figures and encounters also appear in prophetic visions (e.g., Daniel 8’s ram symbolizing Media-Persia) and later biblical prophecy (Ezekiel 38:5), showing both its historical influence and ongoing theological significance.
Child of God, husband, father, grandfather, rabblerouser, songwriter, pot stirrer, waiting for the King.