This webpage was the beginning of FarsiNet in 1995. The original simple webpage "Iran In The Bible" was createdd to share an overview of the history of Iran (Persia) and Persians in the Bible with an Iranian Friend.
"In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of The Lord spoken by Jeremiah,
The Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put
it in writing: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "The Lord, The God of heaven, has given me all
the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a Temple
[see Temples] for Him at
Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his
people among you - may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build The
Temple of The Lord, The God of Israel, The God who is in Jerusalem." (Ezra 1:1-3)
PERSIA:
An empire which extended from India to Ethiopia, comprising one hundred and
twenty-seven provinces,
(Daniel 6),
Esth. 1:1;
Of all of the human empires that affected the people of Israel, the Persians did something rather unique - they
permitted the return of the people of the southern kingdom of Judah to Israel, by God's command
(see above verses), 70 years after their exile by the Babylonians under
King Nebuchadnezzar.
At its peak, the Persian empire reached from the India to Greece, and from the Caspian Sea to the Red Sea
and the Arabian Sea. The Persians are believed to have originated in Media, which today corresponds to
western Iran and southern Azerbaijan. They settled in Persia, on the eastern side of the Persian Gulf.
The Persians were Aryans, speaking one of the eastern Indo-European group of languages. Two lines developed
from an early leader, Teispes, who had conquered Elam in the time of the decline of the Assyrian Empire - one
line in Anzan, the other in Persia. Cyrus II, king of Anzan, united the nation, and conquered Media, Lydia,
and Babylonia. His son, Cambyses, took Egypt, which was later ruled by Darius, the son of Hystaspes. Persepolis
(see map) was an ancient city of Persia that served as a ceremonial capital for Darius and his successors.
From a Biblical perspective, the Persians were a link in the chain of human empires that molded
Bible History - the Egyptians
(see The Ancient Egyptians) from which the
Exodus occurred, the Assyrians (see Ancient
Empires - Assyria) who conquered the "Lost Ten Tribes," the Babylonians who conquered the southern
Kingdom of Judah (see Why Babylon?), the
Persians who permitted the return to Jerusalem, the Greeks
(see Ancient Empires - Greece) who covered
much of the time between the Old and New Testaments, and the Romans
(see Ancient Empires - Rome) who covered
the time of Jesus Christ and beyond
(see Daniel's Statue).
.....