The Matthew Henry Online Commentary says this:
"the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus"
and:
"the hearts of kings are in the hand of the Lord."
This is powerful stuff! Do you get the fullness of that?
God can make any project happen.
He gives those who need to be involved the desire to participate. God moved King Cyrus to give a whole lot of stuff, which to him, barely made a dent in the palace treasury(1:9-10) but was exactly what the builders needed.
What stands out to me, is that nowhere in that Scripture does it say that Ezra had to go grovelling to Cyprus for help. There was no charming, bootlicking, sweet-talking or lunch at fancy restaurants to arouse him into making a donation to their religious cause.
God took care of business.
So, that being said, seeing as God is the same yesterday, today and always, I'd like to propone that as long as we are being 'about our Master's business' that He will provide for us in the same way that He provided for them.
So, that being said, seeing as God is the same yesterday, today and always, I'd like to propone that as long as we are being 'about our Master's business' that He will provide for us in the same way that He provided for them.
However, as a Salvation Army, we'll never see it until we back off and let Him step in and move the hearts of the kings...
Ruhani
You make a great point Ruhani. Since I'm reading through the book of Exodus, however, I couldn't help but wonder the implications when I read that verse, "the hearts of kings are in the hand of the Lord" as it applies to the moving of hearts in the opposite direction. I always found it somewhat perplexing when I read Exodus 14:4 which says, "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD ." I always got stuck on the God hardening his heart part. What's interesting that I understand now is that in both scenarios (Ezra and Exodus) both heart influences are done for the GLORY of God to be revealed. Interesting...