Divine Justification

Cyrus the Great, Persian King 

 A really interesting concept that we discussed in class this week, which was also part of the reading, was how different leaders were able to conquer different empires just by using the authority of their gods as a justification. In Chapter 5 of Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, it is discussed how Cyrus (the king of the Persian empire) was able to spread propaganda to the city of Babylon. He reached them at a time where the priests of their faith were fed up with the condition of their city, and were willing to accept a different rule through promises of “universal peace in his domains “ (Armstrong 1997, 109). A Judean prophet also liked this message, and supported Cyrus claiming that Cyrus was going to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple. These patterns of using a higher power to justify some type of expansion or large scale change are intriguing to see. This idea has also been used in more modern day history. From the class I took last semester, Oppression and Liberation in the USA, we discussed many occurrences of the groups in power in the United States using the justification of “heavenly powers” for expansion and to oppress groups of minorities. One major example that comes to mind is how the European settlers used the Manifest Destiny to justify expansion across the North American continent. This belief was essentially that white settlers were destined to expand from coast to coast in North America. Settlers eventually reached their goal, but at the cost of the lives of entire populations of native people. Thousands of Native Americans were killed as the direct and indirect results of this expansion. Throughout the history of the U.S., Native Americans continued to be oppressed, with young children being sent to boarding schools to become “Americanized” and be stripped of their cultural qualities. While the story of Cyrus coming to rule Babylon is not quite the same as this expansion, the idea of divine justification in that instance made me immediately think of American expansion. It is interesting to see how different concepts repeat themselves in history, and I think that a lot can be learned, especially for the sake of progress, so as to not fall into the same traps as previous civilizations did.