“Cyrus His anointed”
This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings (Isaiah 45:1 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A routine mention of the Persian king Cyrus.
The cultural key
The startling word is 'anointed.' In Hebrew it is mashiach, 'messiah', the term for a king or priest set apart with anointing oil and, by Isaiah's day, loaded with hope for God's chosen deliverer. Yet here it is applied to Cyrus, the pagan king of Persia, who did not know the LORD (45:4-5). He is the only foreigner in Scripture called God's mashiach. The claim is deliberately jarring: God announces, generations in advance, that He will raise up an unbelieving Gentile emperor, take him by the right hand like a king He is installing, and use him as His instrument to conquer Babylon and send the Jewish exiles home to rebuild Jerusalem. It is one of the Bible's boldest assertions that God rules all nations and can commission even those who do not acknowledge Him. The reader who skims past 'anointed' misses how scandalous it was to hang that sacred word on a pagan.
Recovered meaning
God calls Cyrus, the pagan Persian emperor, His 'anointed' (messiah), the only Gentile ever given the title, because He raises this unbelieving king to free the exiles. It is a bold claim that God commands all nations, even rulers who do not know Him.