Haaretz:

Christians and Jews now compare Trump to Persian King Cyrus – will he build the Third Temple? - Israel News

Political junkies and Middle East analysts have had to bone up on their conservative Christian theology to properly understand why Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was so important to the evangelicals who lobbied hard for it and have been lauding it all week.

Trump was already a hero to a wide swath of evangelicals for his efforts to fight abortion, keep transgender kids out of the wrong bathrooms and fill the U.S. courts with die-hard conservative judges. But the role he’s playing in what many believe is the fulfillment of divine prophecy has gotten him promoted to king for some of them – an ancient Persian king to be precise.

For his willingness to confront conventional diplomatic wisdom, shrug off dire warnings of triggering Middle East unrest and declare Jerusalem Israel’s capital, Trump is increasingly being compared by evangelicals – and Jews on the religious right – to Persia’s King Cyrus II, also known as Cyrus the Great. "Trump in his generation, as Cyrus in his", tweeted Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. The bolder have gone so far as to suggest that Trump doesn’t just merely resemble the Persian king, he’s Cyrus reincarnated.

It’s not a new concept. Trump-Cyrus comparisons have been batted around on the religious right since the New York businessman’s presidential campaign, particularly as he began to aggressively court evangelicals. But since the Jerusalem declaration, such comparisons are appearing more frequently and intensely than ever in sectarian media and on social networks.

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