From a brief survery of the most visited blogs of all time in either of the two sections of Iroon, you will note blogs with titles implying sex or nudity attract the highest number of visitors. Now having got your attention under false pretences the following extract from the History of Western Philosophy by Cyrus is reproduced here for your edification and it may throw some light on the use (misuse and abuse) of Cyrus's name by various Israeli politicians and the latest Bibi brown nosing of His Orangeness (proving nothing is sacred):
In 586 B.C. Nebuchadrezzar captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and removed a large part of the population to Babylon. The Babylonian kingdom fell in 538 B.C., when Babylon was taken by Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians. Cyrus, in 537 B.C., issued an edict allowing the Jews to return to Palestine. Many of them did so, under the leadership of Nehemiah and Ezra; the Temple was rebuilt, and Jewish orthodoxy began to be crystallized.
In the period of the captivity, and for some time before and after this period, Jewish religion went through a very important development. Originally, there appears to have been not very much difference, from a religious point of view, between the Israelites and surrounding tribes. Yahweh was, at first, only a tribal god who favoured the children of Israel, but it was not denied that there were other gods, and their worship was habitual. When the first Commandment says, "Thou shalt have none other gods but me," it is saying something which was an innovation in the time immediately preceding the captivity. This is made evident by various texts in the earlier prophets. It was the prophets at this time who first taught that the worship of heathen gods was sin. To win the victory in the constant wars of that time, they proclaimed, the favour of Yahweh was essential; and Yahweh would withdraw his favour if other gods were also honoured. Jeremiah and Ezekiel, especially, seem to have invented the idea that all religions except one are false, and that the Lord punishes idolatry.
Some quotations will illustrate their teachings, and the prevalence of the heathen practices against which they protested. "Seest Thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven [Ishtar], and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger." * The Lord is angry about it. "And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart." *
There is a very interesting passage in Jeremiah in which he denounces the Jews in Egypt for their idolatry. He himself had lived among them for a time. The prophet tells the Jewish refugees in Egypt that Yahweh will destroy them all because their wives have burnt incense to other gods. But they refuse to listen to him, saying: "We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil." But Jeremiah assures them that Yahweh noticed these idolatrous practices, and that misfortune has come because of them. "Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt. . . . I will watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them."
Ezekiel is equally shocked by the idolatrous practices of the Jews. The Lord in a vision shows him women at the north gate of the temple weeping for Tammuz (a Babylonian deity); then He shows him "greater abominations," five and twenty men at the door of the Temple worshipping the sun. The Lord declares: "Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them."
The idea that all religions but one are wicked, and that the Lord punishes idolatry, was apparently invented by these prophets. The prophets, on the whole, were fiercely nationalistic, and looked forward to the day when the Lord would utterly destroy the gentiles.
The captivity was taken to justify the denunciations of the prophets. If Yahweh was all-powerful, and the Jews were his Chosen People, their sufferings could only be explained by their wickedness. The psychology is that of paternal correction: the Jews are to be purified by punishment. Under the influence of this belief, they developed, in exile, an orthodoxy much more rigid and much more nationally exclusive than that which had prevailed while they were independent. The Jews who remained behind and were not transplanted to Babylon did not undergo this development to anything like the same extent. When Ezra and Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem after the captivity, they were shocked to find that mixed marriages had been common, and they dissolved all such marriages.
The Jews were distinguished from the other nations of antiquity by their stubborn national pride. All the others, when conquered, acquiesced inwardly as well as outwardly; the Jews alone retained the belief in their own pre-eminence, and the conviction that their misfortunes were due to God's anger, because they had failed to preserve the purity of their faith and ritual. The historical books of the Old Testament, which were mostly compiled after the captivity, give a misleading impression, since they suggest that the idolatrous practices against which the prophets protested were a falling-off from earlier strictness, whereas in fact the earlier strictness had never existed. The prophets were innovators to a much greater extent than appears in the Bible when read unhistorically.
Some things which were afterwards characteristic of Jewish religion were developed, though in part from previously existing sources, during the captivity. Owing to the destruction of the Temple, where alone sacrifices could be offered, the Jewish ritual perforce became non-sacrificial.
Synagogues began at this time, with readings from such portions of the Scriptures as already existed. The importance of the Sabbath was first emphasized at this time, and so was circumcision as the mark of the Jew. As we have already seen, it was only during the exile that marriage with gentiles came to be forbidden. There was a growth of every form of exclusiveness. "I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people." "Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." The Law is a product of this period. It was one of the chief forces in preserving national unity.
What we have as the Book of Isaiah is the work of two different prophets, one before the exile and one after. The second of these, who is called by Biblical students Deutero-Isaiah, is the most remarkable of the prophets. He is the first who reports the Lord as saying "There is no god but I." He believes in the resurrection of the body, perhaps as a result of Persian influence. His prophecies of the Messiah were, later, the chief Old Testament texts used to show that the prophets foresaw the coming of Christ.
………………………….After Ezra and Nehemiah, the Jews for a while disappear from history. The Jewish state survived as a theocracy, but its territory was very small--only the region of ten to fifteen miles around Jerusalem, according to E. Bevan
The portraits and statues of president Trump will be mounted and erected in every town and city square in Iran very soon! You are my soul Trump, you are my idol destroyer Trump! Javid and God bless president Trump!!!
BTW, speaking of Koons & Kirs, Democrat Senator Coons of Delaware earns bipartisan praise for courtesy to a friend during Pompeo meeting that approved his nomination at the Senate foreign relations committee panel session!
This is my problem with our friends in Israel: As soon as they feel safe, they won't care about the fate of Iranians... All they want is a nuke-free, rocket-free Iran without regional influence, be it a mullah at the top or a lady gaga... that's my problem with them...
Iranians have proven to the world they can't be trusted with any kind of power - soft or hard for that matter! The moment you give them something, they turn around and use that thing to hurt you! Case in point, our beloved Shahs of Pahlavi gave so much to the Iranians and what did they get in return except heartache, pain, and ungreatfulness....! To most Iranians - 99% of them - I would offer a long and koloft dasteh khar - happy chewing!!! And Israel has every right to nuke IRI!
"Israeli politicians and the latest Bibi brown nosing of His Orangeness (proving nothing is sacred):"
I rather think they value some as sacred, power, greed and conquering. History proves that.
Brown nosing to achieve that would be a small prize to pay. Natenya-Who has proven to even commit murder to achive that.
Muller is making America great again
tRump is helping to make Russia great again
Reject occupation, If the bar code starts with 7 29 put it back on the shelf
Buy American, say NO to Chinese madeTrump
“The time is always right to do what is right” – Martin Luther King
Huge insult to Iranian people. The idea of comparing Cyrus the great , man of great wisdom, honor, follower of ahura mazda, a soldier of Iran with a corrupt real estate buffoon who when the time came to serve chickened out of military service and now allegedly worships veterans!
Finally Israel need to find their own hero (whoever that is). They can contact Fred and assoicate in this site to provide them with some candidates.
“Huge insult to Iranian people.”
Really? Then you must’ve missed the hugest insult to Iranians who care about their country.
By the way, I don’t care one way or another.
"you will note blogs with titles implying sex or nudity attract the highest number of visitors"
Farsi why are you registered on this site? Is it for pure philosophy ???? Why should it be politics all the time?
Habibi American Beer For You, you Lebanese should check your facts first. Go look at the highest viewed blogs on this site and you’ll see the above statement is factually correct.