10. In what way was Cyrus “anointed,” and how could Jehovah speak to him more than a hundred years before his birth?

¹⁰ Notice that Jehovah speaks to Cyrus as if he is already alive. This harmonizes with Paul’s statement that Jehovah “calls the things that are not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17) Also, God identifies Cyrus as “his anointed one.” Why did he do that? After all, Jehovah’s high priest never poured holy anointing oil on Cyrus’ head. True, but this is a prophetic anointing. It indicates an induction into a special office. So God could speak of his advance appointment of Cyrus as an anointing.—Compare 1 Kings 19:15-17; 2 Kings 8:13.

12, 13. How did Jehovah’s words through his messenger Isaiah come true when Babylon fell to Cyrus?

¹² But not those Jewish captives who had faith in Jehovah! They had a bright hope. Through his prophets, God had promised to liberate them. How did God fulfill his promise? Cyrus ordered his armies to divert the Euphrates River at a point several miles north of Babylon. Thus, the city’s chief defense was turned into a relatively dry riverbed. On the crucial night, carousing revelers in Babylon carelessly left open the two-leaved doors along the Euphrates waterfront. Jehovah did not literally break the copper doors in pieces; nor did he cut down the iron bars that closed them, but his marvelous maneuvering to keep them open and unbarred had the same effect. Babylon’s walls were useless. Cyrus’ troops did not have to scale them to get inside. Jehovah went before Cyrus, smoothing out “the swells of land,” yes, all obstacles. Isaiah was proved to be God’s true messenger.