The Israelites – Persia/Media Captivity And The

African Diaspora In The Indian Ocean Part 1

Genesis 10:22- Elam is Shemitic, the father of the Persians

What happened to Elam? Did they just disappear? No. Their original
names were changed by people like the Greeks and Romans

Genesis 14:1, 9- The origins of Elam; Elam was a superpower in Genesis

The Complete Works Of Josephus, Book 1, Chapter 6, Section 4 (143): Shem,

the third son of Noah, had five sons who inhabited the land that began at
Euphrates and reached to the Indian Ocean

Missionary Herald: there are some reasons to believe that the aboriginal
inhabitants of India were of the family of Shem; and that they came into
India by two routes; One at the northwest across the Indus; the other by sea,
into southwestern India.

The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal: The Origin Of The Indian
Alphabet – We have already referred in this journal to some of the discussions
regarding the origin of that one of the old Indian alphabets which was the
mother of most of the systems of writing which have since been current in
India. A very useful summary of the different views that have prevailed, with
brief criticisms of each, is furnished by Mr. Cust, in the Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society for July. Of the two alphabets, whose ancient forms have been
preserved for us in inscriptions, the northern one is admittedly of Semitic
origin; it is in regard to the South Indian letters that scholars are not in accord

So now we’re building a case that the Persians and Elamites, are the same
Shemitic people

Indus Valley Civilization (Wikipedia): the Indus valley civilization (IVC) was
a Bronze Age civilization in the northwestern regions of South Asia lasting
from 3300 BCE and in this picture form from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. Together
with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of the three early
civilizations of the near east and South Asia and of the three, the most
widespread, it cites spanning an area stretching from northeast
Afghanistan, through much of Pakistan, and into western and
northwestern India. It flourished in the basins of the Indus river, which
flows through the length of Pakistan...

Middle Elamite Period (c. 1500 – c. 1100 BC) - Anshan and Susa: the middle
Elamite period began with the rise of the Anshanite dynasties around 1500 BC
period their rule was characterized by an “Elamization” of Susa, and the kings
took the title “king of Anshan and Susa”. While the first of these dynasties, the
Kidinuids continued to use the Akkadian language frequently in their
descriptions, the succeeding Igihalkids and Shutrukids uses Elamite with
increasing regularity. The Kidinuids (c. 1500 – 1400 BC) are a group of five
rulers of uncertain affiliation. They are identified by their use of the older title,
“king of Susa and of of Anshan”, and by calling themselves “servant of
Kirwashir”, an Elamite deity, thereby introducing the pantheon of the
highlands to Susiana. The city of Susa itself is one of the oldest in the world
dating back to around 4200 BC. Since it’s founding Susa was known as a
central power location for the Elamites and for later Persian dynasties

Daniel 8:2- Shushan (Susa) in Elam

Esther 1:1-2 King Ahasuerus, as a Persian ruler, ruled from the Indus Valley
region

Persians (a section from Wikipedia): In contemporary terminology, people of

Persian heritage native specifically to present day Afghanistan
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are referred to as Tajiks whereas those in the
Caucasus (primarily in the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan and the
Russian federal subject of Dagestan), albeit heavily assimilated are referred
to as Tats. However, historically, the terms Tajik and Tat were used as
synonymous and interchangeable with Persian.

Parsis (from Wikipedia): Parsis or Parsees (which means “Persian” in the

Persian language) are an ethnoreligious group who migrated to the
Indian subcontinent from Persia during the Muslim conquest of Persia of CE
636-651; one of two such groups (the other being Iranis). Zoroastrianism
is the ethnic religion of the Parsi people. According to the Qissa-i Sanjan,
Parsis migrated from the Sasanian Empire to Gujarat (in India), where
they were given refuge, between the 8th and 10th century CE to avoid
persecution following the Muslim conquest of Persia.
At the time of the Muslim conquest of Persia, the dominant religion (which
was ruled by the Sasanian Empire) was Zoroastrianism. Iranians such as
Babak Khorramdin rebelled against Muslim conquerors for almost 200 years.
During this time many Iranians (who are now called Parsis since the
migration to India) chose to preserve their religious identity by fleeing
from Persia to India.
The word pronounced “Parsian”, i.e., “Parsi”, in the Persian language, literally
means Persian. Note that Farsi is an Arabization of thew word Parsi, which is
used as an endonym of Persian, and the Persian language is spoken in Iran,
Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and some other regions of the former Persian
Empire.

From “Persians and Medes”: Expressions like “king of the Persian kingdom”
and “king of the Median kingdom” are a bit misleading. The Medes and the
Persians were coalitions of Iranian nomad tribes (it was a dual empire of 2
different people; they were never Iranians, it was a name that was given to
them.
Genesis 10:2- Madai, son of Japhet

The Complete Works Of Josephus, Book 1, Chapter 6, Section 1 (124):...from

Madai came the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks;

The Greeks always changed the original names of the inhabitants

Zondervan Compact Bible Dictionary, page 335; Madai (Media), a people

descended from Japheth (Gen. 10:2; 1 Chron. 1:5). They occupied the same
area which modern Iran does today and were called the Medes

So both the Persians and the Medes occupied Iran? That means they’re all
mixed in together nowadays, no one can really tell them apart. However,
the Medes are a minority there; the vast majority of the population of the
Indus valley region (Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan) are Persians,
Parsis, which are Elamites today.

Our Foreparents During the Persian-Mede Captivity: Daniel (circa 538 BC)
Ezra, Zerubbabel, Joshua the High Priest, (around the time of Cyrus, also
Cambyses) Esther (around 486 BC in the time of Xerxes [Ahasuerus]) and
Nehemiah (circa 444).
Those that prophecied during this time period: Daniel, Ezra, Haggai,
Zechariah, and Malachi (he didn’t say Nehemiah)

Daniel 8:3- Daniels vision of the Ram; it had two horns (representing the dual
empire of the Medes and Persians); “one was higher than the other” the
Persians were more powerful than the Medes “and the higher came up last”
the medes ruled before the Persians; 4- No beast (Ecclesiastes 3:18- These
beast are kingdoms of men) could stand before them Westward, Northward,
and Southward; they became great (as Cyrus the Great); 15-20- The angels
interpretation of the vision is parallel with thew characteristics of Media and
Persia

Bel and The Dragon 1:1- King Astyages the Mede dies, and Cyrus the Great of
Persia succeeds him.
Median Kings prior to King Cyrus The Great: Deioces (700 – 647 BC),
Phraortes (647 - 625), Scythian rule (624 – 597), Cyaxares (624 – 585),
Astyages (585 – 549)

The second logos of Herodotus’ history deals with Cyrus rise to power.
Herodotus starts his story with a brief account of the origin of the Median
empire needs (in the northwest of modern Iran) were the first to shake off the
yoke of the Assyrians, who used to rule all Asia. Herodotus mentions several
Median kings and states That king Cyaxares “captured Nineveh and subdued
the Assyrians, all except the territory belonging to Babylonia”.
Cyaxares’ son Astyages is the next king of the Medes, and his daughter
Mandane is married to a Persian named Cambyses, a man he knew to be of
a good family and quiet habits. The Persians were subject to the Medes. A
child is born: Cyrus. After some nightmares that predict the baby's future
as Lord of all Asia, Astyages decides to kill the child. Herodotus tells the fairy
tale like story of Cyrus miraculous escape from danger; the boy grows up to
become the bravest and most populaer young man in Persia.
Then, he receives a letter from a Median courtier named Harpagus, who has a
grudge against Astyages and wants to remove him. When Cyrus revolts,
Astyages foolishly make Harpagus the commander of an army against the
rebels. Of course, the Median army defects to the Persians, and Astyages is
imprisoned.(Astyages died in prison) From now on, Cyrus is the king of both
Persia and the large Median empire. As we have seen in the first logos, he
added Lydia a few years later.

Isaiah 44:28- Astyages had a dream of something that was already

prophesied by Isaiah in the Assyrian Captivity (Isaiah lived around 783-715
BC, whereas Cyrus wasn’t even born until about 601)
Isaiah 45:1- Yes, God only deals with Israel, in the sense that we are his
chosen. Cyrus is the Lord’s anointed to set up the Lord’s agenda; rebuilding
Jerusalem (Proverbs 16:1- God controls the king to do his will); “to subdue
nations before him” that’s what it said about the Ram which no nation could
stand before.

Jeremiah 25:12- Jeremiah prophesied of Cyrus God used Cyrus to pusish the
King of Babylon

The Complete Works of Josephus, Book 11, Chapter 1, Section 1 (3)- ...”Thus
saith Cyrus the king: Since God Almighty has appointed me to be king of the
habitable earth,(Cyrus understood it was God which set him up) I believe that
he is that God which the nation of the Israelites worship (he also
understood God is only the God of Israel, not the universe); (4) for indeed he
foretold my name by the prophets, and that I should build him an house
at Jerusalem, in the country of Judaea.” Section 2 (5) - This was known to
Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his
prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret
vision: “My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many
and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my
temple.” (6) this was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years
before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and
admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to
fulfill what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in
Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own
country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, and the temple of God...

Daniel 5:18-28- Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, Peres; the arrogant Grandson of

Nebuchadnezzar had his kingdom taken from him, and given to the Medes and
Persians; 29-31- It says “Darius the Median” took the kingdom, but in, Bel and
the dragon said Astyages was the last Median King. How??
The Complete Works of Josephus, Book 10, Chapter 11, Section 4 (245) -
When Daniel had told the king that the writing upon the wall signified these
events, Belshazzar was in great sorrow and affliction, as was to be expected,
when the interpretation was so heavy upon him. (246) - However, he did not
refuse what he had promised Daniel, although he were become a foreteller of
misfortunes to him, but bestowed it all upon him as reasoning thus that what
he was to reward was peculiar to himself, and to fate, and did not belong to
the prophet, but that it was the part of a good and a just man to give what he
had promised, although the events were of a melancholy nature. (247) -
Accordingly, the king determined so to do. Now, after a little while, both
himself and the city were taken by Cyrus, the king of Persia, who fought
against him; for it was Belshazzar, under whom Babylon was taken, when he
had reigned seventeen years. (248) - And this is the end of the posterity of
king Nebuchadnezzar, as history informs us; but when Babylon was taken by
Darius, and when he, and his kinsman Cyrus, had put an end to the
dominion of the Babylonians, he was sixty-two years old. He was the son of
Astyages, and had another name among the Greeks.

Now we understand the connection between the Medes and Persians, as to

how they became a dual empire: During the rule of the Medes, their king
Astyages had a son, Darius and a daughter, Mandane. Mandane was
married off to a Cambyses of Persia, a kingdom subject to the Medes. Of
them came Cyrus the Great, which became king of Persia, and took the
kingdom of Babylon beside his uncle, Darius. Astyages was imprisoned at
this time for his plots to kill Cyrus; however his Median army defected to
Cyrus’ side and helped take over Babylonia.

Daniel 6:28- This is where the dual empire was set up; Darius and Cyrus
ruled beside each other, “and the higher came up last” meaning the Persians
Became the stronger kingdom

Ezra 4:6- The Medes had already ruled by this time, after Cyrus the Great
became stronger than them Ahasuerus his son (Cambyses II) ruled after him

History of Israel:The neighbors of Jerusalem, accordingly, as soon asever

Cambyses ascended the throne, further contrived to excite his jealousy of the
building of the Temple and of every other sign of vigor displayed by the new
settlemwent, which was still so weak.
Throughout the eight and a half years of the reign of thiskign we have hardly
any further information about Jerusalem; and thi is not surprising in the long
duration of these gloomy times. Accordinfg to the solitary historical work
which has been pron this period, he was called Ahashverosh (in Greek, Xerxes
Xerxes), and the Pseudo-Magian Smerdis, Artshashta (Artaxerxes).

Ezra 4:6- Look in the margin of your 1611, or Cambridge Bible, Ahasuerus in
the Hebrew is called Ahashverosh. Don’t get it confused, this is not that
husband of Esther; he is also called Xerxes, but his name is Cambyses,
although he is not called that in the Bible.

Cambyses ruled from 529 – 522 BC

Ezra 4:7- This is where confusion begins; verses 6 and seven are not the
same person. Verse 6 is Cambyses and Artaxerxes in verse 7 is a different
monarch; 8-24- The Darius in verse 24 is not the same Darius in verse 5, this
is where the confusion starts springing up, because they took the same names

Dictionary of the Holy Bible: ARTAXERXES, Smerdis, Mardus, Sphendadates,

Oropastes. Ahasuerus Cambyses (Showing that Ahasuerus in Ezra is that
Cambyses), while he ravaged Egypt, left Patizithes the Magus to govern the
state. Hearing that Cambyses had murdered his own brother Smerdis,
Patizithes, considering how much his own brother Smerdis resembled the
murdered prince, set him on the throne, in Cambyses’ absence; and gave out
that he was the real brother of the king. Informed hereof, Cambyses marched
homeward to dethrone him; but dying by the way, he begged his nobles to pull
down Smerdis, who he affirmed was not his brother, but a Magian impostor.
To clear the matter with certainty, Ostanes, a nobleman, who knew that the
ears of the Magus had been cut off by Cyrus or Cambyses, procured
information by his own daughter, a concubine of Smerdis, that his ears were
really a-wanting,: he, Darius-Hystaspis, Gobrias, and four other princes, after
binding themselves by an oath to slay the Magus, or perish in the attempt,
rushed into the palace, and killed him and his brother.

During this impostor’s, short reign of five months, Bishlam, Mithredash,

Tabeel, Rehum the chancellor, Shimshai, and their Samaritan tribes, wrote
him a letter, bearing, that Jerusalem had been formerly a very powerful and
rebellious city; and that idf it was rebuilt, he might expect the Jews would
quickly revolt, and deprive him of all his tribute to the West of the Euphrates.
His reply to thisletter imported, that upon inspection of the ancient histories,
he found it to be ax they had suggested it; and ordered them to stop the Jews
rebuilding of either city or temple till they had further orders from him, Ezra.
iv. 7 – 24

So in Ezra 4:6, that Ahasuerus (Ahashvarosh) was Cambyses. During the

same time period, a Magus, Patizithes, set his brother Smerdis up to pose
as Cambyses brother, Smerdis, whom Cambyses himself murdered. This
impostor is the Artaxerxes in verse 7.