On October 31 in 539 BC, Cyrus knocked on the door of Babylon and conquered its kingdom. In decreeing that the Jewish exiles return to Israel, Cyrus empowered a determination in Judaism to never depart from their covenant with God.
During this period known as Second Temple Judaism, Scriptures were collected and gathered into the Old Testament, and synagogues were formed to center God’s people on their Scripture and proper worship. In surprising ways, what king Cyrus helped do served as a model for the Protestant Reformation, 2,000 years later.