So, temple work sits in between voluntary religious service and imperial obligation. For example, Ezra 6 mentions royal decrees ensuring resources for sacrifices, which shows the state's involvement ...

When you reach your 80s you should just kick back, relax, retire and not get excited about things. Right?? Well, meet the ...

AS tensions flare up between modern-day Iran and Israel — through drone warfare, cyberattacks and regional proxy clashes — ...

While a majority of Jedi died in the initial attack, a remarkable few managed to slip through the fingers of the new Galactic ...

In Iran the Foreign Minster, Kamal Karrazi, told Arafat, “No Muslim can allow holy Jerusalem to remain under occupation, and ...

In the Hebrew Scriptures, Cyrus the Great is remembered not as a conqueror but as an unlikely agent of peace. Although he is a foreigner to Israel’s faith, he is called “the Lord’s anointed” in Isaiah ...

The Cyrus Cylinder is often considered the first charter of human rights, inscribed with the words of King Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.

Ezra 3:1-4 records an important post-exilic moment. Though the Second Temple hadn’t been rebuilt, the returning Jews gathered in the ruined Jerusalem in the seventh month. They rebuilt the altar first ...