The Hebrew word for “anointed” is mashiach, “messiah” or “ Christos ( Christ) in Greek. While the title of ‘Christ’ or ‘Messiah’ is a bit hard for us to swallow when attached to a Persian King and that too announced by the prophet Isaiah, the reality was that various figures were ‘anointed’ in ancient Judah; not only kings but also high priests, and occasionally prophets. However, all of them had crucial religious roles. Anointing implicitly reflected a close relationship with God and special divine blessing. So for Isaiah to proclaim the ‘messiahship’ of Cyrus, a foreign conqueror, would have been a shock. How could that office be assumed by a foreign conqueror? So what are we to do with Cyrus, the only non-Israelite leader to be called a messiah? And is the proclamation and title good news or bad news?