>>They did not; they convinced him that he appeared in their scriptures, and Alexander spared Jerusalem. Then quit.
Wow. No wonder Q says we have more than we know.
That was Cyrus you speak of. The scripture on point, is the Isaiah scroll written hundreds of years before Cyrus was born, but, directly speaks to Cyrus, and documented events in his life, even calls him by name. Proof of this is on the cylinder of Cyrus, London Museum at his own hand.
Lemme help ya out.
The reason the Old Testament is the literal backbone of human history is because the Hebrews were one of the few first writing tribes in the cradle of civilization known is world history classes as "Mesopotamia".
…AND that Hebrew tribe had a crazy religious demand put upon it by their God:
They were required to keep track of the lineage from ADAM to the coming messiah by naming the exact age of the father at the time of the birth of his first born son, and register this info at the temple. (Thus all the "who begot who" stuff most ignore in the Bible when we read it. This stuff, turns out to be critically important to human history)
The whole ancient world knew very that the Hebrews had an unchanging year by year father to son calendar of the history of man, from Adam to Alexander the Great then to Christ, because of this religious requirement.
Alexander the Great took advantage of it 200 years before Christ was born, lucky for all of us.
The Old Testament was canonized at the request of one of Alexander's Generals when Hebrews were asked to assemble the "begetting scrolls" and submit their world history to the great library of Alexandria.
That, is how the old testament was put together.
Today, all of ancient world history can be accurately dated by hanging the branches of events upon the trunk of this immutable calendar.
This, is how we got our old testament. It is a history book, created by the Alexandrian Jews, 200ish years before Christ was born, with all 300 prophecies of Christ in tact when submitted. It was intended to be a history book as well as religious. As a side note, the events in Jesus's life fufilled all 300+ prophecies.
Like Q says, "at what point does it become impossible"
This submission to the Great Library, is called the Jewish Bible aka; the Tanakh. Christians call it the "Old Testament". It is the first half of the Christian Bible. It is what Jesus speaks of when he says the word "scriptures". It is the set of scrolls that Jesus and the Apostles were running around with in the streets teaching from. Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible
Take note:
The Talmud is NOT the Jewish bible.
Never was.
It was created after the Romans sacked Israel, and Israel disappeared. The Talmud is a companion book to the Jewish Bible, in much the way Christians view their many commentaries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud
Be like Alexanders Generals.
Recognize that only one tribe of people still use the same language they did during the earliest writings of mankind. Recognize that those people lived at the center of the ancient trade routs where everyone met at the nearest waters edge on the East side of the Mediterranean, to supply up on water. Recognize the military/literary strategic importance of this land, throughout ancient history.
What would happen if visitors from every nation are passing through, talking about what events are happening in their world trading regions. Consider that these news stories were shared in a nexus of Hebrew scribes. (writers)
History.
The Bible is worth study for that reason alone.
I know Anons do not usually have the time, but, for those who are interested, the lecture by our own retired NSA communications expert Chuck Missler put together a really great two hour study on the origin of the bible and it's history for anyone who wants to round out their education. It is great "sauce".
How We Got Our Bible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZsZLDWWZMs
He also teaches an excellent course where you can get a grasp of the ancient historical text from beginning to end, in 24 one hour sessions, in less than one months time, and it is based on the original Hebrew, not any translation.
The original language is important. Hebrew, Greek, and Romans used letters for numbers. The ORIGINAL bible has math equations that are lost the moment it is translated into any other language.
Learn the Bible in 24 Hours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ3hESj__M8&list=PLRj8AJuzeJRwHdeFua3pzmwPB_JCS0mIq