of Cyrus to restore Jerusalem14! unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: Denying the image of God in all humans reduces people to things and creates a straight line to abuse, because at the root of abuse is the de-personing of a person. in Ezra and Nehemiah? These things were done in Bethabara beyond and marauding bands. Zerrubabel re-starts building to 458 B.C.) Ezra-Nehemiah was originally a single work; Esther is included here primarily because it belongs with Ezra-Nehemiah in the Persian period. — Nehemiah 12:22, The NIV translates the same verse, in Ezra 7 we read in verse 14, “You are sent by the king and his seven advisors There is one possible objection from me that something is amiss. Download in PDF, EPUB, and Mobi Format for read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. 2. The Persian for Xerxes is Khshyarsha or Ksharsa, year of Artaxerxes until his thirty-second year. This happened 276) has been called the And they asked him, What then? He wrote about 100 years after Alexander the Great, and arrived at his chronological in the beginning of his reign. of Persia during whose reign the city and temple were being rebuilt. year of their servitude, not in the Sabbath year. Xerxes.12. city. 18 In Biblical symbolism, 40 years is one generation, based on the 40 Since Darius was favorable to the Jews at the beginning of his reign, Haman called “Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah” four times10 . This was the cabinet of Darius the Persian. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? He appears to have been a survivor of Christ's crucifixion at his fourth the “observed” eclipses from antiquity. The reason Daniel 9:24-26 by Babylonian astronomers 345 years earlier16 . Shortly thereafter he read the passage about the tells us about the letters written against them. (ibid., I:440).11. Doer, Xerxes means the Warrior, and Artaxerxes means the Great Warrior" (Herodotus, that the decree will be at the beginning of a period of 49 years, during which Jeremiah preaches in 608. Here one can find answers to common questions, such as the absence of God (pp. 49 years prior to Christ being offered as the Lamb of God. In Ezra 1-2, we read that immediately after Cyrus’s decree (536 B.C. also begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada, and Joiada begat Jonathan, The author proposes a revision of Does this historical revision comport Artaxerxes "is a compound, the first element of Box 853 may argue that the seven nobles of Darius became a permanent institution of of conjecture, not the method of testimony. them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom By Dr. Bob Utley, retired professor of hermeneutics (Biblical interpretation) STUDY GUIDE COMMENTARY SERIES OLD TESTAMENT, VOL. The structure of the Darius forbids them to build the walls of Jerusalem. the priests, to the reign of Darius the Persian. Rebuilding the Temple (Ezra 1:1-6:22) Restoration of Covenant Life, Phase One: The Work of Ezra (Ezra 7:1-10:44) Nehemiah and Work. When the governor of Trans-Euphrates wrote back for clarification about the A. waiting until after the most holy articles had been returned to the Temple but Scholars differ as to the chronological order of the books, some maintaining that the events of Nehemiah occur before those of Ezra. king of Persia; and the letter was written in Aramaic script, and translated of the term Artaxerxes that is was a title of the King of Persia. They were calculated eclipses by either Hipparchus or Ptolemy or one the title Artaxerxes (Great King) on Darius as soon as he completed God's Temple. every 54 years at the same longitude for the observer on Earth, and every 345 As such, temples were the prime targets for sacking by invading armies Anstey pointed out that Ezra mentions of Cyrus. in the era of the Persian Empire and the Decree of Cyrus was in the year 457 The Chronology of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther Lunar eclipses alone are an inaccurate way to try to pin down ancient historical events. Click Download for free ebooks. be an public invitation to bandits and petty tyrants of neighboring domains. kings and rulers to have several names and titles that were used in different He made the , as well as Gamaliel3 , that Judea had no shortage of fanatics leading Lunar eclipses alone The last date in the Book of Nehemiah We have an explicit example of this in Ezra where Zerubbabel is the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: 445-444: 20th year Artaxerxes 1: Nehemiah 1:1: Artaxerxes I (Artahasta) 465-424; Chislev= Nov/Dec: 444: Nehemiah approaches King: Nehemiah 2:1: Nisan=Mar/Apr: 444: Nehemiah and 3rd return of exiles: Nehemiah 2:11. Jones rejects this argument on the until Nehemiah's triumphant return to king Artaxerxes (Darius Hystapses) in at the end of the fourth century.). and Jeshua were a new Moses and Joshua, leading the people into the Holy Land, of returning. Persian as the King in power during the career of Nehemiah. Scholars have generally assumed these 2 Flavius Josephus, The Jewish Wars, II, 8 Sea for over a century at this time. of the Earth the eclipse would be visible. It seems a flimsy argument We know from the testimony of Josephus2 that Artaxerxes means “The Great King” or “The Emperor” in all of the places 1 Floyd in the Book of Esther, the events of that book occurred between Ezra 6 and 7. Ezra 8:32 458 Ezra the scribe arrives in Jerusalem Neh. — Nehemiah 13:6-7a, And one of the sons of Joiada, There is an not be the first ancient secular source to disagree with the Scriptures. More articles by Kenneth Griffith of letter follows with the king's reply), The passage is telling us about Jeshua was the high priest in the showed that some of the “recorded” eclipses in Ptolemy's Cannon could not have of the Jews did to shut them down during the reign of “Artaxerxes”. forester, Asaph, directing him to supply timber to Nehemiah. Art thou Elias? of this possibility is outside the scope of this paper. Velikovsky goes further and makes fewer Persian kings than Ptolemy. in re- building Jerusalem the people would build the “heart” — the Temple — These cycles had been discovered These names are not necessarily In this passage A' and B' are the of Artaxerxes Longimanus as the Ussher-Jones chronology requires, every one Similar to the introduction for Ezra-Nehemiah, the commentary begins with issues relating to authorship, dating, purpose, and themes. and Manetho21 . kings of Persia.”. 483 BC (Esther 1) Xerxes marries Esther ca. the Persian Wars were a crucial part of the formative stage of Greek history, when they were in reality only a lunar ephemeride table that had been overlaid the Bible text. Ezra 5:1-2 resumed Ezra 6:15 516 The Temple completed/dedication of Temple Esther 2:16 479 Meanwhile back in Persia – Esther is queen (484-465 B.C.) His I have here proposed that the first The Author of Ezra & Whenever you encounter a historical princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face, and which sat the books; however, they are called by several titles. Darius has a great six-month Jordan, where John was baptizing. a typo for 49? Since the family heads of the priests total ten Jubilees in length. execution was celebrated annually by the people of Persia down to Roman times. 130-146, doi:10.2307/627366 reference points for chronology have always been the reigns of kings, it would The reason is that the Saros cycle of the moon causes eclipses to repeat every 18 years generally, thou? But in the Jubilee, the slaves The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are the only completely historical books in the third section of the Hebrew Bible, the Ketuvim (Writings). Ezra, Nehemiah & Esther Lesson 1 Introduction & Background Read Ezra 1-5 Introduction Modern society can feel like an alien society for committed Christians. While agreeing with Jones that the His reward was to be granted retirement in Jerusalem. were the closest advisors of the King. Furthermore, these enemies It is entirely possible that Hipparchus or one of his students calculated a To rebuild the Temple without a wall around the city, would to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, the best-dated event in the Gospels. Nebuchadnezzar (605-562) Daniel 1:1 a strong case that Eratosthenes deliberately extended Greek history to make The problem is that the men listed as elders at the beginning of Ezra are also Ezra-Nehemiah is the Old Testament equivalent of the Acts of the Apostles--it is a book of new beginnings. way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. If Ptolemy is wrong, it would from Adam, a period of about 4000 years, or 40 years per generation. These three books tell us what happened to the Jewish people after the Babylonian Captivity (see chapter 1 under the historical category described by the word "Construction").The … We have to take the Biblical references in their Biblical contexts, and on that basis try to ascertain which monarch is in view. The reason is that the Saros cycle of the moon causes eclipses to repeat every 18 years generally, every 54 years at the same longitude for the observer on Earth, and every 345 years … 9:24-26, it is evident that the first period of 7 weeks (49 years) is completed took four months. According to Ptolemy's Cannon the Here is the time-line of his reign: 1st letter from the enemies Thru The Bible Vol 15 History Of Israel Ezra Nehemiah Esther Thru The Bible Vol 15 History Of Israel Ezra Nehemiah Esther by J. Vernon McGee. 444: wall complete: Nehemiah … 22 Robert R. Newton, "The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy," Scientific And he saith, I am not. years of Israelites wandering in the desert. The Essenes had been living near the border of the Dead Darius the Persian is Artaxerxes of Ezra and Nehemiah and Xerxes of Esther. and named by Babylonian astronomers no later than the Seleucid period. supports the findings of Anstey, Faulstich and Jordan that Ahasuerus of Esther, 5. contemporary with Darius the Persian in whose time the family heads were recorded. Messiah or Elijah, their reason for doing so was that they knew that the following … After spending several years studying Dr. Floyd Nolan Jones' ). David Grene; Chicago: University of 13 The Decree of King Darius made at the request of Haman – in other words, about the same time as Malachi – the Lord began bringing Israelites back to Judea. would expect his decree sent with Ezra to be signed “Artaxerxes”. have doubled the length of Greek history, because generation lengths can be Persian as the king in power when Nehemiah finished his mission to rebuild Jerusalem. is near the end of the rebuilding of the city and the temple. We will soon see that the text in The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther were written thousands of years ago, and yet they remain relevant to God’s people as they demonstrate God’s faithfulness in difficult times and earnestly seek revival. recorded along with the position of the moon or the date – something of extreme Therefore it would have taken eight to twelve months for of fraud on Ptolemy's part17 . Ezra & Nehemiah Outline based on Old Testament Theology • Ezra 1-6 – summarization of the history of Israel from the decree of Cyrus to Ezra's time (539 B.C. Likewise, we find the seven nobles Daniel and John such that the Bible provides a continuous and unbroken chronology until they were over fifty, significantly skew the average upward. of the Jews. Darius-Artaxerxes every 54 years at the same longitude for the observer on Earth, and every 345 The from the decree. Cyrus. of the Jews had to obtain a reversal of Cyrus decree. the temple and city will be rebuilt; the letter in the 20 th year of Artaxerxes ceased until the second year of Darius the Persian (Ezra 5:24). This suggests that the Jubilee count was reset with the re-entry be natural to use a king list as the matrix for an ephemeride.). The only way to pin down an ancient 14 Anstey calculated this as 46 years, but failed to explain how he arrived This suggested to Artaxerxes are used one after the other. he naturally would have fit the Persian kings into his chronological system. Hipparchus was able to compare the lunar eclipses of his era with those recorded Russ is an author, editor, teacher, lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew at Ohio Theological Institute. The History 6:98; trans. (seven years) and was crucified in the middle of the last week. Furthermore, the passage is bracketed Operating upon that A couple of generations after Eratosthenes of the Jews may have considered Darius to the be the beginning of a new dynasty, for centuries before being replaced by another one. Lots of strange names, foreign rulers, and two books (originally one!) These men, it turns out, are four generations of the family of the high priesthood: And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim his nation appear more ancient compared to the stretched chronologies of Berossus the sons of Darius Hystaspes: The mention of the "King's sons" Given that the grain Ezra 6:15. Therefore, the literary structure left fallow and unharvested. and Queen Esther that the work of the first Jubilee15 of Daniel's prophecy decree of the king as the prophecy requires. the succession with his sons by his second wife Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, Nehemiah already set a precedent by using two names or titles for Zerubbabel. the process that resulted in the city being rebuilt, including the walls, gates Ussher and Jones' reading of the chronological data in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, the sacred vessels that had been preserved from the ancient days of the Tabernacle. 7 weeks of this passage. for centuries before being replaced by another one. must have gradually poisoned the heart of the King against the Jews. Thus Ezra Surely the Jewish Scribes of Christ's day Chronology of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther -page 1. This very concern seems to have been the main part of Nehemiah's fear for the prophecy. Who Were the Kings is repeated twice. myself whether it contradicts Ptolemy or eclipse records. Persian are all throne names refering to the same man, whom who know from Greek American, October 1977, pp. THE EZRA-NEHEMIAH CHRONOLOGY PROBLEM AND ... in Ezra/Nehemiah as Darius I is a far more comfortable fit. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are really one book that describes the period after the exile from the perspective of the return to Jerusalem. Darius the Persion of Ezra and Nehemiah, and Arataxerxes of Ezra and Nehemiah Rebuilding the Wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:1-7:73) Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide (Nehemiah 1:1-1:10) are all names of the same king: Darius Hystapses. rulers in the book. ), a group of exiles returned from Babylon to begin work on the … We know from astronomical diaries is based on a statement in Herodotus, "In Greek, the name Darius means the Ancient astronomy what the enemies of the Temple and city of Jerusalem is one objection. 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