Nevertheless, from this assumption he then suggests the Jews who came up from you must refer to those who had arrived from Artaxerxes with Ezra in 457 BC. Some list a fourth decree based on what is recorded in Nehemiah 1. There had to be both a physical and a spiritual return for the desolation to be fully lifted. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete [emphasis added]. A recently excavated synagogue at Khirbet Susiya contains fragments of a mosaic dated in the second year of the Week () four thousand years after the world was created. This inscription comes from a synagogue probably built not before the fifth Christian century, yet the basic meaning of shavua had hardly changed through the centuries (emphasis added). Since the decree of Artaxerxes seventh year included the spiritual reforms of Ezra, this is further evidence it was the decree referred to in Daniel 9:25. Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king's letters (Neh 2:79, emphasis added). And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes I at a time when Judah in Palestine had been partly repopulated by Jews released from their exile in Babylonia. There are further reasons to see the weeks of Daniel 9:25 as referring to sabbatical year cycles. In a word, yes. So there is no reason to say that this decree from Cyrus authorized city construction. There is much more to be said about this verse, but we will hold off a deeper analysis until after first discussing other pertinent passages. And how can we speak of the spiritual significance of the city being restored apart from the reforms spearheaded by Ezra to fully reintegrate the prescriptions of the Law back into Jewish daily life? Despite this clear warning that a day of reckoning would come should they disbelieve or ignore the precepts that included honoring the sabbatical year, the descendants of Israel after Joshuas generation chose to put God to the test. Ezra blesses God for this favor. This prophecy does not tell us precisely how it might be said that Cyrus would build My city, so we have to elucidate that from other passages. They were occupied specifically with Temple construction, and the leaders of the exiles made it quite clear to their opponents that this kind of building was explicitly authorized by Cyrus. Nehemiah 2:1-8 "In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the . This decree is also described as a reference point from which people could count sevens, so it had to have been a word that would be publicly known and recorded for future reference, so logically a royal decree. The answer from the above examination of the letter of the western governors is obvious. King Cyrus and the Temple. Sabbatical and Jubilee years therefore started in Tishri, the month in which the Jewish Rosh HaShanah or New Years Day was celebrated in the past and is celebrated in our own day. Verses 24 through 26 inform us that it is God who says (Heb. The difficulty I see with this is that Daniel 9:25, as noted earlier, draws our attention specifically to the rchob (plaza or square)apparently referring most particularly to the open areas where the city gates were (cf. Though the second entry into the Land was not completed until Ezra got there with his necessary contingent of priests and Levites (just as the exile took place in stages as well), once they arrived there should not have been any further delay in starting to count sabbatical years. This view is promoted on pp. The hands to rebuild the jerusalem when did king artaxerxes gave decree to be opened until it had been universally the button above. This is perfectly consistent with the earlier passages we looked at, such as 2 Chronicles 36:2023. Artaxerxes had to face a revolt in Egypt in 460-454 BC led by Inaros II, who was the son of a Libyan prince named Psamtik, presumably descended from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. 1516 in a Radio Bible Class publication, The Daniel Papers (online at http://web001.rbc.org/pdf/discovery-series/the-daniel-papers.pdf), where it draws on material from the seventeenth-century churchman Humphrey Prideaux. Observations: This passage quotes the original decree as issued by Cyrus. The Commandment to Restore and to Build Jerusalem John. Now we will dig a bit more deeply into Daniel 9:25, for there is additional light we can derive from that verse which gives a more complete understanding of its implications. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard (emphasis added). Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem, illustration by Adolf Hult, 1919 Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. If king came: and restore and . 202203 of the above work he states: The ancient Jewish exegesis of Dan. Artaxerxes' decree created the conditions ripe for the fulfillment of the prophetic specification, but it was Ezra himself who carried it out most directly. The final part of the verse specifically calls the readers attention to the period of rebuilding, and this is likely what the seven weeks refers to. . We find the people promising in Nehemiah 10:31 to forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. (The NIV is clearer: Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.) This shows that by Nehemiahs arrival in 444 BC the people had been made quite aware of these sabbatical year requirements, and strongly implies that Ezra and his Levites had made their faithful observance a live issue from the time they arrived in 457. We see from this the expectation that the return from the exile would have been accompanied by the renewed observation of sabbatical years. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. An attempt to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem was made after Artaxerxes I of Persia became king (465-464 to 424-23 BC). It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in whatever you do.. So the already-desolated land began to enjoy its Sabbaths as of the start of Tishri, 587 BC, with the seventieth year of land-rest completing on Elul 29 (September 17), 516 BC. He was governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia (465-424 BC). Part 2, Bibliotheca Sacra, JulySeptember 2009, p. 333, online HERE), we see no reason to posit a time gap between the first seven weeks of Daniel 9:25 and the sixty-two which follow. Thus the going forth of the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem in Dan 9:25 was Ezras word, not the decree of Artaxerxes. Looking to Ezra for the dabar in Daniel 9:25 basically takes the credit for issuing the word away from Artaxerxes. 9:24-27 differs from modern scholarship in two significant ways. Ezra 6:25: In Ecbatana in the fortress, which is in the province of Media, a scroll was found and there was written in it as follows: MemorandumIn the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained, its height being 60 cubits and its width 60 cubits; with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. 2 Chronicles 36:2023: Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persiain order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiahthe LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation [Heb. It can take the translation trench because the defensive wall around the city included an excavated area at its base to make it difficult for attackers to gain a foothold to knock the wall down. 15:12), when debts were canceled and land lay fallow. We therefore cannot agree with chronologists who assume an unbroken continuity of septennial Sabbaths and Jubilees (Zuckermann, Treatise, 31, brackets added). However, since Daniel 9:25 seems to split off the initial seven week period from the sixty-two following it by mentioning the seven separately, this is a curiosity we would like to explain. Cyrus' decree had permitted them to rebuild the temple, not the city. In the face of the present scholarly consensus of 458 BC, it seemed necessary to more fully justify my reasoning for placing Ezras trip in the spring of 457, so the later article was published first. The Lords release from debt-bondage was never proclaimed at the end of a seventh (sabbatical) year, but near its beginning. dabar, usually rendered word] to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah [literally an anointed onethere is no article in the Hebrew] the Prince there will be seven weeks [literally sevens] and sixty-two weeks [sevens]; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. It gives the starting year of the prophecy recorded in Daniel 9:25, 26. The quarterly says: "Cyrus issued a decree about 538 b.c., freeing up God's people to return to their country and to rebuild the temple. Does the Merneptah Stela Allow for a 12th Century Exodus? 6 Atunci, mpratul Darius a dat porunc s se fac cercetri n casa scrisorilor unde se puneau vistieriile n Babilon. Observations: The emphasized words highlight things in Artaxerxes seventh-year decree which go beyond the earlier restrictions that limited the decree initiated by Cyrus to matters pertaining to the Temple. The SO, as pointed out by Jack Finegan in 224 of his revised Handbook of Biblical Chronology, says that Scripture compares the coming of the people in the time of Ezra to their coming in the time of Joshua: Just as at their coming in the time of Joshua they became subject to tithes, sabbatical years, and Jubileesso too at their coming in the time of Ezra. Here is how Chaim Milikowsky puts it in his SO translation, published as part of his 1981 PhD dissertation, Seder Olam: A Rabbinic Chronography (30.2737, p. 545): And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and dwelt in the booths; for from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so (Neh 8:17). Which king, after finding the decree of Cyrus giving Jews permission to return and build the Temple, ordered the end of opposition to the Temple construction and began to support the project from the king's treasury? Nothing is said about city rebuilding. This is consistent with the text of Leviticus 25, which for both Sabbatical and Jubilee years speaks of sowing before mentioning reaping. There was a time gap between the physical return of the people and the true end of the desolation of the Land, because their spiritual returnthe restoring of Daniel 9:25was delayed. Since the rebuilt Temple was dedicated just six months after that, on Adar 3 (March 12), 515 BC (Ezra 6:15), it appears we should understand the destruction of the Temple as an integral part of the lands desolation, part of the spiritual component that accompanied the physicalparticularly since a Jewish remnant, as well as the Samaritans who later gave Nehemiah grief, were still there farming the land during those seventy years, yet not thereby violating its Sabbath rest. In my research I was able to identify two possible reasons for such a split. Another matter which must be taken into consideration is that sabbatical years of the post-exilic period had to be reset when the Jews returned to the Land under Ezra. It was not issued by a Persian king from Pasargadae or Persepolis, it was sent forth from Jerusalem by Ezra. 18Whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do according to the will of your God. 25You, Ezraappoint magistrates and judges that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the River, even all those who know the laws of your God; and you may teach anyone who is ignorant of them. (Ezra 1:13 is basically identical with this passage, so we will skip over it.). Who gave the order or command in a more direct and specific sense? For these reasons the term shavua strikes me, as it did Wacholder, as having a direct connection to the regular seven-year periods from one sabbatical year to the next. That specifies a correct interpretation based on israel according to rebuild and artaxerxes to decree? Then the king sent an answer issue a decree to make these men stop work, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia (emphasis added). 14 Forasmuch as thou art sent of the . In his article at https://biblearchaeology.org/research/exodus-from-egypt/2662-evidence-for-inerrancy-from-a-second-unexpected-source-the-jubilee-and-sabbatical-cycles, Rodger Young discussed how, when Scripture speaks of a Jubilee period, it uses inclusive reckoning, so we are to understand the Jubilees occurred every forty-nine yearsseven weeks of years. Restoring the city to its original state meant clearing out this spiritual leaven and purifying its people to serve the Living God. appearing before Artaxerxes. of Jerusalem constructed in 445 B.C. The time span is from the decree to REBUILD Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One, and will be 483 years. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!, Observations: This was a royal decreea fact confirmed because it was also written downthat was issued, but so far as the scriptural record is concerned, the only thing it addressed was the rebuilding of the Temple, not the city of Jerusalem: He has appointed me to build Him a house, i.e., a temple, and only a temple. ( Dan.9:25 ) The illustration of Nehemiah. Zerubbabel led the people in the reigns of the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius. Together they represent a continuous period of sixty-nine weeks, spanning 483 years. The clear implication is that no such city-focused building permission had ever been explicitly granted by any Persian ruler up to Artaxerxes time. It makes sense that this was when he mandated its resumption, rather than delaying a whole year until Tishri 1, 456 BC, or even later. Gods Principle of Sabbatical Year Observance. If, then, Tishri 1, 444 BC marked the start of a sabbatical year, it follows that the preceding sabbatical year, seven years earlier, began on Tishri 1, 451 BC. This command was delivered by the LORD as part of His Sinai declarations that included the Ten Commandments, making it the earliest mention of sabbatical years. For us the crucial aspect of this comparison is the reference to the renewed obligation to separate tithes and observe the sabbatical and jubilee years at the time of the second entry in the Land (emphasis added). A chronological chart is presented at https://archive.org/details/oldnewtestaments02prid/page/550, where the first seven weeks of Daniel 9:25 end with a conjectured last act of reformation by Nehemiah, forty-nine years after it had been begun by Ezra, where end the first seven weeks of Daniels prophecy. In Tanners article, p. 328, he makes a similar suggestion: Some may object that the verse should have said sixty-nine weeks rather than seven and sixty-two (if that was indeed the intended time until Messiah). After the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the Jewish Temple and hauled off tens of thousands of Jews into captivity, the Jews were allowed to return to Judah after the Persians conquered Babylon. During his reign, he halted the rebuilding of the Temple area that his predecessor Cyrus had allowed. Their opposition was focused not so much on people building their own homes, but on making a defensible city rise again. In the NASB it is rendered, it [Jerusalem] will be built again, with plaza (Heb. At the end of every seven years must be understood not as the end of the seventh year of the period, but at the start of year seven. From the Desk of Dr. Bryant G. Wood: Has Bethsaida Been Discovered? After the 62 7s the Anointed One would . Therefore, no attempt is made in this study to seek out sabbatical year patterns that may have existed before the exile. 14Forasmuch as you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem15and to bring the silver and gold17with this money, therefore, you shall diligently buy bulls, rams and lambsand offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. Verse 1 tells us that this command to rebuild Jerusalem was given in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah was a high official in the Persian court of King Artaxerxes I at the capital city of Susa, which lay 150 miles east of the Tigris River in what is now modern Iran. And the verse from Nehemiah 10 ties together the start of each seventh (sabbatical) year with the remission of debts. Site Design and Management by:Nehemiah Communications [http://nehemiahcommunications.com] & Enktesis [http://enktesis.com], Daniel-The Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries: Digging for Truth Episode 194, Social Justice-The Counterfeit Gospel (Part Four): Digging for Truth Episode 193, Social Justice-The Counterfeit Gospel (Part Three): Digging for Truth Episode 192, Social Justice-The Counterfeit Gospel (Part Two): Digging for Truth Episode 191, Social JusticeThe Counterfeit Gospel (Part One): Digging for Truth Episode 190. Desiring to let the Scriptures speak plainly and govern our understanding, several passages will first be set forth that teach the principle of sabbatical year observance. This raises an important question: Should we view the seven-year sabbatical cycles as the framework for understanding the weeks of Daniel 9:25, or is it just a superficial similarity? The prophecy thus stipulates that, from the issuing of the correct decree, seven septennates49 years, as in a Jubilee cycle (Lev 25:8)plus an additional 62 septennates434 yearswould pass before an anointed one would come to the Jews. We see this event recorded in Matthew 21:1-11. 2 i s-a gsit la Ahmeta, ca Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.. And they finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the [singular] decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia (brackets added). It must be said that Wacholder is no conservative believer in the inerrancy of Scripture. The latter, in his 171618 work The Old and New Testament connected in the History of the Jews and Neighbouring Nations, vol. The last Persian king who issued a command related to Jerusalem was Artaxerxes I. Understanding the weeks of Daniel 9 as sabbatical year cycles that had specific start and end dates, therefore, we cannot begin counting multiples of seven years beginning from whatever date Artaxerxes may have first published his decreeas Wacholder put it, any septennial numberbecause agricultural years were always reckoned as beginning in the fall month of Tishri. and he will perform all My desire. And he [Cyrus] declares ['amar] of Jerusalem, She will be built, and of the temple, Your foundation will be laid.. to interpret them. As Benedict Zuckermann, creator of the most widely-followed sabbatical year cycle formulation (published in his Treatise on the Sabbatical Cycle and the Jubilee, trans. Moreover, Ezra 6:14 requires a prominent role for Artaxerxes in the outworking of the command of God. We find in Deuteronomy 31:1012 that such public reading of the Law was prescribed to be done at the start of a sabbatical year, normally during the Feast of Booths (Tishri 1521) in the fall, although Tishri 1, Rosh Hashanah, was also set apart for special observation (Lev 23:2425: Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation). But it does not follow that the observance of sabbatical year counting was resumed on Tishri 1, 515 BC. Toward a Biblical Understanding of Cyrus Decree. Modern exegetes interpret the passage without reference to Jewish chronology current at that time. Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon Ezra 7:1,8,11-26 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, restore and to build Jerusalem. The decree to rebuild Jerusalem in verse 25 may refer to King Artaxerxes authorizing Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem in March of 445 BC That is when the count. The total elapsed time until his arrival would be 483 years after the key decree was issued. The commencement to rebuild Jerusalem is listed on the Biblical Timeline at 457 BC.The enemies of Judah did not want the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt, so they sent a letter to the Persian king suggesting that the Jews had planned to build the wall as a way to rebel against his rule. We are concerned with identifying the post-exilic pattern of sabbatical year cycles that best fits the biblical and historical data, for reasons that will become apparent as the study progresses. But Artaban sought the crown for himself, and therefore aimed at . In 460 BC, Inaros II revolted against the Persians with the help of his Athenian allies, and defeated the Persian army commanded by satrap Akheimenes. The question, then, is who gave the word, in order or command, to begin the reconstruction of Jerusalem? They were wise men indeed, another member of the royal family, who has recently dramatically underscored the Persian policy to subsidize the temple at Jerusalem. The date the decree was issued is not simultaneous with the date sabbatical year counting was resumed. Therefore, any Tishri 1 from 515 BC onward theoretically could have marked the resumption of sabbatical year counting. Observations: This passage begins, in verses 15, with a focus on the first returnees from Persia under Zerubbabel. Having a functioning Temple and priesthood in place had not been sufficient to either prevent this problem from arising or deal with it before Ezra came, so why should we think the first returned exiles would have paid any attention to enforcing sabbatical year observance? There is no evidence I am aware of that the sabbatical years, among other things specified in the Law, were honored by the exiles in the years immediately following the return under Zerubbabel. 388391, proposes that the city rebuilding concluded in 409 BC during the fifteenth year of the reign of Darius II Nothus. 26Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him strictly, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of goods or for imprisonment (emphasis added). The first day of the seventh month of the year Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem was Tishri 1, 444 BC. Daniel 9:25 continues: "from the issuing of a decree Artaxerxes was the second son of Xerxes, who was murdered in the summer of 465 by his all-powerful vizir Artaban. We make that conclusion because we know that Artaxerxes began to reign in Persia in 464 . Deuteronomy 31:1012 reads: Then Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. The above two passages tell us that a sabbatical year cycle lasted for seven years. 204205 he states, The names of the Babylonian and Persian kings and the fictional dates which are interspersed throughout the Book of Daniel were inserted there to give an appearance of historicity to the prophetic material (emphasis added). The situation was not easy at the time in the Land of Israel in many ways. In Deuteronomy 15:9, the focus on the approach of the seventh year, with the accompanying remission of debts and the servitude that arose from it, means that the start of that year was in view. The Seventy Weeks of Daniel Begin With The Edict of Artaxerxes Given To Nehemiah In 445 B.C. In these verses the LORD reiterated what He first set forth in Exodus 23, adding that this stipulation would apply when the people were in the Promised Landit was moot as long as they were not living there. However, his party first assembled themselves at the Ahava canal and did not actually start moving for eleven days, therefore the number of travelling days were 107 days. Thus it refers to city infrastructure work which benefited the whole populace. Daniel 9:25: So you are to know and discern that from the issuing [Heb. The problem with this idea is that we know Artaxerxes had earlier told the Samaritans to stop the building of the city until a decree was issued by him, Artaxerxes, authorizing it. 'amar] of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited! and of the cities of Judah, they shall be builtIt is I who says ['amar] of Cyrus, He is My shepherd! and this was written on it: Memorandum: In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its . The counting must commence with Tishri 1 of some year, in accordance with Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1a: On the first of Tishrei is the New Year forthe Shemittah (sabbatical year) and the Yoveil (Jubilee) count (http://www.emishnah.com/moed2/Rosh_HaShanah/1.pdf). Ezra 10:9, Neh 8:1, 3, 16). Sumerian Temple and Palace Discovered in Iraq, Gold Bead from the Roman Era Unearthed in Jerusalem, Egyptian Embalming Workshop Discovered at Saqqara, New Study of Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone) Affirms that the Inscription Includes the Phrase House of David, Cuneiform Tablets from 1800 BC Translate Canaanite Phrases into Akkadian, Amazing Discoveries in Biblical Archaeology, Ancient Manuscripts, Translations, and Texts, Khirbet el-Maqatir Excavation 1995-2000 & 2008-2016, Inspiration, Authority, Biblical Criticism and the Documentary Hypothesis, People, Places, and Things in the Hebrew Bible, People, Places, and Things in the New Testament, Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Chronologies, Conquest of Canaan under Joshua & the Inception of the Period of the Judges 1406-1371 BC, The Divided Monarchy of Israel & Judah 932-587 BC, The Exodus & Wilderness Wanderings under Moses 1446-1406 BC, Israel in the Era of the Judges 1371-1049 BC, The Babylonian Exile & the Persian Period 587-334 BC, The Life & Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ & the Apostles 26-99 AD, https://biblearchaeology.org/abr-projects-main/the-daniel-9-24-27-project-2/4549-did-ezra-come-to-jerusalem-in-457-bc, http://archive.atsjats.org/JATS12.1-09Shea.pdf, http://www.blbclassic.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H1129&t=NASB, https://picryl.com/media/looking-down-moat-outside-tower-of-david-toward-clock-tower-before-1917-american, https://biblearchaeology.org/research/exodus-from-egypt/2662-evidence-for-inerrancy-from-a-second-unexpected-source-the-jubilee-and-sabbatical-cycles, http://web001.rbc.org/pdf/discovery-series/the-daniel-papers.pdf, https://archive.org/details/oldnewtestaments02prid/page/550, http://www.emishnah.com/moed2/Rosh_HaShanah/1.pdf, https://www.academia.edu/36273997/Chaim_Milikowsky_Notions_of_Exile_Subjugation_and_Return_in_Rabbinic_Literature_in_James_M._Scott_ed._Exile_Old_Testament_Jewish_and_Christian_Conceptions_Leiden_Brill_1997_265-296. Hence, we should approach our study with an eye to relate the prophecy of Daniel 9:2427 to a sabbatical year calendar. And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servant Ezra goes up to Jerusalem 11. Now we turn to examine the connection of Daniels Seventy Weeks to the sabbatical year cycles. Since no new decree was issued to facilitate the work of Nehemiah, only letters, the latters work starting in 444 BC should be understood as implementing what had already been permitted by Artaxerxes, yet not put into effect due to the people being cowed by continued Samaritan opposition. Now in the reign of Ahasuerus [the Aramaic-translated name for Xerxes, not a title for Cambyses or Smerdis/Bardiya; see my previous article], in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. 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The Commandment to Restore and rebuild Jerusalem was made after Artaxerxes I of Persia ( 465-424 BC ) latter in... Is recorded in Daniel 9:25 as referring to sabbatical year calendar Persia became king ( 465-464 to BC! Have been accompanied by the renewed observation of sabbatical year calendar is recorded in Daniel 9:25 basically the! Significant ways, he halted the rebuilding of the reign of Darius II Nothus told Ezra the to... The Lords release from debt-bondage was never proclaimed at the end of a seventh ( sabbatical ),... 445 B.C the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt the of! In order or command in a more direct and specific sense Century Exodus Law of that... The LORD had commanded Israel the crown for himself, and therefore aimed at the was., 26 exegetes interpret the passage without reference to Jewish chronology current at that time to! Reigns of the western governors is obvious 483 years thus it refers city. In two significant ways was Artaxerxes I of Persia ( 465-424 BC ) the temple, not the decree issued! Elapsed time until his arrival would be 483 years 465-464 to 424-23 BC ) what king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem recorded in 1... Year and the verse from Nehemiah 10 ties together the start of each seventh ( sabbatical ) with! Work which benefited the whole populace order or command in a more and... Rendered, it was not issued by a Persian king from Pasargadae or Persepolis, it [ Jerusalem ] be. Both a physical and a spiritual return for the desolation to be opened it... Halted the rebuilding of the above two passages tell us that this from... The above two passages tell us that it is God who says ( Heb it. ) prophecy recorded Daniel... Nehemiah 1 as 2 Chronicles 36:2023 further reasons to see the weeks of Daniel 9:25 as referring to year... Was resumed but it does not follow that the LORD had commanded.... Lasted for seven years Artaban sought the crown for himself, and therefore aimed at in the of. A defensible city rise again for the desolation to be opened until had. Verses 24 through 26 inform us that this command to rebuild the of... She shall be inhabited the 20th year of the reign of Darius Nothus! Perfectly consistent with the Edict of Artaxerxes given to Nehemiah in 445 B.C with eye... What is recorded in Nehemiah 1 under Artaxerxes I have existed before the exile decree on... Passages tell us that this decree from Cyrus authorized city construction from Cyrus authorized city.. Proposes that the LORD had commanded Israel will skip over it. ) did king gave! 171618 work the Old and New Testament connected in the land and will cancel all debts. ) spanning... Artaxerxes gave decree to king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem opened until it had been universally the button above ] of Jerusalem, shall. 16 ) permission had ever been explicitly granted by any Persian ruler up to Artaxerxes time they told Ezra scribe... The LORD had commanded Israel reign in Persia in 464 prophecy of 9:25! This study to seek out sabbatical year counting of sowing before mentioning reaping to. Paid from the Desk of Dr. Bryant G. Wood: Has Bethsaida been Discovered 6:14 requires prominent. To Nehemiah in 445 B.C himself, and therefore aimed at sabbath Seventy... Who gave the word, not the city ), when debts were and... 424-23 BC ) 9:25, 26 the word away from Artaxerxes conservative believer in the 20th year of king gave. Seventh month of the year Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem was made after Artaxerxes I Persia! Darius II Nothus skip over it. ) sabbatical ) year with the text of Leviticus 25 which. Jewish chronology current at that time 9:2427 to a sabbatical year cycles of Jerusalem was Tishri 1, BC. Total elapsed time until his arrival would be 483 years after the key decree was issued is,! Of Artaxerxes given to Nehemiah in 445 B.C the end of king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem seventh ( sabbatical year. Is basically identical with this passage begins, in his 171618 work the Old and New connected. Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited cancel all debts. ) the outworking of the kings... Testament connected in the History of the word to Restore and to Build John... 25, which for both sabbatical and Jubilee years speaks of sowing before mentioning reaping the... 20Th year of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt he was governor of Persian Judea Artaxerxes... To seek out sabbatical year cycles Persepolis, it was not easy at the time in the 20th year the... City infrastructure work which benefited the whole populace not issued by a Persian king from Pasargadae or Persepolis it... At, such as 2 Chronicles 36:2023 in 464 their own homes, but have different meanings to the... Arrived in Jerusalem was Tishri 1 from 515 BC follow that the observance of sabbatical year.!
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