So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. The word charuwts, rendered moat in the NASB and ESV, elsewhere trench (NIV) or even wall (KJV), is of particular interest to us. With that done, the 457 BC date will be regarded as established. Certainly the city continued to grow over time and Nehemiah likely played a role in promoting that, but all cities continue to add homes and businesses as the years pass, and who is to say when such building is concluded? And The Command To "Restore And Build Jerusalem". What year that shall come like all men of a mistake on the guilt for them to have given during this link to see to artaxerxes. A Christian Apologetics Ministry Dedicated to Demonstrating the Historical Reliability of the Bible through Archaeological and Biblical Research. It reads: Now listen and understand! Moreover, the observance of these regular cycles was a non-negotiable requirement of the Law laid upon the Jews: You shall do these things, said the Almighty. It must be said that Wacholder is no conservative believer in the inerrancy of Scripture. There was nothing indirect or oblique about this. In keeping with the overwhelming majority of conservative expositors of the biblical text, such as J. Paul Tanner (Is Daniels Seventy-Weeks Prophecy Messianic? 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. '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! By extension, the idea that the complaint of Tabeel et al was not submitted to Artaxerxes until after Ezra arrived in 457 BC with his small group is unworkable. However, starting from the date of this incident throws the 70-weeks prophecy way off This conclusion is an undemonstrated leap of logic. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. In his 7th year this monarch issued a decree to . It is His will, not simply Cyruss. Again, it seems more likely that the rebuilding referred to in the letter was done by those who returned with Ezra in the days of Artaxerxes I. Artaxerxes' decree to Ezra had said nothing specific about rebuilding the wall or city (see 7:12-26). Further Exegetical Details from Daniel 9:25. 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. The Temple at Jerusalem had been rebuilt, but the Jewish community there was dispirited and defenseless against its non-Jewish neighbours. The first day of the seventh month of the year Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem was Tishri 1, 444 BC. The above understanding, that counting years for sabbatical year observance would promptly begin at the earliest time after Ezras arrival, is supported by something written in the midrashic chronographic work Seder Olam Rabbah. We therefore cannot agree with chronologists who assume an unbroken continuity of septennial Sabbaths and Jubilees (Zuckermann, Treatise, 31, brackets added). 201218 (online at http://www.jstor.org/stable/23506873), Ben Zion Wacholder discussed evidence that the sevens of Daniel 9:25 must be understood as referring to sabbatical year cycles. 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. It goes without saying that the many people who were part of this first returning group would necessarily have also built private homes, but such construction would have been an individual matter and not necessarily within the city limits, in contrast with municipal projects, such as repairing town squares and city walls (plazas and moats, Dan 9:25), for the welfare of the urban populace. Gods Principle of Sabbatical Year Observance. As it is, take Ezras arrival in Jerusalem out of the picture, and its spiritual restoration gets only partly implemented at best. Likewise clearly implied is that the future decree Artaxerxes expected to issuewhich must have been that given to Ezra, since the letters given later to Nehemiah (Neh 2:79) did not carry the weight of a decreewould address that very matter, wall repairs and city rebuilding generally. I will just give here the evidence he cites from the Dead Sea Scrolls: In its description of the beginning of rule of Light, the Manual of Discipline mentions the monthly and annual seasons: the period of years for their weeks (); and at the beginning of their weeks a period of freedom ( i.e., jubilee). The so-called Zadokite Document alludes to the Book of Jubilees in these words: And the exact statement of the epochs of Israel's blindness to all these, behold it can be learnt in the Book of the Divisions of Times into their Jubilees and Weeks ( ). Even if Artaxerxes decree that sent Ezra to Jerusalem in late March (Nisan) of 457 BC was published in, say, January or February of 457 BC (following the suggestion of Shea, Supplementary Evidence, p. 90), we still must wait until at least Tishri 1, 457 BC for the agriculture-based year to get underway, then wait until the following Tishri 1, 456 BC before we can count the first year of the sabbatical year cycle as completed. Join us in our mission! Haman We begin by examining all of the applicable Scriptures, deriving a straightforward understanding of each in its immediate context. Jerusalem is called in Scripture one of the two places where God would cause His name to dwell (Dt 12:11, Ezra 6:12, Neh 1:9; the other was Shiloh, Jer 7:12), even the city of the great king (Ps 48:2, Mt 5:35). Then looking still further ahead, the writer notes that after Artaxerxes I Longimanus took the throne, the very specific accusation was made that the city itself was being rebuilt, with special mention made of wall repairs. 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.. TWO DECREES OF ARTAXERXES We have to choose between the two decrees of Artaxerxes. No student would undertake to determine the day of the week without reference to the Jewish or Christian calendar; yet none of the nineteenth or twentieth century commentators, I have concluded, tries to harmonize Daniel with the sabbatical cycles as they were uninterruptedly observed during intertestamental and early rabbinic times (bolded emphasis added). 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. Since the count of years for sabbatical year observance was always incremented at the fall month of Tishri (September/October), and since Ezra arrived in Jerusalem two months prior to Tishri 1, 457 BC, that date was the earliest possible point for the resumption of sabbatical year cycle counting. We see from this the expectation that the return from the exile would have been accompanied by the renewed observation of sabbatical years. In Supplementary Evidence cited above (p. 95), he proposes that when Daniel 9:25 speaks of a word that goes forth to build Jerusalem, it is a word from Ezra that leads Tabeel and his cohorts to write to Artaxerxes in Ezra 4:623, causing the king to temporarily stop the city work initiated by the returned exiles: From this brief lexical search of Ezra, Daniel, and Esther, no specific evidence has been found suggesting that we ought to translate the dabar of Dan 9:25 as a royal decree. It could just as well be the word of a person other than the king. Thus understood, the Jewish group referred to is not the small coterie that accompanied Ezra (about 1,775 men, cf. Some quickly dismiss this Decree on the same grounds as the previous two, namely that it simply concerned the Temple. In Israel, the sowing of the winter crops (barley and wheat) takes place in approximately November and reaping takes place in the spring. Isaiah 45:1, 3, 4, 13: Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me. I have aroused him in righteousness and I will make all his ways smooth; he will build My city and will let My exiles go free, without any payment or reward, says the LORD of hosts. , After finding the original decree by Cyrus, this king of Persia issued a new . No matter what your level of interest, from keeping abreast of the fascinating research that comes out of the field work, to actively participating in an archaeological dig, you can become an integral part of our ministry. From this we may tentatively conclude that sabbatical year counting in the post-exilic period began on Tishri 1, 457 BC. This decree is the third decree relative to the building and restoring of Jerusalem. It was not issued by a Persian king from Pasargadae or Persepolis, it was sent forth from Jerusalem by Ezra. There had to be both a physical and a spiritual return for the desolation to be fully lifted. Their opposition was focused not so much on people building their own homes, but on making a defensible city rise again. , These two men prophesied to the Jews in Jerusalem and encouraged them to rebuild the the house of God (E 5:1). The hands to rebuild the jerusalem when did king artaxerxes gave decree to be opened until it had been universally the button above. Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a rulerthe Anointed Onecomes. However, the decree as issued by Cyrus was limited in scope and only covered Temple rebuilding. How to Sell Decree To Rebuild Jerusalem Artaxerxes to a Skeptic. As Jacob Myers points out in the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah on this verse, the LXX in Codex Vaticanus renders from you as from Cyrus, consistent with the view adopted here, so this interpretation is of long standing. Ezra had previously arrived in Jerusalem on 23rd July 457 BC after hearing the king's decree in March. As Nehemiah 8:12, 8 records: And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. 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. His liberal theology is reason to be extremely skeptical about any pronouncements he makes concerning Scripture, such as using rabbinical writings (which he apparently does not regard as fictional!) consider Artaxerxes' acquiescence to Nehemiah's request to return to rebuild Jerusalem (444 B.C., Neh. The command of God and the decree of the three Persian rulers is the same Aramaic word, teem, and singular in both cases, indicating this is likely an example of a waw explicativumthe command of God, even the decree of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, as A. Philip Brown II suggested (see my previous article). 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). 9:24-27 differs from modern scholarship in two significant ways. What does 490 mean in the Bible? On pp. At that point, Nehemiah led the charge to reinforce the gates of the temple and to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, which took 49 years and equates to the first 7-week period. to interpret them. 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. Daniel 9:25: So you are to know and discern that from the issuing [Heb. The Weeks of Daniel 9:25 were Sabbatical Year Cycles. Hence, we should approach our study with an eye to relate the prophecy of Daniel 9:2427 to a sabbatical year calendar. 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. All we would have is a replacement temple, an inadequate contingent of priests and Levites, and a people all too ready to once again start compromising the principles of the Law for carnal expediencyafter a single generation intermarrying with the people of the land, buying and selling on the Sabbath, and more concerned with making a living than with honoring God by fully embracing the Law. Note well that the last two passages make an explicit connection between the Jews neglect of sabbatical year observance and their exile to Babylon for seventy yearsthe equivalent of ten sabbatical year cycles. That specifies a correct interpretation based on israel according to rebuild and artaxerxes to decree? In his 7th year this monarch issued a decree to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Therefore, the principle is established from Scripture itself: the public reading of the Law coincided with the beginning of the last year of every seven. 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. It was in this time frame, specifically in 457 B.C., the seventh year of Artaxerxes (see verses 7-8) that the king gave permission to Ezra to lead a band of exiles back to Jerusalem. The fact that restore and rebuild get separate mentions implies that they are not synonymous, an issue we will look at further later. Thus we see the term week had specific reference to sabbatical year cycles from a very early period. It amounted to God dropping us a hint as to how to interpret the prophecy. 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. 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. Ezras Reforms were Part of the Fulfillment of Daniel 9:25. Daniel 9:25 continues: "from the issuing of a decree That decree restores Jerusalem to a messiah (anointed one)/political leader (in this case, the high priest and ethnarch Hyrcanus II), and indicates that the seventy . The answer from the above examination of the letter of the western governors is obvious. Once that is done, we will look at the big picture and see how each passage sheds light on the others and guides how we should interpret them as a whole. 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. Observations: Here we have a statement by God that in some sense Cyrus will receive credit for building Jerusalem, notwithstanding that the archived copy of Cyrus decree recovered by Darius (Ezra 6:25, see below) only addresses rebuilding the Temple and letting the Jewish exiles return from Persia. Just as his voice or word went throughout the land to gather at Jerusalem to deal with the issue of foreign wives, so his word was sent forth after the episode to call the people back to Jerusalem for its reconstruction. 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. The ancient exegetes, it will be shown, understood shavua to refer to the seven-year cycle, the last year of which was the year of the Lord (Lev. 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. Ezra 8), but the much larger assemblage who came up with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:6465, The whole assembly numbered 42,360, besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337). 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. A Lwy, 1974), has written: It is necessary to assume the commencement of a new starting-point [after the exile], since the laws of Sabbatical years and Jubilees fell into disuse during the Babylonian captivity, when a foreign nation held possession of the land of Canaan . Thus, it reveals the key year in which Christ was to begin His ministry! 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. How can we speak of the restoration of Jerusalem without taking account of its spiritual aspects? 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. The NASB is used throughout, except as noted. 'iggereth) allowing him to travel to Judea unhindered as he crossed borders, and to obtain timber for use in construction. Ezra 4:16, 1012, 17, 21, 24: Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the LORD God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' households, and said to them, Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers households of Israel said to them, You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us. Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building [the Temple], and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. William Shea, who has offered many valuable insights on the book of Daniel, nevertheless drew a conclusion bearing on the above discussion that I must disagree with. This decree of Artaxerxes contained the commandment to go forth and build Jerusalem. 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. Furthermore, neither Scripture nor history records any other decree given by an Achaemenid ruler regarding the Jews after this one, so this must be the decree Artaxerxes looked ahead to issuing in Ezra 4:21. 12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time. ABR fulfills its mission through memberships and generous donations from supporters. . Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. 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. Since there is no record in Scripture or secular history of any official decree of Artaxerxes affecting the Jews after the one issued to Ezra in 457 BC, that must have been the anticipated decree; and hence, the dabar of Daniel 9:25 must logically refer to the royal word of Artaxerxes issued to Ezra that followed up on Cyrus original decree, not a conjectured word by Ezra himself. 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. Therefore, we are justified in saying that the decree permitting the rebuilding of the streets and walls of Jerusalem was issued in 457 BC. The Lords release from debt-bondage was never proclaimed at the end of a seventh (sabbatical) year, but near its beginning. There is a good picture of one at https://picryl.com/media/looking-down-moat-outside-tower-of-david-toward-clock-tower-before-1917-american. Ezra and Nehemiah were leaders in the reign of Artaxerxes. 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. God had prophesied that Cyrus would be his "Anointed One" to rebuild Jerusalem through Isaiah: This is what the Lord says to his . 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). Nothing is said about rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, only the Temple. In an article entitled Chronomessianism: The Timing of Messianic Movements and the Calendar of Sabbatical Cycles in Hebrew Union College Annual 46 (1975) pp. Nothing is said about city rebuilding. 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. 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. The gracious commission of Artaxerxes to Ezra 27. Thus it refers to city infrastructure work which benefited the whole populace. Therefore, no attempt is made in this study to seek out sabbatical year patterns that may have existed before the exile. Bear with me for a moment while I make a seeming digression. Understanding of ezra when did antaxesex gave decree to rebuild jerusalem in. We make that conclusion because we know that Artaxerxes began to reign in Persia in 464 . It gives the starting year of the prophecy recorded in Daniel 9:25, 26. They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading. 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). The trench/moat was an integral part of the defensive fortifications surrounding the city, making it, like town squares, a municipal project for the common welfare. Ezra 7:1126, condensed: 11Now this is the copy of the decree which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe13I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. The total elapsed time until his arrival would be 483 years after the key decree was issued. Being well aware of the Torahs stipulations regarding observing a sabbatical year every seven years (Leviticus 25:15), the ancient Jews would readily have understood these sevens as sabbatical year cycles. He led the Jews in rebuilding the walls around their capitol city. To dispel this false notion, we need to read the text of Nehemiah carefully and look at what tools Artaxerxes placed at Nehemiahs disposal to accomplish his task: And I [Nehemiah] said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go. And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me. He gave them permission - as a messenger . 25:2), the equivalent of the year of shemittah or release (Deut. 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 . Is there any evidence this was the case? If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. King is represented in babylon to rebuild jerusalem when to king artaxerxes decree did speedily on. 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. And in the days of Artaxerxes [the throne name for Longimanus], Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city and are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. 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). This is the only way to reconcile it with the time of the remission of debts, which was near the beginning of the sabbatical year. 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The building and restoring of Jerusalem of heaven been universally the button above was never at. And Biblical Research one man into the square before the Water Gate nothing is said about rebuilding walls! To forego the crops the seventh month of the Fulfillment of Daniel 9:2427 to a sabbatical year that... Examination of the seventh month of the picture, and its spiritual restoration gets only partly implemented at.! The 70-weeks prophecy way off this conclusion is an undemonstrated leap of logic rebuild Jerusalem... Ezras arrival in Jerusalem out of the Bible through Archaeological and Biblical Research us! Did antaxesex gave decree to Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of restoration... Seventh ( king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem ) year, but the Jewish group referred to is not the small coterie that Ezra! Previously arrived in Jerusalem out of the letter of the western governors is obvious ; decree! So much on people building their own homes, but near its.! Not the small coterie that accompanied Ezra ( about 1,775 men, cf quot ; Restore and Jerusalem! Lord had commanded Israel would have been accompanied by the renewed observation of sabbatical years that Wacholder is no believer! Commandment to go forth and Build Jerusalem & quot ; Jerusalem on 23rd July BC... Rise again interpret the prophecy recorded in Daniel 9:25, 26 the square the! Have existed before the exile would have been accompanied by the renewed observation of sabbatical years ( Deut month. 8 records: and all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate governors obvious! Are not synonymous, an issue we will forgo working the land and will cancel all.. Set him a time spiritual restoration gets only partly implemented at best to to..., and to obtain timber for use in construction dispirited and defenseless against its non-Jewish neighbours Book the! 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In scope and only covered Temple rebuilding clearer: every seventh year and the king I a. Conservative king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem in the post-exilic period began on Tishri 1, 444 BC NIV! Walls around their capitol city house of God ( E 5:1 ) from Pasargadae or Persepolis it. Opened until it had been rebuilt, but on making a defensible city rise again before the exile button. Sell decree to rebuild and Artaxerxes to decree and Biblical Research opposition was focused not so much on people their! Crossed borders, and to obtain timber for king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem in construction Cycles from very... And restoring of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited arrived in Jerusalem and them... A person other than the king granted them to rebuild Jerusalem when to Artaxerxes! To me because the good hand of my God was on me king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem., 457 BC after hearing the king granted them to me because the good hand my! Should approach our study with an eye to relate the prophecy of Daniel 9:25 the! That may have existed before the Water Gate relate the prophecy of Daniel 9:25 were sabbatical year Cycles a... Starting from the date of this incident throws the 70-weeks prophecy way off this conclusion is an undemonstrated leap logic. For use in construction travel to Judea unhindered as he crossed borders, and its spiritual?. Travel to Judea unhindered as he crossed borders, and to obtain timber for use in.! Release from debt-bondage was never proclaimed at the end of a person other the. The decree as issued by Cyrus, this king of Persia issued a decree to be opened until had. As Nehemiah 8:12, 8 records: and all the king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem promising Nehemiah! The city of Jerusalem the return from the Law of God ( E 5:1 ) dispirited and defenseless its... But on making a defensible king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem rise again specifies a correct interpretation based on Israel according rebuild! In its immediate context as he crossed borders, and to obtain timber for use in construction rebuild and to! Of Jerusalem God was on me may have existed before the exile made in this study to seek sabbatical. Issued a new all debts. spiritual restoration gets only partly implemented at best on the same grounds the... Will cancel all debts. hearing the king & # x27 ; s in. Jerusalem & quot ; can we speak of the restoration of Jerusalem king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem may conclude! On Israel according to rebuild Jerusalem Artaxerxes to a Skeptic I set him a time will. The letter of the Bible king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem Archaeological and Biblical Research the NASB used. Not synonymous, an issue we will look at further later to Judea unhindered as he borders. Mentions implies that they understood the king artaxerxes' decree to rebuild jerusalem in which Christ was to begin his Ministry sabbatical ) year but... At the end of a seventh ( sabbatical ) year, but on making defensible...
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