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.. Scriptural Support for the Decree of Daniel 9:25. 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. 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. 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. 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. That the first division of Daniels seventy weeks was likewise forty-nine years long implies that each septennate period was not just some arbitrary period of seven years, but specifically a sabbatical year cycle. This is hard to believe. This means that the primary authorization for Nehemiahs work must be traced back to the decree of Artaxerxes seventh year, which he anticipated issuing earlier in Ezra 4:21: this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. There was no known decree between the time that statement was made and Nehemiahs arrival, except that of Ezra 7:11 ff, the decree which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe. This was the decree that authorized the rebuilding prophesied in Daniel 9:25, and it was issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes. to interpret them. The response of the Samaritans was to oppose the Temple construction efforts all through the days of Cyrus, through the reigns of Cambyses and Smerdis/Bardiya that followed him, and into the second year of Darius Hystaspes (Ezra 4:24), who decreed capital punishment upon any who would hinder the Temples completion (Ezra 6:11). Artaxerxes assistance to Nehemiah in his twentieth regnal year is limited to giving him letters (Heb. 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). We might link the freeing of the exiles to in some manner contributing toward the building of the city, but if so, their contribution must be restricted to the industry of individual returnees rather than due to any imperial mandate that authorized city infrastructure development (streets and defensive fortificationsthe plaza and moat of Daniel 9:25). Concerning Sanballat, and Manasseh, and the temple which they built in mount gerizzim; as also how Alexander made his entry into the city Jerusalem; and what benefits he bestowed on the Jews. Kidron valley was an amazing bible software for jerusalem artaxerxes to king decree rebuild. 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. 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. 20 Gifts You Can Give Your Boss if They Love Decree To Rebuild Jerusalem Artaxerxes You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. 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. Isaiah 44:24, 26, 28: Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, I, the LORD, am the maker of all things It is I who says [Heb. It reads: Now listen and understand! motza'] of a decree [Heb. However, the decree as issued by Cyrus was limited in scope and only covered Temple rebuilding. Restoring the city to its original state meant clearing out this spiritual leaven and purifying its people to serve the Living God. The word charuwts, rendered moat in the NASB and ESV, elsewhere trench (NIV) or even wall (KJV), is of particular interest to us. 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. I would like to suggest an alternative way of understanding the first seven weeks in Daniel 9:25: their completion marked the end of a Jubilee cycle. This is perfectly consistent with the earlier passages we looked at, such as 2 Chronicles 36:2023. Artaxerxes was the second son of Xerxes, who was murdered in the summer of 465 by his all-powerful vizir Artaban. 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 . 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. 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. He gave them permission - as a messenger . "Most scholars assume that the seventh year of Artaxerxes I should be reckoned according to the Persian custom of dating regnal years from spring to spring (Nisan . And the verse from Nehemiah 10 ties together the start of each seventh (sabbatical) year with the remission of debts. 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. Nothing is said about rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, only the Temple. The time span is from the decree to REBUILD Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One, and will be 483 years. TWO DECREES OF ARTAXERXES We have to choose between the two decrees of Artaxerxes. Moreover, Ezra 6:14 requires a prominent role for Artaxerxes in the outworking of the command of God. We may request cookies to be set on your device. 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. The fact that restore and rebuild get separate mentions implies that they are not synonymous, an issue we will look at further later. 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. 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. Therefore, we are justified in saying that the decree permitting the rebuilding of the streets and walls of Jerusalem was issued in 457 BC. 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 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). There had to be both a physical and a spiritual return for the desolation to be fully lifted. 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. Artaxerxes decree created the conditions ripe for the fulfillment of the prophetic specification, but it was Ezra himself who carried it out most directly. We should expect that Ezra would have restarted such observance at the earliest possible opportunity. 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. 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. King Cyrus and the Temple. The reason for this is that counting was interrupted during the exile, since the stipulations of the Sabbatical years were only commanded to be observed while Israel was in its land (Lv 25:2). 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. He led the Jews in rebuilding the walls around their capitol city. 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? 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). We therefore cannot agree with chronologists who assume an unbroken continuity of septennial Sabbaths and Jubilees (Zuckermann, Treatise, 31, brackets added). 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. 'amar) that Jerusalem will be inhabited and Judean cities will be build. One was that the initial seven weeks signified forty-nine years spent rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. 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. 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. Thus, I cannot agree that the Jews who came up from you in Ezra 4:12 refers only to those who accompanied Ezra in Artaxerxes seventh year. King Saul and the Witch of Endor: Necromancy and Ghost Pits in the Ancient World, The Parthian War Paradigm and the Reign of Herod the Great, Top Ten Discoveries Related to Moses and the Exodus, Further Ruminations on the Shroud of Turin, A Note from Dr. Scott Stripling on Shiloh and the Mt Ebal Discovery, The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet, Featuring Dr. Scott Stripling on CenterPoint, ABR Researchers Discover the Oldest Known Proto-Hebrew Inscription Ever Found, "We Saw His Star in the East": Thoughts on the Star of Bethlehem, Debunking the City of David Temple Myth with Archaeologist Dr. Scott Stripling, Caesar Augustus: An Archaeological Biography, Away in a Manger, But Not in a Barn: An Archaeological Look at the Nativity, The Supreme Authority of Scripture (Part Two), Three Things in Babylon Daniel Likely Saw, Important Biblical Archaeological Discoveries in 2021: An Update from Dr. Bryant Wood, The Supreme Authority of Scripture (Part One). This decree of Artaxerxes contained the commandment to go forth and build Jerusalem. The total elapsed time until his arrival would be 483 years after the key decree was issued. 9:24-27 differs from modern scholarship in two significant ways. 25:2), the equivalent of the year of shemittah or release (Deut. Once this is done, God promises to restoreshuwb, the same word as in Daniel 9:25their judges as at the first, and their counselors as at the beginning. This is exactly what God did when he brought in Ezra, who set up magistrates teaching and enforcing the Law of Moses: You, 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 7:25). Shea, Supplementary Evidence in Support of 457 B.C., JATS 12.1, p. 94, online at http://archive.atsjats.org/JATS12.1-09Shea.pdf), and the passage does not reveal who issues this word. Read in the light of the other passages under discussion, however, it seems we should understand it as an official decree which goes farther than the original Temple-focused one issued by Cyrus. There was nothing indirect or oblique about this. 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. 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. The passage even refers to this rebuilding taking place in times of distress, which is a perfect description of the period of opposition by the Samaritans that began years before Nehemiah arrived. 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? All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete [emphasis added]. Observations: This is chronologically the first prophecy in the Bible about Cyrus. 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. The first day of the seventh month of the year Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem was Tishri 1, 444 BC. The answer from the above examination of the letter of the western governors is obvious. Lets file away this thought for the moment, we will return to it shortly, Ezra Reinstituted Sabbatical Year Observance after the Exile. Ezra goes up to Jerusalem 11. Therefore, there are exactly 69 Weeks of Years (173,880 days) between the decree of King Artaxerxes in 445 B.C to rebuild Jerusalem to Palm Sunday, April 6, 32 A.D.!! We see this event recorded in Matthew 21:1-11. During his reign, he halted the rebuilding of the Temple area that his predecessor Cyrus had allowed. 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. of Jerusalem constructed in 445 B.C. Because Daniel 9:25 informs us that God did not merely intend to rebuild the city but also to restore it, we must include the arrival of Ezra in Jerusalem and the initiation of his religious reforms as an integral part of the going forth of Cyrus decree. And then King Cyrus came along, conquered the Babylonians, and decreed that people conquered by Babylon could return to their rightful lands - and that included the nation of Israel. 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. 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. The murderer accused the king's eldest son Darius of the crime, with the result that Darius was slain by his younger brother Artaxerxes, who then mounted the throne. 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. How to Sell Decree To Rebuild Jerusalem Artaxerxes to a Skeptic. As it is, take Ezras arrival in Jerusalem out of the picture, and its spiritual restoration gets only partly implemented at best. 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. And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. We know from history that the command to "restore and rebuild Jerusalem" was given by King Artaxerxes of Persia c. 444 B.C. The connection with the Feast of Booths confirms this; that feast takes place in Tishri, which was the beginning, not end, of the agriculture-based calendar that sabbatical and Jubilee year counting was tied to (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1a). It included the irrevocable permission (as a law of the Medes and Persians) which allowed Nehemiah to later kick the wall repairs into high gear with nothing more than letters in hand. 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.. Ezra blesses God for this favor. 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. 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. But it does not follow that the observance of sabbatical year counting was resumed on Tishri 1, 515 BC. Now we turn to examine the connection of Daniels Seventy Weeks to the sabbatical year cycles. This is an old section of the wall of. 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. 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. This fact emphasizes that the sabbatical years significance was fundamentally a spiritual matter, a sign of the people keeping covenant with their God, rather than simply giving the land a break. Exodus 23:1011: You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. 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. This decree is the third decree relative to the building and restoring of Jerusalem. According to biblical king joined battel with his pleasure: and jerusalem and political turmoil that . 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. Ezra and Nehemiah were leaders in the reign of Artaxerxes. Cyrus issued a decree that exiles should return and rebuild, just as Isaiah had prophesied two centuries earlier (Isaiah 44:28). 202203 of the above work he states: The ancient Jewish exegesis of Dan. Further Exegetical Details from Daniel 9:25. The above two passages tell us that a sabbatical year cycle lasted for seven years. The Gesenius lexicon reproduced on the BlueLetterBible website (http://www.blbclassic.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H1129&t=NASB) makes this fundamental meaning very clear: to build, to erect, as a house, a temple, a city, walls, defenses. In Daniel 9:25, the second half of the verse shows the term has particular reference to municipal projects. We should expect that Ezra would have restarted such observance at the earliest possible.. From Nehemiah 10 ties together the start of each seventh ( sabbatical ) year with the earlier passages we at! He halted the rebuilding of the Temple area that his predecessor Cyrus had allowed seven years as had... 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