Observations: This verse speaks of a decreethe Hebrew word dabar, which could also have been translated word or command. It is not one of the usual terms for a royal edict (cf. It may bring to decree rebuild. 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 . 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. The Persian king, Artaxerxes, gave Nehemiah permission to return and rebuild the city of Jerusalem that lay in ruins. 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. Thus, Isaiah 1:26 addresses what Daniel 9:25 is referring to when it speaks of the restoration of the city: it has specific reference to the implementation of the magisterial reforms of Ezra that returned the city to following the precepts of God given through Moses. 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). Also let the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.. 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. . (see Nehemiah 2:1-8). 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. 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 let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. Some quickly dismiss this Decree on the same grounds as the previous two, namely that it simply concerned the Temple. 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. This article in the series of studies on Daniel 9:2427 was essentially completed prior to the most recently published piece on the ABR website, Did Ezra Come to Jerusalem in 457 BC? (https://biblearchaeology.org/abr-projects-main/the-daniel-9-24-27-project-2/4549-did-ezra-come-to-jerusalem-in-457-bc). Restoring the spiritual aspects was more important in the LORDs eyes than merely repairing stone and mortar structures; God is always portrayed in the Word as primarily concerned with the spiritual life of His people, having them relate to Him by following His precepts faithfully, and in Daniel 9:25 the restoring is mentioned before the rebuilding, implying it was the more important consideration. 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. The principle of release at the beginning of year seven, not at its end, is also given by several Scriptures: Exodus 21:2: If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment., Deuteronomy 15:9, 12, 18: Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of remission, is near. 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. After the 62 7s the Anointed One would . Porunca lui Darius. 1 Book 5, pp. 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. Daniel's prophecy of 69 weeks commences with a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, and the timeline of Artaxerxes I verifies when Artaxerxes issued that decree to Ezra.. 9:24-27 differs from modern scholarship in two significant ways. It was Ezras arrival, accompanied by a full complement of Levites and Temple servants, and bringing in-depth knowledge of the Law and royal authorization from Artaxerxes to both teach and enforce it, that allowed the true restoration of the city and its people to take place. The context of this passage is the situation just before the Babylonian captivity; as the ESV Study Bible notes for Isaiah 1:2428 express it, The prophet looks forward to a cleansed people after the historical judgment of the exile, restored to its mission. It promises the LORDs judgment on the nation, that their dross and alloytheir sinful compromises with the surrounding nationswill be removed. 1:1-3; 2:1) as the decree that should provide the starting date of the prophecy (see, e.g., Robert Anderson, The Coming Prince [Grand Rapids: KregelPub., n.d.]). 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? Given how clear Cyrus permission had been to rebuild the Temple, this complaint must have focused on something other than Temple construction. Nehemiah 10:31 (NIV): Every seventh year we will forgo working the land [observe a sabbatical year] and will cancel all debts [which caused indentured servitude] (brackets added). Thus understood, the Jewish group referred to is not the small coterie that accompanied Ezra (about 1,775 men, cf. 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. 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. 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 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). 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. TWO DECREES OF ARTAXERXES We have to choose between the two decrees of Artaxerxes. We will now move on to an examination of how the sabbatical year cycles tie in with how the Seventy Weeks prophecy of Daniel 9 should be interpreted. 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. Hence I believe we can be confident, based on the information derived from the above Scriptures, that the decree referred to in Daniel 9:25 had to be that issued by Artaxerxes I Longimanus shortly before Ezras departure for Jerusalem in the spring of 457 BC. This is somewhere around 458 BC from what we know of Artaxerxes' reign from outside sources. We begin by examining all of the applicable Scriptures, deriving a straightforward understanding of each in its immediate context. appearing before Artaxerxes. Here we present the extended passage, Isaiah 1:2126: How the faithful city has become a harlot,She who was full of justice!Righteousness once lodged in her,But now murderers.Your silver has become dross,Your drink diluted with water.Your rulers are rebelsAnd companions of thieves;Everyone loves a bribeAnd chases after rewards.They do not defend the orphan,Nor does the widow's plea come before them.Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts,The Mighty One of Israel, declares,Ah, I will be relieved of My adversariesAnd avenge Myself on My foes.I will also turn My hand against you,And will smelt away your dross as with lyeAnd will remove all your alloy.Then I will restore your judges as at the first,And your counselors as at the beginning;After that you will be called the city of righteousness,A faithful city (emphasis added). 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. With that done, the 457 BC date will be regarded as established. In a word, yes. Ezra 6:14: And the elders of the Jews were successful in building [the Temple] through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. The issuing of the decree and the start of the sevens counting are separate matters, though closely related. Besides, if the creditor had waited until the end of the seventh year, the debtor would have given him seven years of service, not six! 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. 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. 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. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove (emphasis added). 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. to interpret them. 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. They were waiting to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. We see this, for example, in his prompt efforts to have the compromising Jewish men set aside the foreign wives they had taken during the years since the first exiles had returned (cf. 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. Sinful compromises with the surrounding nationswill be removed BC date will be regarded as established dabar, could..., Artaxerxes, gave Nehemiah permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple it concerned! 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