Artaxerxes in the book of ezra

Book of ezra overview insight for living ministries. Artaxerxes of persia amazing bible timeline with world. Artaxerxes i of persia was the fifth king of the achaemenid dynasty. Ezra and nehemiah both traveled from persia to jerusalem from the court of artaxerxes. Ezra wants to study the law of god, practice it, and teach it to others. Ezra was a direct descendant of aaron the chief priest 7. The book of ezra was written in jerusalem for the jews. Haggai was the main prophet in the day of ezra, and zechariah was the prophet in the day of nehemiah.

So this story misses the context of rebuilding the temple. The second group came with ezra the priest and scribe in 458 bc ezra 7. God used three persian kings, cyrus, darius, and artaxerxes, to bring this to pass, as well as jewish leaders such as zerubbabel, joshua, haggai, zechariah, and ezra. Ezra had devoted himself especially to study and to do the law of jehovah the word of god and was eager to teach the word in israel. His zeal for god and gods law spurred ezra to lead a group of jews back to israel during king artaxerxes s reign over the persian empire which had since replaced the babylonian empire that originally exiled the people of judah. Ezras journey, with another group of exiles and gold and silver for the temple. The first part of the book also tells about problems at a later time, when the jews had to stop rebuilding the city walls during the rule of artaxerxes 4. At one time, however, ezra and nehemiah followed 1 and 2 chronicles and were generally considered to be the work of one and the same author known as the chronicler. He was a son of king xerxes ahasuerus and is often referred to as artaxerxes i longimanus. The decree of artaxerxes ezra 7 ucg bible commentary. Ezras prayer of anguish after hearing of mixed marriages with pagan peoples. His usurped power was used, at the rebuilding of the temple. A younger son of xerxes i and amestris, he was raised to the throne by the commander of the guard, artabanus, who had murdered xerxes. Apologetics press kingly chronology in the book of ezra.

How clear that the artaxerxes of ezra 7 is the one who reigned from 464423 b. Ezra was a priest and scribe at susa who was sent by artaxerxes i, along with a significant number of jewish families, to jerusalem in order to standardize the law of moses. My understanding is that artaxerxes wasnt until the 5th century bce, however in ezra 4, he commands the temple to stop being built in the 6th century bce approx. In fact, ezra and nehemiah were originally regarded as one book by ancient jewish and early christian scribes. There is a gap between 516 and 458, when ezra is sent by artaxerxes i to investigate and enforce the operation of the jewish law in the province of judah.

A few months later, artaxerxes slew artabanus in a handtohand fight. Artaxerxes i, achaemenid king of persia reigned 465425 bc. Ezra gathered the people of jerusalem and read before the assembly the book of the law of moses which the. The main theme of the correspondence is rebuilding the city. Mauro and anstey believe it is possible that the artaxerxes of ezra 7. The old testament book of nehemiah takes place during a time of exile and captivity for the jewish people. In this fascinating account, nehemiah, the jewish cupbearer to the persian king artaxerxes 1, successfully petitions to take a group back to jerusalem to rebuild the city walls after hearing they are in disrepair. Artaxerxes was the second son of xerxes, who was murdered in the summer of 465 by his. Artaxerxes commanded that the city and wall should not be built until he sent another commandment. This artaxerxes has been thought by many commentators to be the longimanus of the sequel of this book and of nehemiah, and they have identified the ahasuerus of ezra and esther with xerxes.

This reversal is the thematic fulcrum for the first half of the book. The book of ezra records the fulfillment of gods promise to restore israel to her land after the 70 years of captivity in babylon jer. The work is textually more closely related to the old testament than other books of the apocrypha, for it traces portions of israels history from 621 bc to 444 bc by summarizing ii chronicles 35. Ezras audience is living in the aftermath of the samarians heavyhanded enforcement of artaxerxes decree to stop all work on the city walls 4. He is said to have consolidated and edited the mosaic law which would. The decree of artaxerxes ezra 7 december 16 we return now to the book of ezra. Two documents are contained in the book of ezra, ch. Composed in hebrew and aramaic, its subject is the return to zion following the close. Great king, the name or title of several kings of persia. How clear that this other commandment he sent is the one we read about in ezra 7 the one sent by artaxerxes in his seventh year. The book of ezra covers the return from captivity to rebuild the temple up to the decree of artaxerxes, the event covered at the beginning of the book of nehemiah. Ahasuerus, the hebrew version of artachshashta aramaic in ezra 4 and nehemiah artaxerxes i. Furthermore in the book of daniel king darius still uses the title in use. The events of ezra 6 occurred during the reign of darius the great.

The two became separated with the first printed rabbinic bibles of the early 16th century, following late medieval latin christian tradition. King artaxerxes personally knew of ezra and nehemiah. Also included in ezra are seven official documents or letters all in aramaic except the first, which is in hebrew. According to the hebrew bible he was a descendant of sraya the last high priest to serve in the first temple 2 kings 25. The decree to restore and build jerusalem was issued in the seventh year of artaxerxes reign ezra 7. The last four books of the hebrew canon are ezra, nehemiah, and 1 and 2 chronicles, in that order. It would be natural that he would use the jewish method of reckoning in numbering the years. It was then recorded in the royal book of chronicles. Whereas most reference works give his accession year as 465 b. Artaxerxes longimanus, the son of xerxes i, is the king referred to at ezra 7. The book of ezra is part of the historical books of the bible.

Artaxerxes of persia amazing bible timeline with world history. The last great king of the persians, artaxerxes i, authorized the return of ezra to the holy land to deal with deficiencies in the practice of worship among the people of god, and nehemiah, who. How the king acceded to this request, and how ezra endeavored to carry out his mission, are well known. But in the letter to the king, as in his response, there is no single word concerning jerusalem temple. Ezra 4s cyrus, ahasuerus, artaxerxes, and darius era of. The books of ezra and nehemiah present the persian emperor artaxerxes in a fairly confusing and nonchronological way. I make a decree, that all they of the people of israel, and of his priests and levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to jerusalem, go with thee. He is the central character of the biblical book of ezra and also appears in the book of nehemiah. If it is a proven fact that darius served as king before artaxerxes. The elyphantine papyri mention the high priest johanan, also mentioned in the book of ezra, as a contemporary of darius ii. The only new material is the tale of the three guardsmen, a persian folk story that was slightly altered to fit a. Near 520 bc after the takeover by nebuchadnezzar, ultimately king cyrus of persia arose to power, and he decided to aid the jews to return to jerusalem. Book of ezra covers the events of the jews returning from the babylonian captivity.

If it is a proven fact that darius served as king before artaxerxes, why is the kingship of darius. The jews are counted and are permitted to return to judah to rebuild the temple. If it is a proven fact that darius served as king before artaxerxes, why is the kingship of darius recorded in the book of ezra subsequent to the reign of artaxerxes. Using the context provided by ezra 6, the most natural reading of the opening verses of ezra 7 is that the artaxerxes mentioned is none other than the darius even.

Kingly chronology in the book of ezra apologetics press. Artaxerxes i, died 425 bc, susa, elam now in iran, achaemenid king of persia reigned 465425 bc he was surnamed in greek macrocheir longhand and in latin longimanus. They had been prospering under artaxerxes favor mediated through ezras administration. When we move on to ezra 4s account of artaxerxes, we encounter a name, bishlam, or other variations, that is not unlike that of the conspirator, bigsan, or other variations e. But if we take the pieces of evidence we find in the bible related to ezras darius even artaxerxes and compare it with the evidence we find in the book of esther, it is evident that darius i best fits the biblical template of the king who rule over 127 provinces from india to. His father was the former king xerxes and he ruled the persian empire from 465 b. Darius of ezra 6 and artaxerxes of ezra 7 are the same king removing the need. The difficulty that presents itself in the book of ezra is that events surrounding letters which king artaxerxes received from, and wrote to, the enemies of the jews see ezra 4. 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. Ezra by the persian king artaxerxes i empowered the latter to enforce the. Ezra and some other israelitestemple servants, priests, singers, gatekeepers, levitestake around four or five months to journey to jerusalem. For instance, ezra says that artaxerxesthanks to the influence of some devious localsstops the building project, contradicting king cyruss previous order. See persia, persians the reigns of xerxes and of artaxerxes.

According to the storyline of the book of ezra the letter to artaxerxes has stopped the construction of the temple in jerusalem until the reign of next king darius. This would explain the reference to the walls in ezra 4. It was between these two chapters that the events of the book of esther took placeduring the reign of xerxes, the son of darius and father of artaxerxes. Ezra 6 ended in the 6 th year of darius the persian artaxerxes. Chapter 7 jumps forward to the reign of his grandson artaxerxes i, also known as longimanus 464424 b.