Persian kings in the book of ezra

The return of the exiles to judah, and the rebuilding of. Ezra s references to the persian kings put them in their accurate order. The persian kings and bible chronology the ensign message. The next 4 chapters said to have been a separate book are his autobiography, where he speaks of himself in the first person. The persians retreated to memphis, and the athenians were. The events in ezra 4 occurred more than 60 years before the events in ezra 7, during the construction of the temple. List of the kings of the persian empire old testament charts bible. Upon studying the angelic beings in the book of daniel earlier this year, i became engrossed with understanding the identity of the medo persian kings mentioned there and in the book of ezra versus the commonly accepted secular historical chronology. How the king acceded to this request, and how ezra endeavored to carry out his mission, are well known. List of the kings of the persian empire old testament. The supposed benevolence of the persian kings to judaism depends purely on the bible itself. The three main leaders of this time were zerubbabel, ezra, and nehemiah. Now in the first year of cyrus king of persia, that the word of the lord by the mouth of jeremiah. He now addresses the king by his title, whereas, while writing the previous history he called him darius.

Pseudosmerdis is in all likelihood the artaxerxes of ezra 4. Sociological readings of the correspondence with persian. Here we can see the actual beautiful silver plates from persian king artaxerxes i reigned 465425 b. As if the spelling and pronunciation of ahasuerus and artaxerxes were not problematic enough for the average bible student, one must also consider these persian kings in light of the order in which they are mentioned in the book of ezra. Scholars are divided over the chronological sequence of the activities of ezra and nehemiah.

Seven purported persian decrees of kings or letters to and from high officials are quoted in ezra. It starts in the seventh year of artaxerxes the king ezra 7. It is the glory of god to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of darius king of persia. This paper explores the bibles description of the persian king darius i and the various titles applied to him in the books of ezra and nehemiah in relation to the known persian titles and throne names of the same. Persian kings in the bible iran in the bible cyrus. Cyrus restored the temple treasures to jerusalem and allowed building expenses to be paid from the royal treasury ezra 1. In the third year of cyrus, king of persia, a thing was revealed unto daniel. This ahasuerus was probably smerdis, one of the magi who seized the kingdom after cambyses.

Ezra the lord stirred up the spirit of cyrus king of. Artaxerxes i, achaemenid king of persia reigned 465425 bc. Nehemiah made his request to king ardashir in the citadel of susa nehemiah 1. To do this the jews had to come out of babylon the territory of worldly religious power. The narrative follows a repeating pattern in which the god of israel stirs up the king of persia to commission a jewish leader. According to history, the persian kings reigned in the following order. Ezra 4 is the fourth chapter of the book of ezra in the old testament of the christian bible. Oct 05, 2019 as such it usage first in a median context as a title for the father of darius the mede dan. In a broader sense, babylon was the ancient worlds capital of scholarship and science. In october 539 bce, the persian king cyrus took babylon, the ancient capital of an oriental empire covering modern iraq, syria, lebanon, and israel. Persian kings did not marry outside a restricted number of persian noble families and it is impossible that there was a jewish queen esther.

Middle babylonian period 1595 bc there is books of the bible, but all of these. This name is apparently used to refer to two kings in the old testament, given here in chronological order. Nov 14, 2014 as indicated above, ezra begins our key passage with cyrus the great, the founder of the persian empire. The book of ezra begins with the proclamation of cyrus king of persia which would have been cambyses, the son of cyrus the great and his successor, ruling under the same title in 528 bc. The book of ezra mentions four names of persian kings. Book of ezra overview insight for living ministries. Although most of the book was written in hebrew, portions of it see ezra 4. In addition to our key text, at the beginning of his book ezra quotes cyrus himself as saying, the lord, the god of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth ezra 1. The books of ezra, nehemiah, esther, haggai, zachariah, and malachi were written during the time of the early persian kingdom. In the classical period, there were many kings of persia, but few were ever as powerful as the achaemenids. So we know that esther and the events in the book of esther occurred about 100 years after the events described in lamentations, the destruction of jerusalem. Ezra 16 covers the first return of jews from captivity, led by zerubbabela period of twentythree years beginning with the edict of cyrus of persia and ending at the rebuilding of the temple in jerusalem 538515 bc.

The books of ezra and nehemiah describe the revival wrought by god of a small part of the jews who now returned into the land of promise and gathered again unto the place, which jehovah had chosen to put his name there deuteronomy 12. He thus occupies a place in a chronological series of those persian rulers who were directly concerned with events of jewish history. The book of ezra begins with a decree from king cyrus of persia, allowing the jews to return to jerusalem to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed by the babylonians in 587 bc ezra 1. The first wave of returnees, whose story is told in ezra chapters 16, consisted of about 40,000 individuals ezra 2. Artaxerxes had to face a revolt in egypt in 460454 bc led by inaros ii, who was the son of a libyan prince named psamtik, presumably descended from the twentysixth dynasty of egypt. Ezra the lord stirred up the spirit of cyrus king of persia. Now in the first year of cyrus king of persia, that the word of the lord by the mouth of jeremiah might be fulfilled, the lord stirred up the spirit of cyrus king of persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying. Mar 02, 2020 william shea, a conservative scholar, comments that it would be strange to refer to cyrus the persian, son of cambyses i, as darius the mede, son of ahasuerus, and strange also to refer to the same king as cyrus in some passages and darius in others.

Understanding the medopersian kings true vine life. Apologetics press kingly chronology in the book of ezra. Zerubbabel led the people in the reigns of the persian kings cyrus and darius. Jan 02, 2020 other old testament books that mention cyrus include ezra and daniel.

We will examine the portion of the book of nehemiah which relates to persia. The book of ezra begins with a decree from king cyrus of persia, allowing the jews to return to jerusalem to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed by the. Artaxerxes plural artaxerxeses the name of several achaemenid kings of persia. In the first year of king cyrus 539538 bc, shortly after the persian defeat. Then ceased the work of the house of god which is at jerusalem.

Wrote they unto him an accusation against judah and jerusalem importing that they intended to set up for themselves, and not to depend upon the king of persia. The book of 2 chronicles ended with an official message that king cyrus of persia sent in 538 b. Ezra and nehemiah both traveled from persia to jerusalem from the court of artaxerxes. Persian kings in the bible the books of ezra, nehemiah, esther, haggai, zachariah, and malachi. King cyrus lived more than five hundred years before christ and figured in prophecies of the old testament mentioned in 2 chronicles and the book of ezra. Firstly, in ezra 7, ezra himself enters the story, and chooses to call the king, artaxerxes, he who reigns in truth. After a period of strife, the temple was finally completed in the sixth year of darius, 516 bc ezra 6. When ezra approached the persian monarch for permission to lead a colony to judah, the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the lord his god upon him.

Discovered evidence of esthers husband king artaxerxes in. Today the majority of scholars accept the accuracy of the book, the new westminster dictionary of the bible frankly saying that there is no doubt about the reliability of the historical contents. Nehemiah portray the persian rulers as cooperative and fair. And a tablet written by xerxes discovered in the kings palace, yes the kings father, the same king of persia in the book of esther. Ezra chapter 4 explained discover books of the bible. However, in the septuagint the greek translation of the bible, dating from the third or second century bce, the king around whom the book of esther revolves is called artaxerxes, xerxes son and heir, who appears in the biblical books of ezra and nehemiah as ahasuerus successor, artahshasta. The persian empire, the return of the jews, and the diaspora.

The inclusion of aramaic may indicate that parts of the book of ezra were written during or after the period when the persian empire ruled israel approximately 530334 b. Nehemiah, under king ardashir, traveled from persia to jerusalem 5 years after ezra returned ezra 7. Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the lord, and to do it, and to teach in israel statutes and judgments ezra 7. The introduction to this decree specifies when it was proclaimed.

This paper explores the bibles description of the persian king darius i and the various titles applied to him in the books of ezra and nehemiah in relation to the. Persian kings in the bible iran in the bible cyrus charter of. This is the view of smith and various others, and fits the time frame of the events in 522, when he ruled. We know of him, not only from the bible, but from persian records. The first part of the book of ezra 16 begins with that same message and then tells how many of the jews returned to jerusalem and began work on the temple. The following are some of the early persian kings according to listed books of bible. Could the two groups, by any chance, be one and the. The book of ezra records two separate time periods directly following the seventy years of babylonian captivity. Ezra and nehemiah were leaders in the reign of artaxerxes. In the book of ezra, the persian kings are credited with permitting and. The persians have been considered as benevolent to the cults. In two cases the name in the bible is completely different from the one found in extrabiblical sources, cambyses ii as ahasuerusxerxes in ezra 4. Kingly chronology in the book of ezra apologetics press. The manner in which god conducts the history of israel, the way in which he expresses his compassion towards his people, is through the kings of persia.

He was a son of king xerxes ahasuerus and is often referred to as artaxerxes i longimanus. Jun 02, 2019 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, ezra 7. The date of this book is probably about 487 to 465 b. King cyrus actively assisted the jews in rebuilding the temple in jerusalem under zerubbabel and joshua the high priest.