The Strand Study Bible

EZRA 4:23

765

EZRA 5:11

23 Now when the copy of king Artax- erxes’ letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. 24 Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the 1 second year of the reign of 2 Dari- us king of Persia. Historical Note - Medo-Persia’s history continued c. 529 BC with the New Kingdom Period in which Cyrus II died and his son Cambyses II (529-522 BC) assumed Medo-Persia’s throne. Also known as Ahasuerus (Ezra 4:6) and/or Artaxerxes (Ezra 4:7-23), Cambyses II, at the instigation of the enemies of the Jews, stopped the rebuilding of the Temple (Ezra 4:6-24). He added first Phoenicia and Cyprus, and afterward Egypt, to the new empire, but failed in attempting to carry out impracticable schemes of conquest in North Africa and Ethiopia. Encouraged by these disasters to Cambyses, a pretender seized the throne, claiming that he was Smerdis, the deceased younger son of Cyrus II, who had not long survived his father’s death. Cambyses II, despairing of success against the usurper, put an end to his own life while on his homeward march. The Persian Empire almost collapsed in the civil war that followed. The imposter, after a reign of only eight months, was dethroned by Darius I, the son of Hystaspes, in 522 BC, who headed an insurrection of the nobles against him. Darius I was apparently the rightful heir to the throne, being descended from the ancient royal line of Persia. Otherwise known as Hystaspes, Darius I, The Great put down the open rebellion that prevailed after Cambyses’ death. The energy and military skill of Darius I everywhere prevailed, and the whole formidable uprising was quelled after only six years’ work, so that by 515 BC the sole authority of Persia was recognized in all the lands that had been subdued by Cyrus II and Cambyses II. Not content with the empire that fell to him by succession, Darius I, The Great, planned and carried out vast schemes of foreign conquest. The most important of these were the acquisition, about 512 BC, of northwestern India, and the subjection, about 508 BC, of the coastland between the Bosporus and the Grecian state of Thessaly. Thus the Persian dominions now extended from the Caucasus to the borders of northern Greece and “from India even unto Ethiopia” (Esth 1:1). In 501 BC, there were disturbances and uprisings among the Greeks of the Asiatic coast. They lasted till 494 BC. Immediately, Darius I, The Great, took steps to suppress the revolt. The first great expedition by land and sea, in 493 BC, did not quite reach its destination, and the second by sea, was frustrated by the world-famous Defeat at Marathon in 490 B.C. These expeditions were led by generals of Darius I, and he made plans for a third, which he was to command in person. But a revolt in Egypt, in 487 BC, and his own death, in 486 BC, put an end to the designs. He was succeeded by his son Xerxes I , the “Ahasuerus” of the Book of Esther, whose mother was a daughter of Cyrus II. It was Darius I, The Great, who allowed the Jews to finish rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem that Cambyses his son had obstructed (Ezra 6:1-13).

1. Hag 1:1 & Zech 1:1

Ezra 5 The ministry of Haggai and Zechariah Date - 520 BC/AM 3480

2. Ezra 4:5 3. Hag 1:1 4. Zech 1:1 5. Hag 1:12-15

1 Then the prophets, 3 Haggai the prophet, and 4 Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. READ NEXT - Haggai 1 Zerubbabel is threatened again; but 2 5 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them. 3 At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shethar-boznai, and their companions, and said thus unto them, Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall? 4 Then said we unto them after this man- ner, What are the names of the men that make this building? 5 But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to 2 Darius: and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter. The opposition sends a letter to Darius I 6 The copy of the letter that Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shethar-boznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, which were on this side the river, sent unto Darius the king: 7 They sent a letter unto him, wherein was written thus; Unto Darius the king, all peace. 8 Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands. 9 Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls? 10 We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them. 11 And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that this time the work continues Date - Sept 24, 520 BC/AM 3480