The Strand Study Bible

EZRA 6:15

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EZRA 7:7

and they prospered through the prophesying of 1 Haggai the prophet and 2 Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, 3 and finished it, 4 according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, 5 and Darius, 6 and Artaxerxes king of Persia. PF 15 3 Andthishousewasfinishedonthe third day of the month 7 Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. PF The dedication of the Temple Date - Oct 516 BC/AM 3484 16 And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy, 17 And offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; 8 as it is written in the book of Moses. The Passover is kept Date - April 14-21, 515 BC/AM 3485 19 And the children of the captivity kept the 9 PASSOVER upon the fourteenth day of the 10 first month. 20 For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. 21 And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat, 22 And kept the 11 feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and 12 turned the heart of the 13 king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. Historical Note - Medo-Persia’s history continued c. 486 BC with the New Kingdom Period in which Darius I the Great died and his son Xerxes I (486-465 BC), otherwise known as “ Ahasuerus ”, assumed Medo-

1. Ezra 5:1 & Hag 1:1 2. Ezra 5:1 & Zech 1:1 3. See - Zech 1:16 & 4:8-10 4. Ezra 1:1-3 5. Ezra 6:1-12 6. Ezra 7:21

Persia’s throne. According to history, Ahasuerus’ father (Darius I, the Great) was not content with the empire that fell to him in 522 BC and therefore carried out vast schemes of foreign conquests. The most important of these were the subjection of northwestern India (c. 512 BC) and northern Greece (508 BC). Because of these acquisitions, Darius 1, the Great, handed to his son Ahasuerus an empire that extended from India even unto Ethiopia (Esther 1:1). Six years after Darius I, The Great’s death, Xerxes I tried his hand at conquering Greece in 480 BC. He assembled an army of over 1,000,000 soldiers and some 3,000 ships and met the Grecian Army at Thermopyae. The Persians won that battle and from there marched with their superior numbers toward Athens. But the inhabitants evacuated to the island of Salamis. Xerxes then burned Athens. His attention was now turned toward the island of Salamis where he had to assemble a navy in order to reach the rebel forces. Unfortunately Xerxes’ soldiers were not as competent on the water as the Greeks in which they fought. Horrified, he watched as his navy was destroyed at sea along with over 250,000 of his soldiers. This broke Xerxes’ determination to go on fighting and he returned home to the safety of his empire (Esther 2:1).

7. or, “March” 8. Num 3:6-13 & 8:9 9. Exo 12:1-11 Note – The Pass- over depicted Christ – I Cor 5:7. 10. or, “April” 11. Exo 12:15 & Lev 23:6-8 12. Prov 21:1

13. or, “Darius I ” 14. that is, “great grandson” - II Ki 25:18 & I Chro 6:3-14 & Jere 52:24 15. See - Dan 9:24

READ NEXT - Esther 1-10 Ezra 7 Medo-Persia allows the second group of Jews to return from captivity (Note - This event took place in the

7th year of King Artaxerxes’ reign) Date - Apr 1st, 458 BC/AM 3542

1 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the 14 son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, 2 The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3 The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4 The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5 The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest: 6 This Ezra 15 went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him. PF 7 And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.

6:17 God took what He had left of Judah and Israel and called it “ all Israel .” 7:1 Artaxerxes I Longimanus ruled from c. 465-424 BC (Neh 2:1).