Page 35 - bv19

Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks” 35

From that point forward, in both the historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah and in the
prophecy of Zechariah, Jerusalem is spoken of as an EXISTING CITY. The Temple was completed
“in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king” (Ezra 6:15), and the former captives kept the Feast
of Unleavened Bread for seven days (Ezra 6:21-22) -- definitely implying that Jerusalem was capa-
ble of accommodating large numbers of people.

In Ezra 7 and 8 we read of the coming of Ezra himself, with a large company of people that
included women and children, to Jerusalem (8:32).

In chapter 9 we find Ezra praying to YEHOVAH God and praising Him for giving them fa-
vor in the eyes of the Persian kings “to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations
thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem” (Ezra 9:9).

Then, in chapter 10, it is recorded that Ezra and the leaders of the people “made proclama-
tion throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather
themselves together unto Jerusalem” (verse 7) -- which they did. Yet there are those so-called min-
isters out there who would have us believe that not only was there no rebuilding of the city up to that
time, but that the word for the restoring and rebuilding of Jerusalem did not go out until the 7th or
20th year of Artaxerxes -- referred to in the second chapter of Nehemiah!

Nehemiah’s Work

One such man who promulgates this erroneous chronology is William F. Dankenbring of
Triumph Prophetic ministries. In his book The Last Days of Planet Earth he claims –

Cyrus made a decree in 536-535 regarding the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem (see
Ezra 1:1-2). This particular decree was specifically to build the Temple -- the city is not
mentioned. This decree, therefore, is not the one spoken of by Daniel in chapter 9:25 (p.
193).

On the following page he writes:

The Jews had never been given authority from the Persian kings to rebuild Jerusalem and
the city wall. However, early in the reign of Artaxerxes, the Samaritans had accused the
Jews of building the city once again (Ezra 4:7, 11-12). The king issued an order for the Jews
to stop all such activity until further notice (Vs. 17-21). After a thorough investigation,
Artaxerxes issued another decree -- the decree mentioned in Ezra 7!

This must be the decree Daniel had reference to since it was the first one that clearly in-
volved the city of Jerusalem as well as the temple.

Those who are gullible enough to accept the chronology of Ptolemy, based as it is on noth-
ing but the guesses of Eratosthenes, try to date “the going forth of the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem” from either the seventh year or “the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king,” bas-
ing their erroneous conclusion on Ezra’s decree or Nehemiah’s petition to the king “that thou
wouldest send me unto the city of my fathers sepulchres, that I may build it” (Nehemiah 2:5). From

The Berean Voice March-April 2003