David Kent
Continuing Historicist
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Ezra 2:1-3 Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city; Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baana
The Reverse Order of Ezra/Nehemiah Reconsidered
The most important controversy which has arisen in regard to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah is the question of the order of Ezra and Nehemiah. According to the traditional view, Ezra arrived in the seventh year of Artaxerxes I (Ezr. 7:7) in 458 BC, and Nehemiah arrived in the same king’s...www.thegospelcoalition.org
The Reverse Order of Ezra/Nehemiah Reconsidered
The most important controversy which has arisen in regard to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah is the question of the order of Ezra and Nehemiah. According to the traditional view, Ezra arrived in the seventh year of Artaxerxes I (Ezr. 7:7) in 458 BC, and Nehemiah arrived in the same king’s twentieth year (Neh. 2:1) in 445.
Many scholars have adopted a reverse order in which after Nehemiah arrived in 445, Ezra arrived in the seventh year of Artaxerxes II in 398. Other scholars have favoured an intermediate position which maintains the contemporaneity of the men but places Ezra later than the traditional view in the twenty-seventh or the thirty-seventh year of Artaxerxes I, that is in 438 or 428.
There are numerous lines of arguments which have been adduced in favour of the reverse order. We shall consider these arguments, and then the counter-arguments of those who are in favour of either the traditional or the intermediate position.
Seriah was the father of Exra. And was one of those who sealed with Nehemiah as were a number of the others in the list above. If there is an eighty or so year gap between Ezra 6 & 7 then some of them must have been well over 100 by the time they sealed, and Nehemiah must have been at least 150 when he rode around the walls.
Bigvai returned with 2056 of his descendants and also sealed with Nehemiah.
Have you noticed that between Ezra ch. 6 and ch 7, it jumps from the 6th year of Darius to Artaxerxes. Not only that but from the 6th year of Darius, Ezra 6:15 to the 7th year of Artaxexes, Ezra 7:7
Ezra 6:14 And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
They built it according to the command of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, but it was finished in the 6th year of Darius. Darius and Artaxerxes were one and the same person.
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