DAY 263 Read Ezra 7 through 9.
Today's reading: We now come to the third decree for restoring and rebuilding Jerusalem--seventy years after the first one by Cyrus and twenty-years after the second. At this point Ezra led a large group of priests and Levites to Jerusalem.
Memory gem: "The hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way" (Ezra 8:31).
Thought for today:
The people of God had been in captivity in a foreign land for seventy years. When the time came for them to be restored to their own land, God moved upon the heart of the great king of Persia, Cyrus, to issue a decree stating that all who wanted to return might do so. Years later Darius the Great reaffirmed this permission with a second decree.
Finally, in order to give the returned exiles full status as a Persian province, God caused Artaxerxes I (Longimanus) to issue a third and final decree (see Ezra 6:14), enabling the Jews to complete the restoration. A copy of his decree to this effect is found in Ezra 7:12-26. This royal pronouncement decreed the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem as well as restoration of civil government to the land.
According to the seventh chapter of Ezra, this decree was issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign. Historical records show that his seventh year of Artaxerxes was 457 B.C. So 457 B.C. became the starting point for the seventy weeks (see Daniel 9:24-27) that were cut off for the Jewish people as a nation in Palestine under the rule of God (see the earlier discussion for this prophetic period in Daniel 9.)
Friend, you can depend on the Lord Jesus. He is the Messiah.
NOTE: A few dates from secular history for comparison with Bible events:
490 B.C.--Persian invaders defeated at Marathon.
483 B.C.--Vashti rejected. The feast may well have been a strategy session to plan revenge for Marathon.
480 B.C.--Persian navy demolished at Salamis.
479 B.C.--Probable date for selection of Esther.
457 B.C.--Decree by Artaxerxes restoring civil government to the Jews.
Today's reading: We now come to the third decree for restoring and rebuilding Jerusalem--seventy years after the first one by Cyrus and twenty-years after the second. At this point Ezra led a large group of priests and Levites to Jerusalem.
Memory gem: "The hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way" (Ezra 8:31).
Thought for today:
The people of God had been in captivity in a foreign land for seventy years. When the time came for them to be restored to their own land, God moved upon the heart of the great king of Persia, Cyrus, to issue a decree stating that all who wanted to return might do so. Years later Darius the Great reaffirmed this permission with a second decree.
Finally, in order to give the returned exiles full status as a Persian province, God caused Artaxerxes I (Longimanus) to issue a third and final decree (see Ezra 6:14), enabling the Jews to complete the restoration. A copy of his decree to this effect is found in Ezra 7:12-26. This royal pronouncement decreed the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem as well as restoration of civil government to the land.
According to the seventh chapter of Ezra, this decree was issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign. Historical records show that his seventh year of Artaxerxes was 457 B.C. So 457 B.C. became the starting point for the seventy weeks (see Daniel 9:24-27) that were cut off for the Jewish people as a nation in Palestine under the rule of God (see the earlier discussion for this prophetic period in Daniel 9.)
Friend, you can depend on the Lord Jesus. He is the Messiah.
NOTE: A few dates from secular history for comparison with Bible events:
490 B.C.--Persian invaders defeated at Marathon.
483 B.C.--Vashti rejected. The feast may well have been a strategy session to plan revenge for Marathon.
480 B.C.--Persian navy demolished at Salamis.
479 B.C.--Probable date for selection of Esther.
457 B.C.--Decree by Artaxerxes restoring civil government to the Jews.
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