Smoodock's Blog

Although the book of Ezra begins before the book of Nehemiah, both end within a few months of each other. The problem with the books is this: most chronologies using secular history as a foundation for both content and time put the arrival of Nehemiah at about BC 435 and the return of the remnant with Zerubbabel at about BC 535. This places approximately 100 years of separation between the two figures.

When Nehemiah arrived, he was greeted by Eliashib, the third generation of high priests, and only the second generation of many other families. This is understood by comparing those who helped build Jerusalem’s walls and comparing those names with the names of the returning exiles under the leadership of Zerubbabel (Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 3). Most heads of families who returned with Zerubbabel would already have had sons, when they were initially released from Babylon by Cyrus. To believe that they were all 20 years old without children stretches credulity. Realistically, some children may have been teenagers, some even in their twenties and perhaps thirties with children of their own. While the heads of the families would be in their forties or fifties or more. To accept secular history’s time-frame for these books would mean that this second generation that came up from Babylon greeted Nehemiah and were one hundred years old or more.

Consider what this would mean. This is the same generation, according to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that labored for twelve years moving those great stones that made up the wall of Jerusalem. The thought is just too ridiculous to take seriously. Therefore, the time-frame has got to be much shorter than one hundred years between the beginning ministries of Nehemiah and Zerubbabel. How much shorter? Daniel made the overall time-frame for rebuilding the Temple and the city walls to be 49 years and within the reigns of four Persian kings, beginning with Cyrus.

The problem is that most, if not all, historians base their understanding of the reigns of the kings of Persia and Babylon on the works of Claudius Ptolemy, the second century AD astronomer. Nevertheless, his works are repudiated by many astronomers, who have been critical of his works for centuries. Therefore, with Ptolemy’s works in question, we could count backwards from the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry on the Feast of Trumpets, AD 27.[1] If this is done, we would understand that Cyrus released the Jews from Babylon to return to their homeland and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple in the year BC 457.

We know that the coming of the Messiah was expected in the first century AD, so the Jews at that time understood how and from what point to calculate the fulfillment of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy. Anna the prophetess told many who looked for the redemption of Israel about Jesus (Luke 2:36-38); Simeon looked for the Messiah to come and was even convinced that he wouldn’t die, until he appeared (Luke 2:25-31). Moreover, the astronomers of the east, who were probably Jews in Babylon, who had not returned to Israel, expected the arrival of the Messiah and looked for a sign of his arrival (Matthew 2:1-2; cf. Numbers 24:17). Furthermore, Joseph of Arimathaea, a member of the Sanhedrin, also waited for the kingdom of God (Luke 23:50-51; cf. Mark 15:43) as did many Jews at that time, whether living in Palestine (Matthew 11:3; 12:23; John 7:31), or Hellenists who came to Jerusalem from the gentile nations to celebrate the festivals at the Temple (John 12:12-23).

Furthermore, Josephus shows that several men arose to prominence after the time of Jesus and before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.[2] They had no problem getting Jews to believe their Messianic claims and promises of divine deliverance, showing that the Jews of the first century AD believed the Messiah would come and expected his arrival in their lifetimes. Therefore, although we may have trouble today figuring out with certainty when to begin the count to the Seventy Weeks Prophecy’s fulfillment, the Jews who lived in the first century AD expected his coming at any moment.

In contrast, the writings of the rabbis show that those times of which Daniel wrote are now past. For example, it is recorded in the Babylonian Talmud (AD 200-500) that the ancient rabbis discussed the times of Messiah and the book of Daniel. Rabbi Judah, who was a prominent compiler of this work said of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy:

“These times were over long ago.”[3]

They have even pronounced a curse upon anyone who would consider understanding these times:

“let them burst, or their bones rot, that compute the times.”[4]

In the 12^th century AD Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides, said of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy:

“Daniel has elucidated to us the knowledge of the end times. However, since they are secret, the wise [rabbis] have barred the calculation of the days of Messiah’s coming so that the untutored populace will not be led astray, when they see that the end times have already come but there is no sign of the Messiah.” (Igeret Teiman, Chapter 3 p.24 – emphasis mine)

Therefore, if there had been widespread expectation of the Messiah in the first century AD, but his times were said to have been past by the 2^nd century AD, it stands to reason that Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy would have ended sometime within the first century AD.

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[1] The beginning of Jesus’ public ministry at Nazareth can be established with the 15^th year of the reign of Tiberius to be the fall of AD 27.

[2] JOSEPHUS: Wars of the Jews; 2.13.3.

[3] Babylonia Talmud, Sanhedrin, 98b and 97a

[4] Babylonia Talmud, Sanhedrin, fol. 97. 2