Smoodock's Blog

Most Biblical scholars tell us that Ezra’s ministry came before that of Nehemiah. However, this can be easily proved erroneous. Nehemiah began to build the wall around the city of Jerusalem in chapter 3 of the Book of Nehemiah. This chapter lists the chief men who helped rebuild the wall. When this list is compared with the list of returning exiles of chapter two in the Book of Ezra,[1] it can be seen that the names found in Nehemiah 3 are the second and third generation of Jews that returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Moreover, neither Ezra nor any of the company who returned with him from Babylon are listed among the chief names of chapter 3 of the Book of Nehemiah.

If one would argue that Ezra, the scribe, preceded Nehemiah by a long enough period of time to make Ezra and those with him too aged to help with the wall, then why are none of their descendants listed? It is ludicrous to believe that Ezra and the men who returned with him took no part in building Jerusalem’s walls, which would remove the reproach from God’s people. No doubt their names would have been mentioned in the third chapter of the Book of Nehamiah, had they preceded the coming of Nehemiah. Some have said that Ezra must have died, before Nehemiah’s ministry, but this is simply not true. Even if it were, why aren’t any of his descendants listed? Moreover, there are no deaths recorded in either of these two books. In fact, scripture tells us that Zerubbabel laid the foundation of the Temple, and his hands would also finish it (Zechariah 4:9). Surely Ezra’s death would have been listed had he died. Nevertheless, the scriptures show Ezra was alive after the walls were built, because he led a company of priests and musicians in the dedication of the walls (Nehemiah 12:27, 31-36).

While Ezra, the scribe, led one company around the newly finished wall, while they sang praises to God, another company led by the descendants of David, with priests and Levites playing musical instruments, answered the praises of Ezra’s company. Therefore, if Ezra played a part in dedicating the city walls, why didn’t he help build them, if he preceded the coming of Nehemiah who began building the walls? The reason he isn’t mentioned among the builders is, because he was still in Babylon. He awaited a third release, which came in the seventh year of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:1, 7-8). This is the same king, who is called Darius, in chapters five and six of the Book of Ezra, and he is Ahasuerus in Esther 2:18. There, scripture reveals that the king, in celebration of his marriage to Esther in the seventh year of his reign, granted a release throughout his empire. This is the release, under which Ezra and his company returned to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:1-7).

Nehemiah said that his first tenure in Jerusalem lasted 12 years, between the 20th and 32nd years of the reign of Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 5:14). He stated further that he was working on the wall for the entirety of those twelve years, and probably on the Temple, as well (Nehemiah 5:14, 16-19). He came to Jerusalem both to rebuild the walls (Nehemiah 6:1 & Ezra 4:12) and to rebuild the city (Nehemiah 2:3, 5). He was stopped by force and had to return to the king before Jerusalem’s walls and the Temple were rebuilt (Nehemiah 6:1-7; cp. Ezra 4:7-24). These scriptures are speaking of the same incident and timeframe. It was only after Hystaspes had died that Nehemiah was permitted to return to Jerusalem to finish setting up the gates of the walls and dedicate them to the Lord (Nehemiah 13:6).

It does not make sense that the walls were finished in a mere fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15). This scripture means the breaches were no longer present. Otherwise, why would it be necessary that Nehemiah ask for at least twelve years to do the work? No doubt he asked Artaxerxes/Hystaspes for more than twelve years, but he was stopped by force by the king’s governor, Rehum, and Nehemiah’s superior on that side of the river Euphrates. Moreover, there is great similarity in the wording between the copy of the letter in Ezra 4 that was sent to Artaxerxes and the letter that was meant to put fear into the heart of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 6:5-7, cp. Ezra 4:13). If a city rebelled against the king it would mean that they had set up another king for themselves. The implication in the letter to the king was an outright accusation in the letter to Nehemiah.

Therefore, Nehemiah had to return to Artaxerxes (Darius Hystaspes in secular history) before the ‘set time’ was completed. Though for twelve years the Jews cleaned up the rubble, cut new stone to replace the broken pieces, and built the wall, yet there remained years of work to be done. Nevertheless, Nehemiah returned again to Jerusalem during reign of Darius the Persian (Nehemiah 12:22; cp. 13:6) named so, probably to distinguish him from his father (Hystaspes in secular history, or Darius the Mede). Nehemiah was sent to complete the job, he had begun in the reign of Darius’ father, Artaxerxes, (Darius Hystaspes). His second journey to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 13:6) occurred probably during the third year of the reign of Darius the Persian (called Xerxes in secular history).[2]

After making a search for the decree of Cyrus and finding it, Darius (the Persian) sent Nehemiah back to finish rebuilding the city (cp. Nehemiah 13:6 “…after certain days I obtained leave of the king”). It was during Nehemiah second ministry as governor of Judah that the walls were dedicated; because he arranged the whole ceremony for the dedication of the walls, when they were finally completed about year and a half after the Temple was finished (Nehemiah 12:27-43). It appears that Ezra, the scribe, played a role in the ceremony as well; but he didn’t arrive in Jerusalem until the seventh year of the king (Ezra 7:7-9).

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[1] According to Ezra 3:8, those who labored to build the walls and work on the Temple had to be at least 20 years of age.

[2] Josephus agrees that the Temple was finished during the reign of Darius, the son of Hystaspes. See Antiquities of the Jews: 15.11.1. However, he confuses the matter by saying that it was Darius the son of Hystaspes who succeeded Cambyses as king of Persia (Antiquities of the Jews; 11.3.1), and, presumably, names him as the one who searched Babylon for the edict of Cyrus that permitted the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple (Antiquities of the Jews; 11.4.7). While it was, indeed, the son of Hystaspes who made the search for the decree, it was Darius Hystaspes who succeeded Cambyses, as even secular history concludes.