01/11/2023 – A Timeline for our last seven Wednesdays of History: Days 318; 325; 332; 339; 346; 353; and, 360 : Ezra- Nehemiah – Esther – “Return from Captivity – Jerusalem Rebuilt”
And following this post, I’ll follow up with another post to Day 318 in Ezra, hopefully tomorrow, some amazing fulfillment of prophecies once again , from the prophet messengers Isaiah and Jeremiah up to 150 years earlier than the fulfillment dates.
So, let’s take a broad brush review of our timeline for these three historical books of the Bible, by way of way of a quoted except from my Halley’s Bible Handbook. Reminder, I recently posted an update that gives references of my most frequent sources for excerpt quotes. It is filed under the category: “Getting Started”, if you want to log on so you can use your category filter tool.
Ok , Let’s get started:
“These three books form the closing section of the Old Testament History. They tell the story of the Jews’ Return from Babylon, the Rebuilding of the Temple and of Jerusalem, and the Reestablishment of the Jews’ National Life in their Home Land. They cover about 100 years (536 – 432 B.C.)
The last three of the Prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, lived wrought in this era of the Jews’ Restoration.
There were Two Distinct Periods:
536 – 516 B.C. 20 years, in which, under Zerubbabel, the Governor and Joshua the Priest, the Temple was rebuilt (Ezra, Chapters 3 to 6). To this period belonged Haggai and Zechariah.
457 – 432 B.C. 25 years, in which, under Nehemiah the Governor and Ezra the Priest, the Wall was rebuilt, and Jerusalem restored as a fortified city. To this period belonged Malachi. (Jimmy insert: Day 335 – Book of Malachi within our Saturday books of the prophets)
Ezra gives an account of both periods. Nehemiah gives an account of the second period. Esther comes in between the two periods. (Jimmy insert: But located in Persia, not Jerusalem)
There were Three Returns:
536 B.C. Zerubbabel, with 42,360 Jews, 7,337 servants, 200 singers, 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, 6,720 asses, and 5,400 gold and silver vessels.
456 B.C. Ezra with 1754 males, 100 talents of gold, 750 talents of silver. Not stated whether women and children went. It took 4 months.
444 B.C. Nehemiah, as governor, with an army escort, went to rebuild and fortify Jerusalem, at government expense.
Chronology of the Restoration:
536 B.C. 49,897 return from Babylon to Jerusalem.
536 B.C. 7th month, they built the altar, and offered sacrifice.
535 B.C. Work on the Temple begun, and stopped.
520 B.C. Work renewed by Haggai, Zechariah.
516 B.C. Temple completed.
478 B.C. Esther becomes Queen of Persia.
457 B.C. Ezra goes from Babylon to Jerusalem.
444 B.C. Nehemiah Rebuilds the Wall.
432 B.C. Nehemiah returns again from Babylon.
Israel had been taken captive by Assyria, 721 B.C.
Judah had been taken captive by Babylon, 606 B.C.
Return from the Captivity was permitted by Persia, 536 B.C.
Were not the Jewish people meticulous with the recording of their genealogies and their history? It’s amazing. We’re talking roughly 2500 years ago on average to these timelines!
Soli Deo Gloria!