It would seem that Ezra, Nehemiah and the book of Esther would be during similar time periods. In my handy chronology of the kings of the divided kingdom, states that in 536BC the temple reconstruction instructed by Cyrus is started, and it is concluded in 516BC. Ezra and Nehemiah were obviously contemporaries, as Ezra reads the book of the Law in Nehemiah's presence in front of the people. And Ezra would have arrived in Jerusalem before Nehemiah and begun the temple reconstruction, then Nehemiah began the wall reconstruction. The king in Esther, Ahasuerus (also identified as Xerxes in some texts), is also named in Ezra (4:6). The same name is also used in Daniel as the father of the king when Daniel was in Babylon. But Nehemiah worked under King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1). So, maybe Esther was before Ezra, and the king who replaced Ahasuerus/Xerxes was Cyrus. I'm having enough trouble with keeping the kings of Israel straight, I should avoid trying to place the kings of Assyria in chronological order.
But, I can't. You knew that.
Guess what? There's another great timeline in my book "The Chronology of the Old Testament" by Floyd Jones, and it gives the chronology and helps with the Assyria/Babylon question. Here's the Cliff Notes:
- Israel, under king Hoshea, falls to Sargon II, king of Assyria, in 721BC (II Kings 18:9-11)
- Assyria begins to fall apart - Ninevah falls in 612BC, followed by city of Haran, followed by a failed counter-attack against the Babylonians, then the fall of a final city and they are defeated by Babylonians by 605BC. We'll hear more about this in Ezekiel 1 and Jeremiah 25.
- "The Servitude" of the Babylonians against the southern kingdom of Judah begins within a year of the Babylonians defeating the Assyrians - the Babylonians were waging wars on more than one front. See jeremiah 25:1, 46:2.
- The reign of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began shortly after this oppression began - Jehoiakim was king of Judah (2 Kings 23:36, 2 Chronicles 36:5). The captivity comes nine years into Nebuchadnezzar's reign, he made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah. (2 Kings 24:17-19, 2 Chronicles 36:11, Jeremiah 39:1,2). Zedekiah "ruled" as a puppet of Neb in Jerusalem for 11 years, but many are taken captive to Babylon at the beginning of Zedekiah's reign (about 597bc).
- Jerusalem is burned 586BC. 2 Kings 25:1-4, 8-10. Jeremiah 52:12. I assume it's abandoned.
- Thus begins 70 years of no temple in Jerusalem. We'll hear about that in Jeremiah and Daniel. But apparently the reconstruction of the temple begins during the end of this 70 years, and the 70 years is complete when the temple is complete.
- About 65 years after Nebuchadnezzar becomes king of Babylon, and about 4 kings later in Babylon, it falls to Darius the Meade (2 Chronicles 36:21-23, Ezra 1:1,2). What is a Meade? According to 2 Chronicles 36:20 "And those who escaped from the sword he [Nebuchadnezzer] carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia". Darius is Persian. Didn't I wonder about that yesterday? Is Persia Assyria? I thought maybe it was, but now we know that Assyria was defeated by Babylon who was defeated by Persia, which became a huge empire, and will be the empire that 200 years later is ruled by Alexander the Great.
- Now, you know how names are used over and over again? Same thing in the Persian empire, too. In 13 listed kings of Persia, starting with Darius then followed by Cyrus (from Ezra, who instructed the rebuilding of the temple), there are three king Darius, two Xerxes, and three Artaxerxes. You try to figure out which Darius is from Daniel and which Xerxes is from Esther. I can't.
- The chart doesn't give a timeline for when Esther's story takes place. If I had to guess, I would say the second or third Xerxes. The Jews don't seem to be oppressed and are spread out among the huge empire.
- The timeline places the completion of the temple in the second Darius' rule. All of the three Xerxes reigns' occur after the temple is completed (the first is 30 years after the temple is complete).
- The Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 2, according to this chart, would have been at least 45 years after the completion of the temple. Ezra would have been an old man when he read the law before the people in the presence of Nehemiah.
- I'm likin' this Floyd Jones guy. Aren't you glad we got this out of the way before we get to Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel? 'Cause you know it's gonna come up again.
So, what happened to the tribes of the northern kingdom? All we heard about in Ezra and Nehemiah were from the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the tribe of Levi. Are the northern tribes lost forever?
Now, to the history via the book of Esther
- The king's empire is vast - 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia, and I would presume that includes the territory that Judah formerly occupied, as well as the former land of the northern tribes who formed the country of Israel. This would have been a world power at the time, and the people of Judah would have been but a cog in the wheel.
- Apparently the "Assyria's Next Top Model/Queen" contast to replace the dethroned Vashti required a 12 month preparation period of eligible virgins.
- Esther has many admirable qualities - humility, beauty, bravery, boldness, respect, pride, patience, loyalty...
- Esther finally gets her chance in front of the king. This was an overnight stay, by the way; my guess is that she was no longer a virgin. She is not sent to the second harem of concubines, but is made queen right away. Note that the beauties are surrounded by Eunuchs, who didn't have the "equipment" to interfere with the ladies, if you know what I mean.
- Why did Mordecai tell Esther not to say she was Jewish? It appears the oppression of the Jews was started by Haman because Mordecai would not bow to him and it bruised his oversized ego. I'm assuming this time frame is after the Jews were allowed to go back to Jerusalem.
- 3:14 - if you knew the time of your slaughter, wouldn't you get lost? I guess it would be hard to get away if the decree is given to 127 provinces that on the 13th day of the 12th month your race was to be wiped out.
- 4:14 - Mordecai to Esther - "Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this"
- Pride goeth before the fall. Haman is a great example of this. The king can't sleep, so he reads a bit of the history of his reign and recounts Mordecai providing information that had saved the life of the king. He wants to know how Mordecai was rewarded for the information, and when he finds out that he wasn't rewarded, the king wants to honor him immediately. Haman must have been embarassed that the man he came to the king to ask to be killed by his hand on the gallows he had already constructed was now the man that he had to lead around for all to cheer. Haman's own family and friends had told Haman that his pride was going to cause him problem if he didn't keep it in check.
- Esther's well-devised plan results in Haman's death on his own gallows, and the property and position he held went to Mordecai.
- You can't revoke the kings original decree to all the killing of the jews for one day, but Mordecai is given the approval and power to give it the old college try to come up with a way to avoid the disaster. His king-approved decree was that the Jews could actively defend themselves, and even attack, on this one day and take plunder from those they defeat. The Jews take advantage and kill 75,000 throughout the provinces, but leave the plunder.
- 8:17 - many people become Jews because of this proclaimation.
- Have you heard of the Jewish Purim. This is where it comes from. See 9:22.
- Want to celebrate Purim or learn more - http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday9.htm
Okay. I finished Esther at lunch today, and have been working on this blog for 2 hours. I have 8 chapters to read in Job tonight to keep on track.
17 books completed. I think I got lost somewhere, but I counted it out tonight. Books of Law (5) - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Books of History (12) - Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Now on to the books of Wisdom: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. hey, I remembered that from memory, at 11:27pm.
I'm not even going to try to figure out when Job occurs. I don't think anyone knows. He was into sacrificing, so maybe it was during one of the few moments when Israel was on track. So it was after the exodus, and likely before the temple, since they don't mention the temple in his sacrifices.
You know the story of Job. God allows Satan to try to get Job to defy God. He takes away his family, his health, his friends and wife mock him. Job curses the day he was born, he asks God to let him die. His friends tell him he must have sinned and should appeal to God.
The rest...tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this explanation of the timeline of Assyria/Babylon/Persia.
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