And in God's providence we do have certainty. Of all the kings of
Assyria, Babylon, and Medo-Persia, in Ptolemy's long list, there is but
one concerning whose succession the Scriptures give us the very time of
the year--and that one is Artaxerxes. The one case in which we need to
know to a certainty the season of the year, in order to fix an important
date in prophecy, is the one case in which Inspiration gives exactly the
particulars. Who cannot see the hand of God in this?
The combined record of Neh. 1:1; 2:1 and Ezra 7:7-9,[H] shows that
Artaxerxes came to the throne between the fifth month of the Jewish year
and the ninth month,--roughly, between August and December,--or in the
autumn. The Bible gives one part of the record, and Ptolemy's canon
gives another part; and by the combined record we know that Artaxerxes
came to the throne late in the year 464 B.C., and thus the seventh year
of his reign would be 457 B.C. This is the date fixed by other sources
of reliable chronology also, Sir Isaac Newton having worked out several
lines of evidence from ancient authorities, in each case reaching the
year 464 B.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267