Page 274 - Daniel

longer suffer derision” (Neh. 2:17). Later, the people cast lots so that one
in ten would have to move to Jerusalem and build a house there (Neh.
11:1).

It is rather evident, when all the evidence is in, that Jerusalem was not
rebuilt in the sixth century B.C.—although the rebuilding of the temple

was indeed the first step toward the restoration of the city and nation.
The prophecies of Isaiah relating to Cyrus need to be understood in light
of the more explicit information recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:22–23 and
Ezra 1:1–4. It is most significant that none of the proclamations in 2
Chronicles or Ezra mention the city, only the temple.

Accordingly, the best explanation for the terminus ad quo in Daniel
9:25 is the decree relating to the rebuilding of Jerusalem itself given in
Nehemiah 2:1–6, about ninety years after the first captives returned and
started building the temple.

Many commentators identify this reference as the royal edict of
Artaxerxes Longimanus, who reigned over Persia 465–425 B.C., and who

not only commanded the rebuilding of Jerusalem in 444 B.C. but earlier
had commissioned Ezra to return to Jerusalem in 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:11–
26). The date 444 B.C. is based on the reference in Nehemiah 2:1ff.
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stating that the decree was issued in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes
Longimanus. As his reign began in 465 B.C., twenty years later would be
either 445 or 444 B.C. Most scholars accept the 445 B.C. date for

Nehemiah’s decree, though the 444 B.C. date fits best with the Tishri
dating system for Nehemiah proposed by Hoehner. 55

The ultimate decision, to some extent, has to be determined by the
fulfillment of the prophecy as a whole. Young’s explanation beginning it
with the decree of Cyrus in 538 B.C. does not permit any reasonably

literal interpretation of this prophecy. The 483 years that would then
begin in 538 B.C., anticipated in the sixty-nine times seven years, would
end in the middle of the first century B.C. when there was no significant

event whatever to mark its close. This view makes any exact fulfillment
impossible.

In verse 25, Daniel was introduced to two periods of time that are
immediately consecutive: first a period of seven sevens, or forty-nine