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Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Jul. 5, 2025
Update	: Jul. 5, 2025
Parts	: 13

Synopsis:



Continuing our discussion from part three, let us proceed now to the next part of the amazing Seventy Weeks Prophecy which had been given to Daniel by the Angel Gabriel in the ninth chapter of the Prophet's book. But first, to refresh your memory, let me share the entire prophecy with you one more time:

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."


Phrase:

"shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks"

Explanation:

Seven weeks -- or 7 x 7 = 49 years -- plus sixty-two weeks -- 62 x 7 = 434 years -- equals a total of 483 years. This division signifies two distinct events occurring. Something is to occur forty-nine years after "the going forth of the commandment", and then something else is to occur 434 more years after that first event occurs. At first glance, it seems that when the Jews actually left Babylon, that would be when the first forty-nine-year period would begin. So the question again is, when did Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, Ezra and the forty thousand plus other Jews finally depart from Babylon? According to the previous information we have now examined, it would seem to have been in 536 BC. That is to say, two years after Darius the Mede had served as Cyrus' viceroy there, and when Cyrus himself entered Babylon, was declared the king of Babylon, and made his decree.

Phrase:

"the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times"

Explanation:

As we have already seen, with Cyrus' decree, the Jews were permitted to return to Jerusalem after serving their Seventy Years of Captivity under the various kings of Babylon. This edict was so that they could rebuild the destroyed temple of Solomon. This edict was first put forth by Cyrus II, king of Persia, in the first year of his reign as king over Babylon, which we have established as being in 536 BC. However, as you can see, this prophecy clearly states that it would be done "in troublous times." As we learned in part three, according to the Book of Ezra, the Jews laid the foundation for the Second Temple in the second year following their return from Babylon. In other words, in 534 BC. The following group of verses tell us exactly how many of the Israelites chose to return to Jerusalem and Judah following Cyrus the Great's decree:

"Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city . . . The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,"


At this point in our narration, let me interject something important regarding the returned captives. We're informed by the Prophet Haggai that Zerubbabel -- who was the grandson of Jewish king Jehoiachin, who had voluntarily chosen to let Nebuchadnezzar carry him, his royal family and many others as captives to Babylon in order to spare the destruction of the city and the temple -- was specifically chosen by God to be one of the leaders of the Jews upon their return to the city of Jerusalem. After all, not only was Zerubbabel of the royal seed by God's own plan and design, but he was also one of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, as we see by his inclusion in the genealogy that is found in the Gospel of Matthew:

"And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;"


In the Book of Haggai, we see exactly how the Lord revealed to Haggai the importance of Zerubbabel, and what role he was going to play with regard to the reconstruction of Solomon's temple. In fact, he had been chosen to be governor over the city of Jerusalem at that time. Likewise, the Lord revealed to the Prophet Zechariah how He would use Zerubbabel to both build and complete the new temple in Jerusalem. Consider the following group of verses where Zerubbabel is mentioned:

"In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORDS house should be built. Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD."


"Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD. Then spake Haggai the LORD'S messenger in the LORD'S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD. And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king."


"In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts:"


"Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts."


"Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth."


But the prophecy states that their construction work would not be accomplished so easily. In fact, the enemies of the returned captives -- that is to say, the foreign people who had infiltrated Israel following the Assyrian conquest over 150 years earlier -- stirred up trouble so that the Jews' work became rather difficult for the remainder of the reign of Cyrus the Great, through the reign of Darius the Great and to the very beginning of the reign of Artaxerxes, as we see by the following group of Bible verses. To make matters worse, these foreigners wrote a letter of complaint to King Artaxerxes in which they made accusations against the Jews:

"Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, unto Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue. Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort: Then wrote Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions; the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, and the Elamites, And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnappar brought over, and set in the cities of Samaria, and the rest that are on this side the river, and at such a time. This is the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the king; Thy servants the men on this side the river, and at such a time. Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations. Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city be builded, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings. Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king; That search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers: so shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time: for which cause was this city destroyed. We certify the king that, if this city be builded again, and the walls thereof set up, by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river."


Please note that in the previous verses, Asnappar is simply the Biblical name for Ashurbanipal, who was the younger son of Esarhaddon. In turn, Esarhaddon was the son of Assyrian king Sennacherib of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Thus, Asnappar was the grandson of Sennacherib. You may remember that in fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah and other Prophets, Assyrian king Shalmaneser V invaded Israel from the north, first taking over Samaria. As I point out in articles such as the series "The Fruits of Disobedience", once the king had conquered Israel, and shipped thousands of Israelite slaves to other provinces of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, this Assyrian king brought foreigners into Israel. So these are the people who have written to Artaxerxes with complaints regarding the Jews in Jerusalem and Judah. Consider this group of verses:

"In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents . . . And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof."


"And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them."


The aforementioned Assyrian conquest of Israel occurred in the sixth year of the reign of King Hezekiah who was king over the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Please remember that due to the sins of King Solomon, Israel had been divided into the Northern Kingdom -- which was known as Samaria, Israel or Ephraim -- and governed from the capital city of Samaria by one king -- and the Southern Kingdom -- which was governed from Jerusalem in Judah -- or Judea -- and governed by a different king. In other words, at that time, Hoshea reigned in the North, while Hezekiah reigned in the South.

Shalmaneser V's successor was Sargon II who reigned from 722 BC to 705 BC. He is only mentioned one time by name in the Scriptures, as we see by the following verses. It was at this time that God ordered Isaiah to walk naked and barefoot:

"In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it; At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot."


Sargon II in turn was succeeded by Sennacherib, as I noted earlier, who then ruled from 705 BC to 681 BC. Eight years after Shalmaneser V had conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Sennacherib made an attempt to conquer the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign as well. However, Hezekiah became desperate with the Lord. As a result, Isaiah told him to not worry about, and that the Lord would take care of the situation. You will find Sennacherib mentioned in 2 Kings 18-19, as well as in 2 Chronicles 32, and in Isaiah 36-37. At any rate, after a lot of proud boasting from Sennacherib's emissary Rabshakeh‭, what happened to Sennacherib and his great Assyrian army is the following:

"So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land . . . Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard . . . Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead."


Returning to our main story regarding the troublemakers who had written to King Artaxerxes, after conducting a search of the records, Artaxerxes sent a return letter to the enemies of the Jews in which he ordered that the reconstruction of both Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon should be stopped immediately, as we can determine by the following group of Bible verses. In this way, the Angel Gabriel's Seventy Weeks Prophecy, which he had given to Daniel, was fulfilled, and it was "troublous times" exactly as the prophecy states:

"Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and unto the rest beyond the river, Peace, and at such a time. The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me. And I commanded, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein. There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river; and toll, tribute, and custom, was paid unto them. Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until another commandment shall be given from me. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia."


According to Jewish general and historian Flavius Josephus, even before the foreign troublemakers had written to King Artaxerxes in order to warn him, and to lie about, the Jews who were rebuilding the city and the temple, they had also written years earlier to Cambyses II -- who was the eldest son and the direct successor of Cyrus the Great -- with the same accusations. Josephus describes it as follows in Book 11 Chapter 2 of "Antiquities of the Jews". Please note that in this excerpt, Josephus uses Greek names:

----- Begin Quote -----

"When the foundations of the temple were laying, and when the Jews were very zealous about building it, the neighbouring nations, and especially the Cutheans, whom Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, had brought out of Persia and Media, and had planted in Samaria, when he carried the people of Israel captives, besought the governors, and those that had the care of such affairs, that they would interrupt the Jews, both in the rebuilding of their city, and in the building of their temple. Now as these men were corrupted by them with money, they sold the Cutheans their interest for rendering this building a slow and a careless work, for Cyrus, who was busy about other wars, knew nothing of all this; and it so happened, that when he had led his army against the Massagetae he ended his life. But when Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, had taken the kingdom, the governor in Syria, and Phenicia, and in the countries of Ammon, and Moab, and Samaria, wrote an epistle to Cambyses; whose contents were as follows: "To our Lord Cambyses; we thy servants, Rathumus the historiographer, and Semellius the scribe, and the rest that are thy judges in Syria and Phenicia, sendeth greeting: It is fit, O King, that thou shouldest know that these Jews which were carried to Babylon, are come into our country, and are building that rebellious and wicked city, and its market places, and setting up its walls, and raising up the temple: know therefore, that when these things are finished, they will not be willing to pay tribute, nor will they submit to thy commands, but will resist kings, and will choose rather to rule over others, than be ruled over themselves. We therefore thought it proper to write to thee, O King, while the works about the temple are going on so fast, and not to overlook this matter, that thou mayest search into the books of thy fathers, for thou wilt find in them, that the Jews have been rebels, and enemies to kings, as hath their city been also, which, for that reason, hath been till now laid waste. We thought proper also to inform thee of this matter, because thou mayest otherwise perhaps be ignorant of it, that if this city be once inhabited, and be entirely encompassed with walls, thou wilt be excluded from thy passage to Celesyria and Phenicia."

----- End Quote -----

Upon reading their letter, and just as we read in the Bible with regard to Artaxerxes, Cambyses likewise ordered that the work in Jerusalem should be stopped. In agreement with what we already read in the Book of Ezra, Josephus explains that this interruption in the construction work continued until the second year of the reign of Darius, which would have been in 520 BC. Consider the following excerpt from Book 11 Chapter 2 of "Antiquities of the Jews":

----- Begin Quote -----

"When Cambyses had read the epistle, being naturally wicked, he was irritated at what they told him; and wrote back to them as follows: "Cambyses the king, to Rathumus the historiographer, to Beeltethmus, to Semellius the scribe, and the rest that are in commission, and dwelling in Samaria and Phenicia, after this manner; I have read the epistle that was sent from you; and I gave order that the books of my forefathers should be searched into, and it is there found, that this city hath always been an enemy to kings, and its inhabitants have raised seditions and wars. We also are sensible that their kings have been powerful, and tyrannical, and have exacted tribute of Celesyria and Phenicia: Wherefore I give order that the Jews shall not be permitted to build that city, lest such mischief as they used to bring upon kings be greatly augmented." When this epistle was read, Rathumus, and Semellius the scribe, and their associates, got suddenly on horseback, and made haste to Jerusalem; they also brought a great company with them, and forbade the Jews to build the city, and the temple. Accordingly, these works were hindered from going on till the second year of the reign of Darius, for nine years more; for Cambyses reigned six years, and within that time overthrew Egypt, and when he was come back, he died at Damascus."

----- End Quote -----

Regarding the Darius who is mentioned by both Josephus and Ezra, we know without a doubt that this was in fact Darius I, who was also known as Darius the Great. Josephus offers us a clear indication that this is so in Book 11 Chapter 3 of "Antiquities of the Jews" where he mentions Darius' rise to power in the following excerpt. Please be advised that "the Magi" is referring to Bardiya -- who was also known as Smerdis -- who was another son of Cyrus the Great. He may have been an imposter, which is why Darius I is regarded as the official third King of Kings of the Medo-Persian Empire and not Bardiya. Furthermore, historical records do confirm that Darius I was the son of Hystaspes, exactly as Josephus writes below:

----- Begin Quote -----

"After the slaughter of the Magi, who, upon the death of Cambyses, attained the government of the Persians for a year, those families which were called the seven families of the Persians, appointed Darius, the son of Hystaspes, to be their king."

----- End Quote -----

As I explained in part three, for the sake of clarification, the name "Artaxerxes" actually applied to several different Persian kings. It is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew "Artachshashta". Pronounced "ar-takh-shash-taw", it means "I will make the spoiled to boil: I will stir myself (in) winter." Now, it's claimed in certain Bible tools that this particular Artaxerxes who frustrated the plans of the Jews may have been Artaxerxes Smerdis, who as I mentioned just a moment ago, was a son of Cyrus the Great, and who was also known as Bardiya. Some scholars believe that he may have been an imposter, which is another story you can explore on your own, if you like. However, I'm not convinced that this is really the Artaxerxes of which the previous verses are speaking, and I will now explain to you why this is so.

Once you begin to seriously delve into all of this ancient history -- as I constantly and carefully do whenever I find myself writing an article which contains a certain level of historical information -- as I already mentioned, you will find a lot of disagreement amongst scholars and historians when it comes to the names of places, the names of kings and other persons of historical importance, and those dates in which certain events occurred. As I mentioned earlier, dates could vary as much as one to three years. In some cases, it may be even more. So to demonstrate to you the difficulty in understanding who is who in the Holy Scriptures as compared to the secular historical record, let me share with you the following list of thirteen Achaemenid -- or Medo-Persian -- rulers, beginning with Cyrus the Great, who the Holy Bible refers to as Cyrus or in one case, as Cyrus the Persian:

538 BC to 530 BC	Cyrus II	(aka Cyrus the Great)
530 BC to 522 BC	Cambyses II	(Cyrus' eldest son)
522 BC to 522 BC	Bardiya	(aka Smerdis and Tanyoxarces, Cyrus' son)
522 BC to 486 BC	Darius I	(aka Darius the Great, son of Hystaspes)
486 BC to 465 BC	Xerxes I	(aka Xerxes the Great and Ahasuerus in the Book of Ruth, son of Darius I)
465 BC to 424 BC	Artaxerxes I	(aka Ahasuerus and Longimanus, son of Xerxes I)
424 BC to 424 BC	Xerxes II	(son of Artaxerxes I)
424 BC to 423 BC	Sogdianus	(Artaxerxes I's illegitimate son?)
423 BC to 404 BC	Darius II	(aka Ochus, son of Artaxerxes I)
404 BC to 358 BC	Artaxerxes II	(aka Arses, son of Darius II)
358 BC to 338 BC	Artaxerxes III	(aka Ochus, son of Artaxerxes II)
338 BC to 336 BC	Artaxerxes IV	(aka Arses, son of Artaxerxes III)
336 BC to 330 BC	Darius III	(distant member of the Achaemenid dynasty)

Please go to part five for the continuation of this series.

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