Posted by Drake, Jr. on March 20, 1999 at 22:51:21 {MW9hQZt3yw8IU}:
Ezra 6:14 and 15, a beautiful pasage of scripture that historical revisionists can't stand:
QUESTION: WHO WAS THE LAST KING OF PERSIA TO WORK ON THE TEMPLE, AND IN WHAT KING'S YEAR WAS IT COMPLETED?
Ezra 6:14, 15:
And the older men of the Jews were building and making progress under the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Aechariah the grandson if Iddo, and they built and FINISHED it [temple] due to the order of the God of Israel and due to the
order of Cyrus and Darius and ARTAXERXES THE KING OF PERSIA. 15 And they completed thishouse by the third day of the lunar month Adar, that is, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king."
So did we ansewr are two
questions?
Of course.
The last king to work on the temple was none other than ARTAXERXES THE KING OF PERSIA.
And it was completed in the SIXTH YEAR OF DARIUS.
How can this be?
Easy.
Accession year! The Babylonians began the kingship of a new king in the spring, which would be the month of Nisan. Even though the previous king died
earlier in the year, for dating purposes, the entire year was accorded to this
reign.
So what this means is that the sixth year of Darius I, was the accession year of Artaxerxes, Longimanus.
Lot's of complications here, but to make a long story short, when Xerxes followed his father on the throne
in his sixth year, he changed his name to Artaxerxes though he continued to be known as well as Xerxes, especially in Greece. Then when he lost big-time in Greece when he invaded Athens and Themistocles defected over to Persia,
Themistocles helped him claim that "Artaxerxes" was the son of Xerxes, and that's where all the history and chronology got mixed up.
But we don't have to worry about that now. Let's just say that there is more than one history
and chronology coming from the ancient records.
The truth is that ten years before the invasion of Greece and the fateful naval loss at Salamis, Darius was killed during the Battle of Marathon. In fact, he was beheaded by the
Athenians and that's why Xerxes vengefully sought to destroy Athens and the Athenians.
Fortunately, a critical astronomical event, a solar eclipse, occurred during the first year of the Peloponnesian War which allows us to
correctly date that event.
When the historical revisionists sought to revise this chronology, which took place in two stages, famous eclipses were a problem and they usually tried to find a substitute one. This worked out
quite well when revising the year of the Peoplonnesian War since an eclipse occurred during that first year. Xenophon, who edited Thucydides found a replacement eclipse in 431BCE. This was critical since the 4th year of the Peloponnesian
War fell on the Olympics.
However, there is a conflict in the description of this eclipse with Plutarch who indicates the eclipse was a total eclipse whose eclipse track coursed right over the port of Athens, whereas the eclipse
described by Xenophon was just a partial one.
We found the total eclipse track through Greece in 402BCE which means we can date the 1st year of the Peloponnesian War in 403BCE. This also lines up with the olympics properly. But
what does the Peloponnesian War have to do with the dating of the death of Darius in his sixth year?
Everything!
You see, when Xerxes invaded Greece, the Greeks formed confederacies and struck 30-year peace agreements
in order to repel the common "barbarian" enemy, the Persians (Medes). This 30-year agreement ended in the 10th year of the Peloponnesian War, which means there was a 20-year gap originally between the two wars. The 10th year of the
Peloponnesian War thus fell in 394 which means we can date the Battle of Salamis 30 years earlier in 424BCE. This, of course, checks out perfectly since this too, was an Olympic year. Ten years earlier would have been the battle of
Marathon in the fall of 434BCE.
If Darius I died during the Battle of Marathon, then this should have been his sixth year and the temple would have been completed the following spring in 433BCE. If that's the case, then the 1st
year of Cyrus and the beginning of the building of the temple should have occurred 22 years earlier. And it did, in 455BCE (433+22=455BCE).
The period of chronology for this period doesn't change for any of the chronologies
and thus this works out to be the sixth year of Darius.
WHAT'S THE CONNECTION?
The conection is that per the 455BCE chronology, the temple should have been completed after 22 years in the spring of 433BCE and this
should have been the sixth year of Darius. But it is also his last year and the year he died. He died during the battle of Marathon, so the fall of 434BCE should have been the year for the battle of Marathon. Based upon the total
eclipse occurring in Greece during the 1st year of the Peloponnesian War, we can date the battle of Marathon in 434BCE.
So this confirms not only that Darius died during the battle of Marathon, which triggered the invasion by
Xerxes(Artaxerxes) ten years later, but that it was also his sixth year.
Of course, there is no problem revising the chronology and history of Xenophon since he isn't believed anyway; nor is Herodotus' history thought to be more
reliable than many of the clay tablets and other evidence from the Neo-Babylonian period. But all this chronology is completely linked together.
So whether it is by ancient eclipse from the non-affected records or by the
Bible, the 6th year of Darius, his death and the Battle of Marathon all end during the same year, the fall of 434 BCE.
With his death in the fall, there would have been six months for Darius' son, Xerxes, to have hands-on
involvement with the completion of the temple and we know from the Bible that he was very much involved with this work and the temple, even sending Ezra with gifts and contributions for the temple a couple of years later.
The
Bible's reference to him as "Artaxerxes" proves he changed his name locally. The Bible never mentions any "Xerxes".
What erks some secular chronologists who try to twist the Bible into agreeing with their chronology, is that
these verses don't make any sense! That's because Darius was supposed to have ruled another 30 years and then Xerxes was suppose to rule for 21 years before Artaxerxes came onto the scene. That's 51 years right there......SWOOOOOSH!
Vanished!
Which is the whole point. Another 57 years were added to this chronology after the Peloponnesian War. And this is what has distorted the chronology and made passages like these in the Bible seem
impossible.
But this same 57 year revision also sabbotaged previous revisions of the secular history. For instance, the 478BCE total eclipse in Lydia which occurred during the 2nd year of Nabonidus, was first adjusted to 585BCE
to another eclipse which occurred in Lydia. But instead of being just a few years before Cyrus overthrew Aystyages, this was about 80 years earlier. So Herodotus depicted the eclipse as happening three generations earlier (about 25-30
years per generation) during the reign of his great-grandfather, Cyaxares.
All was well for this first adjustment which just added 26-27 years to Persian history, but reduced the Neo-Babylonian Period at the same time.
But
when Xenophon added the 57 years later, after the Peloponnesian War, there was no compensatory chronology reduction and it just pushed all dating back by 57 years. This didn't affect the event chronology for the Lydian-Median peace
agreement too much, since it still occurs earlier than the time of Cyrus. But it did cause problems with his birth date. That's because this agreement was linked with the birth of his mother which followed the agreement in 585. But when
57 years were added after the Peloponnesian War, Herodotus was not revised and Cyrus' birthdate got pushed to 600BCE, which was 15 years before the birth of his own mother which was FIXED at sometime after 585BCE.
So you can see
how the moving of chronology works and how complex it gets when you have to step around or substitute famous eclipse events. But it doesn't always work out. The result is that you do end up, sometimes, with some incredible contradictions,
such as Artaxerxes completing a temple early in the reign of Darius, suggesting a 51-year discrepancy, and Cyrus being born before his own mother, which if you allow her to grow up, say to 25, then you're looking at a 40-60 year
discrepancy here as well.
Of course, once you have the correct chronology and understand the specific details of the conspiracy, then these apparent impossible contradictions are completely explained.
That's why the
references in the VAT4956 to year 511BCE are also completely explained. The astronomer-priests who were making all these extensive revisions, wanted to preserve some references to the original chronology and so they invented these complex
astronomical "diaries" during the Seleucid period that only astronomers could really check on and hid in these texts their own references to the original chronology.
The casual observer would presume they were just "scribal errors."
Because of these "scribal errors", however, which end up being perfectly matched up with 511BCE, and thus could not be random mistakes, we have a direct reference to the original chronology for the Neo-Babylonian period which dates the
37th year of Nebuchadnezzar II in 511BCE and thus the fall of Jerusalem in 529BCE. This is thus perfectly in line with the 1st of Cyrus in 455BCE and the 6th year of Darius in 534BCE which is likewise, confirmed by the solar eclipse in
402BCE which dates the first year of the Peloponnesian War in 403BCE, from which he derive the dating of the Battle of Marathon in 534BCE as well as the death of Darius in that same year. Based upon the 455BCE chronology, 434BCE would
have been the sixth year of Darius, and the Bible says that Darius died in his sixth year, the temple being completed the following spring after 22 years.
By the way, Thucydides also gives us the death of Artaxerxes in the 8th
year of the war which is 396 BCE.
If Xerxes and Artaxerxes were the same king, then Artaxerxes/Xerxes came to the throne at 18 and was born the year his "father" became king. Obviously, based upon the reliefs of Persepolis, Xerxes was
already a young man when Darius, his father became king, and he was made his co-ruler in his second year. But a more important father in the line of Xerxes was his grandfather, Cyrus. Xerxes was the son of Attosa, the daughter of Cyrus.
So he had a legal claim to the throne of Persia over and beyond that of his father usurping the thone. This Xerxes' kingship would have been important to the Medes since Atossa was the grand-daughter of Asytages, the king of Medes.
That being the case, if Xerxes/Artaxerxes diedin 396 after 41 years, then he began to co-rule with Darius in 437. If he was 18 years old when he began to rule, then his "father" must have become king in 455BCE. We know Darius
didn't begin to rule at that time, but Xerxes grand-father, Cyrus, certainly did!
So the original chronology lines up perfectly in several ways, with many astronomical events falling right in line to lock this chronology right in
place.
Thus it is quite comforting to see who a closer and critical look at some of the chronology and ancient history that comes down to us completely agrees with the Bible's chronology, which in no way supports or agrees with
the current, revised chronology which would reduce the Neo-Babylonian period by 20 years, essentially claiming the Bible is lying when it says that the land lay desolate for 70 years.
Thanks for modern eclipse canons and
astro-programs and a close look at some of the counter-conspiratorial texts that preserved references to the original chronology, we can rest at ease that the Bible's chronology is the correct one and we can summarily dismiss the current
chronology, which distorts ancient history by some 82 years at the point of the 1st year of Cyrus, as totally bogus!
Don't forget the secret: Line 3 and Line 14 of the VAT4956 directly reference 511BCE, dating the 37th year of
Nebuchadnezzar II that year, confirming his 19th year and the fall of Jerusalem in 529BCE. Then don't forget to begin the 70-year desolation period and sabbath rest for the land after the final deportation from Jerusalem which was not
529BCE, but four years later in the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar which was 525BCE.
And don't forget, this confirms the Messianic coming in 1992, 2520 years after 529BCE, which is confirmed by the Jews return to Palestine in 1947,
which fulfills the "1335 days" for the kingdom setup, which is 45 years after 1947 which ends the trampling of the Jews after "1290 days".
And also don't forget that 1992 is within one generation of 80 years from 1914. The
generation since 1914 was suppose to see the kingdom come in its glory within a "generation" which means it would be before 80 years (Ps. 90:10). Thus the 1992 date for the Second Coming did fulfill that prophecy parameter given by
Jesus.
Of course, the Messiah was to first come as a thief, to be revealed several years later when the kingdom's setup would become more visible and after the gathering and feeding of the anointed ones in
secret.
Drake, Jr.