Ezr 7:28, on the part of Ezra, for the mercy of God bestowed upon him.
Chap. 7
Verses 1-6
What follows is slightly combined with the former occurrences by the formula “after these things,” without any more exact chronological definition; comp. Gen 15:1; Gen 22:1, and elsewhere. Between the dedication of the temple in the sixth year of Darius and the arrival of Ezra in Jerusalem, a period of fifty-seven years had elapsed. “In the reign of Artachshasta king of Persia, went up Ezra,” etc. The verb of the subject עזרא does not follow till Ezr 7:6, where, after the interposition of the long genealogy, Ezr 7:1-5, the distant subject is again taken up in עזרא הוּא. It is all but universally agreed that Artaxerxes Longimanus is intended by ארתּחשׁסתּא; the explanation of this appellation as Xerxes in Joseph. Antiq. xi. 5. 1, for which Fritzsche (on 1 Esdr. 8:1) has recently decided, being a mere conjecture on the part of that not very critical historian. The fact that the Artachshasta of the book of Nehemiah (Neh 1:1; Neh 5:14; Neh 13:6) can be no other than Artaxerxes, is decisive of this point: for in Neh 13:6 the thirty-second year of Artachshasta is mentioned; while according to Neh 8:9; Neh 12:26, Neh 12:36, Ezra and Nehemiah jointly exercised their respective offices at Jerusalem.[1]
Ezra is called Ben Seraiah, whose pedigree is traced to Eleazar the son of Aaron; Seraiah the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, was the father of Josedec the high priest carried into captivity (1Ch 6:14, etc.), and was himself the high priest whom Nebuchadnezzar slew at Riblah (2Ki 25:18-21). Between the execution of Seraiah in the year 588 and the return of Ezra from Babylon in 458 b.c., there is a period of 130 years. Hence Ezra could have been neither the son nor grandson of Seraiah, but only his great or great-great-grandson. When we consider that Joshua, or Jeshua (Ezr 2:2), the high priest who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, was the grandson of Seraiah, we cannot but
- ↑ Very superficial are the arguments, and indeed the whole pamphlet, Etude Chronologique des livres d'Esdras et de Néhémie, Paris 1868, p. 40, etc., by which F. de Saulcy tries to show that the Artachshasta of Ezra 7 and of Nehemiah is Artaxerxes II (Mnemon).
