4 marzo 458 anni a. C. - Artaxerxes Decree - Rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. (#3) Ezra 7

Descrizione:

There is some controversy concerning what was decreed here with most scholars concluding that this decree was only to 'beautify the Temple'.

There makes little sense to myself that this was only the manifest provided by the King as the amount of fortune taken with Ezra was considerable and would have been left unprotected if gates and walls were not included in the decree.

The delegation to Nehemiah (1/2) provides some stress for him to realise that the 'beautification' was underway without any protection and so he sought a provision from the king to obtain certain more materials locally procured to complete the work of the wall and gate construction. We state clearly here that I do not believe the further provisions authorised here by the King were in fact 'another decree'.

This I believe to be the case when we consider the prayer in Ezra 9/6-15 wherein he specifically states that Yahweh, in his mercy, had stirred the Kings of Persia to 'give us a reviving' (something impossible without a specific decree) 'and to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to GIVE US A WALL in Judah and Jerusalem'.

This, I believe, provided for a literal wall in times of trouble and persecution from the peoples around about, as well as a wall of protection in the same sense as we encompass ourselves around with Yahweh like a wall of defence and protection from our enemies.

Aggiunto al nastro di tempo:

Data: