The Origins of the Second Temple : Persion Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- List of Illustrations and Maps -- Introduction -- The Topic of Inquiry -- A Brief Survey of Past Hypotheses -- An Outline of Chapters -- Chapter 1 When Generations Really Count: Dating Zerubbabel and Nehemiah Using Genealogical Information in the Book of Nehemiah -- Introduction -- Generation 1 -- Iddo -- Kadmiel -- Yeshua ben Yehozadak -- Generation 2 -- Zerubbabel -- Yehoiakim -- Berekiah -- Shekaniah ben Arah -- Generation 3 -- Eliashiv -- Meshullam, Son of Zerubbabel -- Hananiah, Son of Zerubbabel -- Shelomit -- Elnatan -- Zechariah -- Meshullam, Son of Berekiah and Brother of Zechariah -- Shemaiah ben Shekaniah -- Tobiah the Ammonite -- Sanballat the Horonite/Sinuballit the Harrranite -- Geshem the Arab -- Generation 4 -- Yoiada/Yehoiada -- The Daughter of Meshullam ben Berekiah -- The Sons of Sanballat/Sinuballit -- Bagohi -- Generation 5 -- Yohanan ben Yehoiada -- The Daughter of Sanballat/Sinuballit and the Son of Yehoiada -- Yonatan ben Yehoiada -- Generation 6 -- Yaddua -- Chronological Implications of the Genealogies -- Establishing Date Parameters -- Nehemiah as a Member of Generation 3 -- Conclusion -- Endnotes -- Chapter 2 What's in a Date? The Unreliable Nature of the Dates in Haggai and Zechariah -- Introduction -- Dating Formulae Used from the Seventh-Second Centuries bce -- Judah -- Neo-Assyria -- Neo-Babylonia -- Persia -- The Ptolemies -- The Seleucids -- Section Summary -- The Dates in Haggai and Zechariah 1-8 -- The Year Dates -- Zechariah 7.1-7 -- The Seventy-Year Figure in Zechariah 7.4 -- The Date of the Destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar -- Preliminary Considerations -- Year 18 or 19 of Nebuchadnezzar? -- Year 1 of Darius -- The Seventy-Year Tradition Revisited.

Why Year 2 of Darius and Not Year 1? -- Section Summary -- Month and Day Elements in the Date Formulae in Haggai and Zechariah 1-8 -- The Agricultural Cycles in Babylonia and Yehud -- The Iqqur Ipush Almanac -- Day and Month Elements in the Book of Haggai -- Day 1, Month 6 (Haggai 1.1) -- Day 24, Month 6 (Haggai 1.15) -- Day 21, Month 7 (Haggai 2.1) -- Day 24, Month 9 (Haggai 2.10, 18) -- Section Summary -- Day and Month Elements in Zechariah 1-8 -- Month 8 (Zechariah 1.1) -- Day 24, Month 11 (Zechariah 1.7) -- Day 4, Month 9 (Zechariah 7.1) -- Section Summary -- The Internal Organization of Haggai and Zechariah 1-8 as Temple-Building Accounts -- Haggai as an Independent Account of Temple-Building -- Zechariah 1-8 as an Independent Account of Temple-Building -- Haggai-Zechariah 8 as a Single Account of Temple- Building -- Chapter Summary and Conclusion -- Endnotes -- Chapter 3 It's all in the Sources: The Historicity of the Account of Temple-Rebuilding in Ezra 1-6 -- Introduction -- Summary of Ezra 1-6 and Some Historical Problems It Raises -- Summary -- Historical Problems -- Ezra 1-6 as an Account of Temple-Building -- Sources Used to Compose Ezra 1-6 -- 2 Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55) -- Cyrus as the Temple's Rebuilder -- Cyrus' Return of the Temple Vessels -- The Books of Chronicles -- Jeremiah -- The End of Captivity and Return to Yehud -- The Date for the Completion of the Temple -- Haggai-Zechariah 8 -- Dissatisfaction with the New Temple -- The Delay in the Completion of the Temple -- The Date of the Completion of the Temple -- Nehemiah -- The List of Returnees -- The Identity of the Adversaries as Samarians -- The Charge of Sedition in 4.8-22 -- Artaxerxes' Future Decree in 4.21 -- Ezekiel 40-48 -- Sheshbazzar the Nasi' -- the various elements of the temple uses a reed that measures six royal cubits long. The wall surrounding.

The Authenticity of the Six Documents Cited in Ezra 1.2-5 -- 4.11-16 -- 4.17-22 -- 5.7-17 -- 6.2-5 -- and 6.6-12 -- Ezra 1.2-5 -- Ezra 6.2-5 -- Ezra 5.3-17 -- Ezra 6.6-12 -- Ezra 4.7-16 -- Ezra 4.17-22 -- Chapter Summary and Conclusion -- Endnotes -- Chapter 4 Setting the Bounds: The Territory Comprising Yehud Under Artaxerxes I in the Mid-Fifth Century bce -- Introduction -- The Boundaries of Yehud in the Fifth Century bce -- The Biblical Evidence -- Nehemiah 3 -- The Meaning of Pelek -- The Meaning of Sar -- Section Summary -- Nehemiah 7.6-69 -- Nehemiah 11.25-35 -- A Comparison of Nehemiah 11.31-35 and Nehemiah 7.6-38 -- A Comparison of Nehemiah 11.25-30 and Joshua 15 -- Summary -- Section Summary -- The Artifactual Evidence -- m(w)ṣh-Stamped Jars -- Animal-Stamped Jars -- The Yhd, Yh(w)d and Yw-Stamped Jars -- Section Summary -- The Status of the Coastal Plain around Lod and Ono in the Mid-Fifth Century bce -- The Borders of Idumea -- Two Historical Scenarios Based on Nehemiah -- The Negev at the End of the Monarchy and Thereafter -- The Biblical Texts -- Ezekiel -- Malachi -- Obadiah -- The Arad Ostraca in Hebrew from the Monarchic Era -- Edom's Status in the Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods -- Edomite Remains in the Negev in the Late Iron II Period -- Tel es-Sera'/Tell esh-Shari'a -- Khirbet 'Uza -- Horvat Radum -- Tel Masos -- Tel 'Ira -- Qadesh Barnea -- Tel Malhata -- Horvat Qitmit -- 'En Haseva -- Tel Aroer -- Surveys of the Southern Judean Hills -- Tell el-Kheleife -- Section Summary -- Aramaic Ostraca from Persian-Era Idumea -- Khirbet El-Qom/Makkedah -- Arad -- Beersheva -- Tell es-Sera' -- Tel 'Ira -- Section Summary -- Geshem the Arab and the Northern Border of Arabia -- The Loss of Egypt and the Creation of a New Southern Levantine Border for the Persian Empire in Idumea -- The Status of Lakish -- Chapter Summary -- Endnotes.

Chapter 5 Excavating the Past: Settlement Patterns and Military Installations in Persian-Era Yehud -- Introduction -- Preliminary Issues in Using Survey and Excavation Results -- Absolute versus Relative Dating -- Using Epigraphy to Date Artifacts -- Limitations of Remains Retrieved through Excavation -- Limitations of Remains Retrieved through Surveys -- Persian-Era Sites Identified by Survey or Excavation -- Sites That Were New Foundations in the Persian Period -- Sites That Had Previous Occupation in the Iron II Period -- Military Sites -- Analysis of Site Use and Settlement Patterns -- Settlement Trends -- Forts and Relay Stations -- Facilities Located along Internal Provincial Roads -- A Facility Serving as a Satellite Supply Depot for the Royal Road -- Facilities in the Negev Highlands -- Unconfirmed Administrative and Military Facilities -- A Critique of the Hypothesis that Artaxerxes I Introduced a Unique Form of Fort in the Southern Levant -- Chapter Summary -- Endnotes -- Chapter 6 Piety or Pragmatism? The Policy of Artaxerxes I for the Development of Yehud -- Introduction -- The Early Reign of Artaxerxes I -- Past Hypotheses Concerning the Rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah -- A New Proposal for Understanding the Decision to Rebuild Jerusalem -- New Settlers -- A New Governor -- Jerusalem as the New Provincial Seat -- New Fire-Relay Stations -- Extended Jurisdiction? -- Piety or Pragmatism? -- Endnotes -- A List of Persian Kings and their Dates -- Appendix I: The Old Persian Text of the Behistun Inscription -- Appendix II: The Cyrus Cylinder -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index of Authors and Individuals Cited -- Index of Biblical, Classical and Patristic Works Cited -- Index of Geographical Names -- Index of Personal Names -- Index of Subjects.

Darius I, King of Persia, claims to have accomplished many deeds in the early years of his reign, but was one of them the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem? The editor who added the date to the books of Haggai and Zechariah thought so, and the author of Ezra 1-6 then relied on his dates when writing his account of the rebuilding process. The genealogical information contained in the book of Nehemiah, however, suggests otherwise; it indicates that Zerubbabel and Nehemiah were either contemporaries, or a generation apart in age, not some 65 years apart. Thus, either Zerubabbel and the temple rebuilding needs to be moved to the reign of Artaxerxes I, or Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the city walls needs to be moved to the reign of Darius I. In this ground-breaking volume, the argument is made that the temple was built during the reign of Artaxerxes I. The editor of Haggai and Zechariah mistakenly set the event under Darius I because he was influenced by both a desire to show the fulfillment of inherited prophecy and by Darius widely circulated autobiography of his rise to power. In light of the settlement patterns in Yehud during the Persian period, it is proposed that Artaxerxes I instituted a master plan to incorporate Yehud into the Persian road, postal, and military systems. The rebuilding of the temple was a minor part of the larger plan that provided soldiers stationed in the fortress in Jerusalem and civilians living in the new provincial seat with a place to worship their native god while also providing a place to store taxes and monies collected on behalf of the Persian administration.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.