Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary
The Renewed Covenant by Daniel Gregg
"Ezra
7:7-9 And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests,
and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto
Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. 8 And he came to
Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
9 For upon the first day of the first
month he established to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the
fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon
him" (DLT: torahtimes.org).
the seventh year: This was 397 B.C. We use the same Tishri year that Nehemiah 1:1 and 2:1 used for Artaxerxes I. This was the seventh year of Artaxerxes II according to Jewish reckoning, Tishri 1, 398 to Ellul 30, 397. According to Persian reckoning it was Nisan 1, 398 to Adar 29, 397.
the first day of the first month: Nisan 1, 397 was Friday. The Hebrew says that Ezra founded this day for the exiles to assemble at the Ahava River (יסד). It is not likely that they knew Adar would have 29 days. If it had 30, then the arrival deadline would be Sabbath, March 25. Because it was the Sabbath, though, all the exiles knew they had to be at the rendezvous point on Friday. Ezra was planning to depart on the first day of the week, three days later, on the third of Nisan (Ezra 8:15). As it turned out, Nisan 1, was on Friday, March 24. This date would give the exiles a whole week to travel to the gathering point, and once they set out, there would be a whole week of travel. However, the plans did not work out that way, as Ezra found he had to send for Levites.
the first day of the fifth month: The date of Av 1 was July 20, 397 BC, a Thursday.
comment: In 457 BC, Nisan 1 was Wednesday, March 27. The third day, which was supposed to be their departure date from Ahava would have landed on Friday. This argues against 457 BC, because any normal person would wait till the first day of the week. For similar reasons, Nisan 1, 458 BC does not make sense to arrive at the assembly point, because that day was a Sabbath, and the third day from it was a Monday. It may be observed that Ezra was extremely zealous for the Torah. He would have thought these things through. He was a Persian official with couriers at his command. (DLC: torahtimes.org)
Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary: (http://www.torahtimes.org/translation/ezr0707.html)
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