Editing Artaxerxes I (section)

==Portrayal in the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah==
A King Artaxerxes ({{langx|he|אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתְּא}}, אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא, {{IPA|he|artaχʃast(ǝ)|pron}}, or אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתָּא {{IPA|he|artaχʃasta|pron}}) is described in the Bible (Ezra 7) as having commissioned [[Ezra]], a [[kohen]] and [[sofer|scribe]], by means of a letter of decree to take charge of the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the Jewish nation.

[[Ezra]] thereby left Babylon in the first month of the seventh year<ref>''The Book of Daniel''. Montex Publish Company, By Jim McGuiggan 1978, p. 147.</ref> of Artaxerxes' reign, at the head of a company of Jews that included priests and [[Levites]]. They arrived in [[Jerusalem]] on the first day of the fifth month of the seventh year according to the [[Hebrew calendar]]. The text does not specify whether the king in the passage refers to Artaxerxes I (465–424 BC) or to [[Artaxerxes II of Persia|Artaxerxes II]] (404–359 BC).<ref name="igb">{{cite book |title=The Illustrated Guide to the Bible|last=Porter|first=J.R. |year= 2000|publisher=Barnes & Noble Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7607-2278-7 |pages=115–16}}</ref><ref name="Toynbee1961">{{cite book|first=Arnold|last=Toynbee|title=A Study of History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dglXAAAAYAAJ|volume=12|year=1961|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=485|quote=Ever since the beginning of the Babilonish Captivity, the diaspora has been Jewry's citadel and the Artaxerxes in question is Artaxerxes I (''imperabat'' 465-424 B.C.) or Artaxerxes II (''imperabat'' 404-359 B.C.) So we do not know whether the date of Ezra's mission was 458 B.C. or 397 B.C., or whether the date of Nehemia's mission was 445 B.C. or 384 B.C. (see G.F. Moore: ''Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era'', vol. i, p. 5). Nehemiah may have preceded Ezra}}</ref> Most scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though some have difficulties with this assumption:<ref name="Britannica">"Ezra". ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. 2007.</ref> Nehemiah and Ezra "seem to have no knowledge of each other; their missions do not overlap", however, in Nehemiah 12, both are leading processions on the wall as part of the wall dedication ceremony. So, they clearly were contemporaries working together in [[Jerusalem]] at the time the wall and the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt in contrast to the previously stated viewpoint.<ref name="MaryJ2">{{cite book |last=Winn Leith |first=Mary Joan |editor=Michael David Coogan |title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&q=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World |format=[[Google Books]] |access-date=13 December 2007 |orig-year=1998 |year=2001 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford]]; [[New York City|New York]] |isbn=978-0-19-513937-2 |oclc=44650958 |pages=281 |chapter=Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&q=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World |lccn=98016042}}</ref> These difficulties have led many scholars to assume that Ezra arrived in the seventh year of the rule of Artaxerxes II, i.e. some 50 years after Nehemiah. This assumption would imply that the biblical account is not chronological. The last group of scholars regard "the seventh year" as a scribal error and hold that the two men were contemporaries.<ref name="Britannica" /><ref>John Boederman, ''The Cambridge Ancient History'', 2002, p. 272</ref> However, Ezra appears for the first time in Nehemiah 8, having probably been at the court for twelve years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/nehemiah/8.htm|title=Nehemiah 8 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers}}</ref>

The rebuilding of the Jewish community in [[Jerusalem]] had begun under [[Cyrus the Great]], who had permitted Jews held captive in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild [[Solomon's Temple]]. Consequently, a number of Jews returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC, and the foundation of this "[[Second Temple]]" was laid in 536 BC, in the second year of their return (Ezra 3:8). After a period of strife, the temple was finally completed in the sixth year of Darius, 516 BC (Ezra 6:15).

In Artaxerxes' twentieth year, [[Nehemiah]], the king's [[cup-bearer]], apparently was also a friend of the king as in that year Artaxerxes inquired after Nehemiah's sadness. [[Nehemiah]] related to him the plight of the Jewish people and that the city of Jerusalem was undefended. The king sent [[Nehemiah]] to Jerusalem with letters of safe passage to the governors in Trans-Euphrates, and to [[Asaph (biblical figure)|Asaph]], keeper of the royal forests, to make beams for the citadel by the Temple and to rebuild the city walls.<ref>Nehemiah 2:1–9</ref>