After reviewing Esdras 7, and not having found in that chapter the fulfillment of Daniel 9:25, which initiates the prophecy of the 70 weeks, we will proceed to examine the book of Nehemiah, to see if we find in that book, the order to rebuild Jerusalem and its walls in distressing times. In chapter 2 of Nehemiah, we find that in the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes; that is, the year 444 B.C., Nehemiah asks the king to send him to Judah, to the city of his fathers’ tombs to REBUILD IT (Nehemiah 2:5). In verse 8 of the same chapter, Nehemiah asks the king for letters to the keeper of the forest, in order to provide him with wood for the reconstruction of the city wall, which was granted to him. It is important to highlight two things here: A- Firstly, it is true that the book of Nehemiah does not record that he was given an imperial decree; but, it is equally true that Nehemiah made a trip to Jerusalem officially in the year 444 B.C., with the position of governor (Nehemiah 5:14); so the king provided him with a military escort, consisting of army captains and cavalry; a situation that did not occur in the case of Ezra. The permission granted to Nehemiah constituted an order, because: “… in the official language of the time, a permit was an order,” as stated in the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume III, p. 352. B- That at that time; prior to the construction of a large city like Jerusalem, its walls were built first, to provide security against bands of raiders and invaders.
In Nehemiah 2:13, it is recorded that the walls were broken and the gates consumed by fire, which is why Jerusalem was deserted (verse 17). In the same verse, Nehemiah invites the people to build the wall; to which the people answered: “… let us rise up and build.” In Nehemiah 7:14, it is recorded that even after the walls of Jerusalem were finished, houses had not yet been rebuilt. Up to this point, the Scriptures show that before Nehemiah’s arrival in Judah, the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem had not started, much less the building of the city, fulfilling Daniel 9:25.
Chapter 3 of Nehemiah records the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem; and in Nehemiah 4:8-17, the enemies of Judah conspired to attack Jerusalem and kill those who were rebuilding the walls; so the builders worked with a sword in one hand and a tool in the other, which is described as distressing times in Daniel 9:25. Nehemiah 7:1 records the completion of the wall, and in Nehemiah 12:27-43 the solemn dedication of it, with a procession of two large choirs in opposite directions and the sacrifice of numerous animals. The last mentioned verse states that the joy, contentment, and jubilation for the dedication of the wall were so great that it was heard from afar. Finally, in Nehemiah 11:1-2, the repopulation of Jerusalem by volunteers is recorded; casting lots for one out of every ten Jews to dwell in Jerusalem. The new settlers began building their houses and the rest of the city, fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel 9:25.
One of the reasons for not accepting the year 444 B.C. as the year of the beginning of the prophecy of the 70 weeks is the apparent discrepancy in the prophetic timetable – which results in a 13-year gap – which does not align the final part of the prophecy with the year of the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus in 27 A.D. This apparent discrepancy occurs if we continue to calculate the time of the 70-week prophecy with solar years or modified years of thirteen months every two years, when the prophet wrote primarily for the Jewish people who used lunar years of 12 months and 354.36 days, before, during, and after the exile, leading up to the final fulfillment of the prophecy, with the baptism of the Lord Jesus. The time calculation, by intercalating a year with thirteen months every two years, was implemented by the Babylonians, scholars of the stars in the 4th century B.C., a century after the Lord revealed the prophecies to Daniel. Regarding this, the SDA Bible Commentary, volume II, page 123, comments: “It was not until the 4th century B.C. that the Babylonians regularized the intercalation of the 7 additional months within the cycle of 19 years.” On page 126 of the same volume, it is stated: “The succession now used by the Jewish calendar with seven years of thirteen months in each cycle of 19 years… was not adopted by the Jews until the Middle Ages”; that is, starting from the 5th century of our era.
For reasons of space, at this moment, we will not delve into the time calculation used by the Jews in their beginnings as a nation, which includes the celebration of Passover and the Feast of the Wheat Harvest. When calculating time using lunar years, and starting from the year 444 B.C., we find that the 483 years of the 69 weeks, multiplied by the 354.36 days of the lunar year, amount to a total of 171,156 days, which when divided by the 365.24 days of the solar year; it is reduced to 468.6 solar years. If we subtract the year 444 from these 468.6 solar years, which history records as the year Nehemiah traveled to Jerusalem, we are left with 25.6 years; that is, the month of Tishri of the year 26 A.D. Considering the time calculation of the 70 weeks using lunar years allows us to align the events that mark the beginning of the prophecy, such as the building of the city of Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah, as well as the final event of the prophecy with the baptism of the Lord Jesus in the fall season of 26 A.D.; which does not happen if we use solar years, because if the prophecy begins at the beginning of Nisan, it must also end at the beginning of the first month of the year, which does not align with the season in which the Lord was baptized.
All of the above evidence indicates that in the year 444 B.C., during the time of Nehemiah, he received permission to rebuild the walls of the city, which he rebuilt and dedicated with a solemn ceremony; as well as he ordered and directed the repopulation of Jerusalem; resulting in the rebuilding of the city; thus fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel 9:25. In conclusion, we must ask ourselves: If the book of Nehemiah details the different events that mark the beginning of the prophecy of the 70 weeks in 444 B.C., how can we continue to affirm that said prophecy began in 457 B.C. based on deductions and assumptions from what is recorded in the book of Ezra, contrary to what is clearly revealed in the Scriptures? Blessings.
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