* Zechariah 3 (10vs)
- a vision of Joshua the high priest, Yahweh, and Satan
* Zechariah 4 (14vs)
- "‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies."
Local HISTORY:
PERSIA and JUDAH
Persia (Persian Empire) aka Achaemenid Empire c 550-330 BC; with maps; included what had been Babylon, 539 BC
DATE: ca 539 BC - King Belshazzar lost the Babylonian Empire in one night when Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Great took the kingdom of Babylon
DATE: ca 539 BC -
Probably Cyaxares II was Darius the Mede, uncle of Cyrus the Great, referred to in the book of Daniel. Darius was 62 years old when he and nephew Cyrus took the kingdom of Babylon in 539 BC, and he died about two years later in 537/536 BC (9-14) DATE: ca 538 BC "Decree of Cyrus" by Cyrus the Great gave the Jews (Judahites) permission to return to the Judah (Yehud) province to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. (9-15) DATE: ca 537 BC - Darius the Mede died and Cyrus was sole king, per PresentTruth.com and PhiloLogos.org DATE: ca 537 BC 42,360 people returned to Judah and during the 2nd year the governor Zerubbabel and high priest Jeshua had organized the workers and laid the foundation of the Temple DATE: ca 537-520 BC adversaries to Israel frustrated and delayed the rebuilding of the Temple about 17 years DATE: ca 536 BC - revelations to Daniel were completed DATE: ca 530 BC - Cyrus diedDATE: ca 530-522 BC - Cyrus's son Cambyses II (also called Artaxerxes) ruled the Persian Empire, but spent much time in Egypt DATE: ca 522 BC - Cambyses II diedDATE: ca 522 BC - a usurper sometimes known as Smerdis reigned the Persian Empire 7 months DATE: ca 522-485 BC - Darius I the Great ruled Persian Empire DATE: ca 520 BC - in the 2nd year of Darius, God began speaking to Israel through prophets Haggai (9-16) and Zecharaiah (9-17ff)
DATE: ca 520 BC - 2nd year of Darius I the Great brought renewed construction work on the Second Temple DATE: ca 515 BC - construction of the Second Temple was completed during the reign of Darius I the Great DATE: ca 485 BC - Darius I the Great diedDATE: ca 485-465 BC - Xerxes I the Great, son of Darius I, ruled Persian Empire and married Esther
ASSYRIA
Second Empire of ASSYRIA with maps; 746-609 BC * Assyria Timeline Chart * The ancient city
NINEVEH on the Tigris River was the capital
* Founding king Tiglath Pileser, 745–727 BC, ruled during reigns of Menehem (Israel) and Uzziah (Judah)
* By 722 BC, the people of Israel had been moved and the land had become part of Assyria
* Conquered by Assyria in 717 BC, the Syrian city of Carchemish was on the west bank of the Euphrates River
* Waning Assyrian Power (D. Bratcher)
* In 609 BC, Assyria had weakened and fallen to Babylon
* About 604 BC, Carchemish was the scene of Egypt's defeat (King Necho II) by Babylonia (King Nebuchadnezzar II)
BABYLONIA
NEO BABYLONIAN Empire with maps; ca. 627-539 BC
* Nebuchadnezzar II's father, Nabopolassar, established the Chaldean era of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 626 BC, rebelling against Assyria
* Nabopolassar was king when the Assyrian capital Ninevah was sacked (612 BC)
* Nebuchadnezzar had been the Chaldean king of the Babylonian Empire 19 years when Jerusalem fell in 586 BC
* In 586 BC, almost all the remaining Jews of Judah were taken from the Promised Land northeast into the captivity promised by their God.
on Necho's way to meet the Babylonians at Carchemish in Syria, Judah's King Josiah tried to stop Egypt from the intended battle. Josiah was killed at Megiddo and buried at Jerusalem.
* From 609-605 BC
Judah was under Egyptian control after the death of King Josiah. Pharaoh Necho established Josiah's second son Jehoiakim the puppet king of Judah.
* Egypt established an outpost in the northern Syria city of Carchemish
* In 605 BC
Nebuchadezzar drove Egypt out of Carchemish and south toward Palestine. At this time Nebuchadezzar became sole king of Babylonia at the death of his father and co-reigner, Nabopolasser.
Jehoiakim of Judah switched loyalties from Egypt to Babylonia as the latter moved into the coastal regions of Philistine territory, northeast of Egypt and southwest of Judah.
* By 601 BC
Nebuchadezzar was at war with Egypt led by Pharaoh Necho, but Babylonia - unable to conquer Egypt - soon returned home.
* Seeing Egypt's apparent victory, Jehoiakim of Judah switched loyalties back to Egypt, away from Babylonia.
* 598 BC
Nebuchadezzar sent his army to retake Judah from its Egyptian allegiance. Then Jehoiakim suddenly died, and his son Jehoiachin became king.
598 BC
* Jehoiachin had reigned 3 months in 598 BC when he surrendered Jerusalem to Babylonia, as the prophet Jeremiah had told his father must be done. Thousands went into Babylonian exile, including Daniel and Esther.
* In 595 BC
Egypt's Necho II died and his son Psamtik II began to reign (595–589 BC)
* By 594 BC
Judah's king Zedekiah believed prophets other than Jeremiah and hoped for other local countries to resist Babylonia with him
* In 589 BC
with only Tyre, Egypt, and perhaps Ammon supporting Judah, Babylonian troops returned to capture most of Judah except for Jerusalem
* In 589 BC
Egyptian Pharaoh Psamtik II died and his son Apries (aka Hophra) began to reign (589-570 BC)
* In 588 BC
Jerusalem was under siege. When Egypt's Pharaoh Hophra sent an army to aid Jerusalem, Babylonia left the siege to turn back the Egyptian forces.
* The remaining Jews believed God had delivered Jerusalem, until Babylonian forces returned from defeating Egyptian forces.
* In July of 587 BC
the Babylonian siege finally succeeded to breach the walls of Jerusalem and conquer the city.
* Pharaoh Hophra (aka Apries) stayed in power until overthrown by army general Amasis in 570 BC
JUDAH: Later prophets relay God's warnings, plans:
* Jeremiah prophesied from the reign of Josiah past the destruction of Jerusalem
* Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josiah
* Habakkuk likely prophesied during the reign of Josiah PROPHETS IN EXILE:
* Daniel born during Josiah;
into exile from Judah to Babylon in Jehoiakim reign
* Ezekiel was probably exiled from Judah to Babylon with Jehoiachin RESTORATION PROPHETS:
* Ezra followed Daniel and preceeded Nehemiah
* Nehemiah supplemented and completed Ezra's rebuilding history
* Malachi was probably contemporary with Nehemiah
* Haggai prophesied after Israel's return from the Babylonian captivity during
2nd temple
* Zechariah prophesied after Israel's return from the Babylonian captivity during
2nd temple
Chart of the Final KINGS of Judah
NOTE: The reasons the kings of Judah after Josiah were wicked are listed in 2Ch 36:12ff. God required the land of Judah (Israel) to be cleansed by the people going to Babylon for 70 years
In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim (B.C. 606), Nebuchadnezzar (in his first year reigning Jer 25:1) carried Daniel with other youths of Jewish nobility and articles from the temple, off to Babylon. 2Kings 24:1-7 and
2 Chronicles 36:5-7
A One-Year
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