Read the Bible in 2011 ◊ Week 50: Tuesday
“Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services.”
Nehemiah 13:14
Tuesday’s Bible reading is Nehemiah 10–13.
May the Lord bless you through the reading of His Word!
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Original content: Copyright ©2011 Iwana Carpenter
As you read Nehemiah, I thought it might be helpful to have a chart of the sequence of some major events in the return of the exiles to Jerusalem.
These dates are from Dr. Gleason Archer’s A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, a standard and respected work. Within each chapter he discusses his reasoning as well as that of other scholars.1
| The Exiles Return to Israel | |
| Date | Event |
| 586 B.C. |
Burning of Jerusalem and destruction of Temple |
| 538 B.C. | Cyrus: Rebuild Temple (2 Chronicles 36:22–23) |
| 538 B.C. |
Exiles return under Zerubbabel (Ezra 2–3) |
| 536 B.C. |
Foundation of Second Temple laid (Ezra 3:8) |
| —16 Years— |
Building stopped by enemy discouragement (Ezra 4) |
| 520 B.C. | Haggai & Zechariah prophesy (Ezra 5:1–2) |
| Building of Temple resumes |
|
| 516 B.C. |
Temple Finished: 70 years after 586 B.C. destruction |
| Jeremiah 29:10 |
|
| 457 B.C. |
Artaxerxes I: Rebuild Jerusalem (Ezra 7) |
| Ezra’s return |
|
| 445 B.C. | Artaxerxes I: Rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2) |
| Nehemiah’s return |
|
| 435 B.C. |
Malachi prophesies |
“For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.’”
Jeremiah 29:10
1Gleason L. Archer, Jr., “Postexilic Historical Books: 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther,” A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, pp. 404–421; “Postexilic Prophets: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi,” A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, pp. 422–432.
Kindling for Candles 