The Going Forth of the Commandment

Introduction

This particular subject goes fairly deep into the holy scriptures. For those of you that have a ministry of winning souls to Christ and just teaching the basics of rightly dividing, then this information might not be very useful to you. But for those of you that enjoy getting into the deep things of God, and teach the deep things of God, and your spiritual battles consist of going into the deep things of God, then this article should be a real eye opener for you.

It is very important that you get the starting point for the going forth of the commandment correct. If you don’t get it correct, then it could lead to some problems down the road. The 70 weeks only lasts 490 years. If you start it in the wrong place you are going to end it in the wrong place. If you start it in the wrong place, the holy scriptures will not line up. In John 7 Jesus said,

“35…and the scripture cannot be broken;”

You can’t go around teaching something if it is breaking scripture in another place. The bible is true, and it is the holy word of God. Everything must line up, from the old testament to the new testament. The scripture cannot be broken.

If a teaching is breaking scripture, it is not the scripture that is the problem, it is the teaching that is the problem. The teaching needs to be adjusted so the scripture won’t break. You do not bend and twist the scriptures to match the teaching. You change the teaching. The scriptures are correct.

So let’s get started.

There are two views on the going forth of the commandment of Daniel chapter 9. One view is that the commandment was given by Artaxerxes in Nehemiah chapter 2 and the other view is that it was given by Cyrus in Ezra chapter 1. We will cover both of these views in detail.

I personally take the Cyrus view and you will soon see why. There are several teachers that have taken the time to write down their view of the going forth of the commandment. These all take the Artaxerxes view. You will find these teachings in their books:

The Annals of the World by James Ussher

The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson

The Companion Bible by E.W. Bullinger

I’m sure there are plenty of others, but these are the ones that I have done research on.

For the Artaxerxes view we will first take the view of the Companion Bible, for it seems to have the most contrast compared to the Cyrus view. The chart was taken from this book, the Companion Bible, from the information given to us from the appendixes on pages 60, 67,and 70 and then put into an easy to read and understand chart format. In comparing views, please understand that I have no hard feelings toward anyone who takes a view different from mine. If we have all trusted Jesus Christ as our Saviour, then we are all brethren and should treat each other as so. But anyone that records their teachings and puts it out for all the public to see, must understand that they are putting themselves up against public scrutiny of their material. This includes myself.

Being Bereans, we MUST test this material and see if it is true are not. You do not take somebody’s word for it just because they wrote a book and used a bunch of big college words and made a bunch of charts and graphs and have “Dr.” in front of their name. The holy scriptures are the holy scriptures, a man’s book is a man’s book. There is no comparison.

I personally try to provide to people all the views to a particular subject if at all possible. In teaching people to be Bereans, it seems to help to give them more than one view of a particular subject. It gives the person the opportunity to see for themselves the different views and compare them to each other to come to a conclusion of which view adheres closest to the scriptures.

Now what we will do first is look at the charts. Visual aids help out tremendously. First we will cover the Artaxerxes view:

The Artaxerxes view:

The Companion Bible

The Annals of the World

The Coming Prince

Now let’s look at the Cyrus view.

The Cyrus view.

Now let’s cover the main scriptures that leads us to the subject. In Daniel chapter 9 it says,

“24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

This is not a teaching on the 70 weeks of Daniel, just the going forth of the commandment.

Notice in verse 25 that it says from the going forth of the commandment. This is when the 70 weeks start. The 70 weeks consists of 490 years that God has determined upon the nation of Israel.

Starting the seventy weeks in the right place is of utmost importance. The seventy weeks last only 490 years. If you start it in the wrong place, you will end it in the wrong place. So it is very important to get it right. If you start it in the wrong place then the scriptures will not line up and you end up breaking scripture.

So let’s get to the main verses for each view and why people choose between the two views.

On the Artaxerxes view the main verse they use is from Nehemiah 2, which says,

“4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.”

Nehemiah asked King Artaxerxes if he could go unto Jerusalem, “…that I may build it.”

So Nehemiah asked permission to go and build Jerusalem. The people that take this position explain that you can build the temple but that is not building the city, so they say that the commandment was given by Artaxerxes. They use Ezra 1 which says,

“1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.”

So they say Cyrus gave the commandment to build the temple, but Artaxerxes gave the commandment to build the city, therefore the going forth of the commandment has to be with Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 2.

This sounds pretty reasonable, Artaxerxes gave the commandment to build the city and Cyrus gave the commandment to build the temple – if you don’t check it against the holy scriptures.

So what they do is take Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 2 and apply it around the first week of the 70 weeks of Daniel and try to make it fit the holy scriptures.

Now concerning the Cyrus view, the first thing we need to point out is that Artaxerxes did not issue a commandment to build the city. Nehemiah asked permission to go, and Artaxerxes granted him permission. This is not giving a commandment.

Now the main verses for the Cyrus view does not even come from Ezra chapter 1. It comes 200 years earlier by the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 44 it says,

“28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”

So here we have a prophecy about 200 years before it happened that the Lord said that Cyrus would perform all his pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem that it shall be built and the foundation of the temple would be laid. And in the very next chapter it says,

“1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;”

and in verse 13 it says,

“13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.”

The Lord said that Cyrus would build his city and let go the captives not for price or reward, and that is exactly what Cyrus did.

Cyrus gave the commandment to build the city starting with the temple. Cyrus gave a proclamation, which is a commandment. Nehemiah asked permission and was granted permission. These are not the same.

Through the prophecy of Isaiah, the Lord clearly gives the going forth of the commandment to build the city to Cyrus. This cannot be denied.

The brethren that teach that it was with Artaxerxes, avoid the scripture in Isaiah because it does not match their teachings. It is very important to get this right because there is about a 67 year difference between the two views and if you start the 70 weeks in the wrong place you will end up in the wrong place or you will run across a situation where the scripture will not line up.

So let’s get started on looking at the 2 views and see which one lines up best with the holy scriptures.

One of the first things that you will see when you compare the 2 views is that the view from the Companion Bible puts Nehemiah coming to Jerusalem before Ezra gets there.

To be fair to our other brethren, the Companion Bible is the only one that I have seen that does this. Please understand that I am not trying to cut our brethren down or anything like that, but being Bereans we MUST test the things we are told, by the holy scriptures, to see whether they are true or not. You do not take a man’s teachings for truth just because he wrote a book. They must be tested.

This particular Artaxerxes view has the building of the wall before the temple is built. It has Nehemiah coming to Jerusalem before Ezra gets there. It has Nehemiah coming to Jerusalem before the captives are released by King Cyrus. But let’s cover one thing at a time.

There are several things that are seriously flawed in this view when you compare it to the holy scriptures. Here is a list.

1. Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem before Ezra.
2. The wall is built before the temple.
3. Temple built in 20 years instead of 46.
4. Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem in the 42nd year of Nebuchadnezzar.
5. The desolations of Jerusalem and it’s cities lasts only 42 years.
6. States that Darius the Mede is the Artaxerxes of Nehemiah 2.
7. Daniel received the vision of the 70 weeks 28 years after it starts.
8. Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem before the captives are released.

We will cover these flaws one by one and back it up with scripture.

Flaw #1.
Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem before Ezra.

In Ezra chapter 7 it says,

“1Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,

6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.

7 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.”

In Ezra 1-6 it talks about the children of Israel going back to Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple. In 7:1 he says,

“1 Now after these things…”

After what things? After the rebuilding of the temple. Ezra goes up to Jerusalem in the 7th year of Artaxerxes and Nehemiah doesn’t go up to Jerusalem until the 20th year of Artaxerxes. In Nehemiah 2 it says,

“1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.”

So Ezra gets to Jerusalem 13 years before Nehemiah does according to the scripture.

In Nehemiah 8 it says,

“1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

9 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.”

When Nehemiah gets to Jerusalem, Ezra is already there and the temple has already been built.

But the Companion Bible view has Nehemiah going to Jerusalem 50 years before Ezra gets there. This is a major flaw.

The Companion Bible Chart.

Flaw #2
The wall is rebuilt before the temple.

In Nehemiah 2 he gets permission from Artaxerxes in his twentieth year to go to Jerusalem. When he gets there it takes 52 days to rebuild the wall. In Nehemiah 2 it says,

“11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.”

Within a few days the work on the wall was started and in chapter 6 it says,

“15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.”

So Nehemiah got permission to go to Jerusalem in the 1st month, made it to Jerusalem and started on the wall and had it rebuilt or repaired in 52 days and finished up the 25th day of the 6th month.

This Artaxerxes view has the wall being built before the temple, which gives us a problem. As they were building the wall they ran across some trouble with people that wanted the work stopped. In Nehemiah 6 it says,

“10 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.

11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”

So before the wall was finished, Shemaiah asked Nehemiah to go hide in the temple.

Now here is the question:

How could Nehemiah go hide in the temple if the temple had not been built yet? This view gives Cyrus the decree to build the temple 28 years after the wall is built. According to this view the foundation for the temple had not even been laid yet. Putting Nehemiah coming to rebuild the wall before the temple was built does not match the holy scriptures.

The temple was built before the wall was rebuilt. This teaching of the wall being built first is a major flaw, but this view puts it this way so they can give Artaxerxes the going forth of the commandment.

This view has the temple started on at a much later date. This view shows the temple being started on 28 years after the wall is rebuilt. As you can see, the holy scriptures show us the temple was already built when Nehemiah started on rebuilding the wall.

The Companion Bible Chart.

Flaw #3
The Temple built in 20 years instead of 46 years.

In John 2 it says,

“20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?"

As they were building the temple they were hindered and even stopped in doing their work. So it took an extremely long time to build the temple, it took 46 years.

But this Artaxerxes view only gives 20 years for the building of the temple and the dedication. This does not match the holy scriptures and is another flaw.

In Ezra 1 it tells us about Cyrus giving the proclamation to build the temple. It took the people a year to get there and get settled in and they laid the foundation in the 2nd year of Cyrus. In Ezra 3 it says,

“8 Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the LORD.

11 And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.”

In Ezra 4 it says,

“4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

5 And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

Between Cyrus and Darius the Persian there were 2 more kings that reigned, Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes.

Now before I go on I need to make note that there were more than one king with the same name. The scripture gives us two kings named Darius. One was Darius the Mede and the other was Darius the Persian. There are two kings names Ahasuerus. The first one was the father of Darius the Mede and the second one came after Cyrus which more than likely was the husband of Esther. There are two kings named Artaxerxes, one that came before Darius the Persian and one that came after Darius the Persian.

On the Cyrus chart these are named Ahasuerus #1 & Ahasuerus #2 and Artaxerxes #1 & Artaxerxes #2 for clarification.

As we continue, in Ezra 4 it says,

“6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.”

Ahasuerus didn’t really hinder the building of the temple but the next king, Artaxerxes did. In Ezra 4 again it says,

“21 Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until another commandment shall be given from me.

22 Take heed now that ye fail not to do this: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?

23 Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.

24 Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

This is why it took so long to build the temple. They were hindered the whole way through and then Artaxerxes made them stop completely. When Darius the Persian came into power he told them to finish in his 2nd year and it was finished 4 years later in his 6th year.

The scriptures tell us that it took 46 years to build the temple. The Companion Bible view only allows 20 years with the dedication included. They do this so that they can try to make the Artaxerxes view fit. This is another major flaw.

The Companion Bible Chart

Flaw #4
Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem in the 42nd year of Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar was the king of kings. He was in full charge over all the other regional kings that he had appointed in his kingdom. The Companion Bible view shows that Artaxerxes reigned while Nebuchadnezzar was in power, but the scriptures show us that the reign of the Medes and Persians had already started when Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem.

The reign of the Medes and Persians started with Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian. This was a dual kingdom reign as Daniel indicated in his vision in Daniel chapter 8 of the ram with 2 horns.

After Cyrus came Ahasuerus, then Artaxerxes #1, then Darius the Persian, then Artaxerxes #2. In the reign of Atraxerxes #2, Ezra went to Jerusalem in his 7th year after the temple was built and Nehemiah went up in his 20th year.

When Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem the Medes and Persians had been in power at least a minimum of 67 years.

The kingdom of Babylon lasted 70 years, so in the 42nd year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, the kingdom of Babylon still had 28 years to go.

Having the kingdom of the Medes and Persians reigning at the same time of the kingdom of Babylon makes no sense whatsoever. This is another major flaw.

The Companion Bible Chart

Flaw #5
Desolations of Jerusalem lasts only 42 years.

In Daniel 9 it says,

“1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;

2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”

Please notice that it says, “…the desolations of Jerusalem.” Desolations is plural meaning not only the city of Jerusalem itself but also the small towns and cities around it in the land of Judah. This land was to lay desolate for 70 years. In Jeremiah 25 it says,

“18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;”

Jerusalem was actually the last city of Judah to be destroyed and lay desolate.

In 2nd Kings 24 it says,

“1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

2 And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets.

3 Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;"

So the laying desolate for 70 years was not just the actual city of Jerusalem itself but also the surrounding area. When Jerusalem was finally destroyed in Nebuchadnezzar’s 19th year of his reign, in 2nd Chronicles 36 it says,

“19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:

21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up."

In verse 20 it says, “…until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:” The desolations of Jerusalem were to last until the reign of the kingdom of Persia. This would end the 70 years of the desolations, but the Companion Bible has shortened this to the 42nd year of Nebuchanezzar’s reign. Instead of Jerusalem being lay desolate without an inhabitant as it says here in Jeremiah 33,

“10 Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,”

The Companion Bible has Nehemiah going to Jerusalem in the 42nd year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and inhabiting Jerusalem before the 70 years are fulfilled. In the book of Nehemiah it tells us that when Nehemiah gets to Jerusalem that the city is already inhabited again and that the temple is already built. But according to the Companion Bible view, the city should not have been inhabited when Nehemiah got there, neither should the temple have been built either.

This is another major flaw in the Companion Bible’s view of the going forth of the commandment.

The Companion Bible Chart

Flaw #6
States that Darius the Mede is the Artaxerxes of Nehemiah 2

First of all, these kings lived about 67 years apart from one another. Their time periods do not even line up. Second of all, Nebuchadnezzar brought Daniel to Babylon, this is where Daniel lived. When Belshazzar was killed and Darius the Mede took the kingdom he reigned from Babylon, this is where Daniel was.

About 67 years later when Artaxerxes gave permission for Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem he was in Shushan the Palace, the city of Susa in the province of Elam.

They were not in the same time period neither were they in the same city.

The only time Daniel ever mentions about Shushan the palace was when he had a vision of him being there. In Daniel 8 it says,

“1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.

2 And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.”

Daniel was having a vision of the Medes and Persians coming into power. This is why in his vision he was in Shusan, but Daniel lived in Babylon. Darius the Mede was a Mede, he was not a Persian, he would not have reigned from Susa anyway. When he came into power he was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, this is why he reigned from Babylon.

Darius was a Mede and Artaxerxes was a Persian. These were not the same person. The Companion Bible does this so that they can push their Artaxerxes view.

Flaw #7
Daniel receives the vision of the 70 weeks 28 years after it starts

The Companion Bible puts Nehemiah going to Jerusalem and the 70 weeks starting 28 years before Daniel was told about it. This makes Gabriel instead of giving Daniel a prophecy he gives him old news. Daniel received the vision of the 70 weeks in the first year of Darius the Mede. In Daniel 9 it says,

“1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;

2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:”

In the first year of Darius the Mede, Daniel prayed to the Lord and the Lord sent Gabriel to show him the vision of the 70 weeks.

Darius was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. In Daniel 8 it says,

“3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.”

This vision of the ram represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shorter horn is the Medes and the higher horn is the Persians.

The shorter horn is Darius the Mede and the higher horn is Cyrus the Persian. Darius was made king over the realm of the Chadeans. Darius was not king over the whole realm of Persia, Cyrus was. It should be safe to say that the kingdom of the Medes and Persians started when Belshazzar the king of Babylon was slain and Cyrus and Darius took over. So the first year of Cyrus lines up with the first year of Darius. These are the horns on the ram.

This shows us that Daniel received the vision of the 70 weeks about the same time that it happened, not 28 years later.

Flaw #8
Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem before the captives are released

In Jeremiah 29 it says,

“10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.”

The Lord tells us that the captivity at Babylon will last 70 years and then he would cause them to return to Jerusalem. The Companion Bible has Nehemiah coming to Jerusalem only 42 years after the captivity starts. This is off by 28 years and once again breaking scripture. In Isaiah 45 it says,

“1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;”

and in verse 13 it says,

“13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Once again the Lord said that Cyrus would release the captives. This would end the 70 years of captivity but the Companion Bible has Nehemiah coming back after only 42 years and then 28 years later Cyrus releases the captives. This just does not make sense.

Once again in 2nd Chronicles 36 it says,

20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:

21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.

Once again, this is another major flaw in this teaching.

The Companion Bible Chart

There are many more problems associated with this teaching out of the Companion Bible but this should be enough to get the point across. Putting Nehemiah coming to Jerusalem before the temple is built causes many, many problems and breaks many, many scriptures.

Now let’s move on to the next view, The Annals of the World.

In this view it also takes the Artaxerxes view but it does put the temple being built before Nehemiah gets there as we take a look at this chart:

Annals of the World Chart

Now James Ussher’s book is based more upon history books than it is the holy scripture. It is more of a compilation of history as man saw it than it is on pure bible teaching as God declares it. You have to weed through the history to find the scripture but it can be done.

There are several major things that also need to be addressed in Annals of the World (AW). Some of these flaws are:

1. 20 years for the building of the temple instead of 46
2. Temple is not built during the first 7 weeks
3. Large time gap between temple and Ezra
4. 70th week has already passed.

It seems to me that since Ussher wrote his book first, that Bullinger and Anderson got some of their stuff from reading Ussher’s book. It seems they all have either 20 or 21 years to build the temple instead of the 46 like it says in the book of John.

We have already discussed this issue in the Companion Bible, so there is no sense in doing it again.

2. Temple is not built during the first 7 weeks

When Cyrus gave the commandment to build the temple it took the children of Israel a year to get back to Jerusalem. They started on the temple and it took 46 years to finish it. This left about 2 years for the dedication. This is a total of 49 years. This is what the first 7 weeks of the prophecy is all about, the building of the temple.

AW has it the commandment to build the temple 81 years before it has the 70 weeks starting. This seems way off.

3. Large time gap between temple and Ezra

Right after the Temple was complete, Ezra in the seventh year of Artaxerxes went up to Jerusalem. The bible doesn’t indicate how long Darius the Persian reigned but we do know that right after his reign Artaxerxes started his reign. There is a gap of 48 years between the finishing of the temple in the 6th year of Darius and Ezra coming to Jerusalem in the 7th year of Artaxerxes the king. This means that Darius the Persians reign consisted of 47 years which seems a tad long for a king to reign and a long time between the temple being finished and Ezra coming back to Jerusalem to teach in Israel the statutes and judgments of the Lord.

4. 70th week has already passed.

Since this is a study about the beginning of the 70 weeks of Daniels prophecy I though it might be worthy to mention that Ussher does not see a time gap between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel.

On page 804 of AW you will see that Ussher starts the 70th week of Daniel.

On page 815 he tells us that Christ died at the beginning of the forth or middle year of the last week of Daniel. Ussher does not see the time gap for the dispensation of grace between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel. See this chart.

Ussher’s 70th week of Daniel

There are many other things I disagree with in the book, Annals of the World, but concerning the going forth of the commandment and the prophecy of the 70 weeks these are the major ones.

Now we come to our last Artaxerxes view by Sir Robert Anderson in his book, The Coming Prince.

Unlike The Companion Bible and Annals of the World, The Coming Prince uses only dates. Bullinger and Ussher’s books use dates also but they also have year numbers in one fashion or another.

Anderson’s view is very similar to the view taken by Ussher, so I would be willing to speculate that Anderson got a lot of his material from Ussher.

The views are very similar except for the fact that the years seemed to be shifted around somewhat so the flaws are going to be as that of Ussher’s, just a different year.

Ussher has a 81 year difference between the Cyrus’ proclamation and the start of the seventy weeks and Anderson has a 91 year difference between the two. A shift of ten years.

He only gives the desolations lasting 53 years instead of the 70 declared by Jeremiah the prophet. So on the chart, even though it says 70 years of desolation, the line is only 53 years long. This is off by 17 years.

Between the start of the seventy weeks and the crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he has only 477 years instead of 483 years declared by Gabriel to Daniel. This is about 6 years short.

There is more minor stuff, but concerning the subject matter we are discussing, it does not need to be mentioned here.

The Coming Prince Chart

Now we have seen three different views by three different people concerning the going forth of the commandment and they all took the Artaxerxes view. Now let’s look at our final view, the Cyrus view, and go into detail.

As mentioned before, Isaiah prophesied about Cyrus. But before we get into the scripture I would like to mention that none of these books, The Companion Bible, Annals of the World, or The Coming Prince, mention anything, in any detail, about the prophecy that Isaiah gave of Cyrus.

The reason why is because they can’t. The prophecy of Isaiah gives the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem unto Cyrus which doesn’t match their teachings whatsoever. They avoid these scriptures.

If you have to avoid scriptures to make a teaching stick, it is not the scriptures that are the problem, it is the teaching that is the problem.

Anyway, let’s get into the scriptures. As mentioned before Isaiah prophesied about Cyrus about 200 years before the event took place. In Isaiah 44 it says,

“28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”

Here it says that Cyrus is the Lord’s shepherd and will perform all his pleasure and will say to Jerusalem that it will be built and the foundation of the temple would be laid. In Isaiah 45 it says,

“1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts."

These three scriptures nail it down that Cyrus gave the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah. In 45:1 he says that Cyrus is the Lord’s anointed and that the Lord was holding his right hand. In 45:13 he says that Cyrus will build his city and let go his captives.

You can’t get any clearer than this.

In 2nd Chronicles 36 it says,

“20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:

21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.

In these scriptures it tells us that Israel would be servants unto Babylon until the reign of the kingdom of Persia. As it says in Isaiah, Cyrus released the captives not for price nor reward, and this he did in the first year of his reign.

Please notice that the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, and Cyrus made a proclamation which is a commandment. Cyrus also said that the Lord charged him to build the Lord a house in Jerusalem.

So what we have here is that God said that Cyrus would build Jerusalem starting with the temple.

Artaxerxes was not the Lord’s anointed. The Lord did not hold Artaxerxes hand, Artaxerxes was not the Lord’s shepherd. The Lord did not prophesy about Artaxerxes, did not stir up his spirit, did not charge him, nor did the Lord say that Artaxerxes would build the city. The Lord gave all of this to Cyrus.

This cannot be denied.

When you put the going forth of the commandment in the correct place and give it to it’s rightful owner, then all the other scriptures start to line up. Let’s look at the Cyrus view chart.

The Cyrus View Chart

In this chart you can see that we have the going forth of the commandment with Cyrus. This allows us to start the building of the temple the very next year. It allows us to give the building of the temple 46 years just as it says in the book of John, which leaves 2 years for the dedication.

The building of the temple fits inside of the first 7 weeks. Gabriel gave the first 7 weeks for a particular reason, it was the time for the building of the temple.

Right after the temple was built, in the 7th year of Artaxerxes the king, Ezra comes to Jerusalem and in the 20th year Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem. This is the order that the scriptures give. The temple is built, then Ezra comes, then Nehemiah comes and rebuilds the wall.

Before Cyrus we have the full 70 years for the captivity and the desolations of Jerusalem.

When you have the outline of the scriptures in place, this allows for all the details to fall in place. If the outline is not correct, then the details can’t fall into place.

So there we have it, 4 different views of the going forth of the commandment with matching visual charts. Hopefully you can see the flaws in not giving Cyrus the going forth of the commandment.

If you were to look in the books, The Companion Bible, The Annals of the World, and The Coming Prince you will see that their views and conclusions are based upon history books. They quote history book after history book and try to combine these things with the holy scriptures. They put history books on the same level as the holy scriptures.

The Cyrus view does not use history books, just the scripture. God was there when it all happened, he knows what’s going on. He doesn’t need any help from what man thinks of history and this comparison of the Artaxerxes view and Cyrus view proves that.

I find that the Companion Bible breaks many, many scriptures to come to their conclusion. This is not wise. I try to teach people to be Bereans so I can’t say don’t read the Companion Bible notes and teachings, because I definitely don’t recommend them, but rather if you are going to use the Companion Bible as a study guide be very, very careful with it and please, please, check out the teachings in it against the holy scriptures.

Please take these views on this subject matter, and test them against the holy scriptures and make your own decision of who the Lord gave the going forth of the commandment.