Help with 1 Esdras 2:30

[Cyberseeker]

Then, when the letter from King Artaxerxes was read, Rehum and the scribe Shimshai and their associates went quickly to Jerusalem, with cavalry and a large number of armed troops, and began to hinder the builders. And the building of the temple in Jerusalem stopped until the second year of the reign of King Darius of the Persians.
(1 Esdras 2:30)

Hi, Im not too familiar with the books of Esdras so I thought I’d ask here. :ehh:

Is this person referred to here Darius 1 (522 - 486 bc) or Darius 2 (424 - 404 bc) I’m assuming its the former. However there are some who tell me it is the latter king. Does Esdras shed any more light on this matter than the books of Ezra and Nehemiah?

Thanks

 

[TarkanAttila]

Hi, Im not too familiar with the books of Esdras so I thought I’d ask here. :ehh:

Is this person referred to here Darius 1 (522 - 486 bc) or Darius 2 (424 - 404 bc) I’m assuming its the former. However there are some who tell me it is the latter king. Does Esdras shed any more light on this matter than the books of Ezra and Nehemiah?

Thanks

Ah… as I understand it, neither you nor we consider that book canonical, and therefore I don’t expect many of us will know.

My suspicion is that if you knew the time when Ezra and Nemehiah came back and rebuilt the temple, you might be able to get a better estimate. There are a good 60 years between the two.

 

[Digitonomy]

You got me curious.

Getting my dates from different pages in Wiki, we have

900s BC First Temple constructed per scripture by King Solomon
832 First Temple constructed per rabbinic sources
587 First Temple destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II per secular estimates
559-530 During his reign, Cyrus the Great orders Temple restored
550 Darius I born
522 Darius I ascends throne
521 Building of Second Temple resumes under Darius I after a delay
516 Second Temple completed
515 Second Temple dedicated
486 Darius I dies
423 Darius II ascends throne
422 First Temple destroyed per rabbinic sources
405 Darius II dies
70 (AD) Second Temple destroyed by Romans

Scriptural sources listed by Wiki include
First Temple
1 Kings 6:1–38
1 Kings Chapters 7 and 8

Second Temple
Ezra 1:1-4
2 Chron 36:22-23
Dan. 9:1-2
Ezra 4
Ezra 5