Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Peter Kirk asked:
I don't in fact know why no one seems to suggest that Nehemiah's Artaxerxes 
was also Artaxerxes II.


The reason is simple: Shemaiah and Delaiah, sons of Sanbalat, are mentioned 
in one the Elephantine papyri dated (independently) to 402/1, year 3 of 
Artaxerxes II. This would mean that Nehemiah, Snabalat's contemporary, would 
have had to have lived before that date. The only possibility is Artaxerxes 
I, whose 20th year was 445. So that the date of Nehemiah's arrival as 
governor of Yehud is "fixed" at 445. The question that remains is the 
arrival of Ezra and his relationship with Nehemiah.


Yigal Levin