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
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