The men of Netophah stand in the register in Ezra 1 and 2, listed in Ezra 2:1-65, of those who had already returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in the first year of Cyrus under his offer and decree, to the number of 42,360 persons, or nearly fifty thousand Jews who took advantage of the offer to return to their own land. Those counted are distinct from the Jews who still remained in Babylon and were invited to return in Zechariah 2:6-7, an invitation afterward answered by the large number who went up to Jerusalem with Ezra. That return ended the seventy-year captivity, for although many thousands still remained in the land of captivity, all were free to go.
The verse belongs to the same period as Haggai's work, especially the rebuilding of the temple described in Ezra 1-6. The decree of Cyrus under which that temple recorded in Ezra 1-2 was begun contemplated only the rebuilding of the temple, with such other building as would be necessary for the comfort of those engaged in the work, and not the restoration of Jerusalem. Its date therefore cannot be taken as the beginning of the great prophetic period, which begins only with the decree to restore and to build Jerusalem. The verse does not belong to B.C. 457 in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, for that date marks the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.
The men of Netophah stand in the register in Ezra 1 and 2, listed in Ezra 2:1-65, of those who had already returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in the first year of Cyrus under his offer and decree, to the number of 42,360 persons, or nearly fifty thousand Jews who took advantage of the offer to return to their own land. Those counted are distinct from the Jews who still remained in Babylon and were invited to return in Zechariah 2:6-7, an invitation afterward answered by the large number who went up to Jerusalem with Ezra. That return ended the seventy-year captivity, for although many thousands still remained in the land of captivity, all were free to go.
The verse belongs to the same period as Haggai's work, especially the rebuilding of the temple described in Ezra 1-6. The decree of Cyrus under which that temple recorded in Ezra 1-2 was begun contemplated only the rebuilding of the temple, with such other building as would be necessary for the comfort of those engaged in the work, and not the restoration of Jerusalem. Its date therefore cannot be taken as the beginning of the great prophetic period, which begins only with the decree to restore and to build Jerusalem. The verse does not belong to B.C. 457 in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, for that date marks the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.