Ezra 7:1

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

The verse places Ezra's return to Jerusalem in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, where he trusted God to protect and care for His people. He asked the king to let him return to revive the study of God's Word and to help restore Jerusalem. The verse introduces his priestly ancestry as a son of Aaron, chosen to benefit Israel and to restore honor to a priesthood whose glory had been greatly dimmed during the captivity. His piety, holy zeal, learning, and readiness as a scribe in the law of Moses made him eminent.

The decree recorded in the chapter was issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, dated to 457 B.C. It went into effect in the autumn, near the end and close of that year. It concerned Jerusalem and completed the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem as the continuation and completion of the work begun under Cyrus and carried forward under Darius, so that the kings' actions together count as one decree.

That decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem provides the starting point for Daniel's seventy-week prophecy and for the 2300 years. Counted from that autumn of 457 B.C., sixty-nine weeks or four hundred and eighty-three years extend to the autumn of A.D. 27, when Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism as Messiah the Prince. The seventy weeks reach to A.D. 34, with the crucifixion in A.D. 31 in the middle of the final week and the apostles' turn to the Gentiles marking the period's close.

Counted from 457 B.C., the 2,300 years of Daniel 8:14 were first reckoned to terminate with 1843, since 2300 minus 457 leaves 1843, and that year was looked to for the coming of the Lord. The calculation is so simple and plain that even children could understand it. Because the decree did not go forth at the beginning of 457 but took effect near the end of that year, the period must reach to the fall of 1844 rather than the end of 1843. This corrected the mistaken expectation that Christ would return in 1843 and explained the apparent delay of the vision.

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