18. The great Scaliger, who would date the weeks from this de- cree of Darius, knowing that the time would not suit with the reign of Darius Hystaspes, contends that it was Nothus, who succeeded Longimanus, that was the author of it, and extends the whole time or space of four hundred and ninety years to the destruction of the
346 COMPUTATION OF DANIEL'S WEEKS. — [EXERC. XV.
city and temple, that space of time, according to his computation, being elapsed from the second year of Darius.
But the truth is, as may be seen from our former account, from the second year of Darius Nothus to the destruction of the city was but four hundred and eighty years, [being] short of the whole sum. Be- sides, we have before proved from the text that the time determined was to expire in the death of the Messiah. And there are sundry other circumstances which plainly evince the inconsistency of this computation; for from the first of Cyrus, when the first command went forth for the building of the temple, whereupon the work of it was begun, unto the second year of Nothus, are fully an hundred and eight years. And it is not credible that the work of building the temple should so long be hindered, and then come to perfection by them who first began it; for on this supposition Zerubbabel and Joshua must live at Jerusalem after their return above an hundred years, and then take in hand again the work which they had so long deserted. And this is yet more incredible upon his own opinion, that Xerxes was the husband of Esther, about fifty years before the reign of Nothus, when it is not likely but the Jews would have attempted, and not have been denied, their liberty of going on with their work.
Neither is it consistent with the prophecy of Jeremiah that the temple should le waste so long a space, that is, about a hundred and seventy years. Again, Haggai doth plainly declare that when the work of the temple was carrying on, in the second year of Darius, many were yet alive who had seen the first temple, chap. i, 3, as multitudes were upon the laying of its foundation in the days of Cyrus, Ezra iii. 12. And this was impossible had it
been in the days of Nothus, an hundred and sixty, or an hundred ©
and seventy years after it was destroyed. And Scaliger doth plainly wrest the words of the text, when he would have them pronounced by way of supposition, “If any were then alive who saw the first house in its glory;” for Haggai doth plainly relate unto the dis- temper of the people upon the laying of the foundation of the house mentioned in the forenamed place of Ezra. And the words them- selves will bear no other sense: 717 FYATNN AN] Ws INIT D322 1D 222; Who is among you that is left, that saw this house in her glory?” He speaks of them who were yet left and remaining; and spake to them to remove and take away their complaint and repinings. Moreover, that Artaxerxes in whose days Ezra and Ne- hemiah went up to Jerusalem was Longimanus, who reigned before Nothus, and not Memor, who succeeded him, as will afterwards appear. Now, this Artaxerxes was long after that Darius upon whose warranty the building of the temple was finished, Ezra vii. 1, 11-26, which certainly could not be Nothus, who was his successor.
19. It appears, then, that Darius Nothus was not the author of
SECT. 19-22.] COMPUTATION OF DANIEL’S WEEKS. 347
the decree mentioned; as also, that the times of the weeks cannot be dated from the second year of Darius Hystaspes, who was the author of it.
20. After this there is mention made of two other commands or decrees relating to the temple and people, both granted by the same Artaxerxes,—one in the seventh year of his reign, unto Ezra, chap. vii, 7; the other in the twentieth year of his reign, unto Nehemiah, chap. ii. 1-9. And from one of these must the account inquired after be dated. Now, supposing that one of these decrees must be in- tended, it is evident that it was Longimanus, and not Memor, who was the author of it; for from the seventh year of Memor, which was the second of the ninety-fifth Olympiad, unto the eighteenth year of Tiberius Cesar, wherein our Saviour suffered, being the third year of the two hundred and second Olympiad, are only four hun- dred and twenty-eight years, sixty-two years short of the whole, or four hundred and ninety. Now, these sixty-two years added to the beginning of the account from the seventh of Memor fall in exactly on the seventh of Longimanus. From the seventh of Longimanus, then, to the seventh of Memor are sixty-two years, and from the seventh of Memor to the eighteenth of Tiberius are four hundred and twenty-eight years; in the whole, four hundred and ninety,—the whole number inguired after.
21. It was this decree of Longimanus, then, that was intended by the angel Gabriel; for from the seventh year, wherein he sent Ezra unto Jerusalem, unto that work which he afterwards commis- sionated Nehemiah to carry on and perfect, unto the cutting off of the Messiah, are exactly seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety years, as may appear from the accounts formerly insisted on and declared. From the first of Cyrus, supposing him to reign but three years over the whole empire, unto the death of Christ, there were, as we have proved, five hundred and sixty-two years. From the first of the same Cyrus, unto the seventh of Longimanus, were seventy- two years, which being deducted from the whole of five hundred and sixty-two years, the remainder is four hundred and ninety ; which space of time, how it was apportioned between the Persian, Grecian, Asmonzan, Herodian, and Roman rule, we have before declared.