or AHASUERUS, a king of Persia, the husband of Esther, who, in the opinion of the learned Usher and Calmet, was the Darius of profane authors. See AHASUERUS.
2. ARTAXERES LONGIMANUS is supposed by Dr. Prideaux to be the Ahasuerus of Esther. He was the son of Xerxes, and grandson of Darius Hystaspes, and reigned in Persia from the year of the world 3531 to 3579. He permitted Ezra, with all those inclined to follow him, to return into Judea, in the year of the world 3537, Ezr 7:8. Afterward, Nehemiah also obtained leave to return, and to build the walls and gates of Jerusalem, in the year of the world 3550, Neh 1:11. From this year, chronologers reckon the beginning of Daniel’s seventy weeks, Dan 11:29. These are weeks of years, and make four hundred and ninety years. Dr. Prideaux, who discourses very copiously, and with great learning, on this prophecy, maintains that the decree mentioned in it for the restoring and rebuilding of Jerusalem, cannot be understood of that granted to Nehemiah, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes; but of that granted to Ezra, by the same Artaxerxes, in the seventh year of his reign. From that time to the death of Christ, are exactly four hundred and ninety years, to a month:
for in the month Nisan the decree was granted to Ezra; and in the middle of the same month Nisan, Christ suffered, just four hundred and ninety years afterward.
The easterns think that the surname of Longimanus was given to Artaxerxes by reason of the extent of his dominions; as it is commonly said that princes have long hands: but the Greeks maintain that this prince had really longer hands or arms than usual; and that, when he stood upright, he could touch his knees. He is said to have been the handsomest man of his time. The eastern people call him Bahaman, and give him the surname of Ardschir-diraz-dest, or the long-handed. He was the son of Asfendiar, sixth king of the second dynasty of the Persians. After having extinguished the family of Rostam, which was formidable to him on account of the great men who composed it, he carried his arms into the western provinces, Mesopotamia and Syria, which formed part of his empire. He took Babylon from Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar; and he put in his place Kiresch, who by us is called Cyrus. Some Persian historians assert that the mother of Artaxerxes was a Jewess, of the tribe of Benjamin, and family of Saul; and that the most beloved of his wives was of the tribe of Judah, and race of Solomon, by Rehoboam, king of Judah. If this be true, we need not wonder that he should recommend to Cyrus to favour the Jewish nation. This Cyrus performed, by sending back the people into their own country, and permitting them to rebuild their temple. But the truth of this story is doubtful; and were it true, the interference of the special providence of God must still be acknowledged. Artaxerxes reigned forty-seven years, and died in the year of the world 3579, and before Jesus Christ 425.
Artaxerx´es, Artachshast. The word, which is supposed to mean great king, is the title under which more than one Persian king is mentioned in the Old Testament.
The first Artachshast is mentioned in Ezr 4:7-24, as the Persian king who, at the instigation of the adversaries of the Jews, obstructed the rebuilding of the Temple, from his time to that of Darius, king of Persia. According to the arguments adduced in the article Ahasuerus this king is the immediate predecessor of Darius Hystaspis, and can be no other than the Magi an impostor, Smerdis, who seized on the throne B.C. 521, and was murdered after a usurpation of less than eight months (Herod. iii. 61-78).
As to the second Artachshast in the seventh year of whose reign Ezra led a second colony of the Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem (Ezr 7:1, sq.), the opinions are divided between Xerxes and his son Artaxerxes Longimanus, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to arrive at any certain conclusion on the subject.
The third Artachshast is the Persian king who, in the twentieth year of his reign, considerately allowed Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem for the furtherance of purely national objects, invested him with the government of his own people, and allowed him to remain there for twelve years (Neh 2:1, sq.; 5:14). It is almost unanimously agreed that the king here intended is Artaxerxes Longimanus, who reigned from the year 464 to 425 B.C.
Great king, the name or title of several kings of Persia.\par 1. It is given in Ezr 4:7-24, to Smerdis the Magian, who usurped the throne after the death of Cambyses, B. C. 522, pretending to be Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, whom Cambyses had put to death. His usurped power was used, at the rebuilding of the temple. He was murdered, after a reign of eight months, and was succeeded by Darius son of Hystaspes.\par 2. The king of this name mentioned in Ezr 7:1-28, is most probably Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son and successor of Xerxes, who ascended the throne B. C. 425, after a mild reign of thirty-nine years. In the seventh year of his reign, Ezra led a second company of the Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem. In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, Nehemiah was sent to Jerusalem as governor, Neh 2:1 ; 5:14.\par
Artaxerx’es. (the great warrior).
1. The first Artaxerxes is mentioned in Ezr 4:7 and appears identical with Smerdis, the Magian impostor and pretended brother of Cambyses, who usurped the throne B.C. 522, and reigned eight months.
2. In Neh 2:1, we have another Artaxerxes. We may safely identify him with Artaxerxes Macrocheir or Longimanus, the son of Xerxces, who reigned B.C. 464-425.
From
Artaxerxes I. (Ezr 4:7) is the Magian usurper, who impersonated Smerdis, Cyrus’ younger son. To him the adversaries of the Jews wrote, in order to frustrate the building of the temple. Certainly the Ahasuerus of Ezr 4:6 was Cambyses, and the Darius of Ezr 4:24 was Darius Hystaspes; so that the intermediate king must be Smerdis the pretender, who by usurpation reigned for eight months 522 B.C. Cambyses did not act on the accusation of the Jews’ enemies; Ahasuerus Smerdis did forbidding the continuation of a work commenced under Cyrus, and continued under his son and successor.
His creed as a Magian, opposed to that of Zoroaster, as declared in Herodotus 3:61, Ctesias Exc. Pers. 10, Justin 1:9, and Darius’ great inscription at Behistun, account for his reversing the policy of his two predecessors on a point of religion. The sympathy of Cyrus and Cambyses with the Jews in restoring their temple was to him just the reason for prohibiting it. In his decree (Ezr 4:17-22) no symptom of the faith in the supreme God appears, which characterizes the decree of Cyrus. The Magian creed was pantheism, the worship of the elements, earth, air, water and fire.
Artaxerxes II was Artaxerxes Longimanus, son of Xerxes, who reigned 464-425 B.C. He allowed Nehemiah (Neh 2:1) to spend 12 years at Jerusalem to settle the affairs of the returned Jews. He had 13 years previously permitted Ezra (Ezr 7:1) to go on a similar errand.
The reign of Ahasuerus III = Xerxes, described in Esther, comes chronologically between Ezra 6 (515 B.C.) and Ezra 7, which is in the 7th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, 457 B.C. The gap occupies 58 years in all, of which Xerxes’ reign takes 21 years. Thirteen years after Ezra’s going to Jerusalem, 457 B.C., it was found that a civil as well as an ecclesiastical head was required there.
So in 444 B.C. Artaxerxes Longimanus, who was noted among the Persian kings for wisdom and right feeling, sanctioned Nehemiah’s going as civil governor. Like Cyrus and Darius he identified Jehovah with his own supreme god, Ormuzd (Ezr 7:12; Ezr 7:21-23), supported the Jewish worship by offerings and grants from the state and provincial treasuries, and threatened death, banishment, imprisonment, or confiscation against opponents. The oriental despot, who at personal inconvenience would suffer his servant’s departure for so long, to cheer him up, must have been more than ordinarily good natured. Secular history so represents him, "the first of Persian monarchs for mildness and magnanimity." The Persians, says Diodorus Siculus (11:71:2), admired his "equity and moderation in government."
the Greek form (
Artaxerxes (är’tăg-zĕrk’sçz), the great warrior. The name of two kings of Persia mentioned in the Bible: 1. Ezr 4:7-24, the king who stopped the rebuilding of the temple because he listened to the malicious report of the enemies of the Jews. He is supposed to have been Smerdis, the Magian, the pretended brother of Cambyses, who seized the throne b.c. 522, and was murdered after eight months. 2. Ezr 7:7, and Neh 2:1, both speak of a second Artaxerxes, who is generally regarded as the same with Artaxerxes Longimanus, i.e., the Long-handed, son of Xerxes, who reigned b.c. 464-425. In the seventh year of his reign he permitted Ezra to return into Judæa, with such of his countrymen as chose to follow him; and 14 years afterwards he allowed Nehemiah to return and build up Jerusalem.
[Artaxer’xes]
1. Persian king, identified as the magian impostor who pretended to be Smerdis the brother of Cambyses. When appealed to by the adversaries of the Jews, he stopped the building of the temple. He was slain after a reign of eight months. Ezr 4:7-8; Ezr 4:11; Ezr 4:23.
2. Another Persian king identified as Artaxerxes Longimanus B.C. 474-434, son of Xerxes, the Ahasuerus of Esther. He greatly favoured both Ezra and Nehemiah; he beautified the temple or bore the expense of its being done, Ezr 7:27, and under his protection the wall of the city was finished. Ezr 6:14; Ezr 7:1-21; Ezr 8:1; Neh 2:1; Neh 5:14; Neh 13:6. It was in the 20th year of this king that the command to build the city was given, from which began the dates of the prophecy of the Seventy weeks of Daniel, which is fixed by Usher and Hengstenburg at B.C. 454-5. For the succession of the Persian kings see PERSIA.
ARTAXERXES is the Greek form of the Old Persian Artakhshatra, the Hebrew being Artachshast (â). The Artaxerxes of the Bible is Artax. Longimanus (b.c. 465–424), son of Xerxes (Bibl. Ahasuerus). By him Ezra was permitted to go to Jerusalem from Babylon and restore the affairs of the Jewish community (Ezr 7:1 ff; Ezr 8:1). He also favoured the similar mission of his cup-bearer Nehemiah thirteen years later (Neh 2:1; Neh 5:14; Neh 13:6). The events narrated in Ezr 4:7 ff. and said to have occurred in the time of Artaxerxes must have taken place during an earlier reign, probably that of Cambyses, unless, indeed, they are to be regarded as unhistorical. His regime was more important for Israel than that of any other king of Persia except Cyrus the Liberator.
J. F. McCurdy.
(1) All are agreed that the Artaxerxes at whose court Ezra and Nehemiah were officials is Artaxerxes I, the son of Xerxes, commonly called Longimanus, who reigned from 465 to 424 bc. This Artaxerxes was the third son of Xerxes and was raised to the throne by Artabanus, the murderer of Xerxes. Shortly after his accession, Artaxerxes put his older brother Darius to death; and a little later, Artabanus, who perhaps aimed to make himself king, was killed. Hystaspes, the second brother, who seems to have been satrap of Bactria at the time of his father’s death, rebelled, and after two battles was deprived of his power and probably of his life. The reign of Artaxerxes was further disturbed by the revolt of Egypt in 460 bc, and by that of Syria about 448 bc. The Egyptians were assisted by the Athenians, and their rebellion, led by Inarus and Amyrtaeus, was suppressed only after five years of strenuous exertions on the part of the Persians under the command of the great general Megabyzus. After the re-conquest of Egypt, Artaxerxes, fearing that the Athenians would make a permanent subjugation of Cyprus, concluded with them the peace of Callias, by which he retained the island of Cyprus; but agreed to grant freedom to all Greek cities of Asia Minor. Shortly after this Megabyzus led a revolt in Syria and compelled his sovereign to make peace with him on his own terms, and afterward lived and died in high favor with his humiliated king. Zopyrus, the son of Megabyzus at a later time, while satrap of Lycia and Caria, led a rebellion in which he was assisted by the Greeks. It is thought by some that the destruction of Jerusalem which is lamented by Nehemiah occurred during the rebellion of Syria under Megabyzus. Artaxerxes I died in 424 bc, and was succeeded by his son Xerxes II, and later by two other sons, Sogdianus and Ochus, the last of whom assumed the regnal name of Darius, whom the Greeks surnamed Nothus.
(2) Ewald and others have thought that the Artaxerxes of Ezr 4:7 was the pseudo-Smerdis. The principal objection against this view is that we have no evidence that either the pseudo-Smerdis, or the real Smerdis, was ever called Artaxerxes. The real Smerdis is said to have been called Tanyoxares, or according to others Oropastes. Ewald would change the latter to Ortosastes, which closely resembles Artaxerxes, and it must be admitted that many of the Persian kings had two or more names. It seems more probable, however, that Artaxerxes I is the king referred to; and there is little doubt that the identification of the Artaxerxes of Ezr 4:7 with the pseudo-Smerdis would never have been thought of had it not been for the difficulty of explaining the reference to him in this place.
(3) The Greek translation of the Septuagint renders the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther by Artaxerxes, and is followed in this rendering by Josephus. There is no doubt that by this Artaxerxes Josephus meant the first of that name; for in the Antiquities, XI, vi, 1 he says that “after the death of Xerxes, the kingdom came to be transferred to his son Cyrus, whom the Greeks called Artaxerxes.” He then proceeds to show how he married a Jewish wife, who was herself of the royal family and who is related to have saved the nation of the Jews. In a long chapter, he then gives his account of the story of Vashti, Esther and Mordecai. In spite of this rendering of the Septuagint and Josephus, there is no doubt that the Hebrew
As Persian Emperor from 465 to 424 BC, Artaxerxes had control over Jerusalem during the time of the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah. In the early part of his reign he responded to the complaints of local Palestinians by ordering that work on the rebuilding of Jerusalem cease (Ezr 4:7-23). But his decree made provision for him to reverse his decision at a later date if he so desired (Ezr 4:21).
In the seventh year of his reign, Artaxerxes did, in fact, reverse his decree, when he gave permission to Ezra to carry out reforms in Jerusalem (Ezr 7:7; Ezr 7:11-26). His other significant decision in favour of the Jerusalem Jews came in the twentieth year of his reign, when he appointed Nehemiah governor and gave him full imperial support to rebuild and secure the city (Neh 2:1-8). For further details see EZRA; NEHEMIAH; PERSIA.
ASA
Judah was badly corrupted by Canaanite religions when Asa came to the throne (910 BC). He spent the early part of his reign trying to rid Judah of false religion, while at the same time he strengthened the nation’s defences (2Ch 14:1-8).
Strong faith and a strong army enabled Asa to defeat an enemy invader and won him encouraging words from God’s prophet (2Ch 14:9-15; 2Ch 15:1-7). His religious reforms included the removal of the queen mother (one of the chief supporters of the Canaanite religions), the destruction of idols, and the banning of religious prostitutes (1Ki 15:9-15; 2Ch 15:8-15).
When Baasha, king of Israel, seized a border town and built a fort just north of Jerusalem, Asa paid money to Syria to break its treaty with Israel and attack her. When Israel turned to fight the attacking Syrians, Asa destroyed the offending fort and used the materials to build additional forts for himself (1Ki 15:16-22). This policy of trusting in foreign nations showed a weakness in Asa’s faith and brought him into conflict with God’s prophet (2Ch 16:7-10). Asa had another serious failure of faith late in his reign when, suffering from a disease in the feet, he looked for healing through pagan sorcerers instead of trusting in God (2Ch 16:12-14).
The king of Persia about
465–424 b.c. He was the son of Xerxes.
See Ezra 4:7; 7:1.