Artaxerxes was
the fifth king of Persia and reigned from 464-423 B.C. (41 years). He died in
Susa in 424 B.C. He was the third son of Xerxes. His queen was Damaspia. They
had five children. His son Xerxes 2nd succeeded him.
From the book of Nehemiah, we see that the man is perceptive, noticing his cupbearer’s
sad demeanor; he is caring, asking
the reason for his servant’s sadness; and he is intuitive, recognizing that behind Nehemiah’s assessment of the
situation, is a request. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by the length of time
Nehemiah will be away; the trip would take 3-5 months, and even with a return
to Susa between terms, he will be gone over 12 years. He is generous. He also not only grants Nehemiah’s further bold
request for letters of safe passage,
but goes further and sends an armed
guard with him, and supplies of
timber (a precious commodity) from the royal forest for building.
He is favourable to the Jews, possibly
because of the influence of his step-mother, Esther, as he was growing up. His
kind letter addressed to Ezra in Ezra chapter 7 demonstrates his generosity to the rebuilding project.
No comments:
Post a Comment