salem unto the Messiah the
Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street
shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after
threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself:
and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and
the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the
end of the war desolations are determined." Dan. 9:25, 26.

The date of the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem is the date, therefore, from which the great prophetic
measuring line runs; the first 490 years of it to reach to the time and
work of the Messiah, at the first advent, the full 2300 years running on
to mark the time when the judgment hour in heaven opens. Once the
starting-point is fixed, all the events of the long period must follow
exactly as scheduled in the time-table of divine prophecy.

Date of the Commencement to Restore Jerusalem

There were several commands issued concerning the restoration of
Jerusalem after the Babylonish captivity. Cyrus, and Darius, and
Artaxerxes Longimanus each issued such a decree. Which one answers to
the language of the prophecy as "the commandment to restore and to build
Jerusalem"?

[Illustration: THE JEWS MOURNING OVER THE RUINS OF JERUSALEM

"I went out by night,... and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were
broken down." Neh. 2:13.]

The decree of Artaxerxes was most comprehensive (Ezra 7), authorizing
the full restoration of the civil and religious administration of
Jerusalem and Judea. And Inspiration specifically sums up all the
decrees as completed only in that of Artaxerxes, which thus constituted
"the commandment:"

"They builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God
of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and
Artaxerxes king of Persia." Ezra 6:14.

[Illustration: REBUILDING JERUSALEM

"They builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God
of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and
Artaxerxes king of Persia." Ezra 6:14.]

According to this scripture, the full "going forth of the commandment to
restore and to build," dates from this decree of Artaxerxes. And this
decree went forth "in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king." Ezra
7:7.

What year was this seventh year of Artaxerxes--a date so important to
fix to a certainty?

The great chronological sta