The parallel between the prayer of Daniel here, and the prayer of

Nehemiah, after he, too, had heard about the desolation of the city, is too

marked to be accidental.  Nehemiah heard that:

'The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are

in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken

down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire' (Neh. 1:3).

The commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem was given by

Artaxerxes in his twentieth year, and from this date the 'seven sevens' of

Daniel 9:25 begin.  Forty -nine years, i.e. 'seven weeks', after, namely 405

b.c., the temple was dedicated, and the remaining sixty and two sevens ran

their course.

This command to build the walls of the city must not be confounded with

the subsequent proclamation of Cyrus, 'to build an house at Jerusalem' (Ezra

1:1 -4).  Cyrus was the son of the Artaxerxes who gave the command to build

Jerusalem as recorded in Nehemiah 2, and the son of Esther, who married that

king, as recorded in the book of Esther.  Esther cannot come after Ezra and

Nehemiah chronologically, for the people were then restored to Jerusalem,

whereas Haman describes captive Israel as:

'A certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in

all the provinces of thy kingdom' (Esther 3:8).

Again, in Esther 10:3, Mordecai is found 'seeking the wealth of his

people, and speaking peace to all his seed', thus preparing the way for the

emancipation of the Jews which should be proclaimed by the son of Esther,

Cyrus.  If we keep these two proclamations separate, remembering that one was

the command to build Jerusalem, with a few feeble Jews, the other the

permission to build the temple, we shall avoid serious chronological,

prophetic and dispensational mistakes.

Until the wall was built, and the temple was dedicated, Israel were

looked upon as lo -ammi, and prophetic periods were not reckoned.  From 405

b.c., however, prophetic time was resumed, and 434 years out of the 490 years

of Daniel 9 were fulfilled.  Israel were not set aside at the crucifixion,

but at Acts 28, and the Acts of the Apostles occupies some thirty -five

years, using up five more of the sevens yet to run.  At Acts 28, the

prophetic clock again stopped and will not be set going again until the

dispensation of the Mystery closes.  Then the closing days which usher in the

day of the Lord will occupy the remaining three sevens, the last 'week' being

the one concerning which both Daniel and the Revelation speak, for in the

midst of this week, the Beast will break the covenant made with Israel, the

three and a half years of persecution will begin, to be ended only with the

Advent of the Lord.  Detailed proofs of this, the reader will find in the

article entitled Seventy Weeks9.

The English word 'clay' is cognate with 'clog' and 'cleave', and is

used of any earth which possesses sufficient ductility when kneaded with

water to be fashioned by hand or lathe.  The proverbial statement which

speaks of an idol having 'feet of clay' is evidently borrowed from Daniel 2