Introduction:
The post exile period began in 537 BCE when Cyrus captured the city of Babylon, killed King Belshazzar and found out a message had been written to and about him approximately two hundred years earlier by the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 44:28 – 46:2, Isaiah had a message about Cyrus. Cyrus then signed a law for the Jews to return to Judea. Daniel was still alive when Cyrus became king. Cyrus had two generals under his command when he conquered Babylon. One of them, Ugbaru, was made administrator of Babylon, but he died within one month of appointment. The second general was named Gubaru and was appointed as administrator of Babylon, and he is identified as Darius the Mede in Daniel 5:30-31.
In Daniel 6:1-2, another Darius is mentioned. This Darius was the grandson of Cyrus, and he reigned from 522-486 BCE. He was a great administrator. He is the one who divided the Persian kingdom into 120 provinces, had roads built or improved between all parts of the empire.
In chapter 11, Daniel received another vision around 536 BCE regarding Xerxes and his campaigns against Greece and the Greek conquest of the Persian Empire under Alexander the Great. Then when Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, the empire was divided among four generals.
Two of these four divisions were Syria and Egypt who developed a war between them. These wars continued until the 1st century BCE when a Roman general conquered the area. During the wars between the Syrians and the Egyptians, a Syrian king would create great problems for the Jews until the Maccabees’ revolted and defeated the Seleucid army (167-160 BCE).
The books of the Bible included in this section are the historical books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. The time for these books is 465-424 BCE. The same general period (520 – 400 BCE) include the Minor Prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Ezra 1-6 is a review of the years under King Darius 1 (522-516) when the Temple was rebuilt for worship. The final completion of the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls and remodeling of the Temple may have been delayed until the reign of Darius 2 because of a late decision of Artaxerxes 1.