Is it True Elijah Went to Heaven?

It is commonly believed by most folks who believe the Bible is true that Elijah never died. When he ascended in a fiery chariot, it is commonly thought that Elijah went directly into heaven, living forever, without ever having to die. Is this so? If it is so, how does this understanding square with Jesus’ words in John 3:13 that “…no man has ascended into heaven except for he who came down from heaven…”, namely Jesus, himself?

 

Monotheism v/s Polytheism

Until recently, I had been troubled by Aaron and the Israelite people building a calf(s) while Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the Covenant written upon the two tables of stone; and this immediately after God had spoken to the whole nation loudly from the mount—thundering out the Ten Commandments. How could they do this and believe that the calf(s) was God who took them out of Egypt?

 

Were Most Ancient Jews Illiterate?

I have had several discussions on different internet forums where I’ve been told that the illiteracy rate was very high in the first century CE all over the Roman Empire. The point, of course, is that if the Jews were generally illiterate, how could Jews who were nothing more than fishermen, zealots or tax collectors have written the New Testament. If Peter, Matthew, Luke, John, James, Jude and Paul didn’t write the New Testament, how could it be an eye witness record to what Jesus said and did or what occurred in the early church? Is this possible, and what criteria is used to determine the literacy rate among the Jews during the 1^st century CE? Another point to consider is, shouldn’t the Jews be regarded as a counter culture people group? That is, can we judge the Jewish culture of the first century CE by what we think we know about the cultural condition of the rest of the Roman Empire?

 

The Coming of Ezra

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The Temple was completed in the sixth year of the king of Persia as is stated in Ezra 6:15. This occurred in Adar, the 12^th month of the Jewish year. In the following month during the Passover season the Jews dedicated the Temple. Chapter seven of Ezra begins with the words: “Now after these things…” Obviously, this refers to what occurred after the completion of the Temple and its dedication, namely, Ezra gained a release from the king of Persia in the seventh year of his reign. It all seems to fit – the seventh year always follows the sixth year – but the rub is that traditional thought would have us believe that because Darius is the king in chapter six and Artaxerxes is mentioned in chapter 7, that these are two different kings. Can this be true? No! This is another case of vain tradition making the word of God of no effect. There is direct continuity intended here as we shall see.

 

God Sends in the Prophets

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Haggai and Zechariah the prophets began preaching after Nehemiah was sent back to Persia and the work on the Temple and the city was halted. After the death of Artaxerxes and two years into the reign of his son, Darius the Persian (Xerxes), they preached the word of God to the Jews; and the aging Zerubbabel and Jeshua, as examples before the people, led them to begin rebuilding the Temple and the city walls (Ezra 5:2). They were challenged by their local gentile rulers in Ezra 5:3. Notice the words of the gentiles:

 

Nehemiah’s Two Periods of Ministry

In Ezra chapter four, the chronology shifts to the tenure of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, the governor, must come before Ezra, the priest and scribe. This, however, is not what has been thought. Traditionally, it has been presumed that the coming of Ezra preceded that of Nehemiah. The reason for concluding that our traditional understanding is in error concerns the building of the wall. Nehemiah began to build the wall around the city of Jerusalem in Nehemiah chapter 3. This chapter lists the chief men who helped Nehemiah. When this list is compared with the returning list of exiles of Ezra chapter two,[1] it can be seen that the names found in Nehemiah 3 are of second and third generation of Israelites that returned from Babylon. Neither Ezra nor any of the company who returned with him from Babylon are listed among the chief names of Nehemiah chapter 3.

 

“Even In Troublesome Times”

The one who succeeded Cyrus was his son, Cambyses, and is the one referred to in Ezra 4:6 as Ahasuerus. Secular history says that he reigned nearly 7 ½ years before dying of a wound incurred in battle. Nothing more is said of him in the word of God, probably because he did not do one thing to advance the condition of God’s people. On the contrary, during the whole time of his reign the building of both the city and the temple was interrupted.[1] His only service to God is to act as a figure in history who counts out seven and one half years in the march of God’s people toward their Messiah.

 

Dating the Events of Ezra and Nehemiah

It has been said that Cyrus lived too early to be the king who gave the order to ‘restore and rebuild Jerusalem’, yet the book of Ezra records his command to build the Temple, and one would not build a Temple of worship and leave the city that surrounds it in ruins. God said it would be Cyrus who would give such a command that would not only include the rebuilding of the temple but the city as well (Isaiah 44:24-28). The fact is: the only reason one would not regard Cyrus as the person to whom Daniel 9:25 refers is the current chronology based upon the alleged observations of Claudius Ptolemy for the placement of the Persian kings, and the word of God does not fit the chronology laid out by the experts!

 

Seventy Years of Babylonian Rule

The traditional dates for the beginning of Jeremiah’s Seventy Years Prophecy and the return from captivity cannot be reconciled with the claims of the Bible. A seventh century captivity is at odds with our using Cyrus as the king who issued the decree to release the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. In such a case Bible students have sought to reconcile this error by using Artaxerxes instead of Cyrus, but all Artaxerxes did was reaffirm what Cyrus had written in the beginning. Daniel’s prophecy clearly points to Cyrus as God’s agent in this matter (cp. Isaiah 44:28; 45:1), but the chronology of current ancient history forbids our using him for this purpose. Nevertheless, I intend to continue on the assumption that Cyrus is this figure and that future blogs will show reasonable evidence that this is the correct choice.

 

The Ancient Hebrew Calendar

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Any study of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy would have to show how one would count toward the coming of Jesus. We would need a day or date to count from, a beginning; and we would need a day or date to count to, an end. Furthermore, since the Seventy Weeks Prophecy points to several markers along the way, we also need a calendar that shows exactly what God is doing as the along the way and thus show the main event prophesied, the end, would indeed occur.

 

Who Was Claudius Ptolemy?

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Most Bible Students have probably never even heard of Claudius Ptolemy, but he has greatly influenced how we understand Biblical chronology, and therefore prophecy concerning Jesus. Ptolemy was an ancient astronomer and mathematician upon whose works modern historians base much of their data concerning the Jewish chronology from the time of the captivity and then the release of the Jews to about the rise of Alexander the Great. The dates of Nebuchadnezzar’s and Cyrus’ reigns and exploits are assumed to be fixed by Ptolemy’s seven lunar eclipses[1] dated from 747 BCE TO 330 BCE.[2] However, in any given year there could be a total of seven lunar and solar eclipses, five of the sun and two of the moon or four of the sun and three of the moon. The smallest number of eclipses that could occur in one calendar year is two, both of the sun.[3] To complicate matters even further, there are some 70 eclipses in any given 18 years period.[4] Moreover, the solar eclipses occur one third of the way around the earth in every 18-year cycle. Thus, a solar eclipse will occur in the same place at the same longitude every 54 years.[5]

 

Errors in Ancient Chronology!

It is essential that we know an accurate chronology of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, if we are to understand the fulfillment of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy in Daniel. In my own opinion we have allowed the world to interpret for us the time frame of these books and those that relate to them, namely Esther, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Once we begin to try to fit the events of the Bible into the historical chronology prescribed for the nations surrounding Israel, we build for ourselves a labyrinth out of which there is no path without denying the word of God or creating an historical puzzle with missing pieces and questionable content.

 

The Temple Was Rebuilt by whose Decree?

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The date of the returning captive Jews has nothing to do with the reign of Artaxerxes as is presently assumed by so many. The return of the Jews to their homeland has to do with the first year Cyrus conquered Babylon, not the first year he reigned over Persia, but the first year he conquered Babylon where the Jews were held captive. According to history this was cir. 536 BCE. However, this date is fixed by historians who receive Claudius Ptolemy’s seven eclipses between the dates of 747 BCE and 330 BCE to date historical events during this period. Ptolemy’s work has been nearly universally accepted by modern historians for the last 400 years. Nevertheless, astronomers have been finding fault with his works for almost 1000 years, not to mention that some prominent contemporary historians, such as Plutarch, were never impressed with dating historical events through astronomical observations and calculations. Therefore, although I cannot prove that Cyrus conquered Babylon in 457 BCE, 79 years after the normally accepted date set by Ptolemy (536 BCE), but neither can modern historians prove otherwise without using Claudius Ptolemy’s alleged infallible conclusions.