Bible Person

Artaxerxes

Meaning: the silence of light; fervent to spoil · Male · 3 cross references

This Artaxerxes entry refers to the Persian ruler named in Ezra 4 whose administration halts rebuilding, not necessarily the later Artaxerxes associated with Ezra and Nehemiah. The identification with a specific Persian king is not entirely settled in the older source tradition, so the page should be read as an imperial obstacle in the early restoration story rather than a fully fixed historical profile. First appears in Ezra 4:7.1

AI summary: This Artaxerxes matters because the cross references present him as the king whose intervention suspends Jerusalem's rebuilding under pressure from local opponents. His role underscores how fragile restoration remained under foreign rule and how easily imperial power could be used against covenant renewal. Taken together, the material presents this Artaxerxes as a Persian ruler whose order interrupts the rebuilding of Jerusalem.1

Central Figure

Artaxerxes

Meaning: the silence of light; fervent to spoil

The king who obstructed the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 4:7).