An Israeli archaeologist has uncovered a section of wall in Jerusalem that dates back to the time of the Persian empire. Dr. Eilat Mazar was excavating at the ancient wall to try and shore up the remains of a tower that was in danger of collapsing. It was previously thought that the tower dated from the Hasmonean period, around 142BC to 37BC. But instead, Mazar uncovered Persian artefacts dating back to the time of Israel's captivity in Babylon. The building work excavated by Mazar dates back to the time of Nehemiah, when he was commissioned by King Artaxerxes to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

Quote: "According to an account of the conference in "The Trumpet," Mazar said, "Under the tower, we found the bones of two large dogs – and under those bones a rich assemblage of pottery and finds from the Persian period. No later finds from that period were found under the tower." Had the tower been built during the Hasmonean dynasty, the Persian-era artefacts would represent an unexplained chronological gap of several hundred years. The tower, said Mazar, had to have been built much earlier than previously thought and the pottery data placed it at the time the Bible says Nehemiah was building it.

As the WorldNetDaily article comments, it is ironic that then even as now, the Jewish presence in the city of Jerusalem was bitterly protested by the surrounding nations.

Nehemiah 2:10
When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard [of it], it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

Why? Was it the Ammonite capital? Were the Jews coming to steal their land? No, Jerusalem lay waste all the years of the Israelite captivity. Likewise, during the Diaspora the land of Israel was more or less a malaria-ridden swamp, undesired by the Arabian, the Ammonite and Islam in general. Only when the Jews returned to the land, and began to build the waste places and inhabit them, did the battle for Jerusalem really begin. Then as now, the Jewish people ought to say to the Palestinians, "ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem".

Nehemiah 2:19-20
But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard [it], they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What [is] this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

Unfortunately they won't do that, and instead are seeking the peace of their enemies, something they were commanded never to do (Deuteronomy 23:6). They are also seeking to divide their Holy City, the place where God has chosen to place His name (1st Kings 11:36). But we know that all this has been prophesied to come to pass, and God's will will be done.

Source WorldNetDaily