Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort:
Rehum the chancellor, х bª`eel (H1169) Tª`eem (H2942), lord of judgment].
And Shimshai the scribe, х caapªra' (H5613), secretary to the governor of a province].
Artaxerxes, х 'Artachshast' (H783); Septuagint, Arthasastha] - Smerdis (Rosenmuller, in hoc loco. Jahn, 'Archaol.' 2:, 1, p. 244; Rawlinson's 'Bampton Lectures,' p. 455). The united reigns of Cambyses and Smerdis amounted in duration to a little above eight years. Hengstenberg ('Christology,' 3:, 203) maintains, in opposition to these, that Artachshasta denotes not Smerdis, but Artaxerxes in every other passage of the Bible (see Winer, 'Realworterbuch,' 'Ahasuerus and Artuchasta;' Ewald's 'Geschicte,' pt. 2:, p. 118).