Week 24 Study Page - Ezra & Nehemiah
Week #24 Study Page
Ezra (1-10)
Nehemiah (1-13)
Suggested Daily Reading Breakdown
Sunday – Ezra 1-4
Monday – Ezra 5-7
Tuesday – Ezra 8-10
Wednesday – Nehemiah 1-3
Thursday - Nehemiah 4-7
Friday - Nehemiah 8-10
Saturday – Nehemiah 11-13
Degree of difficulty: 3 out of 10 (explanation:). I think that these are really fun books to read. These are, chronologically, the last events which occur in the Old Testament canon, and they are a fun mix of historical story telling and societal and religious reform in the style of the prophets. These books contain a number of lists that can be difficult for the modern reader. These lists include the family names of those returning, various sections of walls built by particular individuals, and the names of those who had taken foreign wives. For the most part, you can skim these, some of the names are of interest to Old-Testament scholars, but none are particularly revelatory to non-academic readers. Ezra and Nehemiah are great about telling you the parts of the story that they are concerned with, but are not great about presenting the history of their time in a way that a modern reader would expect. In their accounts, they jump time periods without due warning, and discuss events with the assumption of contemporary familiarity of their own historical setting which we are obviously without. Therefore, understanding the modern-style history of Ezra and Nehemiah's accounts will be of great assistance to us, modern readers, and we'll try our best to accomplish that below. Begin by observing the location of Ezra and Nehemiah on the timeline below. Notice how they appear far after the first return of exiles in 537 BC and the rebuilding of the Temple in 515 BC. Ezra is recounting a history that likely occurred before his birth in the opening chapters of his book, and there is a sudden jump of timelines in Ezra 4-7 to take us from the end of the 6th century BC, to the middle of the 5th.
About the Book(s)
Ezra & Nehemiah
Unity: Ezra and Nehemiah were considered to be one book. They appear as one in all Hebrew manuscripts until the fifteenth century AD. The division into two books appears to have come from the Christian tradition and is first observed in the writings of Origen, who is writing at the beginning of the third century AD.
Date of Authorship: Ezra and Nehemiah are best understood as compilations of the first-person writings of both men with some minor editorial expansion for historical record and context added in the following decades. Ezra returned to Jerusalem from Babylon in 458 BC, and ministered concurrently with Nehemiah who was in Jerusalem at-least through 440 BC (Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem from Babylon in 445 BC). the first-person sections of these books date to that period, and it is likely that the the editorial compilation of the book was complete sometime in the last years of Darius II of Persia, very near the end of the 5th Century BC
Author: Ezra and Nehemiah are responsible for the majority of the words recorded in these books, and you will notice that many of them - especially in Nehemiah are written in first person. These texts were then compiled, with the words of editors, in the following decades to produce a singular piece of literature. Notice the duplicate appearance of the list of returnees from the exile in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7, and that Ezra is the major figure in Nehemiah 8 (possibly all the way through 10). There are some Old Testament scholars who believe that the Chronicler (editor and author of 1st and 2nd Chronicles) also compiled these works of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra was a priest descended from Aaron, who served as a leader of the people in the return from exile. Ezra did not return with the initial wave of returnees recorded in chapters 1 and 2, but 80 years later. Nehemiah, the cup-bearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes (an important position which we'll discus below) returned 13 years after Ezra and appears to have been appointed governor of Judah by that same ruler.
Purpose: These two books serve the explicit purpose of providing a historical account of the return of the people of Judah from exile. This return happened in waves and the restoration of the city of Jerusalem was progressive. Ezra and Nehemiah depict the various stages of this restoration which reach their climax when the walls of Jerusalem stand around a functional and staffed temple which has resumed regular operation.
Despite the fact that these books are included in the "historical" section of Old Testament literature, they convey a prophetic message of reform. The Israelites, under Ezra and Nehemiah are depicted as in-need-of purification and correction. Both of these leaders serve as prophets when they rebuke the people for intermarrying in defiance of God's command and in similarity to the sinfulness of the earlier nation of Israel/Judah which God punished. At the end of Nehemiah, you get the sense that despite God's gracious restoration and the heart-felt reform of the people enacted by the reading of the law, the Israelite people continue to let their heart wander from faithfulness to God, and neglect their end of the covenant between them and God.
As you Read Notes
Timelines of Important Events of this Period
Persian Kings
559–530 Cyrus II (the Great)
530–522 Cambyses
522–486 Darius I
486–465 Xerxes I (Ahasuerus)
464–423 Artaxerxes I
423–404 Darius II Nothus
Important Events
Cyrus II captures Babylon 539
Cyrus issues emancipation decree (Ezra 1:1) 538
Jews return to Palestine (Ezra 2) 538/537
Altar rebuilt (Ezra 3:2) 538/537
Temple foundations laid (Ezra 3:8–10) 536
Opposition encountered (Ezra 4:1–5, 24) 536–520
Temple completed (Hag. 1:14–15; Ezra 6:15) 520–515
Opposition to Jews in Jerusalem (Ezra 4:6) 485(?)
Esther and Mordecai rise in the Persian Court 484–465
Further opposition to Jews in Jerusalem (Ezra 4:7) 463-???
Ezra returns to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:1, 8) 458
Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem (Neh. 2:1) 445
Nehemiah visits Babylon and returns to Jerusalem (Neh. 13:6–7) 433
Howard, David M.. An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books (pp. 322-323). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Ezra 2 - The Return of the Exiles
Ezra and Nehemiah were not part of the first return of exiles from Babylon to Judah. The initial return of Israelites occurred in 538 under Sheshbazzar (Ezra 1), then Zerubbabel led the largest contingent of returnees back around 515 BC, and Ezra and Nehemiah led smaller groups back much later. The distance between Babylon and Jerusalem was roughly nine-hundred miles, so the journey would have taken eight to ten weeks (even though Joel and Mark pulled off that distance last Wednesday on our way back from mexico in a single day).
Zerubbabel was the heir to the Davidic throne (the grandson of Jehoiachin - the next-to-last king of Judah - the last king of Judah was Jehoiachin's uncle Zedekiah). However, Zerubbabel did not have the title of King. Because Israel (Judah) was still a vassal-state of the Persian empire, Zerubabel only had the title of governor, and had to share power with the high priest of his time (Jeshua). Zerubbabel is the last Davidic heir to serve in the role of Governor; for all intents and purposes the Davidic line is neglected until the arrival of Jesus
Ezra 3:12: Weeping
When the foundation for the rebuilt temple is laid in chapter three, there is both joy and weeping. the weeping comes from the older generation who had seen the splendor and majesty of Solomon's temple. Solomon had far greater resources to commit to the materials than the postexilic community had - even with the sponsorship of the Persian government. The amount of gold, the quality and the size of the stones and the skill of the stone-cutters and metal workers were all aspects in which the second temple could not hope to compare favorably with the first. The disappointment of the older generation does not necessarily reflect and obsession with external appearances. It was true then, as it had been at the time of the exodus, that the expense and grandeur of the edifice and its furnishings were a legitimate way to give honor to the God who inhabited the sanctuary. The people felt sadness at their own inability to provide surroundings with splendor commensurate to God's glory
Ezra 4 & 5: Reversed Letters
The chronology of chapters 4 and 5 are switched around. notice that in chapter 4, starting in verse 6, the kings being discussed are Xerxes and Artaxerxes, and the issue at hand is the rebuilding of the walls, then notice, in chapter 5, the king is Darius and the issue at hand is the rebuilding of the temple (which occurred before the walls were completed under Nehemiah). You have to read 4:6-4:23 as a historical interlude explaining later opposition to Israel's rebuilding plans. verse 4:24 does not follow from 4:23, instead it follows from, and must be connected to 4:5 in order to maintain the correct chronological timeline.
Nehemiah the Cupbearer
Nehemiah is described as a cupbearer to Artaxerxes. While this might sound like a lowly position, the cupbearer in the ancient Near Eastern court held a very important position. He had direct access to the king and thus had great influence. The cupbearer was often also the bearer of the signet ring and chief financial officer. During Artaxerxes reign, there was a rush of uprisings which led to Artaxerxies giving a number of important positions to minority groups in his empire in order to engender loyalty. It is likely that Nehemiah was given this high position as a means of placating the Jews of the Persian empire.
Nehemiah 3: Nehemiah's Jerusalem
This map should help you get through chapter 3 a little easier
Nehemiah 6:15 - The Completion of the Wall
"The Biblical text says that it took a mere fifty-two days to complete the work of repairing Jerusalem's walls. There are some parallels in antiquity for such a feat. For example, Thucydides claims that a wall around the city of Athens was built in one month (also in the 5th century BC) Since Jerusalem was small, only the eastern wall was built from the foundation (as the other walls were simply refurbished), and archaeologists claim that the work was not one of a high standard, it is not unreasonable to assume that the task was completed in such a short time"
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, 477