THE BOOK OF EZRA — AN INTRODUCTION he Books of Ezra and Nehemiah are “Prophets.”) The books in the “Writings” cat- T valuable because they complete the Old egory may have been so classified because they Testament historical record of God’s were not written or collected until after the covenant people. Without them, we would “Prophets” section was already considered a know little about what happened to the Jews completed unit. after the seventy years they spent in Babylonian Captivity. ITS RELATIONSHIP However, the two books do more than pro- TO OTHER BOOKS vide historical information. Together, they help Early manuscripts indicate that Ezra and us to understand how God worked through Nehemiah were regarded as one book in the Ezra, Nehemiah, and other Jewish leaders to Hebrew Bible.1 Together, they form a unit with preserve a nation cured of idolatry. They depict Chronicles (1 and 2 Chronicles being treated as the Jews of Ezra’s day as a people joined by a single book). However, Ezra/Nehemiah comes covenant to the Lord, a people whose religious before Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible, perhaps life centered on the Law and the temple—a because these books cover an historical period people through whom God could ultimately that follows the history recorded in Samuel and bring the Messiah. These books describe how Kings.2 God brought about a revival of His people, The history related in Chronicles is contin- which involved (1) returning to the land, (2) re- ued in Ezra and Nehemiah. In fact, the last two building the temple, and (3) repenting of sins. verses of 2 Chronicles are identical to the first This study will present lessons we can learn two verses of Ezra. These books, in a sense, from the Book of Ezra. Let us first consider some provide an alternative historical account to that introductory information about the book. found in the books from Genesis through Kings. This alternative history begins, as does Genesis, ITS CLASSIFICATION with Adam (through the genealogies with which The book is named for its main character, 1 Ezra, who was a priest and a scribe (7:11). Long They are “treated as one by the Hebrew scribes” in that “there is no gap in the [Hebrew Bible] between the end after the first return of the Jews after the of Ezra 10 and the commencement of Neh. 1, and the verse Babylonian Captivity, he went to Jerusalem statistics are given for both at the end of Nehemiah”; from Babylon with a contingent of Jews for the furthermore such Jewish authorities as Josephus regarded the two “as a single book” (Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old purpose of teaching God’s law and requiring Testament Introduction, rev. ed. [Chicago: Moody Press, the Jews to obey it (7:7–26). 1964, 1994], 456). However, there is internal evidence in the Ezra and Nehemiah are classified as “His- two books to indicate that they were originally separate compositions that were later combined (Edwin M. tory” in the English Bible. In the Hebrew Bible, Yamauchi, “Ezra-Nehemiah,” in Frank E. Gaebelein, gen. they are found among the “Writings” (Kethubim ed., The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 4 [Grand Rapids, or Hagiographa). “Writings” is a miscellaneous Mich.: Zondervan, 1988], 572–73). 2Thus a person reading through the Hebrew Bible classification. (The other two divisions of the would not read directly from 2 Chronicles to Ezra as one Hebrew Bible are the “Law, or “Torah,” and the does in the English Bible. 1 Chronicles begins), continues through the be- of the book were written in Aramaic7 (Ezra 4:7— ginning of the Babylonian Exile (2 Chronicles 6:18; 7:12–26). Almost all of the rest of the Old 36), as does 2 Kings, and then continues beyond Testament was written in Hebrew. Kings by telling of the Jews’ return from cap- tivity and the period that followed (Ezra/ ITS CHRONOLOGY Nehemiah). The events in the Book of Ezra can be dated by two references in the book. Ezra 1:1 dates the ITS AUTHOR, SOURCES, beginning of the first return of the Jews from & LANGUAGE captivity as occurring “in the first year of Cyrus.” Cyrus began ruling Babylon in 539 B.C.; thus Because of the close relationship between the return began within one year after that, or Ezra/Nehemiah and Chronicles, it is often as- 538 B.C. Ezra 7:7 dates the Jews’ return with sumed that the author of Chronicles also wrote Ezra in “the seventh year of King Artaxerxes,” Ezra and Nehemiah.3 In fact, the author of all of or 458 B.C. Nehemiah is then said to have gone these books is sometimes thought to be Ezra to Jerusalem in “the twentieth year of King himself.4 If Ezra was the author, then all the Artaxerxes” (Nehemiah 2:1–7), about thirteen books were written around the same time, about years later (445 B.C.). These key events can be 450 to 425 B.C. However, some scholars doubt tied to known Babylonian and Persian history8: that Ezra is the author of Chronicles and date 586 B.C.—the destruction of the temple, the Chronicles earlier or later than Ezra.5 destruction of Jerusalem, and the begin- If Chronicles was not written by Ezra, that ning of the Babylonian Captivity would not affect the question of the authorship 538 B.C.—the first return (under Zerub- of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra cer- babel) from captivity; the rebuilding of tainly was the author of the memoirs attributed the temple in Jerusalem begun to him in the Book of Ezra and may have also 520–515 B.C.—the rebuilding of the temple written the narrative sections of the book.6 continued and completed Numerous documents are used in these two c. 480 B.C.—the events of the Book of Esther books—including the memoirs of Ezra (see the 458 B.C.—the second return under Ezra chapters in Ezra in which Ezra speaks in the first 445 B.C.—the third return under Nehemiah person), the memoirs of Nehemiah (see the chap- c. 433 B.C.—Nehemiah’s second journey to ters in which Nehemiah speaks in the first per- Jerusalem (Nehemiah 13:6, 7). son), lists, and official letters and documents (Ezra 7:11–26, for example). Thus the writer— ITS EMPHASIS whether he was Ezra or someone else—was both The Book of Ezra, in general, could be said to an author and a compiler. be about the re-establishment of Israel’s religion. The Book of Ezra is unusual in that portions During the Babylonian Captivity, the Jews had not deserted their God or their religion, but they 3Among the similarities cited are common verses, had been deprived of the outward symbols and common words and themes (a “fondness for lists . for the supports of that religion. With the Jews’ return, description of religious festivals” and for certain phrases, as well as “the prominence of the Levites and . temple personnel”), and a common theology (Yamauchi, 575–76). 7Aramaic is “a northwest Semitic language closely 4Henry H. Halley, Halley’s Bible Handbook, 24th ed. related to Hebrew.” It was the “international language of (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1965), 235. communication and diplomacy in the ancient Near East” 5R. K. Harrison, for example, concluded that the for most of the second half of the first millennium before chronicler was someone other than Ezra, that “Ezra and Christ and was “a major spoken language” during New Nehemiah were primarily responsible for the writings Testament times (F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, “Aramaic,” in attributed to them,” that these writings should be dated Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, ed. David Noel Freedman about 440 and 430, and that Chronicles should be dated [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., “about 400 B.C. or slightly later” (R. K. Harrison, Introduc- 2000], 84). tion to the Old Testament [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. 8Most dates given here are from John H. Walton, Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1969], 1150). Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament, 6“We regard Nehemiah as the author of the Nehemiah rev. and exp. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1978, memoirs and Ezra as the author of both the Ezra memoirs 1994), 35–36, 70. Other sources give different dates, usu- and the Ezra narrative, with a later follower of Ezra’s circle ally not varying more than a year or two from those listed. as the Chronicler” (Yamauchi, 579). (See the chart in “Why Is the House of God Forsaken?”) 2 some of those symbols were restored. opposition from others in the land proved effec- Specifically, the book indicates that religion tive, and the work of rebuilding was halted for was re-established by (1) their return to the fifteen or sixteen years (Ezra 4). Promised Land, (2) their rebuilding of the temple, In 520 B.C. there arose the prophets Haggai and (3) their repentance. Underlying the re- and Zechariah to encourage the completion of forms was an emphasis on God’s law (Ezra 7:10). the temple (Ezra 5). Work was begun again, and That law undergirded the religious revival of the temple was finally completed and dedicated Israel,9 and keeping the Law became the object of in 515 B.C. (Ezra 6). that revival. Almost sixty years later, Ezra was commis- sioned by the Persian ruler to go to Jerusalem, ITS HISTORICAL SETTING make sacrifices, and teach and enforce the Law God had caused the kingdom of Judah to be (Ezra 7).