Ezra-Nehemiah (Old Testament Readings)

Editorial Reviews. Review. 'This is one of the most clear and comprehensive treatments of Ezra-Nehemiah now available It is an excellent illustraion to.
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Book of Ezra

Across the Old Testament we see many key figures whose experience of unjust suffering anticipated Jesus, who fulfilled the pattern of the righteous sufferer. So we have to read the biblical narratives as their authors intended them to be read: That in his weeping over the sin of the people Ezra That in his cleansing of the temple Neh.

I love the way he labors with sword and trowel, not stopping for a change of clothes 4: How would you sum up the way Jesus shines forth from these two Old Testament narratives? Here I'd draw attention to the way that Jesus is the issue below the surface even when he isn't the issue on the surface. Two examples, one from each book: When the people are intermarrying with idolaters in Ezra 9, Ezra says in 9: That line has come down through Abraham, Judah, and David, and if the people intermarry with idolaters the line of descent is endangered.

If the line of descent fails, the Messiah will not come, the world will not be saved, and there will never be Christmas.

Even though the book of Ezra doesn't spell everything out, we can connect the dots: The same dynamic is at work in Nehemiah's concern for the building of the wall. Nehemiah cares about the wall because the wall will protect the people. Nehemiah cares about the people because God loves them, because God redeemed them, covenanted with them, and promised to raise up the one who would crush the oppressor for them. If there's no wall, the people will be oppressed, which could lead to them being dispersed, either because they all flee or because they get carried off captive.

But if there is a wall, they have protection from enemies without and can enforce the law within. And if they can stand against enemies and live in accordance with Torah, they can preserve the line of descent that flows down from David to Jesus. In the mystery of God's providence, we have the efforts of Ezra and Nehemiah to thank for our Savior's birth, life, death, and resurrection.

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God saved us through Jesus, and we see God's sovereignty in tension with human responsibility as we consider how Ezra and Nehemiah worked to ensure that there would be a Joseph and a Mary so there could be a Jesus. They didn't know that would be his name, but it was concern for him, hope for him, that drew Ezra and Nehemiah back to the Scriptures, kept them on their knees, compelled them to call the people to repent, and caused them to seek the rebuilding of people and wall. Jeremiah stays with the people left behind in the territory of Judah.

These people are the poor, unskilled, uneducated, and weak. The Babylonians deem them unimportant. Esther becomes the queen of a foreign king. From that position she is used to save her people from annihilation. Each of these individuals lives in a dark and dangerous time. Their lives are at risk, their futures uncertain, their people defeated and discouraged.

They lived as lights in dark places. When the Babylonian kingdom is replaced by the Persian ca. Their projects are different — but their purpose is the same. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are best read as one. Traditionally, they were one book.

It was not until the s AD that they were separated in the Hebrew Bible. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel a descendant of David a few thousand Jewish people return to Judah. Author, Date and Sources.

Renewal and reconstruction: Holy Writ in Ezra-Nehemiah - A missional reading

The Ezra memoirs see note on 7: These were then combined with other materials somewhat later. According to the traditional view, Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the seventh year Ezr 7: Some have proposed a reverse order in which Nehemiah arrived in b.


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By amending "seventh" Ezr 7: These alternative views, however, present more problems than the traditional position. As the text stands, Ezra arrived before Nehemiah and they are found together in Ne 8: Ezra and Nehemiah were written in a form of late Hebrew with the exception of Ezr 4: Of these 67 Aramaic verses, 52 are in records or letters. Ezra evidently found these documents in Aramaic and copied them, inserting connecting verses in Aramaic. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah relate how God's covenant people were restored from Babylonian exile to the covenant land as a theocratic kingdom of God community even while continuing under Gentile rule.

The major theological themes of this account are:. Summary Summary of the Book of Ezra This summary of the book of Ezra provides information about the title, author s , date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the Book of Ezra. Ezra and Nehemiah Although the caption to Ne 1: Literary Form and Authorship As in the closely related books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, one notes the prominence of various lists in Ezra and Nehemiah, which have evidently been obtained from official sources.