12. Ezra And Nehemiah

Printer-friendly version

12. EZRA AND NEHEMIAH

I. OUTLINE-BRIEF EZRA

1. Rebuilding the Temple. 1-3.

2. The Adversaries. 4,5.

3. Decrees and Reforms. 6-10.

NEHEMIAH

4. Rebuilding the Walls. 1-6.

5. Legislation. 7-12.

6. Reforms. 13.

II. OUTLINE-COMPLETE

EZRA

1. Shesh-bazzar's Return. 1:1-2:70.

A. Preliminary. 1:1-4.

B. Preparation for Return. 1:5-11.

C. Returning Israelites. 2:1-70.

2. Building the Temple. 3:1-6:22.

A. Rehabilitation. 3:1-6.

B. Work on the Temple. 3:7-6:22.

3. Ezra Returns. 7:1-8:36.

A. Introduction. 7:1-10.

B. Ezra's Commission. 7:11-28.

C. Ezra's Associates. 8:1-14.

D. Temple Servants. 8:15-20.

E. Preparation for Departure. 8:21-23.

F. Transporting Treasure. 8:24-30.

G. Arrival. 8:31-36.

4. Mixed Marriages. 9:1-10:44.

A. Report. 9:1-2.

B. Ezra's Reaction. 9:3-15.

C. Public Reaction. 10:1-6.

D. Public Assembly. 10:7-15.

E. Jerusalem Commission. 10:16-19.

F. List of Foreign Marriages. 10:20-4

4.NEHEMIAH

5. Nehemiah Hears News. 1:1-11.

A. The News. 1:1-4.

B. Nehemiah's Prayer. 1:5-11.

6. Nehemiah's Petition Granted. 2:1-2:8.

7. Nehemiah as Governor. 2:9-20.

A. Nehemiah's Arrival. 2:9-11.

B. Inspection of Wall. 2:12-15.

C. Talks to Leaders. 2:16-18.

D. Conflict with Officials. 2:19,20.

8. Building the Wall. 3:1-4:23.

A. Workers on the Wall. 3:1-32.

B. Reaction of Neighbors. 4:1-3.

C. Nehemiah's Imprecation. 4:4,5.

D. Further Progress. 4:6.

E. The Conspiracy. 4:7-12.

F. Defensive Measures. 4:13-23.

9. Economic Problems. 5:1-19.

A. Internal Problems. 5:1-13.

B. Nehemiah's Administration. 5:14-19.

10. Continued Work on Wall. 6:1-19.

A. Psychological Attacks. 6:1-14.

B. Completion of Wall. 6:15,16.

C. Tobiah. 6:17-19.

11. Reorganization of Jerusalem. 7:1-73.

A. The Watchmen. 7:1-3.

B. The Population. 7:4-73.

12. Reading the Law. 7:73-8:18.

A. Assembly. 7:73-8:2.

B. Reading the Law. 8:3-8.

C. Celebrate with Joy. 8:9-12.

D. Feast of Booths. 8:13-18.

13. Sundry Admonitions. 9:1-4.

14. Penitential Psalm. 9:5-37.

A. Doxology. 9:5.

B. God the Creator. 9:6.

C. The Covenant. 9:7,8.

D. In Egypt. 9:9-11.

E. In the Wilderness. 9:12-21.

F. Conquest of Canaan. 9:22-25.

G. Sin and Punishment. 9:26-31.

H. Plea for Mercy. 9:32-37.

15. Pledge of Keform. 9:38-10:39.

A. Introduction. 9:38.

B. Signers of Document. 10:1-27.

C. Abstract of Document. 10:28-39.

16. Distribution of Peoples. 11:1-36.

A. Population of Jerusalem. 11:1,2.

B. Leaders in Jerusalem. 11:3-24.

C. Towns outside Jerusalem. 11:25-36.

17. Clerical Genealogies. 12:1-26.

A. Priests. 12:1-7.

B. Levites. 12:8,9.

C. High Priestso 12:10,11.

D. Joiakim. 12:12-21.

E. Source of Lists. 12:22,23.

F. Levites of Joiakim. 12:24-26.

18. Dedication of the Walls. 12:27-43.

A. Rejoicing and Celebration. 12:27-29.

B. Purification. 12:30.

C. Circumambulation. 12:31-42.

D. Sacrifices. 12:43.

19. The Ideal Community. 12:44-13:3.

20. Nehemiah'a Reforms. 13:4-31.

A. Expulsion of Tobiah. 13:4-9.

B. Levitical Support. 13:10-14.

C. Sabbath Reforms. 13:15-22.

D. Marriage Reforms. 13:23-29.

E. Recapitulation. 13:30,31.

III. AUTHORSHIP

1. The Chronicler, the author of First and Second Chronicles, is also the author of Ezra and Nehemiah.

2. We are not certain as to who this author was, but it was probably Ezra- the scribe-priest.

3. It is also probable that he wrote the Esdras books of the Apocrypha. These books cover the same events as depicted in Ezra and Nehemiah.

4. The literary style of Chronicles is identical with the style of Ezra and Nehemiah.

5. He is over-concerned with the temple and the cultus. Some have thought the author was a musician-that he belonged to the guild of Asaph.

6. The Talmud says that Ezra was the author of Ezra and Nehemiah.

7. These were written during the reconstruction period following the exile.

8. The author may have had some records at his disposal which have since been lost (Book of Genealogy, Temple Records).

9. The author was a person of great imagination, inventive skill, and profound convictions.

IV. SOME CONSIDERATIONS

1. Ezra and Nehemiah were possibly co-workers. Ezra was the managing priest while Nehemiah was the Governor-a layman.

2. Ezra was greatly concerned with the dissolution of foreign marriages.

3. It is interesting to note that neither Ezra nor Nehemiah are quoted in the New Testament.

4. Ezra was devoted to the rebuilding of Israel's worship. Nehemiah was concerned with rebuilding the walls of the city.

5. Ezra brought 1496 persons with him from Babylon-a four-months' journey.

6. Ezra is probably the father of the Hebrew Sanhedrin.

7. Ezra was primarily a reformer and propagandist.

8. Nehemiah was an engineer. He was an organizer and administrator.

9. Zerubbabel was one-time Governor of Judea, with Joshua as high priest. He had so much to do with rebuilding that the temple was known as "Zerub-babel's temple."

10. The memoirs of Nehemiah were once a separate book-before being incorporated into Ezra and Nehemiah.

11. Even if Ezra wrote those books, a later editor did a great deal of work on the narrative.

12. It may be mentioned that Josephus, the Hebrew historian, makes more use of the Esdras books than of Ezra and Nehemiah for the history of this period.

13. Throughout all of this story, it should be remembered that Nehemiah was a eunuch.

V. PRIORITY OF NEHEMIAH

1. While it is possible that Ezra and Nehemiah may have been contemporaries for a season, there is much evidence that Nehemiah was in Jerusalem long before Ezra arrived.

2. The facts which point to the priority of Nehemiah are:

A. It is not likely that the same king would send two men to Jerusalem with the same authority to do a Job at the same time.

B. In original records, Ezra and Nehemiah seem to ignore each other.

C. In preparing for a census Nehemiah alludes to Zerubbabel, but does not mention Ezra.

D. Nehemiah comes to an empty city; Ezra is working in a busy city.

E. Nehemiah finds the defenses of the city destroyed; Ezra talks about the "restored walls."

F. Nehemiah was contemporary with the high priest Eliashib; Ezra, with the high priest Jehohanan.

G. Nehemiah found children speaking the language of their foreign mothers. This would hardly have been so, if Ezra had already broken up these mixed marriages.

3. So it would appear that Nehemiah preceded Ezra in the return from Babylon.

VI. HISTORICITY

1. Biblical critics, while disposed to accept Nehemiah's history as valid, have raised many questions about Ezra as a historian.

2. So little is known about the history of Israel during the "Persian period," it is difficult to check Ezra's historicity.

3. When all is said and done, most of what Ezra writes seems to ring true- it is at least plausible.

4. It is a fact that the peculiar style of the Chronicler does persist throughout Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

VII. THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

1. Ezra was almost a fanatic regarding the origin and development of the temple cultus with all of its ceremonies, sacrifices, laws, and holy days.

2. Ezra was the builder of the exclusive and self-conscious type of postexilic Judaism.

3. It was this same type of rigid Judaism that Paul had to contend with when he carried the gospel to the gentiles.

4. In Ezra and Nehemiah, for the first time, Aramaic sources are brought to light.

5. Ezra was anxious to point out how much trouble he and Nehemiah had with their neighbors, especially in Samaria.

6. Both of them were staunch believers in Providence-always alluding to the "hand of the Lord."

7. Ezra does not show any of the solemn grandeur of the olden prophets, but he does show diligence and skill in trying to carry into effect their admonitions.

8. They lost much "culture" by throwing out the "foreigners," but they did save the "cult."

9. Moderns look down on Ezra as a fanatical legalist, but he did, at least in his way, have an answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?"

VIII. SELECTED TEXTS EZRA

1. Cyrus ends the exile. "In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia...he made a proclamation...'Whoever is among you...let him go up to Jerusalem...and rebuild the house of the Lord.'" 1:1-3.

2. The reactionaries. "Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them afraid to build, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose." 4:4,5.

3. Stopping the work. "Then the work on the house of God...stopped...until the second year...of Darius." 4:24.

4. Ezra arrives. "Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses...and the king granted him all that he asked." 7:6.

NEHEMIAH

5. Nehemiah resumes work. '"Let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer disgrace...Let us rise up and build.'" 2:17,18.

6. The priests go to work. "Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house." 3:28.

7. A mind to work. "So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height. For the people had a mind to work." 4:6.

8. How they worked. "Each with one hand labored on the work and with the other held his weapon." 4:17.

9. A long day. "So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn till the stars came out." 4:21.

10. Refusal to be diverted. "'I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.'" 6:3.

11. Ezra reads the law. "And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly... And he read from it...from early morning until mid-day." 8:2,3.

12. The dedication. "And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites...to bring them...to celebrate the dedication with gladness." 12:27.