Ezra and Nehemiah are therefore burdened to clarify (1) the Person and works of God, (2) Israel’s own identity and function as a covenant people, and (3) the nature of that covenant in postexilic times." Only as the remnant people became the theocratic nation, founded on and faithful to the covenant Yahweh made with their fathers, could they revive the Davidic house and anticipate the resumption of their mediatorial role among the nations of the earth. Its central thrust is that there indeed is hope but that hope must be incarnated in the rebuilding of the Temple, the cultus, and the priesthood. The message is addressed to the postexilic community of Jews who wonder if there is any hope of political and religious restoration. "Regardless of one’s view of the authorship of Ezra-Nehemiah and its relationship to Chronicles, the theological viewpoint of the whole collection is essentially the same. These include letters, royal edicts, lists, and memoirs. Though Ezra is basically a book of history designed to teach theology, there are a number of sub-genres within it. Therefore Ezra could have written the book about 446 B.C. In view of other chronological references in the book, this event must have occurred about 446 B.C. The last historical reference in the book is in Ezr_4:21-23. ![]() Another reference in the Talmud claimed that Ezra was a disciple of Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe. He was a general contemporary of Nehemiah ( Neh_8:1-9 Neh_12:36). Īs a scribe ( Ezr_7:21), Ezra had the qualifications needed to write this book. A third view is that the joint book was a compilation that a "chronicler" made long after the events recorded took place. Īnother popular view is that Ezra and Nehemiah each wrote the books that bear their names. This may suggest that he drew from a source such as the so-called "Ezra Memoirs" that recorded Ezra’s personal recollections in the first person. Ezra speaks in the first person in Ezr_7:28 to Ezr_8:34 and in chapter 9. A passage in the Talmud credits Ezra with the authorship of Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles. Center: Purification of the people (Ezra 9-10)ī.’ Building of the walls and opposition ( Neh_3:1 to Neh_7:3)Ī.’ Zerubbabel’s return and list of returnees final reforms ( Neh_7:4 to Neh_13:31)" ĭue to the ancient tradition that the same writer composed both parts of the Book of Ezra (chapters 1-6 and 7-10), many scholars believe Ezra produced all of it. Zerubbabel’s return and list of returnees (Ezra 1-2)īuilding of the temple and opposition (Ezra 3-6)ĭ. ![]() Rhetorical studies of Ezra-Nehemiah have revealed a chiastic structure that supports the view that these two books were originally one. They appear as one book in all Hebrew manuscripts until the fifteenth century A.D. Thus, the division of Ezra-Nehemiah appears to have come from the Christian tradition. ![]() Evidently, Origen (third century A.D.) was the first to divide Ezra-Nehemiah into two books, and Jerome followed this precedent in his Latin (Vulgate) translation. However, the repetition of Ezra 2 in Neh_7:6-70 suggests that these two books were not originally joined together. Even today the Hebrew Bible links Ezra and Nehemiah, as did the Septuagint translators. Another view is that they were written originally as one book and then divided later. Another reason they may have done this was to make the total number of canonical books agree with the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. ![]() Also in the Septuagint translation, this book bore the name of Ezra: "Esdras," the Greek transliteration of "Ezra." "Ezra" is a short form of Azariah, which means "Yahweh has helped." The Hebrew Bible has the same title.Įarly Hebrew copyists placed Ezra together with Nehemiah because Nehemiah continues the history of Ezra. The title in the English text comes from the main character in the second part of the book (chapters 7-10).
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