Background of Ezra and Nehemiah

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Background of Ezra and Nehemiah</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id154.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Flood Narrative"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id427.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 7 and Its Implications"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Article</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U>Biblical and Theological Studies</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Ministry Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U><B>Sermon Notes</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Background Issues in Ezra and Nehemiah</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I. Introduction</B></div> <div>      This paper will deal with several background issues regarding the book of Ezra-Nehemiah.  It will discuss the authorship and the nature of the books, issues related to the background of the Jews’ return from exile, and the opposition the returnees faced.  These are by no means exhaustive, but they are key issues involved in the understanding and interpretation of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah.  As a part of this project, charts of the basic content of Ezra and Nehemiah are included.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. The Author and the Books</B></div> <div> A. The Author</div> <div>      Many evangelical scholars believe that Ezra is the chronicler who compiled Chronicles and Ezra and Nehemiah.  These three seem to form one work (see below), though all of Chronicles have been traditionally separated in Hebrew Bible from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.  The account of the history of Israel in the Chronicles ends with the 538BC decree of Cyrus to allow the Jews to return to their homeland to institute the worship of their God there (2 Chronicles 36.22-23).  This is where the account of the book of Ezra begins.</div> <div>      Ezra has traditionally been cited as the author (Dillard and Longman, 180).  Some posit that not Ezra but someone following closely after him was the author of the Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah.  One basis for this is that genealogical record of Chronicles brings the book to about 400BC.  If Ezra’s return was 458 (and assuming he was a middle-aged man at that time), it would seem that he would be somewhat too old to produce these works, being at least 100 by 400BC.  It has thus been suggested that the Chronicler was a younger learner of Ezra (this assumes that Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah were authored or compiled by the same person).</div> <div>      Ezra speaks in the first person several places in Ezra (7-10) and Nehemiah (8-10), giving great attention to detail, showing the likelihood that he was an eyewitness to these things (Nelson Study Bible, Esther Introduction).  Nehemiah also speaks in the first person in his memoirs which are recorded in Neh 1-7 and 11-13.       It should be said that archaeological studies have shown that the many official historical records and documents of Ezra-Nehemiah are authentic kinds of documents of the Persian period (Yamauchi, 573).  This adds solid historical validity to reasoning that either Ezra or someone close to his time and situation, perhaps a disciple, was able to utilize the actual documents in composing his account of these events.</div> <div>      In summary, there is no compelling reason to ignore the Jewish and current evangelical position of Ezra as the most likely author of the work of Ezra-Nehemiah.</div> <bR> <div> B. The Books</div> <div> 1. One book or two?</div> <div>      The books of Ezra and Nehemiah as presented in our English Bibles have not always been regarded as separate books.  In fact, these two books were united in form until the Middle Ages.  Modern Hebrew Bibles separate Ezra and Nehemiah (beginning in 1448; Yamauchi, 572), but the Masoretes considered the two as one (Dillard and Longman, 180).  Both Ezra and Nehemiah deal with similar issues in the same general period, and there is a clear chronological connection between the two, based upon the three returns back to Judah, two in Ezra and the third in Nehemiah.  It is fair to say that Ezra is part one and Nehemiah is part two of the same work as originally penned by the same author.</div> <bR> <div> 2. Relationship to the Chronicles</div> <div>      There are reasons to believe that Ezra-Nehemiah and the Chronicles were written or compiled by the same person, not the least of which is the overlap of the decree of Cyrus at the end of Chronicles and at the beginning of Ezra.  Also, there are several themes that overlap between Ezra and Nehemiah.  These themes include lists of returnees and other genealogical records, and abundant references to the temple, as well as to the temple personnel such as the Levites and priests (Yamauchi, 575).  However, some differences between the two works have also been noted.  Sara Japhet noted that common terms are referred to differently in the two works.  Others discerned that Chronicles has more of an international concern, including regarding relations with the northern kingdom, while Ezra-Nehemiah is “separatist” and closed to dealings with the north.  These supposed differences have led some to conclude that they are two distinct works with two distinct authors (Yamauchi, 578).  Doubtless, however, the difference in historical subject matter may account for some of these differences, since Chronicles deals with the history until the Fall of Jerusalem and Ezra-Nehemiah with the return after the seventy year period of captivity.  This may especially be the case in regarding dealings with the north.  People returning to their homeland from seventy years of captivity would not necessarily be welcomed by those who had taken over residence and control of the region in the ensuing years.</div> <bR> <div> <B>III. The Return of the Exiles</B></div> <div> A. The Exile</div> <div>      Israel, the northern kingdom, was taken into exile in 722 by the Assyrian empire.  At that time, Judah turned to Yahweh and was left by herself as a holdout on Assyria — God did not allow Assyria to sack Jerusalem and overthrow Judah.  However, not many years later, Judah did go into exile at the hand of Babylon.  Three major exiles took place, in 602, in 597, and the last in 586.  Finally Jerusalem fell and the prominent people of the land were hauled off to other lands by the Babylonian Empire.  Could this course of world history been avoided?  Judah’s deliverance from Assyria is evidence that this is the case.  God predicted the people’s exile if they refused to worship and obey him, and because of their continual rebellion, he eventually kept his promise of disaster.  But had Israel and Judah repented, God quite easily could have altered the course of human history and delivered them, as he did for Judah when they were threatened by Assyria.</div> <bR> <div> B. A New Kingdom with a New Philosophy</div> <div>      It was the night of October 12, 539, and a party was taking place in the fortified city of Babylon.  With the defenses lessened, trusting in their history of defense, Babylon succumbed to the crafty overthrow by Persia under the leadership of Cyrus through his agent Gobryas.  Cyrus came to the city October 29, 539.  Thus in a dramatic turn of events, welcomed by many, the empire of Babylon became suddenly under the control of the new empire, Persia.  The evil enemy of Judah, Babylon, used by God to inflict punishment upon that tiny nation of his people, has now fallen herself, as God had promised she would (Jeremiah 25.12; (Bruce, 99; Bright, ch. 9B).</div> <div>      It what would be a most welcome change of policy by many of the displaced peoples of all the lands Babylon had conquered, Cyrus decreed to allow the peoples to go home if they would so choose (Ezra 1.1-4, 2 Chron 36.22-23).  In fact, Cyrus was regarded by many (even Babylonians) as a liberator (Dillard and Longman, 183).  Cyrus’ policy was one of allowing his subjected peoples some measure of freedom within the empire still firmly under Cyrus’ control.  Thus, they were free to carry on their lives in peace, though ultimately they were under the control of Persia.  “Cyrus was one of the truly enlightened rulers of ancient times. Instead of crushing national sentiment by brutality and deportation as the Assyrians had, it was his aim to allow subject peoples as far as possible to enjoy cultural autonomy within the framework of the empire” (Bright, ch. 9B).</div> <div>      Cyrus’ policy was not necessarily because he was of such benevolent character as a ruler, nor was it because he was a God-fearer (he did not just allow the Jews to go home to worship Yahweh, he allowed all the peoples to go home to worship their own gods).  His policy may simply have been the wisest course of action to maintain control while understanding the benefits of benevolence in terms of how the subject peoples viewed him and responded to him.  He understood that contented subjects could be cultivated by allowing them some measure of autonomy.</div> <div>      Nabondius, the last ruler of Babylon, neglected Marduk, god of Babylon, showing allegiance rather to the moon-god, much to the dismay of the Babylonian residents.  Cyrus, on the other hand, upheld and even participated in the traditions of Marduk in Babylon and thus gained the favor of the city’s residents.  Cyrus, in going along with the people’s wishes, gained the willing allegiance of those peoples.  “This act betokened no special devotion to Marduk on Cyrus’s part, but he was sensible enough to realize the rich dividends of submission and even of gratitude which would accrue from such an inexpensive policy of outward respect to the deities of his subject nations” (Bruce 99-100).</div> <div>      It should strongly be noted that Cyrus’ policy was used to fulfill what God had before prophesied.  God raised Cyrus up and used him as his instrument, though Cyrus was doing what was best for himself and his empire. Thus, Cyrus fulfilled God's purpose of allowing the Jews to return, but he also fulfilled the larger purpose of enabling Yahweh to be proclaimed to the nations, eventually through the Servant of the Lord.  </div> <div> “Yahweh has anointed Cyrus to be his agent; by his overthrow of Israel’s oppressors he will enable the exiles of Judah and Jerusalem to return home and rebuild their commonwealth.  But this is not the end of the divine purpose; it is for something far greater than this that so much wealth has been expended in the rapid growth of Persian dominion and the restoration of Israel’s exiles; it is in order that through Israel the knowledge of the true God may be carried to all the nations” (Bruce, 98).</div> <bR> <div> C. First Return with Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel</div> <div>      In Jeremiah 29.10-11, Yahweh says, “‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”  For those faithful who remembered the promise and told their children born in exile, God was right on time in fulfilling his word to bring Judah back to their land.  God changed the course of world history so that his word might be fulfilled to bring about the promised return of his people to their homeland.</div> <div>      The first return of Jews to the homeland of Judah was in 538BC, led by Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel.  At this time, the rebuilding of the Temple began (536BC) and was eventually completed (515BC; Ezra 1-6).  Sheshbazzar is first mentioned in Ezra 1.8, 11, as the “prince of Judah.”  But in the seventh month of that first year, it was Zerubbabel who led in the rebuilding of the altar (Ezra 3.2).  In Ezra 5.14, in reviewing the historical record, Sheshbazzar is mentioned as having laid the foundations of the temple, which was still under construction at that time.  The transition from Sheshbazzar to Zerubbabel is not clearly delineated.  Bruce suggests that Sheshbazzar, having completed his initial task, went back to Persia and his nephew Zerubbabel carried on in the leadership in Judah (Bruce, 101).  Bright suggests that Sheshbazzar may have gotten so little done on the work of the temple at first that when the work was begun again later on, Zerubbabel was given the credit for the whole project (Bright, ch. 9B).</div> <div>      The Persian Empire was divided into satrapies, and the land of Palestine was a part of the satrapy known as “Beyond the River.”  The district which Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel led was called Yehud (Dillard and Longman 183).</div> <bR> <div> D. Second Return with Ezra</div> <div>      The second return to the region of Jerusalem was in 458BC, led by Ezra himself, who was a scribe.  This return is recorded in Ezra 7 and this section of Ezra includes the journals or memoirs of Ezra.  At this time, Ezra instituted many reforms because some of the residents of Judah had begun to associate with the worship of the surrounding peoples.  The Ezra account deals at length (ch. 9-10) with the intermarriage of the peoples of Judah with those of the pagan nations.</div> <bR> <div> E. Third Return with Nehemiah</div> <div>      Nehemiah led the third major recorded return of Jews to their homeland in 444BC.  It was at this time that Nehemiah led in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh 1-6).  Nehemiah had been serving the King Axtaxerxes when he learned that things were not well in Jerusalem (Neh 1.3).  The king for whom Nehemiah worked is not specifically mentioned in the text, but it has long been thought that his work was during the reign of Artaxerxes I (465-425BC); this understanding has been supported by the discovery of a communication from 408BC (the 17th year of Darius) found among the Elaphantine papryi (Longman, 182).  This letter makes contemporary reference to some of those leaders (Bagoas the governor and Johanan the high priest) who followed Nehemiah and his contemporaries in the next generation.  Thus, 444BC is a reasonable date for the beginning of the leadership of Nehemiah in Jerusalem.</div> <bR> <div> F. To Stay or to Go?  The Choice of Those in Exile.</div> <div>      Most of the Jewish exiles to Babylon did not return to Judah when they were given the chance by God through his instrument Cyrus.  Only a relative few of the Jews came back in the three returns listed in Ezra-Nehemiah.  Many exiles settled down in what became the Medo-Persian Empire and they simply chose not to uproot their lives and families to return to a land that many of them either never had been to or were too young to remember, since it had been 70 years since the final exile from Judah took place.  No doubt the long journey itself would be difficult in addition to the uprooting of lives.   However, many who stayed helped those who did choose to return by giving them resources to use for the journey and the reestablishment of life and worship in Judah (Ezra 1.4, 6; Bright, 9B).  Note that Jerusalem itself had very few residents at the time of Nehemiah, even after the wall had been build (Neh 7.4).  This was many years after the edict of Cyrus allowing the Jews to return.</div> <div>      In the introduction to Esther in the Nelson Study Bible, one possible reason is cited for the lack of the mention of Yahweh, the name of God, in Esther is because “The author might have viewed the Jewish people who remained in Persia and did not return to the land of Israel (Ezra 1:1) as a people cut off from the principal blessings of God” (Nelson Study Bible).  This illustrates that those who chose to stay were at best missing out on an incredible opportunity to return to their homeland, miraculously brought about by God in fulfillment of his promise.  At worst, they were living in disobedience.</div> <div>      What the exiles arrived to was not much to write back to Persia and brag about.  The territory of Judah was not the size it once had been.  Yamauchi quotes Avi-Yonah: “It’s extent from north to south was about 25 miles, from east to west about 32 miles.  The total area was about 800 square miles, of which about one third was an uncultivable desert” (Yamauchi, 570). The city of Jerusalem itself lacked walls until Nehemiah’s time (Neh 1.3), and the houses of the city had been destroyed (Neh 7.4).  Nehemiah was told, “the survivors there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame” (Neh 1.3).</div> <bR> <div> <B>IV. Opposition</B></div> <div>      The enemies of Judah did not take long to interfere with the work of rebuilding the temple (Ezra 4.1-5).  The enemies first offered their help in building the temple.  The Jews wisely refused.  They are to be commended for their recognition of the inherent problems of working together with the peoples around them in building the temple of Yahweh.  “The Samaritans and other adversaries of the returnees tried to join them in temple construction but the Jewish leaders saw at once that the syncretism implied in this cooperative effort was blatantly contrary to the covenant spirit” (Merrill, 194).  In a letter to King Artaxerxes, the enemies accused the Jews of rebuilding the walls and planning insurrection; the King ordered their work to stop (Ezra 4.17-22).  Ezra 5 records the work of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, as they encouraged the people to stop neglecting the work of the temple in favor of their own comforts.  The work on the temple was finally completed in 515BC, during the reign of King Darius.</div> <div>      These initial opposers were evidently from Samaria north of Judah and Jerusalem.  During the Assyrian exile earlier, peoples from Mesopotamia and Syria were deported to the land of Israel, and the worship of Yahweh in the land was diminished as time went on — the representatives of the other nations worshiped their own gods (2 Kings 17.24-33).  If Yahweh was being worshiped by some, even by Israelites who had been left in the land after the Assyrian exile, the worship was mixed with the gods of the other lands (Yamauchi 626).  Sanballat, who later led opposition against Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh 4) was a leader of Samaria (Yamauchi, 687).  Simply put, these new residents of Judah, who belonged there according to Yahweh, were not welcome by those who were already living nearby, especially if they were going to separate themselves unto the worship of Yahweh alone.  The Samaritans thought that Judea was a part of their own territory (Bruce, 101), and if the new residents were not going to go along with their way of doing things, the Samaritans would oppose them until they left or were simply powerless.</div> <div>      It is a question as to why Persia would allow and even encourage the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, especially after the project had been halted by King Artaxerxes I (Ezra 4.17-22).  For Persia, problems began to develop in the west with Egypt and Greece after Xerxes died in 464BC.  With revolts and unstability in the region, it has been suggested that a military strengthening of Jerusalem by rebuilding her walls would allow the city to be used as a garrison against the revolting parties (Dillard and Longman, 184-185).  Bruce suggests that if Shimshai and Rehum, leaders of Samaria, had taken place in this revolt and Jerusalem had not, the loyalty of Jerusalem would make her a good candidate to be used to promote stability in the region (Bruce, 106). Thus it is not inconsistent to find the Persian rulers stopping work on the temple in the earlier time period but changing their minds and encouraging the work later on.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Conclusion</B></div> <div>      This paper has been designed to answer basic questions and issues regarding the background and content of Ezra-Nehemiah to inform a better study of the book.  This paper has given this writer a better understanding of key issues in the book, so that his more detailed study will be more informed and productive.</div> <bR> <div> <U>Works Cited</U>:</div> <bR> <div> John Bright.  <I>A History of Israel, electronic ed.</I> (Logos)<I>. </I> (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press) 1981. </div> <bR> <div> F. F. Bruce.  <I>Israel and the Nations</I>.  Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969.</div> <bR> <div> Raymond Dillard and Tremper Longman.  <I>An Introduction to the Old Testament</I>.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.</div> <bR> <div> Eugene Merrill.  “A Theology of Ezra-Nehemiah and Esther.” <I>Biblical Theology of the Old Testament</I>, ed. Roy Zuck.  Chicago: Moody, 1991.</div> <bR> <div> Earl D. Radmacher, general editor; Ronald B. Allen, Old Testament editor, “Esther” Introduction.  <I>Nelson Study Bible, electronic ed. </I>(Logos). Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997.</div> <bR> <div> Edwin Yamauchi.  “Ezra-Nehemiah.”  <I>The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 4</I>.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988.</div> <bR> <div> copyright, 1999, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>