Ezra Returns to Jerusalem

Recall that Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries and that in the original Hebrew Bible, their books were combined into one. It is supposed that Ezra is the author of both books. Nehemiah was a layman, a cupbearer in the king's court, and Ezra was a priest and scribe. Zerubbabel led the first group of exiles, nearly 50,000, back to Jerusalem for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple. When we left Ezra for Esther, the Israelites had just completed the Temple. Work had been stopped on the Temple for a period of about 15 years due to opposition they faced from their neighbors and a preoccupation with their personal affairs. The ministries of Haggai and Zechariah served to encourage the Jews toward completion of the task. A gap of nearly 100 years occurs between the events of Ezra chapters 6 and 7. This is when the book of Esther appears chronologically. Not everyone had returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, because as mentioned previously, the Jews were subjugated by the Persian government, but were not oppressed. Life was pretty good for them and many chose to stay where they were. Esther, Mordecai, Nehemiah and Ezra were among those who had remained in Persia.

At the king's command, Ezra led a group of 1750 men (probably around 5000 people including women and children), back to Jerusalem for the purpose of spiritual rebuilding. In order to gain favor with the God of Israel, whom the Persians did not serve, the king sent Ezra back to Jerusalem with a large offering for the Temple and with instructions to teach the people God's laws. Artaxerxes embracing of the Israelites' worship seems contradictory to his previous reply to the governor in chapter 4. Verses 7-23 detail a letter written to the king opposing the work on the city. The king had replied that the work must be stopped after searching the historical records and finding a pattern of Israel's rebellion against kingdoms ruling over them.

As the Bible is written, these verses appear just after the account of another letter written to a Persian king (Darius) to alert him of the Jews attempts to rebuild the temple. At that time, Darius searched the records and found that they were justified in so doing and authorized that the work be continued. This was when the progress was stalled for 15 years and restarted after the ministries of Haggai and Zechariah. This more recent account involving Artaxerxes is placed with the Darius account because of the thematic similarity... tattle-tale letters to to kings about the activities of the Jews. But a close examination of the text, read "Even later, during the reign of Artaxerxes...", indicates that though placed in the Bible with events occurring almost 100 years earlier, this is a separate and much later account. So apparently, Artaxerxes was opposed to the Jews to rebuilding their nation but was supportive of their re-instituting religious practices.

Tomorrow's reading: Ezra 9:1-10:44; Neh. 1:1-2:20