Old Testament Survey
Ezra-Nehemiah
Rick Walker
http://Didaskalia.tripod.com
1. The Decree of Cyrus the Persian.
A. 2 Kings breaks off with the Southern Kingdom being carried into exile by
the Babylonians in July of 586 B.C. to begin the seventy years of captivity.
1. However, the prophets that foretold the exile due to the covenant failure
of
Israel, also held out the promise of restoration to the
land.
2. Ezra-Nehemiah is the story of restoration, beginning the post-exilic
period of
Israel's history.
B. Restoration is accomplished by the rise of the Persian Empire, which succeeded the
Babylonians.
1. With each new empire, the circumstances of Israel changes.
a. Assyrians come to power and take the Northern Kingdom
into captivity in 722.
b. Babylonians come to power and take the Southern Kingdom
into captivity in 586
B.C.
c. Persians come to power in 539 B.C. and give permission
for the Jews to return to
their homeland.
2. Persians had a very different policy about how to handle conquered
nations.
a. The Babylonians and Assyrians carried captured nations
into exile in an effort
to break up their social and political
structures. By doing this the conquered
nations were weakened to the point that
they would not be able to rebel in any
unified effort.
b. The Persians established the policy of permitting
conquered nations to return to
their homelands in the belief that they
would have a stronger empire because they
would be supported by the loyalty of the
nations.
c. A copy of the decree is found in Ezra 6:3-5.
1. The decree states that the Jews are to
return to their homeland and rebuild
the temple of their God
(6:3).
2. The costs of rebuilding to be paid out
of the royal treasury (6:4).
3. The items taken from the temple when
the Babylonians destroyed it in 586 B.C.
are to be returned to
the Jews (6:5).
C. Ezra-Nehemiah and the Prophets.
1. In Ezra-Nehemiah we see the fulfillment of prophecies of two major
prophets.
a. Jeremiah 30, 31.
1. Prophesies during the 6th century B.C.
2. Ezra 1:1 "in order to fulfill the
word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah."
3. Jeremiah 30, 31 called the "Book
of Consolation." Jer. 30:3: The days are
coming, declares the
Lord when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back
from captivity and
restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to
possess.
b. Isaiah 44:28-45:17.
1. Prophesies 740-700 B.C.
2. Specifically specifies Cyrus the
Persian by name as the one who would issue
the decree for the Jews
to return to their homeland hundreds of years before
the event.
3. The Persians came to power in 539 B.C.
and Cyrus issued his decree the
following year, 538
B.C.
2. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Also note that this is the time of the
prophets Haggai
and Zechariah, whom were raised up to encourage the Jews in
the process of
reconstruction.
a. There has not been the voice of a prophet is heard in
Judah since Jeremiah during
the fall of Jerusalem under the
Babylonians.
b. Haggai and Zechariah are complementary books of
prophecy.
1. Haggai: exhortation to Hebrew people
to rebuild the temple, reinstitute
the liturgical
calendar, including the proper sacrifices and observation of
the feast days.
2. Zechariah: called for spiritual
renewal among the people to accompany the
rebuilding of the
temple.
c. The prophet Malachi condemned the spiritual degeneration
of the Jews, showing
that the prophecies of Zechariah, calling
for spiritual renewal, had little
effect on the returned exiles.
2. The Jews Return.
A. The Jews began to return in 538 and continued over a period of several
decades.
B. Four different groups return in Ezra-Nehemiah under four different
figures.
1. Sheshbazzar (Ez. 1:8).
a. Returned in 538.
b. Rebuilt the temple foundations (5:16)
2. Zerubbabel (Ez. 2:2)
a. Perhaps twenty years later
b. Rebuilds the temple
3. Ezra the scribe who teaches the people the law.
4. Nehemiah
a. The king's cupbearer
b. Rebuilt the city walls.
3. Zerubbabel Rebuilds the Temple (Ezra 3-6).
A. The altar was rebuilt first (3:1-5).
1. Great fear of local inhabitants
2. Theological statement: altar more important for the
security of the people
than city walls.
3. After the altar was rebuilt, sacrifices were offered.
B. Begin the process of rebuilding the temple (3:7).
1. Foundations begun by Sheshbazzar completed, but that is
all that Zerubbabel will
get accomplished.
2. Once the foundations are completed, there is a mixed
reaction among the
people (3:7-10).
a. The priests who had seen the first
temple weep.
b. The rest of the people rejoice and
praise God.
C. Opposition by the Local Inhabitants (Ezra 4-6).
1. The people living in the land did not welcome the
returning exiles
(Ezra 4:1-4).
a. Ask to help rebuild the temple (4:2).
b. Zerubbabel and the other leaders
refused to let the local inhabitants help
in the rebuilding
(4:3).
c. Later in history the Samaritans would
build a rival temple on Mt. Gerizim
(John 4:19).
2. The opposition does not give up easily and they hire
counselors to help them
harass and discourage the Jews (4:4, 5).
a. Ezra 4:6, 7 summarizes the opposition
that began in the days of Cyrus (4:5)
and shows how it
continued for an eighty year time span until the time
of Artaxerxes.
b. This must have been especially trying
to the Jews as they were probably under
the hope that upon
their restoration to the land God would immediately usher
in the messianic
kingdom
c. Ezra does not follow a strictly
chronological order here after Ezra 4:5. He
writes topically and
shows how the opposition continued down through time.
1. The letter of Ezra
4:7-23 is from a later date than the time of Zerubbabel.
2. Ezra 4:6-23 is a
digression. Thus, we can read 4:5 and skip to 4:24. Ezra
4:24
picks up where 4:5 leaves off.
3. The work on the temple came to a stop until the second
year of the reign of
Darius (Ezra 5:24).
a. Rulers of Persia. The second year of
Darius was 520 B.C. (4:24).
1. Cyrus: temple
construction stopped.
2. Darius 1: temple
completed in 516 B.C.
3. Xerxes
4. Artaxerxes 1
5. Darius 2
6. Artaxerxes 2
7. Artaxerxes 3
8. Darius 3
b. God Raises Up Haggai.
1. (Haggai 1:2, 3) In
the second year of King Darius, the word of the Lord
came
through Haggai to Zerubbabel admonishing the Jews to rebuild the
temple.
2. Because the house
had not been rebuilt there was a drought in the land
(1:11).
3. The Jews were
concerned with building their own houses, but had neglected
the
house of God (1:9).
4. They begin once
again to build the temple.
c. God raises up Zechariah.
1. During the time
before the temple was built (Zech. 8:9).
2. Zechariah is a book
of visions, calling for the Jews to turn from their
sins.
It is not enough to build a temple.
4. Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates sends a letter to
King Darius to stop
the building of the temple (5:6). The
letter is found in Ezra 5:8-17.
a. The Jews are building the temple and
we questioned them about it.
b. The Jews said they were rebuilding the
temple that had been destroyed long
ago by the Babylonians
because their fathers had sinned against God 5:12).
c. The Jews also said King Cyrus issued a
decree that they could rebuild the
temple (5:13).
d. Tattenai asks that a search be made of
the Persian archives to see if in fact
Cyrus issued such a
decree (5:17).
5. Darius searches for the decree and finds it in the
Persian archives (6:1-7).
He sends a reply to Tettanai with the
following instructions:
a. Stay away from the Jews (6:6).
b. Give them money out of the royal
treasury to help with the building project
(6:8).
c. Give them whatever animals they need
to sacrifice to their God (6:9).
d. If anyone disobeys this decree a beam
is to be pulled from his house and he is
to be impaled upon it
and his house is to be demolished (6:11).
D. Completion of the Temple (Ezra 6:13-18).
1. The temple was completed in 516 B.C.
a. sacrifice 100 bulls, 200 rams.
b. install the Levites to serve in the
temple
2. The Seventy Year Captivity comes to an end.
a. Question: if Jerusalem fell in July
586 B.C. and the Jews began returning in
538, how can Jeremiah
speak of a seventy year captivity? This is only 48
years!
b. A plausible suggestion is that the
seventy years begins in 586 and ends in 516
with the rebuilding of
the temple. Captivity continues until the temple is
rebuilt.
4. Ezra the Scribe Teaches the Law.
A. There is a scholarly debate concerning the dating of the work of Ezra.
1. Was he a contemporary of Nehemiah, or did he come a
couple of generations
after Nehemiah during the time of
Artaxerxes 2, i.e., about 398 B.C. (For
discussion see New Bible Dictionary,
"Ezra," 364)?
2. According to Ezra 7:1, 8, Ezra was sent to Jerusalem in
the seventh year of the
reign of Artaxerxes 1, 458 B.C.
B. Ezra sent with a letter from Artaxerxes 1 charging Ezra with the following
(Ezra 7:13-26):
1. All Israelites are free to go back with Ezra (7:13).
2. Ezra is take back gold and silver to buy sacrifices for
the Jerusalem temple
(7:15-17).
3. Priests and Levites are free from taxation (8:24).
4. Ezra is to teach the people the law of God (8:25).
5. Ezra could have asked for a Persian military guard, but
was too ashamed to ask
because of his faith in God (8:22). This
shows a lot of faith considering the
great amount of wealth Ezra took back
with him and the bandits and robbers along
the way (8:31).
C. Sin of the People: Intermarriage (Ezra 9, 10).
1. Intermarriage with the neighboring people who had
detestable practices
(Ezra 9:1, 2).
a. The leaders had led the way in this
practice (9:2b).
b. Priests and Levites also guilty (9:1).
2. Ezra's Response.
a. Emotional response: tore his tunic and
cloak, pulled hair from his beard
and head, and sat down
appalled (9:3). These are the same sins that had
brought exile in the
first place!
b. Prayer: (9:10-15).
1. Speaks of the sin of
the past generations that brought exile and God's
grace
in bringing the exiles back and letting them rebuild the temple.
2. Confesses the guilt
of Israel.
3. People's Response (10:1-17).
a. People gather around Ezra and confess
their guilt.
b. Suggested that they send their foreign
wives and children back to their
homelands (10:3).
c. All of Israel gathered within three
days to take care of how to send the
women and children
back, but because it was the rainy season and they could
not stand outside for
several days or weeks, the people were sent home
(9:13).
d. Everyone went home and came to
Jerusalem at an appointed time.
4. Ezra closes with a list of those who had sinned by
intermarriage (Ezra 10).
5. Nehemiah Rebuilds the Walls of Jerusalem.
A. Nehemiah gets permission to rebuild the city walls.
1. Cupbearer of the Persian king Artaxerxes 1.
2. Learns from fellow Jew that the city walls are broken
down and the gates are
burned (1:3).
a. This may have been the situation since
Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city in
586. In that event, the
walls have been in disrepair for 141 years. Others
think that this is a
more recent devastation caused by the enemies of the
Jews.
b. In either case, the building on the
walls had ceased by order of Artaxerxes.
1. Opponents had sent a
letter to Artaxerxes warning that the walls of the
rebellious
city were being rebuilt (Ezra 4:8-16).
2. Artaxerxes sent
letter telling the governors of Trans-Euphrates that the
work
of rebuilding the walls be made to cease (Ezra 4:18-22).
[Perhaps
there was an attack at this time, destroying what progress had
been
made on the city walls if Nehemiah 1:3 refers to a recent destruction].
3. Artaxerxes holds out
the prospect that in the future he may let the work
continue
(Ezra 4:21).
3. Nehemiah prays (1:5-11) and asks the king for permission
to go to Jerusalem and
rebuild the walls (2:1-5).
a. After fasting and mourning for
Jerusalem for several days, he takes the king's
wine to him.
b. King asks what is the matter. He
speaks of the news from Jerusalem and asks
permission to go there
(2:4).
4. Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah with an official letter
(2:7-9).
a. Letter to the governors of
Trans-Euphrates guaranteeing safe passage (2:7).
Governors are those
mentioned in 2:10, 19).
b. Letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's
forest, for timber to rebuild Jerusalem
(1:8).
c. Nehemiah sent with an armed escort
(2:9).
B. Nehemiah begins his work about 445 B.C.
1. Nehemiah inspects the city walls (2:11-20).
a. Nehemiah came to the city alone and
not told anyone why he was in Jerusalem
(2:11).
b. He makes a night survey of the damage
to the walls and the gate (2:13, 15).
2. The Jews begin to rebuild the city walls (2:18).
C. Opposition to the Building (Nehemiah 4:1-23; 6:1-14).
1. (4:1-17) Each of the four Persian provinces surrounding
Judah participated
in opposition to Judah (Anchor Bible
Commentary, 14:125).
a. Eastern border of Judah was contiguous
with Ammon
b. Ashdod represents the Philistines
whose territory became an Assyrian province
in 711 B.C. with Ashdod
as the seat of the governor.
c. The Arabians were immediately to the
south.
d. Samaria was to the north, under
Sanballat.
2. Opposition initially took the form of public ridicule
(4:2, 3).
3. Later, they rose up to fight against the Jews when they
learned that the gaps
in the walls were being filled in (4:8).
a. Nehemiah posts guards day and night to
watch for an attack (4:9).
b. Stations many people behind the lowest
places in the walls with their
families (4:13).
c. Half the people worked while the other
half stood guard (4:16).
d. Workers who carried building materials
worked with a sword in one hand (4:17).
e. Trumpeter assigned to watch and sound
the trumpet if the Jews were attacked
(4:18).
f. All the Jews stayed inside the city
walls at night (4:22).
g. Some slept in their clothes (4:23).
4. Plots to Kill Nehemiah (Neh. 6:1-14).
a. Attempt to lure Nehemiah out of the
city (6:1-9).
b. Attempt to luke Nehemiah into the
temple (6:10-14).
5. Spies in Jerusalem (6:17-19). Nehemiah also had to deal
with spies who were
going back and forth.
a. Many in Jerusalem were loyal to Tobiah
the Ammonite because of intermarriage
(4:18).
b. They would reveal Nehemiah's plans to
Tobiah and bring back discouraging
reports about Ammonite
plans.
D. Completion and Dedication of the Wall (6:15-19; 12:27-47).
1. The wall was completed (6:15). It is amazing that the
walls stood in disrepair
for decades, but Nehemiah, with God's
help, was able to complete the task in
fifty-two days (6:15).
2. At the dedication, the Jews divided into two groups and
marched around he city
walls in opposite directions (Neh.
12:31).
a. Ezra led one procession (Neh. 12:36b).
b. Nehemiah was with the other procession
(12:38).
c. Choirs and musicians were in each
group.
3. After marching around the city on top of the walls, they
came down in front of
the temple where sacrifices were offered
(12:43).
6. Nehemiah's Reforms (Nehemiah 5:1-19; 8:1-18; 9:1-10:38; 13:1-30). Nehemiah also had
to reform the people of Judah.
A. Nehemiah's Initial Reforms.
1. Nehemiah helps the poor (Nehemiah 5:1-19).
a. Inititially, Nehemiah found that not
only did the Jerusalem walls need to
be repaired, but that
the rich were oppressing the poor.
b. During the rebuilding of the wall, an
outcry went up by some of the Jews
because they were
having to mortgage their property simply to have enough
money to eat (5:3).
c. Others had to borrow money to pay the
king's taxes (5:4).
d. Some had to subject their sons and
daughters to slavery (5:5).
e. The rich and powerful among the Jews
were taking advantage of their positions
and oppressing the poor
(5:7).
f. The oppressors promised to stop taking
advantage of their brothers (5:13).
g. Nehemiah was appointed governor for
twelve years, but did not take advantate
of the Jews as the
governors before him had done (5:14-18). Instead, 150 Jews
ate at his table.
2. Ezra is summoned to teach the law to the people
(Nehemiah 8). After the completion
of the wall, but before its dedication,
Ezra was called to read the law (8:1-3).
a. Stood on high platform (8:4).
b. Read the law from daybreak until noon
(8:3).
c. Levites stood among the people and
explained the law to them (8:7, 8).
d. All the people were weeping as they
heard the law read (8:9).
3. Israelites Confess their sins (Nehemiah 9, 10).
a. The people recount how the sins of
their fathers had brought God's punishment
and confess their
own sins.
b. Make a binding agreement with God
(9:38).
1. Promise not to
intermarry (10:30).
2. Promise not to
violate the Sabbath (10:31).
3. Promise to provide
for temple offerings (10:32, 33).
4. Promise to provide
for the Levites (10:37c).
B. Nehemiah's Final Reforms (Nehemiah 13).
1. After the dedication of the wall, Nehemiah left
Jerusalem and returned to Susa,
Persia for some unspecified length of
time (Neh. 13:6, 7).
2. The abuses corrected in Nehemiah 13 correspond to some
of the sins addressed
in Malachi. It may be that Malachi
prophesied during Nehemiah's absence in
Susa.
3. When he returned, (Neh. 13:7), he had to initiate
reforms again.
a. Eliashib the priest had provided
Tobiah the Ammonite with a storage facility
in the very temple of
God (Neh. 13:3-5).
1. Room formerly used
to store the offerings for God (13:5).
2. Nehemiah threw
Tobiah's belongings out of the room (13:8).
b. The Levites were not receiving their
alloted portions and had left the temple
to work in the fields
(13:10).
c. The Jews were violating the Sabbath,
the very thing they had promised not
to do (Neh. 13:15, 16;
cf. 10:31).
1. Nehemiah ordered
that the gates of the city be closed on the Sabbath to
prevent
merchandise from entering the city on that day (13:19).
2. Traders began
spending the night outside of the city gates (13:20).
d. The Jews were intermarrying (13:23).
Some of their children did not even
know the Hebrew
language (13:24).
1. Even the son of the
high priest had married the daughter of Sanballat
the
Horonite (13:28).
2. Nehemiah reminded
them that it was because of sins like these that the
Jews
had been carried into captivity (13:26).
Chronology
Nehemiah 2:1 Nehemiah's appointment as governor in
445 B.C.
5:14; 13:6 Return to Persia in 443 B.C.
13:7
Return to Jerusalem after "certain
days."
2:6
Infers that his first visit was to
be for a short time
13:6
The absence in 13:6 was long enough for
abuses to arise and for
the
Levites to be driven out of work into the fields.
Xerxes 485-65 B.C.
Artaxerxes 1 464-424 B.C.
Return of Sheshbazzar 538 B.C.
Return of Ezra (Ezra 7:7-8) 458 B.C.
Return of Nehemiah (Neh. 2:1, 2) 445 B.C.
Nehemiah governor of Judah for twelve years (Neh.
13:6) 445-433 B.C.
Nehemiah's second governorship (Neh. 13:7) 433 - ?
B.C.
Darius 2, King of Persia 423-405 B.C.
Artaxerxes 2 Menmon, king of Persia 404-359 B.C.