And so the capital of the Empire was no longer in the city of Babylon. Ezra and Nehemiah form a single book in the Hebrew Bible. It would seem to take a lot longer than 52 days to put up a wall around a city. Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah who built the Second Temple on the ruins of the First, and that of Ezra and Nehemiah, who instituted reforms -- religious, financial, and agrarian. However, if this was an administrative center for the Persian Empire, one thing that puzzled archaeologists was the lack of Persian artifacts in Jerusalem from this period. 2. It seems that Nehemiah was essentially building what would serve as an outpost and provincial administrative center for the Persian empire, which explains why the Persian King provided material assistance for the rebuilding (Nehemiah 2:1-20). Which came with Zerubbabel—He was the chief or leader of the first band of returning exiles. Luke. But according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) that all changed over the summer when archaeologists found evidence of two Persian royal seals from this period in a dig in Old Jerusalem. Nehemiah undertook an initiative to do what in Jerusalem? Change ). Both Ezra and Nehemiah faced great danger on their long trips to Judah (Ezra traveling from Babylon, and Nehemiah traveling from Susa). But notwithstanding attempts upon the city and upon the life of Nehemiah, and in spite of intrigues among certain members of the Judaean section, in fifty-two days the city walls were complete (Neh. Ezra/Nehemiah are often viewed as “coworkers” but many scholars attribute that to redactionist editing and point out several anachronistic issues Book of Ezra: Chapters 1 - 10 depict the early stages of the reconstruction of Jewish life in Judah after the return from exile (Judah was under Persian colonial rule at this time) Ezra describes several efforts to squelch the construction (Ezra 4:1-23). This includes the author, date, and the historical setting of the book. The Persian king, Artaxerxes, gave Nehemiah permission to return and rebuild the city of Jerusalem that lay in ruins. Ezra and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem during the region of king _____... Nehemiah undertook an initiative to do what in Jerusalem? This was the year that the Egyptians overthrew the Persians meaning they could not longer protect the Jewish colony on Elephantine from attack by the Egyptians. They also wrote a letter to the sons of Sanballat. Susa. ( Log Out /  The Cyrus Cylinder . a. Ezra-Nehemiah was one the two Old Testament books containing large amounts of what? There is also a letter from Jerusalem mentioning Hananiah, the brother of Nehemiah, who was put in charge of the administrative affairs of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 7:2). So, when Moses-- Or sorry, when Ezra and Nehemiah came along, they were under the rulership of the Persians, which was more to the east, modern Iran and so on. Babylonia in Mesopotamia was no longer the central headquarters of the known world back then, but rather it was in Persia. Ezra and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem during the reign of King. the story of Mordecai and Esther who lived in the Persian city of Susa during the reign of Xerxes (486-465BC), tells how God cared for and preserved them. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Failure to circumcise. Yet despite very similar situations, and despite both men having faith in God for their protection, Ezra and Nehemiah responded differently to… At any rate, it is best for us to remember that our inability to explain why the author called him by this title does not prove that he did not do so. ( Log Out /  Daniel 5:30) 2. In the late 1800s, Jewish papyri being sold in an antiquities market led to the discovery of a Jewish colony on the island of Elephantine on the Nile River in Egypt. The Persian king, Artaxerxes, gave Nehemiah permission to return and rebuild the city of Jerusalem that lay in ruins. The opportunity for that return came about in 538 B.C.E. ( Log Out /  This is possible, and so no gap is needed. These were successful for a while, stopping the temple project for about two decades (Ezra 4:24). Persian emperors are mentioned in Ezra-Nehemiah in close to the right order, though the three Dariuses and two Artaxerxes are not distinguished. Failure to circumcise . Again, the measures of Nehemiah are mild in comparison with the radical measures of Ezra. They tackled the formidable tasks of rebuilding their destroyed city, reconstructing the Temple and restoring worship there, and restoring the city walls. He came equipped to do battle. Nehemiah undertook an initiative to do what in Jerusalem? This included letters to the Jewish High Priest Johanan in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 3:1; 12:10-12; 12:22; Ezra 10:6), but it appears he would have nothing to do with this upstart temple and didn’t even bother to reply. As a result, Sanballat was in a power struggle with Nehemiah for control and even tried to hinder the construction of Jerusalem’s walls (Nehemiah 2:10, Nehemiah 2:19). The letter informed the Elephantine group on how to properly hold Passover. Ezra and Nehemiah recorded the history of post-exilic Jews. Seals were used to authenticate documents and goods. The names of other influential persons who were associated in the conducting of the caravans are also mentioned, being extracted probably from the Persian archives, in which the register was preserved: conspicuous in the number are Jeshua, the high priest, and Nehemiah. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. One of the dominant theological themes in Ezra-Nehemiah … 458 B.C. Reforms instituted by Ezra and Nehemiah addressed all of the following except. Over 42,000 Jews initially returned to Jerusalem for this rebuilding (Nehemiah 7:66). Reforms instituted by Ezra and Nehemiah addressed all of the following except. The last dated papyri on Elephantine was from 399 BC. The reforms instituted under Ezra and Nehemiah can be seen as the seeds of pharisaism. Even though this man occupied one of the highest positions in the Persian courts, he had not sacrificed his morality or religious principles. The introduction to the book of Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish perspective is detailed. Ezra–Nehemiah is a book in the Hebrew Bible found in the Ketuvim section, originally with the Hebrew title of Ezra. Though Sanballat was gentile, the names of his two son in the letter were Jewish, suggesting Sanballat had married a Jewish woman. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. Ezra and Nehemiah came from the Persian city of, Ezra and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem during the reign of King. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. However, when Nehemiah came he came with the might of the Persian army behind him. The time period in which Ezra-Nehemiah was written is generally classified as postexilic. Zerubbabel and Nehemiah both play a part in restoring God's Temple, while Zerubbabel takes charge over governing affairs, and Nehemiah rebuilds the Walls of Jerusalem. Ezra-Nehemiah however is about those who did return to Jerusalem from exile, and records the last events of the Old Testament period of history. Ezra and Nehemiah were, for centuries, received as one book narrating the return of God's exiled people to their land, as under Persian rule they were allowed to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem. Both Ezra and Nehemiah were offered military protection from the king. As archaeological work began on Elephantine, they discovered that they had actually built a Jewish Temple on the island, that was subsequently damaged when the Egyptians attacked the Jewish settlement and temple because they were sacrificing bulls, who the Egyptians considered to be gods. In their response, the sons of Sanballat suggested the Elephantines contact the local Persian Santrap for help, which they did. Archaeologists discovered both a larger Persian sealing instrument that suggests it was used for items such as pots that may have been transporting goods or collecting taxes and a smaller clay seal impression. Rebuilding not just a wall and a city but also restoring the religion and culture of a people who had lost their way over many generations. ( Log Out /  Building the Wall. The book covers the period from the fall of Babylon in 539 BC to the second half of the 5th century BC, and tells of the successive missions to Jerusalem of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and their efforts to restore the worship of the God of Israel and to create a purified Jewish community. According to the IAA, the sealing instrument depicted “the image of a person sitting in a large chair with one or to two columns in front of him… The character is probably a king.”. what ancient artifact details the Persian King Cyrus II as victor over Babylon and the effects of this overturn being detailed in Ezra 1? When Zerubbabel arrived in Judah from Babylon, the walls of Jerusalem were breached and the land was filled with people hostile to the construction of the Temple. These two books cover three different waves of returning exiles, from 538 to 433 BC. Though these two seals provided evidence of Jerusalem’s role as a Persian administrative center, this is not the only archaeological evidence confirming the role Nehemiah and Ezra played in the rebuilding of the city. This Cyrus was apparently Cyrus II (Cyrus the Great) who ruled the Archaemenid Persian Empire from 539 to 530 BC. Ezra and Nehemiah are a single book in the Jewish canon. 4). They (the Persians) knocked down all the temples of the gods of Egypt, but no one did damage to this temple.”. The Jewish leaders on Elephantine had heard that Nehemiah and Ezra were rebuilding the city and temple, so they wrote asking for help rebuilding the temple on Elephantine. The Ezra-Nehemiah story is filled with ... gradual successes and witness to the difficult work of rebuilding. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! EZRA and NEHEMIAH Introduction: ... 1. Artaxerxes 1. This history occurred during the first half of the Persian Empire, which continued from 539 b.c., when Babylon was conquered by Cyrus, until, the death of Darius III in 331 b.c., when the empire fell and was succeeded by Alexander the Great. The Book of Nehemiah, in the Hebrew Bible, largely takes the form of a first-person memoir concerning the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws ().Since the 16th century it has generally been treated as a separate book within the Bible. Modern Scholars state that the compiling of Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles as no different that the compilation of what New Testament book? Ezra is one of two Old Testament books which contain substantial sections of text written in the Aramaic. In their letter to the sons of Sanballat, the Elephantines tried to show, like the group in Jerusalem, they also had Persian approval for what they were doing by explaining that the Persians never attacked their temple when dealing with the Egyptians on the island. Their father, Sanballat, had been governor of the area before Nehemiah’s arrival. Learn how your comment data is processed. Taking the order and chronology to be true, the return of Ezra and Nehemiah is in the reign of Artaxerxes II. Ezra and Nehemiah came from the Persian city of. You can received notifications daily or weekly. True . One of the dominant theological themes in Ezra-Nehemiah is … Rare artifacts discovered from the Persian period: Support Bible’s Ezra and Nehemiah, A seal and a seal impression discovered in the City of David bears witness to the restoration of the city in the period of Ezra and Nehemiah, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/65-fig-tree-and-the-temple.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/meekinheritanceworking-1.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/bringing-the-pain-in-prayer-1.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/whychristmasfellondec25.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/wjinterview.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/spiritual-warfare-1.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/kate-fisherinterview.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/podcast-5-what-really-sunk-peter-1.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/4-edited-you-are-not-a-mistakeaud.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/3authorityopentheword.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/pod2socialjustice-1.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/podcast-1-eye-for-an-eye-1.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/63-trumpprophecy-jeremiah_johnson.mp3, https://openthewordblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/62-does-one-verse-explain-dinosaurs.mp3. Roman Catholics long associated the two, calling the … Rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. The hostility, however, did not cease, and measures were taken to ensure the safety of the city (vi. This information was gathered from nearly 200 papyri found on Elephantine that included letters being sent to Jerusalem. In the book of Jeremiah, there is a reference to Jews fleeing to Egypt prior to the Babylonian assault on Jerusalem (Jeremiah 44:1). And battle he did — physical battle and political battle. ), he changed from writing in the third person to writing in the first person. After the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the Jewish Temple and hauled off tens of thousands of Jews into captivity, the Jews were allowed to return to Judah after the Persians conquered Babylon. The Babylonian empire fell, and the Persian empire gained control of Mesopotamia and most of the Middle East. A bit of Bible, A bit of Life, A bit of Politics. As such they provide instructive examples to us of how to be focused on God's purposes as they worked diligently, persistently, and patiently under difficult and distracting circumstances. The smaller clay impression depicted images of two people along with Persian script. 13:6). Ezra-Nehemiah describes events spanning from the decree of the Persian king Cyrus for the exiles to return to the land of Judah in 539/38 BC (Ezra 1:1) to sometime after the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes I (ca. We will discuss this point further when we come to Nehemiah, who actually undertook the work beyond the temple. Ezra’s vision was to restore the whole city of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:13), not just the temple. The Elephantine group received financial help and according to the papyri, the temple was still standing in 402 BC. We will be able to see many admirable qualities in these men. MESSAGE STATEMENT: 1 The re-establishment of the exiles as God’s people in jerusalem and judea gradually developed as they returned in waves under the leadership of Sheshbazzar, Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah, as God providentially made provision for them through the Persian rulers, as the Lord enabled them to rebuild Jerusalem, and as the people continually repented of their … Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, two Old Testament books that together with the books of Chronicles formed a single history of Israel from the time of Adam. Ezra was the son of Seraiah, and brother of Jeshua the high priest. According to the narrative recounted in both the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the return was substantial and vigorous, initially including 42,360 people (Ezra 2:64 and Nehemiah 7:66), with more following later. 16–vii. Some basic historical backdrop is … Ezra and Nehemiah were both builders, in the physical but also the spiritual sense. Resolving the Differences in the Return Lists (Ezra 2; Nehemiah 7:5-72) April 16-18 Ezra 2 lists those Jews enrolled in the return to the Promised Land under the Davidic prince Zerubbabel (apparently the Persian-appointed governor referred to in Ezra 1 as Sheshbazzar) and Jeshua or Joshua, the high priest (see Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 3:1). Ezra and Nehemiah: lt;p|>|Ezra–Nehemiah| is the combined biblical books of |Ezra| and |Nehemiah| - the two were orig... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. “Now our forefathers built this temple in the fortress of Elephantine back in the days of the Kingdom of Egypt, and who Cambyses came to Egypt he found it built. 433-24 BC, Neh. Further, Nehemiah's memoirs make no allusion to the alleged measures of Ezra; and, if Ezra really preceded Nehemiah, it is difficult to see why none of the reformers who came with him from Babylon should be mentioned as supporting Nehemiah. “Author - Date”: Ezra is most likely the author of both Ezra and Nehemiah, which might have originally been one book. Thus, Ezra was 85 years old at this time. Ezra was a priest, but Nehemiah was a man with great political influence and personal wealth. vi. READ: Rare artifacts discovered from the Persian period: Support Bible’s Ezra and Nehemiah AND A seal and a seal impression discovered in the City of David bears witness to the restoration of the city in the period of Ezra and Nehemiah, Elephantine Sources: Archaeology and Bible History by Dr. Joseph Free (Scripture Press: Wheaton, ILL) AND A History of Israel by John Bright (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, KY). Although Ezra never states his authorship, internal arguments favor him strongly. We have every reason to believe that Nehemiah held that enviable position because of his sterling, trustworthy character. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The author may have called him "the Persian" to distinguish him from Darius the Mede. Reforms instituted by Ezra and Nehemiah addressed all of the following EXCEPT. The letter to the sons suggested that Sanballat was either dead or very old. demands the divorce of the wives (Ezra … Ezra 4:8 – 6:18 and 7:12-26 are written in Aramaic. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. One of the dominant theological themes in Ezra-Nehemiah is covenant renewal in the postexilic community. Aid quelling the attack tackled the formidable tasks of rebuilding their destroyed city, reconstructing the temple informed the group... 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What New Testament book New posts by email reign began, ( cf some believe Elephantine... The two Old Testament books containing large amounts of what the seeds of pharisaism spiritual sense period which...