WHO WROTE:  Ezra.  The first six Chapters refer to the time before Ezra came into prominence, in which he is not mentioned.  In Ezra, Chapter 7, he continues in historic style down to Artaxerxes’ decree, in naming himself for the first time.  However, he still identifies himself in the third person.  But after that decree, Ezra writes his Book in Hebrew (the Book being written in Hebrew except for Ezra 4:8 to Ezra 6:19, where it is written in Chaldee).

 

 

WHAT TIME PERIOD IS COVERED:  Between Ezra, Chapters 6 and 7, we have the 31 closing years of Darius, the entire 21 years of Xerxes, and the seven first years of Artaxerxes, equaling about 60 years in all.  Thus, since Chapters 1-5 equal about 20 years, then the overall time period of the Book is most likely about 80 years.  What does make for interesting conversation is that in Ezra 5:8, Ezra calls the land of Judah, “Judea,” which is its Greek name; of which the Greeks were not a dominant power yet.  Reconstruction of the temple, which was finished and dedicated in about B.C. 515 B.C., was more than 50 years before Ezra’s arrival.  And about 60 years later the celebration of the Dedication of the completion of Jerusalem’s wall.

 

 

WHEN WRITTEN:  B.C. 480?

 

 

INTRODUCTION:  Ezra is accounted by the Jewish Rabbis as a second Moses.  Both the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah should be studied together.  The reason Ezra most likely was chosen by God to lead His people can be found in Ezra 7:10:  “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”

 

The name “Ezra” is either of Aramaic or Chaldean origin, and is a “hypocoristicon,” which is a shortened form of Azariah, Azariah meaning, “Yahweh has helped.”  Thus, the shortened form “Ezra,” means, “help.”  The Hebrew spelling of the name is found in First Chronicles 4:17, unless that is the Aramaic spelling of the name as is also the case in Ezra 7:1.

 

Portions of the Book of Ezra are written in Aramaic (Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-16).  The possible reason is that these portions of the Hebrew were lost.  Or, the better reasoning is that the original letters contained in It were in Aramaic. Therefore, in order to have the Aramaic parts of I be in Hebrew one would have to translate them into Hebrew.  It must also be understood that the majority of the Jews, at that time, spoke Aramaic.

 

Because the close of the Books of Chronicles record the proclamation of Cyrus, permitting the Jews to return to their own land, it only makes sense that this forms the opening passage for the Book of Ezra.  Therefore, we should consider that this Book must be viewed as a continuation of the Chronicles (see Ezra 1:1 & 2Ch. 36:22-23).  And according to Jeremiah 29:10 (see also Jer. 25:11-12), the captivity of the Jews would come to an end after 70 years.

 

The Jews regard the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah to be only one volume.  In an interesting side note, there 9 Old Testament Books that are not directly quoted from in the New Testament, this Book being one of them (the others are:  Judges; Ruth; Esther; Ecclesiastes; Song Of Solomon; Lamentations; Obadiah; Zephaniah).

 

Cyrus was a Zoroastrian, a worshipper of “Ormuzd,” the great God.  He later identified Ormuzd with, “the Lord God of Heaven,” Ezra 1:2, as being the Jehovah of the Jews.  This religion hated idolatry and the shameless licentiousness of the Babylonian worship.  As such, Cyrus was thus disposed to patronize the Jews, whose religion so much resembled his own.  His edicts for restoring the Jews, though an act unparalleled in history, harmonize with the facts concerning him in the Bible and in secular history (Ezra 1:2-4; 6:3-5).

 

Ezra uses a variation form of the third person his Book, and moves to the first person only in Ezra 7:27-9:15.  Ezra uses the first person in praising “the Lord God of our fathers,” Ezra 7:27, for having disposed the king’s heart to beautify the Lord’s house, and for having “extended mercy unto me before the king,” Ezra 7:28.  He continues the first person up until Ezra, Chapter 10, where the third person is resumed, most likely to mark the narrative as a national, and not merely a personal history.

 

In another interesting note, Ezra, Chapter 2, is identical with Nehemiah 7:6-73.

 

Three decrees dealing with the repatriation of the Jews are recorded in the Book of Ezra.  The first in the first year of Cyrus, about B.C. 537 or 538 (Ezra 1:1-4, see also Isa. 44:28 and 2Ch. 36:22-23).  The second in the reign of Darius I (Darius Hystaspes) in B.C. 520 (Ezra 6:1-12).  In their decrees neither Cyrus nor Darius I made any genuine provision for the restoration of the civil state as a complete unit and only a restoration of both the religious and the civil government was promised in the prophecy of Daniel (“restore and to build,” Dan. 9:25).  The third decree of the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus [B.C. 457; PK:607, 698] was the first to give the Jewish state full autonomy, subject to Persian over-lordship (Ezra 7:1-26, verses 6-14 being specific to this subject).

 

A helpful time-table to set up the chronology of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah would be the Persian kings, in which Cyrus concurred Babylon in B.C. 539:

 

Cyrus II “the Great” (559–530 B.C.);

Cambyses II (530–522 B.C.);

Darius I (522–486 B.C.);

Xerxes I (485–465 B.C.) (Also known from the Book of Esther as Ahasuerus.);

Artaxerxes I (465-424 B.C.).

 

It is very important to know that the appearance of these kings is not mentioned in the Book of Ezra in chronological order however.  For example, Ezra 4:6-24 is inserted before Chapter 5, which continues the story of the opposition to the building of the temple.  Consequently, the letters involving Xerxes I (Ahasuerus) and Artaxerxes I, as described in Ezra, Chapter 4, occurred after the events recorded in Chapters 5 and 6, which are dealing with Darius I.

 

One of the reasons why the Israelites were able to take back most of the articles taken from the Temple in Jerusalem was because the Persians realized that the Jews did not worship them as idols like the Persians do/would.

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