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EZRA AND NEHEMIAH, BOOKS OF
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See also:EZRA AND See also:NEHEMIAH, BOOKS OF , in the Old Testament. The .two canonical books entitled Ezra and Nehemiah in the See also:English Bibie1 correspond to the I and 2 Esdras of the See also:Vulgate, to the 2 Esdras of the See also:Septuagint, and to the Ezra and Nehemiah of the Massoretic (See also:Hebrew) See also:text. Though for many centuries they have thus been treated as See also:separate compositions, we have abundant See also:evidence that they were anciently regarded as forming but one See also:book, and a careful examination proves that together with the book of See also:Chronicles they constitute one single See also:work. The two books may therefore be conveniently treated together.
1. Position and Date: —Origen (Euseb, H.E. vi. 25), expressly enumerating the twenty-two books of the old See also:covenant as acknowledged by the See also:Jews and accepted by the See also:Christian See also: That the Jews themselves recognized no real separation is shown by the fact that no Massoretic notes are found after Ezra x., but at the end of Nehemiah the contents of _both are reckoned together, and it is stated that Neh. iii. 22 is the See also:middle See also:verse of the book. Their position in the Hebrew See also:Bible before the book of Chronicles is, however, illogical. The See also:introductory verses of Ezra i. are identical with the conclusion of 2 Chron. See also:xxxvi., whilst in the version of r Esdras no less than two chapters (2 Chron. See also:xxxv. sq.) overlap. The cause of the separation is probably to be found in the See also:late reception of Chronicles into the Jewish See also:canon. Further See also:proof of the unity of the three is to be found in the See also:general similarity of See also:style and treatment. The same linguistic criteria recur, and the See also:interest in lists and genealogies, in priests and See also:Levites, and in the See also:temple service point unmistakably to the presence of the same See also:hand (the so-called " chronicler ") •in Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah. See BIBLE (See also:sect. Canon); CHRONICLES. The See also:period of See also:history covered by the books of Ezra and Nehemiah extends from the return of the exiles under Zerubbabel in 537-536 B.C. to Nehemiah's second visit to See also:Jerusalem in 432 B.C. In their See also:present See also:form, however, the books are considerably later, and allusions to Nehemiah in the past (Neh. xii. 26, 47), to the days of Jaddua (the See also:grandson of Nehemiah's contemporary Joiada; ib. xii. II), to See also:Darius (Nothus 423 B.C. or rather Codomannus 336 B.C., ib. v. 22), and the use of the See also:term " See also: -x.). Ezra, a' See also:scribe of repute, well versed in the See also:laws of See also:Moses, returns with a See also:band of exiles in See also:order to reorganize the religious community. A few months after his arrival (seventh year of See also:Artaxerxes, 458 B.C.) he instituted a great religious reform, viz. the See also:prohibition of inter-See also:marriage with the See also:heathen of the See also:land (cf. already vi. 21). In spite of some opposition (x. 15 obscurely worded) the reform was accepted, and the foundations of a new community were laid. (c) Twelve years elapse before the return of Nehemiah, whose description of his work is one of the most interesting pieces of Old Testament narrative (Neh. i.-vi.). In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (445 B.C.), Nehemiah the royal See also:cup-See also:bearer at Shushan (See also:Susa, the royal See also:winter See also:palace) was visited by See also:friends from Judah and was overcome with grief at the tidings of the miserable See also:condition of Jerusalem and the pitiful See also:state of the Judaean remnant which had escaped the captivity. He obtained permission to return, and on reaching the See also:city made a See also:secret survey of the ruins and called upon the nobles and rulers to assist in repairing them. Much opposition was caused by Sanballat the Horonite (i.e. of the Moabite Horonaim or Beth-See also:boron, about 15 m. N.W. of Jerusalem), Tobiah the Ammonite, Geshem (or Gashmu) the Arabian, and the Ashdodites, whose virulence increased as the rebuilding of the walls continued. But notwithstanding attempts upon the city and upon the See also:life of Nehemiah, and in spite of intrigues among certain members of the Judaean See also:section, in fifty-two days the city walls were See also:complete (Neh. vi. 15). The hostility, however, did not cease, and See also:measures were taken to ensure the safety of the city (vi. 16-vii. 4). A valuable account is given of Nehemiah's economical reforms, illustrating the See also:internal social conditions of the period and the general See also:character of the former See also:governors who had been placed in See also:charge tv., cf. the laws codified in Lev. See also:xxv. 35 sqq.). (d) The remaining chapters carry on the See also:story of the labours of both Ezra and Nehemiah. The list of those who returned under the decree of Cyrus is repeated (Neh. vii.), and leads up to the See also:reading of the See also:Law by Ezra, a great See also:national See also:confession of See also:guilt, and a See also:solemn undertaking to observe the new covenant, the provisions of which are detailed (x. 28-39). After sundry lists of the families dwelling in Jerusalem and its neighbourhood (xi. 1 sqq., apparently a sequel to vii. I-4),2 and of various priests and Levites, an account is given of the See also:dedication of the walls (xii. 27-43), the arrangements for the Levitical organization (vv. 44-47), and a fresh separation from the heathen (Moabites and See also:Ammonites, xiii. 1-3; cf. Deut. See also:xxiii. 3 seq.). The book concludes with another See also:extract from Nehemiah's See also:memoirs dealing with the events of a second visit, twelve years later (xiii. 4-31). On this occasion he vindicated the sanctity of the temple by expelling Tobiah, reorganized the supplies for the Levites, took measures to uphold the observance of the See also:Sabbath, and See also:pro-tested energetically against the See also:foreign marriages. In the course of his reforms he thrust out a son of Joiada (son of Eliashib, the high-See also:priest), who had married the daughter of Sanballat, an incident which had an important result (see See also:SAMARITANS). That these books are the result of compilation (like the book of Chronicles itself) is evident from the many abrupt changes; the inclusion of certain documents written in an Aramaic See also:dialect (Ezr. iv. 8-vi. r8, vii. 12-26)3; the character of the name-lists; the lengthy gaps in the history; the use made of two distinct See also:sources, attributed to Ezra and Nehemiah respectively, and from the varying form in which the narratives are See also:cast. The 2 With Neh. xi. 4-19 cf. I Chron. ix. 3-17; with the list xii. i-7 cf. Vv. 12-21 and x 3-9; and with xii. to sq. cf. i Chron. vi. 3-15 (to which it forms the sequel). See further Smend, Listen d. Esra u. Neh. (1881). ' Sometimes wrongly styled See also:Chaldee (q.v.) ; see SEMITIC See also:LANGUAGES. chronicler's hand can usually be readily recognized. There are relatively few traces of it in Nehemiah's memoirs and in the Aramaic documents, but elsewhere the sources are largely coloured, if not written from the standpoint of his age. Examples of artificial arrangement appear notably in Ezr. compared with Neb. vii. 6-viii. 1 (first clause); in the present position of Ezr. iv. 6-23; and in the dislocation of certain portions of the two memoirs in Neh. viii.-xiii. (see below). It should be noticed that the present order of the narratives involves the theory that some See also:catastrophe ensued after Ezr. x. and before Neh. i.; that the walls had been destroyed and the See also:gates burnt down; that some See also:external opposition (with which, however, Ezra did not have to contend) had been successful; that the See also:main See also:object of Ezra's mission was delayed far twelve years, and, finally, that only through Nehemiah's See also:energy was the work of social and religious reorganization successful. These topics raise serious See also:historical problems (see JEws: History, § 21). 3. See also:Criticism of Ezra i.-vi.—The chronicler's account of the destruction of Jerusalem, the seventy years' interval (2 Chron. xxxvi. 20 sq.; cf. Jer.'xxv. 11, See also:xxix. ro, also Is. xxiii. 17), and the return of 42,360 of the exiles (Ezr. ii. 64 sqq.) represent a See also:special view of the history of the period. The totals, as also the detailed figures, in Ezr., Neh. and 1 Esdr. v. vary considerably; the number is extremely large (contrast Jer. lii. 30); it includes the See also:common See also:people (contrast 2 See also:Kings See also:xxiv. 14, XXV. 12), and ignores the fact that Judah was not depopulated, that the Jews were carried off to other places besides See also:Babylon and that many remained behind in Babylon. According to this view, Judah and Jerusalem were practically deserted until the return. The list in Ezr. ii. is that of families which returned " every See also:man unto his city " under twelve leaders (including Nehemiah, See also:Azariah [cf. Ezra], Zcrubbabel and Jeshua); it recurs with many See also:variations in a different and apparently more See also:original context in Neh. vii., and in i Esdr. v. is ascribed to the See also:time of Darius. The families (to See also:judge from the northwards See also:extension of Judaean territory) are probably those .of the See also:population in the later See also:Persian period, hardly those who returned to the precise homes of their ancestors (see C. F. See also:Kent, See also:Israel's Hist. and Biogr. Narratives, p. 379). The offerings which are for the temple-service in Neh. vii. 70-72 (cf. 1 Chron. xxix. 6-8) are for the building of the temple in Ezr. ii. 68-7o; and since the walls are not yet built, the topographical details in Neh. viii. r (see 1 Esdr. V. 47) are adjusted, and the event of the seventh See also:month is not the reading of the Law amid the laments of the people (Neh. viii.; see vv. 9-11) but the erection of the altar by Jeshua and Zerubbabel under inauspicious circumstances (cf. Ezr. iii. 3 with 1 Esdr. v. 50). The chronologically misplaced account of the successful opposition in the time of See also:Ahasuerus (i.e. See also:Xerxes) and Artaxerxes (the son and grandson of Darius respectively) breaks the account of the temple under Cyrus and Darius, and is concerned with the city walls (iv. 6-23)'; there is some obscurity in vv. 7-9: Rehum and Shimshai evidently take the See also:lead, TabeeI may be an Aramaized See also:equivalent of Tobiah. A See also:recent return is implied (iv. 1.4 and the See also:record hints that a new decree may be made (v. 21). The account of the unsuccessful opposition to the temple in the time of Darius (v. sq.; for another account see Jos. See also:Ant. xi. 4, 9) is See also:independent of iv. 7-23, and throws another See also:light upon the decree of Cyrus (vi. 3-5, contrast i. 2-4). It implies that Sheshbazzar, who had been sent with the temple vessels in the time of Cyrus, had laid the foundations and that the work had continued without cessation (v. 16, contrast iv. 5, 24). The beginning of the reply of Darius is wanting (vi. 6 sqq.), and the decree which had been sought in Babylon is found at See also:Ecbatana. See also:Chap. vi. 15 ' Its real position in the history of this period is not certain. Against the supposition that the names refer to See also:Cambyses and Pseudo-See also:Smerdis who reigned after Cyrus and before Darius, see H. E. See also:Ryle, Camb. Bible, " Ezra and Neh.," p. 65 sq. Against the view that Darius is D. ii. Nothus of 423-404 B.C., see G. A. See also: See also:Torrey, Amer. Journ. of Sem. See also:Lang. (1907), p. 178, n. 1.sqq. follow more naturally upon v. 1-2, but v. 14 with its difficult reference to Artaxerxes now seems to presuppose the decree in iv. 21 and looks forward to the time of Ezra or Nehemiah. As regards this section (Ezr. i.-vi.) as a whole, there is little doubt that i. 5, Vi. 15.22 are from the chronicler, whose See also:free treatment of his material is seen in the use he has made of ch. ii. Notwithstanding the unimpeachable evidence for the tolerant attitude of Persian kings and governors towards the See also:religion of subject races, it is probable that the various decrees incorporated in the book (cf. also 1 Esdr. iv. 42 sqq.) have been reshaped from a Jewish standpoint. A noteworthy example appears in the account of the unique See also:powers entrusted to Ezra (vii. 11-26), the introduction to whose memoirs, at all events, is quite in the style of the chronicler. 4. Memoirs of Nehemiah and Ezra. The memoirs of Ezra and Nehemiah do not appear to have been incorporated without some See also:adjustment. The See also:lapse of time between Neh. i. 1 and ii. 1 is noteworthy, and with the See also:prayer in i. 5-11 cf. Ezr. ix. 6-15, See also:Dan. ix. 4 sqq. (also See also:parallels 'in See also:Deuteronomy); chap. i. in its present form may be a' compiler's introduction. The important topographical list in ch. iii. is probably from another source; the stye is different, Nehemiah is absent, and the high-priest is unusually prominent.2 Chap. v., where Nehemiah reviews his past conduct as See also:governor, turns aside to economic reforms and scarcely falls .within the fifty-two days of the building of the walls. The See also:chapter is closely associated with the contents of xiii. and breaks the account of the opposition. Anticipated already in ii. 1o, the hostility partly arises from the repudiation of Samaritan religious claims (ii. 20; cf. Ezr. iv. 3) and is partly See also:political. It is difficult to follow its progrees clearly, and the account ceases abruptly in vi. 17-19 with the See also:notice of the See also:conspiracy of Tobiah and the nobles of Judah. The chronicler's style can be recognized in vii. 1-5 (in its present form), where steps are taken to protect and to people Jerusalem; the older sequel is now found in ch. xi. Whilst the account of the dedication of the walls is marked by the use of the pronoun " I " (xii. 31, 38, 4o), it is probably now due as a whole to the chronicler, and when the more trustworthy memoirs of Nehemiah are resumed (xiii. 4 sqq.) the episodes, although placed twelve years later (ver. 6), are intimately connected with the preceding reforms (cf. xii. 44-xiii. 3 with xiii. 10 sqq., 23 sqq.) .3 Nehemiah's attitude towards intermarriage is markedly moderate in contrast to the drastic measures of Ezra, whose mission and work the simpler and perhaps earlier narratives of Nehemiah originally ignored, and the relation between the two is complicated further by the See also:literary character of the memoir of Ezra. To the last mentioned are prefixed (a) the scribe's See also:genealogy, which traces him back to See also:Aaron and names as his immediate ancestor, Seraiah, who had been slain 130 years previously (Ezr. vii. 1-5), and (b) an independent account of the return (vv. 6-so) with a reference to Ezra's renown, obviously not from the hand of Ezra himself. Whatever the original prelude to Ezra's thanksgiving may have been (vii. 27 seq.), we now have the essentially Jewish account of the See also:letter of Artaxerxes with its unusual concessions.' The list of those who returned amounts to the moderate See also:total of 1496 See also:males (viii., but 1690 in 1 Esdr. viii. 3o sqq.). Ezra's mission was obviously concerned with the Law and Temple service (vii. 6, ro, 14 sqq., 25; viii. 17, 24-30, 33 sq.), but four months elapse between his return in the fifth month (vii. 9) and the preparations for the marriage reforms in the ninth (x. 9), and there is a delay of twelve years before the Law is read (Neh. viii.). The Septuagint version (r Esdr. ix.; cf. josephus, Antiq. xi. 5. 5 and some See also:modern scholars) would See also:place 2 See further H. G. See also:Mitchell, Journ. of Bibl. Lit. (1903), pp. 88 sqq. 3 The See also:chronological difficulties will be seen from xiii. 6 (" before this "), which would imply that the dedication of the walls was on the occasion of Nehemiah's later visit (see G. A. Smith, Expositor, See also:July 1906, p. 12). His previous departure is perhaps foreshadowed in vii. 2. ' See Ency. Bib. See also:col. 1480. Papyri from a Jewish See also:colony in Elephantine (407 m.c.) clearly show the form which royal permits could take, and what the Jews were prepared to give in return; the points of resemblance are extremely interesting, but compared with the biblical documents the papyri reveal some striking See also:differences. the latter after Ezr. x., but more probably this event (dated in the seventh month) should precede the great undertaking in Ezr. ix.' That the adjustment was attended with considerable revision of the passages appears from a careful comparison of Neh. viii. sq. with Ezr. ix. sq. With Ezra's confession (ix. 6 sqq.) ' compare the prayer in Neh. ix. 5 sqq., which the Septuagint ascribes to him. In Ezr. x. (written in the third See also:person) the number of those that had intermarried with the heathen is relatively small considering the general trend of the preliminaries, and the list bears a marked resemblance to that in ch. ii. It ends abruptly and obscurely (x. 44; cf. 1 Esdr. ix. 35), and whilst as a whole the memoirs of Ezra point to ideas later than those of Nehemiah, the present See also:close literary connexion between them is seen in the isolated reference to Johanan the son of Eliashib in Ezra x. 6, which seems to be connected with Neh. xiii. 7, and (after W. R. Smith) in the suitability of ib. xiii. I, 2 between Ezr. x. 9 and 1o. The list of signatories in Neh. x. 1-27 should be compared with the names in xii. and z Chron. xxiv.; the true connexion of ix. 38 is very obscure, and the relation to Ezr. ix. seq. is complicated by the reference to the separation from the heathen in Neh. ix. 2. The description of the covenant (Neh. x. 28 sqq., marked by the use of " we ") is closely connected with xii. 43–xiii. 3 (from the same or an allied source), and anticipates the parallel though somewhat preliminary measures detailed in the more genuine memoirs (Neh. xiii. 4 sqq.)._ Finally, the specific allusion in xiii. 1-3 to See also:Ammon and See also:Moab is possibly intended as an introduction to the references to Tobiah and Sanballat respectively (vv. 4 seq., 28). 5. See also:Summary.—The literary and historical criticism of Ezra-Nehemiah is closely See also:bound up with that of Chronicles, whose characteristic features it shares. Although the three formed a unit at one See also:stage it may seem doubtful whether two so closely related chapters as z Chron. ix. and Neh. xi. would have appeared in one single work, while the repetition of Neh. vii. 6–viii. I in Ezr. is less unnatural if they had originally appeared in distinct sources. Thus other hands apart from the compiler of Chronicles may have helped to shape the narratives, either before their See also:union with that book or after their separation .2 The present intricacy is also due partly to specific historical theories regarding the See also:post-exilic period. Here the recension in r Esdras especially merits See also:attention for its text, literary structure and for its variant traditions.3 Its account of a return in the time of Darius scarcely arose after Ezr. i.–iii. (Cyrus); the See also:reverse seems more probable, and the possibility of some confusion or of an intentional adjustment to the earlier date is emphasized by the relation between the popular feeling in Ezr. 12 (Cyrus) and See also:Hag. ii. 3 (Darius), and between the grant by Cyrus in iii. 7 (it is not certain that he held See also:Phoenicia) and the permit of Darius in I Esdr. iv. 47-57 (see v. 48). To the latter context belongs the list of names which reappears in Ezr. ii. (Cyrus). But from the independent testimony of Haggai and Zechariah it is doubtful whether the chronicler's account of the return under Cyrus is at all trustworthy. The list in z Esdr. v., Ezr. ii., as already observed, appears to be in its more, original context in Neh. vii., i.e. in the time of Artaxerxes, and it is questionable whether the earliest of the surviving detailed traditions in Ezra–Nehemiah went back before this reign. It is precisely at this age that there is evidence for a return, apparently other than that of Ezra or Nehemiah (see Ezr. iv. 12), yet no account seems to be preserved unless the records were used for the history of earlier periods (cf. generally Ezr. iii. 12 sq. with Neh.. 'C. C. Torrey, Comp. and Hist. Value of Ezra-Neh. (Beihefte of Zeit. f. alttest. Wissens., 1896), pp. 30-34; C. F. Kent, Israel's Hist. and Biog. Narratives, pp. 32, 369. Since Neh. vii. 70-73 is closely joined to viii., the suggested transposition would place its account of the contributions to the temple in, a more appropriate context (cf. Ezr. viii. 24-30, 33 sq.).
2 For linguistic evidence reference should be made to J. See also:Geissler, See also:Die litterarischen Beziehungen d. Esramemoiren (See also:Chemnitz, 1899).
3 See especially See also:Sir See also: Torrey, Ezra Studies (See also:Chicago, 1910). For the text, see A. Klostermann, Real-Ency. f. Prot. Theol. v. 501 sqq.; H. Guthe in See also:Haupt's Sacred Books of Old Testament (1899) ; and S. .A. Conk in R. H. See also: 7 with the special favour enlisted on behalf of the Jews in vi. 7 sq., 13, vii. 21; Neh. ii. 7 sq.). But the account of the events in the reign of Artaxerxes is extremely perplexing. Since the building of the walls of Jerusalem must have begun See also:early in the fifth month (Neh. vi. 15), an See also:allowance of three days (ii. II) makes the date of Nehemiah's arrival practically the anniversary of Ezra's return (Ezr. vii. 9, viii. 32). Considering the close connexion between the work of the two men this can hardly be accidental. The compiler, however, clearly intends Neh. vi. 15 (25th of sixth month) to be the prelude to the events in Neh. vii. 73, viii. (seventh month), but the true sequence of Neh. vi. sqq. is uncertain, and the possibility of artificiality is suggested by the unembellished statement of Josephus that the building of the walls occupied, not fifty-two days, but two years four months (Ant. xi. 5. 8). The present chronological order of Nehemiah's work is confused (cf. § 4, n. 3), and the obscure interval of twelve years in his work corresponds very closely to that which now separates the records of Ezra's labours. However, both the recovery of the compilers' aims and attempted reconstructions are precluded from finality by the scantiness of independent historical evidence. (See further JEws: History, §21 seq.) biblical evidence as a whole. (S. A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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