Ezra

[Kris]

Can anyone help me understand the timeline in Ezra? In Ezra 7--- he is authorized to return to Jerusalem in order to make sure the temple is run correctly,etc. I don't see where he is instructed to rebuild the city or even the temple--which appears to have been completed by 516bc or so. However, some sites I have read about Ezra try to say that the events in Ezra 4 where people are upset about the temple in Jerusalem and the people in the city want the building stopped, etc. Didnt this happen before Ezra hit the scene? And later in Ezra, he talks about walls being around the city-- or at least that is what it looks like to me. In Nehemiah, it almost appears that Ezra came after Nehemiah, because in chapter 8 (i think!)
Ezra reads the law to all of the people--- but supposedly Nehemiah came 13 years after Ezra? Why would Ezra wait that long to provide this instruction? And the text makes it seem like the first time the people had heard it--recently anyway-- so it is very confusing. Anyone know anything about this? Spin, you probably do because you mentioned something along these lines in a similar post.

[DCHindley]

Kris,

Believe it or not, figuring out what is happening in the books we now call Ezra-Nehemiah is even more complicated than discovering sources in the book of Daniel. They survive in Hebrew as the books of Ezra & Nehemiah, which Jews often considered a single book. There were Greek translations of both Ezra and Nehemiah, but another Greek book went by the name of Esdras which had passages from parts of Ezra & Nehemiah, rearranged differently, plus a bit of 2 Chronicles added for flavor. This Greek translation, when compared to the Hebrew, is even better translation Greek than that of Greek Ezra & Greek Nehemiah in the Christian OT.

Since some of the "recombined" elements make better sense in Esdras, it is open to postulate that the Greek Esdras and Hebrew Ezra & Nehemiah drew from the same set of sources that predate the versions we have today, but combined in different ways.

If the chronological markers can be trusted, the list of possible dates for the attempts by the royal prince Sheshbazzar, prince Zerubabbel and the HP Joshua, Nehemiah's governorship (he was not a royal prince), and the supposed ministry of Ezra, are as follows:

A) Return under Sheshbazzar, prince of Judah:

1) Departure from Babylon and arrival in Yahud as Governor (Ezra 1:1-10 & 5:14).

Sometime in 1st year of Cyrus (538/537 BC). Exact dates not recorded.

2) Started rebuilding the temple. Foundation set (Ezra 1:3 & 5:14-16).

Sometime in 1st year of Cyrus (538/537 BC). Exact date not recorded.

B) Return under leadership of prince Zerubbabel and high priest Joshua:

1) Departure from Babylon and arrival in Yahud (Ezra 3:2 & Hag 2:1-4).

Sometime in 2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). Exact dates not recorded.

2) The prophet Haggai exhorts Zerubbabel to resume rebuilding the temple (Hag 1:1f & Ezra 5:1-2).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 1st day of the 6th month = Aug 29, 520 BC.

3) Rebuilding of Temple, started by Sheshbazzar but not completed, resumes (Hag 1:15).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 24th day of the 6th month = Sep 21, 520 BC.

4) Alter erected and sacrifices made (Ezra 3:1-7).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 1st of the 7th month = Sep 27, 520 BC.

5) Feast of booths observed (Ezra 3:4).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 15th-21st of the 7th month = Oct 11-17, 520 BC.

6) Zechariah's address was given (Zech 1:1 & Ezra 5:1-2).

2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BC). 8th month = Oct/Nov, 520 BC.

7) Foundation of the temple laid, and official temple heirarchy re-established (Ezra 3:8-13).

2nd year from arrival, i.e., 3rd year of Darius I (519/518 BC). 2nd month = Apr/May 519 BC.

8) The temple was completed (Ezra 6:15).

6th year of Darius I (516/515 BC). 3rd of Adar (12th month) = Mar 12, 515 BC.

For the returns under Nehemiah and Ezra, there are a couple of alternatives. The usual academic reconstruction puts Nehemiah's 2 returns under Artaxerxes I and Ezra's under Artaxerxes II. The alternative favored by evangelicals also puts Ezra's return under Artaxerxes I. Artaxerxes III did not rule long enough to be a possibility for Nehemiah, but is a candidate for Ezra. A ban on building of the city wall was in effect during the reign of “Artaxerxes” (Ezra 4:7-24a) but who made the attempt to build them that caused the ban is not stated. If Nehemiah was recalled for his wall building activity, then how did he maintain his governorship for 12 years? Ezra 4:21 suggests that it happened before Nehemiah’s governorship, as a decree from Artaxerxes is required to allow rebuilding. Nehemiah’s return was a result of such a decree. Nehemiah then completed the construction as fast as possible to prevent it from being ordered stopped again.

C) Return under Nehemiah:

1) Arrives as Governor of Yahud (Neh 2:1-11).

20th year of Artaxerxes I (445/444 BC). Nisan (1st Month) = Apr/May or Oct/Nov 445 BC.
20th year of Artaxerxes II (385/384 BC). 1st Month = Apr/May or Oct/Nov 385 BC.

2) Completion of city wall in 52 days (Neh 6:15).

20th year of Artaxerxes I (445/444 BC). 25th of Elul (6th month) = Aug 16 to Oct 7, 445 BC.
20th year of Artaxerxes II (385/384 BC). 25th of Elul (6th month) = Sep 30, 385 BC.

3) Nehemiah's recall to Babylon (Neh 13:6).

32nd year of Artaxerxes I (433/432 BC).
32nd year of Artaxerxes II (373/372 BC).

4) 2nd return of Nehemiah and possible limits for that governorship (Neh 13:6-7).

Sometime between 33rd and final year of Artaxerxes I (spring 432 to winter 423 BC).
Sometime between 33rd and final year of Artaxerxes II (spring 372 to winter 358 BC).

D) Return under Ezra:

1) Departure from Babylon for Jerusalem (Ezra 7:1-10)

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 1st of 1st month = Apr 8, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 1st of 1st month = Apr 5, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 1st of 1st month = Apr 6, 352 BC.

2) Resumes journey for Jerusalem (Ezra 8:31-32) after stopping at river Ahava to pick up Levites (Ezra 8:15-20).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 12th of the 1st month = Apr 19. 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 12th of the 1st month = Apr 16, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 12th of the 1st month = Apr 17, 352 BC.

3) Arrives at Jerusalem (Ezra 7:8-9).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 1st of 5th month = Aug 4, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 1st of 5th month = Jul 31, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 1st of 5th month = Aug 2, 352 BC.

4) Public reading of Law (Neh 8:1-12).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 1st day of 7th month = Oct 2, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 1st day of 7th month = Sep 28, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 1st day of 7th month = Sep 30, 352 BC.

5) Celebrates the feast of Booths (The decision was made to celebrate the festival on the 2nd day of the 7th month = Oct 3, 458 BC or Sep 29, 398 BC. Neh 8:13-18. Note that this seems to be paralleled by The dates below are the traditional dates for this feast).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 15th - 21st day of 7th month = Oct 17-23, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 15th - 21st day of 7th month = Oct 12-18, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 15th - 21st day of 7th month = Oct 14-20, 352 BC.

6) Ezra's speech exhorting Jews to separate from foreigners (Neh 9:1-37).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 24th day of 7th month = Oct 26, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 24th day of 7th month = Oct 21, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 24th day of 7th month = Oct 23, 352 BC.

7) Ezra decrees that all Jews of Yahud divorce their foreign wives (Ezra 10:9).

7th year of Artaxerxes I (458/457). 20th of 9th month = Dec 19, 458 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes II (398/397). 20th of 9th month = Dec 16, 398 BC.
7th year of Artaxerxes III (352/351). 20th of 9th month = Dec 16, 352 BC.

There is something fishy about "Ezra." His genealogy is the same as the HP Jehozedak (the father of the HP Jesus who worked in tandem with Zerubbabel) in 1 Chron 6:3-15 and the account (Neh 8:13-18) says he celebrated it for the "first time" since the exile started in the 7th year of Artaxerxes (there were three, the earliest possible date being 458/457 BCE), even though Ezra 3:4 says Zerubbabel and high priest Joshua had already celebrated it "for the first time" in the 2nd year of Darius I (520/519 BCE). I think the Ezra tradition was a legendary reworking of the account of Zerubbabel and high priest Joshua, but with moralizations to justify the ethnic purification that seems to have occurred between the Maccabean revolt and the establishment of the Hasmonean dynasty, in which foreign wives were required by popular piety or official policy to be "put away" (= sent packing back to daddy). Sort of like the Revolutionary Guards in Iran forcing everyone to adhere to strict Islamic law, whether they wanted to or not.

DCH

Can anyone help me understand the timeline in Ezra? In Ezra 7--- he is authorized to return to Jerusalem in order to make sure the temple is run correctly,etc. I don't see where he is instructed to rebuild the city or even the temple--which appears to have been completed by 516bc or so. However, some sites I have read about Ezra try to say that the events in Ezra 4 where people are upset about the temple in Jerusalem and the people in the city want the building stopped, etc. Didnt this happen before Ezra hit the scene? And later in Ezra, he talks about walls being around the city-- or at least that is what it looks like to me. In Nehemiah, it almost appears that Ezra came after Nehemiah, because in chapter 8 (i think!)

Ezra reads the law to all of the people--- but supposedly Nehemiah came 13 years after Ezra? Why would Ezra wait that long to provide this instruction? And the text makes it seem like the first time the people had heard it--recently anyway-- so it is very confusing. Anyone know anything about this? Spin, you probably do because you mentioned something along these lines in a similar post.

[Kris]

Thanks DCH,

You provided a lot of interesting information in a really nice way! I had been trying to read about all of this and it was really confusing! One site I saw tried to say that Ezra was trying to build walls-- do you think this is the case? I couldn't find anything specific in the scriptures-- but if course they want to tie Ezra to building the city--- so they can tie him to the 70 weeks of Daniel.

[DCHindley]

Thanks DCH,

You provided a lot of interesting information in a really nice way! I had been trying to read about all of this and it was really confusing! One site I saw tried to say that Ezra was trying to build walls-- do you think this is the case? I couldn't find anything specific in the scriptures-- but if course they want to tie Ezra to building the city--- so they can tie him to the 70 weeks of Daniel.

The Table I included says no, he did not. That was something Nehemiah is portrayed as having done. But the text of Hebrew Ezra-Nehemiah is so jumbled up, with the accounts of Ezra's travels and a summary of his mandate not to marry foreign wives is in the Book of Ezra, but his reading of the law and his celebration of Booths and subsequent urging to put away foreign wives is in the Book of Nehemiah, which otherwise is Nehemiah's account of his two stints as Governor.

Nehemiah's story occurs in the 20th and 32nd year of a king Artaxerxes, and I've reconstructed Ezra as doing pretty much everything in the 7th year of an Artaxerxes, but this was due to the way I rearranged the text to create continuous narratives and someone could fault my reconstruction. There were two historical Persian kings named Artaxerxes who ruled over Babylon and reigned at least 32 years: Artaxerxes I & Artaxerxes II. This is all confirmed by Babylonian cuneiform tablets which record events dated to these kings' reigns.

In that little commentary I put in the table between the accounts of the governorships of Zerubbabel/Joshua and Nehemiah, I said:

For the returns under Nehemiah and Ezra, there are a couple of alternatives. The usual academic reconstruction puts Nehemiah's 2 returns under Artaxerxes I and Ezra's under Artaxerxes II. The alternative favored by evangelicals also puts Ezra's return under Artaxerxes I. Artaxerxes III did not rule long enough to be a possibility for Nehemiah, but is a candidate for Ezra. A ban on building of the city wall was in effect during the reign of “Artaxerxes” (Ezra 4:7-24a) but who made the attempt to build them that caused the ban is not stated. If Nehemiah was recalled for his wall building activity, then how did he maintain his governorship for 12 years? Ezra 4:21 suggests that it happened before Nehemiah’s governorship, as a decree from Artaxerxes is required to allow rebuilding. Nehemiah’s return was a result of such a decree. Nehemiah then completed the construction as fast as possible to prevent it from being ordered stopped again.

The only possible solution I can think of is to have Ezra be appointed High priest in the 7th year of Artaxerxes I or II, and then have Nehemiah as governor from the 20th to the 32nd year of the same Artaxerxes, with Ezra still HP. Nehemiah 8 does place the reading of the law under Nehemiah the Governor with Ezra the priest and scribe "who was above all the people," where Ezra seems to read the law with interpreters gave the sense to the multitude. On the other hand, the parallel account in 1 Esdras 9:49 does not say that Nehemiah was governor, but has a certain Attharates (mentioned only here, maybe from the Persian title of a Satrap governor "Tirshatha," but there is also an "Atherias" in 1 Esd 5:40 and "the Athersastha" in its parallel account to 2 Esdras = Ezra 2:63) give instruction to Ezra the chief priest (the Greek can also mean High Priest).

It is very confused.

DCH

[jbejon]

It is very confused.

DCH

I know what you mean! I tried to compile a chronology of Ezra-Nehemiah a while back and struggled. (In case it's helpful, I remember reading this paper--http://lmf12.files.wordpress.com/2012/1 ... rticle.pdf--on the matter, which certainly got me thinking.) Thanks for all the info either way...

James.

[spin]

Aww come on guys, it ain't that tough. There's a great relative chronology through chapter 4. 6:14-15 is a reflection of past kings and chapter 7 goes on to Artaxerxes II. Nice and simple.

The only problem is that people are trying to do history with the Jewish material in the book. If it is not history then you can't expect it to make historical sense. Consider Ben Sira 49:11-13. The writer knows Yehozedek and Yeshua. He also knows Nehemiah, but shows not a drop of knowledge about the important figure of Ezra. Think about the possibility that Ezra is a literary fiction. The guy who nobody knows read the law to the Jews, that's what he's umm, famous for. You might pause in trying to make historical sense out of the strange indications regarding Ezra. He's supposed to be the uncle of Yeshua, born to the same father as Yehozedek (cf 1 Chr 6:14 and Ezra 7:1). How old could this Ezra guy have been? Just don't trust his historicity and things will be clearer.