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Overview
Two remarkable personalities – with strikingly different approaches to the same objective – are the architects of this rebuilding of a people so long without roots. Ezra, “the second Moses,” bases the renewal on the Torah and spiritual reform. Nehemiah, the accomplished politician and diplomat, keeps the renewal alive with his deft administrative hand.
For all its usefulness in painting the historical picture, Ezra-Nehemiah presents an exceedingly complex textual jigsaw puzzle. The heart of the matter lies not in reconciling all the parallel lists, quotes, and different accounts of the same story, but in coming to a better understanding of how and when the Bible came to be written. The factors of spiritual renewal, national reconstruction, and biblical composition make Ezra-Nehemiah a key to biblical interpretation then and now.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780300139556 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Yale University Press |
| Publication date: | 03/01/1995 |
| Series: | Anchor Yale Bible Commentary Series , #14 |
| Pages: | 356 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Preface VIIPrincipal Abbreviations XIII
Introduction
History XIX
The Jews in the Exilic Period XIX
The Early Returns XXIV
Literary and Historical Order XXXVIII
The Present Order of Ezra-Nehemiah XLI
Attempts to Rearrange the Literary Materials of Ezra-Nehemiah XLII
The Sources XLVIII
The Use of the Sources L
The Achievements of Nehemiah and Ezra LIII
Nehemiah LIII
Ezra LVII
Text and Related Matters LXIII
The Hebrew Text LXIII
The Versions LXV
Authorship and Date LXVIII
Evaluation of Ezra and Nehemiah LXXII
Ezra LXXII
Nehemiah LXXIV
Selected Bibliography LXXVIII
Ezra
Cyrus Releases the Jews (i 1-11) 3
The Return to Jerusalem (ii 1-70) 10
Renewal of Religious Institutions (iii 1-13) 23
Work on the Temple Suspended because of Samaritan Opposition (iv 1-24) 30
Persian Officials Investigate the Rebuilding of the Temple (v 1-17) 40
Darius I Permits the Completion of theTemple (vi 1-22) 47
Ezra and His Mission (vii 1-28) 55
Ezra's Departure from Babylon. His Enlistment and Selection of Personnel (viii 1-36) 64
Ezra Reprimands the Jerusalem Jews for Their Sins (ix 1-15) 73
Repentance of the Jews (x 1-44) 80
Nehemiah
Nehemiah Distressed by News of the Conditions in Jerusalem (i 1-11) 91
Nehemiah Goes to Jerusalem by Permission of Artaxerxes (ii 1-10) 97
Nehemiah's Secret Inspection of Jerusalem Angers the Officials (ii 11-20) 102
Reconstruction of the City Walls (iii 1-32) 107
Samaritan Opposition and Harassment Necessitate Protective Measures (iii 33-38, iv 1-17) 121
Economic Problems. Nehemiah's Solution (v 1-13) 127
Nehemiah's Administration (v 14-19) 132
Plots against Nehemiah (vi 1-14, 17-19) 135
Completion of the Wall (vi 15-16, vii 1-3) 140
Population Records (vii 4-72a) 143
The Reading of the Law (vii 72b, viii 1-12) 149
Celebration of the Feast of Booths (viii 13-18) 155
Penance (ix 1-37) 158
The Written Pledge of Reform: Signers and Provisions (x 1-40) 171
Distribution of the Jews in and outside Jerusalem (xi 1-36) 181
Postexilic Clerical Genealogies (xii 1-26) 193
Dedication of the Wall (xii 27-43) 200
Temple Provisions. Expulsion of Foreigners (xii 44-47, xiii 1-3) 205
Nehemiah's Reforms (xiii 4-31) 209
Appendixes
Comparison of Nehemiah vii and Ezra ii (I Esdras v) 223
Comparison of Lists 234
Levitical Families 245
Index of Place and Personal Names 247
Key to the Text 269