I. Name and Position

In the oldest Jewish writings these two books are treated as one, although that does not necessarily mean that one author wrote both books, any more than when the Twelve Minor Prophets are reckoned as one they were supposed to have been written by one man. It rather indicates the intimate relation existing between the contents of both books, the narrative begun in one being continued in the other. In all printed Hebrew Bibles, as well as in the Septuagint and other versions, they are now divided.

In the Hebrew Bible they precede Chronicles although they follow it in the order of time. In the Septuagint and other versions they follow Chronicles and thus preserve the historical succession.

II. Their Relation to Each Other and to Chronicles

The history begun in Chronicles is continued in Ezra and Nehemiah, bringing it down to 432 B. C. How intimate the relation between Chronicles and Ezra is may be seen in the fact that the closing words of Chronicles are repeated as the opening words of Ezra. The three books present similar problems of criticism, they have a strong literary affinity, they view the history from the same standpoint and they seem to have been put into their present form by the same editor. And inasmuch as Ezra and Nehemiah cover the history after the return from Babylon and both men were interested in the same great enterprises of reform it will be most convenient to study them together.

III. Contents

The period covered by both books is from 536, when Cyrus issued his edict permitting the Jews to return to Palestine, to 432, when Nehemiah made his second visit to Jerusalem, a period of about one hundred years. The books do not give a continuous history of this period but dwell quite fully on those features which concern the religious welfare of the nation.

The contents of the books are as follows:

1. The first colony and its work, 536-515 B. C. Ezra Chs. 1 to 6. After presenting the edict of Cyrus permitting the return, Ch. 1, a list of those who accepted it and of their offerings for the house of God is given, Ch. 2; then follows the account of the setting up of an altar, Ch. 3; with a statement of the difficulties they encountered, Chs. 4, 5; which finally resulted in stopping the work until a new decree was issued by Darius and the Temple finished in 515, Ch. 6. Then follows a space of fifty- seven years during which no record of events is given.

2. The second colony, under Ezra, 458 B. C. Ezra Chs. 7 to 10. Here we have the genealogy of Ezra, his commission from Artaxerxes, Ch. 7; his securing Levites for the house of God and his care of the offerings entrusted to him, Ch. 8. Having reached Jerusalem, after a journey of four months, he finds great scandal growing out of the marriage of Jews with heathen women, for which he makes confession before God, Ch. 9. Amendment is promised and a record made of those who had offended but promised to reform, Ch. 10. The prophets Zechariah and Haggai helped Ezra very much in this reform. Here occurs another break of thirteen years.

3. The work of Nehemiah, 444-432 B. C. Three lines of activity are prominent.

(1) The repairing of the walls. Neh. Chs. 1 to 7. Nehemiah, having heard of the deplorable condition of the people in Jerusalem, Ch. 1; asks permission to visit them, and on his arrival at once begins to repair the city walls, Ch. 2. The names of his helpers are recorded, Ch. 3; and the opposition he encounters stated, Ch. 4. He seeks to relieve the poverty of the poor, Ch. 5; and in the face of continued opposition completes the wall, Ch. 6. A register is made of those who composed the first colony, Ch. 7.

(2) The covenant renewed. Chs. 8 to 12:26. The Law is read and expounded by Ezra and Nehemiah, assisted by the Levites, amid great rejoicing, Ch. 8:1-12. This is followed by a celebration of the feast of tabernacles, Ch. 8:13-18; and a fast day, accompanied by prayer and confession, is followed by a solemn renewal of the covenant with Jehovah, Ch. 9. The names of those entering into this covenant are given in Ch. 10. Provision is made to secure people to occupy the city, with a catalogue of their names, Ch. II. A list is given of the priests and Levites who accompanied Zerubbabel in the first colony, Ch. 12:1-11; and of those who went later, Ch. 12:12-26.

(3) Dedication of the walls and final efforts. Ch. 12:27 to Ch. 13.

The rebuilt walls are solemnly dedicated, Ch. 12:27-44; and officers appointed to attend to public affairs, Ch. 12:45-47. After spending some time (twelve years) in Babylon he returns to Jerusalem and corrects various abuses, such as separation of foreigners, cleansing the Temple chambers which had been defiled, neglect of tithes, violation of the Sabbath and marriage with heathen. Ch. 13.

IV. Peculiarities of Structure

1. Ezra Chs. 4:8 to 6:18 and 7:12-26 are written in Aramaic; the rest of Ezra and all of Nehemiah are in Hebrew. We find a similar use of the two languages in Daniel. This Aramaic is to be distinguished from the Chaldaic. It is a dialect closely akin to the Hebrew, used by the Jews after the exile.

2. Certain parts of both books are written in the first person, Ezra 7:27, 9:15, Neh. 1:1, 7:1, 12:31. In other parts we find the third person employed. This is thought by many to show the work of an editor,

3. Many parts of both books are plainly compiled from official records, such as the proclamation of Cyrus, Ezra Ch. 1; the register of those composing the first colony, Ch. 2; the letter to Artaxerxes and the reply to it, Chs. 4:11-16, 17-22; the decree of Darius Ch. 6:3-12; the letter which Artaxerxes gave Ezra, Ch. 7:11-26. In Nehemiah we have the list of those who builded on the walls of Jerusalem, Ch. 3; the roll of the first colony, Ch. 7:6-73, which is substantially the same as that found in Ezra Ch. 2; the roll of those who signed the covenant, Ch. 10:1-27; and of those called to dwell in Jerusalem, Ch. 11:3-36; and a list of priests and Levites, Ch. 12. These may be easily separated from the narrative portions and show that the writers of both books not only consulted the official documents, but actually copied them without changing the language, thus furnishing the best possible guarantee of their fidelity.

V. Authorship

The composite character of both books renders the question of authorship quite uncertain. The Jewish claim thai: Ezra wrote both books, as also Chronicles and Esther, has no solid foundation. There can be little doubt that Ezra wrote the second section of his book, Chs. 7 to 10. The facts that the narrative is in the first person and that it records Ezra's own work in Jerusalem point unmistakably to him as the author. The first section, Chs. I to 6, contains a collection of documents intended to explain the condition of things in Jerusalem when Ezra first went there, but whether this was prepared from older documents by Ezra himself, or is the work of a later writer who compiled the entire history now divided into the three books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, is an open question. Bleek (Intro. to Old Test, I. 425) says, "When Ezra is spoken of in the third person, as in the whole tenth chapter, and also in the beginning of the seventh, we cannot on that account assume with any degree of certainty that Ezra himself did not write it." And while he sees a remodeling by a later hand in some phrases of the first section, he thinks that section came substantially from Ezra's own hand, and if any changes were made they were made in Ezra's own time. Many now believe that the book, as it now stands, shows the work of an editor who used the writings of Ezra together with material gathered from the state archives and other sources, and prepared the book as it now stands.

As for Nehemiah the matter is not so easily settled. The narrative up to Ch. 7:6 is all in the first person and the writer of it can be no other than Nehemiah himself. Again, from 12:31 to the end of the book we have the narrative in the first person, and plainly for the same reason. This leaves the section extending from 7:6 to 12:30 for examination. The passage 7:6-73 we find to be substantially identical with Ezra 2:1-70, and in both places is simply an extract from public records. This is followed by a section, 8:1 to 11:2, which tells of a public reading of the Law and of the results which followed. Its peculiarities are that Nehemiah does not here speak in the first person, that Ezra occupies the principal position and that the prayer in Nehemiah nine is quite different in construction from that found in chapter one of his book and is more like those of Ezra. Hence many infer that Ezra wrote this section. But on the other hand Nehemiah is represented as assisting in the teaching, while the minute details of the entire transaction indicate that the record was made by an eye-witness, who certainly might have been Nehemiah. In Neh. 12:26 both Ezra and Nehemiah are referred to in language which seems to imply that they were either dead or had departed from Jerusalem before the passage was written, and in Neh. 12:10, 1 1 the genealogy of the priests is brought down to Jaddua, who, according to Josephus, Antiq., XI. 8, 4, was officiating as high priest when Alexander the Great vdsited Jerusalem, in 331 B. C.; and further, in Neh. 12:22 Darius is called "the Persian," implying that the Persian kingdom had already been broken up, since the ordinary form of alluding to their kings is to add only the words "the king," Ezra 4:8; Neh. 11:23. But for both usages, see Ezra 1:7 and 1:8. If Neh. 12:22 refers, as many think, to Darius Codomannus, 336-332 B. C, we are brought down to a date much later than that of Nehemiah, and we must admit either that our present book has been revised and supplemented by an editor, or reject these references as the unauthorized effort of some one to give completeness to the record originally made by Nehemiah. If, as others claim, the reference is to Darius Nothus, 424-405 B. C, the difficulty vanishes.

On the whole the most satisfactory conclusion is that both Ezra and Nehemiah, as they now stand, have passed through the hands of an editor, who has taken materials left by these great men, with some facts subsequent to their time and used them as a continuation of the history of the nation, begun in the book of Chronicles.

VI. Value of These Books

These books furnish us with most valuable information concerning the new life of the nation after the captivity. We learn of the desolate condition of Jerusalem; of their social relations; of their judicial matters; of their revived interest in the Scriptures, especially in ritual services; of the presence of two great parties, one very strict in legal matters, the other anxious to mingle with the surrounding nations; of the daily life of the people and many other facts concerning which we have no other source of information.

LITERATURE

Commentaries: Keil, Lange, Ryle in Cambridge Bible for Schools. Kautzsch, The Literature of the Old Testament; Rawlinson, Ezra and Nehemiah, Their Lives and Times. Introductions of Driver, Bleek, Keil. Articles in Bible Dictionaries of Smith and Hastings and in Encyclopedia Britannica. For a study of the composition of Ezra, see Presbyterian and Reformed Review, 1900, p. 261.