Today we are launching our study of Ezra-Nehemiah. I am referring to the two books together because historically, in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint, Ezra and Nehemiah were considered one scroll. Early Church fathers, like Origen and Jerome, later distinguished Ezra and Nehemiah as separate books in the Christian canon.
Ezra and Nehemiah do not present a straightforward literary scheme or a chronology easy to outline. Still, it is possible to divide the books into three distinct historical periods that each tell the story of a leader commissioned by God: Sheshbazzar, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Ezra 1-6 records the events of the first wave of returnees under the leadership of Sheshbazzar, who was quickly succeeded by Zerubbabel (538-516 BCE). Only in chapter 7 does Ezra, the namesake of the book, make his first appearance. Ezra 7-10 records the wave of exiles who accompanied the reformer’s return to Judah. The book of Nehemiah relates the life and times of his governorship. The total timeframe of the two books stretches from 539-400 BCE.
