We finished Ezra and we are now launching our study of Nehemiah. Remember that in the Septuagint and the Masoretic text, Ezra and Nehemiah were originally part of one scroll. They were only separated into two distinct books by early church fathers around the third century who understandably interpreted the introduction in Nehemiah as the start of a new book.
The original layout told the story of three sequential leaders and their pilgrimages from Babylon to Jerusalem. When a new leader took the reins, the editor jumped forward in time and signaled the start of a new unit. Halfway through the book of Ezra, the editor skipped over sixty years between Zerubbabel and Ezra with the phrase “now after this” (Ez. 7:1). With the close of Ezra’s memoir and the start of Nehemiah’s memoir, the editor skipped over thirteen years by inserting the heading: “the words of Nehemiah” (Neh. 1:1).
The ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah overlapped each other. While Nehemiah was not mentioned in the book of Ezra, Ezra made an important appearance in Nehemiah 8. When we get to that chapter, we will see how the work of Ezra the scribe complemented the objectives of Nehemiah the governor. Unlike Nehemiah, Ezra did not have an official title.
