Fulfillment of prophecyProphecy is the gift, inspired by God, of speaking and interpreting the divine will. Prophets such as Amos, Isaiah, and Ezekiel spoke words of judgment and comfort to the people of Israel on behalf of God. More
JeremiahProphet who condemned Judah’s infidelity to God, warned of Babylonian conquest, and promised a new covenant More had prophesied a seventy-year exile in Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10). EzraScribe who helped establish Jewish practices in Jerusalem after the exile. More 1:1 announces the fulfillment of that prophetic word. Since only sixty years have elapsed since the first deportation in 597 B.C.E. (2 Kings 24:12), we must assume this is an approximation.
God’s providential hand
Ezra (7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31) and Nehemiah (1:10; 2:8, 18) both claim that “the hand of our God” was upon them, directing their missions. This also becomes a fruitful way to speak of God’s grace since “God’s hand” is usually nudging those around the Jewish community to provide for them in caring ways. In five of the above references the Hebrew wording (“according to the hand of”) is a technical expression for royal benevolence in each of its other canonical occurrences (1 Kings 10:13; EstherQueen in Persia who prevented an anti-Jewish pogrom More 1:7; 2:18). This may be a covert way of claiming that God is still king, despite the Persian rule of Yehud, and that it is God’s graceGrace is the unmerited gift of God’s love and acceptance. In Martin Luther’s favorite expression from the Apostle Paul, we are saved by grace through faith, which means that God showers grace upon us even though we do not deserve it. More and beneficence that sustains them.
Opposition
Both Ezra and NehemiahThe governor of Jerusalem who rebuilt the city walls after the exile More encounter strong opposition to their work from the neighboring peoples. In Ezra, this is introduced in Ezra 3:3 with stronger opposition in 4:1-24. Ezra himself experienced opposition in the form of enemy attacks upon his caravan (8:31) and on his policy on mixed marriages (10:14-15).
Prayer
Both Ezra (9:6-15) and Nehemiah (1:5-11) pray. The long prayer in Nehemiah 9:6-37 is attributed to Ezra in the Septuagint and the NRSV, but more likely it is a prayer of the Levites. All three are prayers of confession. The Ezra and Nehemiah prayers begin with “I” statements that quickly move to “we” statements, showing how closely they identify with their people. The Levites’ prayer is, obviously, the prayer of a group.
Return depicted as a second exodus
The exodus is recalled when the Babylonians provide the returnees with silver, gold, and other gifts (Ezra 1:4, 6), much as the Egyptians had done (Exodus 3:21-22; 11:2; 12:35-36); the “freewill offering” of materials for the rebuilding of the temple in Ezra 2:68-69 recalls a similar response for the erection of the tent of meeting in Exodus 35:21-29. The use of the passive verb (a technical term for “the exodus”) in the phrase “when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:11b, emphasis added) recalls God’s words to Moses at the first exodus: “Go, leave this place, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 33:1a, emphasis added). Ezra’s decision to leave on the “first day of the first month” (Ezra 7:9) is another allusion to the exodus. Second IsaiahSecond Isaiah refers chapters 40-55 of the book of Isaiah. This work was likely written during Israel’s exile in Babylon (597-538 B.C.E.). Second Isaiah includes poetic passages of hope as well as descriptions of the Suffering Servant. More also spoke of the return as a second exodus with similar vocabulary (43:14-21; 48:20-21; 51:10-11; 52:12).
Depicting the return as a second exodus also encourages comparison and lifts up several contrasts between the two events. For example, though all the Israelites left in the exodus, this time only those who responded to God’s “stirring” returned (Ezra 1:5). In the exodus, the people left for a promised land where they would establish their own government; those returning from Babylon went to a ravaged land under Persian control. The “plundering” of the Egyptian jewelry in Exodus 12:36 contrasts with the “gifts” from the exiles’ neighbors that are offered to help them (Ezra 1:6).
Separation
Ezra-Nehemiah sees the community as a holy people situated in a holy city (Ezra 8:28; 9:8). Ezra 7-10 emphasize that the true people of God were those Judeans who had returned from Babylonian exile and their descendants. Thus, the people are called to separate themselves from the other nations (6:21; 9:1; 10:11) or they will be separated (NRSV, “banned from,” but the same Hebrew verb) from the congregation of the exiles (Ezra 10:8). This call for separation already appears in Ezra 1-6 when the overtures of foreign worshipers of Yahweh are rejected (4:1-3). Noteworthy for its apparent lessening of such strictures is the welcoming of other Judeans who were willing to adopt the beliefs of the returnees in 6:21. The most graphic example of separation occurs in the matter of mixed marriages.
