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
Jeremiah had prophesied a 70-year exile in Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10). Ezra 1:1 announces the fulfilling of that prophetic word. Notwithstanding, only 60 years have elapsed since the first deportation in 597 B.C.E. (2 Kings 24:12).
God’s 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 power (force) and 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 (care) since “God’s hand” is usually nudging those around the Jewish community to provide for them. In five of the above references the Hebrew wording (“according to the hand of”) is a technical expression for royal benevolence, and also in each of its other canonical occurrences (1 Kings 10:13; Esther 1:7; 2:18). This may be a covert way of claiming that God is still in charge (power), despite the Persian rule over Yehud (Judah), and that it is God’s grace and beneficence that sustains them.
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 SeptuagintThe Septuagint is a pre-Christian (third to first century BCE) Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures. It is believed that the term Septuagint derives from the number of scholars-seventy (or seventy-two)-who reputedly did the work of translation. More 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 templeThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged… More 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 (Exodus 40:2). 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 (Isaiah 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 – the land of the Canaanites – where they would establish their own government; those returning from Babylon went to the same land – but it had been ravaged by foreign empires. 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 holyHoly is a term that originally meant set apart for the worship or service of God. While the term may refer to people, objects, time, or places, holiness in Judaism and Christianity primarily denotes the realm of the divine More people situated in a holy city (Ezra 8:28; 9:8). Ezra 7-10 emphasizes 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.
Opposition
Both Ezra and Nehemiah encounter strong opposition from some neighboring peoples. In Ezra, this is introduced in Ezra 3:3 with stronger opposition in 4:1-24. Ezra experienced opposition in the form of attacks upon his caravan (8:31) and on his policy on mixed marriages (10:14-15).
Foreign wives
Ezra is concerned with the reestablishment of the people of God in their land, a holy people in a holy city, following the law of God. Because of that concern, Ezra calls for the Judeans who returned from exile to separate themselves from other people. This concern for holiness led to some harsh policies, like Ezra’s mixed marriage policy.
To modern people it seems obvious that racism and sexism merge, and are blessed, in Ezra’s mixed marriage policy. While in Babylon, some Israelites – including priests – took foreign wives; upon their return to Jerusalem, the community was told that doing so was sinful. The men who took foreign wives were publicly shamed and told to send their wives away – as if they were used and useless (10:10-11).
There are other “voices” in the Bible that would disagree with Ezra’s policy. Ruth, for instance, a Moabite, marries Boaz, an Israelite, and becomes the great-grandmother of King David (Ruth 4:17-22) and thus one of the ancestors of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).
Peoples of the land
Along with the foreign wives, the “peoples of the land” (indigenous peoples, natives) were also condemned: “separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives” (10:11b).
The peoples of the land include Canaanites (non-Israelites) as well as low-class and poor Israelites who were not taken into exile: “But the captain of the guard left the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil” (2 Kings 25:12). The peoples of the land were a “mixed” lot. When the remnant of Israel returned from Babylon, the poor Israelites left behind (also a “remnant” of Israel) as laborers were lumped together with the Canaanites as “peoples of the land.” Classism thus mixes with racism in Ezra’s theology.
Having said that, it is worth noting that some of the Judean people who were left in the land join with the returning exiles to celebrate the PassoverPassover commemorates the deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt as described in the book of Exodus. It is celebrated with worship and a meal on the fourteenth day of the month called Nisan, which is the first month of the Jewish year. The time… More, and are welcomed by them (6:19-22).
