are no explicit references to prayer, worship, the Law, Jerusalem, or the Temple One explanation of the exclusion is that the Jews living in Esther’s time had disassociated themselves from the theocratic institution when they refused King Cyrus’s permission to return to Palestine (recorded in the early chapters of Ezra) God’s name was not at this time linked with them as such, though continued providence and future covenant dealings with the nation were not thereby annulled Can you think of other possible reasons? XVIII SELECTED READING GENERAL INTRODUCTION Archer, Gleason L A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, pp 395-406 Eason, J Lawrence The New Bible Survey, pp 195-208 Free, Joseph P Archaeology and Bible History, pp 224-54 Phillips, John Exploring the Scriptures, pp 87-94 Whitcomb, John C., Jr Study graph on Old Testament Kings and Prophets Whitley, C F The Exilic Age Wood, Leon J A Survey of Israel’s History, pp 377-411 COMMENTARIES AND RELATED STUDIES Armerding, Carl Esther Bruce, F F Israel and the Nations, pp 93119 Crosby, Howard “Nehemiah.” In Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures Ironside, H A Notes on the Book of Ezra Luck, G Coleman Ezra and Nehemiah Everyman’s Bible Commentary Morgan, G Campbell Living Messages of the Books of the Bible, pp 236-82 Pfeiffer, Charles F., and Harrison, Everett F The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, pp 42357 Pfeiffer, Charles F., and Vos, Howard F The Wycliffe Historical Geography of Bible Lands Redpath, Alan Victorious Christian Service Although the book of Esther is not about this return, its story is dated during the time span of Ezra, as will be seen later Steven Barabas, “Captivity,” in The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, p 147 Read Ezekiel 36:24, which clearly teaches that the Jews who eventually returned to Canaan were gathered from many countries The number seventy may have been a round number, as is often the case in Scripture 4 If Jeremiah’s prophecy is interpreted from an ecclesiastical standpoint, with the Temple as the key object, then the seventy-year period extended from the destruction of the Temple in B.C to the year of completion of its reconstruction, which was 516 B.C Most of the dates of Chart 57 are those of John C Whitcomb’s Chart of Old Testament Kings and Prophets Zerubbabel is probably the Sheshbazzar referred to in Ezra 1:8,11 No large contingent of Jews was involved in this return The rst division into two books in the Hebrew Bible was made in A.D 1448 The phrase “scribe skilled” (Ezra 7:6) is translated by the Berkeley Version as “scribe, well versed.” 10 The references to Ahasuerus (Xerxes) and Artaxerxes in 4:6-7 are part of the parenthesis 4:6-23, inserted out of chronological order with ... the destruction of the Temple in B.C to the year of completion of its reconstruction, which was 516 B.C Most of the dates of Chart 57 are those of John C Whitcomb’s Chart of Old Testament Kings... as is often the case in Scripture 4 If Jeremiah’s prophecy is interpreted from an ecclesiastical standpoint, with the Temple as the key object, then the seventy-year period extended from the destruction... Historical Geography of Bible Lands Redpath, Alan Victorious Christian Service Although the book of Esther is not about this return, its story is dated during the time span of Ezra, as will be