Jensens survey of the old testament adam 131

historical books Observe on the chart that most of Malachi’s ministry took place during Nehemiah’s return visit to Babylon Those were years of backsliding on the part of the Jews in Canaan, when the rst spiritual zeal had subsided Hence, the message of Malachi was mainly about sin and judgment because of sin The prophet Daniel went into exile with the rst contingent of Jews in 605 B.C and was ministering in Babylon in the service of Darius the Mede (who was made king of Babylon by Cyrus, Dan 5:31; 9:1) when the exiles received permission to return (cf Dan 1:21; 6:28) Though aged Daniel did not return to Jerusalem with the exiles, he supported the project in spirit (see Dan 9:125) Observe on Chart 57 the periods covered by each of the three books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther Note the suspension of the story of Ezra for a number of years Note also that Esther chronologically ts between chapters and of Ezra, during the reign of Xerxes Study the two maps related to the story of these books Map O shows the route of the returning exiles, and Map P shows the major places of postexilic Palestine, when the Jews settled down in their homeland II BACKGROUND OF EZRA A TITLE AND PLACE IN THE CANON The book of Ezra is named after its principal character (If Ezra was its author, this would also account for the title.) Actually, the name Ezra does not appear in the story until 7:1, but he still may be regarded as the key person in the book In our English Bible, Ezra follows Chronicles, picking up the story where Chronicles leaves it (cf Chron 36:22-23 with Ezra 1:1-3) In the Hebrew canon, Ezra and Nehemiah were considered as one historical book8 and were located just before Chronicles B DATE AND AUTHORSHIP The traditional view is that Ezra wrote the book which bears his name If he also wrote and Chronicles, which is very possible, then we have in these three books a continuous historical record by the one author (Compare the third-and rst-person references to Ezra in such verses as 7:1,11,25,28; 8:15,16,17,21.) Ezra may have written this book at about 450 B.C., soon after he arrived in Jerusalem (458 B.C.) C THE MAN EZRA Ezra has always been considered a key gure in Jewish history Just as Moses led Israel from Egypt to Canaan, Ezra led the Jews from Babylon to the land of their fathers Ezra’s name means “helper” (from the Hebrew ‘ezer, “help”) He ministered to his fellow Jews in captivity, and he led a ...Nehemiah, and Esther Note the suspension of the story of Ezra for a number of years Note also that Esther chronologically ts between chapters and of Ezra, during the reign of Xerxes Study the two maps... to the story of these books Map O shows the route of the returning exiles, and Map P shows the major places of postexilic Palestine, when the Jews settled down in their homeland II BACKGROUND OF. .. PLACE IN THE CANON The book of Ezra is named after its principal character (If Ezra was its author, this would also account for the title.) Actually, the name Ezra does not appear in the story