The books of Ezra and Nehemiah hold much confusion for Biblical scholars, as far as chronology is concerned. Some conclude Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries, while others believe Ezra arrived in Jerusalem over 50 years after Nehemiah’s ministry. Actually, the chronology of the books is very simple, IF, and only if, one decides with Jesus’ conclusion that scripture cannot or must not be read in a manner that forces it to contradict itself (John 10:35). In other words, one must labor to find a way in which two or more passages of scripture will not contradict. If this is done successfully, one would probably hold the truth of the matter in mind. How is this so, or why must this be done? It is because names of places have changed; sometimes people are known by more than one name; indeed, worldviews change from one age to another, so how one looks at something said in the scriptures triggers a different context of understanding than the original. Therefore, if one labors to understand the original meaning of the text, vis-à-vis what it meant to the original audience, one may very well be rewarded with the truth.
Reading genealogies is so boring; isn’t that true? Yet, from time to time, depending on the context of one’s study, they are very revealing. For example, none of the names that we find written in Ezra 8:1-14 are recorded in either the Book of Ezra or the Book of Nehemiah as having assisted in the rebuilding projects of either the Temple of God or the walls surrounding Jerusalem. That should come as a surprise for anyone who believes that the Decree of Artaxerxes had anything to do with either building project, and there are Biblical scholars who believe the decree permitted the building project to continue to its conclusion. Nevertheless, if none of the folks that Artaxerxes released to rebuild the Temple or the city are found to have participated in that labor, how can anyone conclude the Decree of Artaxerxes had anything to do with the Seventy Weeks Prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27?
The labor of building the Temple began with Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and Joshua, the high priest. It was they and those with them who rebuilt the Altar of God on the Feast of Trumpets, immediately following their coming to Jerusalem after being released by Cyrus from their captivity in Babylon (Ezra 3:1-3), and the Seventy Weeks Prophecy begins there. Moreover, the project of rebuilding the Temple continued from the second month of the second year, after being released from Babylon (Ezra 3:8). Additionally, the text claims that, after both the leaders and the rest of the men who came out of the captivity, vis-à-vis the folks listed in the genealogy found in chapter two of the Book of Ezra, laid the foundations of the Temple, they paused to celebrate the fruit of their labor (Ezra 3:8-13). Nevertheless, after about a year or two, and after no little frustration created by the Samaritans, the labor ceased by the order of Cambyses, king of Persia (Ezra 4:1-6).
It didn’t begin again until the coming of Nehemiah, and it is reveled in his account that the building project included the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls (Nehemiah 4:1-7). Moreover, those who took part on this building project included the folks of the generation that was born in Judah after the children of the captivity returned to Jerusalem from Babylon, and they are listed in chapter three of the Book of Nehemiah! In each case, the name mentioned lists his father/grandfather as being one of those who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest.[1] Genealogies are boring to read, but they are important to show some very important things, including the timeframe, showing when certain events occurred, and who was involved. So, let me repeat, none of the names listed in Ezra 8:1-14 who returned with Ezra in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, the king of Persia (cp. Ezra 7:7), participated in the building project at Jerusalem. What can we conclude from this point? The conclusion of the matter is that Ezra and company arrived after the building project was over. The Temple was already completed, and its dedication was celebrated a year prior to the release of Ezra (Ezra 6:15-18). Moreover, the city and its walls were also complete, and Ezra and company arrived in Jerusalem just in time (a few weeks prior), to participate in the celebration of dedicating the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12:27, 35-36).
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[1] For example, Eliashib, the officiating high priest during the days when Nehemiah was in authority over the building project at Jerusalem, helped build the wall beginning at the Sheep Gate (Nehemiah 3:1). He was the grandson of Joshua the high priest, who had come up from the captivity (Nehemiah 12:10; cp. Ezra 2:2). Meremoth built the wall near the Fish Gate (Nehemiah 3:3), and he was the son of Urijah (Nehemiah 3:4), the son of Koz (cp. Ezra 2:61), and so on.
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146 responses to “The Chief Men Who Returned with Ezra”
T’NaCH commands prophetic mussar rebukes through the sh’itta/methodology known as משל\נמשל. The RambaN commentary on the Chumash refers to this as the secret kabbala of Black Fire on White Fire. Word contain black and white imagery, similar to a negative photo used in the ancient silkscreen printing in China. The Hebrew of making a logical inference, turning an idea upon its head … a דיוק/inference.
Greetings Mosckerr, and thank you once again for your comments.
As I said in a previous comment we embrace similar, but different faiths. While Mark Twain was a gifted author, he is a poor judge of the meaning of scripture. He is as you have admitted to be awhile back, an unbeliever. I accept the whole as the word of God, through the language of men. I consider it a great honor to search its depths to find his truth, and I find it when I read it so that it isn’t contradicted elsewhere in scripture. I am locked into the books that are there, the ancient books, as they have come down to me, history, law, prophecy, poetry, narrative, letters, and apocalypse. Other men, like the RambaN, who have commented on the word of God, while they are to be respected for their honorable works, their works are not the word of God. Therefore, I agree or disagree with what they say, but I humble myself before God’s word. I submit myself to it, and it alone.
You are a good man, Mosckerr, you remember what was done to your people and you are protective of them. But, our worldviews clash at times, and good men, sometimes cannot agree. This is one of those times. Nevertheless, may you have a very good, safe day, today, guided and protected by the One, in whom you don’t believe, but with whom you have the strangest of relationships.
Genetics does not determine Jewishness. Move on drop this stupidity. T’NaCH and Talmud shape the clay placed upon the potter’s wheel. Just that simple. The Religious Secular divide – just a fart. Orthodox do not hold a monopoly on the Torah inheritance. Just that simple. Just look at the Neturei karta abomination. Torah common law NOT Roman statute law, despite rabbinic celebrities like the Rambam, Tur, and Yosef Karo’s assimilated addiction to ancient Greek logic formats! Ibn Ezra’s son converted to Islam! The Yeshiva education system today does not teach T’NaCH and Talmudic משנה תורה//COMMON LAW. Just that simple. Assimilation and intermarriage defines the commandment known as avoda zarah ie the 2nd Sinai commandment. Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages as assimilated as the vast majority of Jews in America and Europe today. Aristotle’s logic does not function as a Xtian replacement theology for the kabbalah of rabbi Akiva’s Pardes logic system. Just that simple.
The aftermath of the Rambam Civil War, “orthodox” rabbis started to learn the Talmud as if it existed as Roman statute law. The famous Brisker Method fails to this day to discern the distinction between Rashi p’shat on the Chumash from Rashi p’shat on the Talmud. It fails to understand the chief criticism made by the Baali Tosafot upon the Rashi Talmudic commentary, Rashi’s failure to write a common law commentary on the Talmud! The Brisker Method of Modern Orthodox utterly bankrupt and void. It failed to criticize the common law commentary made by the Baali Tosafot for not learning its off the dof בנין אב/precents back to the Home Mishnaic language and making a משנה תורה re-interpretation which examines the distinct and multiple facets of the diamond language of Rabbi Yechuda’s Mishna!
All the super commentaries to the assimilated Roman statute law halachic codifications, most importantly upon the Rambam Yad ha-Hazaka, likewise made the identical error made by the Baali Tosafot common law commentary, those super commentaries Universally failed to learn the halacha and how it makes a משנה תורה re-interpretation on the different facets of the diamond language employed by the Home Mishna; how the Gemara employs halachic precedents to examine Mishnaic language with no less than a Front Top Side views! The language of the Mishna a 3 dimensional and not flat 2 dimensional blue-print of Sanhedrin court rulings which define Jewish common law.
The bankrupt Brisker method abysmally failed to discern Talmud as the model of court room justice as opposed to rigid/dogmatic\creed religious halachic ritualism and practices. The utter failure to grasp that time oriented mitzvot, apply equally to Rabbinic commandments when a person employs those rabbinic commandments at a moment of national threats or crisis to sanctify the Name לשמה. This failure to understand the expansive nature of tohor time oriented commandments, like as did the B’hag, resulted in a boxed in type of ghetto thinking which limits the Torah commandments strictly and only to positive and negative תרי”ג commandments! A completely טיפש פשט stupidity comparable to the Xtian avoda zarah which preaches that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Or the Pauline abomination which perverts the theme of g’lut unto original sin.
Greetings Mosckerr, and thank you for your comment/worldview. You need to remember that what makes sense to you (your worldview) is not my worldview. I trust that the Bible is the word of God — it and only it is God’s word. The Talmud interprets the word of God, according to the Jewish worldview. Christian commentaries interpret the word of God according to the Christian worldview. This doesn’t mean that I believe everything the Christian commentaries tell me. I read them with respect, just as I read the Talmud (from time to time) with respect. I make my own choices concerning the meaning of God’s word. While the Talmud and/or Christian commentaries may help me form my worldview, they do not **command** my worldview. After all, if Christian worldview makes any sense at all, God is in me, helping me to understand him and be like him. It’s a journey, but it leads somewhere, and it’s quite enjoyable. It’s just that simple.
Have a good, safe day, my friend. :-)
[[ I trust that the Bible is the word of God — it and only it is God’s word. The Talmud interprets the word of God, according to the Jewish worldview.]]
No such thing as “word of God”, the entire T’NaCH written by Men. Just as the Talmud written by Men. The revelation of the Torah at Sinai … the opening first two commandments, and only these two commandments. Everything else of the Torah and thereafter Israel received from Moshe upon his return from his 2nd 40 day and night fast at Sinai/Horev. Herein the concept of the Oral Torah.
Clearly the Oral Torah, expressed through the common law PARDES Logic system of common law, this revelation of the impact of the revelation of the 13 Spirit attributes which Moshe heard straight from HaShem, stand as the basis of all Talmudic common law legal rulings.
Hence its not that the Talmud itself qualifies as the Oral Torah but rather the PARDES Logic system revealed to Moshe at Horev after the sin of the Golden Calf, this revelation known as PARDES defines the revelation of the Oral Torah revealed to Moshe on Yom Kippur 40 days after the sin of the golden calf.
Xtian commentaries known absolutely nothing of the Oral Torah logic system, ie PARDES. They rely upon the logic of Plato and Aristotle, just as did the Jewish heretic known as the Rambam substituted ancient Greek philosophical logic in places of PARDES logic. The two systems of logic not even remotely resemble one another.
Science of Logic, first published between 1812 and 1816, is the work in which Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel outlined his vision of logic. Hegel’s logic is a system of dialectics, i.e., a dialectical metaphysics: it is a development of the principle that thought and being constitute a single and active unity.
Hegel’s logic system likewise completely different from Aristotle and Plato’s logic formats. Proof that the revelation of PARDES at Horev 40 days after the sin of the Golden Calf, a completely different logic system that Plato, Aristotle and Hegel did not know.
This PARDES logic system delves into the Torah commandments known as tohor time oriented commandments. Time, based upon the precedents of D’vorah and HaDassah in the NaCH does not refer to time as a clock but rather as a “time” of national or personal life and death crisis. That if a person does even a Rabbinic commandment like lighting shabbat candles or lighting the candles of the Hannukka manorah לשמה, these tohor time oriented commandments revealed to Moshe when HaShem passed before Moshe and proclaimed HIS tohor attributes.
The Chosen Tohor nation of Cohonim can only do “avodat HaShem” (translated as keep or do the commandments לשמה) while breathing defined tohor middot/attributes. The mitzva of tefillah (mistranslated as prayer) requires שם ומלכות. Meaning the mitzva of tefillah, written by over 247 NaCH prophets according to the Yerushalmi Talmud, this rabbinic commandment – when a Jew breathes a tohor middah attribute together with a Divine Presence Spirit Name from within his heart, this sworn Torah oath/brit it raises the time oriented rabbinic positive commandment of tefillah to a Torah commanded mitzvah!
This revelation of tohor time oriented commandments defines the k’vanna of obeying all the halachot ritual Judaism rulings found in the whole of the Talmud. Only a Jew, regardless of the generation can breath the Spirit Name and a defined Torah middah/attribute while doing commandments from the Torah or halachot from the Talmud, as tohor time oriented Torah commandments.
Never did any Xtian ever grasp this Oral Torah revelation as it for ever lives within the oath brit chosen Cohen nation of the Jewish people.
Have a nice day.