Smoodock's Blog

The time sequence for the things done, appears to occur immediately one event after another, but this couldn’t be so. While the chronology is correct, the events, themselves, took place over several months.[1] According to the Book of Ezra, Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the calendar, during the seventh year of Xerxes, King of Persia (Ezra 7:6-8). There were certain things that Ezra had to do prior to meeting with the princes or authorities of the Jews, and these things probably took place over a period of several weeks. First, they rested (Ezra 8:32), and afterward they weighed out the offerings to the Lord by the king, his lords and the children of Israel (Ezra 8:33-34). After this, they made their burnt offerings to the Lord, which, itself, took some time (Ezra 8:35). Then, when these things were done, they met with the king’s satrap and governors on the west side of the Euphrates and gave them the king’s orders, as it pertained to the building project and their support for the Temple offerings.

The ninth chapter of the Book of Ezra begins with, “Now when these things were done…” Those things in themselves took some time. Certainly, greetings and welcoming occurred prior to “when these things were done.” However, the business end of the matter, when Ezra was informed of the widespread rebellion among the Jewish population, took place weeks later, perhaps over a month later. After his mourning, Ezra knelt before the Lord in the Temple, crying out for mercy (Ezra 9:1-6). When Ezra was finished praying, Shechaniah encouraged him, and suggested he cause Israel to make a covenant with God and repent of their iniquities (Ezra 10:2-4).

The text claims that Ezra made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they would do according to the word (the commandment of God – verse-3) and they swore (Ezra 10:5). Obviously, this took some time to do. In fact, it wasn’t until the nineth month that Ezra caused them to make a covenant with God to repent (Ezra 10:8-12). Moreover, it wasn’t until the tenth month that Ezra began to examine the matter and make sure everyone honored their oaths (Ezra 10:16), and it wasn’t until the first month of the following year that the matter was finished (Ezra 10:17). So, these things, indeed, took time (Ezra 10:13).

The text says that “Ezra rose up…” (Ezra 10:6), but this doesn’t follow verse-5 in time sequence. Ezra 10:5 is a summation of the rest of the chapter. In other words, verse-5 claims that Ezra took charge of the matter and was completely successful. Verse-6 and onward tells us what he did to accomplish the matter. So, Ezra went into the chamber of Johanan, the son of Eliashib (who was the high priest), but he neither ate food nor drank any water, because he was in mourning over the transgression of the people. This may also be a testimony against Johanan, especially if he was involved in the rebellion of intermarrying with the heathen. We are told in Nehemiah 13:4, that before Ezra caused Israel to separate themselves from the mixed multitude (Nehemiah 13:3), that Eliashib was allied with Tobiah, the heathen,[2] and had even given him a chamber in the Temple (Nehemiah 13:7). It may have been that this Johanan (Jonathan), the son of Joiada, the son of Eliashib (Nehemiah 12:10-11; 13:28) was the same son of Joiada who was the son-in-law to Sanballat, the Horonite, a heathen (Nehemiah 13:28).

What occurs in Ezra 10:7-9 happens about three months after what occurred in verse-6. In other words, Ezra’s meeting with the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem and his subsequent prayer in the Temple (Ezra 9:1-6) occurred sometime late in the fifth month or sometime during the sixth month. Afterward, the annual holy days were celebrated in the seventh month (Nehemiah 8:1-2). At that time, Ezra informed all Israel of the iniquities they’ve been committing against the Law of Moses, for he read the Law, while the Levites went out among the people and told them the sense or meaning of what Ezra read (cp. Nehemiah 8:7-8). It may have been that Ezra read in Hebrew, but the people understood only the Aramaic, so the Levites would have translated Ezra’s word for the people. So, the people were convicted of their sins, but were told not to mourn, because the seventh month was a time of rejoicing before the Lord (Nehemiah 8:9-17).

Therefore, Ezra’s call for the people to return to Jerusalem in three days (Ezra 10:7-8) occurred in the ninth month after the people were convicted of their sins in the seventh month, and were given time (the eighth month) to consider the consequences and repent. Now, in the ninth month a proclamation was sent out to assemble in Jerusalem once more, within three days. Obviously, the three days refer to a given time, ending on the 20^th day of the month. So, they were to arrive between the 17^th and the 20 day of the month and make their commitment known to the Lord, publicly in the presence of the Jewish authorities (Ezra 10:7, 9). However, whomsoever refused to cooperate with the proclamation would have their land seized, and they would be excommunicated from Jewish society (Ezra 10:8). Therefore, the people assembled themselves before Ezra in Jerusalem by the 20^th day of the ninth month in the House of God, trembling over the matter, and they did so at a time of great rain (Ezra 10:9).     

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[1] While the text says Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the reign of Xerxes, Ezra didn’t complete his initial task until the first month of the following year (Ezra 10:17) or a period of, roughly, eight months.

[2] Often alliances between nations are expressed by intermarrying one national leader’s son or daughter with the son or daughter of the other national leader (cp. 1Kings 3:1.