At first, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were one book, because one cannot understand the one without the other. This isn’t so with any other book in the Old Covenant texts. For example, Daniel relates to Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai and Zechariah, but the book, itself, can be understood alone. The others simply add information or make what is recorded in Daniel a little clearer, but the book of Daniel can stand alone. This isn’t so for either of the books of Ezra or Nehemiah. Because scholars try to separate the two, they become confused, as to who came first, Ezra or Nehemiah. Chapter four in the Book of Ezra points to the four kings mentioned in Daniel 11:2, but because scholars want to remove Nehemiah from Ezra, they confuse the kings mentioned in both records. Moreover, because they do this, they must elongate the time-span of both books, making them account for more time than Daniel 9:25 permits, vis-à-vis forty-nine years. By separating the two records into two different books, they confuse and complicate an otherwise very clear and simple account of what occurred after Cyrus began releasing the Jews to travel to their traditional homeland to live.
When Ezra arrived in Jerusalem (Ezra 7:8-9), the Temple had been already finished, and its dedication celebrated (Ezra 6:15-17). There can be no doubt, if one trusts the clear reading of the scriptures, that Nehemiah was already in Jerusalem, when Ezra arrived (cp. Nehemiah 8:9), for he sought to be sent there for a second time to help rebuild the walls around the city (cp. Nehemiah 13:6), but the context appears to allow only that Nehemiah arrived near the end of the project, leaving only the gates to be set up (Nehemiah 7:1-3). Remember, the building project for both the House of God and the walls were stopped during the reign of Artaxerxes (Darius Hystaspes; cp. Ezra 4:21-23), but begun again in the second year of Xerxes (called Darius, king of Persia; cp. Ezra 4:24; 5:5-7; 6:1, 12-15). Therefore, he couldn’t have arrived in Jerusalem much more than a few months before Ezra arrived.
When Ezra did arrive in Jerusalem, he was both astonished and appalled over the fact that the Jews had not remained separate from the heathen, but had intermarried with them (Ezra 9:1-4). While the text in Ezra chapters 7 through 10 appears to occur in days, the actual events took place over a period of about eight months (cp. Ezra 7:8-9 and Ezra 10:17),[1] and it wasn’t until these things were completed that the city walls were dedicated, which would have been during the eighth year in the reign of Xerxes (cp. Nehemiah 12:27, 36 and Ezra 7:8-9; 10:17).
The people were gathered in the street before the Water Gate, which was situated on the eastern wall of the city near the Temple of God (Nehemiah 8:1). The people, both men and women who were of the age of understanding, were assembled together in order to listen to Ezra speak from the Law of Moses (verse-1). This assembly took place on the Feast of Trumpets, the first day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, and the reading took six hours, from dawn till noon. Moreover, all the people stood before Ezra eager to hear the words of the Law (Nehemiah 8:2-3).
A pulpit of wood was erected for Ezra to stand upon for this very purpose (Nehemiah 8:4), and he was above the people, in order to be seen of all. Twelve men stood with him, six on his right hand and six on his left, possibly, the recognized leaders of the twelve tribes represented in Jerusalem. When Ezra opened the Torah, the Book of the Law, all the people stood (Nehemiah 8:4-5). Ezra began by blessing the Lord God of Israel, and the people replied with “Amen!” while lifting their hands, and with bowed heads, facing the ground, they worshiped before their God (Nehemiah 8:6).
While the people stood in their places, listening to Ezra read from the Law of Moses, thirteen men and the Levites caused the people to understand what was being said. That is, Ezra read from the Law in Hebrew, but most of the Jews didn’t understand their own language, because they had grown up in foreign lands and spoke Aramaic, which is related to Hebrew, but it’s not the same thing. Aramaic was the universal language of the eastern nations, the language of the marketplace etc. In the times of the New Covenant the western language of the people was Greek. One could communicate with foreign nations in the West with Greek and in the East with Aramaic. So, Ezra spoke and these men translated what he said into Aramaic for the people to understand the sense of the Law (Nehemiah 8:7-8).
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[1] See my earlier study in chapter ten of the Book of Ezra: Assembling the People Before Ezra.
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