This book takes its name from the writer, who was a holy priest and doctor of the Law.
1. King Cyrus of Persia has conquered the Babylonians. It is
Persia’s policy to repatriate the exiled people and to encourage them to rebuild
their temple. Ezra 1:1-5.
2. As when they left Egypt they do not return empty handed. Their neighbours give them
articles of silver and gold and King Cyrus returns to them items belonging to the temple
which had been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar. Ezra 1:6-11.
3. List of Exiles who were returned. Among these were some who did not know their tribe.
They were excluded from serving as priests. Ezra 2:1-70.
4. Rebuilding the altar. Lebanon again supplies choice cedar wood for the building. The
priests and other leaders, who had seen the former temple, weep for the glories of the
Temple that had been destroyed. Ezra 3:1-13.
5. Work is halted. Samaritans ask to join in the work but are rejected. They retaliate by
frustrating the building work. For fifteen years no progress is made. Ezra 4:1-5.
6. Darius, the king of Persia, revokes Cyrus’s permission for the temple to be
rebuilt. He is afraid of the people of Judah becoming too powerful and rebellious. Ezra
4:6-24.
7. Urged on by the prophets Haggai and Zercharia, the people again start building. This
time an attempt to stop the building fails when Darius finds the scroll containing
Cyrus’s command that the temple should be rebuilt. In four years it is completed and
the Passover is celebrated. (Ezra 6:11 describes the punishment for anyone failing to
honour king Cyrus’ decree "a beam is to be pulled from his house and he is to be
lifted up and impaled on it." Is this the first Biblical mention of crucifixion?)
Ezra 5 & 6. B.C.
8. Sixty years after the rebuilding, Ezra returns to Jerusalem. During those years Esther
is able to avert a massacre of the Jewish people (See Esther 8.) and indirectly to save
the lives of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra is given official sanction to teach the law, appoint
magistrates, offer sacrifices and beautify the temple. Ezra 7:1-28.
9. List of families who accompanied Ezra on his return and details of the journey. Ezra
8:1-36.
10. Since their return, priests and Levites, rulers and people alike have intermarried
with heathen peoples, a thing forbidden by God (Deuteronomy 7:1-5), not out of racial
prejudice, but because it led to idolatry. Ezra prays and laments. Ezra 9:1-15.
11. The people react to Ezra’s prayer and agree that the women and children of these
marriages must be sent away. Family heads were chosen to investigate the cases of men who
had married foreign women. Ezra 10:1-44.