In yesterday’s study, we concluded by saying that we needed to understand something of the history of this period. Today we look at some of the key elements.
1. The fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. This event deserves special mention because it is the key to understanding most of what follows. The books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther belong together in the Old Testament, and they are introduced with a quotation from the end of 2 Chronicles, which precedes them in the Bible. These verses concern the decree of King Cyrus of Persia to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, which presupposes the city’s fall. It is a way of showing that the fall of Jerusalem is the starting point for everything in these documents (cf. 2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-3).
2. The rise of Belshazzar as the last ruler of Babylon, replacing Nebuchadnezzar. This change is reflected in Daniel 5, 7 and 8. Belshazzar was the son of Nebunaid, the last actual king of Babylon. But Nebunaid was absent from the city at the time of its fall to Cyrus, and it was therefore Belshazzar, who was in the city, who was actually overthrown.
3. The fall of Babylon to Cyrus, the king of Persia, in 539 B.C. Cyrus was an unusually humane ruler. It was he who issued the decree permitting the Jews to return to their homeland to rebuild the temple.
The first Jews returned in 538 B.C. under Zerubbabel and Joshua (the account is in Ezra 1-6). The foundations of the temple were laid at that time, but the work was opposed by the Samaritans and it was fifteen more years before the temple was completed.
4. The reign of Darius the Mede. Darius took the throne in 522 B.C. The temple was actually completed during the reign of this man (between 520 and 515 B.C.), as attested by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Apparently, this is also when the Jews first tried to rebuild the wall and so provide for the city’s defenses. The opening report in Nehemiah, “The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire” (Neh. 1:3), probably relates to an effort by Rehum and Shimshai to defeat this first attempt, rather than to the original destruction of the wall by the Babylonians in 596 B.C. (cf. Ezra 4:23).
5. The reign of Xerxes, also known as Ahasuerus. Xerxes took the throne in 486 B.C., but he was defeated at Salamis and Plataea. This is the man who chose Esther as his queen (in 479 B.C.)
6. The reign of Artaxerxes I Longimanus from 465 to 424 B.C.
7. The arrival of Ezra in Jerusalem during the “seventh year” of the reign of Artaxerxes (in 458 B.C.).
8. The arrival of Nehemiah in Jerusalem in the “twentieth year” of Artaxerxes (in 445 B.C.). During his time in Jerusalem, which lasted more than a dozen years and involved at least two separate trips to Judea from Persia, Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of the city and instituted the lasting religious and moral reforms. The story of the building of the walls is told in chapters 1-7 of Nehemiah. The story of the religious reforms is told in chapters 8-13. They concern: 1) the instruction of the people (chs. 8-10), and 2) the consolidation of the work (chs. 11-13).1
1Most books and commentaries on Nehemiah contain some of this history, but an exceptionally good account is in Howard F. Vos, Bible Study Commentary: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987), 10-21.
