Historical Books of the Old Testament: Ezra & Nehemiah

Contents: General Introduction -- A Guide to Using This Commentary -- Abbreviations -- Introduction to 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther -- Commentary on 1 Kings -- Commentary on 2 Kings -- Commentary on 1 Chronicles -- Commentary on 2 Chronicles -- Commentary on Ezra -- Commentary on Nehemiah -- Commentary on Esther

The Anchor Bible Commentary is the collaborative effort of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish scholars from around the world.

This commentary provides competent guidance into the complexities of Ezra and Nehemiah giving special attention to the perplexing scholarly problems associated with their form, structure, and literary history.

This volume, like each in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible, is designed to serve the church through aid in preaching, teaching, study groups, and so forth and demonstrate the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible. - Publisher. This commentary employs the template of "holy people and holy land" that Michael Dauphinais and I put forward as a way of understanding the unity withing diversity of the biblical story from Genesis to Revelation. The commentary suggests that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are best appropriated and understood in the light of other biblical texts. My commentary is distinguished by how it approaches the meaning of history itself : the non-chronological relationships through which past, present, and future human beings share in different ways in the same realities

Fensham's study on the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah is a contribution to The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Like its companion series on the New Testament, this commentary devotes considerable care to achieving a balance between technical information and homiletic-devotional interpretation.

Contents: Pt. 1: Ezra 1-6 -- The rescript of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-4) -- Response of the diaspora to the rescript (Ezra 1:5-11) -- A census of the temple community (Ezra 2:1-67) -- Final stages of the return and resumption of worship (Ezra 2: 68--3:6) -- Laying the foundations and dedication (Ezra 3:7-13) -- Additional note on the laying of the foundations of the second temple -- Opposition during the reign of Cyrus (Ezra 4:1-5) -- Opposition during the reigns of Xerxes and Artaxerxes (Ezra 4:6-24) -- Resumption of work during the reign of Darius (Ezra 5:1-2) -- Intervention of Tattenai and his letter to Darius (Ezra 5:3-17) -- The Cyrus rescript rediscovered (Ezra 6:1-5) -- Darius replies (Ezra 6:6-12) -- The temple finished and dedicated (Ezra 6:13-18) -- The great passover (Ezra 6: 19-22) -- Pt. 2: Ezra 7-10 -- Ezra's mission to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:1-10) -- Additional note on the chronology of Ezra and Nehemiah -- The rescript of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:11-26) -- Additional note on Ezra's law -- Response to the rescript (Ezra 7:27-8:14) -- Recruiting for the mission (Ezra 8:15-20) -- Preparations for departure (Ezra 8:15-20) -- The journey successfully completed (Ezra 8:31-36) -- The foreign marriage crisis (Ezra 9:1-5) -- A public confession of sin (Ezra 9: 6-15) -- The decision to take action (Ezra 10:1-8) -- The assembly is convened (Ezra 10:9-17) -- The list of offenders (Ezra 10:18-44) -- Pt 3: Nehemiah 1:1-7:5a -- Hanani brings bad news (Neh. 1:1-4) -- Nehemiah's prayer (Neh. 1:5-11a) -- Nehemiah is granted a leave of absence (Neh. 1:11b-2:10) -- Nehemiah's night ride (Neh. 2:11-20) -- Work on the wall (Neh. 3:1-32) -- Additional note on Nehemiah's Jerusalem -- Renewed opposition (Neh. 3:33-38 [4:1-6]) -- The opposition intensifies (Neh. 4:1-8 [7-14]) -- Nehemiah holds firm (Neh. 4:9-17 [15-23]) -- Social and economic problems (Neh. 5:1-13) -- Nehemiah's record (Neh. 5:14-19) -- A campaign of intimidation (Neh. 6:1-14) -- The wall completed in spite of opposition (Neh. 6:15-19) -- Jerusalem secured (Neh. 7:1-5a) -- Pt. 4: Nehemiah 7:5b-10:40 [39] -- A census of the temple community (Neh. 7:5b-72a [73a]) -- Liturgical reading and explanation of the law (Neh. 7:72b[73b]-8:12 -- Celebration of the feast of booth (Neh. 8:13-18) -- A penitential service (Neh. 9:1-5) -- A confessional prayer (Neh. 9:6-37) -- The sworn covenant (Neh. 10:1-40 [9:38-10:39]) -- Pt. 5: Nehemiah 11-13 -- The repopulation of Jerusalem (Neh. 11:1-24) -- A catalog of settlements (Neh. 11:25-36) -- List of temple personnel (Neh. 12:1-26) -- The dedication of the wall (Neh. 12:27-43) -- Various dispositions (Neh. 12:44-13:3) -- Abuses remedied (Neh. 13:4-14) -- Sabbath observance (Neh. 13:15-22) -- Nehemiah's anti-assimilationist policy (Neh. 13:23-31).

Part of the Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching series

Contents: Introduction -- Origins -- Towards the origins of Judaism -- Judeans or Jews? -- A clash of Titans : Eduard Meyer vs. Julius Wellhausen -- From monocentrism to pluricentrism : a new situation -- Who are the children of Abraham? -- Ezra -- Putting Ezra-Nehemiah in perspective -- The Ezra story -- Ezra's mission (Ezra 7:1-8:34) -- Reading and interpreting the law (Neh. 7:72b-8:18) -- The intermarriage crisis (Ezra 9-10) -- The Ezra profile -- Ezra and the Golah -- Nehemiah -- The Nehemiah story -- The Nehemiah memoir in its contemporary setting -- The memoir compared with Egyptian -- Commemorative inscriptions -- Genre and literary character of the memoir -- The Nehemiah memoir in the context of the book (Nehemiah 1-13) -- The Nehemiah profile -- Ezra-Nehemiah : the roots of the ideology -- The diaspora situation -- Projections of a restored past in postdisaster prophecy -- The prehistory of the ideology in Ezra-Nehemiah -- Temple and divine presence -- Ezekiel's law of the temple (tôrat habbayit) -- The status of foreigners -- Marriage policy and ritual ethnicity -- Temple priests and altar priests -- The privileges and duties of the secular ruler -- The land -- Ezra and Nehemiah : history and ideology -- Ezra and Nehemiah as ideological points of reference -- Closely related texts : Chronicles, First Esdras, Josephus -- In praise of Nehemiah : Ben Sira and II Maccabees -- Ezra between the Canonical Book and rabbinic attestations -- How lasting were the achievements of Ezra and Nehemiah? -- The sectarian element in early Judaism -- What is a sect and how can it be recognized as such? -- Aspects of sectarianism in Ezra-Nehemiah -- Between Ezra-Nehemiah and Daniel : antecedents and continuities -- Sectarian origins in the Babylonian diaspora -- Legal interpretations and practice in Ezra-Nehemiah and late Second Temple sects -- Provisional conclusion in four propositions.

Contents: 1. Introduction: Historical background to Achaemenid rule in the Levant ; The transformation of the restoration community in the Mid-fifth century ; Method and interpretation of the biblical sources -- 2. History of research: Alleged catastrophe of 485 BCE ; Alleged disturbances at the end of the first quarter of the fifth century ; Political reorganization hypothesis ; Hypothesis that the missions of Ezra and Nehemiah were and imperial inducement to loyalty ; Requirements for a new synthesis of historical, archaeological, and biblical evidence -- 3. The literary source for the Egyptian revolt: The Greek sources ; The Egyptian sources ; A reconstruction of Egyptian revolt -- 4. The archaeology of the imperial response to the revolt -- 5. The social and political context of the mid-fifth century and the missions of Ezra and Nehemiah: The mission of Nehemiah ; The mission of Ezra ; Social Reorganization and imperial administration

Collection of previously pub. essays.
Bibliography [of medicine in the Old Testament]: p. 35-68.

Contents: A form-critical approach to the post-exilic prayers of penitence -- Isa 63:7-64:11 : an anomalous psalm of communal lament -- Ezra 9:6-15 : law and liturgy -- Neh 9:6-37 : a transformation of the communal lament -- The form-critical legacy of the communal lament in the Hellenistic and Roman periods