Ezra Chapter 1 : NIV

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF EZRA

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return
This book is named after the person who appears in chapters 7-10 of the book. Both the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the Greek Septuagint use Ezra (or Esdras) for the title. In the Hebrew Bible, the book of Ezra was joined to the book of Nehemiah.

Jewish tradition informs us that this book was written by Ezra. From Ezra 7:28 to 8:34 and again in chapter 9, Ezra speaks in the first person, much as Luke does in certain portions of the book of Acts. Ezra is described as a scribe in Ezra 7:21, so he would have had ample ability to write this book.

This book spans 92 years of Jewish history from the decree of Cyrus allowing the Jews to return to the land (539 B.C.) to the decree of Artaxerxes which halted the work of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem (446 B.C.).

Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther all deal with the story of Israel following the Babylonian Captivity. Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon did not long outlive that king. It was soon replaced by the empire of the Persians. The Persians had a different method of maintaining their empire. They determined that a happy and prosperous people made better taxpayers, so they permitted dispossessed peoples to return to their homelands. Under the Persian rule, there were three specific returns of Jews to the land of Judah.

o The first was led by Zerubbabel and involved an initial rebuilding of Jerusalem.

o The second was led by Ezra who oversaw the rebuilding of the Temple and the reinstitution of the sacrifices.

o The third was led by Nehemiah and involved the rebuilding of the defensive walls of Jerusalem.

The story of Esther takes place in the interim between Ezra and Nehemiah. However it is a separate narrative as its focus is not upon the land of Judah but deals with the Jews throughout the Persian Empire.

OUTLINE OF EZRA (Ch 1-10)

C1 First Return under Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel Return from Babylon The Edict of Cyrus

C2 The Exiles who returned

C3 Rebuilding of the Temple Construction begun

C4 Construction opposed

C5 Construction delayed

C6 Construction completed

C7 Second Return under Ezra Return from Babylon Decree of Artaxerxes

C8 The Journey

C9 Restoration of the People Problem of mixed marriages

C10 Solution to the problem

Chapter 1

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:
2 "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: " 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.
3 Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem.
4 And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' "
5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.
6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.
7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.
8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.
9. This was the inventory: gold dishes 30 silver dishes 1,000 silver pans 29
10.     gold bowls 30 matching silver bowls 410 other articles 1,000
11. In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along when the exiles came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.