The Second Return
Ezra 7:1-10:44 and Nehemiah 7:73b-11:36
458-457 BC
Fifty-seven years had elapsed between the completion of the Holy Temple in Chapter 6 and Ezra’s journey to Jerusalem at the beginning of Chapter 7. Like the First Return, it begins with preparation in Babylon and the introduction of characters. No more is heard about the previous leaders such as Zerubbabel, who is said, according to rabbinic tradition, to have returned to the Persian court.
Leader: Ezra
Decree of: Artach’shashta (458 BC)
Company: 1,754/2,000 men
Purpose: Reform the people
Problem: Mixed marriages with unbelievers
Compiled by: The Chronicler from Ezra and Nehemiah memoirs
(to see link click Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Ezra Memoirs).
Ezra was a great student, he was a great statesman, he was a great reformer, and he was a great teacher. But where is he? We are more than half way through the book that bears his name, and there has been no mention of him. There are twenty-five references to him from this point onward, half of them in the book of Nehemiah. Chapter 6 ended with the celebration of the rebuilt Temple, which was completed under the reign of Darius in 515 BC. With the words, now after this, the Chronicler covers fifty-seven years of history and introduces Ezra. But the Chronicler’s purpose is not to give us historical information. He gives us no information about Ezra’s life in Babylon, and he offers no reason as to why Ezra did not come earlier. His focus is on Ezra, the teacher of the Torah.124
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