Bg – Ezra’s Return to Jerusalem Ezra 7:1 to 8:36

Ezra’s Return to Jerusalem
Ezra 7:1 to 8:36

The Chronicler had his own ideas about chronology. For him, the maximum, “first things first” meant organizing the book in order of importance. The building of the Temple must come first with Zerubbabel (to see link click Ag – The First Return); then the purifying of the people by the reading of His Word by Ezra the priest came next (see Bf – The Second Return); then, came the building of the outer walls of the City by Nehemiah would finish the narrative (see Bt – The Third Return). Therefore, Nehemiah 7:73b-9:37, compiled by the Chronicler, but written in the memoirs of Nehemiah, is included here. I am convinced that the Ruach Ha’Kodesh wanted future readers to see the events of Nehemiah 9 as following upon the narrative of Nehemiah 8. The LXX (The Greek translation of the TaNaKh) underlines the continuity between Nehemiah 8 and 9 by adding the words: and Ezra said in Nehemiah 9:6. Therefore, after Ezra returned from Babylon and read the book of the Torah to the Israelites, the people confessed their sin of mixed marriage and took an oath to repent of it.¹²⁵