Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Commentaries: Ezra/Nehemiah

"The books of Ezra and Nehemiah, treated here as one larger work, continue the story of Israel's experience begun in the biblical books of I and II Chronicles. In the wake of Persia replacing Babylon as the ruling empire in the ancient Near East, the Judahites exiled in Babylon find reason to hope again. Their hope is rooted in the fulfillment of the prophetic promises that they would one day return to their homeland. Not only do the exiles return from Babylon with the support of the Persian ruler, but they renew their commitment to God. Two remarkable personalities – with strikingly different approaches to the same objective – are the architects of this rebuilding of a people so long without roots. Ezra, “the second Moses,” bases the renewal on the Torah and spiritual reform. Nehemiah, the accomplished politician and diplomat, keeps the renewal alive with his deft administrative hand. For all its usefulness in painting the historical picture, Ezra-Nehemiah presents an exceedingly complex textual jigsaw puzzle. The heart of the matter lies not in reconciling all the parallel lists, quotes, and different accounts of the same story, but in coming to a better understanding of how and when the Bible came to be written. The factors of spiritual renewal, national reconstruction, and biblical composition make Ezra-Nehemiah a key to biblical interpretation then and now." - Yale University Press

"Raymond Brown vividly sketches Nehemiah's historical and social setting and demonstrates the striking contemporary relevance of his dominant themes: Nehemiah's doctrine of God, his passion for Scripture, his experience of prayer and his example of leadership." - IVP Academic

"The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible enlists leading theologians to read and interpret scripture for the twenty-first century, just as the church fathers, the Reformers, and other orthodox Christians did for their times and places. Ezra & Nehemiah is the fourth volume in the series. This commentary, like each in the series, 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." - Brazos

"The Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series provides up-to-date, evangelical scholarship on the Old and New Testaments. Each volume is designed to equip pastors and Christian leaders with exegetical and theological knowledge to better understand and apply God's Word by presenting the message of each passage as well as an overview of other issues surrounding the text. The commentary series has been structured to help readers get at the meaning of Scripture, passage by passage, through the entire Bible. Each Bible book is prefaced by a substantial book introduction that gives general historical background important for understanding." - Tyndale Press

"In this provocative study, Lester Grabbe presents a unique approach to Ezra-Nehemiah with the combination of a literary and historical approach. Lester Grabbe challenges commonly held assumptions about Joshua and Zerubbabel, the initial resettlement of land after the exile, the figure of Ezra and the activities of Nehemiah. Controversially, the challenge comes, not from radical theory but from paying careful attention to the text of the Bible itself." - Routledge

"The biblical books Ezra and Nehemiah are not highly regarded because of a painful point. In both books, a call can be found to put an end to marriages with foreign, or strange women. This commentary wants to understand that summons in the context of the world at that time and to show that other themes play a role in Ezra and Nehemiah. In the time after the return from the Babylonian exile Israel had to search for a new identity. It was found around the temple and from the Torah of Moses which was appropriated for a new era." - Peeters

"Studies in the books of Ezra-Nehemiah have tended to become bogged down with such questions as, "Who came first, Ezra or Nehemiah, and were they contemporaries? When did Ezra make his journey to Jerusalem, how many trips did he make, and which route did he take?" In this commentary, the author undertakes a theological reading which emphasizes its character as narrative and story. He avoids rearranging the text and, with the exception of chapter five of Nehemiah, he seeks to understand the narrative as it was received. In general, Mark Throntveit avoids an overly historical approach to the text and presents a clear picture of Ezra and Nehemiah." - WJK Press

"THE NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY is for the minister or Bible student who wants to understand and expound the Scriptures. Notable features include:* commentary based on THE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION;* the NIV text printed in the body of the commentary;* sound scholarly methodology that reflects capable research in the original languages;* interpretation that emphasizes the theological unity of each book and of Scripture as a whole;* readable and applicable exposition." - B&H Publishing

“The books of Ezra and Nehemiah relate the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon during the rule of the early Persian kings. For a long time, interpretations of these two books by Christian exegetes characterized the Judaism of the post-exilic age as narrow and nationalistic. This interpretation led to a separation of post-exilic Judaism from its pre-exilic Israelite roots that allowed for a supersessionist reading of the Old Testament based on perceived deficiencies in the religious views of the post-exilic era. Informed by recent advances in our knowledge of the Persian Empire, this commentary, demonstrates that Ezra and Nehemiah offer a compelling story of a people's attempt to reassemble the fragments of their heritage as they face the future in a greatly changed world.” – Liturgical Press

"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." - Eerdmans

“Blenkinsopp's excellent new OTL commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah both demonstrates the importance of postexilic biblical literature and contributes significantly to our understanding of it. As Blenkinsopp notes, Ezra-Nehemiah in particular and 2nd-Temple Judaism in general have often been distorted and dismissed as a decline from the high water mark of preexilic prophecy into mere legalism. Only recently have scholars come to appreciate the creativity of the formative postexilic era and that of Ezra-Nehemiah. Blenkinsopp's commentary provides an important key to Ezra- Nehemiah. It vividly captures the reality of the fledgling Judean community in its struggle to survive with integrity in relation to God and to changed historical circumstances. Paying attention to literary as well as historical issues, the commentary also illuminates the nuanced ways in which the text interprets and thereby restructures that reality.” – Tamara C. Eskenazi

"Ezra-Nehemiah describes events that occurred between 539 and 432 BCE, but the book itself was written between that latter date and about 200 BCE. Though it describes early events and perhaps incorporates authentic “memoirs” of Nehemiah, it also contains later lists, narratives, and thinking about that crucial century in the life of post-exilic Judah (or Yehud) and its neighbors. Ezra-Nehemiah dutifully records both the successes and the excesses of three waves of returnees. It opens with the efforts of early returnees to rebuild the altar at the site of the Jerusalemite temple in 538/7 and the rebuilding and dedication of the temple in 520 BCE. It records a second return under Ezra perhaps in 458, and it reaches its saddest moment in Ezra 9–10, when Ezra himself demands the divorce of returned exiles who had married local Yehudite women. Nehemiah completes the narrative of the reestablishment of exiled Jews with its discussion of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem and other actions in 445/4 and 432 by the returnees to solidify their control over the temple, Jerusalem, and post-exilic Yehud." - Smyth & Helwys

""The chequered story of the Kings, a matter of nearly five centuries, had ended disastrously in 587 B.C. with the sack of Jerusalem, the fall of the monarchy and the removal to Babylonia of all that made Judah politically viable. It was a death to make way for a rebirth." So begins Derek Kidner in this introduction and commentary to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah which chart the Jews' return from exile to Jerusalem and the beginnings of that rebirth. As the drama unfolds, we see how international politics, nationalist pride, wise leadership, political intrigue and opportunism, internal dissension and compromise all shape events. But above all and through all we see the good hand of God at work. The original, unrevised text of this volume has been completely retypeset and printed in a larger, more attractive format with the new cover design for the series." - IVP Academic