Book of Ezra

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The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally written as a single text, but were broken up into two books in the 3rd century CE, by the newly emerging "Christian Church", and in the 16th century by Jewish scholars. The books as a collective discuss the world of Jerusalem during a roughly 100 year period just after the fall of Babylon. Both are works from the Ketuvim, the "writings".

## Contents

* 1 Book of Ezra
* 1.1 Christian editing
* 2 Book of Nehemiah
* 3 See also

## Book of Ezra[edit]

The Book of Ezra focuses primarily on the Jews' return to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile (making it a popularly cited work for modern Zionists). The return from Babylon happened in two stages between 457 and 395 BCE. Much of the book is given to descriptions of the rebuilding of the temple. Ezra and Nehemiah are one book in the Jewish TNK, but were split up from the Septuagint on.

### Christian editing[edit]

Other than being used to beat up gays but not lobster eaters, or being used to look foolish in the face of Science, for Christians, the Old Testament primarily acts as proof that Jesus is Super Cool™. To this end, Ezra had a 60 year gap in the text added by the Christian editors, which was necessary to make Jesus fulfill Daniel's prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. An angel said to Daniel that Jerusalem cannot be restored until a period of 70 weeks has passed. Since the Jews return to Jerusalem finding the temple destroyed, rebuilding it before the 70 weeks are over, would not be sufficient for Daniel's New Jerusalem and the Anointed One to come. Therefore, Christian Theologians who believe Jesus was the Anointed One (Messiah or Christ), needed 70 years of peace to happen between the return of the Jews and the construction of the Temple. Hence the addition of the lapse in the Christian Ezra.

## Book of Nehemiah[edit]

The Book of Nehemiah is a celebration of post Zion identity, as Nehemiah finds himself rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, symbolically showing how individual Jews rebuilt their city, their religion, and their identity after exile. Nehemiah is a first person memoir of Nehemiah, a high official in the Persian Court. He is not Jewish, but god being who god is, he is somehow convinced that the new city should be blessed and dedicated to God (YHWH, not Ahurah Mazda, of course) and to God's Law, the Torah. The Israelites accept him as the Governor of Judah under Persian rule, which unlike Babylonian rule, allowed them freedom of identity and religion.

Ironically, the fact that the Israelites were more free under Persian rule meant they interacted far more closely with them. One of the historical impacts of the positive relationship between the Persian Zoroastrians who released the exiles and the Jewish religion is the advent of many concepts common to what would become Christianity:

* The concept of an "All Good" god against an "All Bad" dude. (Prior to this, the Jewish faith did not have something akin to the devil \- everything, good and bad, emanated from God.)
* Heaven (the Zoroastrian word "paradise", hum...) and the associated Hell instead of a generic afterlife for everyone (Sheol), as before.
* Angels, beings from heaven, are likely a Zoroastrian addition, including the Jewish concept of 7 Chief archangels, which look quite identical to the older "Amesha Spentas", 7 angles that guard entry into the Garden of Paradise.
* All those angels on everyone's shoulders these days, so-called "guardian angels"? They're fravashi, the divine guardian spirits for each born person.
* That whole "End times" thing (well, not specifically the 2012, but 'in general') -- straight out of Zoroastrianism.
* The concept of a Messiah, distinct from simple prophets, traces to Zoroastrianism.
* And gosh, but there's a real similarity between that dude who died on the cross and Zarathustra himself.

## See also[edit]

* RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/Ezra
* RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/Nehemiah

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Articles about the Bible

Old Testament: |  Goliath • Tamar • Tower of Babel • Abel • Joseph (Old Testament) • Firmament • Baal • Noah • Isaac • Ishmael • Amalekites • Curse of Ham • Jacob • Sodom and Gomorrah • Ezekiel's wheel • Lot • Nephilim • G'Tach • Joseph was Imhotep • Moses • Global flood • Cain • Gibeah • Abraham • Old Testament • Incubus and succubus myths • Satan • King David • List of actions prohibited by the Bible • Serpent seed doctrine • Leviathan • Messiah • Mark of Cain • Asherah • Nimrod • Sirach • Jezebel • Adam and Eve • Moloch • Book of Joel • Garden of Eden •
| Torah: |  Torah • Book of Deuteronomy • Book of Exodus • Book of Genesis • Book of Leviticus • Book of Numbers • Book of Zechariah •
| Old Testament History: |  Book of Esther • Book of Judges • Book of Ruth • Books of Chronicles • Books of Kings • Books of Samuel • Book of Joshua •
| Old Testament Wisdom: |  Ecclesiastes • Song of Solomon • Book of Job • Book of Proverbs • Book of Psalms •
| Major and Minor Prophets: |  Book of Daniel • Book of Ezekiel • Book of Isaiah • Book of Lamentations • Books of the Minor Prophets • Book of Jeremiah •
New Testament: |  Mary Magdalene • New Testament • Mary (mother of Jesus) • Joseph of Arimathea • Paul of Tarsus • Good Samaritan • Authorship of the New Testament • Magi • John the Baptist • Principalities and powers • Joseph (husband of Mary) • Nag Hammadi library • Messiah • Jesus • Gospel of Barnabas • Peter the Apostle • Pontius Pilate • Judas Iscariot • Book of Revelation •
| Gospels and Acts: |  Acts of the Apostles • Gospels • Q gospel • Gospel of John • Gospel of Mark • Gospel of Luke • Gospel of Matthew •
| Pauline Epistles: |  Corinthians • Galatians • Ephesians • Colossians • Epistle to the Philippians • Epistle to Philemon • Epistle to the Romans • Epistle to Titus • First Epistle to the Thessalonians • Second Epistle to the Thessalonians • Second Epistle to Timothy • First Epistle to Timothy •
| General Epistles: |  Epistle of Jude • Epistle of James • Epistle to the Hebrews • First Epistle of John • First Epistle of Peter • Second Epistle of John • Second Epistle of Peter • Third Epistle of John •
Bible analysis: |  Apocalyptic literature • Authorship of the New Testament • Bible interpolation • Biblical sexism • Bibliolatry • Documentary hypothesis • Evidence for the Exodus • Gospels • Horizontal reading • King James Only • List of actions prohibited by the Bible • Pesher • Q gospel • Septuagint • Skeptic's Annotated Bible • Ten Commandments • Torah • Bible translation • Word of God • Biblical literalism • Biblical contradictions • List of mistakes made by God • Abomination • Firmament • G'Tach • Arsenokoites • Genealogy of Jesus • Nag Hammadi library • Noah's Ark • Annotated Bible • Slavery in the Bible • Examples of God personally killing people • Herod • The Brick Testament • Evidence against a recent creation • Biblical scientific errors • EvilBible.com •
| Bible translations: |  Cockney Bible • Douay-Rheims • Jefferson Bible • King James Only • Septuagint • Vetus Latina • Bible translation • Annotated Bible •
| Apocrypha: |  Didache • Apocrypha • Nag Hammadi library • Book of Judith • 2 Maccabees • 3 Maccabees • 4 Maccabees • Books of Enoch • Books of the Maccabees • Gospel of Judas • Gospel of Mary • Gospel of Philip • Gospel of Thomas • Infancy Gospel of James • Infancy Gospel of Thomas • 1 Maccabees •
Biblical figures: |  Abel • Cain • Isaac • Ishmael • Jacob • Joseph of Arimathea • Joseph (Old Testament) • Mary (mother of Jesus) • Noah • Paul of Tarsus • Mary Magdalene • Lot • Goliath • Nephilim • Moses • YHWH • Amalekites • Baal • King David • Abraham • Satan • Joseph (husband of Mary) • God • Jesus • Asherah • Nimrod • Habakkuk • Adam and Eve • Herod • Peter the Apostle • Pontius Pilate • Jezebel • Tamar • Judas Iscariot •
Bible woo: |  Jesus diet • Name it and claim it • Snake handling • Speaking in tongues • Spiritual warfare • The Bible Code • Gematria • Stigmata • Biblical longevity • Hanzi of Genesis • Dr. Bronner's Soap • Presidential Prayer Team • British Israelism • Trinity Broadcasting Network • Zecharia Sitchin • James Ussher • Creation Week • Zion Oil and Gas • The Drama of the Lost Disciples • Roman Piso • Jose Luis de Jesús • Prayer • Biblical scientific foreknowledge • Black Hebrew Israelites • Jonathan Otto • Benny Hinn • Presents Of God Ministry • Solfeggio frequencies • Ken Ham • Harold Camping • Institute for Creation Research • Steve Quayle • Kabbalah Center • Acharya S • Christian Identity •
| Scientific foreknowledge: |  Gaps between Science and the Bible • Biblical scientific foreknowledge • Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to Believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin • Science Confirms the Bible • Eternal Productions: 101 Scientific Facts and Foreknowledge • Modern Science in the Bible •