Ezra-Nehemiah was originally 1 book in the Hebrew Bible that recorded the “post-exilic” history of Israel.

To recap – here are the major epochs of Israel’s history that we have read so far:

1. Patriarchs
2. Egyptian Bondage, Exodus, Wilderness
3. Conquest of Canaan & Judges
4. United Kingdom (Saul, David, Solomon)
5. Divided Kingdom
6. Babylonian Captivity & Exile
7. Post-Exile Return (You Are Here)

The Return starts with Cyrus releasing the Hebrews from all of the provinces in the newly formed Persian Empire to return to Judea and Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple of Yahweh.

A group of about 40,000 people packed up and moved, led by a “prince of Judah” named Sheshbazzar. Ezra was not part of this group. In fact, he probably wasn’t even born yet when that happened.

The journey from the city of Babylon to Jerusalem would’ve been like road-tripping from Kansas City to western Colorado… by way of South Dakota.

Some exiles were traveling from the equivalent of the east coast. With a pack mule. 🫏 It was very Oregon Trail.

Ezra was a scribe who moved to Jerusalem from Babylon in the 2nd group of returning exiles about the year 458BC. This was about 80 years after the first group had returned.

By the time Ezra gets to Jerusalem himself, there have been a couple of generations born and raised in Israel. Ezra’s purpose was to teach the Scriptures to the people. They needed to know the Law of God (so they wouldn’t break it as their ancestors had done). And they needed to know their own history. In fact, some scholars think that Ezra the Scribe may have been the person who wrote all of 1 & 2 Chronicles as well as Ezra-Nehemiah. They are all structured the same with many lists of names.

😒 Aww man… really? I thought we were done with lists of names.

Nope. Not yet.

The post-exile return is the Exodus 2.0.

The parallels are noticeable.

• Both departures are commanded by the king. In the case of Exodus, Pharaoh and Egypt were ruined and he later changed his mind, but when they left it was at his command.
• The people were freely given treasure by their neighbors. Much of this treasure went toward the building of a sacred meeting space (tabernacle/2nd temple)
• The people were released from a situation where they had been born in a foreign land and had never seen the Promised Land.
• In both situations, the people are coming out of a background of idolatry and they are (in general) rather clumsy at being God’s people.
• They’re divided up and counted by tribe and father’s house.
• Both releases were foretold by God before they happened; including exactly how long the bondage would last.
• Their key leaders were Levites (Moses, Aaron, Jeshua son of Jozadak) and princes of Judah (Nahshon, Sheshbazzar, and Zerubbabel) In different ways these men were pictures of Christ.

Imagine being King Cyrus, and the legendary (and elderly) royal wiseman Daniel, of the kingdom you just conquered, brings you a 200 year old scroll that says.., 📜

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’; who says to the deep, ‘Be dry; I will dry up your rivers’; who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭44‬:‭24‬-‭28‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭45‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

🤯🤯🤯

THIS is why Cyrus was so cooperative about sending the exiles back to Jerusalem and even helping to rebuild everything. The Most High God had commissioned him to do it- in writing – before he was even born!

As we go through the book of Ezra and follow this new phase of Israel’s history, we can see the dry bones 🦴 of Ezekiel rising up and coming back to life. The wording of this verse even sounds like bones coming together and the breath of God raising them up.

“Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.”
‭‭Ezra‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

If the first Exodus is a picture of salvation and baptism (through the Red Sea), I wonder if this 2nd Exodus is a picture of the resurrection.