Originally a single book, Ezra-Nehemiah, 15th century rabbis separated this final historical book of the Tanakh into two. It makes sense, what is now the book of Ezra, a scribe and priest in the 5th century BCE, is written as a third person account of the events following the end of they Babylonian exile. It focuses on the rebuilding of the Temple under orders from the king of Persia in its first section, and then pivots to an ardent case for Jewish purity and separatism, the end to intermingling and intermarriage. Ezra was so strident about the latter that he promoted the dissolution of all intermarriages and the expulsion from Israel of the non-Jewish partners. Nehemiah, I gather, will continue this theme in the next book, though told in first person and focused on turning the seat of Judaism, Jerusalem, into a walled, no gentiles allowed, city.
- Cyrus, king of Persia, orders the Temple to be rebuilt, to create the religious center for the Judaic world. As Jewish leaders answer the call, he funds it both with contributions of his own, but more importantly, the return of some 5400 gold, silver, and precious gem objects that Nebuchadnezzar had plundered from the original Temple and treasury.
- A list of the 42,360 people who answered the call to rebuild the Temple. Thankfully, not a name-by-name list, but it’s divided into a list of how many people from each lineage (still a line by line listing of around 80 different lineages), plus the quantities of draft animals, and the quantity of gold, silver, and… priests’ robes brought.
- God’s gotta have his sacrifices, you know? All those 42k people enumerated in the previous chapter gather together in Jerusalem, and task number one is to build a big altar and start with the burnt offerings. In fact, it’s so key to these folk’s plans to get those sacrifices going that a full year passes before blueprints are drawn up, all the materials are gathered, and they start to dig the foundations. Explanations range from the need to reestablish proper Temple worship and get people in that mindset, to at least getting the central part of the Temple in operation before the Persians or others might revoke their building permits.
- Not everyone is happy about the Jews rebuilding the Temple and the city of Jerusalem on their own – they want in on the construction contracts, after all, they’re pretty lucrative. But the Jewish leaders decline their help. So those shut out begin a campaign to undermine the rebuilding at any opportunity – from surreptitious raids to slipping messages to the new king (Cyrus, has by now, passed on, as the years go by), claiming the Jews will form their own country and not pay him taxes. He does some research, decides that might well be the case, and tells them to put a stop to the construction, which they do, by force.
- The prophets Haggai and Zecharaiah tell the Jewish community to go ahead and start rebuilding the Temple. The local construction mafia demands to know why they’re defying King Darius’ orders. They dictate a reply, which is sent to the king, that details the history of the Babylonian exile, basically “Nebuchadnezzar screwed us over”, and that King Cyrus had given the order to rebuild, along with supplies to do so. The arrayed naysayers send the letter off to the king. We await the response.
- So, we left off with King Darius having been informed that the Jews were rebuilding the Temple at his predecessor, King Cyrus’ behest. He has his archivists check this out, and finds that it’s true. He orders the naysayers, what I’ve been calling the construction mafia, back in Jerusalem to not only STFU, but decrees that they are to both materially and financially support the rebuilding efforts, and that any of them who doesn’t do so, will have a “beam removed from their house, planted into the ground in front of it, and then be impaled on it as a warning to others”. When Darius is wrong, he goes all in on admitting he was wrong. Oh, and the Temple gets rebuilt. Quickly.
- The Temple is rebuilt, and there appears to be a new king in Persia, Artaxerxes, who now sends Ezra, considered the leading scribe and teacher of the Torah, to Jerusalem to be the religious leader of the Jews. He’s given a remit to run Judea in accordance with Jewish law, to levy taxes (though all religious institutions are tax exempt) in order to support this endeavor, has a bank draft that instructs local banks to give him funds as needed in the name of the king, and to punish those who defy the laws of the Torah as he sees fit, up to an including the death penalty.
- Ezra enumerates the various people and clans that he has requested accompany him to Jerusalem, distributes all the gold, silver, etc., among them to share in the burden of carrying it all, declares a fast, then they set out for Jerusalem, and arrive some time later with no incidents, which he declares was God’s protection. They recheck that all the riches arrived, they did, they offer up a bunch of sacrifices in thanks, and he declares it’s time to get to work.
- Ezra’s deputies report to him that many of those who are now in Jerusalem, rebuilding the Jewish society, are continuing to deviate from the Torah, practices they picked up in generations of exile – intermarrying, idol worship, eating forbidden foods. He tears at his own hair, at his own garments, and wails to God that the people are lost. Seems a bit melodramatic, since God doesn’t answer him, and after a bit of a temper tantrum, Ezra issues orders to be disseminated to the people to… stop it. No more intermarriage, no more idol worship, no more forbidden foods.
- As Ezra wails on, lamenting the intermarriages and intermingling of the Jewish people with others, the leaders of the people gathered around him take up the call. They opine that it’s time to get back to the righteous path, and Ezra calls for the head of every Jewish household in the country to come to Jerusalem for a proclamation. They do, he and the leaders announce that the Jewish men are to divorce any non-Jewish wives, and send them back to their families, whether in Israel or outside. He basically gives everyone around ninety days to do so, and they do. Divorce court is open. And that’s a wrap on this tractate.