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.