Rebuilding Zion

Ezra-Nehemiah
Nehemiah 1-13

     The second part of the two part sequel of Chronicles deals with the final historical record of the Old Testament. The books of Ezra-Nehemiah are intended to be read together as there is much mention of Ezra in the book of Nehemiah and the stories overlap at points. In fact both book are based off source material known as the Ezra Memoir and the Nehemiah Memoir as well as supposed Persian documents. There are arguments that these source material may have been heavily edited over years before being added to the Jewish Tanakh.
      The book of Nehemiah tells the story of the rise of the final governor of Judah in Old Testament history. Its the story of the returning Israelite exiles' final rebuilding process of the ancient city of Jerusalem, or Zion, and the reinstitution of monotheistic worship of their god Yahweh. Its the final reminder to the generations to come that they have been given a second chance to live up to their role as the chosen people of Yahweh. It is this story that would have been recent history to the jews living under Roman rule in the time of Jesus.
     The events that take place in these books could have been edited over the centuries before they became Jewish Canon by the 2nd or 1st Century B.C.E. However, there are some fun little historical truths sprinkled within the book. The dates that are stated at the beginning of Nehemiah 1:1, “During the month of Chislev in the 20th year, when I was in the fortress city of Susa”, which by our calendar would be November-December 445 B.C.E. This would fit with the historical backdrop that Nehemiah sets; Susa being one of the three capitals of ancient Persia. In chapter two Nehemiah also names the well known Persian king of the time, Artaxerxes, as well as a governor of Samaria named in the Elephantine Papyri as being the governor of Samaria in that time period. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephantine_papyri).
      It is true that the Jews were allowed to return from Babylon, but the only decree known to history (as far as I have found) is the one included in Ezra-Nehemiah. These passages were written in Aramaic which was the language of the Persian court and it is a known fact that Persia allowed exiles to return to their country as long as they pledged allegiance to the Empire. It is Ezra-Nehemiah’s position, however, that Cyrus became so enamored with the idea of Yahweh that he gave special care to the Israelites. This has not been completely verified outside of Jewish Scripture.