The Book of Ezra

The book of Ezra tells about the events at the end of the Babylonian captivity. In the Hebrew Bible, there is only one book of Ezra, which is called "Ezra". In the Greek Bible of the Seventy Interpreters and in the Slavonic Bible there are two more "non-canonical" Books of Ezra, so there are three of them in total. The main content of the Book of Ezra is the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. The first return of the Jews followed the decree of Cyrus in 536 under the leadership of Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua. Then the restoration of the temple began. The second return of the Jews was led by Ezra under Artaxerxes Longiman. Ezra, the grandson of the high priest of Sarai, who had been killed by Nebuchadnezzar, was close to the court of the Persian king and was the tutor of Artaxerxes Longiman. In the 7th year of his reign (457 B.C.), Artaxerxes issued a decree according to which Ezra was allowed to return with willing Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem and there to engage in the restoration of the city and the religious enlightenment of the Jewish community. After 14 years of governing the people, Ezra transferred all power to Nehemiah, and he himself concentrated his activities on teaching the people the Law of God and on collecting the books of the Holy Scriptures into one codex. He founded the "Great Synagogue" society, with the help of which, under the leadership of the last prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, Ezra made a revision and correction of the Holy Scriptures, gathering them into one composition, and, thus, completed the compilation of the canon of the Old Testament books. The books written after Ezra were not included in the list of sacred books and are therefore called "non-canonical", although they are highly respected and are placed in many translations of the Bible. Most of these books after Ezra were written in the then common Greek language.

The Book of Nehemiah

Nehemiah came from the tribe of Judah and, probably, from a royal family. He held the high rank of cupbearer at the court of the Persian kings. In the 20th year of the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes Longiman (465424 B.C.) in 446 B.C., Nehemiah learned from his compatriots who had come from Palestine about the deplorable state of Jerusalem. He persuaded the king, and he sent Nehemiah to his homeland as a ruler with extensive powers. Here he built a city and erected walls around it, despite the resistance of the Samaritans. Having built the city, settled it and consecrated the walls, Nehemiah together with Ezra began to enlighten the people and regulate their moral and social life: the Law of Moses was read, the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated, the rich forgave the debts of the poor, and the people's covenant with God was renewed. After that, Nehemiah returned to Artaxerxes, but then he came back to Jerusalem and worked to eradicate various crimes among the people. Thus, for 30 years, until his death, Nehemiah worked for the benefit of the restoration of Jerusalem and the strengthening of faith among the people. Just as Nehemiah's work was a continuation of Ezra's, so the book of the former is a continuation of the book of the latter. Ezra describes the beginning of the restoration of Jerusalem, namely the temple and spiritual and moral enlightenment, and Nehemiah describes the construction of walls, the settlement and restoration of the city, and the civil structure on religious principles. The purpose of both books is to continue the history of the people of God and to show the ways of God's Providence by which the people were saved and prepared in anticipation of the promised Messiah. The decree of Artaxerxes, given to Nehemiah in 446 B.C., has a special significance, since it begins the calculation of Daniel's weeks regarding the coming of the Messiah (Dan. 9:2227). Being a historical monument of God's mercies to the chosen people, the book of Nehemiah has a highly instructive value. Nehemiah's self-sacrificing love for his country and people, for whose sake he, like Moses, neglected the luxurious life of the king's court, and his unselfish and tireless work for the welfare and glory of his country, are a high example to follow.

Book of Esther

The book got its name from the main character in it named Esther, which means "star". Due to her beauty, the Jewish orphan Hadassa became the wife of the Persian king Artarxerxes, receiving the name Esther. Esther was raised by her uncle Mordecai, who worked as a doorkeeper at the royal court. Mordecai had saved the life of a king whom the conspirators wanted to kill a few years earlier. Mordecai's merit was noted in Persian documents. Some time after Esther became queen, the king's all-powerful minister, the proud Haman, hating the Jews, decided to exterminate them within the Persian Empire. For this purpose, as if in the name of the king, he wrote a corresponding decree and began to look for an opportunity to give it to the king for signature. By God's providence, Mordecai learned of Haman's plan. Haman, confident in the success of his plot and hating Mordecai, hastened to prepare the gallows for him. But events did not go according to Haman's plan. At the feast, Esther boldly revealed his plot and that he was going to hang her uncle, to whom the king owed his life. Learning of Haman's willfulness, the enraged king destroyed the decree he had prepared and ordered Haman to be hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai ("do not dig another pit yourself!"). In memory of the salvation of the Jews from Haman, the holiday of Purim (in Hebrew "lot") was established.

The Last Years Before the Savior

Further events in the life of the Jewish people did not make it into the Bible. In 63 B.C., the Holy Land was conquered by the Roman general Pompey. From that time on, Palestine, with its four provinces, became subject to Rome and paid tribute to it. Soon power was concentrated in the hands of a cunning Edomite named Antipater, who managed to gain the trust of Rome. From Antipater, power passed to his son, the cruel Herod the Great, who in 37 B.C. declared himself "king of the Jews." He was the first king to call himself Jewish without being of Jewish descent. Under him, in the small city of Bethlehem, the true King and Savior of the world, Christ, was born.

Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of the Patriarch James, spoken two thousand years before the birth of Christ: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from his loins, until the Mediator comes, and to Him shall be the obedience of the nations" (Gen. 49:1011).

Teaching Books

Teaching Books

In the Bible there are books of moral and edifying content, which are usually called "didactic". In comparison with the books of Moses, which contain direct and obligatory commandments of God, the teaching books are written with the aim of disposing and encouraging a person to a pious way of life. They teach a person to build his life so that it is blessed by God, brings prosperity and peace of mind. This group includes the Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach.

In form, most of the Old Testament teaching books are poetic works written in the Hebrew original in verse. A feature of Hebrew versification, noticeable even in translations into other languages, is poetic parallelism. It consists in the fact that the writer's thought is expressed not in one sentence at once, but in several, mostly in two, which together reveal the thought by comparison or opposition, or justification. This is the so-called synonymous, antithetical, and synthetic parallelism. The following passages from the Psalter can be cited as examples of various poetic parallelisms:

When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a foreign nation, Judah became His holiness, Israel His possession (synonymous parallelism, Psalm 113:12).