• Hebrew text – This book was part of one book which consisted of Ezra and Nehemiah and called either “Ezra/Nehemiah” or “Ezra”.
• Greek text – It was still part of this one book and called 2 Esdras.
• Latin text – The one book is divided and called 1 & 2 Esdras English text – In 1448 the English text takes from the Hebrew text and calls the two books, Ezra and Nehemiah.

Traditionally it is recognised that the author of the book is Ezra. There are at least five reasons why Ezra is important in Israel’s history:-

• He was the founder of the “great synagogue”. This consisted of the most renowned Jewish scholars of Israel at that time.
• Ezra arranged the Old Testament finally in its 3-fold division.
• He changed the writings from the Hebrew letters to the square Assyrian characters.
• He founded the “local synagogue”. When there was at least ten Jewish people gathered in a geographical location a synagogue was to be erected. The synagogue was the place of education and not the place of worship.
• Ezra compiled four books in the Old Testament. (Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles).

Cyrus defeated the Babylonians in 539 B.C. and he issues his decree in 538 B.C. The first expedition takes place in this year and it is led by a man named Zerubbabel. See chapters 1-6 of Ezra. In chapter 3 the building of the temple for the second time is begun and then in chapter 4 the building is halted because of opposition from the Samaritans. It is after this that Haggai and Zechariah appear on the scene and their message is simply saying. “Finish the temple”. In chapter 5 they resume work on the temple and in chapter 6 they complete the rebuilding of the temple which brings us to the year 516 B.C.

The book of Esther takes place about 483 B.C. and fits in historically between chapters 6 and 7 of Ezra.

In chapters 7 – 10 the second expedition takes place. The leader is Ezra and the purpose of the expedition is to lead a religious spiritual reformation in Israel

The rebuilding of the temple and the reforming of the people.

• The reliability of the text in the book of Ezra – In chapter 4 there are letters which are written by the Samaritans, back to Persia, protesting at the rebuilding of the temple. The letters are written in Aramaic. Critics have looked at this and have said that the Aramaic is much later than the time of Ezra and so it proves that the book of Ezra is unreliable. However archeological finds have shown that there was Aramaic writing at that time and no critic today would doubt the truth of Ezra 4.
• God’s preparations for the restoration of His people – There are four main ones:-

1. The preparation of a world empire called Persia. God changed the rule from Babylonian to Persian. The Persians did not move the people they conquered from their home nation, they did quite the opposite.
2. The prosperity of the Jews – They learnt commerce and they became very rich. The reason why God helped them to prosper was so that they could afford to rebuild the temple. They shared the cost. This is also happening today.
3. The rise of a pagan King called Cyrus – Isaiah prophesied about Cyrus some 300 years before he came. See Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1.
4. The amazing leadership that God raised up in the land of Israel – There are 6 great leaders who appear during the restoration period – Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.

• The opposition to the rebuilding of the temple – The Israelites squabbled among themselves and also the people outside Israel opposed. There is always opposition from the inside and the outside when God’s work is being done. The rebuilding of the temple was halted for 14 years until the prophets Haggai and Zechariah appeared to motivate the people to finish the work that God had for them