Bible Discussion Thread

I'm trying to figure out if this is after Ezra or during. Sounds like during as Ezra was rebuilding, but the adversaries had the King cease the rebuild, but later finished the build. But the build with Ezra was the temple not Jerusalem.

Eric, it was generally accepted that Ezra arrived at Jerusalem before Nehemiah, though in the late 19th Century AD, there was a proposal that it was Nehemiah who came first, then Ezra. This was based on the fact that it was King Artaxerxes II ruling & not Artaxerxes I ( Ezra 7:7,8).

However, I understand that Jews don't accept that & it was Ezra who came first under Artaxerxes I. As you probably know, both the Books of Ezra & Nehemiah were originally read as one book in Hebrew; after Zerubbabel came first (under Cyrus), the Temple building had stopped because of opposition. Then under Darius, the temple work restarted ( Ezra 5:2) & finally completed ( Ezra 6:15). Then Ezra came with the next migration of the exiles & after him, Nehemiah came (for the building of the wall) with the third return of the exiles. So this timeline seems to fit well as Ezra, as priest, would have continued to serve with the other priests & Levites at the temple while Nehemiah attended to rebuilding the wall surrounding the city.