Douglas Jacoby Podcast

OT Characters: Ezra & Nehemiah

Episode Summary

Douglas continues his series on Old Testament Characters now looking at the story of Ezra & Nehemiah. Douglas shares what we can learn from Ezra & Nehemiah’s life as well as what we can learn about God from his story. He also shares ideas for how to share this story with your kids.

Episode Notes

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Hebrew words:

‘Ezra’ (Ezra) –  "help. 25x in the O.T.
Nekhemyah (Nehemiah) – “Yah[weh] comforts," 8x in the O.T.

Further study:

• Ezra & Nehemiah
  • Ezra: Ezra 7-10, Nehemiah 8
  • Nehemiah: Nehemiah 1-13
  • The occasion of Nehemiah 8: was it the renewal ceremony required by Deuteronomy 31:10-13?
  • Nehemiah 8:3 (NAS and Hebrew, not NIV) says that Ezra read from the Book of the Law. The implication is that he did not read the entire Torah, but only selections.
  • Ezra and Nehemiah seem originally to have been parts of the same book. The division into separate books appears to have taken place a century or more after Christ
  • Even more:
    • Has the Wall of Nehemiah been discovered? Click here.
    • Click this link on the chronology of the two books.
    • Read Hand Me Another Brick, by Swindoll: click here.
    • Check out Max Lucado’s Life Lessons, based on the lives of Ezra and Nehemiah.
    • Click here for my series on team leadership.
• Advanced: O.T. Apocrypha: 1-2 Esdras. These two books cover the same events and time period, but they have been put together differently. What does this suggest about how the Bible came together? about how important chronology is? about how the Word of God became inscripturated?
• Most scholars believe that the author of Ezra-Nehemiah transposed a chapter from Ezra to Nehemiah. Nehemiah 8 fits very well between Ezra 8 and Ezra 9, and may well be its original location.

Some things we learn about God:

• God doesn’t give all his gifts to one man; rather, by distributing them among various individuals, cooperation and teamwork are required.
• He provides leaders to rally the people of God in the work of God.
• He provides teachers to root the people of God in the word of God.
• He desires that, in hearing his Word, we discern and rejoice in his grace.

Key verses:

• Ezra 9:3, 10:1; Nehemiah 1:4, 5:6 – Both Ezra and Nehemiah are deeply concerned about the spiritual state of Israel. They connect with the problems and with the people on the emotional level. Neither falls into romanticism or pragmatism.
• Ezra 7:10 – Before he attempted to teach others the law of God, Ezra had immersed himself in its statutes. He knew what he was talking about.
• Nehemiah 8:8,12 – Working with Nehemiah, Ezra is able to bring about a revival among the people of God.

Next lesson: Four characters from the book of Esther.