BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
9 EZRA--ESTHER
EZRA & NEHEMIAH
Fast Facts
•Author: Ezra (scribe and priest)
•Time period: _______________, 5 Century B.C.
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•Audience: returned exiles
•Location: Judah
•Reason:
1. To _______________ returned exiles
2. _______________ how the nation returned and rebuilt
3. To _______________ preservation of the Messianic Line
________ ROUNDS OF RETURN
Round 1
•Around 50,000 people return
•________________ (descendant of David): leads people to begin to rebuild the temple. It
is finished in 515 B.C.
•Haggai and Zechariah: post-exilic prophets encourage the rebuilding of the temple
Second Round
•More Jews return under ____________ in 458 B.C.
Third Round
•________________ returns and becomes the governor (445 B.C.)
•Builds city walls
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•High Priest becomes the leader of the nation since they have no king
EZRA:
Setting
•______________ from Babylon
•Edict of Cyrus the Great
•Zerubbabel becomes the new governor
•________________ of the Temple
•Temple finished: 515 B.C.
•___________ returns
•Attempts to reform the nation in three ways
•National ____________
•Separation from the Samaritans
•_______________ with pagans is renounced; pagan wives divorced
NEHEMIAH:
•Nehemiah is the royal ______________ to Artaxerxes of Persia
•The ______________ sends Nehemiah to return and be the new governor of the region
•Nehemiah begins the _________ of the city walls
•Faces opposition
•The walls are finished in 52 days
•Ezra reads the law
•The people ___________ and admit their sin; the covenant is renewed
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
ESTHER
•Background info:
•When? 450 B.C.
•Why? Teach _______________ of God over the Jewish people even if they are
outside of Israel
•Only book of the Bible where the name of God is _______ mentioned
•Xerxes banishes ____________ from being queen
•__________ wins the beauty context to become the next queen
•_______________ warns her not to tell anyone she is Jewish
•Mordecai also discovers an attempted assassination plot and stops them
•_____________ is promoted to the king’s advisor
•He devises a plan to not only kill Mordecai (who refuses to bow to him like
everyone) but all the Jewish people
•Esther bravely goes to the king in his court. He graciously shows her the scepter
•Meanwhile Haman is humiliated by Mordecai yet again
•After hosting two banquets, Esther reveals her request: that she and her people not die
•Haman is beside himself and attacks the queen. The king commands his soldiers to hang
Haman on the very gallows he was building to kill Mordecai
•The king cannot change the law, but he makes a new law that allows the Jews to defend
themselves
•The Feast of __________ is established in Judaism to remember how God delivered the
Jews during this time
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
Esther & Jesus
•Jesus as embodiment of grace
•Jesus as the protector of his people
Application for us:
•How to act in a pagan world
•Recognizing God’s hand even when it seems bleak
