Deck 11: The Historians of Exile and Return: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Beyond

Question 1

1. According to our sources, the returning exiles and those who had stayed in the land held differing viewpoints on how to proceed with the reconstruction of Judah. What were these differences? How were they reconciled?

Answer 1

The returning exiles regarded those who had remained in the land as of dubious parentage and cut off from the covenantal people. They forbade intermarriage between the returning exiles and those who had remained in the land. Those remaining in the land regarded themselves as still part of the covenantal community and proper followers of YHWH. These differences are not reconciled in our sources.

Question 2

2. How do Ezra and Nehemiah make use of earlier biblical texts? What parallels are there, and why are they important?

Answer 2

Ezra and Nehemiah depend on the prophetic promises of Israel's restoration as the foundation for the return to Judah and the reconstruction of the temple and Jerusalem. They also aim to rectify the things that these earlier sources claim were the causes of the exile in the first place. These parallels are also important for what does not happen in Ezra-Nehemiah, as the events of these books ultimately fall short of the expectations of Israel's glorious restoration established in the pre-exilic prophets.

Question 3

3. Details about life in postexilic Judah are difficult to verify. What do our sources tell us about life in this period? How was Judah organized and governed?

Answer 3

The sources suggest that life for the returnees (who were relatively few) was rather difficult and characterized by continued controversy. Initially, Judah seems to have been organized around the government of a Davidic heir (Sheshbazzar) under the Persian government, together with priestly support. But this organization seems not to last very long, with both Ezra and Nehemiah ultimately serving in positions of authority governing under the Persian hegemony. The rivalry with the northern Samarians seems to have reemerged as well, with the Samarian governor opposing Nehemiah in particular, though there seem to have been good relations between the two groups at other times, as suggested by the presence of Tobiah's possessions in the Jerusalem temple.

Question 4

4. Why was intermarriage such a serious issue for Ezra and Nehemiah? What precedents did they have for prohibiting intermarriage?

Question 5

5. How did the arrival of Ezra and Nehemiah in Jerusalem create tension in Judah and the Levant?

Question 6

1. All of the cities in Judah were uninhabitable after the Babylonian invasion of 587-586 B.C.E.

Question 7

4. Postexilic Jerusalem's population was apparently much smaller than in the early sixth century.

Question 8

5. All Old Testament books are written entirely in Hebrew.

Question 9

10. The chronologies in Ezra and Nehemiah are often problematic.

Question 10

11. Nehemiah supports exogamy.

Question 11

13. When Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C.E., he left no heir.

Question 12

1) The Babylonians were defeated by the

A) Assyrians.
B) Egyptians.
C) Macedonians.
D) Persians.

Question 13

2) The leader of the first return to the land of Judah narrated in Ezra was

A) Zerubbabel.
B) Jeshua.
C) Ezra.
D) Sheshbazzar.

Question 14

4) The primary source that recounts the return of Judah from Babylon is

A) Second Isaiah.
B) Nehemiah.
C) Ezra.
D) Daniel.

Question 15

6) The ruler who conquered Babylon was

A) Cyrus the Great.
B) Cambyses.
C) Belshazzar.
D) Darius.

Question 16

8) Zerubbabel was a direct descendant of

A) Cyrus.
B) Aaron.
C) Jehoiachin.
D) Zedekiah.

Question 17

11) Zerubbabel's official title was

A) king.
B) prince.
C) priest.
D) governor.

Question 18

12) The Second Temple was destroyed by the

A) Babylonians.
B) Persians.
C) Greeks.
D) Romans.

Question 19

13) All of the following are primary concerns for Ezra except

A) a ban on intermarriage.
B) restoration of the monarchy.
C) tithing.
D) sabbath observance.

Question 20

14) The time gap between the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 6) and Ezra's journey to Judah (Ezra 7) is

A) approximately a decade.
B) approximately forty years.
C) over fifty years.
D) none of the above (There is no time gap because Ezra helped build the temple.)

Question 21

15) __________ is the archaeological find in which Babylon's conqueror indicates how he conquered the city with the help of Marduk.

A) Mesha Stele
B) Black Obelisk
C) Cyrus Cylinder
D) Taylor Prism

Question 22

18) According to the book that bears his name, Ezra was a

A) king.
B) prince.
C) scribe.
D) prophet.

Question 23

19) The problem of __________ is a primary concern for both Ezra and Nehemiah.

A) rebuilding Jerusalem
B) reuniting Israel
C) intermarriage
D) Davidic leadership

Question 24

20) It takes Nehemiah and his workers approximately __________ to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem?

A) forty days
B) fifty-two days
C) thirteen weeks
D) four months

Question 25

22) The Greek rulers who controlled Egypt after Alexander the Great were known as the

A) Ptolemies.
B) Seleucids.
C) Alexandrians.
D) Romans.

Question 26

23) The Greek rulers of Syria after the conquest of Alexander were known as the

A) Ptolemies.
B) Seleucids.
C) Alexandrians.
D) Zoroastrians.

Question 27

24) Throughout the Persian period, Judea had been governed primarily by

A) a Judean governor appointed by the Persian king.
B) a Persian satrap ruling from Samaria.
C) direct control from the Persian king.
D) Seleucid rulers from Syria.

Question 28

28) Octavian assumed control of Rome in __________ B.C.E.

A) 450
B) 120
C) 66
D) 27

Question 29

34) During most of the third century B.C.E., Judea was controlled by the

A) Ptolemies.
B) Seleucids.
C) Romans.
D) Persians.