Bible 101: Lesson 13

Ezra

The book of Ezra begins the account of the return of the Jewish people from exile in Babylon that is finished in Nehemiah. The book is named for the priest who wrote the memoir and led the people home. His name means “help”. There were actually three main groups which returned to Israel, led first by Zerubbabel, then Ezra and finally Nehemiah. Ezra’s group returned in 457 B.C. Nehemiah came later as governor in 444 B.C.

Ezra was a priest and wrote a very simple history. In it we see an example of the kind of opposition God’s people have often faced, and we learn a lesson in persistence and trust. Ezra’s main concern is to teach the people of Israel the proper worship of God. He is recorded as having “set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (7:10). The work he has to do with the exiles to restore them to pure worship is a picture of the work we need to do after salvation to grow into the character of Christ.

Contains no messianic prophecies