Literary Devices in Ezra and Nehemiah
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah are both set in Judah while it's ruled by the Persian Empire, the most powerful empire in the known world at the time. Unlike Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian rulers...
Genre
The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah aren't really history books in the modernday sense of the term. Rather, they express a people's sense of its own history. They show Israel fulfilling its story—retu...
What's Up With the Title?
The titles of these two books are the names of Ezra and Nehemiah, the books' supposed authors. However, it's actually pretty tough to say how much of each book was written by the actual historical...
What's Up With the Ending?
The Book of Ezra ends with another long list. But right before that, Ezra wages his successful war against mixed marriages. In the eyes of the books' authors, this is totally necessary because they...
Trivia
According to legend, Ezra died in Iraq near the Tigris River while he was travelling through on a donkey. He was supposedly 120 years old.
(Source)
Although Ezra and Nehemiah depict religious inter...
Sex Drugs And Violence Rating
Ezra and Nehemiah aren't really kids' stories; not with all those lists. But at the same time, there's nothing objectionable about them. Maybe it has "mature themes," but definitely not the sexy ki...
Allusions
Esdras 1Esdras 1 is really just a Greek version of the Book of Ezra with some changes and additions. It was pretty popular with Christians back in the day (as in 1700 years ago or thereabouts). Esd...