Wednesday Bible Study: Literary Complilcations

What are now considered the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah were originally a single document. Medieval monks separated them and Rabbinical tradition accepted the separation in the 16th Century. Scholars used to attribute Ezra/Nehemiah to the Chronicler, and while composition of the book(s) probably began around 400 BC and may have been associated with Chronicles, it was revised and amended over the next 250 years before being translated into Koine Greek as part of the Septuagint. It contains interpolated documents in Aramaic as well as the main narrative in Hebrew.  It is organized around theological concerns, so the chronology is somewhat mixed up. As there is little other evidence about events in Judah following the return from exile, there isn ' t really any known, accurate chronology to set it against and sort it all out. The theological requirements are first that the Temple has to be restored; then the national community, then the walls that separate the community from the outside world. The character of Ezra doesn ' t appear until chapter 7, to carry out the second task. The third happens in what is now the Book of Nehemiah. BTW,regarding Los Testiculos de Jehovah: The name Jehovah results from faulty transliteration of Biblical Hebrew into Greek. Biblical Hebrew lacked vowels. If you speak the language y cn fl thm n, but the Greek translators got it wrong. The name of the Big Guy in the Sky is Yahweh. That ' s just Los Testiculos ' first mistake....
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs