The Chronology of

Ezra and Nehemiah

• Biblical Chronology
• • Sequence of events and times
  • • Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 458 B.C.E. in the 7^th year of Artaxerxes (Ezra. 7:7-8)
    • Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem in 445 B.C.E. in the 20^th year of Artaxerxes (Neh. 1:1, 2:1, 5:14)
    • Nehemiah remained in Jerusalem for 12 years (Neh. 5:14, 13:6) - left in 433 B.C.E.
    • Nehemiah returned for a second stay before Artaxerxes' reign ended in 424 B.C.E. - uncertain when he returned and how long he remained
    • Ezra read the law in a public ceremony in 445 B.C.E. (Neh. 8:9) - Nehemiah was present
    • Dates assume that the Artaxerxes mentioned is Artaxerxes I who reigned 465-424 B.C.E.
  • Problems
  • • Only Neh. 8:9, 12:26, 36 ever mention Ezra and Nehemiah together - they seem to ignore one another completely
    • Unlikely they would have engaged in their duties separately since their authority and responsibilities were so similar
    • Ezra, who was charged by Artaxerxes with teaching and implementing the law, did not hold his public reading of the law until 13 years after he arrived - seems like a long delay
• Three Other Chronologies
• • Ezra comes long after Nehemiah
  • • Idea - Ezra came under Artaxerxes II (reigned 404-358 B.C.E.) and thus did not arrive in Jerusalem until 398 B.C.E.
    • Difficulties
    • • Deletes the three references in which Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries
      • Assumes the author or editor of Ezra-Nehemiah reversed the sequence of the two men
  • Ezra comes 17 years after Nehemiah
  • • Idea - emends text to have Ezra come in the 37^th year of Artaxerxes I rather than the 7^th year - thus Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 428 B.C.E.
    • Difficulties
    • • Why emend the text?
      • Does not explain why the two leaders have such little relationship
  • Ezra precedes Nehemiah but read law early
  • • Idea - Ezra came in 458 B.C.E. and Nehemiah in 445 B.C.E. but Ezra read law within a year of his arrival before Nehemiah arrived
    • Difficulties
    • • Ezra 10:1 states that many people lived in Jerusalem but when Nehemiah arrived the city was underpopulated (Neh. 7:4, 11:1-2)
      • Why would Nehemiah have to reform if Ezra had not long before had all the people hear and accept the law? - some state that Nehemiah's reforms imply that the law had to have been embraced earlier
      • Correlation to the sequence of high priests is difficult

• At the present time there is no universally accepted solution

Artwork from a 14th century illuminated Bible. From the Bible Picture Library of Photo Art (c) Christian Computer Art, 1994-97