Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book in the Hebrew text, because they tell the three-part story of Israel’s return from captivity in Persia. When the Hebrew text was translated into Greek (the Septuagint), this was retained as one book, called Esdras B (or 2 Esdras). It was not until Origen and, finally, Jerome in […]
Chapter twenty-five took place 23 years into Jeremiah’s ministry, in the year that Nebuchadnezzar took his first captives from Jerusalem (605 B.C.). He claimed that he had warned the leaders and people of Judah for that long to repent, turning back to God, but they did not listen (Jeremiah 25:1-11). Unlike the past messages which
Chapter nine is the true climax of this story; everything else simply laid the foundation for the great day of the attack. On the appointed day, there was a great war, and everyone expected that the Jews would be no match for the king’s army, even though they were allowed to defend themselves (Esther 9:1-10).
