Ezra
Ezra tells of two returns from Babylon, separated by nearly sixty years. In the first, Zerubbabel leads exiles home under Cyrus's decree to rebuild the temple; opposition stalls the work until the prophets Haggai and Zechariah stir it back to life, and the house is finished with weeping and joy. In the second, Ezra the scribe arrives, a man who had set his heart to study, practice, and teach God's law. He finds a community drifting into compromise and leads it through painful confession and reform. The book is about rebuilding, first a temple, then a people.
Traditionally Ezra; incorporates official Persian documents and first-person memoirs.
Events 538–c. 458 BC; written in the fifth century BC.
The restored community in Judah, defining faithful life after exile.
To record God's faithfulness in restoring his people to the land and reordering their life around temple and Torah.