Hey, this is Shelby. I'm here with CJ. We're walking through the Bible in a year, and today we

start the book of Ezra. But quick shout out. If you're following along with us, but you

aren't using the studies, we recommend that you do. You're going to gain so much more depth

and clarity through those studies.

You can also follow along without, but we highly recommend those. There's a link in the show notes where you can check those out. Okay, CJ, we're starting the book of Ezra. We're going to go through Ezra for about three days here. And then we're going to go through Nehemiah, and these are really closely linked together.

So can you just kind of give us an idea first, kind of where we are in the biblical plot?

And then I would also just love background information about Ezra and Nehemiah.

Sure. So Paul and Scott just walked us through Kings and Chronicles. Kings ended with exile because Israel

failed to remain faithful to God, according to the stipulations given in the book of Deuteronomy.

And then Chronicles ends with Cyrus, the king of Persia, who after defeating Babylon,

he ends up conquering that land of Israel, and then the land where the Jews were sent in Babylon.

And he seems like kind of a nice guy, so he allows the people to return to their homeland if they want. And that's where we're at in Ezra and Nehemiah, after exile or during exile, I should say, and then after King Cyrus says, people can return to their ancestral lands if they so choose. Yeah, great. Okay, so Ezra and Nehemiah specifically, what do we need to keep in mind as we read these books? Yeah,

so in Jewish tradition, Ezra and Nehemiah are actually considered one book because, as we'll see,

they have a lot of, you know, similar characters and interwoven themes. It won't really make a ton

of difference for us to know that, but I guess we'll

kind of treat them as one. So Ezra 1 through 6, just to kind of give a lay of the land,

Ezra 1 through 6 describes a remnant of Jews returning to the land of Israel who want to rebuild

the temple. So Ezra 1 through 6 focuses on temple.

Ezra 7 through 10 focuses on the religious reforms of

Ezra, a wise priest. Nehemiah 1 through 7 revolves around the city of Jerusalem and the city's

walls. Nehemiah 8 through 12, those chapters are all about covenant renewal and the people

recommitting themselves to God. And then Nehemiah 13, maybe as we've about covenant renewal in the people recommitting themselves to God.

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