Ezra-Nehemiah

This provocative provides a close reading of the final form of the texts of the Hebrew Ezra, the Hebrew Nehemiah, 1 Esdras and other Ezra and Nehemiah traditions. Combining literary and the historical approaches, Lester L. Grabbe challenges commonly held assumptions about Joshua and Zerubbabel, the initial resettlement of land after the exile, the figure of Ezra, and the activities of Nehemiah. Controversially, the challenge comes not from radical theory, but from the Bible itself.