In this provocative study, Lester Grabbe presents a unique approach to Ezra-Nehemiah with the combination of a literary and historical approach. Lester 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 paying careful attention to the text of the Bible itself.

    Chapter 1 Introduction; Part 1 Literary Analysis; Chapter 2 Ezra in the Hebrew Bible; Chapter 3 Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible; Chapter 4 1 Esdras and Other Ezra and Nehemiah Traditions; Chapter 5 The Traditions from a Literary Point of View; Part 2 The Historical Question; Chapter 6 Ezra and History; Chapter 7 Nehemiah and History; Chapter 8 Summary and Conclusions;

    Biography

    Grabbe, Lester L.

    'This is one of the most clear and comprehensive treatments of Ezra-Nehemiah now available ... It is an excellent illustraion to students of how a good historian should be the most resistant of readers, and to scholars a formidable challenge to a generally under-critical approch to the problems of these books; a reference point for all future discussions' - P.R. Davies, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament