The book of Ezra was most likely written around 400 BC, its author thought to be the same as that of both books of Chronicles and also Nehemiah. Reading both Ezra and Nehemiah (and the Book of Esther as well) helps to better understand the Babylonian exile although the question still lingers in my mind as to why the Babylonians deported the Hebrews and took them to Babylon. What did they do with them once everyone was rounded up in Babylon? It appears they took more or less the upper crust of administrators, priests, temple officials and city inhabitants, leaving behind the hunters, gatherers and those inhabiting the fields and countryside. Was there some reason Nebuchadnezzar didn't just kill everyone off when his armies destroyed the temple? It was maybe preferable to have more physical bodies to count as part of the Babylonian empire?
Ezra is identified variously as a scribe, a priest and a priest but not a Levite (not all priests are Levites I presume?). He's sent by either Ataxerxes I or II to Jerusalem to check up on how the pentateuchal law was being administered there. If sent by the former, the year of Ezra's visit was 458 BC. If sent by the latter, the year of his visit was 358 BC. He seems to have taken mostly males with him, carefully chosen and named in Ch. 8.
One question that comes to mind is why Ataxerxes would care what was going on in Jerusalem and send Ezra on this mission. After all, I assume that Ezra or anyone else would have been free to take on this project on their own as of 539 BC when Cyrus ended their exile.
After the postponement of the re-building of the temple due to objections on the part of non-Jewish groups in the region, the Persian king, Darius, issued a decree directing that the re-building of the temple should proceed. The temple reconstruction was completed during Darius's reign in the year 515 B.C. Why is he supportive? As the notes in my Bible read: "It is said that this is the first time in recorded history that a ruler not only approved the practice of a foreign religion in his empire but also devoted state resources to its maintenance."
The general problem that Ezra had to address in Jerusalem was the falling-away from the faith to which many post-exilic Jews had succumbed. One of the thornier problems was the matter of Hebrews having married foreign wives upon their return. The rather unpalatable, even draconian, solution to the problem was the deportation of foreign wives and children.
If Ezra handled the religious rebuilding of Jerusalem and Judah, Nehemiah handled the administrative, governmental side. His tenure is from 445-433 B.C and he's described by my Bible as a "Jew who had risen to high office in the Persian administration." Nehemiah presided over the re-building of the wall surrounding Jerusalem. The ceremony surrounding the dedication of the wall is good reading, and, overall, it would be worth reading these two books again just to get a practical perspective on post-exilic Israel.
