Page 97 - Advanced OT Survey Revised
P. 97

Chapter 8:  Post-exilic Historical Books



                             Connect…


               Has anybody every told you about someone else, “He just got what he deserved!”  They may say that
               about someone who did something really bad, and they received some sort of punishment for their sin.
               But the opposite may be true.  If someone does something really nice for someone else, perhaps
               someone was nice in return.  The Bible states it this way, “You shall reap what you sow.” (Galatians 6:4).

               For years, God had been patient with Israel and Judah, yet they persisted in their disobedience against
               Him.  So, God brought foreign countries into their land and took them captive – Israel by the Assyrians
               and Judah by the Babylonians.  Israel and Judah reaped what they sowed.  Judah was in captivity for 70
               years, but finally the Persian king released some of the Jews to travel back to Jerusalem to rebuild.  God
               showed them grace.  The next series of books are considered the post-exilic historical books, because
               they tell us what happened either during exile, or shortly after returning to Jerusalem in freedom.


                        Objectives…


               1.  The student should be able to discuss what the Post-exilic historical books are.

               2.  The student should be able to answer the important questions such as: what, when, where, how.

               3.  The student should be able to l discuss the main message and main divisions of each individual Post-
               exilic historical book.

               4.  The student should be able to describe the applications from the Post-exilic historical books.



                           The Lesson ...


               Post-exilic Historical Books     lxxiv

               Introduction
               Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther comprise a unit of three historical books of the Bible depicting spiritual,
               social, political and physical condition during the period immediately following the end of the
               Babylonian captivity (i.e., the post-exilic period of Israel’s historical). They cover the period of
               approximately 108 years form 538 BC to 430BC.

               Haggai and Zachariah ministered as Prophets during the time covered by Ezra, and Malachi ministered
               as Prophets during the time covered by Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah are contemporaries (see Neh. 8).

                                                             95
   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102