Ezra (עזרא)

Priest (Scribe) and ldr of 2nd return in 458 BC

3 returns:
1 (Prince) Zerubbabel 536 BC w/42360 Temple rebuilt (under Cyrus the Great)
[Esther c480 BC in Susa, m. Ahasuerus aka Xerxes]
2 (priest) Ezra 458 BC w/? piety restored (under Darius?)
3 (warrior/PM) Nehemiah 445 BC w/? walls rebuilt (under Darius?)

In the reign of King Artaxerxes [Longimanus r464-23 BC, cf ToN] of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah ... son of HP Aaron - Ezra went up from Babylonia ... [w/others] in the 7th year [458] of King Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:1-7).

From Bible:
Nehemiah 12:1-11 "1 These are the priests and the Levites who came up w/Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, 3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, 5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, 6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, 7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and of their associates in the days of Jeshua. 8 And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who w/his associates was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. 9 And Bakbukiah and Unno their associates stood opposite them in the service. 10 Jeshua was the father of Joiakim ... Jaddua."

See also wiki?

SSM JTB: Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 586 BC. Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon in 539 BC. It was c520 when Zerubbabel and Joshua returned to Jerusalem w/Cyrus' blessing to rebuild the city and Temple. Tho the nearby people of Samaria wanted to help rebuild, Zerubbabel rejected them as 'half-breeds' and 'heretics' (55). The 2nd Temple was dedicated in March of 515 BC (55). Hmmm, p53 says Cyrus appointed Sheshbazzar [= Zerubbabel?], son of the last king, to govern the region, and the latter soon led 42,360 exiles back to refound Judah, now as the Persian provice of 'Yehud'. But compared to Solomon's Temple, it was very modest, causing the older men who remembered the earlier one 'burst into tears' (56). It was 'over 50yrs later' (56, so c460 BC) that Nehemiah, cup-bearer to [Cyrus' son] Darius gson Artaxerxes I, was allowed to lead a 3nd return (hmmm, SSM doesn't mention the 2nd one, led by Ezra). But tho Nehemiah was granted governorship of the region, the Samaritans N of Jerusalem distrusted the Jerusalemites and were led by 'their own hereditary governor, Sanballat' (56), who plotted against Nehemiah. Nehemiah insisted on strict Torah-ruled, Temple-based, and Zadokite priests and NO intermarriage w/'people of the land' (also see Josiah.html for this date sequence). ... more from SSM JTB ...

Moved here from ahnen-sg: Johanan (or Jonathan) d371 BC HP36 c410-371 BC m. name? dau of Sanballat the Horonite. Johanan was the father of Jaddua, of the Aaronic line (KRGG p80). 400sy says [Jonathan's gdad] 'Eliashib [HP34] succeeded to the high-priesthood during the life-time of Nehemiah, and it was his gson (HP35 Joiada's son [HP36 Jonathan]) whom the Tirshatha [or Governor, i.e. Nehemiah] indignantly 'chased' from him because of his unhallowed alliance by marriage with the house of Sanballat the Horonite (Neh. 13:28). We know from Josephus that Joiada 'was exceedingly friendly to the mixed nations surrounding Judea' and that his son Jonathan, once driven out by Nehemiah, 'went over to the Samaritans, and with the aid of his wealthy and influential father-in-law [Sanballat], established the Samaritan system, and projected [planned] the building of a rival temple on Mount Gerazim. Such a temple was in existence as early as the days of Alexander the Great" [356-323 BC]. Jonathan 'left a most unsavory record [murder, corruption]. He was an insubject [lawless and violent] man'. The Bible mentions a 'Sheshbazzar' as seemingly the same as Zerubbabel i.e. as having 'laid the foundations of the Temple', but I wonder if that could've been Sanballat before his later split w/Nehemiah? Hmmm, so maybe Sanballat helped Zerubbabel w/the Temple but later spun off?

2 views of the site traditionally described as the tomb of Ezra at Al Uzayr near Basra, Iraq (d/l)

Woodcut from Die Bibel in Bildern
(The Bible in Pictures) 1860 by
Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld (d/l)

A color-improved version of Gustave Dore's 'Ezra Reading the Law' (d/l)

Ezra, 'the Scribe who wrote the Bible' (d/l)

Ezra beseeching the people (d/l)

The [fortress] city of Carcassonne has been a refuge for generations [millenia]. Built in the 5C BC, this stone fortress has provided protection for Romans, Gauls, Visigoths, Franks and French. Its sprawling size and majestic watchtowers and battlements gave confidence to those hiding inside its protective walls' (Daily Bread Fr 20 Dec 2013).

cf ahnen-sg, David, Jesus.

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