Better Than a Fresh Start: A Brief Biblical Theology of Ezra-Nehemiah

Originally published at For the Church:

The book(s) of Ezra-Nehemiah has held a special place for me from my earliest days as a disciple. In my childhood Sunday School classes, I remember felt board cutouts of the second temple and pictures of Nehemiah’s workers holding swords and trowels. It is an exciting story. However, the more I study Ezra-Nehemiah, I find that the real story is less about the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s ruined temple and walls and more about the ruined human heart.

Ezra-Nehemiah presents its readers with a question: What if God hit the reset button? What if God’s exiled people suddenly regained their land, rebuilt the temple, and were allowed to renovate the city walls? The answer is that without a new heart, God’s people remain in exile.