A Jewish Bible Companion (Part 8 of 0)

A Reading Plan for Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles (1) – Part nine

In this article, we begin a study of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. These books were written during the restoration of Israel under Zerubbabel, Joshua the priest, Nehemiah, and Ezra. It is likely that Ezra wrote the book of Ezra and the two books of Chronicles, and that Nehemiah wrote the book of Nehemiah; Speaker’s Commentary, for example, gives the evidence for these conclusions.

Our hypothesis is that these books were intended to be read in a yearly cycle of weekly portions and that these weekly portions were designed to line up with the weekly Torah readings.

There are two differences between our Bible and the Hebrew Bible with regard to these books. First, in our Bible, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles are part of the history books, so they are grouped with the other history books Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. In contrast, in the Hebrew Bible, they are part of the Writings so they are combined with the Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Daniel, etc.

Second, the order of these books in our Bible is different from the order in the Hebrew. In our Bible, the order, taken from the Septuagint, is: I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. On the other hand, in the Hebrew, the order is: Ezra, Nehemiah, I Chronicles, II Chronicles.

If our hypothesis is correct and the Hebrew order is used, then a good reason can be given for the somewhat unusual circumstance that II Chronicles ends exactly as Ezra begins (i.e., with Cyrus’ proclamation that the Jews should go up to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of God). This repetition makes explicit the connection between the beginning and the end of the cycle of readings. It is a signpost that after the II Chronicles readings are finished, then the readings are to continue in Ezra. II Chronicles is finished at the end of one year and Ezra begins the new year.

As we will see later in this article, our hypothesis also explains the other somewhat unusual circumstance that the first nine chapters of I Chronicles are made up entirely of genealogies. These chapters were to be read alongside the genealogies in Genesis.

The Reading Plan for Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles

Unfortunately, there is little or no external evidence as to what the precise reading plan was for Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. We must be satisfied with a general outline of the reading plan.

Weeks Torah Readings Chronicles Reading
1-12 Genesis (Passover, Joshua) Ezra, Neh., 1 Chron. 1-9
13-23 Exodus 1 Chron. 10- II Chron. 5
24-33 Leviticus II Chron. 6-16
34-43 Numbers II Chron. 17-31
44-54 Deuteronomy II Chron. 32-36

these books and the Torah readings is remarkable. It is even more impressive that these parallels occur in sequence.

Parallels to Genesis and Joshua

Recall that the book of Joshua was read during the first three weeks of the year. In fact, in the April article in this series, we listed 16 parallels that the book of Joshua has back to Genesis 1-17 and the Passover readings.

There are a number of parallels in Ezra, Nehemiah, and the first nine chapters of I Chronicles back to Joshua and Genesis; here are some of them.

  1. Israel into the land. The book of Joshua tells the story of the children of Israel conquering and settling the promised land. In direct parallel with this, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the return of the exiled children of Israel back to the land.
  2. When Israel entered the land under Joshua, they kept the Passover (Josh. 5:10-11). Likewise, when Israel entered the land under Zerubbabel and Joshua, they kept the Passover (Ezra 6:19-22).
  3. Trumpets and shout. “And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid…for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off” (Ezra 3:11,13) reminds us of the episode at Jericho, “And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat” (Josh. 6:5; cp. 6:10,16,20). The phrase “shout with a great shout” is the same in both places.
  4. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles refer often to the Nethinim (Ezra 2:43,58,70; 7:7,24; 8:17,20; Neh. 3:26,31; 7:46,60,73; 10:28; 11:3,21; I Chr. 9:2). Young’s Concordance says that the Nethinim (dedicated) were “a class of persons employed as servants or assistants to the Levites; probably the Gibeonites and others reduced to servitude.” The story of how the Gibeonites became slaves to Israel is told in Joshua 9.
  5. Israel sins. Ezra 9 tells the story of the marriages of the Israelites to the peoples of the land. The story parallels two episodes in Joshua: the failure of Israel to remove the peoples of the land (Josh. 9) and Achan’s sin involving the devoted thing (Josh. 7).

The lists of peoples of the land in Ezra 9 and Joshua 9 are essentially the same: Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites (Ezra 9:1 // Josh. 9:1).

In Ezra, Israel had “not separated themselves from the people of the lands…For they have taken their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands” (Ezra 9:1-2). This parallels the Gibeonite episode in Joshua 9 and fulfills Joshua’s concern, “if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you” (Josh. 23:12).

In response to Israel’s sin, Ezra rends his clothes, puts dust on his head, and confesses the sin of the people just as Joshua had done earlier in response to Achan’ s sin (Ezra 9:3-15 //Josh. 7:6-15).

“Whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be devoted, and himself separated from the congregation of those who had been carried away” (Ezra 10:8 AVm) recalls Achan’s sin with the devoted thing (Josh. 6:17,18; 7:1,11-15 RV).

Finally, the command, “Make confession unto the Lord” is the same in both places (Ezra 10:11 // Josh. 7:19).

  1. Families of Israel. Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 each list the families of Israel returning to the land just as Joshua 13 through 21 had listed the families of Israel as they settled the land the first time.
  2. The law read. Nehemiah 8 tells the story of a remarkable Feast of Tabernacles. The reading and explaining of the law dominates the story. Joshua had done the same thing (Josh. 8:30-35). As if to drive home the connection, Nehemiah writes, “for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so” (Neh. 8:17).
  3. History from Abraham. Ezra’s prayer in Nehemiah 9 recounts God’s dealing with Israel. He starts, “Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees…” (Neh. 9:7-8). Besides the obvious allusions directly back to Genesis, this also parallels Joshua 24, “…Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham…” (Josh. 24:2-3).
  4. The covenant renewed. Ezra closes his prayer with the words, “Because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it” (Neh. 9:38). Joshua had done likewise, “And Joshua made a covenant with the people that day…And Joshua wrote these words” (Josh. 24:25-26).
  5. Genealogies. Every year we are reminded that I Chronicles begins with nine, seemingly endless, chapters of genealogies; Ezra and Nehemiah also have a number of genealogies. The words “generation” and “genealogy,” the watchwords of Genesis, occur nearly two dozen times in these books. In fact, much of the material in I Chronicles 1-9 is taken directly from Genesis; just look at the marginal references in I Chronicles that point back to Genesis to get an idea of how many connections there are.

Ezra recounted these family trees to remind the people of their national heritage. Imagine the goose bumps that you would have had if your name would have been given in the list. You would have been connected back to the fathers of the chosen nation of Israel, and to God’s promises given to those fathers. What a way to give the returning exiles a sense of national pride.

Besides this purely exhortational purpose of these family trees, there is probably another reason Ezra based these chapters on Genesis: they were the readings during the weekly services. He based his exhortations on the readings just like we do today.

Parallels to Exodus

Of course, after Genesis comes Exodus. And after the Genesis parallels come the Exodus parallels. It must be by design.

In the reign of King Saul

  1. Oppression by Gentiles. Immediately following the genealogies in I Chronicles 1-9, chapter 10 tells of the oppression of Israel by the Philistines. This points back to the beginning of Exodus, in which Israel is being oppressed by the Egyptians.

In the reign of King David

  1. Jebusites. As soon as David was made king, “David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land” (I Chr. 11:4). Of course, the land of the Jebusites was part of the land that God promised to give to the children of Israel after he had delivered them out of Egypt (Ex. 3:8;17; cp. Gen. 15:21).
  2. Water drawn from a well. There are two chapters in the Bible in which a Jew kills an Egyptian and water is drawn from a well; the chapters are Exodus 2 and II Chronicles 11. The three mighty men of David “drew water out of the well of Bethlehem” (I Chr. 11:18) just like Moses and the seven daughters of Reuel had drawn water from the well in Midian (Ex. 2:15-19).
  3. A Jew kills an Egyptian. Benaiah slew an Egyptian just as Moses had (I Chr. 11:23// Ex. 2:11-12).
  4. List of VIPs. The list of David’s mighty men parallels the list of the heads of the fathers’ houses (I Chr. 11:26-47// Ex. 6:14-27).
  5. God has broken forth upon my enemies. As David smote the Philistines, he said, “God hath broken forth upon mine enemies by my hand like the breaking forth of waters; therefore they call the name of that place Baal-perazim, the place of breakings forth” (I Chr. 14:11 RVm). This is a perfect description of God’s plagues upon the Egyptians by the hand of Moses as well (Ex. 7-12, 14).
  6. Song celebrating success. After successfully bringing the ark to Jerusalem, David celebrated with a psalm just as Moses had done after successfully crossing the Red Sea (I Chr. 16:7-36// Ex. 15).
  7. The pattern for the house of God. The planning and building of the temple as given in Chronicles parallels the planning and building of the tabernacle as given in Exodus. First, there is the pattern for the house of God. “Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the house thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the mercy seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord…and gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubims…All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern” (II Chr. 28:11-12,18-19). This parallels the pattern for the tabernacle given by God to Moses, “According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof..make them after the pattern…” (Ex. 25:9,40).
  8. Israel willing. Second, the children of Israel willingly give the building materials (I Chr. 29:5,6,9,14,17// Ex. 25:2; 35:,21,22,29).

In the reign of King Solomon

  1. The house of God constructed. Next, the houses of God are actually built (II Chr. 2-5 // Ex. 36-40).
  2. Glory fills the house of God. Finally, the completed houses of God are filled with the glory of the Lord. “Then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord…for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God” (II Chr. 5:13-14). “Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation…and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Ex. 40:34-35).