xes and seven years of the reign of
Artaxerses. Ezra obtained permission from Artaxerxes to return and
also letters of instruction to the rulers to give him assistance. He
was a scribe of the law of Moses and his mission was primarily a
religious one. He was a descendant from the house of Aaron and as such
he assumed the office of priest when he reached Jerusalem. Upon his
arrival he found that the first colony had fallen into gross
immoralities and into unsound religious practices. He rebuke He
rebuke all these sins and brought about a great reform. It is not
certain that he remained in Jerusalem. His leave from the king may
have been only temporary and he may have gone back to Babylon and
returned again to Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah. (3) The third
colony was _led to Jerusalem by Nehemiah_ (the book of Nehemiah). The
number returning is not given. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the
Persian king and upon hearing of the distress of his people at
Jerusalem secured permission from him to go to Jerusalem as the
governor. In spite of very determined opposition he was enabled to
repair the wall of the city and dedicate it with great ceremony (Neh.
chs. 6 and 12). Nehemiah is counted as one of the greatest reformers.
He corrected many abuses such as those of usury and restored the
national life of the Jews based upon the written law. Together with
Ezra he restored the priests to their positions and renewed the temple
worship. He went back to the Persian court where he remained several
years and then returned to Jerusalem and continued his reforms. This
ends the Old Testament history.

The Prophecy of Hagai and Zechariah. The task of these prophets was
the same and was by no means an easy one. The work of rebuilding the
temple, which had been begun when Jerubbabel and his colony came to
Jerusalem, had been stopped by the opposition which they met. Along
with this laxity of effort to build the temple the Jews were busy
building houses for themselves (1:4) and had become very negligent of
all duty. They had begun to despair of seeing their people and the
beloved city and temple restored to the glory pictured by the prophets
and were rapidly becoming reconciled to the situation. These two
prophets succeeded in arousing interest and confidence in the people
and through their appeals secured the finishing of the temple.

The Prophecy of Malachi. This prophecy condemns the same sins as those
mentioned in the last chapters